Voice activated recorders

Lately we reviewed a few devices which feature GPS technology, be it mobile phones used to keep track of your children’s whereabouts, spy phones that secretly send you the geographical coordinates of its user, or GPS compasses that allow you to find your way back to your hotel or your car in an unknown city.

The GPS watch manufactured by Thanko is nothing like the examples above, as its operation is not focused on a real time usage, but it is rather used to track down, at a later stage, the movements of the person who is wearing it.

The GPSTRVBK model (no idea what this mysterious acronym might stand for), basically, records its position at fixed time intervals thanks to its tiny embedded GPS receiver. Once you are back home, you can connect it to your computer thanks to the USB cable, and download position information stored on the GPS watch.

At this point, all you have to do is transfer this information on sites such as Google Maps, and you will easily be able to obtain a visual rendition of the wearer’s movements during the day. The possible application fields of GPSTRVBK watch’s characteristics can be, for example, surveillance of prisoners released on parole, to make sure that they abide by the restrictions imposed by the law.

Alternatively, it can be a useful tool to keep eyes on a spouse who seems to be fooling around a bit too much, maybe disguising it as a birthday or anniversary gift. It is currently available only in men’s version, so it could be useful for concerned wives who want to be reassured on their husbands’ trustworthiness.

So, my dear cheating husbands, pay attention to your wife’s presents, that new watch she bought you might be hiding a small surprise…

Technology brings the world together, but unfortunately or luckily, it has not yet united the world under a common language for everyone, and it’s not always possible to communicate directly between people of different nationalities using a common foreign language such as English. In cases like this, what you need is a translator, but if you do not have the chance to find one, technology can come and rescue us, thanks to the translating glasses whose project has just been presented by NEC for the Japanese market.

TeleScouter glasses feature a small camera and a microphone, connected via Bluetooth to an equally small waist computer, The microphone picks up the voice and sends it to the waist computer, which in turn transmits the sound towards a remote server connected via Internet which converts the sounds into text, translates it and then sends the readable text back to the computer.

At this point, the translated text is sent from the waist computer to the small camera mounted on the glasses’ frame, and displayed directly on the user’s retina, without stressing the eyes and allowing him to keep eye contact with his counterpart, without being distracted by reading the text displayed on the lens.

By doing this, along with reducing fatigue on the eyes, glasses allow its user to have a more natural conversation flow. At the moment this system is still in concept phase, and glasses will initially be used only to transmit one-way information. A possible application idea might come from the construction field, where it could be possible to send instructions and information directly on glasses worn by personnel working on a large area.
The beginning of operations of the full translation system is scheduled by the end of 2010.

We all happened to have to deal with unwanted phone calls, either of a business or personal nature. It’s not exactly pleasant to receive a call while you are in the shower, crawl out, and answer the phone just to find out that it’s just another telemarketing operator calling us for the umpteenth time to sell us something that we don’t really need, or a person we do not really have the time (or the mood) to talk to.

Sometimes, especially if the person who receives the call is a woman, and in particular if she is living alone, unwanted calls might turn into a real harassment, in some cases even of a sexual nature. To protect yourselves from these fastidious calls, there is a technological remedy, an electronic voice changer.

The name says it all: a voice changer is a device that allows you to change the sound of your voice when you answer the phone, either landline or mobile. A woman picking up the phone, for example, might sound like an older man, a child or a boy, while a man can turn his voice into that of a woman, in a completely natural way.

Voice changing devices work on the frequencies of the human voice, manipulating them electronically in a totally natural way, without adding a metallic sound, You just select the kind of voice you want to sound like, and you will be free from molesters, salespersons, creditors and so on.

Furthermore, thanks to a voice changer you will be able to add some background noises or sounds, such as the sound of a doorbell, a barking dog or a crying baby, which will give you a perfect excuse to hang up on an unwanted call. So, if you don’t want to change your phone number… just change your voice!

Since the beginning of time, men have always been dreaming about being able to fly, being invisible or talk freely wherever they are without anyone else listening, Unfortunately, as far as the first two dreams are concerned, your blogger is not able to assist, but he can surely give you good suggestions to talk without being listened to, specifically when you are on your mobile phone.

Conversations carried out through the GSM network, in fact, are much less private than we can actually imagine, and the network provider can listen to our phone calls at any time. But if you are taking the appropriate measures, for example by using an invisible cellphone, no one will ever be able to listen to your calls, which will remain as private as you want them to be.

