I think that I have found the perfect gift for my nephew’s 4th birthday: the Crayola MP3 player. I am serious – there is such a thing and I am even more serious in that I want to give this thing to our baby. If you think I am going nuts, think again.
Studies have shown time and again that music is an inherent part of stimulating and nurturing the creativity of children. Think about it, the greatest minds of our time had some proclivity towards music. They even say that mathematical geniuses are almost always musical geniuses as well.
So anyway, what’s this new mp3 player for kids all about? Crayola has decided to join the tech fray by creating the Crayola MP3 Player, a gadget that is part of a larger line of tech products for kids. The mp3 player is designed for kids 4 years old and above – perfect for the nephew! – and has some touches of the original iPod concept. It is colorful – as one can only expect from a Crayola product – and is designed for easy grip for the kids. It has a small electronic display and a lozenge shaped button in front (like the click wheel but not really). More than playing 2G worth of mp3s, this baby can also function as a voice recorder and speaker, making for more interaction for the kids. It runs on one AAA battery – not included in the package, mind you. It does come with earbuds and some colorful letter stickers so that the owner can proudly put his or her name on the gadget.
For $49.99, I think that this is really the perfect gift for geeky babies, don’t you agree?
No Comments Yet | Posted by gecko at 4:14 pm under Gadgets, Toys
Scientists and almost anybody out there are on a mad rush to find the next form of alternative energy source that would provide us with the energy (electricity) we need to power our lives. With the price of oil still on the rise with no signs of stopping even with the world asking (well, more of demanding the Oil giants) to produce more oil to satisfy the world’s fuel needs (production has since increased but the price continues to rise). Oil has become an economic bargaining chip and the search for better sources that does not harm the environment is on the priority of most scientific communities.
The field of solar power generation is a well established one but the high costs of silicon for solar panels and other hardware needed to produce electricity directly from the sun keeps it away from the realm of practicality. The alternative was to come up with super efficient mirrors that bounces the sun’s rays onto a concentrated point which has a structure containing some liquid (can be water, oil or some other easily vaporized liquid) that in turn is used to turn turbines to produce electricity. This may be the cheapest alternative for other technologies are still so expensive that not many can afford the infrastructure and equipment needed to benefit from their use. Wind farms cost millions of dollars, Hybrid batteries are still quite in their infancy and so are solar panels so scientists are still on the lookout for other more realistic technologies that may solve the energy crisis we are experiencing today and possibly for sometime in the future to come.
No Comments Yet | Posted by Nick at 11:04 am under General, Home & Garden
Is it Viable? Yes and it has minimal if not zero emission of greenhouse gasses. This might become more of a necessity and scientists in Australia have come up with a prototype that can become a mainstay of homes in the near future. Hydrogen Fuel is one of the alternative fuels that is being looked at as a replacement technology to fuel vehicles of the future. Efforts to produce and use hydrogen have been plagued by problems such as the production of more than acceptable levels of greenhouse gasses for the production of the gas for fuel with today’s technology. Hopefully, advances in technology and fuel research will produce a more portable and easy to use version of today’s hydrogen production plants.
This solution would allow a localized production facility that makes enough hydrogen to fuel the family car for errands or short trips around town. The said home-scale production plant would be powered by solar panels further reducing their carbon footprint by removing the otherwise dirty need for power from the grid. It also allows small fuel plants to be installed at bus stops and other public transport system hubs that can make enough fuel to propel the vehicles to their next destination or stop. These forms of green technology are growing into our best solution to the already bad environment we live in as we work more to veer away from fossil fuels due to their unwanted byproducts that have accumulated to enough levels that a hole in the earth’s ozone layer has formed with no signs of its growth slowing. This has been result from years of uncontrolled venting of polluting gasses that end up as acids in the atmosphere as they react with the sun’s ultraviolet rays. This acid rain can even filter down to the water table rendering them useless worsening the already troubled water supply.
Hydrogen fuel is clean and it produces no gasses that harm the environment but many technologies still have to be developed to make it safer and easier enough to convince the average homeowner to shift to hydrogen fueled vehicles from their oil based predecessors. Safety is one of the key issues for hydrogen gas is highly explosive and combustible that any problem with containment has to be addressed well ahead of its implementation. The efficiency of engines is still quite low but they do have zero-emissions which is the main lure of the technology. The infrastructure for supporting such hydrogen based vehicles is quite expensive but that has been proven to be un-needed with the above mentioned home-based/local production facilities, the prototype being as big as a filing cabinet. Further research and development might allow it shrink considerably allowing home use.
No Comments Yet | Posted by Nick at 9:49 pm under Features, Gadgets, General, Home & Garden
Everybody has experienced the problem of having to take or make a very important call on your cellular and not being able to understand a word you or the person you are calling, annoying ain’t it. Now comes noise-cancellation which is actually quite an old concept which works by having a separate microphone to pick up the undesired sound (noise) and generating a counter sound/noise or sound in an inverted waveform to cancel out the offending sounds giving clear and noise-free conversation.
The technology started out as a fad made available on expensive audio equipment like BOSE which came out with cordless noise cancelling headphones for it’s various audio video products. Nowadays, the technology can be found on Bluetooth cellular phone headsets like the one from Aliph code named “JawBone” which cancels out background noise when making and receiving a call allowing comfortable and natural conversation.
Devices using Bluetooth have similarities whatever form they may take for they all rely on radio frequencies to communicate with each other. They are paired-up or connected to each other allowing them to recognize each other which many people do not realize but there are tons of devices that use Bluetooth out on the market that they connect at all is the miracle of the technology. The radio frequency that “WiFi” uses is similar to what Bluetooth uses which makes pollution or noise very much abundant hence the need for the said noise cancellation technology. There are a lot of wireless Bluetooth headsets on the market for all kinds of devices such as mobile phones a comparison of which can be found on many reviews on the net with a certain search.
No Comments Yet | Posted by Nick at 2:51 pm under Cellphones, Computer Accessories, Gadgets, PDA's, Wireless
Owning a new digital camera with the high pixels and features that are out in the market today will definitely entice the unknowing person on what pictures to shoot on. Such has been evident since they are initially trying out the actual resolution of the pictures taken, how different they are and why people are continuously raving about them today.
Photography has rampantly grown and a lot of people have invested largely in making photography as a hobby and a lot has to do with the advanced features that imagery offers.
The beauty of objects are indeed enticed all the more and with the modifications through the use of such photo imaging software like Adobe Photoshop and Ulead Visual Studios, a lot of people have become adept with making unique creations with raw images taken from their very own digital cameras.
Chances are, once these people become less satisfied, going for the more expensive camera lines such as Canon and Nikon is not far behind. Aspiring photographers will simply build on their interest and aim for perfection in digital imaging at its fines resolution possible.
Comments Off | Posted by gecko at 9:40 am under Cameras, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Portable Media, Toys
Are you a DVD fanatic? Wouldn’t it be the best, if you could watch any DVD you want without having to bring along the CD? Well, it is now possible to do that by purchasing a program that converts any DVD into your iPad. No need to rush home to watch your newly purchased DVD [...]
The life of a geek is full of addictions, but if you need help with one try addiction rehab and get the help you need!
Geeks Blog © Splashpress Media. Powered by WordPress.
