Consider this: drive-in movie-shows are awesome, but accidentally reversing your car into people or things is awful. Now these days, drive-in movie-shows are few and far between, but reversing vehicles into people or things is still all too commonplace. Fortunately, Clover Electronics have released the TFT7001 7 Inch TFT Rear View Color Camera System for Vehicles, a product with the potential to trump both these problems in one fell swoop.

Just stick the 7 inch TFT LCD screen somewhere you – the driver – can easily see it, and you’ve got your own drive-anywhere movie-theatre right there. What better to watch on your new in-car entertainment system than the view out of the rear of your vehicle, as supplied by the color CCD camera affixed to your tailgate?

The supplied camera comes with a sharp 1/3″ CCD sensor, which is sensitive down to 1 lux so you can catch all the night-time action. It’s also waterproof, and works happily between 12 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can enjoy the view in all weathers.

It’s entirely up to you whether you use the view to avoid reversing into people or things accidentally, or to ensure that you do reverse into people or things deliberately. Mark’s Technology News would like to recommend the former.

Enjoy motion-picture-based safety in your vehicle for the special price of $362.83 from SmartHome.com.

3D is the new 2D, and the Nintendo 3DS is keeping up with what’s hip, hot, and oh-so-very-cool by bringing the third dimension to a handheld gaming console for the first time EVER.

Equipped with a lower LCD screen that has all the familiar Nintendo touchscreen technology, the 3DS features an all-new upper LCD screen that packs a mind-blowing stereoscopic 3D display! This gives objects a realistic sense of space and depth without having to wear 3D glasses, and includes a depth slider to let you adjust the 3D experience for comfort – even letting you switch to regular 2D view should you ever need to.

In addition to the standard + Control Pad, the 3DS also has a new Circle Pad that gives you complete analog control in 3D environments. The motion and gyro sensors add a new sense of realism too, as real-world movements are reflected in the game. Tilt the console to the left, the game responds. Raise the console up, the game responds. Throw the console on the ground…well, the console might break, so don’t do that.

The 3DS is more than just a game console. It’s also a cool 3D camera with two lenses that create photos with the same 3D feel as the games. Other cutting-edge features include SpotPass – which locates wireless hotspots, and StreetPass – which makes your game console more social than you by allowing your 3DS to exchange game data with other systems (while you’re out picking up more Red Bull and Hot Pockets).

Worried about not having any cool games to play on your cool system? Stomp those fears like Mario on a mushroom-hopping binge and pre-order yours for $249.99 – because Nintendo is rolling out 30 new 3DS games between March and June, with titles like Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, and The Sims 3.

Ya know, touchscreens are awesome and have absolutely no drawbacks. They’re – Wait! Shoulder. Cramping. Hard to… keep… arm… lifted… for so long. Must… find… way… to continue.

Ahhhh! Better now. HP is rolling out the new TouchSmart 610 on February 9th, and it is the answer to your touchscreen prayers. The screen is mounted on a reclining hinge that allows it to tilt back by 60-degrees to an almost horizontal position. The TouchSmart 610 also features a 23-inch LED-backlit HD display and comes preloaded with the TouchSmart user interface, so it’s ready to go as soon as you plug it in. Also, thanks to its simple, one-cord set-up, ensures you’ll have things humming along in no time.

A touchscreen is only as good as its apps, and HP has you covered. On top of the touch-optimized apps from Hulu, Netflix, Rhapsody®, and Twitter, HP lets you add new apps via the TouchSmart Apps Center. You can also jam in style with audio delivered by Beats Audio – a high-performance tech developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. Gamers aren’t left out of the touchscreen fun either, as they use multitouch navigation to lead their nation to victory in Ubisoft®’s real-time strategy game, R.U.S.E. (Hey, Bub! That’s a $49.99 freebie right there so remember to say ‘thank you.’)

The TouchSmart 610 does more than ease the strain on your arms; it gives your eyes a break too. Thanks to the new HP LinkUp, you can wirelessly link to a notebook PC to take advantage of both the touch interface and the larger HD screen while working on notebook files. Changes are saved directly to the notebook so you don’t have to mess with any file transfers. File transfers? We don’ need no steenkin’ file transfers.

Whew! My arm is feeling better already and $899.99 can take that pain out of your neck too.

