Gadgets

Man builds wearable computer for AI research

By Terence Huynh on July 29th, 2010 No Comments

Yes, that does look cool. A researcher, in an attempt to advance the state of artificial intelligence in computers towards a human-esqe approach, has built a shoulder-strap computer simply using a cheap pear of video glasses that were hacked to a fit one lens of the glasses.

Martin Magnusson also utilise a Beagleboard (a computer running on a single board) running Linux and a fold-able Bluetooth keyboard from Nokia. It is also hooked up to his iPhone for internet and a mini USB hub in order to have Bluetooth connectivity and the display.

There are a couple of posts on his blog on how he manages to achieve this – with each component broken down in an individual post.

Dell Streak to be launched later this month in US

By Terence Huynh on July 22nd, 2010 1 Comment

Remember that Dell concept with that 5-inch screen? Well, turns out it’s no longer a concept. The Dell Streak (yes, weird name) is set to hit the US in late July after launching previously in the UK. Featuring the Android operating system – and sadly will be version 1.6 and not 2.2 – it also features a five-megapixel camera with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a microSD card slot and 2GB of internal storage.

And yes, I know, it is an oversized phone. It may look like a slate, but it’s not. It is an actual phone. And I thought the HTC Evo was big.

Pricing has not been revealed, nor when will Australia get the device. Hope we do though, keep your fingers crossed.

Electrolux comp announces finalists – Australian makes top eight

By Terence Huynh on July 17th, 2010 1 Comment

With all the Apple news this week, why not distract ourselves with concepts – because we know we love the darn things. Electrolux has a design competition going on and has announced its eight finalists yesterday, with one of the finalists coming from Australia (well, more precisely, Melbourne).

The competition is based around the “Second Space Age” and the winner will receive a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design centre and get 5,000 euros as a prize. That sounds sweet if you are a graphics designer.

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Sharp brings 100GB BDXL discs – but only for Japan

By Terence Huynh on July 16th, 2010 1 Comment

Need that extra storage that you couldn’t get on a standard Blu-Ray disc? Sharp has brought out the first of the new BDXL discs, with its first disc – the VR-100BR1 – able to hold up to 100GB of storage with its triple-layer design.

However, that doesn’t stop there. Akihabara News reports that a 128GB version with four layers on the disc, instead of the normal two found on Blu-Ray discs.

There is one downside. Only Sharp’s latest new DVR, the BD-HDW700, will be the only player (as of now) that will support the new discs.

It will hit Japan on July 30 (they always get the cool stuff) for a price tag of 5000 yen, or AU$65.

LaCie brings out XtremKey, resistant to almost any thing

By Terence Huynh on July 14th, 2010 No Comments

You can place it on a flame that is 200°C, take it on a -50°C day or even drop it from five metres – and no, it’s not a brick. Turns out, it is a USB – in particular, the newly announced LaCie XtremKey. Offering industrial-strength protection, it literally is a USB inside a metal tube. According to LaCie, it is constructed with a metal alloy that is composed of zinc, aluminium, magnesium and copper – or zamac – and can withstand pressure from a 10-ton truck. It is also waterproof up to 100 metres.

All that for a gadget that is just only three-inches tall and fits right on your key ring. It comes out in August with capacities ranging from 8GB and 64GB. Pricing has not been revealed as of yet. Gallery is below, press release after the jump.

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The Future of Plasma Television

By Guest Writer on July 11th, 2010 1 Comment

ANALYSIS: Talking about the decline of any product would be as hard as talking about its success in the market. There cannot be any product in the market that is launched predicting its downfall. Every new launch is made after a thorough study, design, testing and other necessary routines.

However recent reports reveal that the end of the plasma displays is at its closer end. At the same instance, other reports simultaneously explain about its success in the market. Hence the future of Plasma Televisions is at times hard to be anticipated and a final conclusion about the fall of plasma displays cannot be drawn.

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Play putty comes alive with a magnet

By Terence Huynh on July 9th, 2010 1 Comment

Wow. That’s about all we can say. This gadget is truly AWESOME! Yes, I know, I’m showing off my inner child, but this is unbelievable (and yet, it is real). Say hello to the Magnetic Thinking Putty, and it is literally just putty with something special – use the included magnet and it comes alive!

Well, it actually is just attracted to the metal. There is no living organisms in the putty. But by doing that, you also make it into a magnet – and can even, so it says, magnetise objects that are non-magnetic. It also acts like normal putty by allowing you to stretch it, tear it and bounce it when in a ball-like shape.

It is only US$13.50 and you can buy it from Vat19, and it is already sold out at the time of writing (but keep looking, you might be lucky and get one). There is also a video, which can be viewed right after the jump.

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Sony brings 3D photography with new Cyber-shot cameras

By Terence Huynh on July 8th, 2010 No Comments

A simple software update will not suffice Sony with their 3D domination plans. The company has revealed that it will make two new Cyber-shot cameras that will natively shoot in 3D, right from the box, with the new DSC-TX9 and the DSC-WX5 cameras.

Both will feature a new feature call Sweep Multi View, allowing photographers caputre 3D-like images and view them on the camera without a dedicated 3D display, and will also feature Background Defocus mode, allowing them to blur the background so the image just focuses on the product.

The TX9 follows the slide-down-the-cover-to-reveal-the-lens design of previous models, and will have 4x optical zoom and a 3.5-inch LCD screen. The WX5, however, follows the classic camera design, where the lens pops out when turned on, and has 5x optical zoom with a 24mm wide-angle lens and a 2.8-inch LCD screen. Both feature the Exmor R CMOS sensor and can record in full HD.

