I wouldn’t be surprised if keys are completely replaced by wireless locks within the next ten years.  Take for example Marquardt’s Mercedes Benz BR166 key, pictured above.

The BR166 communicates wirelessly with your Benz to allow you to open your car door and even start your car without removing the key from your pocket.  The device can detect the distance between the key and the car, and whether the key is inside or outside of your car, so potential thieves can’t just enter your car and start the engine as you’re walking away.  All communication between the BR166 and your Benz is encrypted as well, so your key won’t be able to be duplicated by intercepting wireless signals.

Overall, very cool stuff.  Obviously a Benz will cost  you more than a typical car, but we’ve seen a growing number of these wireless keys over the past few months and wouldn’t be surprised if they become standard features within a decade or so.

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.

Bluetooth headsets can be uncomfortable, difficult to use and unsightly.  SiZEN Corporation hopes to solve those shortcomings with the Slim speaker BT Cap – a baseball-style cap with an integrated Bluetooth receiver, mic, speaker and headset.

The cap relies on a tiny ‘brainbox’ that hides under the material in the cap’s front.  The brainbox receives Bluetooth signals, and can pipe audio to a slim speaker that is hidden in the bill of the cap, or a 3.5mm headphone connector.  Call and music control buttons are also placed on the cap’s bill, enabling users to easily manage calls or music playback.

While the Slim speaker BT Cap will place you in the upper echelon of geekdom, it does offer a number of benefits over the traditional Bluetooth headset.  Sure, you can’t wear a cap everywhere, but we love the idea of having a Bluetooth speaker in the bill of our caps while walking or biking.

Spring Design made quite a splash at CES this year with their Alex ebook reader.  Today, the company passed the Alex through the FCC, indicating that the device is on schedule for its planned release date on February 22nd.

The Alex has a dual screen design that’s similar to the Barnes and Noble Nook.  The top screen is a 6” eInk display that is used for reading, while the lower screen is a 3.5” color LCD touchscreen.  The LCD provides users with a touch-based interface for navigating through content and menus (below, right).  The LCD also doubles as a virtual keyboard for text entry.

In terms of connectivity, the Alex offers 802.11 b/g WiFi and WWAN options.  However, Spring Design’s FCC filings today only mention 802.11 b/g – we’ll have to wait a bit longer to learn more about the Alex’s WWAN capabilities.

The Alex downloads books from Google’s Google Books portal.  Spring Design also plans to open up Alex book and app stores, but currently these are still under construction.

In addition to eBook viewing, the Alex features a web browser and email client.  Users can expand the Alex’s storage capacity with MicroSD cards.  The device can play music or view pictures from MicroSD cards, as well.

The Alex will cost $399 when it goes on sale later this month.  No word on ordering options, but Spring Design appears to be doing a lot of work on its website so we’d expect some preordering options to appear soon.

Nokia unveiled their C5 smartphone yesterday, and today the device made an appearance on the FCC.  The C5 is the first offering in Nokia’s line of C-Series devices and is targeted towards the economical consumer market.

The C5 is an S60 3rd edition device that sports a 2.2” QVGA display (320×240), 3.2 MP camera (with flash) and FM radio.  Although the C5 is targeted at the lower end of the smartphone market, the device still offers a pretty impressive range of features, including GPS mapping, access to Nokia’s Ovi portal, video calling and video sharing.

According to Nokia, the C5 will be released in Q2 2010, and will be available in EMEA and Asia for about $185.  There’s no word if the phone will be released in the US, however.  The C5 is a quad band GSM device, so it will work in the States.  But with support for only WCDMA bands I and VIII, you won’t have 3G with the C5.

Stereo Bluetooth headsets are great for a single listener, but what if you’re in a sharing mood?  Enter the U Needs UD-3000TV Bluetooth adapter.

Just plug in a SPDIF or 3.5mm audio source into the UD-3000TV and you can share your audio source with up to two Bluetooth devices.  Each device has a separate pairing button, so you can pair or unpair devices without disturbing other listeners.

The UD-3000TV only weights 2.8 ounces, making it a good option for portable listening.  The device has an internal battery that charges via USB, although U Needs doesn’t give any indication of battery life.  We’d guess that the battery life of the UD-3000TV will be much shorter if the device is connected to two Bluetooth devices at the same time.

It doesn’t appear that U Needs has a strong presence in the US, so this device will likely be imported through U Needs’ channel partners.  No word on pricing or availability.

Acer’s NAV50 and NAV60 netbooks have been made appearances on the FCC in December and January, and today more pictures of the devices were released in a WiFi filing by Acer.  Today’s test reports show that the NAV50 and 60 will support 802.11 b/g/n.  This contradicts previous filings by Acer that showed only support for 802.11 b/g.

External pictures of the NAV 50 and 60 show a relatively thin cross section, and front lip that slopes upward.  The netbook has 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port and a VGA port.  There also appears to be a card reader on the front right side of the device, although we’re not sure what formats the reader supports.

The NAV50 will be offered under the Acer brand, while the NAV60 will bear Packard Bell and Gateway brands.  No word on pricing or a release date.

More pics after the jump: