Infotainment

Sony Europe has unveiled a new addition to its E Series VAIO laptop range which allows users to flick through web pages, play music and adjust volume by waving a hand in front of the unit's webcam. The 14-inch VAIO 14P also features a backlit keyboard for twilight hours typing, a USB charging port to keep mobile devices topped up, and both discrete and integrated HD graphics. The new Sony VAIO E Series 14P is powered by an Intel Core i3-2350M processor running at 2.3GHz on an Intel HM76 Express Chipset, that's supported by 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM memory and 500GB of 5400 RPM HDD storage. As the name might suggest, it benefits from a 14-inch VAIO Display at 1366 x 768 resolution and 16:9 aspect, with onscreen action provided by AMD Radeon HD 7670M graphics with 1GB of dedicated VRAM memory and integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000. The system automatically switches between the two, depending on detected need for efficient energy use. Other power-saving features include a DVD Super

Lenovo’s IdeaPad is an interesting little device – it functions as a Windows laptop computer, but its screen detaches to operate as a stand-alone tablet. While Apple has no equivalent system of its own, a few companies have come out with products that come close. One of the latest is the Notebook Case for iPad, which consists of a keyboard-equipped hinged shell, that accepts an iPad 2 as its screen. The case incorporates USB and mini-USB ports, and communicates with the tablet via Bluetooth. Unlike some other keyboard cases, it also features a lithium-polymer battery that allows the user’s docked iPad to charge while in use. Japanese retailer Rakuten is currently offering the case on its website for ¥5,980, or about US$74. There’s no word on availability or pricing outside of Japan, or if it will work with the latest model of iPad. Users who like the general idea behind it, however, might also want to check out the Logitech Keyboard Case for the iPad 2. Source: Rakuten via 9 to 5 Mac

On a lot of laptops, the numeric keypad is usually the first thing to be sacrificed in order to save space. For those of us who just can’t get used to using the numbers above the alpha keys, this concept is a stroke of genius. It’s called Number Pad Film for Touchpad – despite the cumbersome name, it’s a really clever object + program that makes it simple for even laptop users to enter long lines of numeric data. The Number Pad Film is a small piece of plastic film that fits on over a laptop’s touch pad. Accompanying software maps out locations of the virtual “keys” on the touchpad. Switch to the number input with the use of hotkeys and math away to your heart’s content. Another activation of the hotkeys sends the touchpad back to its original function. The virtual keypad lacks the tactile feedback of a physical numeric keypad, but people who do plenty of touch typing on numeric keypads might not mind. They’ll probably just be grateful to have the freedom to

OSIM, better known for its advanced  massage chairs , has begun selling a US$170 thumb-sized USB massager which uses  Electronic Muscle Stimulation  (EMS - the same technology you first witnessed in biology when your teacher made a dead frog's leg twitch using electrical current), to deliver a suite of specialized massage programmes from your laptop. It's a pretty good fit of technologies because you can synch the massage to your computer's music player and massage away stress, and  tone  up using the tapping, squeezing and kneading of the uPixie on specific muscle groups ... while you are working. There are four set programmes on the uPixie, but you can also write and develop your own routines,  opening up  a whole host of possibilities. The Osim uPixie is actually fairly rudimentary as far as EMS machines go. I picked up a full blown TENS machine while I was at a Chinese Consumer  Electronics  Fair last year, paying US$20 for a machine that quite amaze