Microsoft Surface...

Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary multi-touch computer that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects, helping people interact with digital content in a simple and intuitive way. With a large, horizontal user interface, Surface offers a unique gathering place where multiple users can collaboratively and simultaneously interact with data and each other.

Read more: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/pages/product/WhatIs.aspx

Wolfram Alpha

Goals

WolframAlpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
WolframAlpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.
WolframAlpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come. With a world-class team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields, our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.

Read more: http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html

Document Cameras – New Technology

Remember overhead projectors that your teachers used in elementary school? Light projectors that projected transparencies up onto the board so that you could follow along with what the teacher was doing. Document cameras are the new and improved overhead projectors. Basically, they are mini cameras that a teacher can put anything under to enlarge onto the board. Now, instead of having to make transparent copies of every worksheet to use on the overhead, a teacher can simply put anything (books, regular paper, objects, hands, pencils, anything!) under the document camera and it is enlarged and shown on the board. Document cameras are just another new and convenient technology in the classroom making lessons far easier then ever before.

Read more: http://techelemed.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/document-cameras-new-technology/

Turn your iPhone Into a Movie Projector!

BOISE, Idaho--Imagine you're on a camping trip with your family, and your kids are bored. They want to watch a movie, but you forgot your laptop at home. Hopeless? Not at all.
You pull out your fifth-generation iPhone--yes, this is a story about future technology--power it up, aim it at the wall of the tent, and start projecting their favorite film there.
This is one of the many potential promises of a new microdisplay technology from Displaytech, a recently acquired division of Boise-based Micron. Known as FLCOS, or fast liquid crystal on silicon, the technology is designed to make it possible to project from a relatively small form factor device, and with high image quality and vibrant colors, just about anything you'd want, be it a Disney flick or a complex PowerPoint presentation.

Today, the technology is still in its prototype stage, and when I visited Micron here this week as part of Road Trip 2009, I was shown a demonstration in which things like YouTube movies or ESPN clips stored on an iPhone were projected onto a screen via a small device with a tiny 3M projection engine in it.
Even that was pretty cool, because the little device probably had about the same volume as a deck of cards, and the image quality--in a very bright room--was fairly good, particularly when it came to showing text-based slides. But the most exciting thing to me about the technology is the promise that by late 2010 or early 2011, there's a good chance that the thumbnail-size chip behind the microdisplay could begin to be embedded in commercially available smartphones, like the iPhone.
And that could mean that not only would it be possible to watch a movie anytime and anywhere, as can already be done on many small devices, but that it would no longer be a solo experience. Instead, using something like an iPhone, it would be possible to share a movie with a room full of people.
The idea behind the technology is that FLCOS microdisplays can mix color over time, blending reds, greens, and blues in very quick sequence, explained Eric Boles, Micron's director of marketing services. The human eye turns such color mixing into full color, meaning that FLCOS obviates any kind of color filtering.
Right now, the projection engine behind the technology is about an inch-and-a-half long and very power efficient, Boles said. Just 1.1 watts can produce 10 lumens.
For now, no mobile phone makers have gotten on board with Micron's microdisplay technology, in part because the chips may still be too expensive, and because smartphones may not yet have the power to allocate to something like FLCOS. But because the projection technology is on a chip, it is likely to follow the traditional silicon curves, Boles said, meaning that the chips will probably get smaller, faster and cheaper quickly.



Read more:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10284209-52.html?tag=mncol;posts#

New product for kids ...

