Control your mouse with your voice

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand using the touch pad on my laptop. One time I forgot my mouse, and I had to use it. I almost went crazy that day. The problem with using a traditional mouse is that we’ve been told that continued use will lead to repeated wrist syndrome.

Fortunately, people at the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) are developing a vocally controlled mouse, or a vocal joystick. It is designed for people with disabilities, and I’ve included a You Tube video demonstrating it for a patient with a spinal disorder, available after the jump.

So how does one operate the vocally controlled mouse? Saying “ahh” will cause the cursor to zip to the northeast corner of the computer screen, and saying “ohh” sends it to the southeast corner. For specific directions, other vowel sounds are needed.

It turns out the vocally controlled mouse has a very simple setup. It is software connected to a microphone that can recognize the vowel sounds needed for motion. The UW developers are also working on using this voice recognition technology on robotic arms.

No word if this technology will be developed for the casual computer user, whether handicapped or non-handicapped, but you can’t deny that this could change a lot of things.

The USB Flower Lamp

With the weather slowly cooling off, soon all of the flowers will die, at least the ones outdoors. Leaving most of us with nothing but dead plants and very cold wet snow. Well with all the plants dead, you might end up missing some of the pretty flowers. Now you can pick up a glowing USB flower that will stay in bloom year round. Even when outside it is ice cold and everything looks gray and white. Yes, I’m just thrilled that winter will be here soon. So thrilled I think I’ll just hibernate all winter and never go outside, seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Well, just surround your desk with these cute little USB flowers and not only will you have plenty of task lighting, but you’ll never get the winter blues. The lamp comes in three different colors, red, blue and orange. The lamp has eight bright LEDs built-in and the flower stem itself can adjust to give you lighting where you need it. You can also power it by using 3 AA batteries instead of plugging it into your USB port. The flower will cost you $15 from Gadget4all.

The 37.5 Megapixel Leica S2

If you like your images big and shiny, we’ve got something for you. Leica has announced a brand new autofocus DSLR system that has a 30×45mm sensor. That is approximately 56% larger than the current 35mm full frame sensor.

The Leica S-2, has a weatherproof, average SLR-sized body with a 37.5 megapixel CCD sensor. Accompanying the new body will be nine new lenses, consisting of 24mm ultrawide, 30mm tilt-and-shift, 35mm wide, 70mm standard, 30-90mm standard zoom, 100mm short tele, 120mm macro, 180mm telephoto, and 350mm telephoto optics (all of which will apparently incorporate leaf shutters). The resulting picture will be in the 3:2 aspect ratio.

The S-System will use an advanced new dual shutter, with an in-body focal plane shutter for fast lenses and in-lens leaf shutters for high flash sync speed.

There is no info about the price, but since it’s Leica, we can expect premium price that may a little beyond our budget.

BlackBerry Storm - Touchscreen

The BlackBerry Storm is RIM’s long awaited answer to Apple’s iPhone. It is a touchscreen smartphone, and it is RIM’s first venture into the touchscreen market. Apple has already released their second generation iPhone while RIM and other major handset makers like Nokia are barely getting their feet wet with touchscreen devices.

That puts some pressure on this BlackBerry to perform up to par with the existing touchscreen phones on the market, especially considering that RIM still has a substantial share of the smartphone market.

From what I have seen so far, it seems like this phone could be quite a contender. The phone features a 3.2″ tactile-feedback touchscreen that sends subtle signals to your finger to let you know that it has received your input.

It has built in GPS navigation and a 3.2 Megapixel camera with video recording capabilities.

It also comes with some useful apps pre-installed including AIM and Facebook.

The announcement of the Storm comes after the recent announcement of the competing T-Mobile G1. The phone will be available from Verizon Wireless in the US.

The BlackBerry Storm Specs

• Wireless email
• Organizer
• Browser
• Phone
• Camera (3.2 MP)
• Video Recording
• BlackBerry® Maps
• Media Player
• Built-in GPS
• Corporate data access
• SMS
• MMS

Dimensions and Weight

• Length: 4.43″
• Width: 2.45″
• Depth: 0.55″
• Weight: 5.5 ounces

Data Input / Navigation

• Touch Screen Navigation, with ClickThrough for user selection
• On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape

Audio Input/Output

• 3.5mm stereo headset capable
• Integrated earpiece/ microphone
• Built-in speakerphone
• Mono/stereo headset, hands-free, phone book access profile and serial port profile supported (Bluetooth® technology)

File Compatibility

• Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
• Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Find out more from the official BlackBerry Storm website here.

The Projector Phone by ChinaVasion

Ah, yes, Chinavasion–maker of all that is weird and wonderful. They’ve outdone themselves this time. Their new Tri-Band GSM/GPRS touchscreen cell phone has something every gadgeteer dreams of: a built in projector!

