If e-reader manufacturers optimize e-readers for reading news (i.e. provide an easy transition from the ubiquitous newspaper), then this would be the first step towards the decline of the newspaper print media and a great stride forward in the digital age. There are several e-readers available, with Amazon.com sparking a lot  of interest with its Kindle.

It’s been a year since I bought an LCD TV (LG 32LB75) that is capable of accepting 1080p input (HD ready 1080p). However, I’ve only used my LCD TV for viewing SD TV and videos. Well, I’m not ready to invest in Blu-ray or Sky’s HD services now.

If you’re a movie buff and want quick and cheap (not free) access to loads of movies (even HD movies) and don’t want to risk torrents, then graboid video is well worth a try. I’ve registered for Gold Membership ($14.99 for a month allowing 50 GB of movie downloads) for a month to check it out.

I have experienced the frustration of wanting to switch channels on my TV using my remote only to see nothing happening, because I ignored the many “Low Battery” warnings for my remote control. I’m sure quite a lot of people, especially those couch potatoes out there, would have gone through a similar experience.

There’s a glass trough filled with clear water before you. To this trough, you add some filthy water, some stinking pond water with moss and algae, some filth from the sewers, some rabbit crap and then stir the contents in the trough. You now have a trough containing a revolting mixture before you.

Sony Ericsson’s recently launched Motion Activated MH907 headphones allows you to just do what comes naturally to listen to music and receive calls on your mobile.

The downside to this wonderful innovation is that the MH907 works only with Fast ports on Sony Ericsson phones. There are Fast port to 3.5mm jack adaptors available, but I don’t know if the adaptors prevent the motion activation functionality.

The motion activated headphones work as follows (image adapted from Sony Ericsson’s website):

Watch Sony Ericsson’s ad video below:

Visit the Sony Ericsson website for more details

In India, you would often face a problem using old, worn out or perhaps slightly torn banknotes. Typically, Indians refuse to accept such banknotes, but unfortunately, such banknotes are in wide circulation. Paper banknotes have an estimated lifetime of around 1 year. Given the population of India and the dominance of cash over credit/debit cards and cheques, the lifetime of paper banknotes in India could very well be less than a year.

Broadband Over Power lines (BPL) is the technology used to transmit data and provide internet access via electric power lines. The underlying mechanisms used for transmitting digital data over power lines have been around for a while and used by Electrical Energy Suppliers to monitor their power grids.

When Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth and other wireless technologies that use the RF Spectrum featured on many of the gadgets we use, we were thrilled to know that we weren’t tied to network cables, wired headsets, etc. and enjoyed the new found wireless freedom.

A couple of weeks ago, Google’s VP of Product Management and Engineering Director announced that Google was working on an Operating System called Google Chrome OS, scheduled to make its first appearance in netbooks in the second half of 2010. This announcement caused the IT world to buzz with excitement and within a couple of days since the announcement, there were already several articles on what Google Chrome OS might do to our Software world as we know it.

How about manipulating digital information with your hands in a more natural, instinctive way like we do with other tangible things? Devices called Siftables make this possible. As per the creators David Merrill (MIT Media Lab) and Jeevan Kalanithi (Taco Lab), “Siftables are compact electronic devices with motion sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication.

Most jobs involving digital information are computer-centric. My job (IT) and that of millions out there predominantly involve exchange and manipulation of digital information and this ties us to our laptops/PCs/Macs, etc. and I/O interfaces like keyboards, mice, touch screens, etc.  How about doing the same stuff by working with digital information spatially?

At times during my ritual household grocery shopping, I stand in front of a supermarket shelf containing several brands of a specific product (probably a new addition to the shelf), trying to digest all the information on the product labels and decide which brand to pick up.

Yesterday, I placed an order for a new Dell laptop after spending a weekend on research and playing around with different custom configurations on a few vendors’ websites. My main requirements for a laptop were powerful performance (for mini development environments, virtual machines), wireless connectivity and a variety of interface ports.

First, we had the floppy drives given to us by IBM – magnetic storage disks which came in sizes of 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch. I still remember thinking the floppy was cool during my Computer Science lab classes at school. As we entered the digital age, the greater was the need for more storage and we moved to CDs, USB drives, external hard drives, DVDs and memory cards.