Tim Higgins has posted a lot of details on the Linksys Skype (CIT200)phone at Tom's Networking.  Tim figures that the CIT200 will probably cost less than the Dualphone model (price tag: $140).  He believes the CIT200 will cost around $100, given that it does not support both regular landline and Skype calling.  The set should be available by this year's holiday season (wonder if it will be among the most popular techie Christmas gifts this year).  By the way, CIT stands for Cordless Internet Telephony, which is the name that the kit will sell under.  The kit will come with a base station that plugs into the USB port of a computer running Skype, a handset and a charger/base for the handset.  Tim also believes that the CIT200 is an OEM from Ascalade Technologies, a BC-based design house.  Read it all at Tom's Networking!

Here's an interesting project from the MIT Media Lab that has been getting quite a lot of recent acclaim (in publications such as Business Week, USA Today, etc.).  It's called the Jerk-o-Meter, and it is being developed by a group of students led by Anmol Madan (shown in the photo - the same one that appeared on the USA Today story).  The Jerk-o-Meter is a real-time application that analyzes speech patterns to determine whether or not a participant in a phone call is really paying attention to the speaker.  It can use speech features for activity and distress to determine whether or not a person is really "being a jerk" on the phone.  The current version runs in Linux on a Zaurus IP softphone (the Sharp Zaurus SL-6000 appears on the same photo showing Anmol).  There are plans to add new features such as empathy.  For more details on the features, please follow this link (and open the PDF file entitled "Voices of Attraction").

Gizmodo is reporting on more info being leaked about the Motorola Q (expected to make its debut early next year).  So the market for smart devices will get really competitive, with models such as the RIM Blackberry 7100G (already launched earlier this year), the Palm Treo 670, and the Motorola Q, among others.

Lots of people in the blogsphere are talking about the new Treo 670, which runs on Windows Mobile 5.0, and is rumored to have a lot more extra gizmos (a 1.3 megapixel camera, EV-DO and Bluetooth).  Here are some extra videos from Engadget and commentary from Gizmodo.

Update (Aug.7th) - Engadget has some more pictures of the Treo 670 here.

The baseball trade deadline came and went and my Blue Jays once again stood pat (hey, that used the be the same line a few years before they won the World Series back-to-back, when Pat Gillick was the GM).  But considering Roy Halladay's injury and that this is the year of really experimenting with some youngsters such as Gustavo Chacín, this has not been a bad year thus far, and the Jays are still in contention for a wild card spot.  Wonder if Om Malik would make a little wager for this weekend's series when the Evil Empire (aka the NY Yankees) visits Toronto...

In the spirit of baseball, here's a tech gizmo from Japan (via engadget) from the Ishikawa-Namiki Komuro Laboratory in Japan. The lab is engaged in studies of parallel processing for sensory information.  The gizmo is called a "high-speed catching system" and can catch fastballs up to 300 km/h.

Hitachi launched a brand new technology called miragraphy in mid-July (hat tip: J@pan Inc Gadget Watch).  The idea is to combine a half mirror and a diffusion film to directly display digital info such as text, photos, videos, flash animations, TV shows, etc.  Miragraphy also integrates sensors, barcode and RFID readers, cameras, etc.  The mirror can automatically respond when folks are around and even create a personal experience based on the end-user's sensed identities.  I mean the possibilities are endless - imagine combining this with biometrics or with other technologies.  Uses would include the fashion and plastic surgery industries (to allow consumers to play "what if" scenarios) in addition to advertising (in public spaces such as restaurants, hotels, train stations, airports, etc.)