All posts from Fareastgizmos.com

It lived through the Battle of Trafalgar, survived the reign of Victoria and escaped unharmed from a Blitz bomb.So it's going to take more than a harsh British winter to stop one of the world's rarest camellias from bursting into flower. This week - in a welcome sign that spring is just around the corner - the 'Middlemist's Red' has put on its most spectacular display in many years. Brought from China to England more than 200 years ago, it is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to the restoration of its 19th century conservatory at Chiswick House, west London, where it is pictured being tended by head gardener Fiona Crumley.

A 22.54-meter-high model of a DNA molecule built by Konan University has been recognized as the worlds largest by Guinness World Records. The model, completed in May last year, reproduces the double helical structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid. It is 1 billion times larger than an actual DNA molecule. A section of glass wall that spans the second to seventh floors of the school's Frontier Institute for Biomolecular Engineering Research building serves as the display case. The model is illuminated at night and can be seen from outside the university's Port Island campus in Chuo Ward.
The institute spent about four months building the model to show that it is at the forefront of DNA research. It consists of about 4,000 spheres and disks, which represent elements such as nitrogen and carbon. The previous champion, at 21.5 meters, was produced by a British university.

Silicon Power Metal Aesthetic Touch 830 USB flash drive inherits Silicon Power’s Touch series good looks, class and ultra thin design. The new Silicon Power Touch 830 USB flash drive has been given an extra touch of Northern European flavor. Combining art and technology, its design features icy-silver casing, natural looks and simplicity, it complies with Europe designer’s conception of A Mature Design is the Perfection Design. The Silicon Power Touch 830 USB flash drive utilizes a reinforced one-body stainless steel casing construction. The one body construction allows for a small and rugged design.
The plug and play Touch 830 is light, ultra small and comes with a jewelry lace for users to carry. Especially suited for people constantly on the go, Silicon Power’s Touch 830 is available up to 16 GB of storage space so users can store data at will. For users who fancy the Northern European styling, Silicon Power’s Touch 830 is the perfect storage you just got to get your hands on!

Monthly usage of wireless data among smartphone users in South Korea surged over 100-fold during the first two months following the iPhone’s launch in Korea. KT, South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier, released the iPhone on Dec.1 through an exclusive contract with Apple. Its sales surpassed the 400,000-unit mark last week. According to KT, wireless data usage among KT smartphone users jumped significantly as the iPhone users are more prone to access the Web and download data with their smartphones than feature phone users.
The monthly average usage of wireless data stood at 50 million megabytes in December and January, up 122-fold from the monthly average between January and November. The average wireless data usage per person also increased 10-fold over the cited period. More than 50 percent of iPhone users log on to the Apple App Store to download applications, which offer features beyond built-in functions.

The MSI X360, the latest step in the evolution of MSI's beautiful X-Slim series of notebooks, comes with the Intel Arrandale ULV processor to provide outstanding performance with a longer-lasting, more environmentally friendly battery. The X360 comes with the Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading technology. The Intel HM55 chipset gives the X360 high-quality audio/video performance and 9 hours of ultra-long battery life.
MSI X360 features the standard ultra-thin body and feather pattern lines common with the rest of the X-Slim series. Weighing only 1.4kg and less than 1-inch thick, the X360 boasts MSI's own chic rhombic pattern and Color Film Print. The brilliant blending of the X360's rhombic and diamond designs underscore the X-Slim X360's distinctive style.

Creative today announced the Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 earphones that epitomise the peak of personal listening while on the go. Within each earphone, the Precise Balanced Armature driver is mated with an acoustic grille design for a smooth and detailed audio response complemented by punchy bass. The Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 earphones are ultra comfortable and fit securely with soft, hypoallergenic eartips that are precisely contoured to create a secure seal that minimises sound leakage and stay in place during active pursuits. AuraSeal noise-isolation technology ensures up to 95% noise isolation, unmatched in its class. Users enjoy pure listening bliss when tuning in to their favourite tracks, especially during air travel.

The Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 earphones come bundled with an airplane adapter and a travel case with cable management for portable convenience. The accessories kit also includes 2 sets of S, M, L size interchangeable eartips for a personalized fit and a cleaning tool for hygienic maintenance. The Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 earphones are currently available at the online store at sg.store.creative.com in Singapore at the suggested retail price of S$149.00.

Inspired by the minimalistic Zen, the Creative HS-930i headset for iPhone features a pair of precision-tuned, mini 6mm driver in a stylish in-ear metal housing. Complementing its stunning design, it also delivers true-to-life reproduction of digital music playback in deep impactful bass; suitable for a wide genre of music, vocals or soundtracks. An ultra sleek and slim in-line microphone with advanced music playback control for iPhone offers one-click music playback and call-answer options.
The Creative HS-930i is a lightweight headset that comes bundled with a PC-adapter for use with Netbooks, Desktops, Laptops and Macs.The Creative HS-930i headset is currently available at the online store at sg.store.creative.com in Singapore at the suggested retail price of S$149.00.

Pentax today announced the launch of the Pentax 645D lens-interchangeable, medium-format digital SLR camera. Thanks to the incorporation of a large image sensor, equal in performance to professional-standard digital camera backs, this high-performance Pentax 645D lens-interchangeable, medium-format digital SLR camera delivers super-high-resolution images with approximately 40 effective megapixels. It also offers outstanding dependability and superb operability and maneuverability to make outdoor shooting effortless and comfortable for demanding photographers.

The Pentax 645D incorporates a high-performance CCD image sensor produced by Kodak. It measures 44mm by 33mm, and is approximately 1.7 times larger than its 35mm-format counterparts. Thanks to approximately 40 effective megapixels, it assures a wide dynamic range to faithfully reproduce the prevailing ambience and the sense of depth in super-high-resolution images that are rich in gradation and truthful in texture description.

The Pentax 645D features the acclaimed, Pentax-original PRIME (Pentax Real Image Engine) II as its imaging engine. Thanks to its high-speed data processing capacity and new algorithm exclusively programmed for medium-format digital SLR cameras, this high-performance imaging engine produces super-high quality images rich in gradation and faithful in color reproduction, while allowing speedy data transmission of large-volume image data — even RAW-format images as large as some 50MB per file.

The Pentax 645D’s main frame is made of lightweight but strong magnesiumsteel alloy, while the chassis is made of diecast aluminum to minimize the expansion and extension caused by heat and also to optimize kinematic accuracy and thermal stability.

The LCD panels — one on the camera’s top panel, another on the back panel — are covered with tempered glass plates for extra protection. The Pentax 645D’s body is also designed to be a compact and highly maneuverable mediumformat camera, despite the incorporation of such dependable features as a dust-proof, weather-resistant construction with 70 special seals, outstanding cold-resistant performance to assure solid operation at a temperature as low as –10°C.

A newly designed shutter unit with a top shutter speed of 1/4000 second that can withstand as many as 50,000 shutter releases.

Incorporated in the Pentax 645D’s finder unit, a trapezoid-shaped glass prism not only assures an approximately 98% field of view, but also greatly contributes to the downsizing of the camera body. Coupled with a bright, easy-to-focus Natural- Bright-Matte focusing screen, the PENTAX 645D’s viewfinder offers a large, clear view of the subject.

The Pentax 645D has a pair of memory card slots for the recording of images on both SD and SDHC memory cards. This dual-slot design gives the photographer extra data-storage options: for instance, recorded images can be assigned to different cards according to recording format (such as RAW or JPEG), or one of the cards can be used as the backup of the other. The settings for each memory card slot can be easily made by dedicated button.

The Pentax 645D is powered by a large-capacity, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which can capture approximately 800 images when fully, charged.

Panasonic today unveiled the new DMC-G2 from Lumix G Micro System as the world’s first interchangeable lens system camera with touch-control shooting. To develop the new DMC-G2, Panasonic focused on the operability and elevated it even higher by adoption of touch-screen that connects the sight and action most intuitively. Just a touch on the subject in the LCD lets you set AF even to release the shutter. Various advanced AF functions taking advantage of high-speed, accurate contrast AF are now as easy and comfortable as it never was with a combination of touch-screen operation.

