Hasta La Ideas

Take business on the road with a mobile scanner weighing less than a pound

While other portable scanners with great digital functionality have come before it, Fujitsu’s new ScanSnap S1100 adds some key features that put it a cut above for business use. The PC and Mac compatible device, designed for the traveling
professional (deemed the Best Mobile Productivity Accessory by Notebooks), allows users to immediately upload documents, photos or hard cards (plastic cards) directly to Google Docs and Evernote.

Like the similar Doxie Cloud, ScanSnap’s resolution output is as high as 600dpi, but its speed and universal compatibility make it a more ideal business companion. With efficiency at the core of the design, Fujitsu’s focus was to furnish the business community with a mobile scanner that could digitize a class action lawsuit from a Starbucks. A number of features make such remote heavy lifting easy.

Continuous document feeding allows for scanning of multiple documents without delay, at scanning speeds of 7.5 seconds per page. The searchable content function digitally archives information highlighted in a document to the chosen upload platform to make it finable later. ScanSnap also gives the option of scanning in business cards or credit cards, immediately extracting information for use within laptops or mobile devices. Another brilliant addition is the easy self-maintenance of the scanner—pop it open to clean the camera and roller in a matter of minutes.

The ScanSnap S1100 sells through Fujitsu’s site directly for $200.

Voici la Sony NGP (Next Generation Portable), la nouvelle console de jeux portables PSP 2 dotée d’une surface tactile au dos en plus de l’écran OLED tactile de 5″, ainsi que d’un gyroscope avec accéléromètre identique au Playstation Move. Le tout sera disponible pour fin 2011.

Previously on Fubiz

• Sony OLED Display
• History of Gaming
• Playstation Movers

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

I was in the Arctic Circle last year freezing my butt off, and it never ceases to amaze me that humans have lived up there for eons, well before indoor heat. One “technology” that enabled early cold-climate survival was the simple layering of clothes; Nanook the First was wearing a bearskin and froze to death, but Nanook the Second added another bearskin and was fine.

With the idea of layering clothes to insulate our bodies being such an old principle, it’s rather amazing it’s taken American architects so long to get around to applying it to buildings. (It’s old-hat to Europeans.) According to the Chicago Tribune,

…Federal officials on Thursday unveiled an innovative design that leave the exterior of Cleveland’s aging federal building in place and wrap a new metal and glass skin around it. This type of design, known as a “double wall,” is expected to cut energy costs and give the stolid steel-and-glass building a fresh skyline identity, making its appearance change constantly in the light.

Renovation work already has begun on the 16-story Peter W. Rodino Federal Building in Newark, N.J. It’s laying the groundwork for that building to be “shrink-wrapped,” as the plan’s chief architect, Richard Dattner, puts it, in a new metal and glass skin. As at the Cleveland building, the two walls in Newark will be separated by a cavity of air, about three feet wide.

Such double walls filter out harsh sunlight and create an insulating layer of air that moderates climatic extremes and lowers energy costs. Office buildings in Europe have used double walls for more than a decade, but the technology remains unusual in the U.S.

Fringe benefits of this type of renovation are that the tenants need not move out during the re-fit, saving some bread there, and the double wall provides more blast protection for would-be terrorist targets (the Cleveland building houses certain Department of Defense offices). Learn more about it here.

A couple of reasons I don’t expect to see this taking off in New York: 1) See that crawlspace between the windows? Just a matter of time before it’s filled with rats and pigeons, and 2) eventually a teenager with a can of spraypaint will figure out how to get into the crawlspace and just tag the crap out of it.

(more…)

In a move not dissimilar to Lady Gaga’s appointment as Creative Director at Polaroid last year, leading chip manufacturer Intel has announced world famous musician and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am as new “Director of Creative Innovation”.

In an acceptance speech that was more than a little cringe-worthy, the star describes his career long admiration for Intel and a desire to look to the future. Skeptics may well put Will.i.am’s appointment down to a shrewd branding campaign, but the blue-chip giants insist that the singer brings serious creative know-how to the table, particularly in the development of smart phones, tablets and laptops. Could this brand positioning herald Intel’s intent to release its own product line; no longer content with playing the techy sidekick?

The announcement will no doubt have many a (unemployed) designer squirming in their seats—and perhaps considering a tactical career change. Design schools should probably also start thinking about the integration of pop music performance into the curriculum asap.

(Via LA Times/PSFK)

(more…)