If you need your angled touchscreen with a little more lean towards work than home, there’s also the TouchSmart 9300 Elite Business PC – which might be better suited to what you’re looking for. But, that one has no release date as of yet.

Are you still watching movies on your little portable DVD player or laptop? I guess it’s understandable since the Novero Madison won’t be out until later this year, but here’s a heads-up, because you cannot miss this.

The Madison is a sleek and futuristic-looking set of glasses that lets you enjoy videos anywhere, anytime, without hunching over a tiny little screen. The stylish eye-cover packs two OLED displays, giving the impression that you’re six feet away from a thirty-inch screen. The menu and visual feedback are shown on the on-screen display and controlled with buttons on the media player.

With an inbuilt memory of 2GB and the option to add an extra 32GB with a standard memory card, you’ll never be lacking memory – although the Madison won’t be responsible for you forgetting the milk on your way home; that’s what the string around your finger is for. Toss in the optional adapter and you can also watch videos from your iPhone and iPod, plus, the removable bud earphones let you enjoy the sound – while those around you enjoy the peace and quiet.

Bespectacled? No problem! The Madison lets you be cool too – featuring a frame that can hold corrective lenses that match your prescription. And it doesn’t matter if you camp out under the banner of PC or MAC, Novero has the software you need – complete with automatic updates.

The future of movie watching is now and $343 makes sure the future doesn’t pass you by.

Pokey little photo frames are fine if you’re going for desktop subtlety, but if you’ve got awesome action shots or photoshop artwork that demands attention – this giant digital photo frame will really put it on display. Called Gigantor, it features a massive 15-inches of screen space and displays your achievements without a computer.

Simply slot in a piccy-filled memory card and the Gigantor 15-Inch Digital Photo Frame will show-off your selected shot at a sharp 1024×768 resolution, plus with built-in speakers and support for 8 different media types – the Gigantor will even playback movies and music while you work.

Bordered with a gorgeous cherry wood frame and including an Infra-Red remote control, the Gigantor 15-Inch Digital Photo Frame is available now from ThinkGeek for the special sale price of $149.99 (usually $219.99).

Now, where’s the RAWRasaurus I drawed? RAWRY.jpg *click* AHHHHH!!!

If you enjoy taking in a movie on your iPod when traveling, but find the experience lacking due to the small screen size and distractions around you – this discrete personal media viewer has got you covered. Called the Only 56 Inch Widescreen Personal Movie Theater, it provides an immersive private viewing experience akin to watching a 56-inch widescreen TV from 10 feet away and importantly, unlike this unit, does so in style.

Looking like a regular pair of shades and easily connecting to any iPhone, video-capable iPod, portable DVD player or personal video game system (like a PSP), the 56 Inch Personal Movie Theater has been developed from U.S. military technology – incorporating 428 x 240 resolution LCDs that provide 24-bit true color (16 million colors) and a 27º field of view for wide images.

For optimal comfort, the LCDs can be focused individually from +2 to -5 diopters (a measurement of optical power) and tilted up to 15º, while an optional head strap ensures a snug fit for all head sizes.

Including removable headphones that produce crisp sound, iPod and A/V cables and two AA cells which provide up to 6 hours of continuous operation (or three 2-hour movies back-to-back), the Only 56 Inch Widescreen Personal Movie Theater is available now for your own personal screenings over at Hammacher Schlemmer for $249.95.

Source:
Hammacher Schlemmer

Lenovo today announced new versions of their T400s laptop and X200 Tablet, which both now feature multi-touch capacitive touchscreens in preparation for the launch of Windows 7 and its touch-capable interface in October.

The new T400s includes a Core 2 Duo SP9400 2.4GHz processor with a base configuration of 2GB RAM, a 120GB 5400rpm hard drive and the ability to recognize up to four-fingered gestures on its 14.1-inch WXGA+ display.

Although the new X200 will only recognize a two-finger salute on its smaller 12.1-inch WXGA display, it does get an update with a faster-performing Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4GHz chip plus 1GB RAM and a 160GB 5400rpm hard drive at its most basic spec. The X200 also has a new super-bright display option to improve visibility when used outdoors.

Equipped with Lenovo’s new SimpleTap control panel that offers easy fingertip access to system settings (video below), the multi-touch T400s and X200 are available right now and on sale from Lenovo starting at $1,999 and $1,654 respectively.

