Motorola contest yields 'mood' phone

Motorola's "MOTOFWRD" grand-prize winner from Duke University was awarded a $10,000 scholarship and a new Bluetooth-enabled car.

Designed to improve social interactions, especially for tens of thousands of people who suffer from a mild form of autism called Asberger's Syndrome, student John Finan's "Mood Phone" would light up in a spectrum of color -- from warm reds to cool blues -- based on the verbal patterns of everyday speech received through a phone handset. Seen through the corner of the eye, the visual stimulus would help users interpret the mood and inflection communicated through the words and phrases they hear.

The biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate's concept was judged to be best among the scores of ideas presented through Motorola's first-ever MOTOFWRD competition that asked college students to envision the future of seamless mobility. Concepts ranged from the fantastic to the practical: mobile technology that could access information, contacts, music and video with the blink of an eye, to location-aware cell phones that could lead to new friendships, inspire public debate or help identify and book a vacant parking spot in a crowded downtown.

"I entered this competition because I thought Motorola was asking the right question with their theme of seamless mobility," said Finan, a Dublin, Ireland, native. "A new toy can entertain for a time but a new tool that really makes you feel closer to home and freer to move can change behavior, and that is how a revolution begins."

"The Mood Phone is a truly inventive technology solution to a problem most of us wouldn't assume could be answered with a mobile device," said Padmasree Warrior, Motorola's chief technology officer. "If the technology becomes reality, it would make all of our lives easier. But the most important idea here is that these college students who entered the MOTOFWRD competition have truly impressed us with their level of innovation and creativity."

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Fujitsu USB 3.0-SATA Bridge IC Earns USB-IF Compliance Certification for SuperSpeed USB

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Fujitsu Microelectronics America today announced that its USB 3.0-SATA bridge IC has been certified as compliant with the USB 3.0 standard by the USB Implementers Forum, Inc.

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To complement the specification and enable measurement of compliance in real products, the USB-IF has instituted a compliance program that provides reasonable measures of acceptability. Products that demonstrate this level of acceptability are added to the Integrators List and have the right to license the USB-IF logo. To learn more about the USB Implementers Forum visit www.usb.org/developers/ssusb .

HDTV sales in the U.S. to grow 71 percent by 2009

Television manufacturers will see a surge in cumulative HDTV sales over the next few years, which will boost the overall market value to $65 billion by 2009, according to "Adoption of High-Definition TVs and Services," a new study from Parks Associates.

The report, which includes data from Parks Associates' "Mobile Entertainment Platforms & Services" study, finds consumers are growing less skeptical about HDTV, which is creating a gradual increase in demand for high-definition products and services. Nearly 47% of TV households in the U.S. plan to buy an HDTV in the next twelve months. This increase would boost HDTV sales by 30% and HD video services by 38% by the end of 2006.

"Consumers are beginning to see the true benefits of HDTV," said Deepa Iyer, a research analyst at Parks Associates. "Consumers who were once hesitant to spend huge dollars on an HDTV are now reconsidering this product category."

As a result, service providers, including broadcasters, cable, and DBS operators, are beginning to feel a push to expand their HD video services in order to attract more HD subscribers. Service providers, content producers, television and chipset manufacturers, and other solution providers are all working to bring more high-definition products and services to market, although Iyer warns that they need to ramp up their efforts. The overall market penetration for high-definition televisions and services is very low. The current subscription rate for HD programming is barely 10% among all digital video subscribers, while only 35% of total HDTV households subscribe to HD video services.

"It is a chain reaction," Iyer said. "An increase in HDTV sales will fuel the demand for other services including high-definition VOD, local content, primetime programming, and movies. However, this industry lacks a sense of urgency in its efforts to bring compelling HD services to consumers. It has to recognize that HDTV will become ubiquitous only if all collateral forces within come together to embrace the change."

