Our friend Max from Zedomax checked out the first color e-reader over at the Hanvon CES 2011 booth. The 9.7 inch e-reader has a resolution of 1024 X 600. Just like the Amazon Kindle, this Hanvon e-reader doesn’t use any power when it’s displaying the page, it only consumes power to generate a new page. So if you have read 500 pages over a 2 day period only the generation of the 500 pages is what consumed power, the power consumption would have been the same if you read 500 pages over a 2 week period. With a battery life of 10,000 page turns this thing will hardly ever need a charge.

If you are not so interested in the technology that Hanvon is demonstrating have a look at the video and pictures after the jump, it might get you more interested about the Hanvon product offerings. Sorry about the lack of audio for the product introductions, I am blaming it on a technical glitch but it was simply my fault for having the camcorder in a wrong audio setting… I found it funny how branding took a back seat in this booth, the arms of the girls are branded with the same paper Hanvon labels as the cans of Mountain Dew that were handed out after the show.

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This video shows the work the team from the University of Pennsylvania GRASP Labs has been able to accomplish.  These Quadrotors are able to lift heavy objects into various precise positions to build something. The team created a special gripper to lift the parts, the parts have magnets in them to assist them to snap together. Around the 1 minute mark in the video you can see many quadrotors working in unison. When you watch the sped up version it reminds me of a bunch of insects working together. One thing I would like to see is a coordinated multi-quadrotor lift.

Thanks for the tip John.

muRata manufactures technology that goes into many of the electronic items we use every day. They have some new technology that is sure to be a hit in our busy lives. One thing that I hate is the 4 or 6 plug in transformers around the house that I need to keep all the battery operated electronic items charged. There are quite a few charging pads entering the market to solve this cable clutter issue but this Capacitive Coupling Wireless Charging System that muRata has developed is sure to become popular when it is compared to the typical inductive charging systems. The technology is quite small and muRata is willing to work to help manufactures implement their design ideas. One big advantage of the capacitive charging system compared to the typical inductive method is that there are no coils to align. I like the large charging pad design which could sit on a table by the entry way and all of the devices that we use in our daily could just be tossed onto the pad in any place it would fit.

Would you like to know what it feels like to have bionic legs? I think we would need to talk with Evan Ackerman to hear about what it was like since I don’t think most of us will get to test drive these legs any time soon. Evan got a chance to use the Cyberdyne Hybrid Control System (HAL) at the Consumer Electronic Show 2011.

Via: Adafruit

iRobot was at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 showing off their latest creation, it is their iRobot AVA Mobile Robotics Platform. It is a demonstration platform which demonstrates what iRobot is capable of doing. This robot is packed with technology such as 3D imaging, sonar and laser range finding. You can just imagine the possible capabilities for this platform. I could see it recording and delivering video messages within a factory where the workers do not have email.

The guys from BigC had a booth setup at the Consumer Electronic Show 2011. I purchased a microscope similar to some one that they sell. My intention was to use it for circuit board inspection, the one I purchased works OK but the color of the image is not very accurate. These ones that BigC had on display were all very bright, vibrant and clear! Next time I purchase a microscope I will be getting it from these guys. Watch the video to see the intense video of the watch movement closeup.

Are you on the 50th floor and hate hanging out your window to clean the outside of your windows? Have a look at the Windoro from Ilshim Global. It comes in two halves, one goes on the outside and one on the inside. Pads on the robot spin to clean the glass. This works in a similar way to the Roomba to automatically clean the entire surface of the glass.  I would be a bit concerned if the magnetic force that holds the two halves together releases, the outer half of the robot could fall a long way to the ground. I am thinking this would be a great product to have some fun with, I would hack the firmware so that it only cleans the window to spell my site name.