Hasta La Gadget!

E Ink’s black-and-white displays have become synonymous with electronic book readers such as the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Now watchmaker Art Technology has extended the technology to timepieces, enabling the creation of a digital watch with a curved display surface.

“Our hope with E Ink was to take advantage of the high-contrast E Ink display and offer a curved look that we couldn’t have done with an LCD,” says Donald Brewer, CEO of Art Technology.

E Ink, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has popularized electrophoretic displays that consume very little power, require no backlights and are easily readable in sunlight. E Ink’s displays are used in virtually every e-book reader on the market today, thanks to a crisp, readable appearance that is closer to the experience of reading ink on paper than any LCD screen.

For now, the watch introduced by Art Technology is the only timepiece to use E Ink’s display. The watch, called Phosphor, is water-resistant but otherwise light on features. It offers only five different modes, including digital time, analog time, date, alarm and calendar.

While the use of the E Ink display is novel, it isn’t entirely functional. The display doesn’t refresh instantly and it can seem a bit slow, especially while changing modes or setting the time.

Another drawback with the watch is the lack of backlight. That makes the watch impossible to use in dark environments such as a theater.  Brewer says analog watches rarely have a backlight, so the lack of one in the Phosphor range shouldn’t put off too many buyers.

But then, analog watches usually have luminescent paint on the hands that make them glow faintly in the dark. That feature is not available on E Ink displays.

Though E Ink displays aren’t any cheaper than LCDs, Brewer hopes it can create the perception of greater value among buyers.

The watches will retail for $175 to $195 depending on the band. For now, they are available only through the company’s website.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Google’s mobile operating system, Android, has been confined to cellphones so far. But consumer electronics makers are looking to make the new OS part of other gadgets too, such as netbooks, digital photo frames and e-book readers.

“We have seen a lot of original design manufacturers in Asia show prototypes of products that run Android,” says Daniell Hebert, CEO of MOTO Group, a product development firm. “I expect to see a number of these come out this fall.”

Earlier this week, two Japanese companies, Macnica and Fujitsu Software Technologies, showed off a prototype of a digital photo frame running Android. Dell and Asus are reportedly working on netbooks that will use the operating system. And it won’t be long before e-book makers launch devices that run the Android OS, says Hebert. Dell declined to comment and Asus did not respond to a request for comment.

Though Google launched Android on the HTC/T-Mobile G1 and has focused largely on cellphones, analysts believe the operating system has enough potential to become a part of major consumer electronics devices.

“You could go through Best Buy and look at the various types of gadgets they have — home audio, boomboxes, picture frames, set top boxes, programmable remote controls, Blu-ray players — and all of them could potentially run Android,” says Hebert.

Consumer electronics companies are under pressure to create devices that offer more functionality at a lower and lower prices. To do this, manufacturers need an OS that can be multi-platform, open source and is not weighed down by a lot of legacy issues.

Android, based on a Linux kernel, meets some of those criteria, says Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist for research firm In-Stat. With Google at the helm for Android, device makers can get a open-source product that still has the backing of a big brand.

“If it has any sort of computing power in it, then there is the possibility for an OS, and Android becomes one way to get that on the device,” says McGregor.

Beyond cellphones, Android’s strongest support is likely to come from netbook manufacturers. Android can help launch a new generation of netbooks, says Laurent Lachal, open source research director for consulting firm Ovum.

Many netbook manufacturers offer Linux-based notebooks, but to date the rate of return for Linux netbooks has been almost four times higher than those running Windows OS. But the version of Windows that runs best on netbooks, Windows XP, is several years out of date and not exactly optimized for mobile needs. Android presents an appealing alternative.

“Some netbook makers want to go back to the roots with these devices and offer consumers a low-cost product that is easy to use and can offers plenty of features,” he says.  “Android can be that alternative OS that could make this possible.”

As with all things Android, separating what’s possible from what’s real is a challenge.  If Android can successfully go beyond its roots as a mobile phone OS, it will have achieved what Microsoft has been struggling to do for years. Needless to say, that’s a tall order.

“Microsoft hasn’t been able to come across a solution that scales across two platforms, so they have Windows CE and Windows Mobile OS,” says McGregor. “So we will have to wait and see Android can get there.”

See also:
Smartphone War Heats Up, Google Phone Still MIA

Photo: (Silveira Neto/Flickr)

The Dexim “Premium MHub Dock” is at heart an iPod dock, but it adds a whole lot extra to the mix and, unlike Griffin’s effort, the mis-named “Simplifi”, it does it without uglifying your desk.

Along with the dock connector, which will fit pretty much any iPod except the various Shuffles, the MHub gets three USB ports (and comes with a universal set of AC adapters so you can power them) and a card reader to further ease up on your desktop USB needs (although it doesn’t accept CF cards like the Simplifi). There’s more! With the included cables, you can hook up a Blackberry, too. The only problem is the price. $100 is a little steep for a dock/hub, even if it is neat looking and crafted from Mac-matching aluminum.

Product page [Dexim. Thanks, Patrick!]

See Also:

• Google Simplifies Olympics Calendar on Cell Phones