By David Ponce

Or at least everyone who can afford the steep $550 pricetag. That said, despite the eye popping price, the PaceMaker is a fun little toy. It has a 60GB hard drive, and an intuitive user interface that allows just about anyone to liven up a party by becoming a DJ. Or at least a close enough approximation of one. With the PaceMaker, you can learn to mix tracks in less than a minute (two if you’re a grand-mother).

I got a demo of the device, and I really do think I’d be able to pull this off, despite being 6 years old the last time I touched a vinyl disc. The controls are simple to use and laid out in such a way that mixing becomes accessible.

The product hits the shelves in April. The full press release is after the jump.

Tonium’s New Pacemaker Make
DJing POSSIBLE FOR Everyone
Stockholm, Sweden – January 6, 2009 – Today, Tonium announced a new
Pacemaker that will truly bring DJing to the masses and right into the hands of the
next DJ generation.

The Pacemaker DJ system is a musical sketchpad that fosters unprecedented
creativity and expression. No other device will let you mix tracks on the train to work,
mash up albums at a backyard barbeque or experiment with soundscapes on a
secluded beach. Tonium’s new Pacemaker is intended to further this concept by
making DJing possible for everyone.

The new Pacemaker’s user interface has been completely reworked. The result is
a user-friendly, extremely intuitive interface that gives first-time users the ability to
instantly DJ when they first take the device out of the box. In terms of features, Tonium’s
engineers have given the new Pacemaker auto beat match, allowing novice
DJs to seamlessly blend tracks together by the click of a button, allowing anyone to
learn how to mix in less than 2 minutes. This Pacemaker boasts a 60GB hard drive,
capable of storing 15,000 songs.

“The concept behind the new Pacemaker centers around accessibility,” said Ola
Sars, Tonium’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Our company was founded
on the belief that musical inspiration should be created by anyone and shared with
everyone. With the new Pacemaker, the goal was to remove all barriers and let anyone
interact and experiment with their music.”

Tonium’s new Pacemaker will be on shelves at major retailers across the country this
spring. Once available, Tonium will release an announcement with detailed product
specifications, ushering in the next step in the music interaction revolution.

ABOUT TONIUM:
Tonium (www.tonium.com) is a Swedish company, established by a tightly knit
group of passionate people with a background in music, design and engineering.
With a flair for innovation, Tonium exists as a company dedicated to promoting the
sharing of musical tastes in a socially engaging context. For Pacemaker info,
go to www.pacemaker.net.

By Jonathan Kimak

Months ago I had heard that the modern versions of pacemakers were susceptible to hacker attacks. Modern pacemakers can be modified by doctors using a special remote device that can change the beats per minute of the patient’s heart among other things. This allows patients to undergo fewer operations for adjustments.

The remote nature of the new pacemakers make them possible targets for hackers. At best, the remote attacks would merely steal patient information stored in the pacemaker. At worst it could be tampered with to kill the patient. Millions of people depend on pacemakers to keep their heart beating so the medical community is taking this threat very seriously.

The proposed cloaking device would be an external attachment that the pacemaker owner would wear and would resemble a medic-alert bracelet. The cloaking device would prevent remote access to the pacemaker(and other implanted medical devices). If the person with the pacemaker ever did have trouble the on-site doctor could remove the cloaker and modify the pacemaker as needed.

VIA [ medGadget ]