360 DEGREES Weblog

It’s 2010. You know — the future. The first entertainment advancement of this strange new decade comes to us from the leader in TV sports and Dad-like catchphrases. ESPN 3D is a newly announced channel that will show around 85 live sporting events in 3D during its first year, launching on June 11 with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match. Other events will include the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, various college basketball and football games, and the Summer X Games. You’ll need a new 3D-capable HDTV (stay tuned for announcements this week from the Consumer Electronics Show on Uncrate) and those dorky 3D glasses.

Have you ever been sent a package, only to wonder where exactly it is a few days later? Sure, you can look up the tracking number and have the carrier give you an idea. However, that isn’t exactly up-to-the-minute information. It also doesn’t tell you what pitfalls befell your poor package during transit. FedEx has decided to solve these issues by introducing a gadget that will tell you everything about your package during its journey.

Aimed at the medical industry, SenseAware is a device that can be dropped into any package to monitor the transit. During this time it uses an accelerometor, light sensor, cellular transmitter and a GPS receiver to gather data about how the package is treated, whether it was opened and its exact location. You can then log onto the corresponding website and check this information at any time.

Right now the service is too pricey for most people, however the $120 per month fee isn’t too outrageous when you’re shipping out fragile and irreplaceable items like transplant organs. I imagine that the cost will go down over the next few years, and you’ll start to see more businesses take advantage of it.

Turn-by-turn navigation hits Android 2.0, and for free, in the form of Google Maps Navigation. This application “can turn any Android 2.0 device into a turn-by-turn GPS navigator, guiding you to any address you want — it can understand your voice.”

We can hardly believe it but the day has finally arrived: Toshiba just launched the first Dynario fuel-cell for portable consumer electronics. That’s right, the long promised and highly anticipated direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) with dedicated fuel cartridge for on-the-go refueling will go on sale October 29th in Japan for ¥29,800 (about $328) plus another ¥3,150 (about $34) for a set of five, 50ml fuel cartridges. Dynario takes about 20 seconds to fill its 14ml fuel tank with an injection of a concentrated methanol solution at which point it’s ready to charge USB-connected devices. Dynario’s hybrid structure uses a lithium-ion battery to store enough electricity to charge two typical cellphones, according to Tosh. That works out to be about $1 per recharge, if our calculations are correct, based on the fuel costs alone. We assume the battery can be charged via wall socket power too but this isn’t explicitly stated in the press release. The first run consists of only 3,000 units after which Toshiba will gauge consumer reaction before extending the launch outside of Japan. Boy oh boy, a new age in portability has begun.

Looking to take 802.11n to places you never thought possible? You know — like your studio apartment on the Upper East Side? TRENDnet’s Wireless N Travel Router (which was announced way back at CES) is tailor made for cramped spaces, fitting within the palm of your hand and offering up a single WAN port, a carrying case and a USB socket. Unfortunately there’s no internal battery to keep this puppy alive in the wild, but for $79.99 we can’t kvetch too much.

Fitness enthusiasts can already use their cell phones and the web to keep track of their progress toward their health goals, but typically such applications track a limited set of data or rely on accurate self-reporting. Fitbit, on the other hand, is a small device the user can wear around the clock for continuous, automatic and comprehensive fitness reporting.

The Fitbit Tracker can be clipped loosely on clothing or undergarments or worn directly on an included wristband. With a 3D motion sensor like that found in the Nintendo Wii, the Fitbit tracks the user’s activity in three dimensions and converts that data into useful information. Calories burned, steps taken and distance traveled are all recorded by the Fitbit automatically, for example, as are sleep quality data such as how long it took the user to fall asleep, the number of times they woke up during the night and how long they were actually sleeping. A blue OLED display on the rechargeable device shows data about the user’s overall activity level; in addition, any time he or she walks within 15 feet of the included wireless base station, data from the Fitbit is silently uploaded in the background to the Fitbit website. There, users can view detailed data about their fitness-related activities; they can also enter data about what they’ve eaten and participate in collaborative fitness goals with friends, family and co-workers. The complete Fitbit system, including tracker device, base station and software, is priced at USD 99.

Thanks Springwise

While the web is disrobing many businesses in the name of transparency, the City of San Francisco is happy to expose itself. A month since the launch of DataSF.org, a public archive of government data, Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that the site will now showcase applications which manipulate that data to make it more useful and accessible to the city’s residents. Inspired by the success of Apple’s iTunes App Store and Facebook’s open developer platform (60,000 and 350,000 apps respectively), writes Mayor Newsom, San Francisco is encouraging democratic participation by “giving residents the tools to build the kind of government that works for them.”

A number of apps are already online, with the new showcase expected to stimulate many more creations. Among those currently available, EcoFinder helps residents find out where their nearest recycling services are located, while Cabspotting—a project by the Exploratorium interactive science museum—displays a real-time map of cab locations in San Francisco.

It’s not the first step the tech-centric Bay Area has made towards ‘Gov 2.0’— as in June they introduced their Twitter service for civil complaints. But this latest effort could mark the start of a sea-change in the way governments provide public information services.

Thanks Springwise

The 32GB Pico Drive — previously only available in 8GB and 16GB capacities — from ThinkGeek is touted as the world’s smallest, at just 3.4mm thick. It features a polished chrome / nickel finish and is shock and water resistant. Continue reading to see a water durability test with the 8GB version.

If you’re a parent, you know that you can’t be with your children 24/7. So how do you safe guard them against the ever looming threat of stranger danger? Thanks to the geniuses over at Amber Alert GPS, parental units everywhere can breath a little easier with the release of the Amber Alert GPS 2G.

The 2G version of the Amber Alert GPS is being billed as “the world’s smallest, most powerful GPS tracking device.” Now if your child wanders off or something more serious is afoot, you can simply call or text the 2G and you receive a detail map of their location to your phone within seconds. One feature that sets this tracker apart from others on the market is the new bread crumbing feature that creates an accurate trail of your child’s travels. Another nifty feature is the Safe Zone feature that allows parents to create an area where it’s safe for the kids to be in –kind of like a digital fence for juinior.

It’s monday morning and just looking for new entries. As i’m suffering from high bloodpressure myself this little new device might just be the solution. The Zona Plus is a blood pressure reducing isometric exerciser that was developed from technology used by the U.S. Air Force to improve F-16 pilots’ blood circulation. This exercise device claims to reduce your blood pressure without medication and clinical research by cardiovascular specialists shows the device lowers blood pressure in 90% of users who perform the therapy 12 minutes per day, five days a week. Simply hold the device and squeeze as hard as you can; the unit measures your maximum hand strength and calculates a target pressure that is 70% below your threshold. The handgrip then prompts you to maintain the target pressure, indicating when to squeeze harder or loosen your hold with audible tones and visual cues on the LCD. The price is $379.95, which might raise my blood pressure again.