The $300,000 watch

If money was no object, would you spend $300,000 for a watch that doesn’t tell time?  I think most of you would probably say no to this statement but what if I told you that the watch changes the way you look at the day and “treat time”.  The watch is shown below and is made by Romain Jerom, the watch maker famous for using metal from the Titanic on each of his watches.

The watch believes in telling time in a rather binary fashion.  You can tell whether it’s day or night.  The reason why this watch is so complex, as shown in the picture above, is because it uses a tourbillon to differentiate the 12 hours of working time (i.e. day) versus the 12 hours of non work time (i.e. night).  The user can specify different panels/components to place in each category.

The real kicker though…..the watch was sold it 48 hours after it was released….talk about high demand to not wanting to know what time it is….

You can check out more here: http://www.romainjerome.ch/en/les-inatendus/day-and-night-en.aspx

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Foxit eSlick enters the eBook market

The eBook reader market will be getting a new competitor with the eSlick from Foxit. It may not be the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader, but it does have enough features to call itself an eBook reader.

The eSlick has a 6-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 600, 128MB of internal memory, and an SD card slot that can support up to 4GB of expandable memory. Fortunately, the eSlick also comes with a 2GB card, as well as a set of headphones.

Unfortunately, the eSlick can support few formats, but they are useful ones like PDF, TXT, and MP3, and it comes with a conversion tool for all of them. However, if you want to get eBooks, the eSlick doesn’t have any built-in Wi-Fi so you can download them from Amazon or something.

As for the eSlick’s power source, it is a rechargeable lithium battery that my source reveals is good enough for 8,000 page turns. I wish I had more info than that, because I don’t think any measurement of a device, even an eBook reader, should be given in page turns. Let’s just say that if you are a slow reader, the eSlick will last a while before needing a recharge.

We’ll see if consumers will take to the eSlick like they have the Kindle. At a price of $229, it may be a low-budget option, because one can’t ever argue with a low price.

I think eSlick might be in trouble with its choice of mascot on its screen. It bears a strong resemblance to Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. Pixar, you might want to gear up for a lawsuit.

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Watermelon offers wrist support, cleans screens

This is one slice of watermelon that does not offer any thirst-quenching juice - instead it functions as a wrist support and doubles up as a screen cleaner as well. Kinda makes me wonder whether a rolled up piece of rag can function both ways, too, without having me to fork out a single cent. Well, at least this looks cute on your desktop, but to fork out $12 for something like this? Best to wash this from time to time lest you dirty your sleeve with accumulated dust on both sides of the faux watermelon. Hey Have a Facebook Comment :) :)

Animated Singing Turtle

Turtles are extremely slow creatures while they’re on land, and certainly the last thing you’d expect them to do is belt out a tune, right? Well, with the Animated Singing Turtle, this diminutive fake reptile will sing the following wise words, “Slow down, you move too fast” while bobbing his head along to the 1970’s classic “Feelin’ Groovy/The 59th Street Bridge Song. His mouth will actually synchronize with words as he crawls across whatever surface you put him on. Just be careful if you place him on a desk since he might actually crawl over and drop like Humpty Dumpty to the ground, shattering into different pieces and causing you to waste $15.95. The Animated Singing Turtle is powered by a trio of AA batteries. Hey Have a Facebook Comment :) :)

Sony Ericsson Parts Ways With HTC

Sony Ericsson has decided to drop HTC in favor of Taiwan-based Mobinnova when it comes to creating the next generation Windows Mobile device. We've not too sure why this decision was made - after all, HTC didn't exactly botch up the Xperia X1 but did a rather splended job with it. Still, here's some skinny on Mobinnova - this handset manufacturer is under Foxconn Electronics, and this piece of news confirms that Sony Ericsson will be rolling out new Windows Mobile smartphones in the future, although you can forget about seeing HTC's touch (no pun intended) on those. Hopefully Mobinnova will be able to live up to the expectations generated.

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Amazon’s Top 10 Best-Selling Gadgets, and a Kindle Update

In the shopping spirit of the season, I thought it might be useful to give a quick update on what the year’s best-selling tech gadgets have been on Amazon.com, and how Amazon’s own foray into gadgets is going. Probably too late to help with your own shopping list, but nevertheless here are a couple notable items from the blogosphere:

—Forget Blu-ray players and iPhones. Wired’s blog notes that four of the top 10 best-selling electronic gadgets on Amazon this year are GPS devices from Garmin. That includes the #1 item of 2008, the Garmin nüvi 350 GPS navigator. Who needs maps anymore? (OK, I do.)

—Amazon’s own gadget, the Kindle e-book reader, is apparently sold out for Christmas, and its stock as a search term on Google spiked in October to nearly triple its level during the summer, according toTechCrunch. Google searches for the term “Kindle” have since fallen off somewhat, but remain high. The Kindle faces competition from Apple and Sony, and it will be very interesting to see what all this means for the future of books.

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How Clean Is Your Keyboard?

