The WakeMate, a sensor-laden wristband packaged with sleep analysis software, determines the optimal wake-up point in your REM cycle and adjusts your alarm for that moment. It also lets you say you really use your iPhone 24/7.

One of the fundamental reasons we love gadgets is because they help us do things better and smarter while we go about our days. But there are considerably fewer gadgets that help us go about our nights. Sure, there are some, but by and large the activity of sleeping is one that is untouched by technology and thus unoptimized. Enter WakeMate.

The WakeMate wristband uses Actigraphy to monitor your sleep cycles and pinpoints the precise moment when you should wake up, in a twenty minute window set to your specifications. (Otherwise, my "optimal wake up time" would be sometime around noon, seven days a week.)

But that's only half of it. The WakeMate collects your nightly sleep data and over time develops a detailed analysis of your sleep schedule.

Though I'm not sure I need quantify things with a "sleep score"—Sleep? That's where I'm a viking—it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of sleeping smarter with the help of gadgets like WakeMate. The WakeMate is set to ship by the end of the month and is available for preorder now. [WakeMate Thanks Mikey!]

The military have their own version of the old green laser pointer prank, one that can blind people 2.5 miles away (even if, at that distance, the blinding is temporary). They use it to hail-and-warn enemies trying to advance.

The weapon—which is technically a "long-range visual deterrent laser device for hail-and-warning applications"—is called the Glare LA-9/P, and it's quite dangerous, even while it has a security system to avoid eye damage. That's something that didn't stop it from blinding dozens of soldier during the current Iraq war, exposed to friendly dazzling. [BE Meyers via Danger Room]

The DECE, or Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, is made up of movie studios and tech companies, and is trying to create a way to effectively charge for digital movies. They revealed some future plans today, and they're, um, interesting.

The idea is that when you buy a movie, your rights are digitally stored in a "rights locker," which should theoretically allow you to play your purchased movie on any hardware that supports the DECE standard. Considering that Sony, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Best Buy, Nokia, Toshiba, HP and Motorola—but not Disney or Apple—are all on board (and today they added several new members), that could mean a wide range of devices, from set-top boxes to TVs to mobiles—but not iPhones.

There are a bunch of issues with that idea. First, if given the choice, far more people are going to rent a movie than buy one. Movies are different than music, you guys; you rarely re-watch movies, and the DECE proposal has no room for renting. Second, they're trying to make our lives easier, but since this standard is unlikely to be adopted in full force immediately, that means lots more problems: Where do you get these particular movies, without one retailer like Amazon or iTunes? On which devices can you play them? Do you have to pick a hotel based on whether it supports DECE, so you can watch Fantastic Mr. Fox again? Do you have to replace all your current equipment?

And, of course, any solution that's harder to use than what's freely available is not likely to stick around. Ripping a DVD (or Blu-ray) is easy, and you can use the file anywhere—why go to this complicated, proprietary version?

We'll reserve full judgment until we see exactly what DECE has planned (possibly at CES this week). But for now—just rip your own Blu-rays. Here's how. [NYTimes]

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Announces Key Milestones

21 New Members Join Cross-Industry Coalition to Make "Buy Once, Play Anywhere" a Reality for Consumers

LOS ANGELES —(Business Wire)— Jan 04, 2010 Today the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC (DECE LLC), http://www.decellc.com, a coalition with support from every industry involved in digital entertainment, announced it has reached key milestones toward establishing the first open market for digital content distribution. In addition, DECE announced that 21 companies have joined the group which now includes 48 members across entertainment, software, hardware, retail, infrastructure and delivery.

The milestones announced today include:

Agreement on a Common File Format, an open specification for digital entertainment, that will be used by all participating content providers, services and device manufacturers
Vendor selection for and role of the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment
Approval of five Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions that will be DECE-compatible
Full technical specifications will be available in the first half of 2010.

Common File Format

DECE has agreed on a Common File Format, an industry first in digital distribution. An open specification for digital entertainment, like DVD or Blu-ray, the Common File Format may be licensed by any company to create a DECE consumer offering. Since this format will play on any service or device built to DECE specifications – whether via Internet, Mobile, Cable or IPTV, etc. – it will make "Buy Once, Play Anywhere" a reality.

The Common File Format optimizes the digital entertainment supply chain, benefiting content providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and retailers. Content providers only need to encode and encrypt one file type in portable, standard definition and high definition for multiple vendors. CDNs will not have to store different file types to accommodate retailers' varying needs. Retailers can efficiently deliver content to devices from different manufacturers.

Digital Rights Locker

DECE has selected Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR) as the vendor for the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment. It will authenticate rights to view content from multiple services, with multiple devices as well as manage content and registration of devices in consumer accounts. DECE will provide an open Application Programming Interface (API) that allows any Web-enabled storefront, service or device to integrate access to the Digital Rights Locker into its own consumer offering.

Approved DRMs

DECE has approved five DRMs that will be compatible with the Common File Format – Adobe® Flash® Access, CMLA-OMA V2, The Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady® and Widevine®. Compatibility with multiple DRMs will ensure that content can be played back via streaming or download on a wide variety of services and devices.

New Members

In 2009, 21 companies joined DECE, including: Adobe, Ascent Media Group, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cox Communications, DivX, DTS, Extend Media, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Motorola, Nagravision, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Rovi, Secure Path, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson and Zoran. These companies join DECE's original members which include world leaders across a wide range of industries.

"The digital entertainment marketplace is on the cusp of a new era of rapid growth," said Mitch Singer, President of DECE. "The key to unlocking this potential is giving consumers the 'Buy Once, Play Anywhere' experience they want. That's the goal of DECE and one we're making rapid progress toward today."

About Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC is a cross-industry initiative developing the next generation digital media experience based on open, licensable specifications and designed to create a viable, global digital marketplace. The DECE is currently made up of Adobe, Alcatel-Lucent, Ascent Media Group, Best Buy, Blueprint Digital, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cisco, Comcast, Cox Communications, Deluxe Digital, DivX, Dolby Laboratorie, DTS, Extend Media, Fox Entertainment Group, HP, Intel, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Lionsgate, Microsoft, MOD Systems, Motorola, Movie Labs, Nagravision, NBC Universal, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Panasonic, Paramount Pictures, Philips, RIAA, Rovi, Roxio CinemaNow, Samsung Electronics, Secure Path, Sony, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson, Toshiba, Verimatrix, VeriSign, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Widevine Technologies Inc. and Zoran. This new digital media specification and logo program will enable consumers to purchase digital video content from a choice of online retailers and play it on a variety of devices and platforms from different manufacturers.

Take Syabas' Popcorn Hour C-200, the much-loved streamer of choice for AV nerds. Now make it smaller, add Netflix support and a far superior interface, and cut the price from $300 to $130. That's the Popbox.

The Popbox isn't a replacement of the Popcorn Hour, which remains on as a giant hackable tank of a machine, but it does look fully ready for mainstream adoption. Here's why: Syabas expects to slash the price down to a mere $130, yet it keeps the Popcorn's stellar codec support and a lot of the online channels the Popcorn was missing, like Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, MLB, and a whole bunch more. (It does lose some things, like the internal hard drive bay and Bittorrent support, but it's still all open-source so you can install games, apps, or whatever fun stuff the homebrew community can think up). Plus, Syabas's interface (which Wilson, in his streamer roundup, described as "lame") has been totally revamped, and actually looks, well, kind of awesome. It's got great little touches like animated weather and automatic IMDb and AllMusic lookup for movie, TV and music info.

The hardware's been significantly revamped, too—it's much smaller than the admitted beast that is the Popcorn Hour, and it's fanless (AKA silent), but it'll still pump out full 1080p video over HDMI. It's also got 2 USB ports and an SD slot for added storage, since you lose the hard drive bay the Popcorn Hour has. It remains to be seen whether Syabas has fixed the problems users found with the Popcorn Hour's remote control, but we'll find that out soon enough.

It's set to be unveiled on January 5th at CES, where we'll stop in and get some photos and impressions—but I'm really excited for it already. We'll find out release date there, but they seem locked in on the $130 price point, which is super reasonable—Roku, Asus and the rest should be very scared right now. [Syabas]

Update: Due to a typo in my notes, you may have seen an early version of this story as saying the projected price will be $100. Syabas actually expects the final price to be $130, and I need to practice my typing. Sorry for the confusion.

Freescsale, supplier of the chip that powers the Kindle as well as about 70% of the ebook market, has just developed a 7-inch tablet reference design that will basically be the genesis of many tablets starting 2010. And it's $199.

Now, to be fair, those two figures are a bit preliminary. The $199 figure is the one quoted by Freescale, not the final price that OEM companies that will buy this design from Freescale and put their own spin and customization on it will charge. And, although Freescale says this tablet design will allow companies to bring the tablet to market in as low as 6 months, customizations (hardware or software) and bug killing will undoubtedly inflate that.

Even if only on paper, this Freescale reference design is pretty damn promising. It's powered by a netbook-esque ARM processor, a 7-inch touchscreen (resistive, unfortunately, to keep the design under $200—you'd go up to $250 if any OEM put a capacitive touchscreen on there), 512MB RAM, 4-64GB internal storage, removable microSD slot, an optional 3G modem, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, USB, audio ports, SIM card, speaker, microphone, 3-megapixel webcam, 1900 mAh battery, accelerometer and light sensor. Whether or not including all these options in a build will result in a machine that's less than $200 is unclear, so there might be some sacrifices that need to be made.

As for the OS, it's primarily browser based, but the root of it is a customized Debian Linux build, so you could theoretically go and install Linux applications onto it. But, as a tablet, people are mostly going to be consuming media, so going with a browser, like the JooJoo did, makes sense. Freescale did come up with an interesting $50 keyboard docking station addon that you can keep at home and use as an input device if you actually need to do some typing, so it's kind of the best of both worlds.

The bottom line is that Freescale has made a pretty enticing design, and if a decent enough OEM picks it up and gets it to market at under $200, it could be the start if a very interesting computing category—one that's a step higher than smartphones but a step lower than netbooks.

Somewhere between the buttoned-up utility of the ThinkPad and the sleek efficiency of the IdeaPad sits an untapped sweet spot for affordable, entry-level notebooks. At least, that's clearly what Lenovo is banking on with their new ThinkPad Edge series.

The ThinkPad Edge purports to be targeted towards small and medium-sized businesses, but it's just as easy to say that it's equally unfit for both casual users and serious professionals. While it's a perfectly capable machine in most respects and a decent buy for the money, it often feels like a compromise to an argument no one was having.

Price and Configuration

The system we tested was loaded up with a 1.3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 ULV processor and Intel GS45 chipset, and 4GB (2x2GB) of DDR3 RAM (1066MHz). You can also customize up to 500 GB of HDD storage. That set-up will run you $899, while the $549 base model ships with either AMD's Turion (clocked at 1.6GHz) or Althon (1.5 GHz) dual core processor, 4GB (2x2GB) of DDR2 RAM (667MHz), and a 160GB HDD.

Design

The mash-up is clear the instant you unbox the Edge. The rounded corners and glossy black finish are reminiscent of the IdeaPad, but when combined with the ThinkPad-like flat display back, the 13.3" model I reviewed (14" and 15" models will be available in the spring) brings to mind a futuristic cafeteria tray.

The reflective gloss is also a fingerprint trap, so expect a lot of smudges unless you're prepared to give your notebook regular wipe-downs.

The 13.3", 720p (1366x768) screen offers better sharpness than you might expect from an entry-level rig. There's no latch to keep it closed, but it opens easily on its hinges. And my god is this thing flexible: I'm not sure why you'd ever want it to, but the display can recline over 180 degrees.

Like the rest of the ThinkPad line, the Edge comes equipped with both a trackpad and a TrackPoint nub. The trackpad's multitouch capabilities are appreciated, but its narrowness and frenetic responses definitely aren't. As for the nub, I've never been a big fan, but it's integrated well with the keyboard and works just dandy, if you're into that kind of thing.

Speaking of that keyboard: the island style that Lenovo has moved to for the Edge is a welcome design improvement over previous ThinkPad models. It's less industrial, more welcoming. The keys are raised and have some spring to them, and while they feel a bit blocky at times it's overall a smooth typing experience.

The Edge also has the distinction of being a thin and light notebook that's not that thin (one inch, although the 6-cell battery in our test model adds another .5 inches in the rear) and not that light (3.6 lbs. with a 4-cell battery and about 4 lbs. with the 6-cell). But it's still portable enough that it wouldn't be cumbersome to take on all of those small and medium-sized business trips.

The ports are distributed along the sides, as on the IdeaPad, and it's a decent array: three USB ports, VGA out, HDMI, and a multi-card reader to go along with your standard ethernet, microphone, and speaker jacks. Conspicuously absent is a DVD drive.

The Edge's solution to potential design blemishes like speakers and the battery appears to be to sweep them under the rug. The speakers are placed on the notebook's underside, and offer decent—though at times tinny—sound quality. I actually love the battery solution: its placement underneath the rear of the computer creates a natural keyboard incline.

Performance

This isn't a computer you're going to want to do intensive gaming on (thanks largely to the integrated graphics), but then again it's not supposed to be. To its credit, the Edge does handle streaming HD videos without a hitch for when you need a Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody fix at the office.

As far as benchmarks, the Edge falls where you'd expect it to: somewhere between the IdeaPad U350 and the ThinkPad T400. A more appropriate comparison would be another 13" thin-and-light like the Asus UL30A, and our GeekBench testing indicates that the two are pretty evenly matched.

Bottom line, you're not going to want to do much more with the ThinkPad Edge than get on the internet, send some emails, and bang out a few Excel spreadsheets. And that's what it's designed to do. Then again, so are netbooks.

Battery Life

Here's where the Edge really delivers. Lenovo claims that the six-cell Intel model gets an impressive 7.8 hours of battery life. I tested our system with higher performance settings, medium screen brightness, Bluetooth off, and a page automatically reloading every 30 seconds on Firefox to simulate active web browsing.

Total Run Time: 5 hours, 20 minutes

And that obviously can be further improved by settling for lower performance/higher battery life settings.

The Reason of Edge?

So what has Lenovo introduced to the world? A lot of not quite. It's a thin-and-light that's not quite either. It's a notebook that's not quite powerful enough for heavy lifting and not quite affordable enough for casual use. It has a contemporary design that's not quite, well, smudge-proof. And for all it does right, this new ThinkPad still strikes me as a computer with a target audience that's not quite identifiable.

At its introductory price point, the Edge sounds like a competitive machine, but remember that you're also losing most of the things that distinguish it in the first place-the ULV Intel processor and the 6-cell battery, in particular. Honestly, if you're in the market for a new notebook, there's a good chance Lenovo already has something that fits exactly what you're looking for. And that it's called either IdeaPad or ThinkPad.

Solid battery life

Good number of ports

Island-style keyboard is a welcome improvement

Glossy top is a smudge-magnet

Frenetic track-pad

Who is this really for?

The compact Samsung NX10 is official this evening, with many if not all of the features we saw leaked in December making the final cut in time for some hands-on time at CES.

If you missed the fanfare in December, here's a recap:

Samsung's goal with the NX series was to introduce a DSLR-sized sensor, in this case APS-C, that's actually a bit larger than the one found in Micro Four Thirds. Then they went and put that sensor in a mirror-less, interchangeable lens body that's smaller than a traditional DSLR, and... If this is giving anyone déjà vu, it's probably because this is the same idea behind the aforementioned Micro Four Thirds camera format.

Also making it into the final body are 720p HD video functionality (H.264 codec) and a 3.0-inch AMOLED viewscreen in the rear:

Samsung, by way of a press release sent to Gizmodo, claimed the AMOLED screen has a response rate that's 10,000 times faster than a conventional LCD. All this with a promised lower power consumption and higher contrast ratio at 10,000:1.

A few more of the specs, provided by Samsung:

View Finder - Electronic viewfinder
Movie - 720p HD (MP4. H.264)
Size & Weight - 4.8" x 3.4" x 1.6" (excluding the projecting parts of the camera) .78 lbs (without battery and card)
ISO - 100 - 3200
Flash - Built-in Pop-up Flash
OIS - Lens Shift
Dust reduction - Supersonic Type
Special Features - APS-C sized image sensor, 3.0" AMOLED, Smart Range, HDMI (Anynet +), Fast &, Decisive Contrast AF, New DRIMe II Pro engine and advanced AF algorithm
Availability - Spring 2010

The body comes in black and also Titan Silver, a color we didn't know about before. Maybe the new color will make Matt change his mind about the looks. Probably not.

Maybe the little guy is safe. Maybe he went...around back? In any event, this senseless celestial murder was captured by SOHO today. The dirty deed gets done toward the end, coming from left to right. [Tom's Astronomy Blog]