The Next Web is out and about at Mobile World Congress this week, and at the Showstoppers event tonight we met some of the tech companies looking to make a name for themselves at this year’s flagship mobile industry event in Barcelona.
One of these companies was HzO , which was demoing its neat ‘invisible coating’ which protects a gadget’s components, essentially letting you completely submerge, say, your iPhone underwater. How did it come about? HzO explains :
Earlier today we reported that Liquipel, another phone-waterproofing company, is expanding into Australia, Brazil and China. And there was another similar company, P2i , also in attendance at the Showstoppers event today. So it seems that people are craving ways to waterproof their expensive gadgets.
The company is on the verge, it seems, of announcing some new partnerships with smartphone manufacturers, and given the two sample products in the video below, this could be a sign of what’s to come for two of the biggest players in the mobile manufacturing industry.
Here, HzO’s Rick C. Peterson shows two smartphones which have been treated with their technology being submerged into a basin of water. Watch how long the iPhone has been under water for.
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Could this be the key to getting a workout at your desk?
I have precisely one complaint about my job — By its very nature, I tend to sit on my butt all day and not have any physical activity. For a person who’s prone to gaining weight by looking at food, this isn’t a good thing.
However, if you happen to have a few grand to invest in your health, a company called rightangle has invented the LifeBalance Station which be the perfect answer. We’ve seen the benefits to a standing workstation, and we all know that elliptical machines are a great workout, so what if you combined the two?
LifeBalance has given us the best of both worlds by having a movable desk that can go from a standing workstation to a sitting one, but then also pairing that with what appears to be a rather comfy chair…that has an elliptical machine for the foot rests.
From the description, it seems that the machine simulates a walking motion, rather than a typical jogging or skiing one. Once you’re done with the machine, it seems that there is enough room to slide your work chair in right beside it. While I’m not completely sold on that idea (it seems that it would be a bit cramped, to me), I respect the thought that the machine could move out of the way.
The workstation will set you back some cash, but it might very well be worth it. Want a better look? Here’s the promo video:
How one man got lost in a computer, and other tales from the forgotten days of tech
Some time ago, the editors here at TNW put out a post that was a collation of our first computing experiences . Given the age range of our staff, it was quite the list. However, once the post was out, a piece of email landed in my inbox that contained stories that not only dealt with a reader’s first interactions with a computer, but also with some of the first computers.
He told me a number of vignettes that we’ll get to in a moment, but first, the story of a friend of the man who got lost inside a computer.
The story was mentioned only in passing during our first correspondence, but I was put in touch with the man in question, and his story is beyond hilarious. Think back to the 1950s, when computers were built of vacuum tubes, and you have the right time frame. This is his story, condensed slightly:
With the recent TRON film out, going ‘inside the machine’ has become a digital concept. But in the past, it was a physical danger (‘where the heck is the way out?’). As a side note, we’re trying to track down the name of that computer. We don’t think that it was the MISTIC; if you know, send me a note and I’ll pass it along.
The following anecdotes are from the original mail, and have been shortened by TNW when appropriate:
And finally, “Yep, it’s fun to look back on all this and realize how much it has all changed for the better. Remember that the pioneers are the ones with arrows in their backs, and I’ve got a few!” It’s too bad that in the day of Zynga and the like, the true roots of technology are slipping away; this is our foundation. So hug the next dinosaur you see, they did all the hard work, we just pretend.
I’ve kept the two names out of this post, but if you have a question for either of the gentlemen, I’ll happily send it through.