Thinklabs iPod Stethoscope brings popular tech to the doc’s office

thinklabs ipod stethoscope

Even though you probably already have a whole slew of iPod accessories floating around in your room, what is there for a doctor? Sure it would be nice for them if they could plug in and jam while diagnosing your problems, but that’s not too professional, is it? Luckly, Thinklabs has created an addon make just for doctors.

The Thinklabs iPod Nano Stethoscope Recording Kit works with the XtremeMac MicroMemo recording unit for the iPod to record what a patient’s heart sounds like. While probably not too useful for your average checkup in an enclosed environment, this can be more applicable our in the open when there are other amibent noises to get in the way of a normal stethoscope. Using a built-in audio amplification coupled with noise reduction, you can hear the heart beats clearer than a normal stethoscope could ever do. The price of the kit shows that it probably isn’t for you, but show it to your doctor, he/she might be impressed! $495. — Nik Gomez

Thinklabs iPod Nano Stethoscope Recording Package [via OhGizmo!]

Sony Bravia XBR 70 inch LCD: We now see the big picture

sony bravia xbr lcd

Sony’s new Bravia XBR is a massive 70 inches of pure LCD madness. With a super high def resolution of 1,920 pixels by 1080 pixels, not only is the XBR absolutely gigantic, but as high definition as your gonna get right now. Now might be a good time to wipe the drool from your chin.

The Bravia Engine Pro engine, which takes non-HD programs and converts them to a higher quality picture, will also be included. Not only Blu-Ray and HD-DVD systems will make this kitty purr. DVD players will look just as fantastic.

With the XBR’s 178 degree viewing angle, reflections and darkness won’t ruin the LCD for large groups. The XBR can be viewed in good quality in most of all sitting angles, instead of only receiving great picture from the center seat.

Of course, the XBR has a price tag as large as its 70 inch size. A awe inspiring $33,000 will be needed to purchase your own when it hits stores next month (or you could buy a used luxury car). Is it worth it? You be the judge. — Andrew Dobrow

Sony Bravia XBR 70 inch LCD [Newlaunches]

PS3 ads in Xbox 360 game: Too friggen funny

Filed under: Gaming

xbox 360 ads

Microsoft can’t cut themselves a break these last few days. They haven’t really been doing a good job of helping that fact either. In this preview screenshot from the recently announced UEFA Xbox 360 game, an add for the Playstation 3 can be plainly seen in the background.

Microsoft probably should of scoped out the UEFA’s sponsers before signing on for a video game deal, which include both Sony and the Playstation brand. Sony is getting a pretty nice deal with this game. Though I’m sure they would rather have people buy their games then to have their name seen in a Microsoft game. — Andrew Dobrow

Playstation 3 advert appears in Xbox 360 [360 gamer, via Joystiq]

Video Game Symphony: An orchestral voyage through Mario

Filed under: Gaming

We have tried and tried and tried and tried to enjoy classical music. Most classical just puts us asleep, but there are a select few composers and songs which peak our interest. Of course, there are the dynamic sounds of Beethoven and the beautiful structure of Mozart, but our favorite is the great people at Nintendo. Please, let us explain.

Play! is a full symphony and choir which focuses soley on video game music, themes and visuals. The video shows their rendition of the Super Mario Bros. theme, but the fun doesn’t stop there.

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OKWAP S868 Smartphone: virtual scroll wheel over the keypad

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

okwap s868

Taiwanese company OKWAP announced this morning their first smartphone S868. It is one of the rarer Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphones that give you a stylus and an alphanumeric keypad but keeping everything in petiteness (106×51x18mm 122g). The touch screen measures 2.4 inches diagonally, and the camera at the back is a 2 megapixel CMOS with autofocus. OKWAP personalized the system by adding in their own shortcut menu as well as the virtual scroll wheel over the keypad. Users can simply slide their pictures around the number 5 key to move up and down on the screen. The S868 runs on an Intel PXA270 416Mhz CPU, it has 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM, expandable with SD or MMC cards. Network supported here should be dualband though there was no word on that yet, GPRS, Bluetooth and Infrared are all in place. The S868 will starting selling in Taiwan late February for $470. — Sam Chan

OKWAP S868 [PhoneDaily]

