BMW Hydrogen 7 passes NASA's tests

BMW sent prototypes of its revolutionary new Hydrogen 7 cars to NASA for testing and the clean, mean and green vehicles came out with flying colors after being graded for their efficiency.The Hydrogen 7 is based on the design of the BMW 760Li and carries a dual combustion engine which can use either gasoline or fuel hydrogen. What's more, it can switch seamlessly between the two and deliver the same results each time.It's strong V12 engine delivers 260hp, a top speed of 143 miles an hour and accelerates from 0 to 60 miles in 9.2 seconds. The high performance comes with the distinctive BMW look and ease of handling that luxury drivers look for.The best part about the BMW Hydrogen 7 is its contribution to the prevention of climate change. When running on hydrogen, its emissions are essentially as harmless as water vapor.

New iGadgets finally unveiled: New iPod Nano, Red Shuffle, iPod Touch

Good things are finally coming their way towards Apple iGadget fans: Steve Jobs already announced the newfangled wonderful things in Apple's media event, and what a bunch or wonderful gadgetry they are.After giving themselves a pat on the back about iTune's success (600 million copies of iTunes distributed, 95 million TV shows sold, 32% digital-only music releases), Jobs started announcing the newest additions to the Apple family, beginning with the little things, such as the addition of a red-colored shuffle among other new colors. It will have the same specs such as 1GB memory and will be on sale for US$ 79, and will be available shortly.Next up is the new iPod Nano. It turns out that the rumors of a smaller, stockier Nano is true: it's the very same cuter iPod Nano whose pictures were circulating the net a few days ago. It has a 2-inch screen, the same QVGA resolution as the existing Nanos, enhanced user interface (with the same cover flow browsing as iPhone!), and 3 new games.The new iPod Nano's battery life is more than alright: it can play for 24 hours only with audio, and 5 full hours of video playback. There are two storage flavors available: 4GB and 8GB. The 4GB flavor will be priced at US$ 149, while the 8GB will have a tag price of only US$ 199.
Even more good news? These cool new babies have already been shipped and will be in stores starting this weekend.

Finally: world's first non-stick chewing gum invented

Do you hate the hassle of removing the troublesome gum off the sole of your shoe? If so, then you're in luck: scientists at Bristol University have invented a novel kind of chewing gum (about as novel as anti-obesity chewing gum?).We're looking at the world's first non-stick chewing gum that easily washes off with water.Christened as the Rev 7, the non-stick chewing gum may be on sale in the UK early next year. Made out of non-stick synthetic material, Rev 7 can be easily removed from shoe soles, desks (yes, sticking gum underneath desks seem to be a secret ritual in school), and from pretty much anything else.Rev 7's inventor Professor Terence Cosgrove explained the importance of the invention:
Chewing gum is a social habit that goes around the world. But, unfortunately, a large number of people dispose of their gum inappropriately. I am sure you have all sat in the cinema or in someone's car and your hands have wandered and found a disgusting sticky mess under the seat. It is unpleasant, could have health issues associated with it, and is unsightly. Yes, we all hate having to accidentally get our fingers caught in chewing gum moistened by some other person's saliva. At least with this new non-stick gum, cleaning the gum off won't be such a hassle.

SpyDisk: Pen With Built-in Flash & SD Drive

Now we're rather confused about this one because this device is packing too many features, it's hard to tell what it mainly is. At the moment we're not sure whether it is a pen with a built-in Flash and SD drive or if it is a Flash and SD drive with a built-in pen. Of course, the latter would make more sense but this all-purpose contraption straight from Japan called the 'SpyDisk' pen has all you could want in your pocket. It comes in 128, 256, and 512 MB Flash drive sizes, plus whatever you can store on your SD card.This is certainly a handy gadget to have around especially if you carry a pen around with you at all times and store data on various formats. It is annoying if you have an SD card with data on and no card reader to use it with, now you can with this! The SpyDisk (don't ask why it is called this - we simply don't know) costs ¥2,800 ($24) for the 128MB version, ¥3,880 ($33) for the 256MB version and ¥4,800 ($41) for the 512MB version. When it will hit the states we don't know, but with this kind of functionality, it's got to at some point.

