Archive for March 9th, 2010

Invisible Fence, Inc. develops pet training products that trains your animals with small electronic shocks.  Today, the company passed it’s latest innovation, the Outdoor Shield Plus, through the FCC.

The Outdoor Shield Plus looks like a rock, but the device actually hides a transmitter that will trigger a shock in Invisible Fence’s Computer Collars.  Users place the Computer Collar around their pet’s neck and place Outdoor Shield Plus transmitters around their yard to create an invisible electronic border that their dog won’t be able to cross without getting a shock.

Unlike other shock systems that are buried under the ground, the Outdoor Shield Plus creates a shocking radius that extends up to 5 feet.  This is ideal if you want to keep your pet out of specific areas.

Sure, it does seem somewhat cruel train your pet with electricity, but the Outdoor Shield Plus may help to keep your dog out of hazardous areas – potentially saving your pet’s life.

Marantz, maker of high-end audio products, passed a new version of their IS301 wireless iPod dock through the FCC today.  The Bluetooth-powered system includes a Bluetooth receiver that connects to an AV system via component, composite or S-Video cables.  iPod/iPhones can then be placed in the wired dock, below left, or connected wirelessly through Marantz’s wireless transmitter (below, right).  Users can also connect directly to the IS301 receiver via Bluetooth with any A2DP compliant device.

When connected through the wired dock, the IS301 system can output video.  However, only audio output is available when devices are connected wirelessly.

We like the appearance of the sleek, brushed aluminum receiver.  The wireless transmitter is also a plus for users of iPods that lack Bluetooth.

However, the IS301 system sells for a pricey $250 – not cheap considering all the wireless iPod options available today.

Office headsets are usually painfully boring bricks of black plastic, but Sennheiser doesn’t think that needs to be the case.  The company’s DW Office headset features a unique, cube-on-edge look that’s bound to be at least an aesthetic upgrade over your current headset.

The DW Office works with both landlines and PC phones, and features a 180 meter range, up to 12 hours of talk time, and a noise cancelling microphone.  When charging, the DW Office headset sits elegantly atop the DW Office base, and full charges are completed in about an hour.  The device also integrates with HeadSetup software that allows users to control the DW Office from a PC.

It’s nice to see Sennheiser’s work on the design end with the DW Office, particularly since office electronics are usually so utilitarian.  The DW Office system will run you about $390, and can be purchased online here.

Last month we spotted a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 with an Intel WiMAX card, and today a Lenovo U150 showed up on the FCC with Intel WiMAX goodness.  According to label photos, the U150 will rock an Intel WiMAX/WiFi Link 5150 card, enabling 802.11 b/g/n along with WiMAX.

Over the past two years WiMAX coverage in the US has slowly improved.  And things are only getting better – last month we learned that Sprint will finally be brining WiMAX to Silicon Valley.  These new WiMAX deployments and WiMAX enabled computers like the Lenovo U150 will hopefully drive expansions in WiMAX coverage.

No word if the Lenovo U150 will be subsidized by a WiMAX carrier, but ideally a carrier will knock a couple hundred bucks off the U150’s price in exchange for a service contract.