May I take your order?

Robot No 1 and No 2 are displayed at a restaurant called Robot Kitchen in Hong Kong. Robot No 1 is designed to take orders from customers while Robot No 2 is designed as a female robot and is supposed to deliver dishes. The owners say that this is the first such restaurant in the world

Full-faced prototype Toshiba headgear

A model wears a full-faced prototype Toshiba headgear that enables the wearer to get a 360-degree view across a 40-centimetres dome-shaped screen at Toshiba Corporate Research and Development Centre in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo. The omni-directional image of which a two-dimensional version is displayed on the flat panel screen will be projected to the three-kilogram helmet in accordance with the wearers head position, which is detected by infrared sensors. Toshiba plans to have the gadget ready within the next 2 to 3 years.

Sandisk Sansa C200

SanDisk recently launched another MP3 player, the Sansa c200. The player can support playback of MP3, WMA, and protected WMA. It also incorporates an FM tuner, integrated voice recorder, a microSD memory card slot for adding up to 2GB of additional storage capacity, a 1.4-inch, 128 x 98-pixel colour LCD screen, and a battery life of about 15 hours. The c200 is available in 1GB and 2GB models. It will retail internationally in October at $80 for 1GB and $100 for a 2GB. For more information, visit http://www.sandisk.com/

FMV-Lifebook FMV-Q8230

A Fujitsu employee displays the company’s new notebook ‘FMV-Lifebook FMV-Q8230’, equipped with Intel’s 1.2GHz Core Solo processor and 32GB flash memory drive (instead of a hard-disk drive). The flash memory drive offers faster data access, longer battery life and improved shock resistance because of zero moving parts. Fujitsu will put the notebook on the market next month at a price of 3,94,000 yen (Rs 1,50,000 approx)

F229D glasses have bone-conduction speakers

An employee of the Japanese subsidiary of US hearing instruments giant Starkey’s displays a pair of glasses equipped with a new digital ‘acouphone’ on its bows. The F229D glasses have bone-conduction speakers that enables the user to listen to clear sounds vibrated through his or her skull. Starkey Japan started selling the new device with a price of 4,20,000 yen (Rs 1,60,000 approx) for a pair of dual ‘acouphone’ glasses and 2,20,000 yen (Rs 84,000 approx) for the one side ‘acouphone’ model

Sony’s new digital Walkman NW-S700F

A close-up of Sony’s new digital Walkman NW-S700F. The 88.1x27.4x17.0 mm, 47 gram Walkman features Sony’s clear audio technology with a built-in noise cancelling device. With a high-speed recharging function, a 3-minutes charge can provide 3 hours of play back. By connecting to another new Sony product HDD component ‘NetJuke,’ the Walkman can store music without a computer

www.cloudappreciationsociety.org

Get sucked into the tranquil almost meditation-like hobby of watching and appreciating clouds. The Web site, appropriately named http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/ helps users to get into “cloud watching” and encourages its members to post pictures of them. Needless to say the site has almost 2,000 pictures of clouds in shapes ranging from angel wings to animals to some that are too spectacular to explain. The site lets you rate the pictures and even chat with other cloud enthusiasts.