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The P-ISM is a new pen-style Personal Networking gadget from NEC Corporation.

P-ISM is a gadget package including five functions: a pen-style cellular phone with a handwriting data input function, virtual keyboard, a very small projector, camera scanner, and personal ID key with cashless pass function. P-ISMs are connected with one another through short-range wireless technology. The whole set is also connected to the Internet through the cellular phone function.

Just kidding. More wishful thinking from another one of those damn design concept sites, this one thanks to NEC Design. Some nice stuff there, though.

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Verizon Wireless just announced that they are getting together with Sorrent Inc. to deliver 5-card Draw Poker over Verizon Wireless’ Get It Now service.
The features include Fold, Call, Bet and Raise – in up to three rounds of betting for each draw, as well as a number of graphics features such as a mobile persona. Verizon is suggesting that players use the LG VX4500 for this purpose. No word yet on the house take, how big the jackpots, how finances are handled etc.

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The “Vivida” is a new Smartphone from High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) in Taiwan.

It’s a soon-to-be-available CDMA Smartphone with a sliding face plate for the keypad. It comes with Bluetooth and a built in camera. Another Smartphone offering with CDMA is the Samsung i600, released earlier this year.

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The Mainichi Dily News today (28Aug) is reporting that T63 Artemis, a robot gave its first large-scale patrol of a shopping arcade located in Fukuoka, Japan, Friday night, its developers said Saturday.

T63 Artemis is capable of shining lights and emitting alarms if it spots anything untoward. On Friday night, it patrolled an 80-meter shopping arcade, detecting and memorizing car license plates it found in the area.

Revelers who watched the T63 Artemis on its rounds stood by and watched in amazement as it swept through the arcade. (Mainichi Shimbun, Aug. 28, 2004)

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The Guardian recently polled a group of scientists and asked them to vote for the best science-fiction movies. This is what they came up with:

1. Blade Runner (1982)

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3. Star Wars (1977)/Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4. Alien (1979)
5. Solaris (1972)
6. Terminator (1984)/T2: Judgment day (1991)
7. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
8. War of the Worlds (1953)
9. The Matrix (1999)
10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

…interesting list. I question a few things, but it generally seems reasonable. For what its worth, The Internet Movie Data Base places Blade Runner at number 12, just after Donnie Darko!

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Great but long article over at our favorite car site edmunds.com.

Goes over how to get hired as a salesperson: just tell them that “I want to make a lot of money”. Provides a fascinating view of the dynamics from inside a car lot. Concludes with some (common sense) recommendations:

1. Use the Internet..for research.
2. Don’t be in a hurry.
3. Walk away from any deal/salesperson you don’t like.
4. Know the numbers.
5. Shop around.
6. The deal’s not done until you drive off in your new car.
7. Always remember that it’s your money.

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The BlackCoat-T is designed to allow one to carry discretely some of the stuff found in this forum.
The t-shirt contains 4 specially designed compartments that are all interconnected by a single passageway.

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The new Treo 650 is here, or will be soon. The 650 is an updated version of the very popular Treo 600, which is a cell-phone/PDA comination with a digital camera, an SD/MMC expansion slot, web browser, email capability, and a QWERTY-style keyboard.

The new 650 adds Bluetooth, a high-res screen, improved keyboard backlighting, video recording and 1.3 megapixel Camera, among other things.

More detail and pics over at TreoCentreal.

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Hewlett-Packard unveiled a boatload of new stuff today. There were a total of 3 dozen new products, including the usual suspects: digital cameras, printers and projectors. And, for the first, time HP is offering some TVs: two plasma, and two LCD models.

The much-anticipated Apple iPod from HP also made its debut. The AifH is just like the iPod from that other company, but with some optional new skins, aka “printable tatoos”, and the HP logo stamped on the back:

Also launched was the HP Pavilion dv1000 Entertainment Notebook PC . While the dv1000 is portrayed as an entertainment notebook, it does not offer the Windows Media Center Edition; it lets you play CDs and DVDs without starting Windows.

Full details about the HP Digital Experience Launch 2004 are at this link

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There are not many details available for the unannounced Samsung YP-940, which is a 40GB MP3-playing DAP.

The Yepp 940 has an unusual design and interface – and possibly a touch screen.

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