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Slingplayer going HD on the iPad, Silverlight devices

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:24 AM PDT


Sling-fan Dave Zatz has some information about their upcoming iPad plans. The company is moving towards H.264 and Silverlight for future versions of the software, increasing potential resolution over the current 320×240.

They basically said:

When it makes a noticeable difference in quality, we will definitely provide higher resolution streaming. The iPad is a good example of a device where we are hard at work on this, but unfortunately it won't be there at the April launch.

Which is bittersweet, isn’t it? The future, so close, yet so far.

CastOven: TV on a microwave? Why not!

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:16 AM PDT

Say you’re making popcorn but you hate watching the bag expand in the oven as it cooks and you hate it when you have to think you have to touch the bag before it’s done. You know what I’m talking about, right? Well now researchers in Japan have added a 10.4-inch LCD to a microwave, creating the CastOven. It plays Internet streams.

Why did they really make this thing? Heck if I know. I guess they really like Internet TV. It runs Adobe Air and is “compatible” with Macs and PCs.

via TechFever

IS01: Sharp to roll out Android smartbook

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 04:01 AM PDT

There’s just one Android phone currently available in Japan, one of the biggest mobile markets in the world. But the HTC Magic, which Japan’s biggest telco, NTT Docomo, started distributing last summer, will soon be joined by the Sharp IS01 [JP] – which is not really a “smartphone”, but rather being marketed as an MID or “smartbook” instead.

The handheld will be offered by Japan’s No. 2 mobile carrier, KDDI au.


These are the main features:

  • Snapdragon processor (1GHz)
  • 3G CDMA module
  • Android 1.6 OS
  • 5-inch touchscreen with 960×480 resolution (Sharp uses one of their proprietary Mobile ASV Displays)
  • QWERTY keyboard
  • 5MP camera plus front camera
  • 802.11 b/g WiFi
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • Blu-ray recorder connectivity
  • One-Seg digital TV tuner
  • 4GB of internal memory
  • microSD/microSDHC slot
  • mini USB port
  • Augmented Reality app “Sekai Camera” pre-installed
  • available in blue or black
  • weight: 227g
  • size: 83×149×17.9mm

The IS01 is scheduled to ship in Japan at the beginning of June. Sharp hasn’t said yet whether it will ever find its way outside Japan, but it’s not impossible.

And in case you wonder why the handheld looks like it does: In Japan, Sharp has been selling electronic dictionaries with the same basic design for years now (and is poised to confuse a lot of potential customers over here for that reason).

Via IT Media [JP]

A Trojan Horse Arrives In The Internet-Connected TV Room

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 03:03 AM PDT

It's not the norm for a startup based in London's Silicon Roundabout (yes, it's our little bit of the Valley) to be in the hardware business, let alone the highly competitive world of consumer electronics. But that's precisely the position that 3view find themselves in. The company's Internet connected set-top box, which marriages the worlds of over-the-air broadcast television and Internet TV (IPTV), is poised to compete directly with TVs and set-tops from the likes of Sony, Pioneer, Sharp, Humax, Pace and others, and to some degree, the online video and media playback capabilities of Microsoft's XBox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles.


Daily Crunch: Burst Bubble Edition

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PDT

Battlefield 1943 coming to the PC “soon”

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PDT


Battlefield 1943 is now the quickest game in Xbox LIVE’s history to reach 1 million games downloaded. But PC gamers don’t care. We want to play Battlefield 1943, too. It is after all a remake of classic PC game.

The official BF:1943 blog states this,

Soon our PC fans will also be able to get in on the action that Xbox 360 and PS3 users have been enjoying since July 2009.

Now “soon” could mean tomorrow or four months from now, but at least it’s something. Hopefully we’ll be commanding Tiger tanks and P-51 Mustangs with modern graphics real soon.

Classic arcade tribute sculpture

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 06:40 PM PDT

This rather nifty electronics sculpture was created by Artist Steve D’Angelo, as a homage to the classic arcade. This is what I think all synthesizers should look like.

[Make: Online]

Gruber hints at possible next-gen iPhone specs.. sort of.

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 06:35 PM PDT

In a post tinged with just a hint of spite, Apple pundit John Gruber has responded to today’s WSJ report of a forthcoming pair of new iPhones, one of which they say is headed for Verizon. His reaction? “Lame.”

