By Sean Fisher
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

———-
Quick Alice Aside: We have come full circle. USB drives were first called “keychain drives” probably after the success of the Mobile Speedpass and those little mini grocery store ATM cards you could hang on your keychain instead of bulking your your wallet.. Problem was, with so much junk on the key ring, the USB keychain drive was quickly renamed the Thumbdrive in some circles. Today marks the day that you can have a keychain drive and actual car key all in one- talk about bizarrely useful. Just don’t try and charge your Blackberry in your USB -er ignition port.
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Who needs keys when you can start your car with a flash drive? One of Mazda’s newest prototypes does exactly that by replacing the traditional key-based ignition with a USB flash drive. Whats more, the drive also has the more conventional flash drive functionality of transferring files (such as music) to the car’s hard drive.

Mazda states that they are aiming for young, tech-savvy demographic here. It looks like they are betting that younger buyers will not be as attached to the more tradition type of car key that more experienced buyers are used to. As long as Mazda keeps the “Sassou” within the price range of younger car consumers, this could work not only in Asia, but possibly even North America as well. Source: Everything USB

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–High Tech Water Bras
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By Colbert Low
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Water bra bikinis could be the next fashion rage. Heck ! Why not just add in your favorite Diet Coke or Gatorade for those hot summer days. It is however not recommended to let your fishes swim in them as they could die from a heart attack.

OK. When you’re out for a swim and you get thirsty, what do you do ? Do you drink some sea water or the water from the swimming pool ? Admit it. Some people do. Now you don’t have to. You can store some refreshing mineral water in your bra. Is that cool or not ? I think the “F” cup bra sizes should be sufficient for me. And you can forget about storing water in your G-string.

High Tech Water Bras source

By Burak Bayburtlu
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Quickly after Hermione’s mega-leak, some people leaks another hi-tech mobile phone all over the web! This is time it’s a Nokia and it looks like a “cut” version of Nokia N70. Sources tell us that it’s going to be called “Nokia N71″. Since nothing is clear about this phone but this naming sounds logical, just like Nokia 6680/6681 duo.

Geek-view: We love Nokia and especially their Series 60 phones but where’s the “mega-touchscreen-multimedia-phone” we’ve all been waiting for? Stop rolling out Series 60 devices and concentrate on phones like Nokia 7710 at once!

Source: GSMSpain

by: Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

So, you’ve been looking at the Mac Mini for a while but you’re not sure if you really want one. Well, here’s your chance to actually test drive a Mac Mini for 30 days!

Trying to drum up business for themselves, Apple has offered up their three Mac Mini models for a mass test drive betting that you will love it so much that you’ll want to keep your test drive unit.

What’s the trick? Well you do need to first purchase a new Mac Mini from the Apple Store Online as well as a Keyboard and Mouse (how about their new Mighty Mouse). If you don’t love it, you can call Apple within 30 days of your order and they will arrange a full refund for the Mac Mini, Keyboard and Mouse with no restocking fees but it looks like you must pay return shipping. Also, you must purchase a pre-configured Mac Mini and you cannot customize the unit. As always, you should check out Apple’s terms and conditions regarding the Test Drive at the bottom of Apple’s page.

Apple’s normal refund policy states that you must request a refund within 14 days and you will pay a 10% open box fee. This looks like as good of time as ever to test out an Apple Mac Mini.

The power of Jobs compels you. The power of Jobs compels you. The power of Jobs compels you… or does it? Let us know!

[Chief Gizmateer Note]: It’s official… Apple has pulled the whole Test Drive a Mac Mini thing. Anyone know what happened?

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

It went by the code name Hermione and here’s what we know thanks to our newest contributor Burak Bayburtlu. He has been hot on the trail of the upcoming Hermione (code name for Sony’s P950i Smartphone) and he turned up a ton of info. This is one of the first pictures.