Stealth Phone works according to the principle that it’s not only the mobile phone number that is being intercepted, but it’s rather the handset itself. Therefore it is completely useless, if not dangerous, to change your SIM card, and then keep using the same handset, to make highly confidential calls, either of a personal or business nature.

Mobile phone interception is not based only on the telephone number, as one may think, but mostly on the IMEI number, that is, the number which identifies each single handset in the world. In order to protect yourself from an unwanted listener, you should theoretically change your phone, but this option comes with its risk as well.

Therefore the safest option is to keep using your mobile phone as you would normally do, but after providing yourselves with a Stealth mobile phone, a handset which changes its IMEI number dynamically. For example, it can be set to change the IMEI number after every call, and for those who try to intercept you it will be as if you are using a different phone every time you place a single call.

Generally, the calls that we wish to keep private are directed towards one number, for example our business partner, our spouse or… our lover! So, if someone wants to listen to our calls but can not do it because we are equipped with a Stealth untraceable phone, they should intercept conversations from our counterpart’s phone.

At this point, to keep these calls 100% private, all you need to do is simply make sure that also the person you are talking to is using a Stealth phone. By doing this, protection from unauthorized eavesdropping is absolute and total, you will be able to talk in absolute freedom and your private calls will remain private.

The Stealth cellphone is derived from a normal Siemens S65 phone, on which a special software is installed which generates a random IMEI number upon request, interacting with the handset’s firmware. Furthermore, Stealth Phone also features a protection similar to your home computer’s firewall, which would immediately notify you in the unlikely case of an eavesdropping attempt.

All you have to do in this case is close the call, generate a new IMEI code, and you will be able to restart the conversation where you left it. To obtain more information on how the invisible Stealth mobile phone works, you can visit Endoacustica, where you can find answers to all your question in the privacy protection field, to protect yourselves as well as your business and loved ones.

If you have eyesight problems, but because of work or other reasons need to go out at night, finding your way might be much more difficult than it is for the not visually challenged, and any small obstacle might spell big trouble.
To meet your needs, modern technology is here to help you, with Eyenight, the digital night glasses that allow you to move freely in the dark.

These glasses are equipped with a small microcamera placed inside the frame, capable also of recording the images that it captures; these images are projected on on two miniature displays placed on the lenses. It is also possible to manually configure the contrast and brightness settings, in order to optimize viewing experience, and you may also provide additional lighting through an infrared light beam.

Should the image be not clear enough, you can also use a digital zoom, which can make the image up to 10 times larger. Furthermore, the image crispness can be enhanced by adding prescription lenses, upon medical recommendation. In order to enjoy the benefits provided by Eyenight, the digital glasses’ user must have at least 10% eyesight.

Along with night usage, you can enjoy Eyenight also at home. In fact, it is possible to connect the night vision glasses to a TV set or computer, in order to give even the visually impaired the opportunity to watch their favorite soccer team on TV, or reading news or playing a videogame on their PC. And in spite of its name, Eyenight works also in broad daylight!

As of now, you can recharge your cellphone as if it was a lighter, but fortunately, you will not be able to use it to light a cigarette! In fact, Toshiba has just announced the launch, as of 29 october, of Dynario, an alcohol battery charger which, once its small fuel tank is filled with methanol, is capable of supplying power to recharge two mobile phones, MP3 players or small electronic devices, connected via a USB cable.

To fill up the alcohol tank, you just need 20 seconds, and once this simple task is carried out, you will have at your disposal a comfortable self-powered battery charger, that you can use also when travelling, for example on a train or a bus where there are no electricity plugs. Thanks to the optimization of the methanol flow, Dynario is a source of stable and continuous power, perfectly suitable for applications such as, as mentioned above, recharging mobile phones, small gadgets or pocket-sized electronic devices.

Futrhermore, its performance is also stabilized by adding a lithium-ion battery, which is powered by the methanol itself and serves as a backup power source when the tank runs out of alcohol. Maybe you will not be able to take it with you on a plane due to the flammable liquid ion the inside, but under this point of view, the ethanol battery charger is compliant with all security regulations.

If you want to put your hands on a Dynario, though, you have to go a long way, and do it quick, as it will be available only in 3000 pieces, which can only be ordered on the Japanese market through the Toshiba website.

As our faithful readers will certainly know, security of our children is one of the fields in which surveillance technology has taken giant leaps forward in recent years. The Mamorino phone, which has just been announced by the Japanese multinational Kyocera, is promising to be the standard of reference to which all other devices of this kind will have to be compared.
It is a kids mobile phone which, along with being able to place normal outgoing calls only towards preset numbers (such as Mom’s or Dad’s cellphone, or their home number) is equipped with a GPS location system.