The reason it’s lame, says Gruber, is that it lacks details. Details which Gruber has. Maybe.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

iPhone SDK 3.2 (the iPad build) finalized, released to developers

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 06:34 PM PDT

Consider the iPad OS locked, loaded, and ready to go. A few hours after the first few iPad shipments have trickled into the shipping warehouses, Apple has just released iPhone SDK 3.2 in it’s GM (or “Goldmaster”, a fancy industry way of saying “absolutely final. Like, seriously, seriously final.”) form.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch>>

Full-page Braille screens on their way

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 06:12 PM PDT


Researchers at North Carolina State Univeristy have created a method to allow for full screen electronic Braille displays. Current Braille displays show one line at a time, severely limiting the value of the display. This will create a matrix of Braille readouts on a larger scale.

The researchers have developed a concept called a “hydraulic and latching mechanism,” which would allow the development of such a display system. The mechanism would be made of an electroactive polymer that is very resilient and inexpensive, when compared to current Braille display technologies. “This material will allow us to raise dots to the correct height, so they can be read,” says Dr. Peichun Yang, a postdoctoral research associate at NC State and co-author of the paper. “Once the dots are raised, a latching mechanism would support the weight being applied by a person’s fingers as the dots are read. The material also responds quickly, allowing a reader to scroll through a document or Web site quickly.”


Thoe whole system sounds very steampunk with tiny Braille pixels (brixels?) popping up and down in rapid succession. However, it could allow for more interesting and richer text interfaces for the blind. One researcher, David Winick, wrote “The last 20 years of computer technology have been relatively inaccessible – and today’s common mobile computing devices, from smart-phones to digital navigators and iPads, have been completely nonexistent – to blind people, because the display technology for the blind has not kept pace.”

via EurekaAlert

DIY: Convert a disposable camera into a slave flash

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 05:30 PM PDT

Buying a flash unit can be expensive, but here’s a cheapskate alternative that will do the job, at least for a while. Plus, you’re recycling a disposable camera into something reusable, and saving all those bits from the landfill. Besides, once you use all of the flash out of one disposable camera, you can always build another one to replace it, and recycle the first one.

So this is a bit of a project to be honest. You’re going to need a wireless flash trigger (easily found on eBay), and a few other basic tools. Basically you’re going to strip is down, replace the mechanical release with an electronic one, and then put the whole thing back together in a way that you can plug the wireless trigger into the camera. For complete instructions on how to do this project, hop over to Instructables for the step by step solution.

SIMBox, the texting incontinence pants

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 05:01 PM PDT


I’m going to be big about this and not get all giggly. It’s basically an incontinence sensor for folks who, through no fault of their own, can’t tell when they’ve wet themselves.

Consisting of a sensor that fits inside the SIMPants (again, not making this up or laughing), the SIMBox has a SIMstrip that senses wetness and goes to the SIMserver that connects to the SIMsystem Manager. It then sends text messages or will page the nurses or assistants or the hospital’s loudspeaker system.

As carers are often unable to immediately respond to events, the software will display a summary log of alerts and manual observations can also be entered. The final bladder chart includes all observations in one easy-to-read report.

On completion of the 3-day assessment, the SIMsystem™ Manager produces shift, daily and 3-day reports that may be used by carers for the development of continence care plans.

In a way, this is the perfect gadget: it gives a person back their dignity instead of taking it away. I hope when I’m at this point someone will get an SMS when I need to be changed.

Product Page

via MedGadget

Rugged Camera Roundup 2010

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 04:30 PM PDT


About a month ago, I noticed that several of the major camera companies were putting out some rugged, waterproof, and generally durable cameras, something I’ve always said is a very good thing. Everybody carries around their camera as if it were a three-hundred-dollar egg — why aren’t they sturdier? So now we’ve the fully ruggedized cameras from Casio, Fujifilm, and Olympus, along with the new Playsport pocket camcorder from Kodak. I’ll be subjecting to the usual image quality tests, and also checking their purported rough-and-tumble character.

Panasonic couldn’t get theirs out to me in time, but I guess four is enough. We’ll get the TS2 later.

So, all of these cameras (big version of header image here) are waterproof and shockproof to various degrees. I’m headed out to Volunteer Park to give them a good time. I don’t feel like diving 30 feet into Lake Washington to test the Olympus, though, so a dip in the duck pond is going to have to suffice.

The first review (and the omnibus video) should be going up tomorrow, and then I’ll do a roundup and comparison at the end of the week.

WSJ: Verizon iPhone hitting this summer

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 03:56 PM PDT

The rumor mill is churning today as news of a CDMA iPhone running on Verizon will be manufactured by Pegatron in China while a whole new AT&T model, made by Foxconn, will also drop in the summer/fall timeframe. the Journal notes that the two new devices will be exactly the same except, obviously, the CDMA version will lack a SIM card. We've seen weird leaks of an iPhone 4G screen - something longer than the current iPhone screen with a front-facing camera - but nothing concrete. We also need to take this with a grain of salt. Asian manufacturers enjoy talking up their connections with certain companies because it gives them a slight boost in the equities markets, so this could be a pump and dump.


