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iHeart: “Jewelry Box” speaker and dock for your iPhone/iPod

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 04:02 AM PST

iheart

This one is for the the ladies: A cute, heart-shaped active speaker box for the iPhone or iPod that doubles as a dock and also offers a mirror that pops up when you open it. Aptly named iHeart [JP], the “Jewelry Box Speaker” is the brain child of a Japanese company called Marubeni Infotec.

iheart_2

The dock is ready for 4th generation iPods, the iPod mini/nano/classic/touch and the iPhone 3G/3GS. You’ll get 2W×2ch speakers and a bunch of heart-shaped buttons to control your play list. The box itself measures 153×142×98.5mm and weighs 800g.

iheart_3

The iHeart will go on sale in Japan at the end of next month for $110. It’s Japan-only, so I'd suggest you contact import/export specialists Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya in case you want to make your girlfriend happy.

Fujifilm and IBM develop magnetic tape that stores 35TB

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST

magnetic_tape

Fujifilm and IBM today announced they jointly developed a technology that makes it possible to store 35TB of data on a single magnetic tape. The companies say the tape can store the “text of 35 million books, which would require 248 miles (399 km) of bookshelves”. 35TB is about 44 times as much as previously possible.

The tape, which measures 800 meters in length by one-half-inch wide, boasts a density of 29.5 billion bits per square inch.

The tape is based on a barium ferrite magnetic material developed by the two companies. Magnetic tapes usually use metal magnetic particles to store data. To increase capacity, the size of those particles needs to be reduced. This procedure, however, leads to weaker magnetism of the particles. The new Fujifilm/IBM material boasts high magnetism even in small particles (particle size has been reduced to one-third that of conventional metal magnetic substances).

Fujifilm and IBM aim at commercializing the new magnetic tape in the near future, mainly targeting data centers.

Daily Crunch: New Amusement Edition

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 12:00 AM PST

The fastest netbook in the world

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:00 PM PST

fastest-notebook1This is technically a DIY project, but I don’t know how many people are actually capable of doing this modification. What’s so scary about it? I dunno, shoehorning a Core Duo processor into a Sony Vaio UX17, one of the smallest netbooks available. Obviously this is a one off, so don’t expect to see it for sale any time soon.

The standard UX17 is a Core Solo, with 1GB of RAM and weighed about 17 ounces. The new improved version is a Core Duo U7700 which had to be hand soldered on to the motherboard. The modders also put a 128GB SSD drive in, but they were unable to increase the amount of RAM. There are a few drawbacks with this level of hardware in a netbook like this. The builders didn’t mention the battery life, and there’s no doubt in my mind that heat will be be an issue as well. Regardless of the problems, it’s still impressive that anyone can put that much technology in a such a small case. For the full write up, including how they did it, visit Tom’s Hardware.

Rickets on the rise in UK; video games to blame?

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 07:30 PM PST

couch_potato
I try to stay active in the “video games cause this or that” debate, because usually it’s stodgy old men with conflicts of interest and think all games are Doom, talking about how a 15-year-old kid took a gun to school because Grand Theft Auto told him to. That’s easy to fight. But when they’re right, they’re right: it seems that kids in the UK are spending so much time indoors with their screens that they’re increasingly developing complications of vitamin D deficiency. In other words, they’ve got rickets.

Of course, we have to take this study with a grain of salt. No doubt the researchers were simply listing some of the contributing factors to what they see as a disturbing uptick in rickets diagnoses.

ricketsWhat can you say in defense? I mean, you do play video games indoors, generally, and video game hours are on the rise. Well, actually, pretty much the defense against other allegations works here: where are the parents?

In every situation where the kid is violent and plays violent games, where are the parents? When kids grow obese because they are getting no exerceise, where are the parents? And when a kid is essentially so malnourished that his bones lose their rigidity, where the hell are the parents?

