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Cigarette vending machines in Japan will be given an upgrade in the near future as it starts to analyze wrinkles, crow’s feet and skin sags, in an effort to determine whether the customer is old enough to purchase a box of smokes. The legal smoking age in Japan is 20, so it will be quite a task to fit 570,000 cigarette vending machines there with this new system in order to comply with a July regulation requiring them to ensure buyers are not underage. I wonder whether minors will be able to play a trick on the machine by putting up a photo of an older person for the machine to read. After all, they’ve certainly done that in the movies before. (Read the full post about ‘Ciggy Vending Machines More Wary Soon’…)

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In the last year, I’ve become increasingly obsessed with watches, especially huge chunky watches which provide a contrast with my oddly small wrists and hands (hey, it’s the only part of my body which is oddly small, I’m flaunting it…) So when I heard new watch news, in the form of a new addition to Casio’s much-loved Baby G range, I was excited. And rightly so! Look how pretty they are: These new watches are part of the The BG-2000/2001 series, and are designed to be easy to use, fashionable and funky. But I suspect that means they don’t have as many specs as previous G series. (Read the full post about ‘Casio launches new Baby G range for the fashion-conscious woman’…)

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Dell has decided to drop its XPS line of performance PCs from next month onwards, and will instead focus on its Alienware line. I suppose this has been a long time in coming ever since Dell picked up Alienware a couple of years ago, so it will be interesting to see the Texas-based company maintain the separation of the Alienware brand. No word on whether the XPS laptops will be retained though since those have traditionally done well in the market as well. I wonder how much support Dell will be providing XPS customers with after this announcement.

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This is an awesome addition to any kitchen especially for people who are cooking out of many different pots at one time. Mothers who are always burning one pot or the other will greatly appreciate this new product. A timer you can place on each individual pot with a potholder is a great idea. Most people only have one timer or if you are like me I use the timer on my microwave then use the watch on my wrist. I always lose track of the time because it can not warn me that the time is up so I usually burn at least one thing. I cook three meals a day. With that many, I usually end up nearly burning something because not only do I have the dinner to deal with but I have two children who are screaming “is it done yet?!” By the time you deal with them you forget what pot you started first and how much time is left. (Read the full post about ‘Pot-Tickers’…)

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Luigi Licciardi, a vice president at Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) told tech journalist David Manners that the company will be selling a 3G iphone next month. The quote is unambiguous: We will be selling an iPhone with 3G capability next month. Manners spoke to Licciardi on a bus taking the men into the Dubai desert for dinner. To be honest, we’re more interested what they had for dinner. If a new iPhone isn’t announced on June 9th at the Wordwide Developers Conference, I know exactly what I will be eating for dinner that night. My hat. Yes, It Is The 3G iPhone In Europe Next Month [Electronics Weekly] (Read the full post about ‘Italian Telco Chief Confirms 3G iPhone In Italy ‘Next Month’’…)

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Speaking from personal experience, an inflamed appendix is no fun and the operation to remedy the problem–well, it’s even worse. Although it occurred many years ago, I remember being hospitalized for over one week and didn’t feel completely myself for a few more weeks after being released. Now of course when I hear a new surgical technique makes recovery a matter of days rather than weeks with no abdominal scar, of course I’m jealous. The new surgical procedure works much like the way doctors use an endoscope to checks for ulcers in the esophagus and stomach. A similar tube travels down the throat where a small incision is made in the stomach wall to exit the stomach and make it ways to the appendix. (Read the full post about ‘New surgical procedure removes appendix through mouth’…)

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Users experiencing issues with SP3 Tummy Shield for moms-to-be StandPouch eliminates the need for a tripod Trunki offers relief for parents Clip Stik Ultra-Slim Fan Strapless One Touch Heart Rate Watch Bladez 3D Helicopter Digital Clock Calendar + USB Hub MSI Titan 700 small in size but performs decently Flogos turn the sky into your billboard Bug Bat helps zap pests Hello Kitty cell phone comes with speakers Cup eliminates the need for a stirring spoon HandTalk Translates Sign Language To Audio On Your Cellphone Google Recycled Mini Wireless Mouse Sony Style Mother’s Day package Thumbnail gallery plugin by SoftSift

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The GBDisk RS1 series of Serial ATA (SATA)-compatible industrial silicon disks is the latest addition to TDK’s roster, which will be made available in June with up to 16GB capacities. High-speed, frequent data writing and maintaining data reliability come first with the GBDisk RS1 series. And because of that, it features single level cell (SLC) NAND Flash memory, and GBDriver RS1 SATA controllers for use in NAND Flash memory controller ICs. It also offers complete power interruption tolerance, error correction, distributed data writing, and bad block management. Basically, these are new types of hard disks, coming in at the same size as current generation HDD’s (2.5-inches) that should offer fast start up, stringent shock resistance, and low power consumption. (Read the full post about ‘TDK intro’s the 16GB Serial ATA-compatible industrial SSD’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 9:52AM Oooh, now we get it. HandTalk converts hand gestures like sign language into spoken words. Well, don’t we feel silly. The device was developed by a group of nerds at Carnegie Mellon, and can track finger and hand gestures with a vocabulary of 32 words in its existing v0.1 model. The signals are transmitted from the glove to a phone over Bluetooth, where the words are converted with text to speech software. Not bad for a bunch of off-the-shelf components, but they could’ve scored double the nerd points by repurposing a Power Glove for this — gotta think big picture, people. (Read the full post about ‘HandTalk glove speaks your hand gestures… we can see where this is headed’…)

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RIM has officially announced the new BlackBerry Bold (previously the BlackBerry 9000. True to its name, RIM is announcing it in a bold manner, complete with a product site of its own. And since it bears the BlackBerry brand, we don’t have to tell you how sleek and cool looking this new BlackBerry model is, right? But just in case you have no idea how uber cool this BlackBerry Bold is, it has a lustrous black exterior, satin chrome finished frame and stylish leather-like blackplate. Feature wise, here’s what’s in store for all of you BlackBerry users - 624MHz mobile processor running on tri-band HSDPA or Wi-Fi network (AT&T 3G), 128 MB flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory, microSD/SDHC memory card slot, half-VGA (480×320 resolution) color LCD, the 8800 style keyboard, integrated GPS, and of course access to BlackBerry’s Enterprise Server. (Read the full post about ‘Rumor confirmed; we now have the BlackBerry Bold’…)

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