Full FeedThe oneCAT; a car that runs on Air
It is a while since we told you about the MiniCAT, but now we have the OneCAT, costing just £2,500 ($5,000), weighing 350kg, and running on Air!
Well we don’t exactly have it yet as it is a proof of concept, but an engineer is promising to bring the car, powered by compressed air, to the market within the year.
Domesday hits the Internet
The Domesday book is the oldest and most famous public record in Britain, based on 13,418 settlements in 1086, and it is now available free online thanks to a three year project by Prog John Palmer and his son, Matt from Hull, England.
900 years old, the parchment papers show that the value of property in the UK in 1085 was £75,000 (£1 trillion at todays prices), and is widely accepted as one of the most influential sources of medieval history. The project to convert it for the internet took three years, but dates back to 1980 when he was looking at a teaching project, but at the time computers weren’t powerful enough for the job.
The Domesday Book is available online at www.esds.ac.uk/findingdata and can be displayed as maps, tables or text from the original Latin text.
Via [Telegraph]
RelatedWhen is Mobile not Mobile?
In the UK experiments are due to start where mobile (cell) phone calls made in the home will be routed through the users broadband connection rather than through the existing phone network, because of the increasing volume and subsequent strain on the traditional networks.
The technology is similar to that used in Wi-Fi and connectivity is based on ‘Femtocells’ which are small pockets of wireless connectivity—just think wireless router.
Putting the increased volume into perspective, the growth of video downloads means that a network that would normally handle 500 voice conversations at the same time, would only handle 15 simultaneous downloads.
Via [The Times]
RelatedOmnifone offering unlimited music downloads
Omnifone has plans to allow UK mobile phone users to download as much music as they want as part of their monthly contracts. That alone is pretty cool, however the fact that you get to keep the music if you change your contract at any time in the future is even cooler.
The service will be available initially only on LG phones and will be called Music Station Max. It will allow users to download an unlimited amount of music via the 3G network directly to their phone and then sideload the downloaded music to a computer where they can create the usual playlists, you can also share preferences with friends who are also using Omnifone’s software.
The main drawback at the moment is that only Universal has signed up, but word is the other three major labels are expected to sign soon.
Via [The Times]
RelatedVodafone partners with Facebook
Some good news to report for a change in regards to Facebook in the UK with news that they are going to enable Vodafone users to install a application on the phone that will allow them to receive newsfeeds, messages, status updates, ‘pokes’ and other features from the site.
Vodafone has been chosen to partner Facebook with this new offering, which will improve on the current mobile offering by removing the need to go to a browser first and type in the URL. Now users will be able to click on a widget on the phone and directly access Facebook. This isn’t a first for Vodafone who already have similar offerings with MySpace and Bebo. Currently no other providers have been announced, but Facebook is expected to partner with others on a similar offer.
Via [The Times]
RelatedSMS rates to get cheaper in Europe
EU Commissioner Viviane Reding has given Europe’s mobile phone operators until July 1, 2008 to cut (in fact slash) their excessive roaming charges for SMS messages.
Studies show that a text sent from abroad can cost £0.49 ($0.95), while transferring 1MB of data can cost £4.11 ($8.00). So what does Ms Reding mean by ‘slash’? Well she has warned that anything more than about 2 pence (about 4 cents) above domestic texting charges would be unacceptable, which would be really good news indeed.
Not so good news on the data downloading market which is still seen as in its infancy, but she did urge for clearer warnings of the costs which would help in avoiding any shocking bills.
Via [BBC]
RelatedUK to get tough on illegal downloaders
The UK government are considering plans to cut off Internet access for people that illegally download music and films.
Adopting the US ‘three strikes’ rule the consultation green paper “suggests” internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material, via a e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their contract.
That means that over 6 million people in the UK could be cut off from the internet. Broadband providers that failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted and forced to provide the details of the downloaders to the courts!
Via [BBC]
RelatedCell Phones don’t cause Cancer
While the headline may seem familiar it seems that the latest study in Japan that suggests that cell phones are not a brain cancer risk, is the first to look at the effects of hand set radiation levels on different parts of the brain. The study was conducted by the Tokyo Women’s Medical University and found “no increased risk of the three main types of brain cancer among regular mobile phone users.”
The study compared 322 brain cancer patients and 683 healthy people, where the cancer victims had one of the three most common types of brain tumor , namely glioma, meningioma or pituitary adenoma. After studying the radiation emitted, and rating them against sufferers and length of cell phone use they were able to conclude that the cell phone posed no danger:
Lead researcher Professor Naohito Yamaguchi said: “Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don’t cause brain cancer.”
It has to be said that previous research has contradicted this latest research.
Related10 All Time Useless Inventions
We all have some gadget or other tucked away in a drawer that we really shouldn’t have bought. In fact many argue that is the definition of a true gadget - something that you just have to have but don’t need. Well you can console yourself that it could be worse, unless you happen top have bought any of these Top 10 useless inventions from the 19th and 20th century’s:
Smartphone growth continues to rise
Canalys have released some interesting research into sales of smartphones during the fourth quarter of 2007.
Nokia remains at the top with 52.9% of the market, followed by Blackberry with 11.4% and then a new entry in the top 3 edging out Motorola is the iPhone with 6.5% of the worldwide market.
2007 was a good year for the Smartphone with 115 million shipped which equates to a 60% increase. The largest region by sales is Asia Pacific, where Nokia dominates with 50%, whereas in the USA where Nokia is traditionally weaker the iPhone had an impressive 28% market share.
The iPhone had a strong showing across Europe considering it was only released in the 4th quarter, but the Nokia remains dominant with a growing popularity for the Blackberry across Europe
Via [The Times]
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