Showing posts with label Tablet PCs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tablet PCs. Show all posts

November 10, 2011

Tougher Than An iPad



Panasonic unveiled their ToughPad this week--the FZ-A1.

This is a hardened device ready for outdoor use. Rated for MIL-STD-810G, the device is 4' shock-resistant, rated for extreme temperatures, and is resistant to water and dust with IP65 sealed design.

Currently comes in 10" size, but the FZ-B1 device is slated for a smaller 7" screen in Q2 2012.

The toughPad packs a lot of punch: This is an Android 3.2 device with 1.2 GHz dual core,1 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, 2 cameras (back 5 megapixel and front 2 megapixel), anti-glare multitouch screen 768 x 1024 megapixels, a 10 hour repalceable battery, USB, GPS, WIFI 802.11, Bluetooth, and optional 3G mobile broadband.

Optional accessories for vehicle mounting and hands-free holsters.

Priced at around $1299.

Great option for the warfighter, law enforcement, and homeland security professional as well as others working in challenging environments.


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October 16, 2011

Human Evolution, Right Before Our Eyes

Watching how this toddler interacts with an iPad and is then frustrated by plain-old magazines is comical, but also a poignant commentary on our times.

Media that doesn't move, drill down, pop up, connect us, and otherwise interact with the end-user is seen here as frustrating and dated.

This speaks volumes about where our children and grandchildren are headed with technology adoption and then hopefully "taking it to the next level" and the next!

At the same time, this obviously does not bode well for the legacy paper and magazine publishing industry.

It can be difficult to see things changing so dramatically before our very eyes, but with every doors that closes, there us another one that opens.

And so with technology and with life itself, "to everything there is a time and a purpose under the heaven."

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April 15, 2011

Fit For A King

So technology really does come to everything, eventually.

Check out Kohler's new high-tech toilet, the Numi.

Aside from all sorts of automatic functions from opening the toilet (from up to 8 feet away), to raising the seat for men based on foot sensors, to even flushing with varying power level based on how long you've been doing your business, the Numi really performs as the "toilet of the future" as CNET calls it.

Using a touch-tablet remote (that magnetically docks to a wall panel):

- It washes (through an extending bidet with LED lights)
- It dries (with an built in air dryer and deodorizer)
- It cleans (the bowl with 2 modes--1.28 or 0.6 gallons of water for the eco-conscious, and it also cleanses the bidet head with water or a bath of UV light)
- It warms (by controls for seat temperature and blows warm air at your feet), and
- It entertains (with FM radio and speakers as well as integrates with your iPod/iPhones).

For $6,400 you get yourself a true throne with form and function fit for a gadget king.

(Credit Picture of Remote to Scott Stein/CNET and Credit Picture of Numi Side to Kohler)

Kohler_numi Toilet_side

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January 1, 2011

A House for The People


(Source for graphic: The $300 House)

National Geographic (January 2011) reports that one out of every seven people—or 1 billion people—in this world lives in slums.


Forbes (11 June 2007) predicts “By 2030, an estimated 5 billion of the world’s 8.1 billion people will live in cities. About 2 billion of them will live in slums, primarily in Africa and Asia, lacking access to clean drinking water and toilets, surrounded by desperation and crime.”


Harvard Business Review (January-February 2011) shares an innovative idea by Vijay Govindarajan to design and mass-produce houses for the poor for $300! Moreover, these units would include “basic modern services such as running water and electricity…[and] create shared access to computers, cell phones, televisions, water filters, solar panels, and clean-burning stoves.”


The breakthrough idea of the $300 high-tech house is that this is not something governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or charities would develop and deploy, but rather one that is a challenge for commercial interests who can take lead on creating mass scale, “ultra low cost, high value housing…as a mega opportunity, with billions in profit at stake.”


While I understand that the profit motive is very compelling and efficient in getting results, I would suggest that when it comes to helping the poor and downtrodden that we need to temper this as a driving factor, and let our humanity and conscience kick in as well. In other words, sure make a profit, but by G-d have a heart.


With The $300 House, aside from the notion of truly helping people—en masse—and making a genuine difference with moving them from slum houses to homes is the concept of leapfrogging them in their technology. Think about it:


- Solar power
- Walter filtration
- (Even) Tablet PCs


This reminds me of the One Laptop Per Child initiative of 2005 that sought to put $100 laptops in the hands of hundreds of millions of disadvantaged schoolchildren to advance their educational opportunities. It expands and augments it to make the change impactful to people’s lives on the ground today in terms of how people are able to care for themselves and their families, so that they can get to a brighter tomorrow and put that education to work.


While we may never be able to fully eradicate poverty, we can certainly significantly raise the status of living for the masses that need help through commercial opportunities, technological proliferation, and of course, through a charitable heart.

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