Boost your PC with Toshiba's 32GB flash drive

If your PC already has a multi-core processor with a huge hard drive and a sturdy amount of RAM, yet you still find yourself looking for better performance, maybe it's time to start looking outside the casing and into external memory.By using a USB drive as a Windows ReadyBoost device, you free up the burden on your PC and help it run as efficiently as possible. Toshiba is capitalizing on the demand for such devices as it introduces the new Vista-compatible TransMemory USB drive.Set for launch this October, the TransMemory devices will have variants ranging from 1GB to 8GB. They'll work in conjunction with existing memory devices to improve response times and make multitasking a smoother cruise. If you think that's cool, wait until year's end when a 32GN TransMemory device is set loose. Now that's a flash drive!

Studies confirm coffee is good at stopping cancer

Bloggers, gamers, and other nocturnal creatures have reason to celebrate as coffee may be good for one's health. Two publications, namely Hepatology and PNAS, have conducted studies on this and found that coffee and the caffeine it contains has a retarding effect on cancer.The June issue of Hepatology, a journal devoted to the study of the liver, compared a study that tracked liver cancer and obtained date related to coffee consumption of those in the experiment. The findings showed a 41% reduction in the risk of cancer for coffee drinkers. Now, these findings are consistent with other studies. Both case-controlled and cohort designs show that coffee has the same effect across the board.The PNAS study, furthermore, involved putting caffeine straight into the water that the mice were drinking. In addition to this, each mouse was subjected to daily exercise via a training wheel. The experiment showed that these test subjects were more prone to apoptosis, or cell suicide when exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays. It has been a long standing theory in modern medicine that the said apoptotic response stops cancer from forming as potentially damaged cellular DNA are weeded out.Does this mean that we should start loading up on more caffeinated drinks? Well, it's best to consult your physician first about that. It's just nice to know that our morning cup of joe isn't as bad as some would portray it to be.

Apple gives MacBook line faster chips, more memory

AppleInsider reports that Apple's MacBook consumer notebooks have just been given an upgrade. According to Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, the new MacBook is faster and has more memory and storage than ever before thanks to faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in all the MacBook models.If you're worried about size, don't be. The new MacBooks are still just an inch thick. They also feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking which allows for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. The new line also includes a built-in iSight camera, an Apple SafeMag Power Adapter and iLife '06. For more details on the new MacBooks' specs, click on the "via" link below.If you're looking to get one for yourself, all three MacBook models are already available. At a suggested retail price (SRP) of US$ 1,099, the 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook is the cheapest of the bunch. The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook has an SRP of US$1,299 while the 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook has a suggested price tag of US$ 1,499.

LG introduces 5 MP camera phone in India

LG released a 5 MP camera phone - KG920. This phone will retail at approx Rs 22,000. It has a swivel design similar to the Nokia 5700 which allows the camera to rotate 180 degrees thus enabling self portrait shots. This phone primarily features:
TriBand
108 x 50 x 18.9 mm
5 MP camera with VGA video recording at 30 fps
2 inch TFT display (240 x 320 pixel)
8MB of internal memory and a miniSD slot
Connectivity – GPRS, Bluetooth (v1.2) and USB (v1.1)
Media player supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+, WAV and MPEG4 formats

