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2010-09D

Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin             Issue # 2010-09d

              Nights are coming earlier & other news

In this issue:
  A case beyond cases for Antec... Coming in October: Franklin
  AnyBook... Mr. Iconosys comes to Washington... Boogie Boards keep
  scores on chores... Commercial space base will also HQ power
  utility... Davis & Sanford Vista holding ground in tough tripod
  niche... Zoom mobile 3G router now does G & N for less... Special
  Report: Wireless energy transfer... Reviews: one, two, three,
  four, five... plus our commentary on a few weeks of space power

A case beyond cases for Antec
  You may not think of Antec as on your beat, but they don't just
  make computer cases & power supplies. There's a new
  skateboard-like base for PCs that makes them easier to move &
  lifts them away from floorboard dust flows. There are notebook
  coolers that you'll want to use even in cold weather to help
  their components live longer. Some amazing new speakers will be
  out by the end of the year. There's more too. Ask Veronica.
  Contact: Veronica Feldmeier, Antec Inc. (Fremont, CA)
  510-770-2150 vfeldmeier@antec.com http://antec.com

Coming in October: Franklin AnyBook
  Kids love to have parents or grandparents read them stories; in
  October, that can happen even when they can't be there. The new
  Franklin DRP3000 AnyBook (price TBD) is wider than a pen
  (narrower than most remotes) & has a built-in audio recorder &
  player plus stickers to let it know which page it's on. It's that
  child's favorite books read by one of that child's favorite
  voices. Aline is building a review queue now for when the first
  of these arrive, which should be soon. Contact: Aline Boutin,
  Franklin Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ) 609-386-2500x4434
  aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com

Mr. Iconosys comes to Washington
  Wayne's Text Kills Tour ended at the NHTSA National Distracted
  Driving Summit 9/21. A special "Text Kills" SMS Replier
  collegiate version was a free download for attendees there as it
  has been at high school & college campus stops en route. Contact:
  Wayne Irving II, Iconosys Inc. (Laguna Hills, CA) 949-335-5350
  wi@iconosys.com http://iconosys.com

Boogie Boards keep scores on chores
  The new sliding stylus clip for the Boogie Board can block the
  erase button, making it a very cool all-or-none chores-are-done
  list for the kids. Each day, Mom or Dad lists all the chores
  (including homework) that have to get done before bedtime (or
  before earning a cherished privilege). Something like a scavenger
  hunt, all the chores stay listed until the last one is done. Get
  a Boogie Board from Kevin & try it at your house. Contact: Kevin
  Oswald, Kent Displays (Kent, OH) 330-673-8784x161
  koswald@kentdisplays.com http://KentDisplays.com

Commercial space base will also HQ power utility
  The back-story on the Space Island Group project to offer a
  growing commercial technology park in space also includes a role
  in assembling higher-orbit solar power farms & getting there with
  existing technology. At 10:30 AM on 10/28 from a NYC event,
  you'll get lots of answers about funding, the initial ground
  facility locations & its impact on both creating & preserving
  jobs. The scope, scale & timeline are stop-the-presses
  surprising. Contact: Gene Meyers, Space Island Group (Covina, CA)
  626-260-3184 http://spaceislanduniverse.com

Davis & Sanford Vista holding ground in tough tripod niche
  With more photos being taken by things that weren't born to be
  cameras, accessory gear like tripods may seem less relevant to
  many people. In that tough niche, Tiffen's Davis & Sanford Vista
  line is successfully holding ground, mostly because it's both
  well-priced & visibly better built than many alternatives. Get
  info or hands-on through Hilary. Contact: Hilary Araujo, Tiffen
  Company (Hauppauge, NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com
  http:/.tiffen.com

Zoom mobile 3G router now does G & N for less
  Zoom is dropping its pricing on the 4506 Mobile 3G Router (street
  $70) with both 802.11N as well as G. Compared to its best-known
  competitor (which is G-only), it offers better range, a higher
  data rate, support for up to 250 connected clients (not just 5),
  both 3G & wired WAN router support & dramatically lower price.
  Ask Terry. Contact: Terry Manning, Zoom Telephonics Inc. (Boston,
  MA) 617-753-0087 terrym@zoom.com http://zoom.com

Special Report: Wireless energy transfer
  As a small-scale example of wireless energy transfer, let's say
  you wanted to charge your handset without plugging anything into
  it. Available consumer gear uses inductive coupling, essentially
  placing half of a power transformer into an adaptive sleeve for
  the handset & the other half into a pad or dock. At higher power
  levels, most current research focuses on microwaves, thanks in
  part to the development of cavity magnetrons after World War II,
  Some demos as early as 1964 have shown conversion efficiency up
  to 90%. Later tests (1975 & 1997) sustained power transfers in
  the 10KW range. A 2008 test sent 20Watts more than 90 miles.
  Various aerospace companies involved in microwave development
  indicate that 5.8GHz beams are able to efficiently penetrate long
  atmospheric paths with negligible loss regardless of weather
  conditions. Chinese researchers are testing technologies for
  deployment in large, isolated ground-based facilities to collect
  power beamed from satellites (more on this next time) for
  integration into the power grid.

Special Report Bonus Review: FastAccess
  If you're willing to type your passwords one more time, you may
  never need to type them again with FastAccess software, which
  works with a Webcam to identify the distinct geometries of your
  face. It manages to get more accurate over time & it's good for
  logging into Web sites as well as logging into your Windows
  session (though it won't do either if you log into Windows
  without a password). It can also automatically trigger
  power-savings modes if it doesn't see a face. Bottom line:
  FastAccess is a cool way in.

Special Report Bonus Review 2: Abbyy FineReader 10
  Abbyy FineReader 10 (the latest incarnation from an OCT
  powerhouse) showed us both flexibility & speed. We fed it a
  30-page PDF & got out a Word document in less than a minute with
  no information lost & only a few differences in formatting. We
  especially like that it comes with a new Screenshot Reader
  utility that lets you select a screen area (like from those
  annoying all-graphics Web pages when you're trying to accurately
  snag an address or phone number) & get the recognized text in the
  clipboard (or you can save it to a file). Bottom line: Abbyy
  FineReader 10 with ScreenReader makes a strong case that OCR has
  come of age.

A few weeks of space power
  Because of one of our newest clients, we recently spent a lot of
  time looking at the business of space. The pace of NASA is
  throttled when its budget gets cut, but there's a lot of head
  start info there that can make a huge difference to private
  enterprises with a business reason for going into orbit. (One
  example: a lot of work when into the most efficient ways to fold
  & unfurl solar panels). We remember the picture books of the
  1950s & 1960s that showed us wheel-shaped space stations
  (well-depicted in "2001"). So for a few weeks, we'll focus our
  special reports on some of what we learned. As always, if it's
  too much or you want more, drop a line. Contact: Martin Winston,
  Newstips (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; marty@Newstips.com
  http://Newstips.com

                               # # #

Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com

(c) Copyright 2007 Martin Winston and TwandaCorp - all rights reserved.

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