Monitoring Calls Made Easier
CARDO Systems' Scala-750 looks like just another Bluetooth headset. This one, however, comes with a portable LCD with a 30-foot range that lets you screen calls without having to pull your handset out of your pocket or bag. For those who don't like having their headset permanently implanted in their ear, there is an accompanying carrying pouch, onto which the LCD can be clipped. The unit also features one-touch multi-pairing capability, noise cancellations and a buzzing locator for when you misplace it.

Water-resistant keyboards
A model pours a cup of water over the world's first fully water-resistant keyboard of the "Let's note CF-Y5" notebook PC from Japanese electronics giant Matsushita Electric. The Let's note CF-Y5 is equipped with an Intel's core-duo processor, a 14.1-inch LCD display and will be put on sale from mid May at an estimated price of 2,260 USD.

Taste the Future
Soldiers of the future may find their way around the battlefield by taste, thanks to a new technology called a Brain Port. The system will receive input from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar, infrared, and other sensors, and route them to the brain through the tongue. Strange as it sounds, the Brain Port has successfully led to doorways and helped them catch balls. It's only a matter of time before the system can be reduced to a size that can be effectively carried into battle. But really, we're more intrigued by the possibilities the Brain Port may hold for blind civilians.

First bald eagle chick in 50 years hatches
After years trying to bring bald eagles back to the Channel Islands, wildlife experts announced the first unaided hatching in more than 50 years. The chick hatched on Santa Cruz Island, the largest in the eight-island chain. A pair of adult eagles, born in captivity but raised on Santa Catalina Island, relocated to Santa Cruz Island last year and established a nest early this year. Biologists are now waiting for the parents to feed the unnamed chick. After about eight weeks, scientists will make contact with the chick, fitting it with an electronic transmitter and tagging it for future identification. The hatching comes during the fifth and final year of the $3.2 million restoration programme overseen by the National Park Service. Since the late 1940s, bald eagles have been unable to hatch on the Channel Islands because their eggs contain high levels of toxic fire-retardant PCB and the banned pesticide DDT. Money for the eagle restoration project came from a $140 million settlement paid by Montrose Chemical Co., other chemical companies and about 100 municipalities.

Putting the "Mobile" in Mobile Office
For most of us, the concept of a mobile office means lugging your laptop and cell phone down the corner café and staking out a table near the john. But British designer James Mower has taken the idea a bit more literally. His design looks more like a glass-enclosed horse trailer, outfitted with electricity, wireless Internet, a bathroom and an elevator (the office expands to two stories with the flick of a switch). There's no hiding from those tedious two-hour meetings though; the mobile office also includes a GPS so your clients, co-workers, and, yes, your boss, always know where you are.

The Self Inflating Flash Drive
Finally a USB flash drive that isn't boasting to be the biggest in capacity or the smallest in physical dimensions. The flashbag is a flash drive with a difference as it inflates to show how full it is. It's a cool idea, simply plug the drive into your PC, copying files over and watch the bag inflate. The flashbag would stay inflated after being unplugged, providing an instant indication of how full the drive is. At the moment the flashbag is just a concept product but it would be cool if a company actually released them.

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

Source: AFP, Wired and Webindia123

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