Posted Jan 17th 2008 12:33PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
According to a highly dubious study recently released by a maker of paper-shredders, 47-percent of Americans said they would “like to be Bill Gates.” The other 53-percent said they preferred being powerless, poor, and not knowing what to do with Visual Basic.
Even though I own the WiFi t-shirt, which shows you - and everyone else - when you’re in a WiFi zone, it’s a little geeky even for me, so I’d prefer this bag by Soyntec. The Wiffinder series of bags will find a signal for you and show you the connection available via a discreet “slideshow” function on the side of the case. The Wiffinder 400 Executive case fits laptops up to 15.4″ and costs 43,02 Euros (about $65).
Via Gear Fuse.
Posted Jan 17th 2008 8:53AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
We’ve no idea what’s up with Europe and its admittedly zany fascination with canine research, but not even two months after a team of Austrians claimed to have trained a litter to use computers, a crew from Hungary is now trumpeting its dog translation software. More specifically, Csaba Molnár (and colleagues) from Eötvös Loránd University have reportedly been able to create an application that can “identify and differentiate the acoustic features of dog barks, and classify them according to different contexts and individual dogs.” The gurus began by feeding some 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs in a half dozen situations to a computer, and during analysis, it was able to correctly classify the barks between 40 and 50-percent of the time. Granted, that’s a heck of a lot better than any of us could do, so we suppose we can’t yelp about the results too much.
[Via TGDaily, image courtesy of CalgaryAgility]
Posted Jan 17th 2008 6:29AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter, has been denied a shot at the Olympics… for being too fast. The runner — who uses carbon-fiber, prosthetic feet — was reviewed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (or IAAF), a review which found the combination of man and machine to be too much for its purely human competitors. According to the IAAF report, the “mechanical advantage of the blade in relation to the healthy ankle joint of an able bodied athlete is higher than 30-percent.” Additionally, Pistorius uses 25-percent less energy than average runners due to the artificial limbs, therefore giving him an unfair advantage on the track… or so they say. Oscar is expected to appeal the decision, saying a lack of variables explored by the single scientific study calls for deeper investigation into the matter. Our suggestion? Prosthetic legs for all!
[Via Medgadget]
With the WiFi-Enabled Universal Remote Control you can control all of your A/V Equipment over your existing WiFi network from any room in the house.
The WiFi Remote is much more than a universal remote control. It provides you and your family with hand-held access to TV listings, program descriptions, news, weather, sports, interactive offers, and information services through the click365™ network over your existing wireless network. The click365 network provides updates to program guides, device codes, and setup information, letting you browse content, purchase products, or participate in gaming activities while using your home entertainment devices. The WiFi Remote can control a virtually unlimited number of devices and perform up to 255 user-specified activities. The WiFi universal remote control has a built-in code library and simple product brand search to simplify setup. The WiFi Remote also offers learning functionality so you can completely eliminate the need to use any of your single device remotes.
Gimmie!
Suggested Price: $224.99
LG GGW-H10NI MULTI BLUE HD DVD Reader has become panache for every finicky buyer due to its trendy appearance and important upgraded features. Its Blue-ray disc format associated with up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc is the best ever solution for great storage capacity. Its next generation optical disc format Super Multi Blue Drive is making its statement in the market of a DVD player. This outstanding performer has the ability to record, rewrite and playback the BD format along with the capacity of reading and playing HD DVDs and burning fast.
It has come with various host interface features like X3T13 ATA/ATAPI5/1321D, INF-8090i Rev.6.0, INCITS xxx T10/1675D Revision 2b etc.
It is available in the market with the sustained rate of 143.86 Mbits/s (4x) max for BD-ROM, 109.65 Mbits/s (3x) max for HD DVD-ROM, 16.62 Mbytes/s (12x) max for DVD-ROM, 4,800 Kbytes/s (32x) max for CD-ROM. Apart from this, this product is up in the market with the access time of 200ms for BD-ROM, 210ms for HD DVD-ROM, 180 ms for DVD-ROM, 170 ms for CD-ROM.
