MINT WIRELESS, AN AUSTRALIAN COMPANY, will be bringing onto market next month the world’s smallest digital projector.

Ideal for traveling lecturers and instructors, this pocket-sized projector gives you the ability to present slideshows anywhere.  Even though it’s a mere 5″ x 2½” x 1″, it has a decent 640 x 480 resolution in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

The rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery will power the device for about an hour and the LED lamp is supposed to have a 20,000-hour lifespan.  You can either load up your program on the 1gb internal memory or insert an SD card to play off of.

The initial selling price will be the equivalent of US $603 and will only be available at first in Australia.  But you can bet that it won’t be long before it becomes sold in North America along with some competitors.  Watch your Best Buy ads come November.

You can read more about it HERE.

AFTER 17 MONTHS OF REGULATORY HURDLES and lobbying, the long-awaited merger of the Sirius and XM satellite radio services was completed yesterday (Tuesday).  The new company is named “Sirius XM Radio.”

While this may be the only chance for the satellite radio format to survive and offer millions of dollars in savings, the new, combined stock immediately dropped yesterday when it was disclosed that the new corporation is starting out with $3 billion in debt.

The merger was in actuality an acquisition of XM by Sirius.  The history of large losses combined with a slowing of signing up new subscribers has left investors wary.  One of the concessions given before FCC approval was recieved is to offer an a la carte mode of subscribing that allows customers to chose which stations they want to pay for and receive.  So this may, with good publicity and advertising, encourage a wave of new subscribers to sign up.

Reuters has an analysis of the merger HERE.

LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON, THE FCC GAVE FORMAL APPROVAL to the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Getty Images

It has been 16 months since they first made application for the merger, saying that without it they would both go under.  At the last minute, several Congressmen were pressuring the FCC to add on a lot of restrictions and conditions (that Firegeezer believes were designed to hasten the companies’ demise), but they were largely left off the final proposal.

One that was left in the final approval is the requirement to allow any manufacturer to make a receiver that will capture and play satellite signals.

When Firegeezer gets back to quarters we’ll have a more complete report.  Meanwhile you can read the early release on the approval from Business Week HERE.

HERE’S A HANDY GADGET THAT WILL NO DOUBT become a popular accessory for frequent travelers.

It’s the Juicebar Cell Phone Charger:

This nifty gadget is a disposable battery that will charge your cell phone when you go “dead” someplace where you can’t plug in and recharge.

It will charge your phone’s battery to provide up to 1 hour of talk time or 8 hours of standby.  All you do is plug it into your phone just like any other charger and it goes from there.

The Juicebar is about the same size and thickness of a cardboard bar coaster and it has a shelf life of 5 years.  So you can buy one ahead of need and keep it as an emergency power source.

Unfortunately they are only available in the UK so far.  But a gadget this practical is bound to start showing up here sooner rather than later.  They are currently selling for approx. $6 each.

AS SOON AS THE POLICE STARTED USING RADAR devices to clock drivers’ speed, the techno-whiz folks came out with the radar detector that gives you fair warning that a signal is coming your way.

The latest fund-raising gimmick that some cities are using is the red-light camera.  These gadgets loaned out to Big Brother take a photo of a car that might be in an intersection when the light turns red and then City Hall mails out a ticket to whoever owns the car.  These cameras have been adapted recently to also clock a car’s speed through a trap.

Now COBRA, a leading manufacturer of radar detectors, has come out with a red-light-camera detector.  It will also spot the speed cameras.

If you already have a COBRA device, the camera detector can be purchased as an add-on that plugs into the radar detector.  Currently it sells for $129.  It’ll probably get cheaper after all the first-on-the-block guys have bought theirs.

Popular Mechanics has tested the device and they have the results posted on their website HERE.  But they don’t explain why some people feel the need to spend up to $400 just to be reminded to obey the traffic laws.

IF YOU (OR SOMEBODY YOU KNOW) IS ONE OF THOSE COMPULSIVE time seekers, always wondering what time it is, then you need to log onto the INDUSTRIOUS CLOCK and set it in your Task Bar.  You’ll never need to ask again.

So if you’ve got the er, time, log on HERE and get started now.
Note:  It gets really exciting on the last day of the month.

HERE IT IS:  EVEN IF YOU DON’T NEED ONE, YOU JUST GOTTA HAVE ONE.

It’s the 2Gb DVR Camcorder Pen Recorder.  The first mini-recorder in the world that is both a camcorder and a recorder…. in the shape of a pen that really writes.

It features one-touch digital video recording and with the 4Gb upgrade you can store 30 hrs of video or audio on the built-in flash drive.  To view the video you just plug the pen into your USB socket and watch just like any other flash drive.  The smooth-writing pen holds standard ink refills.

The price of this beauty has just been reduced from $360 down to $200.  With savings like that, you can’t pass up this great opportunity!  Add some fun to your committee meetings!  Shop Stewards …… don’t go into an administative hearing without one!

Order yours today by clicking HERE.

WHEN MOZILLA CHOSE TUESDAY AS THE RELEASE DATE for it’s widely-anticipated Firefox 3 browser, they also announced that in cooperation with Guinness Book of Records they wanted to set a benchmark for the largest number of internet downloads in 24 hours.

Since this will be a new category, whatever they get will be a record.  But their hope was to achieve 5 million downloads on that first day.  The official results won’t be available for several days yet, though.  Firefox 2 downloaded 1.6 million on its launch day, but that number will be shattered with this one.  Currently there are approx. 171 million users of Firefox already.

There was a hiccup when the download period first started because so many people logged on that Mozilla’s servers became overloaded and stalled.  In about an hour they had things running smoothly again.  Their dream of reaching 5 million downloads was actually met in just 14 hours.  Now they are optimistic that they can get 7 or 8 million downloaded.

Because of the initial server problem, Guinness allowed the official “start time” to be moved back one hour.  If Firegeezer’s brain is functioning properly today, then the 24-hour window will close at 3 pm Eastern Daylight time today (Wednesday).

The major upgrade from Firefox 2 will make this a popular browser and Mozilla expects to finally challenge Microsoft’s Explorer for browser supremacy.

For a brief review of a few of Firefox 3’s new features, read this InternetNews REPORT.

Update, 5:30 pm EDT:
The unverified results are in.  There were more than 8.3 million downloads during the first 24 hrs.  The official cut-off for the time was 2:16 pm Eastern time.

The download rate peaked at 14,000 per minute Tuesday afternoon, but was still clocking along well at closing time with 6,000 per minute being sent out.  People with broadband connections are getting the full download in about 5 seconds and taking about 1 minute to install the browser.

Mozilla graphic

Early report from cnet news HERE.