Hexound Headphones

Hexound headphones designed by Zhong-Fa Lie are only a concept.Lie designed the Hexound headphones to be made up of three removable units. When these units are connected, they “fulfill their own roles as speakers and a foldable & portable solar energy collection device.” The headphone speakers, when detached, can be used in a stereo speaker mode, described as a standalone way to share music with others around you at a party.


The band of this concept headset incorporates photovoltaic panels that continually recharge the headset’s onboard battery. The headset comprises of three removable units, which when connected accomplish the task of speakers and a foldable solar energy collecting device. The speaker mode sets into action with just a flip of the switch.

The Hexound Wireless Headphones might just be your solution to high quality sound, without your conscience bothering you about having to replace batteries every so often. The concept design includes solar panels that power up the headphones while outdoors, and charge the headphone’s batteries when not in use.
The headphone is also composed of removable units, which means that you can use them as stereo speakers for sharing music in a room with friends.

Solar Powered Cell Phone

An elegant solar powered cell phone was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week naming as ‘Apollo’. It has Designed by Chinese cell phone manufacturer Umeox, this phone with a solar panel incorporated on its back side, is already being touted to be the world’s first Android-powered, mass produced, solar-powered cell phone.


The Apollo features a 3.2″ 320×480 display, 1GB of storage, a microSD card slot, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, a 3 megapixel rear camera and a 3.5mm audio jack. While the Apollo is the first solar-powered cellphone unveiled at MWC 2011.
The Alternatives:
While the Apollo is the first solar-powered cellphone unveiled at MWC 2011, there were similar phones unveiled at previous events too, which included big names like the Samsung Blue Earth.
1. Samsung Blue Earth:

This green technology imbued, flamboyant blue phone is made of recycled plastic, features a pedometer, and even an advanced software that acknowledges just how much we are contributing to Earth by using it. Integrated solar panels are embedded on the sleek back side, with full touchscreen on the front.
2. LG Pop:

The LG GD510 Pop carries an optimized feature set that allows the phone to be more compact and easy to use. The phone is equipped with a 3MP camera with auto focus and 8GB of internal memory that can store several popular audio and video file formats to keep the user entertained for a long time. In addition to a host of trendy features, the cellphone carries a large photovoltaic panel to charge the onboard battery on the move.
3. Sagem Puma Phone:

Weighing it at 115gm, the solar-powered Puma Phone features a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen interface and a 3.2MP camera with LED flash. The phone also doubles as a sports tool with included features like bike speedo and a run tracker, both of which use the phone’s GPS receiver, a pedometer and even a sailing compass. It also includes a music player, an FM radio and a stopwatch. The phone has 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2.9 Mbps HSUPA, an 880 mAh Li-Ion battery that’s good for 350 hours of standby and 5 hours of talk time and 24 hours of music playback.

Unique MP3 Player

Chih-Wei Wang and Shou-His Fu have designed a unique MP3 player. Called the “Skinny Player”, the music player is attached to the user’s skin in a similar way to a plaster.It is a lot simpler and thinner than the iPod Shuffle, incorporating storage, a battery, a play/stop button and speakers into a Band-Aid-like form factor.


Both designers claim that MP3 player will not lose its adhesive power even after being attached and removed hundreds of times and it is easily cleaned using a damp cloth.

Like its inspiration, the Skinny Player adheres to the user’s body. This is not just practical but essential to the device, because it will use the person’s body heat to recharge its batteries.

The Skinny Player MP3 player also does not require batteries but obtains power from body heat created during movement. The flexible player has an on/off button and a flexible speaker so it does not require headphones, and has enough memory to hold an album of music.

No technical information of this MP3 player and how body heat works as a power supply is available to the public yet. The Skinny Player is ideal for sports enthusiasts and is a step towards battery free music.

Samsung Galaxy Player 70

Samsung Galaxy Player 70 is the competitor of Apple’s latest iPod touch. It was recently released in Korea and is featured in this promo video and would be available in the US this spring in two models; Galaxy Player 4 and Galaxy Player 5.


The Galaxy Player 70 is essentially the Galaxy Player 5. This video is a very fine work of art with professional approach which nicely explores the whole handy features of upcoming Galaxy Player 70 including video conferencing with Qik.

The new Samsung Galaxy Player 70 portable media player is available in South Korea right now.