Parks Associates will further examine the issue of meaningful content delivery at the upcoming executive conference "Fall Focus: Making Media Meaningful," hosted November 9-11, 2005, at the Fairmont San Jose. With sessions such as "Enhancing the Television Experience via Interactivity" and "The "Eyes" Have It: Video Content on Consumers' Terms," this event will feature analysis and discussion on the expanding paradigm for video services.

"Adoption of High-Definition TVs and Services" provides an analysis of the enablers, inhibitors, and opportunities for high-definition TVs and services in the U.S. It provides insight into service providers' strategies and consumer behavior patterns for next-generation services and applications.

Source: Parks Associates

Exclusive Mobile quad core OEM Ivy Bridge processors unveiled

A week ago we gave you Intels mobile Ivy Bridge roadmap, but it seemed to be missing a few CPUs, specifically the much expected 35W quad cores. Well, today we bring exclusive details of a few additional mobile quad core Ivy Bridge processors destined for OEMs, the kind of CPUs that Intel doesnt put in its official price list.

The additional quad core models are similar to the lower-end Sandy Bridge quad cores such as the Core i7-2630QM all the way up to the 2675QM, models youll find in notebooks from big brand name players such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo etc. The OEM Ivy Bridge models are the Core i7-3615QM, Core i7-3612QM and Core i7-3610QM, all of which sports 6MB L2 cache, support for DDR3 1600MHz memory and a base graphics clock of 650MHz which for reference is very similar to the Core i7-3720QM.

Intel seems to have gone and made things all confusing with its model numbering scheme here though, as the Core i7-3615QM is a 2.3GHz part with a top turbo boost speed of 3.3GHz and unless theres a typo or two in the information weve seen, then this CPU is identical to the Core i7-3610QM. The Core i7-3612QM on the other hand is slower with a base clock of 2.1GHz with a top turbo boost speed of 3.1GHz. That makes these by far the lowest clocked Ivy Bridge processors and although we dont have any TDP specifics, we have a feeling that these are the 35W parts Intel has mentioned in the past. There should be more OEM models coming and well keep you posted as we find out more details.

'Digital health' movement in focus at tech show

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With an app, a game or a gadget, technology startups and major companies across all sectors are trying to tackle some of the thorniest problems in health and medicine.

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Hoyland said the company has other programs such as using mobile apps to provide rewards to pregnant women to encourage prenatal visits. The women are given a gift certificate but if they receive the right care, "we can offset those costs and keep them healthier," she said.

"It turns out gamification of health really works," said James McQuivey, analyst at

"This past year alone, we've seen a surge in businesses, healthcare companies and school districts seeking to offer weight loss programs that will better engage and excite the staff and, ultimately, more successfully achieve health and overriding fiscal program goals," HealthyWage CEO David Roddenberry said in a statement.

Other firms are finding ways to use

The program, which has not yet been publicly marketed but is available for free, was developed by an SAP employee to coordinate care among several specialsts for a child with a rare medical condition.

"This gets around privacy concerns because the care is controlled by the guardian or individual," said Rishi Diwan, a product manager at SAP who showed the app to CES visitors.

Diwan said the app can help people with special needs, and that the company is working with the Alzheimer's Association and Breast Cancer Foundation to generate interest in the platform.

As of now, the app is not part of any effort to generate revenue but "we are thinking about ways to work on electronic medical records," he told AFP.

Other exhibitors at CES showed exercise arm bands and other gadgets to track factors such as heart rates, or real-time monitoring of blood sugar for persons with diabetes. Another showed a digital fork that monitors caloric intake and vibrates if its user is eating too much too fast.

Some use low-power Bluetooth-connected patches to transmit data to a smartphone, a godsend for Bastian Hauck, a competitive sailor with type 1 diabetes who attended CES to promote the Continua Health Alliance for mobile wellness.

Hauck told AFP the Bluetooth patch he wears transmits to a smartphone and enables him to monitor glucose in real time, helping him determine the best eating and insulin intakes. He shares that information with other diabetics.

Treating diabetes, Hauck said, "is like a guessing game. You have to do it 24/7. There is no rest."

