Design Concept: MP3 Player Wristband of the Future
“This way-cool design concept for a wearable MP3 player by Nathan Davis has a silicone band that lets you wear it on your arm or wrist, and it has an OLED display housed underneath a layer of polycarbonate. The screen slides up to reveal transport controls, and sound is transmitted to Bluetooth headphones.”
Gizmodo
Sensing Gamepad
“By measuring the electrostatic potential of a user, this device can sense the user’s footsteps and jumps without requiring any external sensors such as a floor mat or sensors embedded in shoes.”
Playful
Paste notes on web pages with Stickis – Lifehacker
“Ever wish you could leave yourself a note on a web page and have it reappear the next time you returned? Stickis lets you do that and more. It’s a social network for sticky notes.”
Lifehacker
Smart fabric mimicking knights’ armors
“This fabric looks like the chain-mail armor worn by medieval knights, but can embed much more recent sensors to create some smart textiles. This fabric, which consists of “a network of small rings about 500 microns in diameter and even smaller links about 400 microns long,” has unique electrical properties. For example, such a smart fabric could detect movement or damage, and even generate electricity to power the sensors embedded into it.”
Primidi
People-lifting android unveiled in Japan
“Weighing in at 154 pounds and measuring just over five feet tall, the apparently unnamed droid can easily lift a 145 person out of bed or cart around heavy packages, which its creators say make it ideally suited for jobs in nursing care or the moving industry.”
Engadget
Web eyes stickier than believed
“PEOPLE who use the internet to read the news have a greater attention span than print readers, according to a US study that refutes the idea that web surfers jump around and don’t read much. The EyeTrack07 survey by the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism school, found online readers read 77 per cent of what they chose to read while broadsheet newspaper readers read an average of 62 per cent, and tabloid readers about 57 per cent.”
Australian IT
SellABand Music Model Gaining Traction
“Artists sign up and upload some of their music. Users listen to it. If they like it, they pay $10. If a band reaches $50,000 in donations, SellABand helps them record an album with a studio and expert producer.”
TechCrunch
Bioscrypt’s 3D Camera Lets You Use Your Mug as a Password
“We won’t deny that Bioscpyt’s new 3D cam is a little scary-looking, but considering its the first 3D face recognition camera, we’ll cut it some slack. Relying on 40,000 different ID points, the VisionAccess 3D DeskCam uses parts of your forehead, eye sockets, and nose to ID you and log you onto your computer.”
Gizmodo
Developing world gets web by bus
“The buses and a fleet of motorcycles update their pages in cities before visiting the hard-to-reach communities. As well as offering popular pages, the United Villages project also allows users to request specific information.”
BBC NEWS
MOG’s automated music video collector
“At its most basic level, MOG TV automatically locates the music videos on YouTube that correspond to the songs in your music library. David tells me that their algorithms and heuristics are really good at identifying the best match for the tune. And when the system inevitably screws up, MOG users are encouraged to flag the offending clip as bad quality or just plain wrong so the matches get better over time.”
Boing Boing
WindMaker
“WindMaker is an ambient weather widget that applies the current wind conditions to your Web site.”
networked_performance
Sunglasses changing color in a second
“The key to this improved eyewear technology is an electrochromic polymer that has the ability to change levels of darkness and color in the presence of an electric current. By pushing a button on the frame, your glasses will become red, green, blue or virtually any color.”
Primidi
Download of the Day: WiPeer (Windows)
“WiPeer sets up wireless peer-to-peer networks between PCs, no router, access point or internet required. You can use these ad-hoc networks to share files, chat and even play games with other WiPeer users.”
Lifehacker
T a n g i b l e T a b l e
“Our goal was to build a working prototype of a tangible table-based user interface. In contrast to a simulation, this environment facilitates the evaluation and testing of user interactions. That’s why the visual components on the table surface (such as scales) are quite basic and rough. The principles of interaction and graphical behavior had higher priority.”
HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd
Next Gen Storage Format Squeezes 1TB onto a DVD Size Disc
“The new technology, dubbed TeraDisc, can store up to 1TB of content on a single platter. It records and reads over 100 virtual layers on one disc and was recently demoed in Japan.”
I4U News
Blog death threats spark debate
“Ms Sierra described on her blog how she had been subject to a campaign of threats, including a post that featured a picture of her next to a noose. The police are investigating while the blogosphere has launched its own enquiry. One of the issues raised is the question of how women bloggers are treated online.”
BBC NEWS
Kiko Guys Back As Reality TV Stars
“Justin.TV is a website entirely devoted to chronicling the life of one of the company’s founders, Justin Kan, around day and night via web cam. This might sound a lot like JenniCam circa – 96, ill-fated DotComGuy, or marketing ploy OurPrisoner, but some really cutting edge mobile technology sets the show apart. Justin won’t be chained to his house like these previous cam shows. Instead, armed with a head-cam, batteries, and 4 EVDO cards, he will roam free, streaming video across the mobile network and onto their own live flash content distribution platform.”
Techcrunch
The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor
“If we get two songs out, we get a shot, said Vatana Shaw, 20, who formed the trio four years ago, Only true fans are buying full albums. Most people don’t really do that anymore. To the regret of music labels everywhere, she is right: fans are buying fewer and fewer full albums. In the shift from CDs to digital music, buyers can now pick the individual songs they like without having to pay upward of $10 for an album.”
New York Times
Shoulder-worn camera acts as a third eye
“A shoulder-mounted camera system that automatically tracks head movements and can recognise hand gestures has been developed by UK researchers. Eventually, they hope the system could identify a wearer’s activity and offer assistance, for example by accessing a telephone directory when they reach for the phone.”
New Scientist
UK kids to get free calls and texts in return for ads
“Blyk, the company behind the scheme, has already signed Buena Vista, Coca-Cola, L’Oreal Paris, and Yell.com for the British launch. It is rumoured to be close to a network deal with Orange. The company will target 16 to 24 year olds, who will “earn” free phone calls and text messages in exchange for receiving adverts on their phones.”
The Register
Insurance company refuses to cover law firm’s blog
“A law firm in New Jersey has temporarily halted plans to launch a blog because its insurance company would not cover the blog under an existing malpractice insurance policy.”
Computerworld
“Study participants were given two tasks and were asked to respond to sounds and images. The first was to press the correct key on a computer keyboard after hearing one of eight sounds. The other task was to speak the correct vowel after seeing one of eight images. The researchers said that they did not see a delay if the participants were given the tasks one at a time. But the researchers found that response to the second task was delayed by up to a second when the study participants were given the two tasks at about the same time.”
New York Times
Magnetic beads could peruse your innards
“Already being tested on live pig (and showing outstanding results, too), the idea is to utilize MRI machines to magnetically push objects through the bloodstream, which could reach locales that modern day surgeries can’t.”
Engadget
Home Joule: New Ambient Device Checks Your Power Usage
“NYC’s power grid is always flexing under varying loads and prices. What’s insane is that no one’s tried to game that data to live green while saving a few bucks. This Ambient device uses that same data, glowing red when its time to power down, going green when juice is plentiful.”
Gizmodo
Hanwang’s handwriting recognition mouse one-ups Chinese keyboard
“Hanwang’s latest mouse is looking to ease the pain suffered while penning an email with wildly elaborate characters by offering a more natural approach to keying in text, as built-in top-mounted screen accepts handwritten input via the integrated stylus (seen after the jump). As expected, users can actually write characters on the LCD rather than typing it in, presumably making things a bit easier on those who’d rather handle a writing utensil than fight with a keyboard.”
Engadget
Fat scan shows up ‘true’ obesity
“Scientists say they have developed a 3D scanner that can accurately determine if a person is truly obese. Currently, doctors gauge fatness with a calculation of body mass index (BMI). But BMI is flawed – people with lots of muscle are considered overweight. Instead of relying on weight and height measurements, as BMI does, the scan takes into account body shape and how much fat a person carries.”
BBC NEWS
Flexible see-through battery power
“the clear flexible plastic in the image is a battery - it is a polymer based rechargeable battery made by Japanese scientists. Drs Hiroyuki Nishide, Hiroaki Konishi and Takeo Suga at Waseda University have designed the battery - which consists of a redox-active organic polymer film around 200 nanometres thick.”
gizmag
Visible Light Bent the ‘Wrong’ Way
“Everyone has seen a prism bend light. Now researchers have constructed a material that bends visible light in the opposite way. The odd effect, known as negative refraction, is similar to what is needed in far-out proposals for creating a cloak of invisibility.”
Scientific American
New Technology, Old Habits
“Korea and Japan are world leaders in broadband access, with connection speeds that put the U.S. to shame. And their wireless networks are state of the art, allowing supercharged Web surfing from mobile phones and other handhelds, whether at a café, in the subway, or on the highway. But when it comes to taking advantage of connectivity for business, Americans are way ahead. For a study in contrasts, consider the daily commute. American trains are packed with business people furiously tapping their BlackBerrys or Treos, squeezing a few extra minutes into their work days. In Tokyo or Seoul, commuters stare intently at their cell phone screens, but they’re usually playing games, watching video clips, or sending Hello Kitty icons to friends. And while advertising for U.S. cellular companies emphasizes how data services can make users more productive at work, Asian carriers tend to stress the fun factor.”
Business Week
Kenya sets world first with money transfers by mobile | Technology | Guardian Unlimited Technology
“The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector.”
Guardian Unlimited Technology
Koloroo Come Up With a Pair of Widgets for Your iPod
“Two gadgets for your iPod from newbies Koloroo.”
Gizmodo
Botanicalls Let Your Plants Call You When They Need a Drink
“When a plant on the Botanicalls network needs water, it can call a person and ask for exactly what it needs. When people phone the plants, the plants orient callers to their habits and characteristics.”
B.L.Ochman
Urban Tool’s “perCushion” pillowphone
“The “perCushion” concept getting passed around at CeBIT this year takes the sound pillow concept one step further, making it even easier than usual to nod off while chatting with boring peeps thanks to an integrated loudspeaker and a rather comfy-looking design. Power is provided by a rechargeable battery so you don’t have any unsightly wires following the accessory into bed with you.”
Engadget
Design Concept: Bluetooth Band-Aid System Can Save Lives
“As soon as they slap this Bluetooth Band-Aid on an injured person, it goes to work, receiving data from the personal tag (labeled SMS above) which transmits blood type, allergies and more. The capsule (pictured center) can monitor blood sugar levels and can even inject life-saving medications.”
Gizmodo
Chinese Concept Phones: At Last, a Useful Place for a USB Connector
“First up is a phone with a built-in USB connector that doesn’t need any additional cables to function. Made of flexible rubber, the connector bends any which way you want to connect it to your computer to transfer data or recharge your phone.”
Gizmodo
Visual City – The Dreaming Wall
“The Dreaming Wall, movie pictured above, is a project running in a historical square in Milan, conceived as a info-forum it randomly displays sms messages sent by standing in the square or via the Internet – similar in many ways to Twitter.”
Digital Urban
Virtual actors take to the stage
“Although he performed in Florida, his body was ‘beamed’ onto a stage at Bradley University in Illinois, where he performed ‘with’ live actors there, as well as with actors beamed in from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Both 3D and 2D sets consisting of multiple screens and special-effects lighting that helped to give the impression that all the actors, remote or not, existed in a single space.”
ABC.Net.Au
Cellphone Haters: A Design Concept from One of Your Own
“Here’s a concept for a cellphone patterned after a matchbox, where the most often-used buttons are on the outside. The inside slides out just as a matchbox does, revealing its numeric keypad.”
Gizmodo
Researchers create single-photon server
“The server was created by trapping a single Rubidium atom in a vacuum chamber and applying a laser pulse to it, which caused it to spit out one photon at a time. The key bit, it seems, is that the photons generated are of much higher quality than those derived using other methods, meaning that can essentially be made indistinguishable from one another — a key requirement for quantum computing.”
Engadget
Philips Magic Video Ball: Snow Globe Meets Eight Ball Video Player
“Shaking it causes video snowflakes to swirl around, and out of the mist fades the next clip you’ve uploaded. Each video selection is accompanied by chirping birds and soothing sounds, furthering the ethereal effect.”
Gizmodo
In search of the neo-nomad
“As one of the millions of people who work wherever they happen to find themselves, relying on a laptop and a wireless connection for all their computing needs, I certainly live a nomadic lifestyle, pitching my virtual camp wherever I happen to find myself. And I’d rather be a neo-nomad than a laptop warrior, a term which was clearly designed to make corporate executives feel that the evenings spent in dull business hotels in Utrecht preparing the monthly sales figures had some heroic aspect.”
BBC NEWS
A new way to print bones
“Rather than printing on paper, we’re printing on a bed of cement powder using an acid instead of ink, which reacts with the cement to print whatever pattern we want,” explained Dr. Barralet. “It’s similar to a CT scan, in that the image is created one layer at a time. The result is three-dimensional.”
Primidi
Vehicle warning system trialled
“A wheel slipping on the road even though the temperature was not low enough for frost or ice would suggest oil or another slippery substance was present. Once a car detected this sort of danger, information about it would be generated and passed down the line of vehicles approaching the patch of oil. “When the motorbike comes after to the point of danger, information has been spread out by wireless network and the danger will be propagated to the driver in the motorbike,” said Dr Blocher.”
BBC NEWS
Kaneva: A Place for (3D) Friends
“Although you’ve been able to sign up for a 2D profile on Kaneva they recently opened the doors to their 3D world. The idea is that users can create personal profile pages in the 2D space, like MySpace, but also carry out the same personalization to their virtual world apartments.”
TechCrunch
Yoggie Gatekeeper Protects Your Laptop on the Go
“Instead of loading up your laptop with security software like firewalls, intrusion detection, proxies, anti-spam, anti-spyware, anti-virus and various other apps, why not let a small little hardware device do it all?”
Gizmodo
If the Mirror Could Talk (It Can)
“As Ms. Noah stood in front of the mirror, a camera relayed live video images of her to an Internet site where online participants could view her outfit. When Web viewers responded by sending her comments, their instant messages popped up on the left side of the mirror for Ms. Noah to read. They also selected items for her to try on, causing virtual images of the clothing to appear before her in the middle of the mirror, like life-size holograms.”
New York Times
New Video Watermark Tech Traces Bootlegs Back to Pirates
“Future set-top boxes and gateways from Thomson SA are going to come with video watermarking tech that will allow investigators to pinpoint the origin of pirated videos. The tech, NexGuard, identifies “individual copies of the films distributed digitally to cinemas or on DVD as preview copies for reviewers and awards juries.”
Gizmodo
G-Tec’s thought control hat
“We’re happy to report that in a game of thought-control vs. Engadget man-editor, we were totally pwned at Pong. 10-to-4 if you must know. Our competition sat smug in his stool thinking about where he wanted his paddle to go, as we flailed about helpless with mouse and keyboard in a wake of alpha waves.”
Engadget
Memory workouts beat other computer games in study
“Researchers in Israel compared how one brain-training program, MindFit, fared versus a workout with a sampling of classic computer games, such as the puzzle game Tetris. Both groups benefited, but the group using the MindFit program showed a statistically significant improvement in spatial short-term memory, spatial learning and focused attention.”
Reuters.com
Nanowires That Monitor Blood Pressure
“Once in place, tiny changes in pressure from pulsing blood vessels would bend them, creating a current and allowing blood pressure to be continuously measured.”
PSFK
Pretec i-Disk RFID: Where Do You Hide Yours?
