Gadgets and Gizmos

Motorola unveils VoIP enabled barcode scanner

Motorola has unveiled CA50, a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)-enabled wireless scanner, which is aimed at retail, healthcare and hospitality service workers to enhance customer service.

The CA50 is the first device of its kind, allowing users to scan barcodes as well as have access to voice telephony and walkie-talkie style Push To Talk communications. The devices link to a central web server within a particular environment.

Motorola said that the CA50 VoIP-enabled barcode scanner, aimed at retail, hospitality and healthcare settings, could help improve productivity and customer service while reducing operational expenses. CA50 VoIP was demonstrated this week at the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show event.

The CA50 can also be protected by Motorola’s innovative Service from the Start Advance Exchange maintenance program. This multi-year agreement helps protect product uptime with next-business-day device replacement. (more…)

Panasonic unveils the world’s longest-lasting AA battery

Panasonic the Japan based company is introducing a double-A household battery that will keep gadgets running 20 percent longer than others do. The battery’s name is a combination of ‘Evolution’ and ‘Voltage’.

EVOLTA AA batteries are the first such batteries to be recognized by Guinness World Records, based on data obtained from discharge tests Panasonic conducted in accordance with the guidelines set by the International Electro technical Commission (IEC) and measured against ANSI, IEC and JIS standards.

EVOLTAs have a 10-year shelf-life which is nearly double the duration of other products on the market. Panasonic’s EVOLTA batteries will also keep gadgets running up to 20% longer than offerings from Duracell and Energizer as well as their own Oxyride brand.

The battery also has a 10 year shelf life, making it suitable to store in preparation for disasters. Other batteries have about five to seven years of shelf life, according to Panasonic officials. (more…)

SanDisk unveils 12-gigabyte microSDHC card

SanDisk has announced it 12-gigabyte (GB) microSDHC flash memory cards to major phone manufacturers for testing and evaluation. The 12GB card represent a 50 percent boost in card capacity from SanDisk’s industry-leading 8GB microSDHC cards, which are currently available worldwide, and highlights the growing popularity of mobile phones with storage-intensive features that include music players, digital cameras, video recording and playback and GPS capabilities.

This marks the largest microSDHC card yet designed, a substantial increase from the 8 GB cards currently available, and not far behind the 16 GB capacity of full-size SDHC cards.

According to SanDisk, a 12GB microSD card will be able to store a combination of 1,500 songs (128kbps), 3,600 photos (2 megapixel) and 24.5 hours of video (Approximation for MPEG-4 video at 384 kbp). These cards adhere to the SD Speed Class 4 Rating.

SanDisk unveils 8 Gigabite Extreme III SDHC

The SanDisk Extreme III 8-GB SDHC is flash memory card. The 8-GB SDHC card will be packaged with a SanDisk MicroMate USB 2.0 Reader, so that users have a one-stop solution for capturing, storing and transferring their images.

The 8-GB SanDisk Extreme III SDHC card can store more than 4,000 high-resolution pictures or up to 16 hours of MPEG 4 video. The card has a read/write speed of 20-MB per second, thus providing rapid downloads to a personal computer.

The latest model can also work with SATA and eSATA drives for even more options, according to Gadget Venue. But seriously, if make use of all 62 formats, an intervention of some kind may be in order. The bundled card and reader are expected to ship within the next 30 days to U.S. retailers at a suggested price of $179.99. It will also be available in Europe.

ZyXEL Plug and Talk VoIP ATA

The VoIP CPE provisioning parameter defines a VoIP CPE device provisioning data model established by an Auto-configuration Server (ACS) using the mechanism. The ZyXEL P-2302R-P1C is available at an introductory price of Rs 2,990 plus taxes.