With the use of infrared rays, saunas just made a technological leap. The infrared rays are claimed to be healthier too. The modern Infrared technology provides relaxing heat without the need to heat the cabin interior for a long time. Unlike the traditional saunas, a set of heaters emitting infrared rays represents the source of heat. In natural conditions those rays, invisible to the human eye, are the healthiest and safest part of sun radiation. Thus, using infrared technology allows consumers to take advantage of the benefits of sun exposure without risking the negative effects of its heat.

In an infrared sauna there is a permanent temperature of 40-60 degrees of Celsius. Infrared rays do not heat the air but only your body, which ensures that the entire energy generated is used efficiently. They are harnessed to heat your body tissue to a depth of 4cm, which should provide a pleasant feeling of warmth, while cleansing your body of toxins and increasing your heart rate, also relaxing tired muscles and improving the condition and elasticity of the skin.

Decowood’s infrared line saunas are equipped with comfortable benches, head rests and ergonomic-shaped backrests made of abachi (samba) wood or aspen and alder wood, which do not absorb heat, therefore you are guaranteed comfort and good rest when using the sauna. Soft lighting ensures a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. Raised benches facilitate the cleaning of cabin. Decorative elements inside the sauna may be made of natural stone such as granite, available in three colors.

Sauna housing consists of oakwood, Scandinavian spruce, Canadian spruce, cedar, and Siberian spruce. Door and window frames are made of solid wood and the sauna cabin door openable to the exterior is made of full sheet of tempered glass. The glass is stained, bronze, with stainless steel ferrules, also available in other colors. Doors are fitted with comfortable and aesthetic wooden handle with ball latch.

Decowood’s infrared saunas come at a price of

Philips has created the Philips Imageo Wax Candle that requires a small battery to operate colour changing LED inside a regular wax candle. This electronic candle was designed to make your room more comfortable.

Philips Imageo Wax Candle can provide up to 24 hours of continuous light and is powered by rechargeable batteries. Therefore, you can enjoy the warm glow and gentle flicker of a candle, that creates a romantic atmosphere, without the risks associated with open flames and the hassle of matches and hot wax. This is just one of the useful features provided by this modern and efficient candle.

More than that, while a normal wax candle lasts only for a short time, the Philips Imageo CandleLights can be charged with an induction charger and provide up to 24 hours of continuous light for just the desired ambiance in the home. Since the candle is also waterproof, it can create the same ambiance in the garden as well and not be extinguished by the wind.

The Philips Imageo Wax Candle package contains a set of three LED candle lights powered by rechargeable batteries as well as an intuitive and innovative tumble switch for easy on and off switching just by shaking the glass.

The Philips Imageo Wax Candle is available and can be purchased through the company’s online shops at

Samsung has globally launched the first 5-megapixel camera-phone in 2004, 7-megapixel camera-phone in 2005, and the groundbreaking 10-megapixel SCH-B600 in the Korean market in 2006. The launch of this long-awaited 8-megapixel camera-phone reinforces Samsung’s renowned leadership in the camera-phones market.

We guess that the “8″ in “Innov8″ obviously comes from “innovate” but also refers to the i8510’s highly advanced 8 megapixel camera. Its name might also be connected to the fact that this ultimate entertainment mobile phone is Samsung’s eighth mobile phone based on Symbian OS, the global market-leading open mobile operating system for mobile phones.

The 8 megapixel camera packed in this next-generation mobile phone is quite capable of replacing your digicam, featuring amazing capabilities such as: autofocus and a dual LED flash, plus an image stabiliser, panoramic stitching, face detection and a number of other clever features lifted straight out of Samsung’s dedicated digital camera range. The handset also acts as a digital photo frame, allowing users to display their favorite images.

The multimedia player in the Innov8 / GT-i8510 is, again, impressive, supporting DivX, WMV, MP3, H.263 and H.264 video plus MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, AMR and RealAudio formats. The Innov8 is capable of recording VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second, or QVGA resolution at 120 frames per second and boasts built-in video editing and an FM radio with RDS, plus stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio output socket. The Innov8 also has stereo speakers and surround sound.

The Samsung Innov8 supports Advanced GPS (A-GPS) and should work with Google Maps applications. The GPS automatically geotags pictures taken with the digital camera. The built-in accelerometer can automatically switch the Innov8’s display orientation, which can be useful if you want to use the Innov8 on as a digital photo frame.

Internal memory is either 8GB or 16GB (depending on version), and can also be extended by up to 16GB using a compatible microSD card. While most of the competition offers either lots of internal memory or a memory slot, the Samsung Innov8 comes with both.

This sleek slider handset sports a large crystal clear 2.8 inch LCD QVGA display, one of the largest in its class, and is the same size as the N95 8GB and N96, being capable of showing 16 million colors, thus offering a convenient environment when viewing content on the Internet or maps on the GPS navigation feature.

Also ideal for enthusiastic gamers, the Innov8 also comes packed with two interesting looking 3D games, FIFA 2008 and Asphalt. There are also numerous Symbian applications around so that you can extent the Innov8’s capabilities as you wish.

Besides all the above mentioned features, which are more than impressive, the i8510 is a dual-band 900/2100 UMTS/HSDPA device with quand-band GSM, EDGE and GPRS data. It supports WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0 connections. The large 1200 mAh battery can power the Samsung Innov8 for up to 5 hours talktime on 3G, 8.5 hours on GSM with around 13-14 days standby time. It’s quite a large device at 107 x 54 x 17.2mm.

The Innov8 / i8510 is going to be launched in Europe in August, and then expanded to other markets worlwide during September. No pricing was specified but we would expect it to cost roughly the same as the Nokia N96 at launch, so expect to pay something in the region of £600 / €750 / $1000 or so for a SIM free model.

Made of brushed anodized titanium and offset by a black trim, The Jabra JX20 Pura breaks down the barriers between technology and luxury. The elegant Bluetooth headset features a rotating earpiece, up to six hours of talk time, one-touch controls, USB charging and support for Bluetooth 2.0. Another notable feature of this stylish accesory is an innovative moving mechanics, such as an intuitive on-off switch.

The Jabra JX20 Pura weighs less than half-an-ounce and was designed by a Danish designer. It makes use of digital sound processing and intelligent volume control to offer what is described as better sound.

The Jabra JX20 Pura is available now and is priced around $150.

Jabra’s award-winning headset range features cordless and corded models for every kind of mobile lifestyle. Jabra products have become some of the most popular in the industry including the world’s best selling Bluetooth headsets, the Jabra BT200, the Jabra BT250 and the Jabra BT250v.

Jabra products have consistently received numerous product and design awards including the CES Innovation, iF product design, Red Dot Mobile Choice Best Accessory, T3 Gold, and CNET Editor’s Choice.

In this week’s Nature Photonics, researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington report a new display technology called “telescopic pixel” that transmits 36 percent of backlight radiation.

Pixel response time, another very important benchmark in displays, is also improved. While LCDs typically range in the 2-10 ms spectrum, Telescopic Pixel technology has already achieved times as fast as 0.625 ms. These response times may also be fast enough to allow sequential color processing where colors are displayed as rapid pulses of red, blue, and green from each pixel, streamlining fabrication and device design. Also, the intensity of each pixel can be smoothly varied from zero to one hundred percent for more realistic gray scales and color shades.

To elucidate, the researchers explain the whole process as follows:

“Each pixel consists of two opposing mirrors where the primary mirror can change shape under an applied voltage. When the pixel is off, the primary and secondary mirrors are parallel and reflect all of the incoming light back into the light source. When the pixel is on, the primary mirror deforms into a parabolic shape that focuses light onto the secondary mirror. The secondary mirror then reflects the light through a hole in the primary mirror and onto the display screen.

Each pixel is produced in two halves by standard photolithography and etch techniques. The secondary mirror is simply a lithographically patterned array of aluminum islands on glass, but making the primary mirror is a bit more complicated. First, an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode is deposited on a glass substrate and coated with polyimide. The polyimide acts as a support and electrical insulator for the primary mirror. Aluminum is then sputtered onto the polyimide and photolithography is used to pattern 20

Last week China Radio International provided some interesting pieces of information regarding this October’s projected Shenzhou 7 mission. Shenzhou 7 is China’s third human-carrying space trek and will make history by carrying out China’s first spacewalk.

The final crew might be a combination of primes and back-ups. Thus, six taikonauts have been divided into two groups, one group of three will fly the mission, and the other three will be the backup team.

Shenzhou 7 will orbit the Earth for five days, with a one-hour long spacewalk to take place during the flight, as well as the launching of a small satellite. Also, during the trip, the taikonauts will do experiments using new satellite communications technologies.

The spacecraft has been transported to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Technicians there are busily checking and double-checking the readiness of the craft. Experts have worked out more than 30 emergency plans to ensure the safety of the astronauts.

Regarding the spacewalk, the Shenzhou 7 has been outfitted with two air-lock doors in a special module imbedded between the craft’s return module and its orbital module. According to the radio report, the taikonauts will seal the first door and discharge air pressure in the orbital module. When the air pressure inside and outside that module matches, then the spacewalk can proceed. A reverse procedure will permit a spacewalker to reenter the module.

Chinese space engineers have readied two kinds of spacesuits for the spacewalk. One design is claimed to be locally produced and use China’s own technologies. The other was purchased from Russia and strongly resembles Russian Orlan spacesuits. But the final suit choice will be made by the space program officials as the Shenzhou 7 mission draws closer.

The radio report explained that the upcoming mission will be the first flight of a second phase human space program. The next step for China’s space planners is establishing a space station.

The Xinhua news agency in China reported July 19 that the Long March 2F rocket to be used in the Shenzhou 7 sendoff will be sent to the launch center in a few days. An official with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) said that the group of 200 launch team members are dedicated to having a safe and successful launch of the Shenzhou 7.

Ineos’ new technology will produce bioethanol in large quantities from municipal solid waste, organic commercial waste and agricultural residues amongst other things.

According to Peter Williams, Ineos Bio CEO, “In North America and Europe we will see around 10% or more of petrol (gasoline) being replaced with bioethanol. Our technology will make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and the world’s need for fossil fuels.”

Ineos Bio Ethanol releases up to 90% less net greenhouse gases than petrol (gasoline). One tonne of dry waste can be converted into about 400 litres (100 gallons) of ethanol, which can either be blended with traditional fuels or replace them altogether, to substantially reduce vehicle emissions.

The technology - already proven at pilot plant scale - uses a simple three-stage process. The waste is first superheated to produce gases. Then, through a patented process, the gases are fed to naturally occurring bacteria, which efficiently produce ethanol. Finally, the ethanol is purified to make the fuel ready to be blended for use in cars.

Ineos plans to sell the environmental product in industrial quantities by the end of 2010. Peter Williams, the chief executive of Ineos Bio, said: “This should mean that, unlike with other biofuels, we won’t have to make the choice between food and fuel.”

The bioethanol that Ineos produces will have to be combined with a fossil fuel, however, because very few cars in Britain can run solely on bioethanol. The company expects at least 10 per cent of North America and Europe’s petrol use to be replaced with bioethanol, because it released up to 90 per cent less greenhouse gases than petrol.

Upon graduating in 1946 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) with a bachelor’s degree, Stephanie Kwolek went to work as a chemist at the DuPont Company. Her research with high performance chemical compounds for the DuPont Company led to the development of a synthetic material called Kevlar which is five times stronger than the same weight of steel. Kevlar, patented by Kwolek in 1966, does not rust nor corrode and is extremely lightweight. Many police officers owe their lives to Stephanie Kwolek, for Kevlar is the material used in bullet proof vests. Other applications of the compound include underwater cables, brake linings, space vehicles, boats, parachutes, skis, and building materials.

Today, there are three grades of Kevlar available: Kevlar 29, Kevlar 49, and Kevlar 149. If you purchase Kevlar cloth, it is most likely Kevlar 49.

Now researchers at University of South Dakota plan to add germ-fighting to the long list of Kevlar’s features. Yuyu Sun and Jie Luo have developed a new method to coat Kevlar with a substance called acyclic N-Halamine. They tested it against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida tropicalis (a fungus), MS2 virus, and Bacillus subtilis spores (to mimic anthrax).

After a short time, large amounts of microorganisms stuck to untreated fabric samples, but the coated fabrics showed little to no adherence of the infectious agents. The coating is long-lasting and can be reactivated if needed, the scientist will report in the Aug. 6 issue of the American Chemical Society’s journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

“The resultant fabric materials provided potent, durable, and rechargeable biocidal activities,” the researchers write. “The excellent thermal and mechanical properties of the original Kevlar fabrics were successfully retained after the coating treatment.”

The PMAA-based coating, as it’s called, is said to have antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antispore functions.

“Although more studies are needed to further evaluate the effectiveness of the coated Kevlar fabrics,” the researchers write, “these findings point to the great potential of the PMAA-based coating approach for a broad range of real applications.”

Not to be confused with the first-generation Nokia 6220, the Nokia 6220 Classic is a 3G smartphone that combines all the “must-have” features of a last-generation device: a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and xenon flash, which produces crisp, radiant images with deep blues in sunlight and relatively natural colours in low-light with flash, assisted-GPS, HSDPA, and room for a microSD memory card, all packed within an ergonomic candybar form. Connectivity options range from Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 and HSDPA.

Nokia 6220 Classic’s 2.2-inch QVGA 16 million colour screen complements the quality of the photos. To save your photos (and multimedia), the Nokia 6220 Classic includes 120MB of internal memory, which can be boosted to up to 8GB using a microSD memory card. Using HSDPA, the Nokia 6220 Classic can achieve download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps

The Nokia 6220 Classic also comes bundled with a hands-free headset, a USB cable and TV-out cable.

Despite all these goodies, the Nokia 6220 Classic is remarkably svelte, weighing in at a comfortable 90 g and measuring 108 x 47 x 15 mm. According to Nokia, talk-time is 2.5 hours (with 3G) and standby 250 hours.

In conclusion, the Nokia 6220 Classic might be considered a conservative, but highly-functional smartphone.

The 6220 Classic will be available soon from several major networks including 3 for free on a monthly contract.

This HandyDrive comes with a new password lock tool option which will surely secure your classified data and prevent unauthorized access. As for power consumption this external drive is said to reduce it by 35% in standby mode. If you need data transfer speeds, the HandyDrive has a maximum of 60MB per second and it comes with an 8MB read/write buffer.

The HandyDrive’s integrated, bus-powered USB 2.0 interface freely permits the drive’s connection and disconnection during computer operations. A notebook PC can lend the device the necessary power without external resources required. Primarily for mobile use, Fujitsu’s new external HandyDrive can be utilized as an ideal storage extension for desktop PCs.

Fujitsu’s 500GB HandyDrive was introduced by Georg Dietsch, Director of Fujitsu Storage Products Group in EMEA, who states: “With this 4th generation of external drives and our company’s special know-how gained through more than 40 years experience in hard disk drive design and manufacturing, Fujitsu is committed to provide ideal solutions for the expanding mobile storage market and users looking for portable HDD devices with higher capacities, compact designs, and advanced data security features.”

The HandyDrive measures in at 142 x 82 x 22mm, weighs only 220 grams, and in case you drop it, its internal shock endurance mechanism might save its life.

You can choose between various capacities. Also available in capacities of 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 400GB, the bus-powered 500GB device will be available to buy from the end of July, with a recommended retail price of around 229 euros ($364).