AT&T and Ford Electric Vehicle

Ford Focus Electric hooks up wirelessly with AT&T and Ford Electric Vehicle owners will have ability to remotely monitor, engage and control vehicle settings via information collected over the AT&T wireless network.Ford Motor Company to use AT&T wireless network to connect new Ford Focus Electric and wireless connection enables vehicle owners to control vehicle settings when away from the car all part of a strategic approach to make Ford electric car ownership simple, easy and engaging…………


Ford Motor Company and AT&T announced an agreement to wirelessly connect the Ford Focus Electric, Ford’s first all-electric passenger car. Announced in January at the 2011 International CES, the new Focus Electric enters production at the Michigan Assembly Plant in late 2011.Through the new MyFord Mobile smartphone app, using the embedded AT&T wireless connection, Ford Focus Electric vehicle owners will have the ability to send and receive data about their car providing command and control of vehicle settings while away from it.“Ford has been at the forefront of developing market leading telematics and infotainment services for its vehicles and we’re thrilled to be a part of this exciting and significant next step with the upcoming Focus Electric,” said Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices, resale and partnerships, AT&T. “Connecting consumers directly to their electric vehicles in this new and innovative way is going to drive innovative and exciting levels of interaction.”

MyFord Mobile technology provides Focus Electric owners in North America with a powerful tool to stay connected, monitor and control their vehicle. Through a smartphone app or secure website, MyFord Mobile invites Focus Electric owners to plan trips, monitor the vehicle’s state of charge, receive various alerts for vehicle charging, as well as provides several other features designed to simplify the electric vehicle ownership experience.“With a wireless connection, we’re putting battery charge and vehicle range information, along with an interactive, data-driven trip planning app, directly at the fingertips of our customers,” said Ed Pleet, product and business manager for Ford Connected Services. “This technology will keep drivers connected to vital information, enhancing their electric car ownership experience. The AT&T network is an important part of this equation and we’re pleased to have AT&T on board.”MyFord Mobile will connect through the AT&T network, allowing the car to communicate off-board through standard wireless technology. From an internet connected mobile phone or computer, owners can:

• Find current and projected state of charge information including estimated range and the amount of charge time necessary for additional distances
• Program vehicle charging with utility input, allowing the car to start charging immediately or when electricity prices are lowest with the value charging feature, powered by Microsoft
• Features powered by MapQuest available on the MyFord smartphone app:
  Locate charging stations and get the destination sent to the vehicle
• Know if the vehicle can reach a specific charge station from its current location with the current charge level
• Create a journey with multiple stops, and determine the likelihood that the car has adequate charge for the full journey
• Find the car by creating a route from a mobile phone to the vehicle
• Receive alerts if the vehicle isn’t charging when it’s scheduled to, or if charging stops unexpectedly due to a power outage, plug removal or other event
• Receive alerts during recharge when the vehicle has reached a particular preset charge level or has the ability to reach a particular destination
• Engage remote vehicle preconditioning, using grid power to heat or cool the vehicle interior
• Remotely lock/unlock doors
• Use the built-in GPS system to locate the car
• Download performance and system data
• Fun ways of understanding your driver behavior, with ratings from ‘Zen’ to ‘Zippy’
• Receive information personalized to the driver, depending on which key the driver used

At launch, the MyFord Mobile app will be available for most major smartphones, along with a mobile web application for compatibility with any phone supporting HTML-5 browser-based access, or feature phones with WAP 2.0-supported browsers. The feature also is accessible via a secure Ford website.Owners will use the smartphone to communicate with a cloud-based highly secure server, which stores information provided by the embedded wireless module in Focus Electric. Using a cloud-based architecture ensures users will have up-to-the-minute access to information through the AT&T wireless network.

Solar Robort

Japanese have a flair for inventing new things and are never bogged down by tough situations. Currently battling with the disaster caused by the massive earthquake and tsunami that wreaked havoc on the country on March 11. Two scientists of Hiroshima International University, Yosuke Kimura and Daisuke Goto, have defied all odds to develop a robot that runs on solar power.


The two electrical systems majors of the university have designed this robot using two solar panels that can supply power to the robot when the normal power goes down. As a part of the Hiroshima International University’s engineering program the dedicated Star Wars radio controlled robot has been exhibited in Hiroshima in recent times.

Samsung Transparent LCD Display Coming Soon

Samsung has unveiled a new notebook with a 14-inch transparent LCD display, allowing users to browse the web whilst seeing what’s happening on the other side of their PC. This new transparent notebook was shown of at FPD China 2011, and it features a 14 inch LCD display with a resolution of 1680 x 1080 pixels, and there is a white LED unit installed in each of the four corners of the display.


Although visually impressive, positive practical applications for such transparent displays remain a relative mystery. Despite this Samsung has reportedly revealed it plans on using such displays in devices later this year.

Samsung 14-inch Transparent LCD Display Laptop will be available at stores by end of 2011 or beginning of 2012.