Force Trainer Toy Uses Your Brainwaves to Imitate Yoda-Like Telekinesis (David Lim, Auckland, New Zealand)

Here's one of the most interesting tech toys that have recently emerged from the toy crafting laboratories of Uncle Milton Industries. The Force Trainer is special both because of its affiliation to the Star Wars universe, and because of the innovative technology it uses.

The device has a headset that translates the intensity of your brainwaves into what looks like Force telekinesis powers. If you are strong in the Brainwave Force, you will see a ball move upwards inside a 10-inch tall tube. Just don't try to imagine Darth Vader using the Force Trainer, or the entire thing will be a little too ludicrous, even to veteran fans of the SW franchise. You will have to shed about $100 from your money mound if you want to try out your Jedi potential.

The Force Trainer's brainwave-based system is, in fact, a modified version of similar devices normally used for EEG medical testing. The more you focus on the sphere, the more it will rise, which is cool, even without the Star Wars wrapping. Now, don't you go and picture a brainwave flow emitted by your noggin and delicately nudging the “training sphere.” The ball is actually pushed by a volume of air released when the device detects a certain quantifiable amount of brainwaves from the user.

The creators of the toy probably know they've got a sweet deal going on here, but they still slapped on some Star Wars-like sound effects for good measure - which will probably become boring after a while. Hopefully, there will also be an option for turning them off. After all, a true Jedi needs absolute concentration, disregarding trivial annoyances. Do you really think Obi-Wan Kenobi paid any attention to the musical score, despite its coolness?

Anyway, it's still a little strange to see this kind of technology just waltzing in people's homes. Strange, but also encouraging, in the big picture.

5 Things You Didn't Know: The Department Of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is an agency of superlatives: the DOD is the country’s largest government agency and its oldest, and it is the primary occupant of the Pentagon, the biggest office building in the world. Yet for all that, its official statement on what it does is remarkably blunt: “We are war-fighters first and as such, have no peers.” In general, the DOD handles issues related to national security and military affairs, making it the primary target for groups who resent U.S. military involvement overseas. Love it or hate it, we present 5 things you didn’t know about the United States Department of Defense.

1- The DOD's budget equals Exxon and Wal-Mart combined

Just what kind of monstrosity is the DOD? It employs over three million people, 1.3 million of them on active duty in the military, qualifying it as America’s largest employer. It operates on a gargantuan annual budget of $419 billion, a 2006 total that falls just shy of matching the annual budgets of retail behemoth Wal-Mart ($227 billion) and ExxonMobil ($200 billion) combined. Furthermore, the DOD’s three million total employees is more than double that of those two companies put together, a figure that falls shy of 1.5 million.

2- The DOD no longer investigates UFOs

Another thing you didn’t know about the DOD is that it long ago gave up on finding Martians in the skies over the U.S. In 1948, the U.S. Air Force launched Project Sign to look into the rash of reported UFO sightings. Over the next 21 years (and through two name changes -- first Project Grudge, then Project Blue Book), they investigated over 12,618 reports of UFOs and found explanations for 11,917 of them. The remaining 701 went unexplained. In 1969, Blue Book was shut down, having concluded that none of the investigated UFOs presented any threat to national security, none displayed technology any more advanced than what was known at the time and none suggested they might be occupied by little green men.

3- The DOD only commands the Coast Guard in wartime

The U.S. Coast Guard, long the whipping-boy of the military’s five branches, is the one branch that does not ordinarily fall under the authority of the DOD. Rather, during peace time it falls under the authority of Homeland Security (as of 2003). Prior to that, it was part of the Department of Transportation from 1967. As law enforcement officers, the members of the Coast Guard also have the same legal authority as U.S. Customs officers. During war-time, the Coast Guard becomes an agency of the U.S. Navy, although this may only apply to combat units within the Guard. Historically, despite their role to “serve and protect America’s coastlines and waterways”, units of the Guard have seen action in almost every major military conflict in U.S. history over the past 100 years.

