The Good

BrickHouse Child Locator with Wander Alerts

It's Not You. All Children Wander; 2,185 Go Missing Every Da

• Easy To Use Anywhere
• Get Wander Alerts Instantly
• Immediate Beep and Vibration Alerts
• Directional Guidance Points You In The Right Direction
• Up To 90-Day Battery Life  
• Use Anywhere: Indoors or Outdoors...Especially In Busy Places We all know what it's like to turn your head for a fraction of a second and lose sight of your child. This is especially true in busy situations such as malls, camping, amusement parks, carnivals, or sporting events. Is your child hiding in that rack of clothes? The BrickHouse Child Locator is trusted by Duracell to keep your family safe, anywhere, even in the most hectic environments.
  
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  Locate Wandering Children, Pets, Or Elderly Family Members Quickly
  The instant your loved one wanders too far, the hand-held Locator will instantly notify you with loud beeping, vibration and directional guidance all at once. As featured in the newest Duracell "Power To Protect," commercial, The BrickHouse Child Locator gives parents piece of mind in a way that simply has not been possible before.
  Perfect for special-needs children & everything else you care about, we help take the worrying off your shoulders by alerting you the second they wander. Not a moment too late.
  
  
  So Easy, Even A Parent Can Use It
  As you get closer, the beeps get louder while the directional guides get stronger, letting you know you are moving closer to the tag and not further; helping you shorten the search for your wandering child. The convenient on-screen directional display and audio guidance leads you in the right direction the first time, quickly and reliably up to 600* feet away. 
  
  
  As an added precaution, a Panic Tag with new "click" technology is included for your child to press alerting you they feel in danger. With batteries lasting up to 90 days powered by Duracell, you know that The BrickHouse Child Locator will always be there when you need it most. Watch As Parents Give Their Honest Opinions Using The Locator.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Features:
• Wander Alert Mode
  Warn you via Loud Beeps & Vibration if any of your tagged items are outside of your "safety zone." The safety ranges can be set independently for each tag
  
• Locate Mode
  Helps you find tagged items up to 600* feet away outdoors, and up to 250 plus feet away indoors
  
• Audio and Visual
  Loud Beeping and Directional guidance leads you within 1 inch tag
  
• Homing Tags
  The instant wandering occurs, an audible beep and flashing LED light helps you locate quickly, even in the dark
  
• Panic Tag
  With a "Click" the wearer sends a distress alarm instantly to the handheld
  
• 24 Tags
  Each handheld Locator can track up to 24 tags independently
  
• Splash Resistant Bracelets & Keyrings
  Available seperately, comfortable splash resistant wristbands and keyrings allows your child to wear the tag like a watch or attach to belongings

Includes:

• 1x Handheld Locator Device
• 3x Mini Homing Tags
• 1x Panic Homing Tag
• 4x Key Ring Loop and Adhesive Strips
• User Guide
• Duracell Batteries Included

Due to tiny size of Locator Tags, we do not recommend this product for children under 3 years of age.

Please Note:
*600 feet range is based on clear line of sight. Actual range will vary depending on use, environment and location. Always test this device before each use. Electronics devices should not be relied upon 100% of the time. BrickHouse Electronics, LLC products are not designed to deter or prevent kidnappings, abductions, runaways, or missing persons. Product quality, reliability, and accuracy may be affected by environmental or physical conditions in the area where products are being used. Environmental or physical conditions that may affect the quality, accuracy, or reliability of products include, but are not limited to, walls, floors, ceilings, metal structures, vehicles, partitions, furniture, windows, motors, bodies of water, other wireless electronic devices, lighting and atmospheric conditions.

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Android 2.2 Froyo is finally unveiled, 2-5x faster than Eclair

Just as expected Google announced the latest version of the Android OS at their I/O event today. Android 2.2 Froyo has hardly been the industry best-kept secret so you probably already had an idea of what was coming but it is a very worthy update nonetheless.
 
Bringing a significant improvement in performance and a host of new user features Froyo certainly looks like one of the most mature and advanced smartphone platforms out there. The official Android 2.2. video will explain some of the new stuff.

Here's a recap of the most major changes in the latest Android 2.2 edition:
Flash 10.1 support

• One of the most awaited addons - full Flash 10.1 support is on board the Andrid 2.2 Froyo. For now it's beta, but the final version is slated for June release.

