There are people who would simply buy what is in vogue. The result is that every person walking across Hyde Park would have the same thing with them. Then there would be others who like exclusivity. For the latter ones, Nokia has launched its latest craft-piece called the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte.  It has interesting materials in the making such as carbon fibre, titanium, polished glass and stainless steel to give it an arty look. But the USP of the product is that it is in 24k yellow gold makes it a sheer pleasure to see and hold.

At £2099, it is not a high price to pay considering the brand value of Nokia, the original design of the product and the fact that it is hand tailored in England. I particularly like the looks of gold on Black which reminds me of a beautiful speckled snake. It is so classy and unisex that it will appeal to both men and women!

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Ever heard of your chair knowing your mind, following your brainpower? The researchers at MIT are designing a wheelchair that responds to verbal commands. This user-friendly system can learn all about the locations in a given building, and then take its occupant to a given place in response to a vocal order. Just by saying “take me to the cafeteria” or “go to my room,” the wheelchair user would be able to avoid the need for controlling every twist and turn of the route and could simply sit back and relax as the chair moves from one place to another based on a map stored in its memory.
Unlike other attempts to program wheelchairs or other mobile devices, which rely on an intensive process of manually capturing a detailed map of a building, the MIT system can learn about its environment in much the same way as a person would: By being taken around once on a guided tour, with important places identified along the way. Outdoors in the open, such systems can rely on GPS receivers to figure out where they are, but inside buildings the wheelchair prototype relies on a WiFi system to make its maps and then navigate through them, which requires setting up a network of WiFi nodes around the facility in advance.

The research which has been funded by Nokia and Microsoft will especially be a boom to the patients who have partial or substantial loss of muscle control. As the research progresses, Nicholas Roy, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and the one behind the machine, says he’d like to add a collision-avoidance system using detectors to prevent the chair from bumping into other wheelchairs, walls or other obstacles besides including a wide number of other applications, such as automated forklifts that can learn where to take a crate and repeat that process.
So, this one is sure to take you places!!
Via MIT / BoingBoing

Memories, emotions and sweet images have been for long framed and cherished by the whole world, thanks to Kodak. A lover’s picture hidden secretly under the pillow, a mentor’s hung up at your workplace, a deceased dear one’s in your hall to fill the void his/her absence created, your first crush ,framed and hidden in your closet…………the list sure is endless. But getting every picture framed a displayed had been a sort of a problem, until now that is to say! Yes! The ultimate futuristic hi-tech frame is here!
Kodak has released the worlds first OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) wireless picture frame with exceptionally sharp and vivid image quality. Priced at $1000, it features a sleek 7.6-inch OLED display that can achieve a 16:9 aspect ratio and 800×480 resolutions. And that’s not all, it features built in WiFi, enabling you to stream images, videos and music to the device.

And wait, there’s more - a 2GB of built-in memory which can pull shots directly from Flickr. Cool or what? Displaying still pictures were never so cool and with its video display one sure is reminded of the moving pictures from the Harry Potter novels. Fiction getting real?
Via Uncrate / Kodak

Talk about technology going retro! If you thought gadgets and gizmos would only take you into the future well, think again. Who would have thought of Steampunk and Bluetooth together? Nicrosin has come up with a Victorian-style Bluetooth device which is powered solely by winding and should be mass produced. His creations are a compilation of sculpey and watch parts lined with leather for comfort. Wondering what you might hear- voice from the calling end or the winding chimes of the clockwork? Though it might look like it will drill your ear through, rest assured as the prop is fully adjustable and flexible and what’s more, one actually gets the dissection of the piece! Though covering it up might just be a better option lest dust interferes!

This might not be just everybody’s type of Bluetooth but if you are in any way fascinated by steampunk and would like to find yourself in a Steampunk alternate reality, you just might be able to use this baby to call your favorite Steampunk Droid!. So wind up your minds about it! Are you are still wondering about he caller hanging up while you are winding it up?

Via SlipperyBrick

For all the affluent budding musicians, here’s an indispensable musical instrument. The NeKo LUX launched by Open Labs is the company’s most expensive instrument to date. Encased in a 24-karat gold chassis, the instrument is worth over $24,000. Catering to the growing urban music scene, Open Labs will be hosting a two-day music event titled “Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival” at the Mohawk venue on October 24-25, 2008 in which the winner will receive this stunning gadget being gifted by Open Labs to mark the celebration of their five year anniversary. Headquartered in the heart of “the live music capital of the world,” Open Labs™ develops customized, computer music keyboards suited to fit every studio and stage need imaginable.

