Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) researchers have come up with a tracking device that could be used to monitor the spatial movement of those suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The device, which is called the Alzheimer's real time location system, could help care-givers monitor the patients remotely in real time. “You can study the patient's behavior and take appropriate actions, for example, if he eats up to 22 times or spends too long in the toilet,” said researcher Assoc Dr Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff at UPM here Wednesday. Looks like active WiFi system to me.

Motorola Defy (IP67 rating) by Maxis

Motorola Defy phone at cool RM1599 with IP67 rating.

Bluebird PDA on Android OS

If you’re an employer looking for an enterprise-level Android device that can withstand a beating you don’t really have many any options. But the folks want to help you by announcing an Android-capable version of the Bluebird Pidion BIP-6000. This BIP-6000 meets the rigorous MIL-STD-810F military standards for drops, vibration, temperature, pressure, moisture, and sand and dust exposure, ensuring it can perform in harsh environments.

Comes with Android OS. Below specs:

* Marvell PXA320 at 806MHz
* GSM / HSDPA voice and data
* 3MP camera with autofocus and flash
* Barcode Scanner (but there’s an app for that!)
* 3.5-inch VGA display
* full QWERTY keyboard

FR68 and FR6000 from Motorola

Motorola today revealed two new rugged Windows Mobile handsets for the Asian market. The FR68 and the FR6000 aims at Asian market. Pricing from RM4858 onwards, they are 3.5G compatible, incorporate an internal GPS receiver, Bluetooth, IrDA, Wi-Fi, a Marvell XScale PXA312 624MHz processor, a 320×240 QVGA screen and an OCR capable camera at 3.2 mega-pixels.

Motorola MC55

Designed for mobile workers inside and outside an organization’s four walls and leveraging Motorola’s mobile computing platform architecture, the new MC55 EDA combines the power of a cell phone, two-way radio, bar code scanner, digital camera, and mobile computer into a compact and lightweight design. The new MC55 EDA enables mobile workers to improve productivity, customer response times and customer service levels by bringing business-critical voice, data and applications to the point of business activity. With WLAN and LAN options to choose from, Motorola will never disappoint you.

New Printer from Intermec

Well, Intermec has came out with the new portable printer and guess what? What struck me was it look exactly like Extech printer. Thermal direct printing with Bluetooth functions...what can i say? www.intermec.com for more information.

Waste Management using PDA

WRS in UK came out with a ingenious idea. Using Psion Teklogix iKon PDA for waste management system. The operator will scan the barcode on waste bin to record the conditions of bins. Collected data is uploaded to main server and report can be generated to educate the households on promoting the importance of recycling. It can also take photos of the bin.

I love rugged PCs

I love rugged machinery and so does everyone else. When a new machine comes in, everyone wants to see it, touch it, comment on in, and speculate how much abuse it can take. And this is where it gets interesting, the degree of abuse.

Rugged machines are, by design, conceived and built to take a beating and survive. But the only way to know for sure if they indeed CAN take a beating is to administer one. And whether or not we should do that is a sensitive issue. A lot of this equipment is not inexpensive. So do we take a $4,000 computer, drop it, twist it, spill coffee on it, try to see if the screen is really scratch-proof and whether it's really water-proof? And then send back, at best, a severely banged-up machine, and at worst, one that is destroyed?

That puts us in an interesting situation. We really think that rugged equipment should be just as rugged as manufacturers say it is, and sometimes we have doubts. We also see some stuff we are not very fond of. For example, glossy metallic surfaces that can and will get scratched in an instance simply should not be on a rugged machine, no matter how cool they look. But even there, do we just mention that in a review, or see just how badly it scratches (or not), document that, and then send it back?

Most rugged machines come with ruggedness specs. MIL-STD results are listed and perhaps compliance with other testing procedures as they may vary from country to country. That can include inhouse testing and third-party independent tests in labs. Now I have seen many of those torture chambers -- the ones of Panasonic, Psion Teklogix, GD-Itronix and Intermec, to name a few. I've seen machines being baked, shaken, rattled, dropped, scratched, exposed to extreme humidity, vibration, pressure, materials fatigue testing and more. The tests are real, and they certainly reveal weak points that are then addressed.