“Pretec’s new i-Disk flash drive is 25 per cent smaller than a quarter, and can store up to 1GB of data. A combination of USB flashdisk and RFID technology in a waterproof case, the i-Disk is made using a semiconductor MCP process, and measures 45.7 x 12.2 x 2.2mm.”
Gizmodo
Waiting light
“The Waiting Light is a project I began in 2002. The light is a simple device that you wear around your waist. When you turn on the switch it shines a bright orange color behind the bold, black letters that proclaim, WAITING. Perhaps it will make waiting less mundane.”
kris harzinski
HOWTO have a sixth sense: Wi-Fi
“This project is for a small electronic unit that allows the user to sense the presence and relative signal strength of wireless hotspots. It can be worn as a pendant or carried in a pocket. It is “always on” and communicates the presence and signal strength of an in-range hotspot by way of sequences of pulses – like a heartbeat you can feel.”
Boing Boing
Bracelet Phone by Tao Ma
“The bracelet vibrates slightly when it receives messages, then you can easily take it off from your wrist and press the keystroke which looks like a diamond. To pick up or make a telephone call is just that easy.”
Tao Ma
Table Recorder
“Besides being a real, usable table, it will echo movements with sound. Below the surface, pressure-sensors feel a user’s touch and actuate custom-built solenoids which inside the drawers then bang on arbitrary objects, at the time including a glass, a plate, a xylophone and a saw.”
We Make Money Not Art
Phonogram to brainwash addiction out of Korean gamers?
“We incorporated messages into an acoustic sound wave telling gamers to stop playing. The messages are told 10,000 to 20,000 times per second,” explains Yun Yun-hae, president of Xtive. (Isn’t that a little, um, fast?) The company has applied for a domestic patent and plans to commercialize the phonogram in cahoots with the government and game companies, which he hopes will incorporate triggers for the phonograms after games are played for a certain amount of time.”
Engadget
Slacker radio to go
“Slacker, a new music service out today in beta, “is essentially a personalized Internet radio station, similar to popular services Last.fm and Pandora,” reports Matt Marshall, but it will also have its own portable device (above), like a satellite radio service.”
Guardian Unlimited
Computer Predicts Wishes Of Incapacitated Patients Better Than Family Or Loved Ones
“To use the decision tool, called a population-based treatment indicator, the doctor first enters the incapacitated patient’s circumstances and personal characteristics into a computer. Perhaps, for example, the patient has pneumonia and severe Alzheimer disease, and he is a 60 year old, well educated, Native American, male. The computer analyzes the treatment preferences of similar individuals and estimates the likelihood that the patient would want antibiotics to treat his pneumonia. A finding that 90% of highly educated Native American men over the age of 50 do not want to receive antibiotics to treat pneumonia in the setting of advanced Alzheimer disease would provide strong evidence that this patient would not want antibiotics in these circumstances either.”
Tech News Watch
World’s first’ transistor-printing plant opens
“Nanoident’s printing method means that virtually any substance can be ‘printed’ on, including glass, plastic foil, ceramic and silicon. The substance used can be rigid or flexible, flat or curved, thick or as thin as 20 micrometres – one-fifth the thickness of standard 80gsm paper. Once dry, the structural integrity of the printed material is tested to ensure it’s up to the standard needed for use.”
Reg Hardware
Study Says Computers Give Big Boosts to Productivity
“Money spent on computing technology delivers gains in worker productivity that are three to five times those of other investments, according to a study being published today. But the study also concluded that the information technology industry itself was unlikely to be a big source of new jobs.”
New York Times
Motion capture gets slightly less embarrassing
“According to the company, instead of relying on reflections from a few markers placed on a person’s body, its system automatically visualizes and captures thousands of natural points on a subject, turning it into a complete 3D scan in real-time.”
Engadget
Smart Coaster Alerts Bartender of Empty Drink
“The intelligent coaster includes a gravity and weight sensor. It can be calibrated to an empty glass before any drinking is done. Once an empty glass is placed on the coaster it can then notify the bartender immediately.”