Comprising 76 keys, this gilded keyboard sports chrome-plated end bells. Also, its major USP is that this instrument also packs in noteworthy features like 4GB RAM, USB connectivity, Blu-ray DVD/CD Burner and 100,000 preset sounds, along with a V4 software library as well as 5th Anniversary Special Sound Libraries.

But here’s a twist in the tale. Only 24 such Midas-touched keyboards will be shipped in this limited edition and they are only available to those who have or had used an Open Labs product can apply for this glitzy-ritzy keyboard. So go, Grab your device before it gets too late!!

Via OpenLabs

iPhone, the unprecedented device by Apple, is being launched with another exclusivity factor. Continental Mobiles, well known for its range of luxurious cell phones, has pimped the 3G, 16GB white luxury i-Phone with Pigeon Blood Red rubies and white diamonds. Exclusively and intricately handcrafted, this piece of art comes from England for £3099 (about $5,550). Though this isn’t the first union of gemstones with the much-hyped 3G iPhone, it will certainly be leap forward of the earlier versions. This adorned Apple cell phone comes in a sophisticated briefcase that promises a shield to this delicate gadget. And that’s not all! This security comes in a variety of elegant shades to choose from especially the Piano finishes that are inspired by the graceful curves of the Steinway Grand Piano. This seems to be a melodious twist!

Trendy and chic as the iPhone may be, it still vies for your haughty touch (no pun intended!) and dressing it up in glam-style is the only option. So here’s technology coming hand-in hand with the pompous flair.

Diamonds are forever and gold is man’s favorite metal. If we add a little ‘music’ to these precious elements, we would get the TrekStor ‘i.Beat Organix Gold’ MP3 player which was originally made for a Russian-Canadian billionaire. Apparently this is the world’s most expensive MP3 player and costs a shocking £15,000. It is rather funny how people love the bling and there is no exception to race, gender and age when it comes to the yellow metal and diamonds. With about 63 diamonds studded in the 18-karat gold cast, this MP3 player will surely grab anybody’s attention.

Imagine listening to music on this MP3 player when you go hang out with friends in that special place. You could make all your peeps squeal in envy. You literally will shine for as long you are there, and no man or woman can take away the glitter from you, unless you don’t care about prying eyes.

However, make sure you have an equally flashy club or stick to carry with you, in case someone gets too friendly with your ‘i.Beat Organix Gold’ MP3 player.

Via Lussorian

In the days of the cold war, there were many insidious discoveries such as the button hole camera and other secret devices that the KGB and CIA used to spy on each other. This latest concept of The Ring Phone would have appealed the secret agents a lot. The product that we are going to talk about is Tao Ma’s Sony Ericsson Ring Phone that is still in the conceptual stage and has won the SE Design Competition, China. On the outside, it looks like a beautiful ring but can be used like any other phone to make or receive calls.

Just keep your ring finger close to your head and experience the wonder of this miniature phone. This design is particularly useful for forgetful people like me, who keep losing their cell phones at the blink of the eye. Tao Ma, the designer of this wonderful gadget truly deserves our kudos!

Via ConceptPhones

Research in Motion paid recently introduced the RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flipi which is the first BlackBerry to sport a clamshell design. The phone comes in elegant red and classy black and measures 3.9-inches high by 1.9-inches wide by 0.6-inch deep and weighs 3.5 ounces. This Blackberry sports a 65,536-color, 128×160 pixel external display and front-facing 2-megapixel camera, to give you the best shot. It offers an efficient global roaming, a speakerphone, smart dialing, background-noise cancellation, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.

It has an array of wonderful softwares to tempt the geek in you- BlackBerry Enterprise, Microsoft Exchange, IMB Lotus, Novell GroupWise as well as POP3 and IMAP4 accountsYou can also view your Word, Excel, PowerPoint files, PDFs, and JPG images on it.

Unfortunately, the price of this wonder machine has not been disclosed till now.

Via CNet

To be an inventor is one thing but to be an inventor in style is another thing altogether. In our past blogs, we may have covered hundreds of varieties of head phones but I have never come across an idea as simple and yet innovative as this- wearing the earphone into the hat! With iLogic Sound Hat you can actually replace a hat for the headphone. Who would have thought of this earlier and yet how commonsensical it is!

It has double benefits, first being that you don’t need the messy, always falling out ear phones because it fits snugly to your hear and second, it keeps you warm and in vogue. All that you need is an iPod or a music player to compliment this cap.

Via SlipperyBrick