Final production colour will not be gold, but more likely dark grey.
• Info on the back of the phone: It seems it resembles the W800.
Note: Info on the back is still very scarce and unconfirmed.
• The first spy photos in the web !!
• P950i seems to be the final name
• Wi-Fi is confirmed
Note: Got some reports that Wi-Fi works on some prototypes, but keep in mind support for Wi-Fi is still a rumour until SE confirms it !
• Introduction to market is in November. Availability on the market is week 6 (February 2006)
Coincidence or not, it’s during the 3GSM World Congress

Prototype name:
SonyEricsson Hermione
Designation:
P950i

SPECIFICATIONS
More

by Chief Gadgeteer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

The Parnell family of Sheffield, England were lucky enough to be selected to test-drive a new hi-tech house that is loaded with gadgets. Inside this house, they have amenities such as a wireless network, self-cleaning windows, underfloor heating and seal-sealing fire doors. As part of the deal, the Parnells each have to wear an electronic ID bracelet so that the developers can track what rooms and gadgets they use and how often. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. Of course, some of the gadgets/cutting-edge nicities could have been puchased after the fact, but most had to be built into the house to begin with, otherwise you’re looking at some serious renovation. This adds $$$ to the cost, and this is what the developer is putting to the test.

As has been the case throughout the last century of technological innovation, older technologies become more commonplace as time goes by. I see this occurring with home construction as well. Today’s modern homes routinely contain dishwashers, microwaves, ovens with timers and high-efficiency refridgerators, none of which could be easily found 50 years ago. It is just a matter of time before the technologies found in Project Life’s test home become commonplace as well.

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By David Ponce
Contributing Writer RealtechNews

A few days ago, we broke the story that the Heliodisplay was finally being produced and sold. The news took the geek world by storm. For those of you who haven’t heard, the Heliodisplay is an interactive tactile 3D display that projects a floating image in the air, a little in the same way as R2D2’s projector.

After the dust settled, quite a few questions were left unanswered. In a bid to do some real journalism, we contacted IO2Techonolgy and managed to schedule 15 minutes with Chad Dyner, the creator of the Heliodisplay. So what follows inside is a transcript of all the pertinent parts of the phone interview. You’ll read about the inspiration behind the invention, classified technology, military applications and yes… even prices.

David Ponce: So let me start by congratulating you for finally turning what had seemed like a dream for all these years into reality. When we broke the story, a few days ago, it was picked up by just about everybody and then you guys were Slashdotted to death. Your site was down for a while… how bad was it?

Well, we actually had to purchase 1.2 Terabytes of bandwidth because of all of this.

Read the Complete Interview Here (Source: OhGizmo)

By Jill Fehrenbacher
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

For the past century or so, advances in technology have gradually erased physical exertion from our lives. Unlike our ancestors who had to walk to get from one place to another – we drive our cars everywhere, take elevators instead of stairs, play indoors instead of outside, and hire other people to do our physically intensive house and yard work. Because of this, Americans are getting fatter and fatter, statistically speaking. According to a recent study, nearly two thirds of Americans are now overweight, with 30% considered dangerously obese.

Video game playing is often blamed for problems with obesity in children. While playing video games might be mentally stimulating, sitting motionless for hours is simply not good for your body. If you are someone who just can’t bear pull yourself away from fragging aliens for an hour to hit the gym, this new NeXfit exercise bike may be just the thing you need.

The high-tech NeXfit exercise bike hooks up to your XBox, Playstation, or the Internet, incorporating game controls into the handlebar. It has a force feedback system, which delivers 16 different shock levels based on explosions and collisions. And, since this is an exercise machine, it comes with an online health manager, which accumulates user’s exercise records after each game for accurate health management.

So stop making excuses and get off that couch!

There are similar products to this already on the market, including the TACX’s Fortius trainer, which actually generates electrical power from your physical exertion, and sends it back to the mains.

Powergrid Fitness also makes a treadmill which can be hooked up to videogames.

Via Inhabitat