Hi-tech Frontier

Mr. Brightside USB keyboard light illuminates your keys, taste in music Have you ever found yourself furiously typing in the dead of night wishing your keyboard had its own personal light? Well, Mr. Brightside is here to help. This little guy is a USB keyboard light sure to take away your extremely minor lighting gripes, and it'll look good doing it. Mr. Brightside comes in lime green, pink, black and blue for the many shades of your moods. They're available now for $20.22.

Kyocera EOS: Cellphone with Kinetic Energy Here is a new innovation in cellphone development. Kyocera EOS, that’s how this brand new cellphone from Kyocera is called. Kyocera EOS is designed by Susan McKinney, an industrial designer. Kyocera EOS is a unique cellphone that is using kinetic energy to run. Kyocera can be proud of their latest kinetic energy power cellphone since it brings the future design of cellphones. It’s flexible OLED screen allows the users to fold up this cellphone into a shape of wallet or clutch purse. Other people may not even think that the wallet you bring is actually a cellphone. Kyocera EOS consists of soft skin, and semi-rigid polymer that surrounded the OLED display. The unique display of the Kyocera EOS will transform into a keypad when the user wants to use it as a cellphone. The keypad will than dissolve to the previous display once the user finish with the phone functions. The other unique feature of the Kyocera EOS is that it can be unfold to complete...

NES gamepad mouse is the most amazing piece of industrial design in the history of humankind Apparently as of right now, this stunning piece of high art is just a foam model mock-up, but listen to us, mouse manufacturers of the world: if you build this, we will give you every penny we have to own it. Our only gripe? The D-pad should definitely be up top for navigation duties. Still... where's the waiting list?

The Barista : Portable Espresso Maker The Barista is a handy espresso maker, designed specially for home use to enhance and simplify the user experience both indoor and outdoor. Unlike the usual espresso machines, Barista allows multiple persons to take part in the experience of coffee making and consists of brewing unit, a docking station and five espresso cups. When in docking mode, this machine is attached to the wall outlet and performs like a conventional espresso machine. When in portable mode, the coffee beans remains pre-grounded and the water is kept into a thermos pre-heated in order to enhance the portability of this machine and avoid unnecessary energy consumption.

Futuristic eMX Car Concept by Renault Samsung Motors Design Renault Samsung Motors (RSM) has exposed their futuristic eMX car concept. eMX stands for eco Motoring eXperience, which is based on the platform of Renault Mégane and is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine along with some other solutions to improve the fuel efficiency. The main feature of the design includes detailed soft curves and graphics which is inspired by the nature and are intended at expressing an eco-friendly sense and cutting-edge technology. The organic and smooth curves of this concept car explores a new design technology that may adopt the company’s other small cars in future.

Charge Your Wiimotes With The Power Of Induction One thing I hate about all of my game controllers is that I fell like I’m always swapping out rechargeable batteries. Many times I’m tempted to get some sort of charging station that I can just keep them on when I’m not using the controller. When it comes to the Wiimote, there’s that little silicon sleeve that can be a real nuisance, since you have to remove it to get to the batteries, so there is even more reason for a better charging solution. Enter the Energizer WiiMore charger. ##CONTINUE##This thing looks like it would be the perfect solution to my problem. It would hold both controllers I have, includes rechargeable battery packs, and uses induction charging so I can leave them in their sleeves. Unfortunately there’s a chance that this thing will be obsolete a month after it comes out. You see, it hits stores in June, while Nintendo is releasing their MotionPlus accessory in July. The MotionPlus attachment will come with its own si...

Podio MP3 Player is the Bicyclists Friend There are tons of bicyclists riding around my town. Typically, you see them in big groups clad in spandex and weaving in and out of traffic. Sometimes you see them in singles though and they are often wearing earphones. I always wonder how they will evade some wanker out to prove the point that the road is for cars if they can’t hear them coming with earphones on. ##CONTINUE##A new MP3 player from a Taiwanese firm allows bicyclists and other users to listen to music from a compact digital player that doesn’t require earphones or headphones. The device is called Podio and it crams the speaker, amp, and storage into a metal tube 88mm long that can connect to a bike’s handlebars.