Press Release

Lenovo Adds Touch of Simplicity to New MultiTouch Screen ThinkPad PCs

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – September 15, 2009: Lenovo today is bringing business users a new way to work with multitouch screen technology[1] on the versatile and portable ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC and slim and powerful ThinkPad T400s laptop. Lenovo is also introducing SimpleTap, an application that brings simplicity to the multitouch screen experience.

“We see now as the right time for multitouch screens on PCs,” said Sam Dusi, vice president, worldwide ThinkPad product marketing, Lenovo. “With touch screens increasingly becoming part of more devices we use routinely and continued improvement of the technology including the integration of touch in the upcoming Windows 7 operating system, the environment for making touch part of our Tablet PC and ThinkPad T400s laptop experience couldn’t be better. We’ve also extended the touch experience with SimpleTap to make frequent hardware-based functions touch-enabled and simple.”

Lenovo also today announced a new defense against the sun for outdoor workers with a new super bright optional screen on the ThinkPad X200 Tablet.

Personalizing Productivity on the PC with Touch
Users can now interact with their ThinkPad PC in a more personal way with multitouch screen technology. Designed for highly mobile users, the optional multitouch screen ThinkPad X200 Tablet caters to individuals in fields such as sales, health care and education. Already supporting one finger touch, these users can now use two-finger touch to perform a variety of gestures, including pinching, zooming, tapping and flicking through documents, web pages and photos instead of using a mouse.

The high performance ThinkPad T400s laptop serves professionals in engineering and design. Now these users can manipulate four fingers on the ThinkPad T400s laptop’s optional multitouch screen to not only replace the mouse but transform the way they work. They can now use four fingers to manipulate objects, move images with two hands and even have another person touch the screen to collaborate simultaneously. As new multitouch applications are introduced, there will be new possibilities for using multitouch screen laptops.

Using advanced capacitive touch, the screens are sensitive and responsive to even the slightest touch of the finger. Lenovo also optimized the firmware to help compensate for slightly imprecise taps on the screen, such as when closing a window or navigating the Start menu, helping make navigation easier for Tablet users. To combat fingerprints, an anti-fingerprint coating helps keep smudges at bay and the screen clean. The multi-touch screens also allow users to enjoy ultra long battery life with up to nine hours on the ThinkPad X200 Tablet.[2]

With upcoming ThinkPad X200 Tablet models supporting the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, these mobile users can also take advantage of improved predictive text over previous operating systems, improved handwriting recognition in more languages and formula input features for math and scientific equations.

More details on the ThinkPad T400s and X200 Tablet are available at www.lenovo.com.

Adding a “Touch” of Simplicity to Touch Screens
Touch screens are designed to make interaction with a PC natural and intuitive, however, often users must switch between touch screen gestures and pressing hardware buttons. Lenovo designed SimpleTap, a ThinkVantage Technology, to enable uninterrupted use of people’s touch screens by giving them access to hardware-based functions that may be more easily accessed via touch input. For Tablet users, that means staying in tablet mode longer while on-the-go, saving time and being more productive.

To use SimpleTap, simply double tap anywhere on the screen to launch the application. A clean and efficient grid of colorful and transparent square tiles, inspired by the classic 15 Puzzle, opens on top of the work beneath and allows users to choose several hardware-based functions including: turning on or off the wireless radio, ThinkLight and microphone, previewing the camera, enabling mute, adjusting the volume or screen brightness, locking the screen or putting the PC to sleep. To exit SimpleTap, just tap once anywhere on the screen to close the grid and continue working. As a quick access interface, SimpleTap allows users to get in, perform a function and get out quickly.

Designed to be highly customizable, individuals can create their own tiles to enhance their personal productivity. For example, a sales professional could create a tile that launches a sales presentation with just the tap of a finger. A health professional could similarly create a tile that pulls up a patient’s medical information instantaneously. Or a consumer could quickly access his or her favorite website. Users can arrange the tiles however they choose by dragging and grouping them together, and designed to be fun to use, the tiles can even be flicked around the screen.

Click here to see a video demonstration of SimpleTap and here to read more about the design and inspiration behind the application.