Designed to be used by children below 10 years of age, Mamorino is mostly aimed at allowing concerned parents to keep in touch with their kids at any time, thanks to the GPS connection which enables them to request the handset’s position information. Furthermore, in case of danger or need, the child will be able to directly send an alert to his parents, and the phone would indicate his position.

Another very useful function as far as security is concerned, is the emergency alert, which would produce a very loud sound, in order to attract attention and scare away any potential molesters. In case of emergency, an alert is also sent to a home security firm, which would promptly intervene.

Mamorino is available in two bright colors, yellow and blue, perfect for children, and is equipped with three simple one-touch call buttons, a small LCD display, an end call key and a central main key, to provide a very easy use for our little loved ones.

One day we might be able to see microscopic devices, operating on power coming from synthetic cells which work just like a real battery. A research project carried out by Yale University, in fact, is studying the way in which some natural cells generate some small electric voltage.

During the course of these studies, researchers have produced an equally small battery which can convert chemical energy into electric power, with an efficiency percentage ranging around 10%. The synthetic cells that have been produces are made up of a salt solution coated by a thin layer of lipid.

When two of these cells get in contact, a double layer of lipid forms, inside which a modified protein is inserted, which creates microscopic pores through which positive and negative ions are passing. The voltage generated by the passing of ions can be gathered to generate a small electric current.

By inserting ultra thin electrodes inside the salt droplets, cellular batteries are created. A couple of cells undergoing such a treatment can supply energy for up to 10 minutes.

Synthetic batteries can have a level of efficiency twenty times smaller if compared to normal solid state batteries, but their efficiency rate is comparable to that of other devices which generate electricity from light or heat, for example like solar cells.

In the future, cell batteries might be useful in the nanotech field, to supply energy, for example, to memory chips or miniaturized devices. For people like us, working in the miniature technology, it might really be a breakthrough… let’s just wait and see what the future has in store!

Any parent knows that, during the age of growth, our kids’ curiosity, and their natural ingenuity which makes them trust anyone, may expose them to serious danger, for example when meeting people who, behind a respectable face, turn out to be real monsters.

Unfortunately it is not always possible to be physically near our children, but fortunately, technology lends us a hand, thanks to the introduction of spy phones.

A spy phone, on the outside, looks exactly the same as an ordinary handset. What makes it different is on the inside, thanks to the installation of an absolutely invisible piece of software, which allows a third party to listen to the user’s conversations in real time, while the latter is completely unaware.

Furthermore, it can send to a third party number, a copy of all text messages (incoming and outgoing), as well as a list of all calls placed and received, and if this software is installed on a phone that supports GPS mode, even geographical coordinates of longitude and latitude of the phone’s current location, to track down the phone and its user at any time.

And if your son’s handset is off, no need to worry: you can call from your preset number, and listen to his conversations, even while the phone is off.
In fact, the spy software is capable of using the mobile phone’s microphone as if it was a covert listening bug, and if you call it from your mobile, it will recognize your call and will immediately allow you to listen to what goes on around it, without giving out any visible sign of activity.

And if you smell danger, you can request the geographical coordinates and act immediately!

After a forest fire or a leakage of polluting chemicals, the non visible dangers are certainly those that, besides being more difficult to detect, can have the worst long-term consequences for public health.

In order to inform the population and the authorities in case of water pollution after a fire, or if some polluting materials are being invisibly spilled into the soil, Tel Aviv University has developed a system called “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor”.

This system acquires hundreds of satellite optical images, each one shot on a different frequency, which, when combined together, allow the creation of a spectrographic map of the area, thus creating “thematic” maps in order to be able to literally “see” the polluting agents from the sky.

For example, when a forest fire hits a particular area, thanks to this imaging system it will be possible to see changes in the mineralogy. According to these changes, it will be possible to define how, for example, a rainstorm after the fire would wash out polluting agents, which could penetrate the soil in a different way than they would do before the fire.

Furthermore, the soil analysis carried out thanks to HRS mapping, could prove useful before signing the contract for purchase of a plot of land, providing valuable information for irrigation procedures and for detection of lack of certain minerals.

Another possible field of application is analyzing the environmental footprint of a chemicals storage plant, or a service station, which could release polluting elements into the ground. In short, a valuable help to solve problems of the Earth might come from the sky!