Although he could write down his readings, the wireless app "makes it easier" and provides extra motivation by being part of a community battling the same disease.

NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck showed CES a new skullcap from a company called MC10 that can fit under the helmet of a football player or other athlete and measure the impact of a collision, in an effort to better deal with concussions and similar injuries.

"In the NFL, you get hit in the head a lot," he said, adding that this is a major concern not only for professionals but for youth sports.

"This doesn't prevent a concussion but it's another set of eyes on the athlete," Hasselbeck added. "Our hope is that we can change the culture."

Dell updates Vostro desktop lineup with Intel's Sandy Bridge platform

With laptops starting to receive the Sandy Bridge treatment from their respective OEMs, it should probably come as no surprise that other computing devices such as desktops and tablets are bound to receive the same upgrade in time. After all, performance is often a major selling point, and simply parroting Intel's claims of the new microarchitecture being x% faster than the previous Nehalem platform is usually enough to bring in sales.

While most OEMs would probably opt to fit their consumer-oriented products with Intel's latest platform to capture more sales from the tech-savvy crowd, it appears that Dell has got slightly different plans in store. Instead of appealing to the hardware enthusiast, the company has opted to give its business desktops first dibs on Sandy Bridge, with the new Vostro 460 being what Dell touts as the first ever Sandy Bridge business desktop tower to hit the market and is now available for sale locally.




True enough, a quick visit to Dell's online store reveals that the new Vostro 40 business desktop is as real as it can get, and clicking the 'Customize' button on the product pages reveals that users have a choice of configuring their Vostro 460 with three different Sandy Bridge-based processors.




In addition to sporting the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, Dell has also bundled the Vostro 460 with a 320GB hard disk, although additional options exist in the Dell online store. Those who feel that 320GB is not sufficient may op to have a 1.5TB hard disk instead, while options for RAID are also available, namely RAID 0 and RAID 1.



Lastly, Dell also offers users the option of bundling the Vostro 460 with a graphics card for better video and graphics performance in the event the built-in Intel HD Graphics 2000 are simply not up to par with consumer needs.




But that's not all. Apparently, Dell has taken to heart the old saying of "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" by announcing that customers will have the choice to include an internal Blu-ray optical disk drive. Apparently, this option was added in to ensure that workers can let loose after a long and hard day at work by watching Blu-ray movies and playing games on their Vostro. And no, we are not making this up.



Reference: Dell Singapore

Even Sportlifestyle company PUMA has come up with their own PUMA PHONE..

The PUMA PHONE is a touchscreen phone with a simple user interface. According to PUMA, it uses the similar platform as the Samsung Galaxy, though that's all we know about it. You can set the background colorto eitherred or black (which is fairly limited), but the menu option icons are fairly large to ensure you press on the right one.

On the right is the camera/shutter and volume control buttons (whichalso performs as the camera zoom control).

On the left, we find a microSD card slot for users who require more memory storage.

At the rear is a the solar panel for solar charging of the phone, as well asa 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash. PUMA said that ten to fifteen minutes of solar charging will provide approximately one minute of talk time. The intention of solar charging is when you go jogging (as an example), you cansecure the phone to your arm with an armband and has the solar panel facing outward. That way, it helps to charge the phone while you are on the go which in turnhelps to be environment friendlytoo.

The PUMA PHONE also allows you to get connected to your social applications such as Twitter and Facebook easily. In addition, you can access PUMA World on the phone and get the latest news, product information and even sports-related stories.

According to PUMA, the phone will first be available in Europe, and other parts of the world later. It maycome to Singapore,but the likelihood of having telco tie-up with PUMA seems pretty unlikely. Moreover, the phone isn't at all very affordable considering its a smartphone. The PUMA PHONE will be retailing around 400 Euros, andif its dollar-to-dollar, that could be an affordable S$400 (or an expensive S$800 if converted from Euros). Well, we could only wait and see how this goes.