Cowon D2 tries to take Clix down: 2.5″ QVGA touch screen, 4GB, SD card slot

Filed under: Portable Media

cowon d2

Recently we heard that the Cowon (iAudio) D1 will not be produced anymore, but fans should be pleasantly encouraged by the company’s announcement this morning. The new Cowon D2 comes with a 2.5â€? QVGA touch screen, all new touchscreen interface and a SD slot (SDHC not supported), all that kept in a fairly small package (56×78x17mm 95g). Music files supported are MP3, WMA (WM DRM10 too), OGG, FLAC and WAV. Video files supported are WMV up to 768kbps as well as MPEG4 AVIs. Bundled is a software for you to convert your MPEG2 and other DiVX files into the format the D2 can read.

Cowon also added a little twist to the stylus, now it can be used as an anchor- a stand for the D2 on the table, in case you want to load your JPEG files in there and use it as a mini picture-frame yes you can definitely do that. The D2 can record FM radio and live audio from the microphone or the ananlog line-in. Cowon also boasted that the D2 can produce sounds up to 74mW (37×2), but we wonder how the European Union would react. The battery can last up to a whooping 52 hours with music and 10 hours with video. The 2GB Cowon D2 will be avaliable in Japan starting on Feb 9 at 230USD, the 4GB model is also on its way.

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Apple 802.11n update costs… $1.99! It’s official.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Wireless

apple airport extreme

Double Apple news day! After all of those damn rumors about how much activating the 802.11n ability would cost, we now know! Apple is charging $1.99 for the software update. At first this was supposed to cost about $5, then it went to $2, then the hopefulls said it’s free!, now it’s officially $2. — Nik Gomez

AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler for Mac [via Apple Gazette]

ZINK Inkless Portable Printer in the cusp of your grip

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Handhelds

zink inkless portable printer

Demos 2007, a tech convention not as well known as MacWorld or CES, though still worth its weight in coolness, is the site where the Zink has unleashed. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, ZINK technology starts where Polaroids left off. ZINK is a handheld printing device capable of printing digital photos without the use of ink or laser.

How does this creation work? Hundreds of patents are either pending or approved for the ZINK technology. Special embedded dye crystals in the paper are activated through heat made by the ZINK printer. Depending on the heat of each crystal, the picture produced is decent quality digital prints that are supposedly long lasting.

The ZINK is still in its developmental stages, so hard specs or previews aren’t obtainable yet. The portable printer should eventually be a really cool gadget to have around for small prints on the go. Good quality would be our worry for the ZINK. How good of a picture would these prints be? Thank God there wasn’t something like this when our parents were young. Imagine the family memories we would have to reminisce about for years to come. — Andrew Dobrow

Press Release [via Gadgetizer]

Splitfish asserts ability to rumble feature for Sixaxis

Filed under: Gaming

sony sixaxis

While the PS3 has the highest price of any of the 3 next-gen consoles, as of yet, it hasn’t done too much to impress the market in terms of rising up above the Xbox 360. On topic here, the issue of the leaving behind of the DualShock’s rumble feature.

A company named Splitfish has claimed that they have the capabilities to integrate the rumble back into the Sixaxis controllers. This is interesting because Sony was so adimant about the fact that rumble features would be impossible to integrate with the “revolutionary” tilting.

While Immersion is still having legal troubles with the whole Sony tech/patents, Splitfish says that their tech does not interfere here. It is also interesting that there have been no stated ties between Splitfish and Sony. It’s out in the wild. Money is key here and Sony would do well to put the rumble back into the controllers. — Nik Gomez

Splitfish Could Make Sony’s SIXAXIS Rumble [1UP]

Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-TD lets your laptop become a TV

hauppauge wintv-nova-td

TV tuners are where it’s at. Hauppauge has just released a new dual-antenna notebook TV tuner dubbed the WinTV Nova-TD. It connects to your laptop (or desktop if you need it to) though its USB interface. It connects to two antennas which pick up the digital TV signals. It is able to combine the signal from the two into a stronger single signal, or you can choose to have a show playing on your computer while it records another with the bundled PVR software. Multi-tasking in a way that more devices should. You can use Windows XP, XP Media Center, or Vista Home Premium to view your content. For quality TV tuners, Hauppauge never fails, and while there are other solid competitors out in the market, Hauppauge delivers everytime. — Nik Gomez

Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-TD [via Electronista]