IDEO has come up with a revolutionary product that has been designed as a study tool for kids under the age of 12 years. It allows them to read, learn, collaborate and work the product is design is laptop style computing which has a special set of physical characteristics which facilitates the usage for children and allowing schools and parents alike, to support the system. Also it helps students to adjust to any given environment and learn during the same time. This is a very useful tool as students can learn in this faster compared to other mediums.
Text from IDEO :Project Inkwell’s goal is to greatly increase the size and effectiveness of the K-12 education technology market by managing the synthesis of functional specifications for a ubiquitous computing platform. As a Project Inkwell partner, IDEO assisted by facilitating a group of experts in understanding and synthesizing the needs and desires of students, and by prototyping possible solutions. The results of this effort have been visualized in the Spark concept.
Spark allows students to learn anytime, anywhere. It provides students with a highly mobile device that supports collaboration and multimedia work through educational software. Wireless networking enables use of the internet as a learning space and a means of working with peers and mentors, and promotes the publishing and sharing of work. The configuration of Spark affords an endless number of personalization opportunities. The soft housing protects the Spark unit while providing a medium with which to convey a sense of group or individual identity. The housing and keyboard are inexpensive and can be easily replaced over the life of the device. Along with the full-function keyboard, the Spark housing provides storage for a hot-swappable spare battery and a Bluetooth mouse.IDEO has come up with a revolutionary product that has been designed as a study tool for kids under the age of 12 years. It allows them to read, learn, collaborate and work the product is design is laptop style computing which has a special set of physical characteristics which facilitates the usage for children and allowing schools and parents alike, to support the system. Also it helps students to adjust to any given environment and learn during the same time. This is a very useful tool as students can learn in this faster compared to other mediums.
Text from IDEO :Project Inkwell’s goal is to greatly increase the size and effectiveness of the K-12 education technology market by managing the synthesis of functional specifications for a ubiquitous computing platform. As a Project Inkwell partner, IDEO assisted by facilitating a group of experts in understanding and synthesizing the needs and desires of students, and by prototyping possible solutions. The results of this effort have been visualized in the Spark concept.
Spark allows students to learn anytime, anywhere. It provides students with a highly mobile device that supports collaboration and multimedia work through educational software. Wireless networking enables use of the internet as a learning space and a means of working with peers and mentors, and promotes the publishing and sharing of work. The configuration of Spark affords an endless number of personalization opportunities. The soft housing protects the Spark unit while providing a medium with which to convey a sense of group or individual identity. The housing and keyboard are inexpensive and can be easily replaced over the life of the device. Along with the full-function keyboard, the Spark housing provides storage for a hot-swappable spare battery and a Bluetooth mouse.

Read more: http://www.tuvie.com/sns-project-inkwell-spark-concept/#more-727

New Pen Computers Redefine Compact

Ultra-Portable Laptops move over, this new technology from Japan is redefining the meaning of the word 'compact'. Microcomputer and microprojector technology has allowed the Japanese to create these small portable computers that are no longer than your common pen.Two of these small objects work in conjunction to create a fully capable computer. One of them serves as a monitor by projecting an image on a flat surface, while the other serves as your keyboard once more through projection. Movement sensors can detect where your fingers touch the projected image!No word yet on when this remarkable new technology will be on the market, or just how powerful they can make these tiny portable computers yet. This is surely the first step in a whole new range of technology we'll be seeing in the future, though.

Read more :http://blog.computerservicenow.com/2008/03/new-pen-computers-redefine-compact.html

The sleek aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Nothing peripheral about it.

The incredibly thin Apple Wireless Keyboard sits on your desk surrounded by nothing but glorious space. It’s cable-free, so you’re free to type wherever you like — with the keyboard in front of your computer or even on your lap. Not only does the Apple Wireless Keyboard come standard with the new iMac, it’s perfect for any Mac with Bluetooth wireless technology.
Bluetooth wireless technology.
Your Mac works with the Apple Wireless Keyboard through the Bluetooth technology built into both. Just follow a few simple steps to pair them. Then you can move your keyboard anywhere within range and wirelessly type away.

Easy on the eyes. And hands.
Set the keyboard on your desk, and you’ll see that it takes up far less space — up to 24 percent less — than other full-size keyboards. And you have even more room to mouse comfortably alongside of it. You’ll also feel a difference when you type. Your hands will appreciate the low-profile aluminum enclosure and the crisp, responsive keys. Use the new wireless Magic Mouse alongside the Apple Wireless Keyboard and get the full effect of a cable-free (and clutter-free) desk.

One less battery. All the difference.
The Apple Wireless Keyboard now requires just two AA batteries — one less than the previous model. And its intelligent power management system conserves battery life. So when you’re not using it, the keyboard automatically powers down. The instant you start typing, your keyboard turns on.

Read more: http://www.apple.com/keyboard/