| |
JULY 5, 2004
High Tech: Seeing And Hearing Is Believing High tech is often an arena for innovation, and this year is no exception. A noise-suppressing cell-phone earpiece that employs military technology, the Aliph Jawbone, is just one example. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s vertical Scanjet reinvents the flatbed scanner by turning it on its side and making the device mobile. It's a new paradigm for the product. The Taiwan-based BenQ made an LCD monitor that also breaks the mold. Its butterfly-wing design is a departure from conventional LCD screens. Panasonic's Toughbook laptop PC is different as well -- it's designed to withstand the mud, rain, and dirt of heavy construction sites or combat zones around the world. Herewith, a host of new designs for new technologies.  Silver ALIPH JAWBONE Designer: fuseproject This cell-phone headset allows people to talk in a bar, restaurant, or any loud environment while suppressing most extraneous noise. A sensor rests on the jawbone so that when someone is not talking and just listening, surrounding sound is dampened. Rectangular shape looks cool. $129.  Gold HP SCANJET 4670 Designers: Smart Design; Hewlett-Packard A vertical design takes up little desk space. The Scanjet sits in an easel holder. Open it, drop in a document, and scan. The removable frame can scan oversize books or even a picture hanging on a wall. $199.  Silver TOUGHBOOK CF-18 Designer: Matsushita, Japan Tight-grips on the screen and body ensure a secure hold. Metal clasps make it easy to attach a shoulder strap. $3,300.  Bronze BENQ LCD MONITOR Designer: BenQ Corp.; Taiwan An elegant butterfly-wing design departs from conventional liquid crystal displays. $495.  Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2004, Bloomberg L.P.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