While it would be accurate to say that the increasing popularity of games has led to more indoor hours, and more indoor hours leads to less vitamin D, and less vitamin D may lead to rickets, you kind of skip a few steps there. Like, say, the step where a parent gives their kid a Flintstone vitamin every day to make sure they’re getting their RDAs. Here in Seattle everyone takes D supplements because, let’s face it, where else are we going to get it?

So the increased indoor hours are kind of a fact of the new, online, games-and-media-oriented life that some lead. But that just means understanding the risks associated with that. If our kids were spending more and more time outdoors, there’d be an increase in sunburns and broken wrists, but somehow I doubt they’d blame it on Tag.

Dance, floating space robot, dance!

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 07:01 PM PST

Make found these wonderful floating space robots designed to fly in formation in zero gravity. How do they do it? These things, called Spheres, use compressed air to spin in place – but not as fast as you see here.

Obviously these things will eventually tell us that we can’t go outside the ship to check out the broken-down harvester, but we’ll ignore them and then find out something terrible. Get used to them while you still have time!

David Blaine reveals at TEDMED how he held his breath for 17 minutes

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 06:34 PM PST

I don’t care how you feel about magician David Blaine. Watch the TED video after the jump where he tells the story about his journey to break the breath holding world record. It’s fascinating and he’s actually a good storyteller. But be warned, you’ll probably spend the next 20 minutes watching the video and gaining respect for David Blaine. I did.

BookBook wraps your Macbook in old leather

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 06:00 PM PST

pageHeroImages_bookbook3Finding a case for your computer is easy. Finding one that unique and still protects your computer can be a whole different story. Sure, leather is nice. Neoprene protects really well, and there are assorted other products that will protect your Mac Book, but they all look the same. Here’s your chance to use something that’s custom and unique – the BookBook. Based on the concept of hiding in plain sight, the BookBook case resembles an antique leather bound book, aged and distressed by years of contact.

Of course, the BookBook is hand distressed, but instead of it happening over years, it happens rather quickly in order to make it a marketable product. Still, once the cover is zipped closed it pretty much looks like a book. The zipper pulls are intentionally designed to look like a bookmark, the outer shell is leather that’s been distressed to look aged. To the causal observer, it looks like a book. I like it, I just wish they made one for netbooks.

The BookBook case is available for the 13 inch or 15 inch MacBook for $79.99.

[Via Gizmodo]

Borderlands Rap (Emcee Slick)

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 05:30 PM PST


Yeah, this is likely the best thing you’ll watch today. That is, of course, if Borderlands stole the last few months from you.

OnLive demoed; lag and image quality may indeed be an issue

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 05:02 PM PST


There are people beta testing OnLive out there, and of course after our various looks at the remote gaming service (and my repeated statements of skepticism) we try to keep up to date. PC Perspective has a nice, lengthy write-up of the beta, which you should read in its entirety if you’re particularly interested. However, the reduction of PC Per’s sauce is this: for certain games, and for certain gamers, it may just be a good solution. But for power players it just isn’t an option.

Of course, this is a beta service and someone outside of the beta area (adding a little bit of latency), so you can expect things to improve, but also consider that as more people join, the further OnLive’s system is stretched.

Some points worth noting:

  • Lag is in fact noticeable
  • Image quality is an issue if you’re used to PC gaming graphics
  • Game selection is limited right now (likely to change, but still)
  • Bandwidth congestion pretty much shuts it down

Some quotes from the conclusion:

In my testing I found that games that were slower paced, or at least had slower paced input mechanisms, played well enough that I could be fooled into thinking I was playing on a modestly configured local gaming system.

..If you are an avid PC gamer you will likely be very disappointed by the experience, both in terms of image quality and input latency

I think it’s a promising service, but right now that’s mainly what it is: promises. Right now I don’t want to rely on them or Comcast when I want to play a sweet new game. However, for many people it would be worth it just to have access to a few games at all times with the guarantee that they’ll play at least decently. Hopefully OnLive can keep that promise.

Review: Razer Imperator gaming mouse

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 04:30 PM PST

IMG_0318
Short version: Razer’s newest is more right-hand-oriented than ever and has a couple extra buttons. But while it may fit some hands better than the Death Adder, I don’t think it’s a definite improvement. That said, it’s worth a look if you haven’t found “your” mouse yet.

Features:

  • 5600 DPI laser tracking engine
  • Very right-handed design
  • Adjustable thumb buttons
  • 7 total buttons

Pros:

  • Different grip design might be better for some
  • Movable side buttons are a great idea
  • Like most Razer mice, it’s a good mouse

Cons:

  • Center buttons are too far down for frequent use
  • Grit WILL accumulate in that side-button crack

Full Review:

I’ll try to keep this one short, since many of you are familiar with the strong points of Razer mice: great looks, nice tracking, standard software for macros and customization, and so on. Razer mice are great, that’s established. But choosing the right one can be the difference between dominating a server and ragequitting with a sore hand. Fit and button placement are everything. So although I feel they’ve pretty much reached the pinnacle of mouse engineering with the Mamba, I happily concede that the form factor may not be for everyone. The Imperator takes the design of the Mamba and Death Adder and exaggerates it a bit, with results that may or may not be for you.

IMG_1545As you can see in my artfully composed product shots, the Imperator has a slightly different contour than its closest cousins. Look at this shot of the Mamba on the right (click for full size) and compare with the header image.

The “hump” of the mouse looks higher but it’s actually about the same, though with a more semicircular curve as opposed to the rounded angle of the Mamba. This means it meets your palm a little earlier and your index and middle fingers sit higher. On the other hand, there is now a little shelf for your thumb — it’s not very big, but it lends itself to a more relaxed grip. It’s for people who move the mouse more with their arm and wrist rather than using minute movements of their fingers, which is my way of doing it. On the far side of the mouse there is no shelf, in fact there is a bit of a waist, so there isn’t really a place for your ring finger and pinky to rest. This was probably my biggest ergonomic issue with the mouse: I ended up with those two fingers squished together along the very edge of the mouse because there was no place for them “upstairs” as it were.

I can see my description is inadequate; I’ll put together a short video. Here you go:

IMG_0313So, as I also addressed in the video, the thumb buttons slide back and forth, depending on where your thumb naturally goes to when you take it off its little shelf. This is a great development, although the thumb buttons are noticeably softer to press than the others. Nothing problematic, but I much prefer the big, fixed, clicky buttons of other mice.

There are two buttons in the middle of the mouse now, which it seems obvious to set to DPI up and down, but with Razer’s on-the-fly sensitivity (hold a button down and scroll) they feel redundant, and aren’t easily accessible for other functions. They’re too far back on the mouse to hit without moving your hand, so they can’t be for random stuff like minimize or double-click. The Mamba has two buttons like this but they’re to the left of the left mouse button, which worked out much better than I thought it would.

Verdict

So at $80 the Imperator is roughly twice the cost of a Death Adder, and $20-30 less than a Mamba. And of course there are other mouse companies out there, too — a G500 is actually a similar shape to this, now that I think of it, and it’s certainly a good mouse (and a bargain too at under $50). While I can’t say the Imperator excels in any way, it’s a perfectly decent mouse, just not suited to my style and also it seems like it’ll have a revision coming down the pipe some time soon as they tweak the shape a little further.

Razer Imperator

Wireless EKG becoming a reality

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 04:00 PM PST

po34234Everyone is familiar with the traditional EKG – you lie in the hospital bed, the leads connected to your body, as a machine is recording your heart rate and other vital statistics. But what if it was all wireless? What if you didn’t need to be in the hospital stuck in bed to be monitored?

