Camera Phones Plaza

If you were wondering what watch designers are doing these days, here are some interesting timepieces straight form Nicolas Lehotzky.

The designer explains that he senses there will soon be a shift in the market away from the more traditional look towards more creative shapes for watches. That’s why he came up with a series of three concepts which includes the Caterpillar, Brembo and SRAM watches.

Lehotzky's Caterpillar watch, the one you can see pictured above, was inspired by the bulldozer track and extends this principle into a dial-free watch in which a fabric belt with the hour numbers on it is slowly rotated around the entire wrist, with the current hour presented on a raised platform.

Gizmag tells us that the SRAM watch is built from components that mimic bicycle parts. A fixed block reminiscent of a derailleur drives a chain that slowly turns a chain ring inside a fixed ring. The timeis indicated by numbering on the chain ring.

The Brembo watch is pretty self-explanatory. The band is made of molded rubber in the shape of a performance car tyre, and the time is indicated through numbers on an aluminum ventilated brake disc that's driven from within a unit shaped to represent a Brembo brake caliper.

This is the new Palm Treo phone model launched at Sprint, running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, and optimized for the business sector. Palm presents it as is most business-friendly phone featuring high-speed transfers via Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network based on the EV-DO Rev. A technology, Wi-Fi module and GPS with maps, turn-by-turn directions via Sprint Navigation, and point-of-interest searches for public places. To find specific restaurants or stores in the near proximity you’d have to access the Today Screen, which also includes data like call, text, email, and contact’s maps.

Microsoft Exchange Server is a useful service for business applications, increasing work productivity on the go with professional email, contacts, calendars and others. Users can browse the web on Internet Explorer Mobile and send email attachments like PowerPoint or PDFs at up to 3.1 Mbps speeds. In addition, the smartphone provides access to the secure Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 to connect to the corporate network via mobile VPN.
The new Palm Treo 800w bar cell phone has a QWERTY keyboard, a 65K-color TFT transflective display with touch-sensitivity and a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels, 5-way navigation, and one-touch buttons for direct access to the main applications such as Wi-Fi.



“Palm is adding a unique stamp to the Windows Mobile experience with the Treo 800w,” said Stephane Maes, vice president, product marketing, Palm. “It’s an easy-to-use feature-packed smartphone that will keep users happy, empowered and productive.”

Other features include voice mail and preset status settings, the latter being used to set messages like “I’m in a meeting” and let your colleagues know when you will be back and available for calls.

“Sprint recognizes that businesses must stay productive and competitive with quick, always-accessible information and assistance for their own customers,” said Michael Hahn, vice president of device operations for Sprint. “With instant access to email, messaging services and the web on the nation’s largest Mobile Broadband Network, Sprint provides its customers the mobile tools they need to increase productivity and improve competitiveness now.”

Sprint also provides live TV, video-on-demand, 50 live channels, 3D moving navigation maps, Pocket Express access for updates about the latest news, sports, weather, money and movie information, and Sprint IM with access to Yahoo! Messenger, AOL AIM and MSN Messenger.
Inside, the new Palm Treo phone model integrates 170MB memory for the user and 128MB for applications, the Qualcomm MSM6800A chipset, A-GPS, built-in 2MP camera with 2x digital zoom and video recording, support for up to 8GB storage capacity, microUSB, and Bluetooth 2.0 with the following profiles: General Access Profile, General Object Exchange Profile, Serial Port Profile, Hands Free Profile, ActiveSync, Phonebook Access Profile, Basic Printing Profile, and stereo audio streaming via A2DP, GAVDP and AVRCP.
It powers from a 1150 mAh Li-Ion battery to offer up to 4.5 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby.
The handset measures 2.28 x 4.41 x 0.73 inches at 5 ounces.



Palm Treo 800w will be available at a price of $250 with a Sprint 2-year contract or $600 if you get it directly from Palm.

Maybe you can’t afford a 100” LCD or plasma screen for your living room, let alone other rooms in the house, including the pool and other outdoor dependencies. In fact, you don’t need an LCD or plasma screen by the pool, you just need the Cinebox system from Open Air Cinema.

Dvice informs that the Cinebox system from Open Air Cinema lets you host a movie night in your backyard, with a 9 or 10 foot screen that inflates in a couple of minutes. You can get packages that include the projector, DVD player, powered speakers, and screen with inflation pump for around $1,500, but if you already have a home cinema system and only need the inflatable screen, you can get one for about $400. Open Air Cinema even offer rentals if you don't plan to make backyard movie night into a regular neighborhood deal.

The inflatable screen seems like a pretty need idea, especially when you know it’s waterproof and a bit larger than the usual projection surface. It even floats on the water so you could watch movies while lying in the water. Now you can show off some gaming skills to your neighbors, directly from your backyard.

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Videophones were invented in 1955 by Filipino engineer Gregorio Y. Zara, and unlike traditional telephones that can send and receive only sound, they can send and receive audio and video data in both directions. The first picture phone was known as a photo phone signal separator network, but the first model available for the public appeared in 1970 in the United States. These are already very popular and used in homes as well as business offices, and one example is the new WorldGate Communications’ Ojo videophone Pro, released a few days ago, and optimized for multi-party conferencing with high resolution and expanded video messaging capability.

"We have several years of experience in the personal video phone market, and we've been listening to customers tell us their needs in the business market," said Hal Krisbergh, CEO and Chairman, WorldGate Communications, Inc. "We have designed this product at a price point and with features targeted to meet the needs of most business customers. The business market is quite large, and with today's spiraling travel costs and the need for more efficient employee time management, this product will bring Ojo's affordable, high-quality face-to-face visits and interaction to the business world."

This new Internet video phone model is designed for business users and is compatible with other video conferencing systems, featuring CIF resolution, interoperability with other video phones, interoperability with standard PC soft clients, advanced firewall, remote configuration and management support, and the capability to make video calls inside and outside the company's internal telecommunications networks.
Its main functions are: simple user interface, phone book, speed dial, video privacy, picture-based caller ID, headset jack for audio privacy, and VoIP capabilities for sending compressed digital audio over the Internet.

Ojo video phone Pro will be released in September at a starting price of $700.

AOC was a pretty decent CRT monitor maker several years ago, but once the CRT technology became obsolete and everybody moved to LCDs, AOC didn’t manage to provide something truly competitive. As of recently, the company miraculously came to life and came up with the HD3 Display 2230Fm. This is a multi-functional high definition platform that is an HD monitor, HDTV, digital picture frame and Multi-media player all rolled into a light, sleek 22" frame.

"While consumers are using cell phones for MP3 players, internet browsers, TVs, navigation devices, and phones, AOC determined that consumers deserved a display that would act as more than just an HD monitor or TV, so we developed HD3," said Robert Velez, Marketing Manager of AOC. "We're very excited to be the first to bring HD3 technology to the market with the 2230Fm. AOC has taken over 40 years of display manufacturing experience to create this new way for consumers to enjoy a wide array of video options with a built in media player, and top-level performance regardless of whether it's being used as an HD TV, monitor or Digital picture frame," added Velez.

The 2230Fmmonitor features interesting specs, including a 20,000 to 1 contrast ratio, 2ms. ultra-fast response time, a 4-in-1 memory card reader and an USB 2.0 hub. The monitor can easily read jpg, bmp, png, gif, and tiff image files.

Here are the other highlights:

• 720p through 1080p HD Compatible
• Digital Input DVI-D & HDMI with HDCP
• Low profile integrated speakers
• Glare screen – provides higher color saturation
• Plug & Play DDC/2B, DDC/CI
• PC/Windows, Mac® Equipped With Analog VGA D-sub or DVI Port
• Easy-to-use navigation
• 360-degree glossy piano-black finish
• Designer back cover

The 2230Fm HD3 Display will be available starting August and will feature an MSRP of $399.99.