4- The DOD's Secretary of Defense does not sign autographs

You might think the mailbox of the head of a military force despised by much of the world would be overrun by death threats, but apparently the problem is autograph requests. Robert Gates, in an evident break from his predecessors, “has decided not to provide what have come to be considered customary autographs for collectors.” The DOD will, on request, send you his photo, but they’re so tight about the whole thing that they inform you of your motives beforehand: “Your request implies respect and support.” In other words, no using Sharpies to give Gates a prison tear tattoo. The Secretary of Defense is a Cabinet post and is likely to change with the new administration, signaling good news for the Cabinet-level autograph-seeking multitudes.

5- The DOD licenses insignia to retailers

The last thing you didn’t know about the DOD is that they’ve got your back. In an effort to boost its image and even land a few new recruits, the DOD -- specifically, the U.S. Army -- is a client of big-time brand licensing firm the Beanstalk Group, whose diverse client list includes Ford Motor Company, Universal Studios, Paris Hilton, and Mary-Kate and Ashley, to name just a few. Beanstalk’s recommendations to the U.S. Army were to establish a “line of Army-inspired clothing… using insignia from the First Infantry Division” since “strong brand identification through retail sales of products potentially can enhance the Army’s recruiting efforts and the public’s general goodwill towards the Army and its activities.”

EyeClops Mini-Projector from Jakks Pacific Sounds Like Sweet Deal

(February 14, 2009, Source: Softpedia.com)

This device is to be officially and ceremoniously announced at the next edition of the Toy Industry Association’s Annual Toy Fair, which happens to be next week, in New York. But if you're just so very busy and can't attend, let me share with you the frugal information provided by Jakks Pacific Inc., the manufacturer of the EyeClops. Don't let the toy-like design fool you. This is a mini-projector in the true sense of the word, with a serious spec list – at least that's how it looks from the preview of its description. If the EyeClops and a DVD ever meet in a bar, they will surely get along nicely, as the EyeClops is supposed to easily connect to DVDs. I wish I were capable of as much empathy. In fact, the mini-projector is compatible with a wide range of devices, from video game consoles to digital cameras. Still, even if compatibility is important when it comes to projectors – you must know from which gadgets you can take stuff and project it – visual quality and brightness are much more decisive in figuring out whether the projector is a-ok or not. The product made by Jakks Pacific should be capable of throwing images of up to 70 inches on various surfaces, so its LED lighting power is not as puny as that of other mini-projectors out there. Considering the fact that these features are all bundled together at a price which – we are promised – will not go over $100, it all sounds pretty idyllic. But we'll know for sure whether the EyeClops should enter the gadget list of fame next week, when that funerrific, top-model-filled party known as the Toy Industry Association’s Annual Toy Fair will bring the New York house down.

Nokia E-71 PDA Phone: Power Tips and Shortcuts, David Lim, Auckland, New Zealand, GDI

It had been almost a month now since I switched from my good old Nokia N95 to the Nokia E71; I am still very excited about this little cool machine. I have search on New Zealand's Vodafone site and cannot find much power tool or shortcuts.

Well, these tips are well known, but for people who doesn’t know yet, here some keyboard shortcut for Nokia E71:

- Quick double press on the bottom left ‘number shift’ key locks it. Most useful when particularly navigating around the GMail app to invoke actions instead of keep pressing the button before every keystroke.

- Copy and paste can, in some situations be done with Ctrl+C (but you need to hold down Func+Chr+C to get this on the keyboard). You can highlight text (in edit situations) by holidng the shift key and moving the direction pad. Copy will appear as on of the softkey labels.

- Page up and page down are Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down. Again you access control by pressing the function key first (so Fn+Chr+Up on the keyboard). Doing this directly is awkward. You can press Fn then Ctrl+Up. If you doble tap the function key it becomes sticky (i.e. like cap locks and as describes above) and you can then do multiple page up and page downs easily.

- From the idle screen hold down # to switch between silent and general profiles. Press and hold down * to switch bluetooth on and off.

- Press Fn Key + Return Key for quick Mark/Unmark of items like Msg. emails etc. for deletion or moving.

- On keys that show a symbol or number, hold down the key to get it.

- When in locked mode you can hold the large center ’select’ key to get a large back lit time and date display w/o unlocking or needing to re lock.

- Pressing Shift + Backspace = delete letters after cursor

- In Notes and Messaging, press Fn (most left bottom button) + Spacebar = gives input option such as turn on/off predictive text, settings, writing language, input method.

- Hold down left soft key to read out new text messages.