While the chunky Suunto X10 might not go well with a tuxedo, James Bond would still love it. The watch hides a Global Positioning System unit, stopwatch, compass, barometer and altimeter into a package not much bigger than 007’s favorite Omega.
Because the X10 can track GPS satellites, you can record and download your last run or hike to Google Earth or other digital mapping programs. You can also plan routes and set waypoints for future trips on a PC using the included Track Exporter software.
The X10 offers 33 percent longer battery life than its predecessor, the X9i, and charges via an included USB cable. It also uses a newer GPS chip that finds and locks onto satellites faster than the X9i.
If you become lost, a press of the “Find Home” button will direct you back along the same route you came or even offer a more direct route. The watch also displays current speed and distance traveled.
It should be available in September, sadly without the garrote or sleeping gas attachments available from Q branch.
For people who routinely use two computers at once, a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch has long been a useful add-on: with it, you can use the same keyboard, monitor and mouse and simply switch between PCs. Of course, the computers remain separate devices — they are not linked or networked as a result.
That’s why Iogear’s new USB Laptop KVM Switch (US$130) is so interesting. One double-ended cable connects two Windows PCs or laptops together (a Mac version should be available soon). Then, you can use one PC to control the other and even drag files and folders between the machines.
This isn’t as esoteric as it may sound. If you bring your company’s laptop home and connect it to your PC with this cable, you can share and sync files between the two machines. You can add an external hard drive or other peripheral “between” the two computers that both machines can use.
You can also use your laptop as a second screen: Your e-mail inbox could live on the laptop’s smaller screen while, say, a large Excel spreadsheet is on your larger monitor. And since you’ll also be using your full-size keyboard and mouse for both machines, you won’t just be more productive — you’ll probably be more comfortable.
Parents have been telling their children to turn the volume down since “wireless” meant “AM radio,” but noise-monitoring has gotten trickier as music has moved into headphones — where sound levels can get dangerously high. With parental concerns in mind, the LoudEnough earbuds from Ultimate Ears have volume-limiting safeguards built into the hardware.
Although safe volume levels are still important, the components in the LoudEnough earbuds also reduce sound-pressure levels up to 20 decibels, or one quarter of the volume of other earphones. They use a standard 3.5mm stereo plug, which allow the Ultimate Ears to fit just about any portable MP3 player or other audio device.
The earbuds, available in three colors, sell for about US$40 and can be found at www.loudenough.com. Each pair comes with two sets of silicone tips in three sizes (extra-small, small and medium) for keeping the buds in place inside the ears — which may even make them appeal to adults who complain that the iPod earphones are too big and tend to fall out.
Adventurous questing and fierce battles are much easier when a player has good weapons on both sides of the screen. Made with the needs of video-game fans in mind, the Avatar mouse from NZXT comes with seven programmable buttons that can be custom-configured for different types of games, including multiplayer online worlds, real-time strategy contests and first-person shooters.
To increase its responsiveness and accuracy in those do-or-die sharpshooting situations, the Avatar mouse also comes with an optical sensor under the hood that can reach a maximum resolution of 2,600 dots per inch, or dpi — compared with the 800dpi or 1,000dpi offered by many standard mice.
The Avatar gaming mouse connects through a USB port and costs about US$60; full specifications and a list of stores are at www.nzxt.com/products/avatar. The Avatar’s Teflon feet keep gameplay smooth; even southpaw warriors need not worry — the Avatar has an ambidextrous design.
Combining a graphics tablet with a built-in camera and a computer-based set of creativity tools, Stylin’ Studio, out this week from Girl Tech, part of the Radica division of Mattel, is the latest thing in face-editing technology. Intended for older girls, Stylin’ Studio (US$60, www.girltech.com) is this year’s replacement for Digi Makeover, a TV-connected toy that was harder to use.
First, you install the software on a Windows computer and plug in the USB cable. Next, you start the software, line up your face in the viewfinder and snap a photo, a process made easier by a small mirror. You can also import any face from a digital photo, if you want to give your parents earrings or put a tiara on your Facebook picture.
The real fun begins when you start smearing on the eyeliner, available in dozens of shades, or mixing and matching the hair, clothing, jewelry, backgrounds and photo frames, all of which can be dragged and dropped into place with the stylus. You can save your work as standard photo files for convenient e-mailing to your local modeling agency.
In the mainstream view, the Philippines should be worried that a conflict over Taiwan between the superpowers will drag in Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr observed in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last year, “I learned an African saying: When elephants fight, the only one that loses is the grass. We are the grass in this situation. We don’t want to get trampled.” Such sentiments are widespread. Few seem to have imagined the opposite: that a gray zone incursion of People’s Republic of China (PRC) ships into the Philippines’ waters could trigger a conflict that drags in Taiwan. Fewer
March 18 to March 24 Yasushi Noro knew that it was not the right time to scale Hehuan Mountain (合歡). It was March 1913 and the weather was still bitingly cold at high altitudes. But he knew he couldn’t afford to wait, either. Launched in 1910, the Japanese colonial government’s “five year plan to govern the savages” was going well. After numerous bloody battles, they had subdued almost all of the indigenous peoples in northeastern Taiwan, save for the Truku who held strong to their territory around the Liwu River (立霧溪) and Mugua River (木瓜溪) basins in today’s Hualien County (花蓮). The Japanese
Pei-Ru Ko (柯沛如) says her Taipei upbringing was a little different from her peers. “We lived near the National Palace Museum [north of Taipei] and our neighbors had rice paddies. They were growing food right next to us. There was a mountain and a river so people would say, ‘you live in the mountains,’ and my friends wouldn’t want to come and visit.” While her school friends remained a bus ride away, Ko’s semi-rural upbringing schooled her in other things, including where food comes from. “Most people living in Taipei wouldn’t have a neighbor that was growing food,” she says. “So
Whether you’re interested in the history of ceramics, the production process itself, creating your own pottery, shopping for ceramic vessels, or simply admiring beautiful handmade items, the Zhunan Snake Kiln (竹南蛇窯) in Jhunan Township (竹南), Miaoli County, is definitely worth a visit. For centuries, kiln products were an integral part of daily life in Taiwan: bricks for walls, tiles for roofs, pottery for the kitchen, jugs for fermenting alcoholic drinks, as well as decorative elements on temples, all came from kilns, and Miaoli was a major hub for the production of these items. The Zhunan Snake Kiln has a large area dedicated