As I keyed in those words, I couldn’t help but take a closer look at my own keyboard. My netbook is white – poor choice for someone who notices dirt easily – and it does tend to get all sorts of smudges and dirt. The best thing to do would be to wipe it on a regular basis but that does tend to get tedious, not to mention the hard to reach parts in between the keys.

Luckily, Dirt Devil has come up with a very efficient solution. Oh yeah, it is also stylish. The Dirt Devil KWIK is a hand vacuum that features cutting edge technology. It is cordless and can be charged through a USB port. This is perfect for me as I get easily irked with the countless wires that seem to be present around computers. The fact that it can be charged through the USB port is even better as you can take it anywhere with you (as long as you have a laptop).

KWIK boasts of Lithium Ion technology – in simple terms, the batteries last longer than normal. It also has a bagless dirt cup – “just tap to empty the debris.” I don’t really see this as a plus as I don’t mind the bags but hey, whatever floats your boat! I am more excited about other things such as the fact that it is light (less than half a pound), it looks sleek, and that it has tools for both brushing and getting into small crevices.

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Stunning Allegation, Apple Failed to Copyright Mac OS X

In latest documents filed with a San Francisco Court, Psystar said that Apple never filed for copyright protection for its Mac OS X operating system, and therefore it should drop its lawsuit against the Mac clone manufacturer. Apple sued the company earlier this year for copyright violation.

If the stunning allegation is true, then it could seriously undermine Apple’s ability to stop Psystar from selling cloned Macintosh systems. “Apple is prohibited from bringing action against Psystar for the alleged infringement of one or more of the plaintiff’s copyrights for failure to register said copyrights with the copyright office as required” by law, Psystar said.

“Apple uses so-called stealthware to protect what Psystar claims is an illegal monopoly in the Mac computing market,” reported InformationWeek. On the other hand, Psystar’s so called ‘Open Computers’ use cloned Mac OS X operating system that bypasses Apple’s security measures - in violation of Apple’s licence. Mac OS X licence agreement states that the licensee agrees not to use the software “on any non-Apple-labeled computer or enable another to do so” and that the “License will terminate automatically from Apple if [the licensee] fail[s] to comply with any term(s) of this License.” Genuine Mac OS X runs a start-up routine that verifies whether the host computer is running on an Apple-approved hardware.

However, Psystar denies that said activities are unlawful and improper. “Psystar likewise denies the suggestion that there exists a concerted effort to commit infringement of Apple’s intellectual property rights, to breach or induce the breach of Apple’s otherwise unenforceable license agreements, and to violate state and common law unfair competition laws,” the company said in its December 16th response to allegations made earlier by Apple.

Apple is improperly claiming that installation of the Apple OS on a non-Apple machine is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), according to Psystar.

“By attempting to apply the DMCA in this manner, Apple is attempting to obtain, maintain, and/or enjoy rights not granted by the Copyright Act,” Psystar said. “Apple does not actually employ a technological copyright protection measure that effectively controls access to the Mac OS.”

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The Snocator

For a one-time fee of $5.99, anyone with an iPhone can add an application called Snocator that provides up-to-date information on snow reports, weather conditions, mountain cams and forecasts. Nearly every major ski area in North America is included and it features mountain cams for some resorts around the world.

While on the mountain, Snocator will show the powder hound their location on a map including what trail they're on. It will allow them to plan their next run using interactive trail maps, find an eatery and track their runs.

It works anywhere the carrier has a data signal or a wifi connection.

It can be purchased at the iPhone App Store by searching for Snocator under the Sports category, by texting "snow" to 90999 from the iPhone or through iTunes.

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A Danish Super Car?

Oh snap! It’s a Danish super car. Somehow those words don’t go together in my head. When I think super car, I think Japan, America, Italy, Germany, maybe even France and England - but Denmark? It’s true, the Zenvo ST1 is a real Danish supercar with excessive power; a V8 1,104 pony galloping engine to be exact. The turbocharged 7.0 liter 6 speed manual tranny pushes the Zenvo ST1 from 0-60 in just 3 seconds. For safety and legal reasons, the car is electronically limited to 232 mph.

A car that fast needs major brakes to stop it and this baby uses a set of ventilates 380 mm disc brakes and 6 piston calipers up front, 355 mm discs gripped by 6 piston calipers at the rear. Made entirely of a steel frame wrapped in a carbon fiber body, the styling is striking and contemporary. Personally I think it’s a little contrived (angry blowfish?) but a head turner for sure and pretty much unlike any other recognizable super car on the road.

The interior is a different story. It’s pure luxury - strange for a super car. The alcantara leather trimmed interior hosts a bevy of high-tech niceties like dual zone climate control, full set of airbags, cruise control (at 232 mph no less), keyless entry, racing seats, and a G-force meter for all you gear heads.

How much is it gonna cost? I’m not sure but only 15 will be made so you can bet your bottom dollar only 3% 2%1% .001% of the world’s population can afford it.

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