Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

GE's Wireless Patient Monitoring System beams your vitals at 2360MHz

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/ges-wireless-patient-monitoring-system-beams-your-vitals-at-236/

Patients admitted to hospitals often find themselves with dozens of wires and cables strung from their every extremity -- trying to roll over at night resulting in a very large, expensive cat's cradle with the strings ending at sticky pads affixed to sensitive areas. GE is working on a solution, the Wireless Patient Monitoring System, which would accept signals from dozens of non-tethered sensors, beaming that data straight to the people who need to view it whether they be down the hall at the nurse's station or down the road at the driving range. The company is working with the FCC to develop a vendor-neutral frequency band exclusively for such devices to communicate over, the results of which will surely become the latest impediment for whitespace wireless approval.

Filed under: Wireless

GE's Wireless Patient Monitoring System beams your vitals at 2360MHz originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony announces VAIO X ultraportable

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/sony-announces-vaio-x-ultraportable/

Sony just announced the VAIO X at IFA 2009, a half-inch thin ultraportable with an 11.1-inch screen and a new all-day battery that "will set the new standard for stamina." The machine's built of carbon fiber, so it weighs just a pound and a half, and we're ~~assuming it's CULV-based~~, although there's no hard specs at the moment. We're racing to find out more, we'll let you know.

Update: We grabbed some shots of the X in the flesh, but they won't let us hold it, and specs are still a mystery.

Update 2: Well, no wonder the battery lasts all day -- we're told the VAIO X currently has an Atom processor, although final specs haven't been locked in. Still -- Atom? Whatever Sony's going to charge for this thing is way too much.

Gallery: Sony Vaio X in the flesh

Sony announces VAIO X ultraportable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia X6 confirmed to sport a capacitive display, we can finally exhale

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/nokia-x6-confirmed-to-sport-a-capacitive-display-we-can-finally/

Ladies and gentlemen, our long, global nightmare is over. Alright, that's a significant overstatement -- but Nokia's lack of capacitive adoption has unquestionably hurt opinion of its 5800 and N97 models, the first to use its touch-ready S60 5th Edition platform. Happily, afterdawn.com is reporting -- and we've been able to independently confirm -- that the X6 will indeed be using a capacitive display, something that we suspect will significantly improve usability if you're not interested in using a stylus (or plectrum, as the case may be) to navigate your way through the interface. For the record, Samsung's already proven that S60 5th is totally doable with capacitive tech on its i8910 HD, so we're sure Nokia's going to be able to pull this off with aplomb -- the real question might be whether this signals a wholesale abandonment of resistive across the range. Since resistive's cheaper, we wouldn't be surprised to see it continue to hang around on the low end for some time to come, but at least we've now got the choice. Sadly, it's too late to save the N900's screen -- but now that Maemo's made the bold leap into GSM telephony, maybe we'll see some worthy capacitive action the next time around.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia X6 confirmed to sport a capacitive display, we can finally exhale originally appeared on Engadg! et o n Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leica M9 and X1 leak out ahead of schedule

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/leica-m9-and-x1-leak-out-ahead-of-schedule/

Wondering what Leica has up its sleeve for that destined-to-be-overshadowed event on the 9th? Well, wonder no more: these pics of the long-rumored M9 and something called the X1 just leaked out, along with some specs. We're told the M9 will sport a full-frame 18.2 megapixel sensor and improved low-light performance, but the real surprise is the X1, pictured above, which'll supposedly have a 12 megapixel APS-C sensor, a fixed 24mm lens and that funky grip handle, by which we're oddly fascinated. Maybe Leica's got some surprises left for the 9th after all -- pic of the M9 after the break.

Continue reading Leica M9 and X1 leak out ahead of schedule

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Leica M9 and X1 leak out ahead of schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony VAIO X slimster hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/hands-on-sony-x-series-slimster/

Daaaamn. We just got back from our time with the Sony X-series and it's making us rethink the entire definition of thin as the word is applied to ultra-portable laptops -- see how it casually jockeys our 15-inch MacBook Pro workhorse in the pic above. Sony's X-series is so thin that it's dangerous: on one hand, it'll cut a jugular or cake with little effort, and on the other, it has just enough flex to make us worry about its ruggedness. But this isn't Sony's first experiment with this form factor and the carbon-fibre frame and aluminum keyboard should help with rigidity when this goes production in both glossy- and matte-plastic finishes. (The displays were all matte, at least for now.) The new X is followup to the rarely seen VAIO X505 that was available in limited markets early in the decade -- only then it wasn't sporting an Atom, 2GB of memory, or a 31Wh removable battery. According to Sony, the choice of an Atom processor is far from decided and is only on display to run the engineering prototypes here at IFA, so there's still hope for at least CULV internals when this thing ships. Unfortunately, access to the rest of the internal specs were software blocked and Sony was zipped tight on details.

Further visual inspection reveals a pair of USB jacks, SD/Memory Stick slot, WWAN SIM slot and folding feet on the bottom to prop up the lappie so you can attach an Ethernet cable in the mechanically yawning RJ45 jack or a Kensington lock to the left-side. Unfortunately, the only video output option is VGA. Nevertheless, the Windows 7 box we tested performed as expected for such a small device -- lethargically, but capably for casual internet browsing and tweeting. And honestly, we could see ourselves dropping a premium (less than $2,000 we're told) for this 11-inch ultra-portable as opposed to the VAIO P. At least now we know what Sony meant when they said they wanted their ! products to be aspirational. See the new X up close with its X505 cousin in the gallery. Trust us, it's worth a look.

P.S. It'll be announced with official specs in October with units available for retail about a week after Windows 7 launches.

Gallery: Hands-on Sony X-series slimster