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First published in bi-point magazine, in January 2001
(the print article may be slightly different from above)
Selection of innovative products
Radiator SoundSystem
With its strange, aluminium, radiator-like grid, the new B&O music system won't let you apathic. Fully integrated, the 50cm wide music centre is composed of a CD player, a tuner, and a three-way loudspeaker system.
BeoSound 1 - Bang&Olufsen - $1000
www.bangolufsen.com
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Smart(est) phone
Call it a mobile phone, a digital assistant, or a "Personnal Communicator", this brand new machine from Motorola has all in one. A tri-band phone, it's also compatible with the forthcoming hi-speed GPRS mobile phone standard. Completed with a full QWERTY keyboard, a 256 colors screen, and 8 Mo of Flash memory, it allows to manage emails and conveniently send and receive SMS. I want mine (but have to wait until next Christmas, gasp.)
Accompli 009 - Motorola - $600
www.mot.com
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41 g Organizer
Address Book, Diary/Scheduler, To Do list, Notepad, Expense Manager, Calculator, Currency and Measurement ConverterŠ the well named "XSmall" has everything except the weight and size of other Digital Assistants. Plus, it comes with a fold-up keyboard and can be synchronized with major office softwares.
XSmall - Olivetti Lexikon - $100
www.olivettilexicon.com
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Check your body
Clip this tiny spy at your waist and it will automatically record your physical activity. Go jogging, swimming or sleeping, all your vital stats are monitored and stored. Then put it on its transmitter, and it will send all data - without even using your computer - to SportBrain website. And most physical users will be rewarded, only for having good daily activity. Reward for dancing like crazy at parties? Great.
SportBrain First Step - SportBrain - $100
www.sportbrain.com
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Diamond
The central unit of this music system is composed of not less than three independant CD players, allowing uninterrupted disc-to-disc transitions as well as listening several discs in several rooms at the same time. The SoundSpace 9 comes with two satellites speakers and a subwoofer.
SoundSpace 9 - Nakamichi - $3500
www.nakamichi.com
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Pocket memory
If you're fed up with floppies and other size consuming data storage engines, check this "Q". The size of a (small) lighter, this device is a kind of USB plug filled with a memory card. It comes in 3 versions, from 16 to 64 Mb, and has only to be plugged - in any computer - to store or retrieve the data. Ever think about attaching one hour of MP3 music at your key ring, anyone?
Q - Eiware - $70 to $200
www.eiware.com
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Behind the keypad
Ericsson's 380 serie experiments a new way to make mobile phones smarter. When the keypad is closed, it's "only" a 164g phone, yet WAP compatible and equiped with voice activation. Open the flip, and it'll become a digital assistant with touchable large display, allowing to store contacts, appointments as well as surfing WAP services and sending SMS.
R380 - Ericsson - $780
www.ericsson.com/R380
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Lawn driven
This is the future of lawnmowers machine. A two seaters vehicle usable on public roads, the Zero prototype has no blades but a laser mowing system that cuts the grass silently and finely. Also, it comes with cameras and sensors to check all operations, and an Internet access. What about going to work in a lawnmower, uh?
Zero - Wolf Garden - (still a prototype)
www.wolf-garden.com
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Cyril Fievet
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