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