TRENDnet SecurView Wireless Day/Night Pan/Tilt/Zoom Internet Surveillance Camera TV-IP422W (White)

• Video is transmitted over a secure encrypted wireless signal
• Pan 330-degrees side-to-side and tilt 105-degrees up-and-down from any Internet connection
• Program motion detection recording and email alerts with complimentary software
• Advanced encryption modes include WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK
• High quality MPEG-4 and MJPEG video recording with up to 30 frames per second

INTERNET PAN/TILT SECURITY 2WAYWRLSAUDIO DAY/NIGHT WRLS CAMERA SERVER

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List Price: $ 294.99

Price: $ 196.15

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Most of us don’t think twice about lugging a $2000 object to a public place and then leaving it for five minutes to grab a coffee refill — with no other assurance that it won’t be stolen than that there are other people around. I’ve started being a bit more careful since laptop theft has gone up around here, but it’s just as easy to forget that laptop rustlers don’t just hang out in cafes. And if they’re savvy, they may even employ wireless signal trackers to pinpoint the location of laptops hidden under car seats, in trunks, or in garages.

It seems (although I’m not sure how true this is for different types and makes) that some laptops keep their wireless on for a set time after being shut or told to sleep — probably because people often remember something they needed to look up, and pop the laptop back open. Laptop thieves make use of cheap wi-fi strength indicators available at any Fry’s to find a likely car and then, I suppose, bust it open the usual way.

People are advised to shut down their wi-fi before putting their computers to sleep, or else fully shut down the machine. Seems reasonable enough, but why do I suspect most people won’t take this advice?

By Evan Ackerman

Infinitec is introducing what they’re calling the “next generation” of USB flash drives, the Infinite USB Memory (IUM) drive. Rather than storing data on internal flash memory, the IUM pairs with your computer, forming a wireless data transfer link. So, whatever device you plug the IUM into sees it as simple USB flash drive, while behind the scenes the IUM is streaming data directly from your computer, making available as much data as you care to give it, hence the “infinite” moniker. This isn’t some kind of infinite cloud storage thing, however, it’s just that the capacity of the IUM isn’t limited by the hardware on the IUM itself.

I can’t immediately figure out how the wireless bit works, but it’s going to be one of two ways. The first, which seems most likely from the way the IUM is described, is that it uses your laptop’s wireless card to transfer data. This means that if you’re out of range of your laptop’s wireless signal, your IUM loses its functionality. The alternative (and I don’t think it works this way) would be that it somehow connects to your laptop over the internet, which means that the IUM would function anywhere it could get WiFi access, possibly allowing you to set up secured access points ahead of time.

Whichever way it functions, I wouldn’t really think of this as a USB flash drive at all, for the simple reason that you can’t use it to back up or transfer data independently of your laptop. It’s more of a wireless USB network adapter, in that it gives any USB compatible device access to the data on your laptop via a local (ad-hoc) wireless network. This is definitely a handy capability, although its usefulness is limited to electronics with USB ports but without a network connection that you don’t want to plug your computer into directly (although there is something to be said for ease of use, which the IUM certainly appears to offer).

The cost for this convenience is $129, which seems rather steep to me, although (for what it’s worth) it’s generally equivalent to the Eye-Fi Pro, which offers the same kind of wireless ad-hoc network functionality.

The Infinitec IUM Drive goes on sale July 1.

[ IUM Drive ] VIA [ ZDNet ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Thanks to the likes of Brando and other companies, USB microscopes are plentiful and easy to find these days. But being tethered to your PC with a USB cable limits where they can go. Not this wireless model though, the only limit of where you can use it is your imagination… and possibly good taste.

It uses a 2.4GHz wireless signal with a switch on the cradle/wireless receiver for choosing one of 4 channels, and the optics are able to magnify whatever it is you’re looking at from 10-200x. It’s also got a ring of 8 white LEDs around the ‘lens’ for added illumination, a built-in Li-ion battery that charges when placed in the cradle, and is available from ThinkGeek for $139.99.

[ Wireless USB Digital Microscope ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When you hear the term wristwatch, you generally think of a timepiece that you wear on your wrist. Well someone is looking to change that definition. There isn’t a whole lot of information on his design, but I am going to assume for now that it is only a concept. The idea is a subdermal implant or “electric tattoo” that can function as a watch.

It uses your natural kinetic energy for power (not unlike some watches out there) and somehow uses a wireless signal to sync up with an external clock to make sure it is correct. It only illuminates when you hold your wrist up to look at it. A very cool idea, if it could work.

[ Behance ] VIA [ TrendHunter ]