Hasta La Gadget!

Check out this new Keyboard Folio mini ‘TM720′ from Logitech. Designed specially for your iPad mini, this 3-in-1 gadget serves as a protective cover and a stand for your iPad mini, and comes with an integrated Bluetooth keyboard. Powered by a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the TM720 will hit the market from June 7th for 9,980 Yen (about $97) in electric blue, sunflower yellow and mystic blue color options. [Logitech]

Buffalo has just added a new USB 2.0 wireless LAN cordless handset ‘WI-U2-866D’ to its product page. Corresponding to the ‘Draft 11ac’ (the new standard for Wireless LAN IEEE802.11ac), the WI-U2-866D is equipped with a USB 2.0 connection interface and supports for dual-band WiFi access point (2.4GHz – 300Mbps and 5GHz – 866Mbps). The WI-U2-866D will go on sale from mid-July for 7,770 Yen (about $76). [Buffalo]

Razer has announced the latest soon-to-be-available Razer Blade and Razer Blade Pro laptops, both of them aimed at gamers and offering their own variety of high-end mobile PC hardware. The Blade is the smaller of the two, offering a 14-inch display, while the Blade Pro is larger with a 17-inch screen. We’ve got a large gallery of both machines available after the jump.

First up is the Razer Blade, which features a 14-inch LED HD+ display, a custom-designed trackpad, and a backlit keyboard. The chassis is made entirely of dark aluminum, with the laptop measuring in at 0.66-inches thick. According to Razer, this makes it the most powerful laptop based on power-per-cubic-inch of any other gaming laptop available.

Inside, users will find a 4th generation Intel Core processor, an unspecified SSD that Razer says offers a boot speed 4x faster than the average 5400rpm hard drive, and graphics are delivered via an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU. Display resolution sits at 1600 x 900, while the trackpad supports multi-touch. Battery life is rated at up to 6 hours.

The Razer Blade Pro is similar, but with more power under the hood, as is expected. The display is a larger 17-inch LED HD display, and there the Switchblade User Interface, SBUI for short. The machine itself measures in at 0.88-inches and weighs 6.5lbs, which Razer says makes it the most portable in its class among gaming laptops. There’s an LCD trackpad, as well as ten keys and SBUI including Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro, Maya, and others, all free of charge.

As far as hardware internals go, there’s an Intel Quad Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GTX 765M GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD, which can be upgraded to up to 512GB. The keyboard is backlit, with the lighting being user-adjustable. The trackpad can also be adjusted with various sensitivities.

Both the Razer Blade and the Razer Blade Pro will be available for pre-order on June 3, with the former starting at $1,799, and the latter at $2,299.

SOURCE: Razer 1 and Razer 2

Razer unveils latest Blade and Blade Pro gaming laptops is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve written about the Mars One project extensively, a plan to select, train, and send astronauts to Mars, where they will live out the rest of their lives. Other future projects won’t necessarily involve a permanent life on Mars, but all will require a substantial number of years, and as such will require a very stable psychological state to handle. For its part, NASA is looking into monitoring the psychological state of its astronauts with a sensor-based “badge.”

Imagine for a moment the nature of life on Mars. Residents will live in special – and likely cramped – housing, devoid of the vast majority of comforts they’ve spent their lives enjoying, and perhaps not the kind of comforts you are imaging. Things like a stroll in the park, a drive across the state, and other things we do to relax – and decompress when stressed, angry, or hurt – are no longer an option.

Because everyone responds to certain situations differently, and because humans living on Mars is unprecedented, it can be hard to anticipate the psychological effects of these planned missions and projects. A lot of research is being done in the area by NASA, which has reportedly paid $1.3 million to Michigan State University psychologists, who will work on the development of a sensor-based badge that the agency’s astronauts will wear while on Mars.

The sensors would serve as a kind of quasi mental-social warning apparatus, monitoring such things as conversation length and vocal patterns. Such a badge could advise a wearer when he or she is acting in a manner that is interpreted as aggressive, could advise someone that their actions are inappropriate, watch for signs of depression, and other such things. If the sensor picks up particularly worrisome signals, such that indicates the wearer could be in or heading towards a precarious mental state, it could relay the information to a ground crew, who could then take steps to intervene.

In addition to the sensor, NASA is also helping fund a project that creates a digital therapist, which the astronauts would be able to utilize as necessary. Work is also being done in determing how to best select compatible teams, as well as trying to anticipate what things might stress the teams and individuals so they can be dealt with ahead of time.

SOURCE: The Verge

NASA to use sensor-based badge to monitor Mars astronauts’ mental state is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Despite its image as an underdog, Roku knows how to court some heavy hitters in the TV business: on top of a total $80 million in previous investments, it just received a $60 million boost this week. The new funding round has BSkyB and News Corp returning with checkbooks in hand, but it also includes a fresh contribution from Hearst, which wants Roku’s help in building services for its TV channels. The media hub maker is getting more than partnerships in return, however. It’s using the cash to expand its Roku Ready program, which now includes 24 hardware partners. The company’s Anthony Wood ultimately wants Roku software to be commonplace — it can be an “operating system for televisions,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. While there’s no guarantee that Roku will reach that kind of ubiquity, it may well have the cash to get there.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

Via: Chip Chick

Source: Hollywood Reporter