By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
If you travel a lot like me, you know that the lighter something is the better. I don’t even bother carrying a data projector for that very reason, but it is a pain wrangling with various conference room projectors and hunting for the remote, or the video cable again and again. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something palm-sized that could get the job done and wow my audience in a nice cool gadget-y way? Enter the Pico projector.
The AAXA L1 is the next generation palmtop projector – boasting a new LCos (liquid crystal on silicon) technology that outclasses DLP in this form factor. What does that mean? 20-lumens 50-inch picture at 800 x 600 resolution and you don’t have to focus the imagine – the laser takes care of it for you.
Priced at $599 and going on sale February 12, 2010, the AAXA L1 has 160 MBs of internal storage, comes with a 2GB external USB memory stick for more storage goodness, boasts a 90 minute battery life, and will play video, audio and even word docs right from it’s own integrated media player. Translation: no more laptop if you dare.
Order Yours Here
Source: AAXA Technologies via Slashgear
Our Take: Not quite there yet in terms of brightness or battery life, but for wowing the crowds, this one will do the trick.
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
BEGIN ALICE RANT: Call me old fashioned, but I like my CEOs to be a little on the casual side – to a point. Bill G in his cords, Steve Jobs in his classic black mock turtleneck. But I draw the line at the ponytail. The ponytail to me signals leadership trouble, and sure enough Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz proved that today by Tweeting his resignation. As a Haiku, no less.
“Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more”
Blaming the financial meltdown for the woes at Sun is like blaming the Toyota recall on the Detroit collapse. Wonder what Larry Ellison – in his almost terrifyingly formal suits – thinks about this one?
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Twitter hype is so loud that I am sorry to add to it, but this one caught my eye. For those stuck in office cubicles unable to tweet undetected, and who want the ease of a desktop client like TweetDeck – comes Spreadtweet. Spreadtweet is a cleaver little app written by Elliott Kember that mimics an Excel spreadsheet but actually organizes live Tweets. Best of all, he support the most popular spreadsheet formats so you truly blend in. Office OSX, Office 2003, and Office 2007.
Check it Out Here
Source: Elliott Kember.com via Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter posting (of course)
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
No matter what people think, Google is not an unstoppable force in advertising and search. Microsoft proved it today by inking a deal with the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, becoming their exclusive third-party provider of contextual and paid search advertising.
This means Microsoft is providing ads for not just The Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com, AllThingsD.com as well as others. Their ad program will get exposure to 20 million unique users and over 330 million page views per month.
In a press release, Brian McAndrews, senior vice president, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft said:
“This deal is a significant win for Microsoft for two key reasons. First, it makes the extended Microsoft advertising network the premier destination for advertisers interested in reaching financially minded users, as it complements our offering in this vertical through MSN Money and other syndication partners. Second, this deal is a strong indicator that we’re gaining significant traction with our advertising platform. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network is one of the largest financial services publishers in a very dynamic vertical segment, and we’re delighted to add it to our portfolio.”
Contextual ads will begin appearing on the WSJ Digital Network in February. No information has been given on paid search advertising.
Unlike recent deals Microsoft signed with Viacom (Dec.) and Edgar Online (this month) which use the Atlas technology acquired as part of Microsoft’s Aquantive purchase, the WSJ is using Microsoft’s own AdCenter product.
We Say: Including those two deals, as well as the expanded ad-offering at Facebook in October, Microsoft is on a roll. Not that Google is hurting, mind you.
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Sometimes the real surprising things in life come in small packages. Particularly when they combine innovation, usefulness and amazing value for money.
I’m talking about the Norhtec Gecko Edubook. This is a netbook aimed at a specific market: the same market as the OLPC which aims to bring a laptop to every child in the developing world.
While that is a laudable goal and an immense market by itself, I think the market for this little beauty is even bigger!
I can feel a big review coming on which is sort of ridiculous given the low cost of this product but there is so much to tell about the Edubook which has gotten me excited all right, so hang on!
Read the review on DigitalReviews.net here.
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
There’s no denying it: Rugged, wearable video cameras are cool.
As for rugged, wearable High Definition video cameras, well that’s just a whole new level of cool.
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
I don’t know how much designers are paid these days but Jabra could not pay the guy who designed the Halo enough for having done a sterling job on this stereo Bluetooth headset! Seldom have I seen a product where form and function so harmoniously work together to present a very pleasing product.
Excitement builds as I unbox the Jabra Halo. With our previous experiences in this department we are a little bit anxious: how good is the quality of the sound and how well does its Bluetooth connection function beyond a couple of metres?
Let’s find out here!
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
4iThumbs has released a tactile keyboard overlay that fits on top of your iPhone screen. It provides tactile feedback to those of us who, despite our best efforts, just can’t get typing on a touch screen down as much as we might something with a QWERTY keyboard that we can feel.
I’ve always said, as morbid as it might be, that someone buried in a major earthquake in the SF Bay Area would be SOL in the event of being buried in rubble, if he couldn’t see his iPhone’s screen. Unlike a QWERTY keyboard on say, a BlackBerry, you can’t feel the keys on an iPhone and thus won’t be able to dial, unless you can manage to voice dial on an iPhone 3GS (not iPhone or iPhone 3G).
On the other hand, the 4iThumbs product (portrait mode $14.95 or landscape mode $16.95, $19.95 for both) fits right on top of your on-screen iPhone keyboard (assume you install it correctly); it can be easily removed and reportedly doesn’t interfere with the touch screen of the iPhone.
According to the inventor, Jery Rosengarten, “4iThumbs is an iPhone typing aid that helps users increase typing speed and accuracy. Whether you choose to keep the attachment or use it like training wheels, the beauty of this product is that it maintains the sleek look of the device while enhancing usability and offers a bridge for those who want an iPhone but avoid it because they need tactile feedback to type quickly.”
My only question is will the product work through the case I use, which has a full glass front that’s touch through. I have asked for samples and will report back.
Watch videos that detail the installation and use of the product:
