Gadgets and New Technologies

by Ryan Block, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 10:41PM Rewind back to late 2006. The PS3 was launching alongside the Wii and geeky editors like ourselves were having a field day. We’d already managed to convince our good pal Ben Heck to build another Xbox 360 laptop and the Wii Laptop, so it was only a matter of time before we started brainstorming on how the hell we could possibly fit a PS3 into a “portable” enclosure. That’s the part where Ben stepped up his game and worked his magic — on and off for almost a year and a half — to build… the PS3 Laptop!The essential specs: Original backwards compatible 60GB model 17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720p HDMI-DVI connection (same as last Xbox 360 laptop) Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jack Size: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inches Weight: 16 pounds! (Read the full post about ‘The PS3 Laptop: from Ben Heck to Engadget with love’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 6:12PMIt’s hardly the only one working on making lithium-ion batteries a little less likely to blow up in your face, but the prolific folks at Fraunhofer Institute seem to think that they’ve come up with a solid contender for your future laptop or cellphone, and they’re now set to take the wraps off it at the Hannover Messe conference later this month. The key to their solution, it seems, is the use of a non-flammable polymer electrolyte instead of the liquid electrolyte now commonly used in lithium-ion batteries. While that switch cuts down on the explosiveness, it also introduced a fair number of challenges, not the least of which is the fact that polymer becomes less conductive as it gets more solid. (Read the full post about ‘Fraunhofer takes a stab at non-exploding lithium-ion batteries’…)

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 9:23AMAnnounced last week, we now have the first video of HPI’s G-Dog courtesy of Impress. HPI’s definitely not going for cute and cuddly here; this cyberdog’s all bite and surprisingly quick and nimble on that slick tabletop. As such our plans to slather the Earth in linoleum after the uprising look sufficiently foiled. Damn you H.P.Iiiiiiii! Click through for the action, while you still can. (Read the full post about ‘Video: HPI’s G-Dog will hunt’…)

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All four devices are being auctioned on eBay and the proceeds will go to the Children’s Cancer Foundation (in Singapore). Before bidding, you should know that HTC will only ship to an address in Singapore. Highlights Windows Mobile 6 Pro WiFi Stereo Bluetooth MicroSD port (512MB included, 4GB max) 2 Megapixel camera 4.0” x 2.4” x 0.6”, 4 ounces (Read the full post about ‘HTC Touch Limited Edition Sale for Charity’…)

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People often say they look to the stars for inspiration and what a better message than this, we should be using Firefox. On the left is an image taken by the Hubble telescope and on the right is that same image with our favorite browsers icon over-layed. While not an exact match, they are strikingly similar. While it does appear that there was some editing done to the original image, that seems to have been kept to a minimum. Keep reading to check out the original untouched image that was taken from the Hubble space telescope way back in February 2004. Via [Wired] Image [Wikipedia] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Firefox usage spreads, its now found even in outer-space’…)

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This seemingly toy-ish Ferrari is in fact a cellphone. The dialing pad is located underneath the car where the axle should be. The idea is interesting, but I agree with my friends from techdigest that I do not like the idea of talking where the back axle is. It’s purely psychological of course, but why do you think that the original ipod was white and shiny like a bathroom? Price: 96 British pounds. (Read the full post about ‘Ferrari-Shaped Mobile Phone’…)

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AgfaPhoto has announced its newest camcorder product, the tiny DV5000Z. Measuring only 4.7 inches x 2.75 inches and weighing only about 0.44-pounds, the DV 5000Z is loaded with big features despite its small size. The DV5000Z record videos in 16:9 format with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. The camcorder supports MPEG-4 recording with H.264 compression. It can record up to 4 hours and 20 minutes of high-definition video on an 8GB SDHC memory card. The DV5000Z also features other goodies such as 16-bit stereo sound, 3x optical zoom and 2.5-inch rotating LCD, built-in video lamp that serves as a flash, and a carry pouch. For live voice-over, the DV5000Z is compatible with external mic as well. (Read the full post about ‘AgfaPhoto intro’s the DV-5000Z high-definition camcorder’…)

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Today Fujitsu boarded the bandwagon of companies trying to create an “environment-friendly image” by devising a nature friendly notebook computer made entirely of wood. The WoodShell is just concept prototype, so don’t even expect this in a computer store any time soon. [ Source ] (Read the full post about ‘Fujitsu WoodShell environment-friendly laptop is made of Cedar wood’…)

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BD Touch is a technology from NetBlender that lets your iPhone talk to your Blu-ray player over a WiFi connection. Essentially, it is just a set of tools which allow some fancy remote control of the player using the iPhone interface (including accelerometers), but the list of possibilities looks intriguing. First, applications could be built to leverage the data from a Blu-ray player, building an iTunes like catalog of movies into the iPhone, for example, and offering title recommendations. Far more exciting though, is the possibility of sending movies direct from disk to the iPhone, ready to play. (Read the full post about ‘BD Touch Could Send Blu-ray Movies Direct To iPhone’…)

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Perhaps after all this while grappling with Blue Screens of Death while using Microsoft products, the company’s conscience has finally been pricked as they decide to help you save time instead of waste it with the aforementioned problem by launching a software technology known as “Clearflow”. Not only does this software helps drivers with directions, it can also be used to avoid traffic jams so that you will be able to arrive home in time for dinner with the missus. The technology involved has been in the works for the better part of the last half decade, thanks to the efforts of AI researchers from Microsoft’s Research lab. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft helps save your time’…)

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