The Japanese website Nikkei’s Tech-On! reports that engineers are developing a small, portable, and most importantly, wireless EKG system. Designed to run approximately 3 days on a charge, the device will communicate wirelessly using either a wifi or cellular connection.

[Via Medagadget]

Video: Gran Turismo 5’s insane “Data Logger Visualization Technology”

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 03:07 PM PST


So… “Data Logger Visualization Technology.” That’s a long and uninformative name. Technology that visualizes… data. Data that was at some point logged. What they’re trying to say is that they loaded up a real race car with monitoring gadgets and took note of a bunch of data — steering, throttle, G-force, and all that stuff — and logged it into a file. This file can be read by Gran Turismo 5 and produce essentially a 1:1 recreation of an actual real-world lap. Sure, you could race your own ghost, but why would you, when you can race Michael Schumacher’s?

niiice

This is only possible because the tracks and cars are simulated with such meticulous detail in GT5. Various scanning and storage technologies have allowed an almost unbelievable amount of precision, and although it’ll never be the same as actually going 140 around whatever circuit, it’s getting miiighty close.

[via CNET]

Interview: Casey Hudson, Team Lead for Mass Effect 2

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 02:35 PM PST

Watch live streaming video from crunchgear at livestream.com

Here is our live video interview with Casey Hudson of the Mass Effect 2 team. Enjoy!

Don’t forget: there’s a new trailer out there for you die hard fans.

DIY: It’s a ring on a stick!

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 02:30 PM PST

captive_ringSo this doesn’t really serve any practical purpose, but it’s definitely cool. One of the frequent contributors to Make just created a captive ring demonstration using an aluminum rod and a lathe. Pretty neat stuff.

[via Make]

‘Garbage Men’: A short comedic take on the hype surrounding the Apple Tablet

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 01:30 PM PST

gmen

This is a story about Louie, a municipal sanitation worker. It’s called “Garbage Men.” It’s fiction. It takes place on January 27, 2010, the day and date of the big Apple announcement. It has mild profanity because that’s how people talk.

\Alarm rings at 3:30am\

Louie: God damn it. After 10 years this doesn’t get any easier.

\Louie takes a shower, gets dressed, and leaves for HQ. His wife and kid are still fast asleep.\

Louie: (Thinking to himself) I hope you have nightmares, you little f*cks. If I didn’t love you f*cks, I’d have skipped town years ago.

\In his green car, Louie screams "F*ck!" and speeds down the highway.\

Louie: I should crash this car. I should crash and I should die, right here, right now, and all of my internal organs splatter everywhere and ruin everyone’s commute to work. But I can’t because I have a family. Pfft, family. I only see my kid when he’s staring at his computer screen, and I only see my wife when I’m dreaming that she’s somebody else. I hope I was a horrible person in a past life because this is like some sort of *monumental* punishment.

\Louie turns on his radio and tunes into the local news station.\

Louie: (Yelling at the radio) Yeah, where’s my bailout, huh?! You don’t see those Wall Street douchebags getting up at 3:30 in the morning to collect my trash, do ya?!

\The news reader mentions that Apple is expected to announce a new tablet computer today.\

Louie: Oh, that’s the thing my kid has been bugging me about, this tablet thing? Great, another expensive piece of plastic junk he’s going to want. And what is it, like a big iPhone? Why can’t you just visit smaller Web sites? I mean, Jesus, I’m barely making enough money as it is. I put a piece of tape over the "check engine" light!

\Louis arrives at HQ. His superior is in his office mulling over paperwork.\

Superior: (Muttering to himself) …capital of Argentina… Lou, what’s the capital of Argentina?

Louie: Buenos Aires, I think… Wait, so you’re in here doing crossword puzzles at 4 in the morning?

Superior: Lou, I got a question for ya. What’s all this talk I hear about some Apple thing that’s supposed to come out today? You’re the one with the computer nerd kid, right?

Louie: (Incredulous) All this talk? Where are you hearing all this talk? You’re a sanitation manager. And yes, my son is a computer nerd, thank you for your concern. Apple thing? I don’t know, it’s some… f*cking thing. It’s called a tablet. It’s like a small computer I guess, or like a big iPhone.

Superior: Like a big iPhone?

Louie: (Annoyed) Yeah, like a big iPhone. Were you not here three seconds ago?

Superior: Relax, Lou. Jeez. What’s your problem?

Louie: (Resigned) I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve been a little on-edge lately. My car’s acting up, I got bill collectors calling my house now… maybe I should just not pay the phone bill. Then they wouldn’t be able to call.

Superior: Now you’re thinking!

Louie: (Hurriedly, with a tinge of annoyance) Alright. You know, I gotta get out of here. I’ll see you at the end of my shift.

Superior: Buck up, Lou. At least you got a job, right? Lot of people out there looking for work and you’re gainfully employed.

Louie: (Dejected) Yeah, I guess. OK, take it easy.

\Louie gets in his garbage truck. He’s the driver. He’s joined by his two partners.\

Man One: Hey, Lou.

Man Two: Lou, how’s it going?

Louie: Same old, I guess. You guys?

Man One: Can’t complain.

Man Two: I lost $50 on the game last night, but other than that I’m alright.

Louie: Again with the gambling? You know you have a problem, right?

Man Two: I can quit anytime I want.

Man One: Yeah, and I’m dating Megan Fox.

Louie: (Incredulous) Seriously? What are you, in a sitcom?

Man One: What? I thought it was a good line.

Louie: (Annoyed) Yeah, maybe if we were on the set of "Garbage Men/Funny Men." (Sighs) Come on, let’s go.

\They drive off. Louie turns on the same news station.\

Man Two: Hey, that’s the Apple thing you mentioned the other day, right Lou?

Louie: Yeah, my kid keeps bugging me about it. He says it will forever change the way people use computers.

Man One: Can I still go to my favorite porn site? You know, the one I sent you that link to the other day, with the girl and the thing and the other thing?

Louie: (Annoyed) You know, thanks for that, by the way. My wife found it in my Internet history. I had to explain to her that all I did was click on an e-mail link and it popped up. That was an hour-long conversation! An hour of my life gone, just like that! (Snaps fingers.) I only have so many hours left! (Gestures at his watch.) Wait, what did you ask–can you still visit that porn site? I don’t know, I guess; it’s a computer!

Man One: So then how is that any different than the computer I have now?

Louie: I don’t know, I guess you can touch it.

Man One: Touch what?

Louie: (Angry) The screen! Ho-ly sh-it!

Man One: I still don’t see how that revolutionizes anything.

Man Two: Yeah, me neither. I mean, how big are we talking about here? Can I fit it in my pocket?

Louie: In your pocket? No. (Self-satisfied) No, not even you’re fat enough to have big enough pockets to fit this thing. (Looks around, hands on hips, for the approval of an imaginary audience.) Imagine… OK, you know how you check your e-mail and read the news and whatever on your laptop while you’re on your couch? Imagine getting rid of that laptop, and instead using this tablet thing. It’s like halfway between an iPhone and a laptop.

Man One: I can’t imagine ever needing that.

Man Two: Same here. I mean, the iPhone I can see: it’s portable, it fits in your pocket, you can whip it out when you’re on line at the store. But I’m not going to lug around some mini-laptop just to read ESPN.com while waiting to pay for a six pack.

Man One: Beer!

Louie: Well you don’t really need anything, do you? Do you need that Bluetooth you have in your ear? No. Did you need power windows in your car? No. Do you need to throw money away on illegal sports betting at the corner speakeasy? No.

Man One: OK, Steve Jobs.

