Gadgets and New Technologies

I suppose that the military has been looking for more remotely piloted aircrafts since the MQ-1 Predator, and it appears they have been going to colleges for their next one. They have given the University of Michigan a $10 million dollar grant to come up with a “six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat”. I don’t know if the picture to the left here is their prototype, but you have to admit that it certainly looks neat. Not only is the COM-BAT (it’s official name?) designed for reconnaissance, but the military wants it to “gathers data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time”. (Read the full post about ‘COM-BAT Experimental Surveillance Flyer’…)

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If you’re looking for an original version of the hot dog vendor cart that could be seen in NYC a couple of years ago, look no further. This one is the “Authentic” vendor cart, but it is only for the “rich” because its price is pretty high - $5,500. On the other hand, for this price you’ll get to know the whole hot-dog-cooker experience, which means that the cart includes an ice cooler for the beverages and meat, plus a steamer tray that is able to hold 20 hot dogs. It is up to you to decide if spending $5,500 to make hot dogs is just a bit too much… The front of the cart houses a two shelf storage or display area for drinks, buns, or condiments; additional storage area is located underneath. (Read the full post about ‘Hot Dog Vendor Cart’…)

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Because there’s nothing like blowing your eardrums off while you rest, the inflatable Music Pillow speakers exist. Some people can rest with headphones on. Still, others prefer to be totally headphone free while listening to music. Best of all, you can take it anywhere with you — you’d have a pillow and a speaker in one. It runs on 4 triple A batteries for 10 hours and can connect to any music source. You can get one now for around 8 in Gadget4All. via (Read the full post about ‘Music Pillow: Blows Your Eardrums While You Sleep’…)

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Rockstar’s Bully caught a lot of bad press even before it ever came out on the PS2. That was baseless, and most of those decrying the game’s subject matter hadn’t even seen the game in action. What else is new, right? Then the game came out, and some people relaxed. That’s until it was discovered that you could kiss boys in the game. Oh, heavens no! And now, as the game comes out on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, the game’s getting bad press again. But this time it’s from the gaming media, not from the mainstream media or conservative critics. Read on to find out why everybody else might be wrong about this game, or perhaps why they are right–for now. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Bully: Scholarship Edition for Xbox 360′…)

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Just like Duracell bunnies, scientists working for the Pentagon have finally managed to develop insect cyborgs that are able to last a whole lot longer, making them useful for recon missions without being detected by the enemy. Part of DARPA’s Hi-MEMS program, the plan includes aims to implant micro-mechanical systems [MEMS] “inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis”, ensuring that tissues grow around and fuse with the minuscule machines as bugs get older. The whole idea is to remotely operate these insects using “direct electrical muscle excitation, electrical stimulation of neurons, projection of ultrasonic pulses simulating bats, [or] projection of pheromones.” Don’t think the SPCA will have anything negative to say about this, as it is a matter of national security and bugs generally don’t seem to feel the pain. (Read the full post about ‘Cyborg Bugs Longer Lasting Now’…)

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Steve Jobs is not a big fan of a Flash Player for the iPhone according to an eFluxMedia article earlier this month. That’s not stopping Adobe from moving forward with plans to offer a Flash Player for the iPhone anyway. CNet is reporting that Adobe’s CEO, Shantau Narayen, stated that the company is committed to working with Apple to ensure Flash applications can run on the iPhone.

Adobe has even gone as far as beginning to develop the new Flash player themselves using the software development kit (SDK) which Apple provided to third-party developers to create applications for the iPhone and ipod Touch.

(Read the full post about ‘Adobe CEO says there will be a Flash player for iPhone’…)

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How many gadgets do you know actually cram in as many as 5 features in a single device? Well here’s the 5-in-1 Gagdet Pen to prove it so, featuring a pen, a mini torch, a laser pointer for your presentations, a stylus for those touch screen devices and even a bank note checker to see if anyone returns you fake $1 bills. After all, you can’t be that much of a high flyer considering the 5-in-1 Gagdet Pen retails for a mere $11, so looking out for counterfeit Benjamins is pretty much a far-fetched idea. Product Page (Read the full post about ‘5-in-1 Gagdet Pen’…)

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It seems camera phones are about to get a whole lot better, at least if Samsung has any say in the matter. What you see here is the company’s latest technological miracle: an 8 megapixel CMOS sensor designed exclusively for camera phones. As you can see, it’s pretty small - just 28mm x 15.3mm x 8.5mm - but most impressive is the functionality it provides. Not only does it come with 8 megapixels, it also offers ISO settings up to 1600, which means pics taken in low light conditions will look much better. There also anti-shake technology built-in, face recognition, a 1cm macro, and Samsung’s very own “Smile shutter” system, which detects smiles, and automatically takes a photo when everyone is smiling! (Read the full post about ‘Samsung reinvents the camera phone’…)

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In the point-and-shoot market, one extra exposure mode is enough to justify a whole new model. So we congratulate Panasonic for bringing a genuinely rare feature to its new Lumix TZ50: WiFi. The 9.1MP camera has 50MB of on-board memory from which it will beam photographs over its 802.11b/g connection. These can be sent to a PC or directly to the web; specifically, Panasonic’s own LUMIX CLUB PicMate site. Otherwise, the ¥50,000 ($505) camera is fairly pedestrian. a 10x optical zoom, a decent 3″ LCD, 1280×720 video and the usual sprinkling of schlocky special effects. It does, at least, sport a Leica lens, but given the lack of Flickr support and the high price, we’d recommend anything else, plus an Eye-Fi wireless SD card. (Read the full post about ‘New Panasonic Lumix With Built-in WiFi’…)

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Posted Mar 20th 2008 4:57AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Desktops, Digital Cameras After this morning’s whispered layoffs, we’re digging deep to bring you a bit of good news about AMD. VESA just announced that AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 3000 series (and the 780G integrated graphics chipset) are the first graphics cards in the Industry granted DisplayPort certification. About time since Dell’s 30-inch 3008WFP monitor has been shipping since December. Way to go Paula AMD, way to go! [Via tgdaily] (Read the full post about ‘First! AMD’s Radeon HD 3000 graphics cards now DisplayPort certified’…)

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