BeBook mini e-reader with 5-inch display makes pictorial debut It's not the BeBook 2, unfortunately, but Endless Ideas' official Twitter has released an image of a smaller variant of its current e-book reader, dubbed the BeBook mini. It's got a 5-inch e-ink display and reportedly all the same features as its older brother. Manufacturer Tianjin Jinke Electronics also happens to sell products under the Hanlin brand, and this looks to be the same device as the upcoming Hanlin v5, which according to Chinese site mobread would indicate SD card support and a May release window locally. As for elsewhere in the world, there's no indication of a release date, but BeBook Twitter feed did tease about staying under the $200 / €200 price barrier.

Color changing Luxeed U5 LED keyboard is a rave at your fingertips Luxeed's got a fine history of making the keyboard a fantastical piece of wonder, and its newest offering is not exception. The U5 LED keyboard has pretty much everything one could ask for in a colorful peripheral -- programmable, patterned LEDs which are guaranteed to brighten up your day. It boasts support for Windows, Linux and Mac (previous versions were Windows only), so if it's ever made available outside of Korea, we can guarantee you we'll be getting one for every member of our dance posse. They're available for pre-order in Korea now for KRW 99,000 (about $77 USD).

Fujitsu releases M2010 netbook We already caught sight of Fujitsu's new 10.1-inch LOOX M netbook in Japan earlier this month, and it looks like the company has now gotten official with the seemingly identical M2010 model for some other markets, although it still hasn't made it all the way over here. The netbook itself is about as standard as can be, and includes a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and built-in Bluetooth, among other not at all surprising specs -- although you will apparently get a bundled DVD burner and wireless mouse with it, which makes the nearly $650 price tag at least a tad more reasonable.

Archos 2 new color leaks out Oh sure, you could already get your paws around the Archos 2 flash-based PMP if you really, really wanted to, but we're still thrilled to see the company come clean and begin offering it up on its own website. As of now, prospective buyers in the United States of America can "soon" select the 8GB version in black or white for $59.99, while the 16GB model arrives in the same color options for $40 more. In related news,

Routon intros its Android MIDs Android on netbooks might be the fad du jour, but it sounds like Routon's still working the MID angle -- the company just dropped word of two devices in the pipeline. The P760 and P730 are said to be in the "research phase," so we don't know too much about 'em, but they certainly look nice, and they're scheduled to hit sometime in the second half of the year. Honestly, though, we can't help but wonder when and where we're supposed to use these things -- anyone craving a MID over a netbook or smartphone?

Drool-worthy MID concept stops us in our tracks We see plenty of semi-yawn-inducing MIDs around the office here, and concepts are certainly a dime a dozen in this racket, but Jan Rytir's concept gave us pause. The hyper-hip look of the design makes it startling in a field not generally known for its sexiness, and the bottom rainbow colored tabs are just icing on that sexy, sexy cake. In this rendering, the whole package would measure 180 x 80 x 20mm, have a trackball on the right of the QWERTY slide out keyboard, and boast an Atom CPU, two USB ports and an SD card reader. Can somebody build this? Please? We promise: ravers everywhere will thank you.

Lenovo's 15-inch IdeaPad Y550 laptop with Desktop Navigator now on sale Is that, is that a laptop? Why yes, yes it is... that's Lenovo's IdeaPad Y550 now ready for purchase. In a world gone cuckoo for Atom-based netbooks, isn't it refreshing to see a 15.6-inch (1366 x 768 pixel) laptop that packs a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T4200 processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory and 250GB hard disk, 6-cell battery, integrated DVD writer, and touch-sensitive Desktop Navigator shortcut bar for $669? Why stop there though? $1,199 nabs 4GB of memory, 512MB of GeForce G 105M graphics, and 500GB of disk. For the same money you could gather a trio of netbooks into a personal grid computer of about the same power. Just be sure to let us know how that goes.

T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi Looking for a new way to burn money on your DSi? How's about a few new charging solutions from the folks at Thrustmaster? Today, both the T-Standee Charger and T-Strap Charger were introduced, with the former expected in mid-June for $12.99 and the latter checking in next month for a penny under $8. As the name implies the T-Standee is basically a charging kickstand / docking station, while the T-Strap builds a charging port right into the strap that can be connected to any powered USB socket for on-the-go recharging. Gnarly, right?