Performance

• New web browser V8 Javascript engine allows faster loading of JavaScript-heavy pages.
• 2x-5x performance improvement for CPU-heavy apps thanks to the Dalvik JIT Compiler.
• Improved memory management allowing faster app switching and smoother performance on memory-constrained devices.

Extended Exchange support

• Password unlocking, remote wipe, exchange calendars, auto-discovery

Enhanced camera capabilities

• Onscreen camera keys allows controlling zooming, flash, white balance, geo-tagging, focus and exposure.
• Camcorder can now make use of LED flash as video light.
• Camera now supports portrait orientation.

Apps management

• You can install applications on the shared external storage (SD card, for instance).
• The Cloud-based Backup and Restore service can now backup some of the thrid-party app data for future restores.
• New bug reporting feature for Android Market apps send developers crash and freeze reports
• New "car mode" and "night mode" controls and configurations allow applications to adjust their UI for these situations.

Misc enhancements

• You can use the smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 8 devices.
• You can tether the smartphone to a computer as a 3G modem over a USB cable.
• 3D Gallery allows you to peek into picture stacks using a zoom gesture.
• The Phone, Applications Launcher, and Browser now have dedicated shortcuts on the Home screen that are always visible.
• Supportr for multi-lingual keyboards - toggling Latin-based keyboards is a flick away.
• Voice dialing over Bluetooth.
• Contact sharing over Bluetooth.

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Study Claims That Gadgets make People Happy

After surveying 35,000 people around the world and analyzing the results, researchers came to a conclusion: Gadgets make us happy. Don't laugh just yet though, because they've got reasonable explanations for this theory. Researcher Paul Flatters of Trajectory Partnership explains:

Whether young or old, we're all social beings, we all have a need for the things IT access facilitates.

He continued to add that:

Ownership of technology is a status symbol in many cultures...having a computer is considered synonymous with a good education worldwide.

So it's not a matter of gadgets themselves actually making us happy, but rather the things they represent: The loved ones we maintain contact with and our life situations. [BBC]

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Sony to Stop Producing 3.5-inch Floppy Discs 

When was the last time you used a 3.5-inch floppy disc? Five years ago? Ten years ago? Ok, maybe a little bit too much but even though they are still available in the market, one has to admit that the 3.5-inch floppy disc format can now be considered as a relic. It has been long forgotten in favour of the better, faster and bigger capacities that are offered by optical discs and flash drives.

The format creator – Sony – has finally decided to move on and has announced that they are going to terminate the format’s production on March 2011; thirty years after the format was first introduced to the world. Obviously, the decline in demands is the reason behind the decision.

Well then, we would like to suggest each one of you to purchase a box of 3.5-inch floppy discs before they are gone for good. You know, just as something to remind you of the good old times where the format used to rule the world. 

[Source: Sony (in Japanese) via CrunchGear. Image: tschoerda, used under Creative Commons license]
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Citrix Appoints Avnet as Sole Virtualization Distributor in Malaysia

Who says you can’t run Windows 7 on an Apple device? With solutions from Citrix, you can not only run Windows 7, but also different versions of Windows simultaneously on any devices such as Mac, netbook, Android, iPhone and even iPad. A couple of days ago, Avnet Technology Solutions announced its alliance with Citrix Systems to be its sole virtualization distributor in Malaysia, to help our local businesses save cost and also to drive the market trend towards virtualization and cloud computing.

“In today’s IT environment, most businesses run multiple technological platforms on top of one another. At Citrix, we believe in simplicity, with an organization’s IT department enabling enterprise computing from a single, central location. Avnet possesses a successful track record in the channel, through its extensive customer base and technical expertise. By working with Avnet, we are confident that Citrix can further cement its leadership position in the Malaysian market.” -- Yajnish Malik, Area Vice President, ASEAN, Citrix Systems, Inc.

Hit the jump for more information, and also to check out how an Apple iPad can run Windows 7 flawlessly.
 
One of the beauty of virtualization and cloud computing is how independent it is on hardware, with just a simple application on a desktop, netbook, Mac, iPhone, Android and even the iPad, hundreds and even thousands of employees can easily connect to their work anytime and anywhere. With solutions like XenDesktop from Citrix, an employee can just connect and have a full PC experience even on a mobile device, yes, this means that a company can use cheaper hardware like netbooks and thin clients for their employee, and yet deliver the high performance required – as long as they’re connected to the internet that is. During the event, Citrix and Avnet even demonstrated how an Apple iPad can easily run Windows 7 and open full fledge Microsoft Office applications without the need of complicating methods of hacking.