Gizmodo
Smartpox
“After installing the Smartpox reader, phones capture and scan the pox-laden image to decode the information. For example, one may be planning a party or scavenger hunt and can embed directions/clues within the pox for the invitees to use.”
TrendCentral
Soundgate concept electronically augments music rehearsal
“The idea is that the Soundgate should augment practice time for musicians: the device could display interactive sheet music, it could display lyrics for songs, and do a variety of other functions that could help musicians improve their playing. Also envisaged is a separate stand that includes a video camera and a slide-out, human height projected display: this could allow people to train with other players, or even set up a virtual band.”
Engadget
Ghost Road
“If electronics firm Philips has its way, roadway markings will no longer use paint; instead, “ultrathin plastic strips would be attached to road surfaces.” These would use “a hard-wearing version of the electronic ink used in emerging flexible displays for e-books” transforming roads into a kind of literary hieroglyph, or infrastructural e-book.”
BLDGBLOG
Net copes with key character test
“Currently net domains, such as bbc.co.uk, can only be written with 37 characters from the Roman alphabet which includes the letters A-Z, numbers 0-9 and the hyphen. This can cause problems in nations such as China where many new net users have scant knowledge of that character set. The tests carried out by Icann involved up-to-date versions of the live master address books, or root servers, that direct users’ computers to the actual location of an internet domain.”
BBC NEWS
Matsushita demonstrates data beaming with visible light
“The technology allows data to be beamed from transmitter to receiver via visible light, and aside from purportedly streaming information along at “optical fiber speeds,” it can also pull double duty as an indoor lighting source if you’re short on lamps.”
Engadget
Hospital Equipment Unaffected By Cell Phone Use, Study Finds
“Three hundred tests were performed over a five-month period in 2006 using two cellular phones, which used different technologies from different carriers and 192 medical devices. Not a single problem was found. The study’s authors say the findings should prompt hospitals to alter or abandon their bans on cell phone use.”
gizmag
Log In Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit
“So why not have a Web site where users can provide their basic body dimensions and style preferences, then see all the available clothing that would fit well and suit their taste? It is an idea so obvious that one wonders why it isn’t an established part of online shopping already: merchandise returns would drop, customers might well be happier and the Web site would earn a commission for every sale. That is the approach of a new Internet company, myShape.com, which has recorded the measurements of about 20,000 women in a five-month trial period that ended Sunday. The women shopped from personalized clothing collections matched to their style and fit preferences and body dimensions.”
New York Times
Mourners bid farewell on internet
“A Northern Ireland undertaker has begun broadcasting funerals live on the internet. In what is thought to be a UK first, the County Down firm says the move allows mourners from across the world to watch the funeral service of friends and loved ones.”
BBC NEWS
History, Digitized (and Abridged)
“As more museums and archives become digital domains, and as electronic resources become the main tool for gathering information, items left behind in nondigital form, scholars and archivists say, are in danger of disappearing from the collective cultural memory, potentially leaving our historical fabric riddled with holes.”
New York Times
Wrist-mounted security device tracks employees’ vital signs
“The units use a bio-sensor chip with proprietary algorithms to track vitals like heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. The data is transmitted wirelessly to a central monitoring system that works with surveillance cameras to zoom in on an employee should their levels suddenly fluctuate; if a worker is threatened or engages in unsavory behavior, their unstable stress levels will alert the system to see exactly what the deal is.”
Engadget
BetterLight intros 416-megapixel digital camera back
“Like the company’s other mega megapixel wonders, the Super10K-HS isn’t a digital camera itself, but a so-called “scanning back” that attaches to high-end, large-format cameras for tasks like photographing paintings (as seen above) and other stationary objects. They need to be stationary ’cause shooting a single photo at the full 416-megapixel resolution takes upwards of two minutes, effectively working more like a scanner than a digital camera.”
Engadget
Village Tronic VTBook Notebook Multi Monitor Solution Review
“VTBook is a PC card that has its own GPU and RAM inside allowing you to run an additional DVI or VGA display easily.”
