Wireless world
PDA tours
Your mobile or your personal digital assistant will soon be a personal tour guide around galleries and museums around the world. By the end of the year, visitors to many cultural and historical sites will be able to point a PDA or mobile phone at an exhibit and be instantly connected to rich multimedia and interactive content. Antenna Audio, a digital guide supplier, appointed British-based company Hypertag to develop wireless infrared triggering and software. Last year Antenna Audio and Hypertag produced PDA systems for Tate Modern and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. www.hypertag.co.uk
Digital cinema
Moveable feast
Flawless films moved a little closer to fruition last week when Texas Instruments brought its latest digital cinema screening technology to the British Film Institute in London. Its 2K DLP Cinema technology claims to be the world's only digital cinema projection technology. The US company was aiming to persuade the European film industry to switch from celluloid to silicon, but it has a long way to go. Its technology is deployed in 150 cinemas around the world, compared with 140,000 cinemas worldwide.
Home computing
Howie
The new wall-mounted Howie computer launched this month promises a practical alternative to desktop computers. Its manufacturers, based in Liverpool, are targeting business and home users. As soon as you run out of milk, for example, you can order another pint online with just a few finger strokes on its touch screen. The casing which includes the 15in LCD screen, drives and motherboard is only 83mm thick. A cordless infrared keyboard means the only spaghetti in the kitchen will be served with bolognese sauce. The top spec ASP266 has a 2.66GHz Intel Pentium 4 with a 30GB hard drive and a read/write slot for DVDs. Buyers can also choose the colour of the casing to match their kitchen or corporate colours. Prices start from £1,190. www.redten.com
Pillow talk
Computer use at home now knows no bounds. If you have ever used your laptop in the bath, you are not alone, although you are in a minority. One percent of the 1,000 respondents to a MORI survey admitted to using their portable PC in the bathroom; the same number even admitted to using a laptop on the loo.The survey into PC usage was carried out on behalf of Packard Bell and the results were announced this week. One quarter of those questioned owned up to taking their laptop to bed - a habit more common among singletons with more than two out of five cosying up with their laptop at night.
Mobile
Repellent tone
South Korea's largest mobile operator, SK Telecom, has launched a new service to turn your mobile phone into a mosquito repellent. Users can download a ringback tone (the sound you hear when waiting for a call to be answered) that won't be audible to the human ear, but will send packing any mosquitoes within a metre of you, the company claims. Repeated use could drain your mobile battery, though, as the tone uses up as much power as a normal ringing tone. The download costs 3,000 won (£1.50) and this service is only available in South Korea. www.sktelecom.com/english
Symbian's calling
Handset multimedia functions took a step forward this week with the launch this week of Fujitsu's first videophone. The F2102V is the first videophone to use the Psion-based Symbian operating system and features Advanced Audio Coding which claims to provide CD-quality sound through its "dual sound" speaker system. The clamshell-design handset has 310 hours stand-by time, and 240 hours active stand-by time. It also has a CCD camera (330,000 pixels) with a light. It has 3x digital zoom and can record video clips up to 90 seconds long which can be saved on to miniSD cards. The F2102V also comes with a USB-enabled desktop holder for diary and contacts back-ups, or to transfer images, although this does require separate data-synchronising software. Unfortunately, the phone is only going to be available in the Japanese market.
