MicroOptical Corporation is offering first glimpses of its myvu personal media viewer. The myvu viewer, which comprises eyewear with built-in video viewing and audio systems, revolutionizes the way people watch video with an Apple iPod.
By connecting the small, ultralight “binocular” eyewear viewer to an iPod, users can watch their favorite music videos, video podcasts and TV shows with a large image right in front of their eyes. Since MicroOptical’s myvu viewer works indoors and outdoors, users can experience portable video anywhere, anytime. Because the display and audio systems are built into the eyewear, myvu can be worn in any position — reclining in an airplane seat, sitting on a park bench or lying down on the sofa. The myvu viewer makes watching portable video more practical.
Specifications of the equipment include: Video signal: NTSC/PAL (auto selecting); Resolution: 320x240; Aspect ratio: 4:3; Focus image location: 1 meter; Field of view: Approximately 13.5 degrees horizontal, 16.8 degrees diagonal; Image size: 25” image (virtual screen) @ 2 meters; Refresh rate: 60 frames/sec; Color depth: 24 bit; Audio: Integrated stereo sound via earbuds; Viewer weight: 68 grams; Nose pad: Adjustable; Power supply: 3 AAA batteries; Battery life: Approximately six hours. For more information, visit www.microoptical.net.
Google Unwraps the Google Pack
Google is making available the Google Pack beta, a free collection of safe, useful software. In just a few clicks, users can easily discover, install and maintain software to surf the web faster and safer, communicate better and effectively manage information.
“We developed Google Pack to give users a way to painlessly install all the essential software they need — pre-configured in a sensible way — in a matter of minutes,” said Marissa Mayer, VP of search products and user experience at Google. “Better yet, users don’t have to keep track of software updates or new programs — we maintain and update all the software for them.”
Google Pack offers programs that meet Google’s high software standards and are considered best in their class, including: Adobe Reader 7, Ad-Aware SE Personal, GalleryPlayer HD Images, Google Desktop, Google Earth, Google Pack Screensaver, Google Talk, Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar, Norton AntiVirus 2005 Special Edition, Picasa, RealPlayer and Trillian.
Google Pack also includes Google Updater, a new tool that intelligently downloads, installs and maintains all the software in the Google Pack. Google Updater alerts users when updates and new programs become available and ensures each program is always up-to-date. Google Updater can also be used to monitor the status of installation, run software that’s been installed or easily uninstall software.
Users can select which programs they want to install. For programs already installed on a computer, Google Updater checks whether the latest version is running. If not, Google Updater will install the latest version. Google Pack beta is available in English, runs on Windows XP, and supports Firefox 1.0 and higher and Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher. More information on Google Pack is available at http://pack.google.com.
Latest Toughbook Targets Executives
Panasonic has launched its new Toughbook CF-W4 in the Middle East. The magnesium casing on this model now boasts reduced weight combined with increased robustness, to resist up to 100 kilos of pressure. The CF-W4 can survive falls from a height of 30 cm. Despite its extreme resilience, the new Toughbook CF-W4 weighs only 1290 grams, including battery.
The notebook features an Intel Pentium M processor 753, a 12.1-inch screen and 6.5 hours of battery life. Intel Centrino mobile technology supports all normal WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards. A new feature means the WLAN function can be turned on and off simply using a switch on the hardware side. The standard versions have a 512MB RAM user memory extendable up to 1024MB and a 40GB hard drive, which can be changed quickly and easily by unscrewing the casing. The reinforced PC-card slot and an additional SD-card slot, can be used to connect external hard drives and read memory cards directly. The Toughbook CF-W4 has a Combo drive integrated into the notebook front hand rest.
Further, the Toughbook CF-W4 can be fitted with an optional Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. This system-linked interior security component clearly identifies and authenticates the notebook in corporate networks and enables secure data encoding, among other functions.