Apple iPhone reviewed

The Apple iPhone will be released on June 29th but few reviewers chosen by Apple had got the phone 2 weeks back and these lucky guys have published their reviews of the phone. In case you were in hibernation since January (when the iPhone was announced) on our old thread to have a look at the features
We read all the reviews and have put together this “master” list catching the advantages and disadvantages from every review. Almost unanimously, every reviewer said that it is a revolutionary product and lives up to the hype surrounding it.
Some of the good points of the iPhone:
The touchscreen keyboard works fine and is not a problem. It requires some time to adjust to but after that typing is a breeze.
It has a virtually scratchless body and the touchscreen is not a fingerprint magnet
The multi-tap interface works like a dream and all the features work as well as advertised. As David Pogue from the New York Times puts it – “the bigger achievement is the software. It’s fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate.”Steven Levy from Newsweek puts it this way – “What’s more, with the exception of learning to type on the iPhone, which requires some concentration, doing all those things on that five-ounce device was fun, in the same way that switching from an old command-line interface to the Macintosh graphical user interface in the mid-1980s was a kick”
It is definitely the best iPod ever made. Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal about the iPod application - “..the interface is entirely new. The famed scroll wheel is gone, and instead finger taps and flicking move you through your collection and virtual controls appear on the screen. There’s also a version of the “cover flow” interface which allows you to select music by flipping through album covers”
Email supports attachments and you can read Word, Excel and PDF documents. However you cannot save or edit them
The phone syncs easily with MS Outlook and with iTunes allowing seamless transfer of music, video, photos, contacts, calendar items and browser bookmarks
The Safari web browser is almost computer like. According to Mossberg – “It displays entire Web pages, in their real layouts, and allows you to zoom in quickly by either tapping or pinching with your finger. Multiple pages can be open at the same time, and you can conduct Google or Yahoo searches from a built-in search box.”
Battery life is impressive and it can easily last a day or two with heavy usage of all the functions. It got 7 hours and 18 minutes of continuous talk time, with Wi-Fi on and email constantly being fetched in the background.
The software is upgradeable and Apple will issue free software updates every now and then
Now the disadvantages:
Bluetooth is not A2DP, so that means using those wireless Bluetooth headsets is not possible
Camera is 2MP without zoom and flash and doesn’t support video recording
No MMS and Instant Messaging Chat
No 3G (but you knew that before, didn’t you)
Contact list cannot be searched and can only be scrolled
No way to cut, copy or paste text
The browser doesn’t support Adobe flash and Java
You cannot use songs as ringtones. Only the preset ones can be used
The battery will lose charge in 300-400 charges and is not replaceable
On screen keyboard works well but you have to switch to a different keyboard view to insert a period or comma
But wait, before you call your cousin in the US, remember this: The iPhone is locked to the AT&T network and will not work on any other cellphone network. Now wait for someone who manages to find a way to unlock the phone and pay a hefty premium or be patient enough for an India release next year.
Read - David Pogue - The New York TimesRead - Walter S. Mossberg and Katherine Boehret - The Wall Street JournalRead - Edward C. Baig - USA TodayRead - Steven Levy - NewsweekOther Coverage: Engadget Mobile
Update: HCL and Wipro are talking to Apple to bring the iPhone to India. However nothing is confirmed and no date was mentioned. In my opinion it will be atleast some months before things start moving as Apple won’t give unlocked cellphones which could find the way to the US market in which it has an exclusive tie-up with AT&T.

Microsoft launches Windows Mobile 6 in India

Microsoft has launched Windows Mobile 6, the latest version of its mobile software platform in India. The new platform delivers to the small screen a rich experience that meets the needs of work and life while on the go, all with a single device.
Announcing the launch, Doug Hauger, chief operating officer, Microsoft India said, “Windows Mobile is a powerful software platform which addresses the anytime anywhere connectivity need of today’s mobile workforce in India as well as globally the platform has received an overwhelming response from customers, partners, mobile operators, developers and industry at large. We are confident that Windows Mobile 6 with its enhanced security, communication and productivity features and a familiar software experience will further accelerate the platforms adoption by diverse segments of the industry.”
Currently some of the windows mobile 6 enabled devices available in India are HTC Touch, HTC S710, HP iPAQ 512, and O2 Atom Life.

Wireless iPod and iPhone control watch from Timex

Timex has launched a new watch that can interact with the Apple iPod. While a lot of gadgets already have this ability, the new Timex Ironman iControl does have something unique up its sleeve: it can interact with iPods wirelessly.The watch apparently comes with a receiver that lets users command iPods to play or pause, raise or lower volume and skip between tracks. The iControl can also reportedly interact with iPhones, but this feature requires switching the iPhone into Airplane Mode.On the non-music side, the iControl can store up to 50 laps in its built-in memory and can store a training log with the current date, best lap and average time. It's water-resistant up to a depth of 328 feet and is available in pink, blue, green, orange and gray/black. It should be in stores today with a suggested price tag of US$ 125.

iPhone class action lawsuit filed against Apple, AT&T

And in the world of gadgets, (wind?)breaking news has just hit recently about presumably the first class action lawsuit ever filed against AT&T and Apple, which is related to the newly launched iPhone. The suit, filed by one called Trujillo, iterates that the iPhone's battery has a limited lifespan and requires annual replacement. Or at least that's what we think he tried to say when he claimed, "The battery enclosed in the iPhone can only be charged approximately 300 times before it will be in need of replacement, necessitating a new battery annually for owners of the iPhone," stating one claim earlier that unbeknownst to himself, the "iPhone is a sealed unit with it's battery soldered on the inside of the device" rendering the battery permanent, unless replaced by a licensed Apple technician.Earlier, Apple has disclosed the fact that the battery would hold 80% of its original charge after 400 consecutive charge and discharge cycles. The information provided by the company actually breaks the plaintiff's claim in two halves. Firstly, the battery will last longer than 300 charges. And secondly, after the battery does break the 400-charge-discharge limit, it is still usable and does not warrant (or necessitate) an immediate replacement.