The tri-band means it can be used with more providers than most phones. It can accept three different bandwidths: 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz. Those three are used by over 100 countries world wide. It has a touchscreen, WAP, bluetooth and a battery that gives you extra long talk time between charges. It even has an open SIM card slot.

The cell phone has a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, image view, a video recorder and a rich media environment messaging system. The internal 1GB micro SD card gives you plenty of room to listen to music, take pictures and make movies. ChinaVasion expects to have it in stock by the holiday season.

SilverStone RAVEN Gaming Mouse

SilverStone RAVEN gaming mouse have several cool features to spoiled their user. One of visual attraction of RAVEN is the cool blue illumination scroll at the side which acts as a 3D Flipper for Windows XP and Vista.

SilverStone RAVEN also have a visual OLED to let user know how sensitive (DPI) their mouse is! You can directly set the sensitivity on the fly without using any additional software since SilverStone equipped with 2 buttons with 100 DPI increment per click. Every changes would be displayed directly on the OLED 128×32 Display. Two mode are available, one for general use and the other is for gaming usage.

The body itself is made of High-Strength Plastic with carbon fiber surfacing Teflon feet. It looks pretty comfortable to hold since RAVEN is wide enough to support our hand. But the that scroll for 3D Flip might annoy some user because they can’t rest their thumb properly at the side of the mouse!

There are up to 11 buttons, including scroll wheels available for customization through the included SilverStone software. The sensor is made from Philips PLN2030 twin-eye laser. You can enjoy up to 3,200 DPI (dot-per-inch) resolution for a better gaming experience.

More detail information is available at SilverstoneTek.com

UFO Teapot - enjoy your tea break with alien

This UFO teapot catches my eyes is simply because of it’s got an alien sitting on top. It should be an overweight alien as the UFO can’t lift off. “The Alien driving the ship can’t seem to make up his mind. One side if his head is blue and the other is silvery creme.

Luminglas Plasma Light 12” Square Panel Blue Color

Luminglas™ plasma disk lights are blend of kinetic electricity and light. Sealed between sheets of solid glass electricity comes alive in a frenzy of vivid blue color. This square cubed (12" x 12") shaped Luminglas™ sculpture is one cool light. Luminglas™ lights are works of art and perfect for your high tech décor or outer-space themed lighting.

Also known as “Plasma Disks”, these lights are often featured in science fiction movies as special effect lighting.

• 12” x 12" Square Panel Shaped Luminglas™
• Blue Color
• Adjustable Display Stand
• Sound Activated Mode (reacts to voice or music)
• Continuous Mode Operation

Price $54.99 at Store

Samsung’s two new phones have dual screens

Cellular phones with two screens aren’t really new. The LG Voyager sports a touch screen on the inside and unfolds horizontally for another non-touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard.

According to my source, Samsung has recently unveiled “the very first dual 2.2 inch screen cellular phones”, the SCH-W570 and SPH-W5700. I believe that I already mentioned the LG Voyager, which I’m guessing is not a dual 2.2 inch screen cellular phone. I’m wondering if Samsung is using some interesting wording here so they company can say they have the first of something. Something that actually exists already.

The purpose of the dual screens is to replace the traditional OLED on front. The external face will allow access to music videos, mail, plus any and all data stored on the cellular phone. Of course, having two screens will drain the battery life a little more, which is the reason why many cellular phones have an OLED on the front in the first place.

These two phones are clamshell in design, and, when flipped open, will display a cellular phone user interface. Three is apparently a magic number with the SCH-W570 and SPH-W5700. These two phones are equipped with 3 Megapixel cameras, and are 3G compatible.

Since the SCH-W570 and SPH-W5700 have only just been unveiled, they are not on the market as yet, but will be very soon.

Source

iPhone 3G Telescope

You might remember a similar gadget which was released for the original iPhone. That’s old news. The new big boy in town is the iPhone 3G, so of course we’re all going to need a little update. While the iPhone 3G has been reported as having various networking snags, the new model continues to sell well. Even better than expected. So odds are that a nice chunk of you have upgraded.

If you had the iPhone Telescope for your original iPhone and loved using it to see clear images of objects in the distance, then the iPhone 3G Telescope is what you need for the upgraded Apple mobile phone. The 6x scope allows for an extra boost of sight-seeing juice with your iPhone 3G’s camera.

The iPhone 3G Telescope is optimized for the newer phone’s camera, complete with wide-angle shots, color reduction for a clearer shot, and an all-around effective way of curing your iPhone’s near-sightedness. The Telescope package even includes a neck strap so you can wear your iPhone like a traditional photographer.

The iPhone 3G Telescope seems like an awesome tool for members of the paparazzi and bird watchers who are in need of a speedy (supposedly) 3G network. While it might not be powerful enough to peer into the far reaches of the night sky, it sure can invade someone’s privacy pretty well. You can get your own from Brando for $19.

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