Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Six-Person Video Conferencing with Meebo/TokBox [Video Conferencing]

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Web-based chat application Meebo now lets you video conference with up to five other contacts from any instant messaging service through a team-up with TokBox. As with their regular video chat, you log in, open a chat window, hit the "rocket ship" icon and choose the "Group Video Chat" option. There's simultaneous text chatting in the same window, and the video quality looks to be about the same as the one-on-one setup. Not too shabby for a free, no-installation service.

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Samsung's Thin 3-Megapixel SCH-u900 FlipShot Camera Phone Hits Verizon

Samsung_SCH-u900.jpg Last time you saw the SCH-u900, it was fugly. Now, gussied up and ready for the holidays, the u900 makes its Verizon Wireless debut in red and black with a new nickname, the FlipShot. The 3.0-megapixel camphone replaces the now defunct a990 with a thinner body and a new rounded-edge look. It's got what you'd expect from a high-end feature phone: EV-DO, GPS with VZ Navigator, and Bluetooth—stereo audio, dial-up networking, serial port and object push for vCard, plus basic print and image profiles. The black version starts selling on Verizon's website today, while the seductive red model will only be available at Best Buy, beginning 11/26. Total cost for this baby will be $200, after you sign your life away for one-fifth of a decade, of course. [Verizon Wireless]

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Compact Florescent Light Bulbs, Gone Crazy [Art Bulbs]

plumen-image.jpgCompact fluorescent bulbs get more popular every day because of their energy-saving characteristics, but their conventional corkscrew/spring design leaves something to be desired. Enter Hulger, a bunch of British designers with a bent for the unusual, who have bent those tubes around into crazy configurations, making something that once appeared rather prosaic into an artform. You're looking at a prototype of the spaghetti-like bulb, and we're all hoping to see a shipping version before too long. Now if they can just make them instant-on and light 'em up with a warm color temperature of 2700 Kelvin, they'll really be onto something. [Core 77]

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GPS Letterlogger to Solve the Problem of Missing Snail Mail [Mail Tracker]

gpsletterlogger2-medlg.jpg TrackingTheWorld has come up with a potential solution to the problem of letters that go missing in action. Letter Logger is a quarter-inch-thick device that fits into a standard number 10 business envelope and allows the US Postal Service to track its progress throughout the system alongside Google Earth. Here's how it works.

Letter Logger consists of a powerful microprocessor developed by Texas Instruments, and a low-power consumption uBlox ANTARIS 4 GPS module, and is powered by a slim 1100mAh battery. It can be deployed in two different ways. Users can choose to receive reports every two, five or ten minutes (which would, I think, drive you nuts) if Letter Logger is in Constant mode, or they can go for Tilt mode, which notifies you only when the envelope is tilted. Constant mode gives you 20 hours' battery life, while Tilt mode will keep tabs for two weeks.

The service starts up on January 2 next year and it won't be available to the general public. It's a shame the British Government's Customs and Revenue department didn't have access to this when the CD-Rs containing 25 million people's bank details got lost in transit earlier this month. [Tracking the World via Engadget]

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First Supersonic Private Jet Sold to Obviously-Very-Rich Guy [Supersonic Private Jet]


This is the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet, the first private plane that will fly at 1.6 Mach. The first unit has just been purchased by Sheikh Rashid, the ruler of Dubai. This bird will be able to fly the Ellisons, Jobs and Gores of this world from Paris to New York in just over 4 hours, so even while it has a $80,000,000 price tag, there will be no demand problems for it. The aircraft specs are amazing:

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Thanks to its design, the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet will be able to cruise at 1.15 Mach over land without producing any boom on the ground. The plane can also keep a 0.98 Mach speed offering a similar cost-per-mile than competing subsonic private jets and complying with US regulations. Over water, however, you will be free to speed it up and sustain 1.5 Mach with ease. To give you an idea, at this speed the Aerion can cross the Atlantic in two hours (it has a 4,600 miles range over 45,400 pounds of fuel) thanks to its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines.

Unlike the Concorde, which could only fly to certain airports through the world because of its operative requirements, this supersonic jet is designed to comply with environmental, sound and airport regulations everywhere. For example, the Aerion can land in just 3,460 feet, which makes it usable in most airports and a prime candidate to be Larry Ellison's next private plane.

Design-wise, the Aerion looks even better than the fastest turboprop private plane . At least, it looks stunning except for the color. But hey, for $80,000,000 I'm sure they will be able to deliver it in secret-plane black with alien markings.

The Aerion Supersonic Business Jet will be delivered in 2014, so you only need to decide if you want to spend $250,000 now for one of the forty "early delivery positions" or wait a couple more years to get it on a Black Friday, just like the rest of us. [Aerion]

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