Louie: Please, if I were Steve Jobs I wouldn’t be driving this damn garbage truck for a living. But yeah, my kid wants the damn thing. I tried explaining to him that money doesn’t grow on trees, and no matter how much garbage daddy picks up in a week it’ll be very tough to buy it for him any time soon. I mean, nobody bought me shit when I was a kid; I was already working when I was his age. All he does is spend all day on, what’s its name, CrunchGear.

Man Two: Gesundheit.

Louie: No, you ass, CrunchGear. Some stupid tech site. They’re all the same, hyping up this thing and that, convincing my kid that he has to have the latest piece of plastic junk that comes down the pike.

Man Two: Your boy doesn’t like sports at all?

Man One: What, so you can gamble with him?

Louie: I should crash this truck right here, right now.

Man One: What? I’m just f*cking around with you.

Louie: Yeah, I know, that’s the problem, always just f*cking around…

\They finish their shift. Louie returns to say goodbye to his superior.\

Louie: Hey man, I’m getting out of here.

Superior: (Startled because he’s doing crossword puzzles) What? Huh? Yeah, OK. Oh– Oh, hey, you know that tech site you mentioned to me the other day, CrutchGear?

Louie: You mean CrunchGear? Yeah, what about it?

Superior: Their site has been down all day. Go figure, huh? Lousy bums. I’m trying to find pictures of this Apple tablet thing. It was just announced. It’s all over Twitter.

Louie: Wait, you’re on Twitter? Why does a municipal sanitation manager need to be on Twitter?

Superior: Check it out, look, I just tweeted a picture of my big toe to all my followers.

\End\

Via Sony’s bio-battery: RC cars can now be powered by sugary drinks

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 01:00 PM PST

sony_bio_battery

Sony has been working on the development of efficient bio-batteries since 2007, but the company hasn’t really come close to commercialization so far. The batteries, which exist as prototypes, can be recharged not by using methanol as fuel but glucose. And it makes sense, as a single bowl of rice contains the same energy as 96 AA batteries.

And using the bio-battery in real products might soon become reality, it seems. This week, Japanese toymaker Takara showcased a few radio-controlled toy cars that are powered by the Sony battery. Power is generated by using enzymes to break down glucose found in sugary drinks. Cola, juice, soda and sports drinks can be used, as long as the liquid contains around 7% glucose.

Takara says the prototype cars are able to run for around 60 minutes with “one charge” of 8cc of sugary liquid. The cars can run faster when you fill them up with sweeter liquids, which basically is the same as highly concentrated fuel.

Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

How did we miss this laser-scanning super robot vacuum?

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 01:00 PM PST

Not sure how we missed this robotic vacuum but this bugger uses lasers to scan your room and grab dust and lint as it goes. It’s quite cute how this little fellow does everything the Roomba does but, seemingly, it does it better.

One more video after the jump.


You can pick the robot up right here for $399.

[Lou! Vacuum! Or make the robot do it!]

Three Words: Garbage… Pail… Kids

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 12:00 PM PST

adam-bomb

Yes, Garbage Pail Kids. In 7-foot wall form. If you thought yesterday's Star Wars Fathead was expensive at $100, then you may balk at the thought of spending $150 on a larger-than-life Garbage Pail Kids poster.

If you, yourself, were a kid in the early- to mid-eighties, and you have a big boy job that pays well nowadays, you might splurge. There are other sizes available, though, and they start at around $15. So something for everyone.

There are 77 designs available for purchase now with more rolling out every month. Nice.

GARBAGE PAIL KIDS BIG WALL GRAPHICS [LTL Prints via Nerd Approved]

Michael Jackson. 3D. Grammy Awards. Rubbish.

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 11:30 AM PST

thisisit

I don’t know, guys, something about a Michael Jackson 3D video making its début at the Grammy Awards this year. You need to get the glasses at Target or Staples. 3D stinks, we all know. All it’s going to take is a big-shot director to give a speech at the Academy Awards saying, “Can we cut it out with this 3D garbage?” Then the next day we’ll be all, “Yeah, I never liked 3D to begin with!”
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