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Sci-tech

Oki Electric to Boost Your Handheld's Audio

Just when we thought Samsung was the only one miniaturising handhelds, Oki Electric is stepping up to the plate with a tiny chip that incorporates a digital audio converter, a speaker amp, and 3D surround functionality. The chip is intended to improve sound quality in handhelds like cell phones and GPS navigators. Definitely a welcome addition, though shipments of the chip won't start for at least six months.

Teleglass Getting Closer

The Arisawa Teleglass is a mobile video headset solution that is not a headset at all, but a clip-on LCD display that can hook to your coolest pair of wraparound glasses. The .24 inch LCD display simulates a 21 inch display from 1 metre. So while the viewing area isn't huge, one of your eyes can monitor for incoming punches to the face. We're not entirely certain of what sort of video inputs will work, but the Teleglass does require you to carry an iPod-sized box to function. At about $429, it seems a little bit too much but cool nonetheless.

Solar and Wind Powered Electric Car

Venturi, makers of beautiful electric vehicles like the Fetish and the Astrolab are coming out with an electric car that we can afford at $30,000, and that will actually be for sale as soon as June 2007. It can be powered by either its photovoltaics, or the wind through a "force wheel". Too bad it looks like a Model-T golf cart. The car runs off a 22HP engine, with primary power coming from being plugged in, or the 2.5 square metres of roof panel. It'll go a little less than 100 miles at 50MPH, per charge.

Robots Entitled to the Same Rights as Humans in the Future?

The wheels are in motion to give robots the same rights that people currently enjoy. Huh? A recent inquiry by the British government suggests that within the next 20 to 50 years robots will be intelligent enough to warrant many of the same rights and benefits that us mere mortals now have. Robots would be expected to be given some sort of robot health care, robot affordable housing and robot rehab clinics, something previously limited to Miss USA. The report says that robots will also soon be able to reproduce on their own. It's not all a free ride for our robot friends, though, as they'll be expected to pay taxes and serve in the military. I look forward to seeing an all-robot battalion battle the forces of another country's all-robot battalion. Now, personally I love robots. But do I think that robots should be given actual legal rights? Do you? Wasn't this issue confronted in the film Blade Runner?

A-DATA Info SD Card

Debuting at CES 2007 in early January is the world's first SD card that comes loaded with bi-stable display technology. Bi-stable is a fancy way of saying the SD card has a very small display integrated into the card that does not require additional power sources to function. The display will show the available space on the card and name of the card. With so many gadgets using SD, it is hard to juggle them all. The Info SD won the innovations award for computer accessories at CES 2007.

Silent Knight Keeps Your CPU from Breaking a Sweat

It may look like some sort of torture device for your PC, but Asus' Silent Knight is actually an all-copper cooler designed to keep your CPU from overheating. The cooler supports Intel's Core 2 Duo, Pentium D, and Pentium 4 family of processors as well as AMD's Athlon 64-FX and Sempron CPUs, which makes it a handy component for over-clockers who like pushing their processors to the max.

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

Source: Gizmodo Online