Portable, cut-rate USB endoscope for quacks 'on the go' When you think endoscope your mind probably conjures up images that we'd rather you kept to yourself. But if you're a recent graduate of the Hollywood Upstairs Medical College (or simply a hard workin' back alley surgeon) in need of dubious medical equipment, where better to go than USB Fever? This guy features a built-in rechargeable lithium battery, 4GB storage (accessed via USB), and a 3.5mm audio output. Do we even need to mention that you probably don't want to cram this device into any orifice, ever? Available now for $169.

Sony Ericsson W518a Yep, that rumored W508a remix with AGPS is real -- the FCC says so. No word on pricing or availability for the W518a, of course, but we're heartened to see that another decent midrange Sony Ericsson with HSDPA is on its way to AT&T; now all we need is the C905 and we'll be all set. Expect a 3.2 megapixel cam, the full range of Bluetooth profiles, external music controls, and if we had to guess, a pretty hot sticker price on contract.

T-Mobile's connected Cameo digiframe review Man, that was fast. Really fast. Not like we're shocked at all to hear that T-Mobile customers weren't really digging the idea of paying ten bones per month to keep a digital photo frame alive, but hey -- it was worth a shot, right? As of today, T-Mobile's quickly forgotten Cameo connected digiframe has dropped from $99.99 to $39.99 up front, while the recurring charge to keep the media flowin' has nearly vanished by going from $9.99 per month to just $1.99 per month. Reviewers over at ZDNet seemed to be quite pleased with the value proposition at the new price point, noting that it was perfect for technologically illiterate family members who yearned to see digital images of you and yours. Sadly, you still have to walk into a T-Mobile retail store to actually buy one, but at least it's finally worth your while to do so.

Video iPhone to feature iMovie App? Apple rumors seem especially rampant in this year's run-up to the Worldwide Developers Conference. While all the recent fuss has focused upon a rumored 10-inch device that fits somewhere in between Apple's MacBooks and iPod touch, these poor ol' iPhone rumors just can't get any attention. Riiight. The latest has BusinessWeek offering further testimonial that video recording will be heavily featured in the summer release of the 3.0 firmware and presumed third generation iPhone. According to a source familiar with Apple's plans, the next iPhone will make shooting video super simple and feature an iMovie App that enables on-phone editing and uploads direct to YouTube. If true it would certainly be a welcomed update for first and second gen iPhone users and something we'd expect Apple to tout loudly as a major new feature on a new device or two sporting beefier cameras.

LG Cookie, now in delicious CDMA and macadamia nut flavor Careful, LG -- we know you've got a good thing going with your reasonably-priced Cookie line, but don't overdo it, okay? After the original KP500 and the alternatively-spelled Cooky, LG's now rolling out a purely CDMA-based variant as the KX500, ripe for battle in the Asia-Pacific region's 1x networks. It's got a WQVGA display, handwriting recognition (especially important in those markets), a 3 megapixel cam, built-in FM radio, 92MB of onboard storage, and microSD expansion. If those specs have you worked into a tizzy, you can look for it on shelves across the region starting later this month in black.

Samsung's B-7000 LCD treating owners to trippy visuals? Samsung's UN-B7000 LCD HDTV hits all the right style checkmarks, with edge-mounted LEDs handling the backlighting and the Touch of Color fascia. The review unit at FlatpanelsHD even managed to score pretty high marks in color accuracy, even illumination and black levels. Unfortunately, a nasty "trailing" effect showed up on the 46-inch model when viewing fast-moving objects and totally ruined the party. Credit the reviewer for trying different settings and upgrading the firmware to get rid of the problem, but to no avail. Chime in below and let us know if you've seen this same behavior, or if the reviewer just got a bad unit; unless your TV-viewing habits include a square of blotter paper, of course.

Philips 56-inch Cinema 21:9 ultra widescreen LCD We've had more than a few vantage points of the Cinema 21:9 ultra widescreen HDTV from Philips over the last few months but Tweakers.net finally got one loose from the world of concept photographs and trade show demos for some real seat time. Translation isn't necessary to ogle at the Transformers Blu-ray playing with no bars, but looking beyond the pictures revealed appreciation for this LCD's quick refresh rate and relatively low power requirements. Luckily, we won't have to figure out how to get the 153cm x 26cm x 87cm box it ships in home, what with the lack of a U.S. release and all.