Now 3D is even in the operating room, recording your brain

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 03:53 PM PDT


3D is everywhere! There’s no use trying to stop it anymore! Soon we’ll all be wearing silly and expensive glasses just to watch Pat Sajak — or a neurosurgery operation.

Apparently some nerdy doctors thought it was necessary to broadcast a brain operation live and in full HD 3D to a theater 16 kilometers away. It took 16 companies to make this happen as the event required special fiber optic network be laid to handle the 500 MBs data stream but we’re sure it was totes worth it. (right) [Press release (PDF) via medgadget

Kids choir sings “Still Alive”

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 03:00 PM PDT

While I doubt many of these kids know what they’re singing, it’s nice to see so many young minds perverted by the words of Jonathon Coulton and GLADOS.

Matt and I were just talking this morning and noting that Glee has got it all wrong. Clearly, choir directors are actually huge nerds.

DIY: Get medieval with the Mini-Trebuchet

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 02:50 PM PDT

Make magazine has a special place in my heart, partly because I love the crazy stuff they come up with, and partly because they want to help you build the crazy stuff they come up with. When I was a youngster, we made a rudimentary version of a catapult in scouts. Sure, it didn’t work very well, and it was powered by a rubber band made from an inner tube, but you could sure launch a walnut with it. That’s why when I see a kit like this, I’m filled with an overwhelming urge to buy one.

Make’s kit includes almost everything you need in their trebuchet kit. All you really need to add is a counter-weight (Make recommends 88 pennies), and put it together using scissors, a ruler, wood glue, and some rubber bands. I think I see a purchase coming up. Maybe even a review.

Purchase your mini-trebuchet kit from the Maker Shed for $25.

Stargate Universe’s aliens are, well, alien

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 02:10 PM PDT


Stargate shows have always featured aliens, but they weren’t alien-ish for the most part. The story line of SG-1 and Atlantis of course supported the creative (and budget) decision, but SGU is different. This time our cast is exploring exploring the very deepest parts of space and so the aliens should be different. And different they are.

This is actually the very first pic of the show’s alleged antagonists. Previously all we got was a profile shot shown in the season 1.5 trailer, but this guy’s ugly mug is front and center on Stargate’s official MGM page advertising the upcoming half-season premiere this Friday. I can’t wait. The show might finally become a valid Stargate series. Now all they need to do is get rid of the damn communication stones, which is the show’s biggest cop-out. [MGM via GateWorld]

Form over function: Brinell Purestorage external drives

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 01:30 PM PDT

I understand the desire to have your computer stuff look good, really I do. But things like this are just silly to me. They are obviously pointed at a market that doesn’t know any better, and buy things based on the appearance rather then the functionality. Brinell, the company that makes these fancy veneer clad drives, has even won a couple of design awards for their form over function.

So here’s what Brinell did: they took a standard USB 2.0 external drive, and wrapped a fancy finish around it. Brinell offers several choices in the external finish, including carbon fiber, wood, leather, and brushed stainless steel. Just be aware however, that Brinell is quite proud of their products. For example, the Macassar wood enclosure pictured above will cost you $255 for the 160GB model. Ironically, Brinell calls that drive the “understatement”.

[via Oh Gizmo]

StealthArmor now available for your Apple iPad

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 01:00 PM PDT


Let’s face it, as our mobile computing devices get smaller and smaller, they get more fragile. To protect our precious gadgets, we wrap them in cushiony cases to protect them from a devastating fall to the ground. But these cases increase the bulk, reducing the convenience of the small form factor. One new option for iPhone — and now iPad — owners is Fusion of Idea’s StealthArmor.

This is a special film that applies to the back of your product to protect it from scratches, dents, and dings. It won’t save your iPhone from a four foot drop to the ground, but it will protect it from all the other stuff in your pocket, purse, or manbag. Or, in the case of the iPad, it’ll protect it from all the detritus on your coffee table, couch, or night stand.

StealthArmor material uses a new heat-bonding technology and is uniquely designed compared to other protective covers in the device accessories marketplace. StealthArmor was originally developed in the automotive racing world to protect car exteriors from flying asphalt at high speeds. Russ Taylor, who heads up Fusion of Ideas and races a Mitsubishi Evolution X in his spare time, applied the StealthArmor concept to design highly resilient protective material for electronic devices to preserve their sleek outer shells from daily scratches and dings.

I just applied some StealthArmor to my iPhone, and I give it a thumbs up. It’s comfortable to my hand, protects the case from casual wear and tear, and looks pretty nice.
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