Hasta La Gadget!

Move over, Canon, because scientists at the University of Lincoln have just seized the crown for world’s biggest CMOS image sensor with their new Dynamic range Adjustable for Medical Imaging Technology microchip — or ‘DyNAMITe,’ for short. Measuring a hefty 12.8 square cm (or about five square inches), DyNAMITe is roughly 200 times bigger than the chips you’d find in most PCs, making it the largest imager ever made on a wafer of standard, eight-inch diameter. This extra girth allows the active pixel sensor to capture images in high detail, with a 100-micrometer pitch boasting 1280 x 1280p aligned next to a 50-micron layer, carrying 2560 x 2560p. DyNAMITe can also run at up to 90fps and withstand high levels of radiation for several years, making it ideal for medical imaging, including radiotherapy and mammography. Researchers say these enhanced images could help doctors detect cancer in its earliest phases, while allowing them to monitor radiotherapy treatments more closely. No word on when we should expect to see DyNAMITe pop up in hospitals (or a Hasselblad back), but physicists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital are busy looking for other, potentially life-saving applications. Full PR after the break.

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World’s biggest CMOS sensor could help doctors detect and treat cancer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remy Labesque’s old gadgets have aged like antique leather. Photos Remy Labesque

What happens if you actually keep and use your gadgets for more than a year, something that seems increasingly gauche in these days of incessant updates and upgrades? You end up with something worn to a beautiful and unique finish.

This first-gen iPhone is three years old, and the Canon Sureshot camera has seven years on the clock. Both belonged to Remy Labesque, and have finally been recycled after long and faithful service. They’re beautiful.

Well, the iPhone is beautiful. As Remy says, “the Canon camera’s shell looks like garbage while the iPhone’s is starting to resemble something more like an heirloom pocket watch.”

The aluminum has certainly worn better than the plastic, the edges buffed and worn shiny by use, but the camera has its charms, too. In fact, the Sureshot was still going strong. It was only euthanized because it used film.

The irony here is our devices are ditched not because they are broken — today’s hardware seems to be made to last — it’s that the software or capabilities quickly become obsolete. Did I need to swap my iPad for an iPad 2? Of course not. Was I hypnotized by the shiny baubles that are the Smart Cover, a crappy camera and a new, thin, light case? I’m ashamed to admit I was.

Aged to Perfection [Design Mind via TUAW]

See Also:

• Don't Recycle? Your Trash Can Will Tell On You
• Recycle Your Old Gadgets on Wired.com With YouRenew

Apparently, people still buy non-iPod MP3 players

Creative’s cute little Zen M300 media player is a very nice alternative to the iPod Nano. It does most of what the Nano does — FM radio, MP3 playback — and adds in some useful extras.

First is video. You’ll need to transcode it into SMV format, but once done you can watch movies or anything else on the tiny 1.45-inch screen. You can also use Bluetooth headphones, ditching the cable entirely. The effect of the Bluetooth radio on battery life is not mentioned on the site, but the maximum you’ll get playing back just MP3s is 20 hours.

The player also works with Audible audio books, as well as WMA and WAV files, storage is on microSD cards, which means you can carry more and swap them in, and you can also record sound as well as play it back.

The M300 doesn’t have a touch screen. Anyone acquainted with the Nano will probably be happy to hear that, as tiny screens don’t work well for touch. Instead there are touch-sensitive buttons arrayed around the bezel.

If you don’t care about iTunes playlists, like video and don’t need the tiniest player, then this might be for you. It comes in red, white, black and yellow, priced at $40 (4GB), $60 (8GB) and $80 (16GG). Available now.

Zen M300 product page [Creative]

See Also:

• Creative Zen Stone: a $40, 1GB Mixtape for MP3s
• Zune HD vs. iPod Nano Smackdown – Video – Wired
• iPod Nano Gains Pause Button, Off-Switch

The Thumb Keyboard looks great for TVs, terrible for phones

The iTablet Thumb Keyboard is being marketed as an accessory for Android and iOS cellphones, and for the iPad. It might be better to focus on its ability to hook up to the Xbox 360 or media-center PC, though, as it is almost spectacularly ill-suited to mobile devices.

The keypad is similar in form to a console gamepad. You hold it in two hands and type on the QWERTY ‘board with two thumbs, as God intended (if God had been a teenager obsessed with texting). Round the back is a trackpad that you tickle with your fingers, and above that are the left and right mouse buttons. A function and caps-lock button on the front panel complete the lineup.

The Thumb Keyboard also has backlit keys and communicates via Bluetooth.

But even the greatest hater of on-screen keyboards would’t want to use this. First, you have to prop your phone up somewhere you can see the screen. Then you need to go back and forth between typing and touching the screen (the trackpad input obviously can’t be sent to a phone that lacks a mouse pointer). This is bad enough using an iPad at a desk with a proper stand and keyboard. Add in a device you have to hold and it becomes a nightmare.

For a media-center PC, though, it looks perfect, barely bigger than a regular remote and easy to just toss onto the sofa when you’re done. The marketing sure is ass-backwards on this one.

Should you require a Thumb Keyboard, you can have one for £80, or a ridiculous $131. Available now.

Thumb Keyboard product page [iTablet]

See Also:

• Writer, an iPad Keyboard Case for Pros
• Keydex: The Ugliest iPad 'Keyboard' Ever?
• ThinkGeek Joins iPad Keyboard Case Cavalcade
• Resize, Split and Rotate iPad Keyboard? There's an App for That …

There’s not much to say about Pad and Quill’s Octavo for iPad 2 that I didn’t say about the first version. The case looks like a big Moleskine notebook, and the iPad is held very tightly inside by a precision cut wooden frame. But there are two reasons it’s worth a look. One, there have been some changes and two, the iPad 2 has itself changed the entire case game.

The original iPad really needed a case. Its shape and weight meant it slipped as easily from the hand as it did from the arm of the couch. Adding a case both protected it and made it easier to hold. Apple’s solution was to wrap the thing in a rubber bondage suit. It was ugly, but it worked, and it was as thin as a case could get.

But now, with its easy-to-hold new flat form, and the Smart Cover to protect and serve as a stand, many will use the iPad bareback. And while the Pad and Quill case is sturdy and very well made, putting my thin sliver of a tablet into its protective shell feels wrong. In the hand the iPad goes from being a skinny wonder to a clone of my old, fat iPad, only faster and with a worse speaker.

Still, the Octavo plays very nice with the iPad 2’s new features. There’s a hole in the back for a camera which works great. You can Instagram away with the cover in place, although you can’t fold it back around as it will then cover the hole.

There are also magnets in the cover, so that you are never bothered by the unlock screen, just like the Smart Cover. There is also a new pocket inside the front cover, for stray bits of paper. Finally, the old press-stud closure has been replaced by an elastic strip, like a Moleskine.

As for fit and finish, it’s as good as ever. The iPad is held snug, and if you should have any problems, the case ships with spare corner bumpers to pad things out. The iPad is released by pulling on a ribbon that pokes out like a bookmark.

If you want to use this style of case, the Octavo is recommended. It is solid and will outlast your iPad. Or you may choose to go commando, like me, and hang the inevitable scratches to the back of the iPad.

The Octavo os $60, and $10 extra for the version with a pocket. It comes with red, blue or green interiors.

Octavo product page [Pad & Quill]

See Also:

• Pad & Quill Octavo Case for iPad 2: Thinner, Lighter, Pocket-ier …
• iPad Case Smackdown: Dodocase Vs. Pad & Quill
• Pad & Quill's Book-Like Cartella Case for MacBook Air
• The Case: Another Beautiful Moleskine-Like iPad Case