The TX9 comes in red (though it looks like it is pink) and grey, while the WX5 comes in silver and black. Availability and pricing has not been revealed. Image gallery is below. (Note, the image above is the WX5)

Lenovo announces IdeaCentre A310 desktop

By Terence Huynh on July 7th, 2010 No Comments

Lenovo has announced, incidentally in Japan, its brand new desktop PC called the IdeaCentre A310. With a large LED backlit 21-inch widescreen display that along is 18.5mm slim, it does kind of look like a cross between a Mac Mini and an iMac.

Or it’s just me with my slowly-emerging Apple fanboy-ness.

It comes with a Core i3-350M processor with integrated graphics, up to 500GB of storage and will come in 3GB of DDR3 RAM (that is expandable up to 8GB). It also features no DVD drive, but you can have one just by plugging an external drive. At least it has a HDMI port.

It comes out in Japan on July 17 with pricing not revealed, sadly. For some reason, however, that will not include Microsoft Office 2010 Personal Edition. So if you want that included – even though there are a couple of alternatives out there on the web – then you have to wait until the end of July.

Source: Lenovo (Translated by Google)

Fangirl designs iPad bag from pony skin

By Terence Huynh on July 2nd, 2010 No Comments

Ah yes. Something for that inner greedy person in you. Looks nice, right? This is an iPad bag, with a bag on one side and an iPad case on the other. Yeah, it’s a bit complicated to explain how that works, but the image above can shed some light. This bag is made out of pony skin and leather, according to its creator.

You can also still play with your iPad, despite having a screen protector, as the material will allow the iPad to recognise your gestures. It also has a hole for your earphones. Of course, since it also has a bag component to it, you can carry your laptop along with it, or just carry the items you usually carry along.

This bag is not on sale, as of yet, so don’t expect this to get this to your wife/girlfriend any time soon. Video is after the jump.

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Firmware upgrade allows 3D photos on NEX-5 and NEX-3

By Terence Huynh on July 2nd, 2010 No Comments

Sony looks like to be the big pusher of 3D. From 3D gaming to watching 3D content on television (which is very limited on free-to-air), now its letting you create 3D panoramic shots via a firmware upgrade.

While we can’t really tell for sure if this works, it sounds cool – in the sense where your photos have more depth than the standard photo. According to Sony, you press the shutter button and sweep the camera across whatever you are shooting.

The firmware upgrade is free, and can be downloaded on its site.

Nexus One on sale today on Vodafone

By Terence Huynh on July 2nd, 2010 1 Comment

Remember when we reported on the Nexus One and that it would be coming to Vodafone Hutchison Australia sometime in the year? Well, turns out it comes out today on Vodafone. The Google-backed phone produced by HTC will be coming to Vodafone Australia.

The phone will be on its $79 cap and you don’t pay any mobile handset repayments and get 1GB of data, and you can choose to have an unlimited voice plan or without the unlimited voice cap – but it does include free delivery.

Recap on the phone: it does have a 5 megapixel camera with a 4GB microSD card included. It supports Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and a 3.7-inch touch screen.

Nokia dumps Symbian for MeeGo on Nseries phones

By Terence Huynh on June 25th, 2010 1 Comment

After several years with Symbian, the open source mobile OS that it help to create, Nokia will be dumping the mobile OS in favour for the MeeGo platform it is developing with Intel. While this is was a long time coming, Nokia announced that the N8 will be the final device that will run on Symbian.

The switch means that Nokia is betting on MeeGo to be a challenger to Apple, after Symbian failed to catch up to the iPhone’s dominance when it went out in 2007. Plus, with Google Android and Palm/HP’s WebOS, MeeGo will have some tough competition.

MeeGo is a Linux-based platform that was created after a merger between Nokia’s Maemo platform and Intel’s Mobiln platform. It’s expected that Symbian will still be used in other Nokia phones.

Telstra leak reveals Windows Phone 7 phone and launch

By Terence Huynh on June 22nd, 2010 No Comments

A leak from a Telstra employee (most likely now going to be fired if caught) on a developer’s forum has revealed that Telstra might be selling a Windows Phone 7 phone from HTC. The phone, codenamed Mozart, is set to be on Telstra’s own shelves in October on a $49 cap. That image, however, is not the actual phone, but is a photoshopped HTC Desire (which, ironically, is an Android phone).

What’s interesting is that, because of the leak, is that now we know when we can expect Windows Phone 7 to be out – which has been really vague, mainly because Microsoft refused to give any indications of details about availability or phones launching with the new OS. So expect this to be somewhere in October (or after or before).

Toshiba brings out dual-touch screen Windows laptop

By Terence Huynh on June 21st, 2010 No Comments

Well, not a surprise that Toshiba will try and enter the touch-screen devices market. However, having two on a laptop? Called the “libretto W100″, the laptop has two 7-inch wide touchscreens that equate to, apparently, a 1o-inch widescreen display. The device comes out during Toshiba’s 25th Anniversary.

The laptop will be powered with a 1.20GHz Pentium processor, 62GB of storage provided by a solid state drive, 2GB of DDR3 memory and has a 1 megapixel camera. It only weighs less than 700 grams with a battery life of two hours. It will support 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1, and will have a microSD card slot. Because of the two screens, it has a virtual keyboard with six modes and has haptic feedback. Like all notebooks, it will be running Windows 7 – but will that be a good OS to support a device that has a small touch screen?

It will come out in Japan at the end of August, with pricing not available. US availability has been confirmed to be “this summer” from retailers. Again, pricing has not been confirmed.

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