The age of the house call is long gone, and until we manage to replace all our bodily organs with cybernetic proxies, medical gadgets are our only hope to minimize those pesky office visits. The Health PHS5000 (aka Dr. Touch) from LG and Intel isn't the first of its kind, but it is the latest such device, and it's been recently introduced exclusively in Japan to begin medical trials. The little white box with a friendly UI (smileys mean you're not dead yet, we presume) can track things like blood pressure and sugar levels, and will even send reports to your doctor's office -- meaning your terminal laziness can reach astronomical new heights... er, lows. It's perfect for the disabled or merely reclusive, and with any luck will be hacked soon to allow Wii Fit integration.

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang just can't resist throwing more jabs at Intel, distracting the inaugural NVISION crowd from Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer with the claim that "Larrabee hasn't shipped so you don't know what it is and I don't know what it is." The fact that we do know what it is -- a next-gen hybrid CPU / GPU -- shouldn't be a concern according to Huang, because "By the time it does ship, Nvidia's technology will be so far advanced it won't matter." Besides stuffing Usain Bolt-type speed into a GPU the company will keep busy working on its WinMo smartphone hardware, and software for the not-exactly-Atom-killing VIA Nano, but forget about that rumored x86-compatible hardware 'cuz, as Jen-Hsun reminds us, "the Internet doesn't run on x86." For a company that lacks innovation, is "a joke," and at least four years behind, Intel must be doing something right, because the competition can't keep its name out of their mouths.

You've got to love it, don't you? The prolonged hatefest between Intel and NVIDIA is continuing on today, with Andy Keane, general manager of the company's GPU computing group, delivering the latest blow. While speaking to reporters at the outfit's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, he was quoted as saying that there is still "an incredible amount about Larrabee that's undefined." Furthermore, John Mottram chimed in by suggesting that "as [blogger and CPU architect] Peter Glaskowsky said, the 'large' Larrabee in 2010 will have roughly the same performance as a 2006 GPU from NVIDIA or ATI." We're beginning to wonder if these guys aren't just passing disses while sharing a cold one afterwards just to get attention, but being that it's more fun to envision suits from rival firms intensely angry with one another, we'll just keep believing this actually isn't a joke.

[Via Slashdot]

Remember that MetaRAM technology we figured was nothing more than a sophisticated joke back in February? Intel, one of the noteworthy backers, has proven that said tech actually is one rung above snake-oil at its own Developers Conference in San Francisco. Hynix-made DDR3 DIMMs packing 16GB of memory were reportedly created via the MetaRAM method (and subsequently shown off), and just in case you're not wowed by such wizardry, the demo system included no fewer than ten of these modules. Just in case that sort of flew over your head, the machine they were in possessed 160GB of RAM. Unfortunately, we've a feeling these are quite aways out from hitting the consumer market.

If Intel's CTO is correct, then man and machine could merge by the year 2050. Justin Rattner said that Intel's research labs are looking at human-machine interfaces and predicts that promising changes could come sooner than expected. For example, did you know that Intel is working on small, shape-shifting robots called "catoms" -- tiny inside the pocket, a million-strong team of micro-robots could one day reassemble into an earpiece, keyboard or say, full-torso heat shield that withstands the frictions of hyperspace (ok, we made that last bit up). During his keynote, Rattner said, "There is speculation that we may be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason, in the not so distant future." A date he pegs at 2050, not December 21st, 2012 as some would say. But with wireless power and 3-dimensional transistors on the horizon, well, who are we to argue? Besides, Intel has a pretty good record when it comes to predicting advances in technology, eh Gordie?

It's been mostly hugs and cupcakes for Intel's Atom processors lately -- they're apparently selling like hotcakes, and they're the stars of the Intel Developer Conference this week. But although Intel was confidently predicting that supply would meet demand by next month, it sounds like Atoms might still be hard to come by -- PC World quotes an unnamed ASUS exec as saying there's a "serious shortage" of the chips, leading the PC manufacturer to turn to Celeron chips to meet demand. Intel reps are sticking to the party line and saying that the supply issue will be resolved by the end of the third quarter, but we'll see how it goes -- something tells us ASUS isn't helping itself out too much by cranking out an endless string of Atom-based Eee PCs, either.

We've seen a number of wireless power systems come and go, but for all the hype-filled bombast and occasional working demo, the tech just hasn't gone anywhere -- but even with that background, Intel's demo of a wireless power system that can broadcast 60 watts of power up to three feet at IDF with 75 percent efficiency has us giddy with excitement. The system works using essentially the same magnetic induction principle as all the others, but Intel's seems the furthest along, and the company hopes to one day be able to charge laptops with it. Yeah, we'll take three.

Read - NYT article
Read - Pictures from the presentation

We're still having a tough time labeling Intel's uniquely designed UrbanMax concept, but according to a company representative on hand at IDF, it was designed primarily to be used as a touch device. The gigantic touch panel machine (slate PC?) includes an 11-inch (1,366 x 768) display, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, a minuscule optical mousing device and Windows Vista behind the scenes. Feel free to check out the video waiting after the jump, and by the way, we dare you to tell us this isn't totally an HTC Advantage X7510 on steroids.

We're not sure who let Yahoo! into Intel's party in San Francisco, but the two sure are getting along great. Much to the chagrin of Mark Cuban, these two actually believe that there's a future in internet TV, particularly if you force it down people's throats. Intel spent the bulk of its time talking up the Media Processor CE 3100 (formerly known as Canmore), which would theoretically be installed within HDTVs and enable users to access internet-based content without the need for an additional set-top-box ('course, the STB is still optional). That's where Yahoo! comes in -- it's hoping that its Widget Channel will encourage users to utilize its services when watching re-runs or other lackluster material in order to get news, weather and other related information right on the living room set. Not that this is a totally new concept, but these two surely have the power to push it one step further. Lots more information and pictures in the links below.

Update: It's official... surprise!

Read - Intel / Yahoo preview plans for Widget Channel
Read - Images of the tech in action
Read - Gigabyte Intel box (first product to use the CE 3100)

Before you get too riled up here, let us point out that this Atom-based OQO is simply a prototype. According to the company's Dennis Moore, the device we're seeing here "is not a product launch or announcement," but simply a demonstration of just how amazing and utterly life-changing the OQO + Atom combo is. Really guys, if there's so much love in the house, why not get this thing on the production line?

[Via jkkmobile]