I4U News
Fat Fingers
“More than just internet enabled schadenfreude, discovering typos and misspellings is a way to find items with fewer or no bids.”
Cool Hunting
PMA 07: Jobo photoGPS Brings Easy GPS Photo Tagging to the Masses
“It geo-tags your location and saves that so you’ll know right where you were when you snapped that pic. The cool thing about this is that it works with any camera with a hot shoe. The location data is all added into the photo’s file after upload to the computer using the included software. It also adds more than just latitude and longitude hieroglyphics to the image; it actually adds the place names.”
Gizmodo
SoundGate Tablet Lets Musicians Geek Out
“Designed by Nicolas Gonzalez Garrido, the SoundGate PC is a tablet/laptop hybrid made especially for musicians. It lets them record sessions, transcribe their music, and write out their next single. The tablet has a 10-inch touchscreen LCD and a flip-style QWERTY keyboard.”
Gizmodo
Germans send data straight from Google Maps to BMWs
“German drivers with Drive Assist-equipped BMWs can send any Google Maps Deutschland business listing straight to their cars, either to contact the business once inside, or to set it as a destination.”
Engadget
Woojin’s dual-LCD monitor gets release date (in Korea)
“The monitor itself appears to be otherwise unchanged, with a 1280 x 1024 resolution front and center, and 800 x 600 pixels filing up the secondary display. The primary display also boasts a 700:1 contrast ratio and 8 ms response time, while its little sibling takes things down to 350:1 and 10 ms.”
Engadget
Giraffe Robot Lets Your Boss Remotely Keep Tabs on the Office
“Designed by HeadThere, the Giraffe is a remote controlled mobile videoconferencing robot. It can be operated via the Internet by anyone who wants to see, talk, or interact with people far-away.”
Gizmodo
Japanese Alarm Clock Won’t Shut Up Without Cash
“This 10cm-cubed alarm clock comes in five colors and won’t shut up unless you put a coin in it every morning. There’s no snooze button.”
Gizmodo
Sony Gives PS3 a Second Life
“Players can create realistic avatars for themselves, then wander around a 3D online world filled with fellow PlayStation 3 owners. Players can meet up in a “game room” and play pickup games of pool, or select from a few arcade games, all of which are seamlessly integrated into the 3D world. Harrison said that game publishers will be able to create their own spaces in Home to preview their wares.”
Wired News
Robotic age poses ethical dilemma
“The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research. “The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to develop strong intelligence in the near future,” the ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.”
BBC NEWS
Bluetooth 2.1 on the way: near-field communications and 5x battery
“Using a prototype Nokia cellphone and Parrot picture frame, Foley was able to snap a photo on the handset and then pair and transfer it to the frame by simply holding the phone a few inches away from the display.”
Engadget
Downloading Is a Packrat’s Dream
“Jim” is an infohoarder like few others. In the last four years, this 37-year-old Brooklyn native has downloaded and burned every piece of broadcast and print media that’s been digitized. Or so it seems. His apartment is filled with DVDs and CDs packed with bootleg anime, comic books, books, e-books, television programs, movies and, of course, music. He’s a completionist who must have every episode, every issue, every track.”
Wired News
Tokyo’s Ubiquitous Technology project
“Downtown strollers looking for directions, store guides or historical tidbits will be able to get an earful without talking to anyone _ thanks to 1200 computer chips embedded around Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district. The information can be heard through earphones that pick up signals from chips stuck in cement, lampposts and subway-station ceilings. The 1 billion yen ($US8.7 million) government-backed Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project spans several blocks.”
smh.com.au
Where people trade favors for cash!
“The concept is very simple: JobFavors.com connects people who are in need of favors with people who are in need of cash! You can search tens of thousands of favors posted by people in your community. Doing a little deed for your neighbor is now a profitable adventure.”
