By Andrew Liszewski

At the International Security Conference in Las Vegas last week, Seoul Commtech, a division of Samsung, showed off the company’s EZON SHS-1210 digital door lock. Instead of using physical buttons for the individual numbers, the SHS-1210 features a touch sensitive display integrated into special black tempered glass. So the numbers are only visible after the user has pressed a control button which activates a backlight. For added security the SHS-1210 is also made from aluminum alloy to enhance its strength, has built-in fire detection and is even able to withstand electric shocks up to 30,000 volts.

[ AVING.net - Seoul Commtech to present its digital door lock ' EZON (SHS-1210)' ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This morning A-DATA announced their new X25-M series SSDs that are actually co-logo’d with Intel which from what I can tell means the drives have been tested on the latest Intel-based laptops and workstations, and actually feature Intel Multi-Level Cell NAND flash memory. According to A-DATA, the X25-M series are currently the world’s fastest SATA 2.5-inch SSD drives with read speeds up to 250MB/sec and write speeds up to 70MB/sec with only an 85 microsecond read latency. The new drives are available in 80 or 160GB capacities, though I couldn’t find any pricing information in their press release.

[ A-DATA Technology ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Having trouble catching your Z’s at night? The Little Sleep Machine is a compact sound player that comes preloaded with 3 hours worth of soothing music that also happens to be embedded with natural delta frequencies. So in addition to drowning out noises that might be keeping you awake, your brainwaves will apparently “lock” onto those delta waves, putting you into a deep and restful sleep. It’s powered by a single AAA battery that will probably keep this thing running for quite a while, and you can pick one up from Montgomery Ward for just $34.95.

[ Little Sleep Machine ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This isn’t the first time the General has teamed up with Segway, a few years ago the company showed off their Saturn Flextreme Plug-in Concept which featured a couple of the personal transport devices cleverly stowed in the back. But this time around the two companies have come up with a mostly new concept called the P.U.M.A. or Personal Urban an Accessibility Project.

Designed for urban city centers, where traffic makes things crowded and congested, the P.U.M.A. is basically a sit-down version of the Segway that can actually carry two or more passengers (where do the ‘more’ sit?) with a top speed of 35mph and a range of 35 miles. It’s also got vehicle-to-vehicle communications and autonomous driving and parking functions which is no doubt meant to increase the safety factor if we eventually end up with these things zipping around our cities. Not surprisingly the P.U.M.A. is still in the experimental phase right now, but you can check it out in person at the NY Auto Show this week.

[ Autoblog - GM and Segway working on new balancing two-wheeler P.U.M.A. project ]

By Evan Ackerman

It’s a sad fact: you can’t get cell phone reception everywhere. I can personally attest that you can’t get it here, or here, and especially not here. If you’re a very busy and important person like I am, this could be a real problem, but Elektrobit has the solution. Their “Satellite-Terrestrial Device” can talk to quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band WCDMA/HSPA, as well as 2G/3G networks, WiFi, and (for what it’s worth) Bluetooth. On top of all that, it also connects with TerreStar‘s S-Band satellite network, which should let you make and receive calls just about anywhere you can see the sky.

The phone runs Windows Mobile and be capable of at least email (if not internet) and has a full keyboard and a touchscreen, along with a 3 mp autofocusing camera, 100 mb of internal memory, and a MicroSD slot. Oh, and GPS. The fantasy is of course having a mobile device that hops seamlessly from network to network to satellite when necessary, and can optimize itself for either bandwidth or cost. Speaking of, there’s no info on the cost of the unit, although it’s probably safe to assume that if you’re making international and satellite phone calls, the cost of the phone itself isn’t going to be that significant.

[ Elektrobit ] VIA [ TechFresh ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I get my lifeline to the interwebs through Comcast, which isn’t something I’m always happy with. The first year that I had them was filled with random 8-10 hour periods of downtime that they would try to tell me was “scheduled maintenance”. This was something that occurred once every week or two for several months, and despite the fact that it was scheduled, they didn’t ever actually bother to inform me, despite me updating my contact info every single time I called in. Oh, and I still can’t access my account online. They have to send me a PIN, which despite requesting it on no less than seven occasions, I still have not received. Are you ready for the shocker? Today I’m glad to have Comcast as my ISP.

Last year Comcast instituted a 250GB per month bandwidth cap. Believe me, that was not something that made me happy at the time. I watch most of my TV and movies online these days, and I figure that one of these days I’ll end up hitting that limit. Hopefully it will be a while before that happens. However, the reason I’m happy to be with Comcast is that Time Warner Cable has decided to infect several cities with their 40GB per month cap. Yes, that’s a whopping 40GB maximum usage per month.

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By Chris Scott Barr

I’m more than happy to admit that I have three Star Wars posters in my office, as well as an autographed picture of Chewbacca. What can I say, I’m a Star Wars geek. Even I have to draw the line somewhere. I really don’t think I could turn an entire wall into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, that would just be too much. However, if you’re a Star Trek fan and don’t mind going a bit over the top, then you might be interested in this wall mural.

For the low price of just $187 you can turn a 6′x10′ chunk of your wall into the cockpit of the original USS Enterprise. Now all you need is a replica of Kirk’s chair and the ladies will be lining up outside your door.

[ Urban Collector ] VIA [ The Awesomer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The company who brought us the Pedal Powered Wheelchair actually has a wide-range of wheelchair accessories including this electric model called the Speedy Elektra which is designed for those who aren’t physically able to pedal.

Using an easy four-step process, the Elektra can be connected to a wheelchair by the user without any assistance, and in addition to a variable speed twist grip, it also offers a handy reverse gear. Unfortunately I have no idea what the top speed, battery life or range of the Speedy Elektra is (why would a company include any useful info on their website?) but I have to assume it’s a more affordable solution than buying an actual electric wheelchair.

[ Speedy Elektra ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Shane McGlaun

I like using multiple monitors for my computer; they are cool for gaming if you extend the desktop. The big downside to multiple monitor setups is that the bezel around the monitor makes for a gap in the on screen image that can be annoying and get your fragged if you miss something right in front of you.

I have also seen big video walls where the gaps make the video pretty much unviewable. Samsung has announced a new line of large format monitors that are 46-inches in size and have very thin bezels. The monitor bezel is 2.4mm on the right and bottom and 4.3mm on the top and left sides making the space between screens only 7.3mm (we can assume that there has to be some space between each screen, accounting for the extra .5mm of space).

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