Garminnuvi 880

Say hello to the 880, the newest member of Garmin’s nüvi family. And when I tell you to say hello, I mean it: The nüvi 880 is the first portable GPS device to boast full speech recognition capabilities. You can access almost all of its functions using your voice infact, only a few tasks require the touch screen. I found it a truly amazing (albeit expensive) experience that works surprisingly well. With a list price of $999.99, the Garminnüvi 880 is positioned at the very top end of the GPS market. But it has nearly every feature I’ve come to expect in a luxury navigator, including text-to-speech conversion,multisegment routing, an excellent Blue-tooth phone interface, and even integrated media players and travel tools. There’s built-in support for Microsoft’s MSN Direct service, too, providing useful information such as live traffic, weather, movie times, and even local gas prices. The real showstopper here, though, is the amazing speech recognition functionality. On my tests, the unit comprehended my voice commands with astonishing accuracy, despite the acoustically challenging environment of a noisy car.Frankly, I’m hooked.  This is the GPS device I want on my windshield.

Broadband speed in Mobiles

SPRINT AND Clearwire have agreed to form a joint venture that will deliver wired broadband speeds to mobile users, perhaps by late 2008. The companies had charted separate paths to roll out mobile WiMax, a form of mobile broadband previously deployed in scattered places around the world. Widespread deployment of WiMax is about two years behind early predictions. Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMax rollout will likely offer speeds well above 5 mbps. 

Pricing isn’t set.WiMax adapters should proliferate by 2009. Intel has backed WiMax since deciding in 2004 that existing cellular 3G plans could not meet its needs. Intel will build Centrino chips that have WiMax and Wi-Fi capability built in. Companies such as Motorola, Samsung, and Zyxel are committed to building fixed receivers for residences and businesses, as well as laptop and desktop adapters like PC Cards and ExpressCards. Ben Wolf  , the CEO of the new service, estimates that Clearwire will be available to 120 to 140 million people by 2010. By then AT&T and Verizon should be rolling out LTE (Long Term Evolution), their 4G flavor, which will offer comparable speeds.

The future RAM

HP RESEARCHERS have developed a working unit of a once-theoretical memory circuit called a memristor, which may someday re place RAM and make PCs smarter. Memristor technology could enable PCs to make decisions by understanding patterns of collected data, much as ahuman brain collects and understands data on a series of events.For example, a memristor could adjust a microwave’s heating time for a potato based on whether the oven overcooked a potato the last time, says HP senior fellow Stanley Williams. Memristors could reach the commercial semiconductor market in five years, he says.A memristor circuit uses lower voltage and turns on faster than memory types such as DRAM and flash. Denser cells allow memristor circuits to store more data than flash memory, too. The memristor is the fourth basic circuitry element, joining three, the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor. That science has known about for 150 years,Williams says.