The double Live-View function offered by the large and bright 3.0-inch 460,000-dot free-angle Intelligent LCD and 1,440,000-dot 1.4x Live View Finder makes it possible to see how settings results in the picture in advance to the shooting. The 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor and the new Venus Engine HD II integrating Intelligent Resolution technology assure high image quality in both photo and movie recording.

The Panasonic DMC-G2 records high quality movie in AVCHD Lite in addition to the motion JPEG even with advanced flexibility of cutting out a high quality still image thanks to the Intelligent Resolution technology. The camera has an HDMI output capability so that the dynamic movies and photos can be played back on the large HDTV via the optional HDMI mini cable.In addition, the Movie P mode lets you change the aperture to expand the expressiveness in movie recording. The DMC-G2 is also compatible with the optional external stereo microphone DMW-MS1 for high quality audio recording.

The Panasonic DMC-G2 with HD movie recording capability offers an abundance of advanced functions with an unprecedented ease of use realized by a touch control. It brings users from entry level to high amateur and even to professionals, a different surprise and joy of shooting commensurate with their photographic stage. Choose the body color that sound most right to you from three colors - black, red and blue.

Logitech Laptop Speaker Z205 is a lightweight speaker with an easy-to-attach clip-on design that lets you pump up the volume wherever you take your laptop. Whether you use a Mac or a Windows based laptop or a netbook, the Logitech Laptop Speaker Z205 securely attaches to the top of most laptop screens. The Laptop Speaker Z205 is also small — approximately 1.35 inches thick and 2.5 inches tall — which means you'll always be able to take it with you. And the included carrying case protects your speaker while inside your briefcase or backpack.
You can easily adjust the volume as well as turn the speaker on and off using the buttons located on the top of the speaker. The included USB cable is all you need for power and audio — there’s no need for an external power supply — so simply plug the Z205 into your computer and start enjoying your entertainment. The Logitech Laptop Speaker Z205 is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe for a suggested retail price of $39.99.

Kingston today announced the release of the world's first ultra-low voltage memory running at 1.25 volts at 1600MHz.The dual-channel kit (Kingston part #: KHX1866C9D3LK2/4GX) comes preprogrammed with two XMP-ready profiles: 1.25 volts at 1600MHz and 1.35 volts at 1866MHz. The latter profile is also a world's first for speed matching higher frequency with a lower voltage. In all, Kingston is debuting three HyperX DDR3 dual-channel products in the 'LoVo' line: the dual-profile kit, a mainstream low voltage 1600MHz, 1.35 volt kit and an ultra-low voltage 1333MHz, 1.25 volt kit. All of the memory offerings are designed for use in eco-friendly PCs as systems delivering higher performance while using smaller energy footprints become reality.

Sanyo today announced the launch of new models for the eneloop bike lineup of electric hybrid bicycles that recharge themselves while being used. The new Sanyo eneloop bike models, CY-SPL226 and CY-SPL224 features a next-generation riding mode-Eco Charge Mode. The eneloop bike SPL series with the new Eco Charge Mode for regenerative charging control enables the rider to actively charge the battery while pedaling on flat roads. This series represents a new style of energy-creating models. The Eco Charge Mode controls the charging rate by ascertaining overall conditions such as foot pressure on the pedals and changes in dynamotor revolution speed.

This enables effortless regenerative charging while riding, that is comfortable for the rider, by adjusting for the change in various conditions such as the amount of exertion, speed, and road conditions. By traveling 1 km in Eco Charge Mode over flat ground, enough electricity is generated and stored to travel about 300 m in Power Mode.

Sanyo added a Power Reserve function to the SPL series together with a high-capacity 7.6 Ah lithium-ion battery. to greatly reduce consumer apprehension over battery depletion. The new Sanyo Electric Hybrid Bicycle will be available in Japan from April 21,2010 for approximately 157,290 yen ($1,783).