It is obtainable in the market with several regular features like:
LG GGW-H10NI MULTI BLUE HD DVD Reader is the style statement for its dimension and weight like 5.75” x 1.63” x 7.87” external dimension and 5.83” x 1.65” x 0.20” front bezel and 1.98lbs (0.9kg) weight. Its burst transfer rate included here are Ultra DMA Mode 4, Multi word DMA Mode2, PIO Mode 4.
LG GGW-H10NI MULTI BLUE HD DVD Reader is shaking the market with its affordable price of $999.99 (MSRP).
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Posted Jan 17th 2008 5:01AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Displays
When you’re driving “pinpoint calibration, consistent light output, and enhanced color/grayscale compensation” as the main selling points of your new monitor, it can only be NEC behind the wheel. Their 30-inch, MultiSync LCD3090WQXi letter-pie targets professionals in the media arts with a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution, 12-bit internal look-up table, ColorComp technology for image accuracy, and support for 102% of the NTSC color scale. A pair of DVI inputs allows for both HDCP-encrypted and analog sources. Ships February for $2,200.
[Via Trusted Reviews]
Read [Warning: PDF]
Posted Jan 17th 2008 1:13AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Displays
It’s here. Dell’s 24-inch, Ultrasharp 2408WFP monitor is up and dancing on Dell’s US page. $748 buys into a 1,900 x 1,200 resolution, 178-degree viewing angle, 1,300:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness, 6-ms response, and 102% color gamut. Standard stuff until you get to the vast suite of jacks: HDMI, 2x DVI, DisplayPort, VGA, Composite, S-Video, Component, a single USB upstream, and 2x USB downstream. Just another reason why Round Rock, Tejas is the world’s focal point for computer monitors. Who’d have thunk?
[Thanks, Brad]
Read — Order page
Read — User guide
There are a couple of ways to spy on other people, and one of the best is to use a spy camera. Needless to say, the camera in questions must not bring a lot of attention to itself, otherwise the spying plan goes down the toilet, and you will need to get another way to work as an undercover agent.
With that being said, the Puppy Wireless Spy Camera, which is a recent addition at Brando, looks like the gadget that can get the job done.
In case you are wondering, the camera is located on the nose, and unlike what happens with other low-quality spy cams, the Puppy is able to transmit both video and audio, without the need of wires because of the 2.4GHz frequency.
Having small dimensions - 7.5 x 12.5 x 2.4 cm - and a lightweight factor of 182g also helps to achieve the spying sessions. In the end, you can check the video content in 2 different systems: PAL with a resolution of 628×582, or NTSC that has a smaller 510×492 resolution.
The Puppy Wireless Spy Camera isn’t cheap, it costs $150 and the whole package includes the camera itself (with microphone), plus a receiver with Li-battery, plus 2 adaptors for the camera and for the receiver, the usual manual, and last but not least, an AV cable.
Product Page
Guest post by Tiago of Gadgetizer
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There was no shortage of announcements at MacWorld. The biggest (and most expected) was the MacBook Air. However, the other big news (that was also predicted by many) was the iTunes Movie rentals. The rumors pretty much hit this one on the head, but there were a few surprises.
First up, all of the major movie studios (Paramount, Sony, Warner and Universal among others) are on board with it. The rentals will run you $2.99 for older titles, while new releases will be $3.99. You won’t be able to rent movies as soon as they are released on DVD though, you’ll be forced to wait 30 days.
When you rent a movie you’ll have up to 30 days to begin watching it. Once you have started watching it, you have 24 hours to watch it as much as you like. In all, it sounds pretty cool
Speaking of movies, Fox and Apple teamed up for something really cool. This actually pertains to movies that you purchase, rather than rent. When you buy a Fox DVD, you’ll be able to pop the DVD into your computer and create a “digital copy” which you can use on your computer, iPod, Apple TV or what have you. It looks like this will be showing up on new Fox titles, the first being the Family Guy special “Blue Harvest” (which rocks if you haven’t seen it).
Source: Apple
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