Life In A Day Project - Google & Ridley Scott Team Up

Sadly I missed this project some how... It seams as though Google (YouTube), Ridley Scott, Kevin Macdonald, LG, the Sundance Film Festival have teamed up in an open project that's aim was to document what life was like on earth on July 24, 2010. The Life In A Day project asked for submissions of video captured on July 24th from anyone interested. The work will be compiled and edited over the next several months and the documentary screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. It's not too late however to submit your video, if you captured any yesterday, as the project is accepting submissions until July 31st.

LG Introduces Wristwatch Cell Phone At CES

If you are old enough to remember Dick Tracy then you are probably the customer that LG is going after with it's latest gadget, the watch-phone. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) yesterday, LG chief technology officer Woo Paik says "This is something you expect to see in a 007 movie," With no price point being announced, speculation is that the watch-phone will likely be a luxury device aimed at older, wealthier buyers. The phone works on GSM networks and is capable of detecting it's users voice within 25 centimetres.

Source: CBC News.

LG To Announce Line Of Broadband HDTVs

LG is expected to announce today a line of televisions that can directly receive Internet video in addition to satellite and cable signals. The tv's will have access to a variety of specific video sites including Netflix, but do not have sufficient processor power to allow users to freely surf the web. The Netflix partnership will make it possible for LG owners to stream any of the 12,000 films and television shows in Netflix’s Watch Instantly library, without a set top box or other internet capable device.

Source: NYTimes.

3 LCD Producers Plead Guilty On Price Fixing

In a plea agreement filed Wednesday, LG Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., all makers of LCD screens, have agreed to co-operate in a U.S. Justice Department antitrust investigation currently underway. Deputy Assistant Attorney-General Thomas O. Barnett said “These price-fixing conspiracies affected millions of American consumers who use computers, cellphones and numerous other household electronics every day,” Each of the manufacturers have agreed to pay fines, the fine for LG (Korea) and it's American subsidiary amounts to $400 million, Chunghwa (Taiwan) will pay $65 million, while Sharp (Japan) has agreed to $120 million. For it's part Sharp said in a statement that “After carefully taking into consideration the applicable laws and regulations, the facts and other factors, Sharp has decided that the best possible course of action would be to conclude the aforementioned agreement,” The big question now is, will the fines affect the cost of new LCD's? ;-)

Globe and Mail story.

Vital signs collected and transmitted by your cellphone!

Researchers in Edmonton, Alberta are teaming up with cellphone maker LG Electronics to test a new device that can detect a patients temperature, pulse, and blood pressure and transmit the data via cellphone. Plans are to build the device into a cellphone and include further vital signs such as glucose levels and other blood chemistry readings. According to the CBC, "the device could help people with conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, that require frequent home-care monitoring, as well as seniors or patients who live in rural areas." The Province of Alberta is committing $1.5 million to the joint project by LG, Capital Health and the University of Alberta. It just makes good sense to collect this data at home using a single device and the infrastructure that is now in place to support it. The only negative that I see in the remote monitoring of patients is the inability to see physical changes in those being monitored, in particular the elderly. I'm sure regular visits to or by a health professional are also part of the program, it would be a mistake to rely completely on the technology... in my mind.