Good news for those who like to swim in the pool. Now there is a portable water analyzer called 15 Second Pool Water Tester. Now, there is one concern less, because you can exactly know whether the water is suitable for water procedures.
As the name implies, this small gadget will analyze the composition of water in just 15 seconds. You do not have to compare data of the device with the table of allowable content of certain substances – the analyzer will do that for you. Slightly wet one of 25 testing strips and put it into a special slot; you will learn exact information about the three main parameters of water: free chlorine, pH levels and total bases.
The letters and numbers on the LCD display are clearly visible. The gadget itself determines whether a parameter normal, whether it exceeds or is below the allowable performance. These data is also displayed.
The analyzer operates on two AA batteries. Its length is 13 cm, width – 8 inches, height in the horizontal position – 3 cm, and weight is 232 grams. You can buy it for 69 dollars 95 cents with a lifetime warranty. But keep your nerves calm: Do not use this gadget on the beach.
Pixel Qi, recently presented a working prototype of the display 3Qi, which certainly attracted the attention of the public. At SID exhibition Korean giant introduced 10.2-inch diagonal screen-based electronic paper capable to reproduce video. It sounds very unusual, but the screen is indeed a combination of LCD and E Ink (in 3Qi there was just 2 mode LCD).
Active matrix works with « cholesteric» (cholesteric liquid crystals), which can be switched between two states. In the «memory» pixels retain their state even without the constant feeding, and during a «dynamic» mode, they work as LCD panel and can display moving images.
«We are not interested to develop conventional displays based on electronic paper … this time we decided to do something that no one would do» – said the representative of Samsung Electronics.
The demonstrated prototype has a resolution of 320×240 and can display 64 colors with a response time less than 25 milliseconds. Judging by the reviews, the concept is still quite far from entering the market. There is still no information that the company plans to use this technology.
The idea of folding keyboards is already quite old; the idea of a folding gadget MID – a little new, but it is quite possible that in future it would be realized. And the word «folding» in this case does not necessarily imply to folding the two halves, like with modern mobile phones.
The concept that we offer, is embodied by Edward Ballisterom, Doctor of Science, working in close collaboration with Intel. MID announced that Dragonfly can be folded four times, and fit in your pocket, but when expanded it will become a notebook.
The gadget will work on the basis of Moorestown chip from Intel, a major operating system called Windows XP. But the installation of two systems (one of which will be Linux) is also possible.
Scientist argues that he plans to install the gadget in two-LCD displays with LED backlighting, but it will have to be postponed until the next-generation devices. But the battery, with which the gadget will “live” all day, is ready, because the release of the first devices is scheduled by the end of the year.
Of course, Mr Ballistera can be seriously wrong, considering the facts that the manufacturer of Dragonfly have not yet been defined (and certainly not named), and a developer cannot yet demonstrate a working prototype. Nevertheless, working on such an idea is worth our attention.
One of the recurring themes in conversations about the gadgets is the miniaturization. It would seem, that further reduction of gadgets could make them simply inconvenient. But, as practice shows, this time, is still far away. And yet another proof of this is display from Kopin Corporation.
The photo above shows the working LCD display with a resolution 600h480 points and a diagonal of about 7 millimeters. Achieving this compactness was managed by reducing the color points to a 2.9 х8, 7 micrometer (micrometer is millesimal share of a millimeter). But this is only a step towards the intended goal of the company – to reach a settlement of 2048h2048 on the screen size of no more than a standard postage stamp.
Today, by using this technology, the company is capable to production displays with the following permissions:
- SVGA (800 x 600), diagonal of 0.34 inches (8.6 mm)
- XGA (1024 x 768), diagonal of 0.44 inches (1.1 cm)
- SXGA (1280 x 1024), diagonal of 0.56 inches (1.4 cm)
They are mainly used in hi-end cameras, camcorders etc. Particularly, the company stresses its position as a leader among developers of electronic viewfinder for DSLR cameras.
It is possible that this same technology will be used in gadgets such as «clock-phones», where the size of the display is rather severely limited.