Brightening Tablet PC for Outdoor Light
To further extend tablet computing outdoors, users can now choose a super bright outdoor screen that displays images even in direct sunlight. For field engineers, sales professionals, students and others who work outside, outdoor viewability is critical. The new optional outdoor screen on the ThinkPad X200 Tablet offers excellent viewability with a bright 400 nit screen, low 1.2 percent reflectivity and wide viewing angle. Coated with a thin anti-reflective layer, the screen provides crisp and bright images that can easily be seen indoors or outdoors. Mobile workers can also stay productive with the Tablet’s all day battery life.

A photo of the ThinkPad X200 outdoor screen compared with a standard screen can be viewed here.

Pricing and Availability[3]
The ThinkPad T400s with the multitouch screen and the ThinkPad X200 Tablet with the multitouch screen and the outdoor screen will be available starting immediately through business partners and www.lenovo.com. Pricing starts at approximately $1,999 for the ThinkPad T400s with the multitouch screen and $1,654 and $1,704, respectively, for the ThinkPad X200 Tablet with the multitouch screen and outdoor screen. SimpleTap will be available for download after October 22.

For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter and Facebook.

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building exceptionally engineered personal computers. Lenovo’s business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

[1]Multitouch does not support all applications.
[2]With an 8 cell battery. Battery life varies dependent upon user settings.
[3]Prices do not include tax or shipping and are subject to change without notice and is tied to specific terms and conditions. Reseller prices may vary. Price does not include all advertised features. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice

Sources:
Lenovo (Press Release) | T400s | X200
Via: Electronista

The Mimo Mini USB Monitor is an ultra-portable 7-inch display ideal for laptop users, which will secure you some extra screen real estate when working on-the-go. Running completely off of a single USB connection, the Mimo doesn’t require an additional video card or any extra power and is compact enough to carry in most notebook or netbook cases.

Capable of being used in either landscape or portrait mode, the Mimo’s 800 x 480 pixel display would be very helpful when trying to multitask on a tiny netbook. You can shift over your IM client, email, notepad or perhaps (for the graphic designers out there) some of your photoshop toolbars and keep them at the ready – unobstructed by other applications you’re working with.

With a weight of just 1.3 pounds, the Mimo 710 Mini USB Monitor is ready to travel. Windows-based portables and Intel Macs are fully supported (no PPC I’m afraid, but I do feel your pain) and is available now from ThinkGeek for $149.99.

Source:
ThinkGeek

Computer manufacturer Shuttle yesterday announced the official release of their X Vision X50 touchscreen all-in-one PC. The slim, versatile nettop offers up a 15.6-inch 1366×768 widescreen display within a body just 1.4-inches thick, which sips a mere 30W of power.

The X50 was previously exhibited at CES 2009 in Las Vegas and features a convertible stand that can also be used as a handle, or removed altogether for wall-mounting via the standard VESA mount. Shuttle claims the X50 starts up quickly and have included a stylus for greater precision pointing over the touchscreen interface if required. No keyboard is included, but you can attach one if you need to.

Shuttle’s X50 nettop comes equipped with an Intel dual-core Atom 330 processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB HDD, WiFi, USBx3, Gigabit ethernet, 4-in-1 card reader, 1.3 megapixel webcam and runs on Windows XP Home.

According to Shuttle, their new all-in-one PC is quiet too, emitting an “astonishingly low” 22dB. Dimensions measure 15.4″ (391.3mm) x 12.87″ (327mm) x 1.4″ (36mm) and the word is that the X50 will cost around $500 when it hits later this month, though no official pricing has yet been announced.

Sources:
Shuttle (Press Release) and Shuttle (Product Page)
Via: Electronista

LG Display yesterday announced the completed development of a 14.1-inch LCD display for laptops that is not only brighter and easier to see when used outdoors, but uses the sun as a light source to reduce power consumption and improve battery life.

The display incorporates reflective display technology we’ve seen before on Casio’s energy-efficient LCD for mobile devices and when used outside, is expected to draw a quarter of the energy required indoors.

The new LCD detects sunlight and switches to its reflective mode, which essentially absorbs light and reflects it back through the display. When indoors, it reverts back to the standard transmissive mode relying on traditional backlighting.

This latest innovation will be presented at the upcoming CES 2009 and offers us a little hope that someday we may be able to (productively) work with our lappies outdoors.

Sources:
LG Display (Press Release) via DigiTimes