Smart Mobs
“Scribd is not just a carbon copy of YouTube. They borrowed a lot of the basic design principles, but also took advantage of the written format by including flexible file formats for download and upload along with some interesting analytics tracking. Documents can be displayed and embedded as html or the under-utilized, and faster-than-a-pdf, Flash paper format.”
TechCrunch
In-car DriveMaster Pro nags you about killing nature
“it seems that the DM Pro ships with a number of different sensors that are able to detect your speed, acceleration / deceleration, idle time, gear ratio, and emissions; if any of these metrics indicate that you could be outside the range of government-suggested levels, the info-packed display lets out audible and visual alerts that hopefully won’t distract you enough to crash and kill a tree or something.”
Engadget
Using Google Earth for a Resume Literally Answers the Question, ‘Where Are You From?’
“He assigned a color-coded place mark for each area of his experience and then filled each one with relevant information. After exporting those markers into a Google Earth file, the result is data-filled place marks, not only showing information about Ozgur, but where each one of his experiences took place as well.”
Gizmodo
Volunteers sign up to build game
“housands of people have signed up to help develop a community-built massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMO). Developer Dave Perry and publisher Acclaim are building a professional MMO with the help of ordinary people. One of the users will be chosen to “direct” a future game and will receive any royalties earned.”
BBC News
Ricoh Caplio R6: Instant 16x Zoom To Review Sharpness Not To Be Used With Britney Spears Photos
“How about the quick review feature that lets you instantly enlarge an image 16 times to check the sharpness of your photos?”
Gizmodo
Women, Not Men, Are Primary Electronics Consumers
“According to CEA officials, women are outspending men in electronics purchases US$55 billion to US$41 billion. The trade organization also reports that women influence 90 percent of consumer electronics purchases which amounts to a lot of money when factory-to-dealer sales of consumer electronics are projected to exceed US$155 billion in 2007.”
gizmag
A Nano Pressure Sensor
“taking advantage of the piezoelectric effect in zinc-oxide nanowires, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have made tiny devices that can measure extremely small forces–in the nano-to-piconewton range. That’s about the force involved in interactions between two molecules”
Technology Review
User-Powered Gym Saves Money (For the Gym)
“Imagine a gym that ran its lights and TVs off the energy that was generated by all the treadmills and stairmasters being used. That’s exactly what some guy in Hong Kong did, hamsterizing his gym to power a few TVs and 60-watt light bulbs with workout-power.”
Gizmodo
EyePoint software improves vision-based input
“the problem with current systems — both medical and recreational — is that they have difficulty correcting for rapid, unconscious movements of the pupil, making them prone to frustrating errors and giving them only meager functionality. Well that may all be about to change thanks to a Stanford researcher named Manu Kumar and his EyePoint software, which can be used with the same multi-thousand dollar hardware as existing setups, but improves upon their accuracy through pupil-steadying algorithms and by throwing the user’s hand into the mix.”
Engadget
I/O Wall
“The goal of the project has been to design a new room-scale interface to computer functionality and data: the wall will keep track of the objects stored on its shelves using RFID readers, and will provide an interface for searching the stored objects. Proximity sensors will provide some additional data on patterns of use in relation to the presence or absence of specific objects on the shelves.”
pasta and vinegar
Movie Firms Working on Digital Film
“The process, still in the early stages of development, would use satellite and broadband delivery systems to beam digital films directly to theaters, rather than have them copied onto hard drives and delivered by hand, as for the most part they are now, said Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros.’ executive vice president for distribution and technology.”
Wired.com
Philips Drag and Draw: Radioactive Fun for Hyperactive Kids (or Not)
“Philips have come up with a crazy idea to keep wannabe graffiti-artist kids AND their parents happy using Drag and Draw technology.”
Gizmodo
nTAG V2 smart badging offers real-time event data management
“Worn like regular paper badges, nTAGs exchange data with one another using infrared sensors. As attendees approach each other, information is automatically transferred from tag to tag, requiring no action from the wearer. Then the tags’ LCD screens illuminate and display information on shared interests – “Hi Karen, we both work in the fashion apparel industry.”
gizmag
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