Nothing quite screams money to burn like last year's tech gilded in pricey, CNC-machined metals. Purveyor of mobile extravagance, Mobiado, has recently rolled out the red carpet for two new additions to its Grand Line -- the Grand Touch and Grand Touch GCB. These high-end exercises in wireless hauteur are merely gussied up versions of Samsung's Nexus S, sporting the same ol' 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 16GB of storage, 512MB RAM, 4-inch Super LCD display and front-facing VGA / 5 megapixel rear camera.
Available in either anodized aluminum or solid brass with gold plating (take a guess which is costlier), the sapphire crystal-backed duo comes unlocked with quad-band GSM, and tri-band UMTS / HSDPA radios, so you can stay connected aboard that yacht in St. Tropez. Get is here.
Man, things just are not looking good for Netflix: Universal is experimenting with movie rentals on Facebook. First foray? The Big Lebowski, which you can rent for 30 Facebook credits—that's $3—right now from thefilm's fan page.
Instead of putting up with a mild pin-prick whenever your blood sugar levels need testing, Japanese scientists have invented a little implant that glows when the levels change. No pain, and a free glowstick for raves—high five, science!
The Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo found that a fluorescent fiber sensor with a diameter of just 1mm can be inserted under the skin of a patient via injection, and then removed with tweezers. As you can see from the image, it's a tiny thing, with the glowing quality of the implant highly visible through the skin when glucose levels rise. I foresee just one issue—I think I'd want my levels to fluctuate to get full value, if anything.
Hangout video sharing is one of Google+'s more appealing features -- not that we use it often, but when it comes to things to do in an online social gathering, watching YouTube clips would certainly rank near the top.
Now you can launch Hangouts directly from YouTube, rather than heading over to Google+ and pasting in a link. Sure, it's a simple tweak that probably took less than an hour to code, but it's a clever addition nonetheless.
How does $1,399 for a pair of binoculars sound? When they also shoot 1080p HD video and 7.1 megapixel stills -- perhaps slightly less ridiculous. Sony's launching a new category of high-end binoculars with its new DEV-3 and DEV-5, which offer camera-like features and are priced at $1,399 and $1,999, respectively. Each pair includes two Exmor R CMOS sensors for native 3D video capture, dual f/1.8-3.4, 0.5-10x optical zoom lenses, and a pair of 1,227-dot viewfinders.
While the pricier model adds a 10x digital zoom, GPS, and accessories like a carrying case and neck strap, those features don't really justify a $600 jump in price -- if you can live without GPS, it probably makes sense to skip the DEV-5. There's also Memory Stick Pro Duo and SDXC support, stereo microphones with an audio input jack, and HDMI out, but if you've been looking for a way to record while bird watching, catching close-ups of the action at a game, or whatever it is you look at through your apartment window, then look for these to hit stores in November.
The G300 supports three separate configuration profiles—three games or three people, however you prefer—which are conveniently color-coded to avoid confusion when flipping load outs between rounds. It's got nine configurable buttons to match your play-style and fragging needs.
It doesn't matter if you play left-handed or right for a particular game, the lack of a thumb button means you just need to slide the mouse to the other side of your desk. It also features a 2500-DPI optical sensor that tracks both fast and slow movements on most surfaces for better precision when you need it and quicker acceleration when you don't. The G300 will retail for about $40 when it's released in September.
Here's a nice little addition to Google Maps -- current weather conditions. The feature is live now on the site, accessible by clicking the weather layer on the upper right hand corner of a map.
Selecting the feature will overlay conditions culled from Weather.com, anywhere in the world. The results include the temperature and icons for the sun, rain, clouds and the moon, when that part of the world goes dark. Also new is cloud coverage from the US Naval Research Lab.
Talk of a Windows 8 app store has swirled around like the approaching fall leaves, but Microsoft's never broached the subject—until now, on their new blog.
It's back to the Windows Live Division President, Steven Sinofsky, who introduced the core team of engineers working on next year's release. Running through the list of teams, Sinofsky included an app store team, along with app compatibility and device compatibility; applications and media experience, and app experience.
It's that first one which intrigues as the most, as it's the first time Microsoft has pretty much confirmed the existence of an app store in the next iteration of Windows.
Researchers at Southampton University have devised a way to bend light passing through a glass wafer so it can store and read 50GB of data in the same way that fiber optic cable does.
The process uses minuscule dots called voxels etched in the molecular structure of pure silica glass that bend light to store information (the light itself changes direction as it passes through one depending on thelight's polarization orientation.) The data can then be wiped and rewritten by re-etching the voxels.
Glass has a lot of advantages over other non-volatile memory. In particular, it can withstand temperatures up to 1800F and, since the etchings are located within the structure of the glass itself, the information lasts quite literally forever with no noticeable data degradation.
As research team member, Martynas Beresna, said:
We have developed this memory which means data can be stored on the glass and last forever. It could become a very stable and safe form of portable memory. It could be very useful for organizations with big archives. At the moment companies have to back up their archives every five to ten years because hard-drive memory has a relatively short lifespan.
Other uses include cheaper and more compact medical imaging, precise manipulation of atom-sized objects, and even high-resolution imaging far beyond what we see today.
Logitech released the PC version of their wireless solar-powered keyboard last year, and now there's a Mac layout, too. The keyboard supposedly gets 3 months of battery life from a single full charge, even in complete darkness, and it gathers light and power from either the sun or indoor lighting. It's on sale now for $60.
This Christmas, the Nintendo Wii is a getting a slight, wait for it, Wii-design. I mean redesign!
According to The Official Nintendo Magazine, the tweaked Wii will be released in the UK this holiday season (no word about a US release).
The change is that this Wii is designed to lay flat and has a slightly reconfigured design. The original Wii was supposed to sit vertically. The upcoming Wii U console sits flat, so the tweak could be to bring cohesion between the two machines. Or it could bring confusion.
The biggest difference is that this console cannot play GameCube games like the current Nintendo Wii.The redesigned console comes packed with a Wii Remote Plus, a Nunchuk and, according to this photo from Eurogamer, copies of Wii Sports and Wii Party.
Caffeine has previously been correlated with a reduced risk of cancer. But the latest research-aided theory coming out of Rutgers University is that putting caffeine intosunscreen will reduce that risk even more.
The Guardian UK says that when combined with sunscreen, caffeine, which inhibits a gene crucial to melanoma growth, will actually promote the death of cells damaged by UV rays.
Allan Conney of the department of chemical biology at Rutgers University in New Jersey wanted to find the specific molecular mechanisms behind it. He suspected that the response might involve a gene called ATR, which is suppressed when caffeine molecules are around. This suppression encourages the death of DNA-damaged cells.
Conney tested the idea by creating genetically modified mice whose ATR genes were deficient and exposing them to ultraviolet light until they developed skin cancer. After 19 weeks of UV exposure, he found that these mice developed 69% fewer tumours than those that had fully functioning ATR genes. In addition, tumours in the GM mice developed three weeks later than in standard mice.
Life would be so much easier if you could just switch operating systems depending on what you need, wouldn't it? That's the thinking behind ViewSonic's ViewPad 10pro, a "dual OS" tablet that runsWindows 7 and Android 2.3. The Wi-Fi enabled device comes with Intel's new 1.5 GHz Atom Z670 CPU, a 1024 x 600 display, 2GB of memory, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI capabilities and a microSD slot.
The base model comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and a 16GB SSD for $599, while some extra bucks gets you Windows 7 Professional and a 32GB SSD. If you want one soon, best get a move on, as "limited numbers" are currently available. Get it here.
There may not be many people willing to pay over $1,000 for an Xperia Play, but it turns out there's at least a few willing to go nuts when there's some Minecraft involved. That limited edition model pictured above will be given away to a few lucky winners at the upcoming Gamescon conference in Germany, but Minecraft developer Mojang has decided to let one loose on eBay beforehand, where the bidding has already topped a grand with a full six days left.
Adding a bit of extra incentive for those with deep pockets, Mojang says that it will also donate all the proceeds from the auction to an as yet unnamed charity. Get it on eBay
Happy Monday to you, and happy Monday to Motorola Mobility, which Google has announced is about to become its next acquisition. This comes hot on the heels of a $56 million Q2 net loss for Moto -- and CEO Sanjay Jha's less than subtle hints about going fishing for Android-related patent royalties. Now, at a price of $40 per share for a total of about $12.5 billion, Big G will be making Moto a "dedicated Android partner" to "supercharge the Android ecosystem" and "enhance competition in mobile computing."
Larry Page had this to say about the deal:
Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.
What happens next? While this will of course strengthen the ties between hardware and software, Google is pledging to continue offering Android as an open platform -- Moto will license it and others will be able to as ever. Additionally, Google will continue to operate its new toy as a separate business and not morph it into an in-house hardware wing. But, one has to wonder what this means for companies like Samsung, which partnered closely with Google on the Nexus S, and of course HTC, which released the Nexus Oneand the iconic G1. And then there's the big question: just where does Moto Blur fit into this equation?
Peter Chou, CEO, HTC:
We welcome the news of today's acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.
Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson:
I welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners.
Jong-Seok Park, President & CEO, LG:
We welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners.
This Diesel SBA Black Out Watch is for those that prefer their watches big, bold, and black. With a unique angled case design and plenty of analog dials, this watch can enhance your style with an audacious flair. It is water resistant to 5 ATM of pressure (50 meters deep in water), which is cool because the main dial is reminiscent of a submarine sonar display.
It's been more than two years since SteelSeries unveiled its Xai and Kinzu gaming mice, but the peripheral maker has now returned with a brand new sword in hand -- the sleek and presumably sage Sensei. The device is powered by a 32-bit ARM processor that can digest images at up to 12,000 frames per second and rocks up to 5,700 CPI, with a Double CPI option that extends to 11,400 DCPI, for users gaming across multiple screens.
The ambidextrous controller also comes outfitted in a metal coating that won't slip from your hands and connects to computers via a gold-plated USB. Best of all, PC gamers can use SteelSeries' Engine software to customize their experience even further, with pre-set configurations and user profiles. The Sensei is slated for release next month, when it will retail for $90 (or €90).
ASUS' Eee Pad Slider is fast becoming just as mythical as the flying horse the company's named after. Well, judging by a recent report from Notebook Italia and the tab's new product page, it looks like we may actually see a September launch for the 10.1-incher -- in Italy. Contrary to prior rumors, the company will be offering the Slider in two storage configurations -- 16GB and 32GB at potential €479 ($400) and €599 ($550) price points, respectively.
It should ship with Android 3.1 installed, with a promised 3.2 upgrade to follow. The QWERTYfied tablet packs a 1280 x 800 WXGA display, dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of memory, 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, USB 2.0, mini-HDMI, microSD card reader, WiFi and Bluetooth.
In keeping with new changes Google's rolling out for their services, all their login pages will soon follow suit. Hence the new layout for Gmail's page. Altogether airier and cleaner. The "Gmail" in plaintext. All the functionality you'd expect.
It looks like the sly fox is ready to make its worldwide debut a few days early. In typical Mozilla fashion, a complete build of Firefox 6 is now unofficially available for your downloading pleasure, three days ahead of schedule.
If you're looking for a major facelift to the desktop edition, you won't find one here -- most of the new features aren't cosmetic. Perhaps most visibly, you'll find the domain name of the page you're parked on highlighted in the address bar.
Technically, the Snow Peak SnowMiner LED Headlamp is for hiking in the dark. But when you see the words snow and headlamp together, can you think of anything besides snowboarding in the dark?
But you shouldn't snowboard in the dark because even if you managed to find a way to do that, it's probably insanely dangerous. In any case, the SnowMiner is now slouch. The LED lamp emits 60 lumens worth of light. When strapped to your head, it shoots out a 35 meter focused beam. Awesome. But there'smore.
The lamp dome is made of a shape-shifting silicone material. When you squeeze the sides, the concave lens of the headlamp pops out into a dome-shaped form factor, effectively turning the SnowMiner into a lantern. For $50, what more could you ask for from your outdoor gear?
For the modern dental enthusiast, I present to you the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean USB toothbrush -- because keeping your stank breath fresh at your computer is essential for early morning Skype calls. Long since gone are the days where brushing your teeth was limited to the bathroom.
Nowadays, you'll need to keep those chompers fresh no matter where you might find yourself, including (but not limited to): the computer lab at school, your home office, your boss' office, or maybe even the Apple Store. Claiming up to 100 percent plaque removal and 44 percent more bristles, some are going so far as to call this £250 ($405) teeth gleamer the "iPod of toothbrushes."
Kodawarisan, a Japanese web site, is reporting that Apple's Fall Event, which previously focused on iPods but will likely include the iPhone 5 announcement this year, is scheduled for Wednesday Sepetember 7th, 2011. The rumored date jives well with previous years.
Apple has always targeted early September for their Fall Events. Last year, the Fall Event was held on September 1st. In 2009 and 2008, it was held on September 9th. So it does make sense from a historical perspective. This year is a little different though because it will be the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on September 11th; it seems unlikely, perhaps, that Apple would want to compete with such an emotional and all-encompassing event for the type of media attention their product launches usually command.
Trend hunters in Japan say the island nation's latest fad is for people to stick temporary tattoos to their teeth. If these pics are any indication, it looks as if someone's teeth are falling apart.
You might argue that it would make sense when you got a closer look at someone's grill. But how often do you examine the teeth of a friend, let alone some random stranger? And though they wear off in a few days, the idea of repeatedly gluing something to the front of my teeth just doesn't seem right.
This is Steve Jobs' wardrobe evolution since 1998, the year he returned to command Apple as interim CEO. You gotta admire a man who is loyal to his style no matter what. But my favorite Jobs is the old school Jobs.
After he returned to Apple, it was all Levi's, New Balances and black sweaters. One day I saw him wearing a suit—kind of—in a MacWorld Japan keynote, but that was it.
Back in the 70s and 80s his wardrobe used to be a mix of everything, from walking around the Apple campus barefoot in a t-shirt and shorts to old school three-piece suits to show his computers in fairs and keynotes.
The Federal Communications Commission or FCC started talking about its intention to allow for 911 texting (and even photos and videos) last year, and now Chairman Julius Genachowski is out with a detailed plan for a "next generation" 911 service. The standout feature of it is just that -- the ability to send a text, photo or video in the event of an emergency -- but that also brings with it a complete overhaul of the backend of the service, and a switch to an IP-based architecture from the current circuit-switched system.
That, the FCC says, should provide more flexibility and resiliency, and the agency has a number of other improvements in mind as well, including increased accessibility for people with disabilities, and new measures to improve the accuracy of location gathering (including new rules for wireless carriers). Of course, it all still is just a plan at the moment, but the FCC says it will consider a move to accelerate adoption of the plan next month.
Just in case you were thinking of buying one of those 40 iPhone 4s that were most likely looted in the UK riots and put on Craigslist, don't—UK networks are blocking all stolen phones, so they'll be worthless.
Macworld spoke to several UK networks about the issue of the stolen phones, with the general answer being that they'll simply check stock records for each ransacked store, and add the IMEI number associated with each phone to the Equipment Identity Register which will block them from working with SIM cards in under a day. Within two days the phones will also be banned from being used on any UK network.
Sellers of stolen phones will likely still try and shift them onto unsuspecting buyers, meaning anyone who's been thinking about buying a brand new iPhone, BlackBerry or other recent model should probably go by official means only for a while, unless they want to end up with a very expensive door-stopper.
Got a Windows Phone 7 and an addictive personality? Well then today's your lucky day, as the Xbox Live versions of both Minesweeper and Sudoku have now landed in the US Marketplace.
With these new additions, users can now sweep for virtual landmines in either Classic or Speed mode, or put their logic skills to the test by playing Sudoku in Lightning mode -- all while racking up achievements and powerups. Both are available for free and either will do a great job of destroying your productivity.
The earth's orbit is littered with about 20,000 pieces of space junk measuring four inches or larger. Pieces smaller than that are in the tens of millions, according to NASA.
To prevent the Earth's atmosphere from becoming a full-on junkyard, Italian Space Agency scientists have proposed an elegant way to remove space debris: launch a satellite that seeks out the garbage, then using a robotic arm attaches a propellant to it. The propellant escorts the junk to the earth's atmosphere where it burns up.
Sounds pretty neat, kind of like if Wall-E were a garbage collector when he propels himself through space with an aerosol can. The problem is the proposed technique is not so efficient. The Italian scientists report in the journal Acta Astronautica that one of their space junk collectors could take out five pieces of garbage per year. That means if space junk stopped proliferating now (although it's predicted to triple by 2030), the problem would be remedied in about 4,000 years.
Scientists say space junk doesn't pose an immediate threat, but it could quickly become one. That's because of the Kessler syndrome: as space junk proliferates, so does the likelihood of collisions, which quickly multiply the amount of crap in orbit. Space junk instantaneously increased by 25 percent when China detonated a weather satellite in 2007. Just two years later, an American and Russian satellite collided in 2009, throwing even more debris into the mix. If this happens enough times, the earth's atmosphere could become impassable, making space travel impossible.
Other proposed solutions to space junk include lasering threatening garbage out of the way or or employing service stations to lengthen the lifespans of existing satellites instead of launching new ones. But at a space conference in May, Gen. William Shelton, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command said there's no practical solution in sight for the space junk problem.
Well, at least for the foreseeable future we can still look forward to fireballs of space junk falling from the sky.
Wow. Five years after it launched, Twitter has finally added native photo-sharing to its service. Starting now, all Twitter.com users have a camera icon that lets you add a photo to your tweet.
Images that are 3MB or less in size can be uploaded and embedded into a tweet. If a user follows you they will see the image and a pic.twitter.com link. If they don't follow you, they will see a "Click to Display Media" message. You can even add a hashtag to your image so others can find it using Twitter's photo and video search feature. In the future, Twitter will enable image galleries and add this upload feature to its mobile apps.
The console, which launched earlier this summer in Japan as the Red Flare, will hit stores next month (alongside the new Star Fox 64 3D game), joining a 3DS lineup that already features Cosmo Black and Aqua Blue.
The company will also be releasing two new games this winter -- Super Mario 3D Land in November and Mario Kart 7 in December -- in the hopes of rectifying its disappointing Q2 earnings report with a strong holiday campaign. Only time will tell whether or not it has any effect on Nintendo's bottom line, but if you're interested in adding a touch of Santa-like cheer to your yuletide gaming season, you can grab a Flame Red console on September 9th, for $170.
The folks over at Tokyoflash tend to come up with some pretty inscrutable watches, but their latest creation, the Kisai 3D Unlimited, looks refreshingly simple. Its cube-like, "3D" time display may not be conventional, but its mirrored LCD doesn't require a degree in cryptology, either (the time displayed above is 12:34. See it?).
The watch also features a pretty sleek, stainless steel design, with a case measuring just 8.5mm thick, and a fully adjustable strap that can fit even the daintiest of wrists. If you're interested in grabbing one, you can choose from seven different colors for about $120 here.
Social influence-ranking service Klout released some interesting numbers yesterday showing BlackBerry users are more influential than Android or iPhone users. Take that, you smug RIM-hating jerks.
Klout reported that the average Blackberry user it tracks scored a 43.6. The average iPhone user was a 42, while Android users came in behind both at 40.6. The average score on Klout is 20. Justin Bieber scores a perfect 100, baby.
Klout tracks some 80 million people on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. It then purports to measure influence by looking at how one's posts on those networks affect others, and assigns a score from 0-100. It weeds out the bots, and places less importance on follower counts than it does action counts. For example, if you share a link, and many of your followers re-share it, or respond to it, or retweet it, that will raise your score. Likewise, if your network is made up of very influential people, that will also raise your Klout score.
Which sort of explains why BlackBerry users would win this thing. Who gets BlackBerrys? Corporate executives, often C-level types. My guess is that if you looked at the BlackBerry demographic on Klout, it would be an older and more professional user group than iPhone and Android with well-developed networks. Similarly, if you think about how many Android phones are free phones, it makes sense that a lot of those are going to end up in the hands of young people who haven't had the time or inclination to develop the kind of peer networks their elders have.
Taking center stage this year is Microsoft's Touch Mouse -- a multitouch gesture-based peripheral. Microsoft has finally made official its answer to Apple’s multitouch Magic Mouse: the Microsoft Touch Mouse for Windows 7.
The ergonomics are quite solid too—unlike the Magic Mouse, which is passable, but not great. As you can guess, the hatches dotted all over the mouse mark the touch area.
There's a new Samsung Galaxy S II rumor circulating the web today -- this time, it's emanating from South Korea, where specs and images of an LTE smartphone, reportedly codenamed "Celox," have just surfaced. According to its listing, the phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060processor, sports a 4.5-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus display, and boasts 16GB of internal memory, with a microSD slot offering an extra 32GB.
The phone also runs on Gingerbread, rocks a 1750mAh battery (compared to the smaller Galaxy S II's 1650mAH cell), offers 800MHz LTE support (at up to 50Mbps upstream, 100Mbps downstream) and features an 8MP rear-facing camera, along with a 2MP sensor up front
These happy-looking automatons are currently jetting passengers around Heathrow airport without any supervision at a 25 mph clip. Man, when did the future happen? I totally missed it.
Created by BAA, these Ultra PRTs whiz around Heathrow's business parking lots independent of human intervention and have yet to experience what we call "an accident." Breakdowns are also extremely rare and the system has a 95% reliability rate.
Albeit it's Donut, but the Italian "I'm Watch" (yes, that's what it's called) has plenty of flair in its bright colors and 1.5-inch screen that you can preview emails and texts on, plus screen calls like a normal Bluetooth watch.
Some basic Android apps work on the I'm Watch, and you can browse photos and play music from the 4GB of onboard storage, for 48 hours (or 30 if you're using the Bluetooth features). It'll set you back a fair ol' whack though—around $350. Get it here.
The Bold 9900 is already standing proudly up for pre-order at Vodafone UK, along with a commitment to arrive at your doorstep in roughly a week's time if you take the plunge. However, just like the leaked T-Mobile USA pricing, it won't come cheap in the UK either: you'll need to swallow a £41 ($67) monthly price plan on a two-year contract before they'll give you the handset for free.
Alternatively, you can opt for a monthly contract at half that price and pay a daunting £399 ($650) upfront for the phone. Nevertheless, if you're a BB fan and you're convinced of this form factor, then we predict you'll get on well with 9900's particularly chunky keyboard, high-res screen and top-notch build quality
The data above shows the places that broke heat records by day and by night. You can practically see the entire continental US in each graph! According to the Daily:
Last month almost 9,000 daily heat records were broken or tied across the country. This includes 2,755 highest maximum temperatures and 6,171 highest minimum temperatures (nighttime records).
When Microsoft dissolved the eHome team that developed Media Center and renamed the MVP program to Windows Entertainment and Connected Home, there was some serious questions about the future of the product. While that question won't really be answered until September, when Microsoft is expected to reveal the feature complete beta at the company's Build Conference, a few leaked screen shots at TheGreenButton.tv show the same old Windows 7 Media Center running on Windows 8.
In terms of compatibility with Vista and 7, so there's really no reason for Microsoft to pull it. We're not the only one who'd be surprised to see new features though, as everyone we know seems to agree it would be silly to think otherwise.
Shake Weights were found to be pretty useless in the past, but BodyVib's weights could change that: they vibrate 2,160 times per minute, which is 10x faster than traditional ones.
A 30 - 50 minute charge is apparently good for 2.5 hours of lifting, and according to the company the 1.2mm amplitude is enough to amp your training by up to 50 per cent. I'm not too sure about those claims, but if you want to test them out yourself, go ahead—they cost from $1,060 to $1,190 for the 1.5kg, 2.8kg and 4.6kg pairs. Get them here.
On the right, you can see the iPhone 4. But look on the left! There's an iPhone 5 slim just like the one leaked in France! Or is it?
It looks real, but it is not. The fact is that it only took me ten minutes to make that image in Photoshop. It looks even more real than the alleged iPhone 5 image captured in France. Of course, that one is fake too.
That image was originally posted on Twitter by user Robin P, it was reposted on MacRumors Forums.
Happy birthday, World Wide Web! Hard to believe you're turning 20 already. It seems like just yesterday we were hearing the pitter patter of little dial-up, delighting at the words "you got mail," and getting frustrated when calling our friends and receiving that dreaded busy signal. You're all grown up now, helping people learn how to farm and become overnight pop sensations.
What, we wonder, will the next 20 years bring? At the very least, you'll eventually have to move out of your parents' basement, get a real job, and settle down. It's hard to pay attention to that kind of stuff, though, when you've got another year of sneaking beers ahead of you. So go ahead, World Wide Web, enjoy yourself tonight -- just make sure to be home by midnight.
Pioneer has announced their newest flagship digital AV receiver, the 9.1 channel, 140-watt Elite SC-57. It uses the most powerful amplifier of any multi-channel A/V receiver on the market. And yes, it runs Airplay.
The SC-57 uses proprietary D3 digital amplifier technology to drive nine channels at 140 watts each, simultaneously. The amount of powered supplied to each channel of traditional analog amps drops precipitously as more channels are connected. The SC-57 loses virtually none, meaning that you can listen to HD multi-channel Dolby soundtracks as ear-shatteringly loudly as you like. What's more, the amp uses fewer parts (causing less electrical leakage and ringing), a more direct signal path (for faster response times), and an advanced 3600 thermal dissipation circuit board to minimize sound distortion.
The SC-57 wirelessly streams your entire iTunes library and, if you don't use Apple, also features DLNA certified 1.5 streaming via an Ethernet connection. It even connects with Bluetooth to stream content from Androids and Blackberries.
One the video side, the SC-57 uses Marvell Qdeo™ processing technology to not only convert analog video signals to HDMI but also scales video signals up to 1080p/24fps. It will even optimize the video signal depending on what kind of TV you have—Plasma, LCD or Front Projection. Get it here.
The Carzor (credit card-shaped razor) can actually be bought—and for only $17, too. The razor/mirror tucks into wallest for scraggly-faced emergencies in the office or public bathroom.
Bizarrely, you can also choose to "scent" your Carzor, choosing between mint, sandalwood, lemon, ocean or orange strips to moisturize and freshen you up. I suppose there's no harm in smelling like mint when ditching the homeless/hipster look, but ocean? Get it here.
Put your pig-tail light bulb aversions aside, because Philips has just won the DOE's $10 million L Prize Competition for the creation of a decidedly non-curlicue 60W equivalentLED lighting solution. The company was named the first winner in the 60W replacement bulb category at a Washington DC event.
It's taken three years to find a winner that could meet the high standards set forth by the DOE, specifically "ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost, and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing."
Requirements further stipulated that the 60W incandescent killer use less than 10 watts of power, and provide energy savings of 83 percent. If Americans replaced all of their 60W incandescents with Philips' little winner, the DOE estimates savings of $3.9 billion in a single year. The bulb is expected to hit shelves as soon as early 2012.
Vivitar may have bad-mouthed newfangled digital cameras last year, but that hasn't stopped it from selling them. The company's latest is the 690 HD, a compact, Flip-like camcorder that records 720p video and is rated for use up to ten feet underwater.
You'll also get an SD card slot for storage and a 2-inch LCD 'round back, but you'll have to make do without other niceties like an optical zoom or HDMI port -- compromises that shouldn't be too hard to take considering the $60 price tag. Get it here.
Naked and Famous, the Canadian jeans company, has remixed their standard pair of selvedge denim by coating it in glow in the dark resin. Wear it and you'll look like you work at a nuclear plant gone awry...or Kanye West.
The jeans are charged up by light (and look great in it too) to become obnoxiously bright in the dark. Even the selvedge edges glow in the dark! The jeans, as quality denim tends to do, will fall, crease and mold into your wear patterns—which will create unique glow in the dark lines and fades tailor made for your bootie. Who cares if you look like the green panted weirdo in the club, you got style man! $240 here.
How seriously is Apple considering the possibility of adding inductive charging to its line of iOS devices? Seriously enough to submit some crudely drawn images to the USPTO, at least. The company's application for "Using an Audio Cable as an Inductive Charging Coil" surfaced today, featuring some interesting solutions to the problem of inductive charging
Another proposed system also puts the earphones to work -- though without the need for that giant charging post. Instead the headphones slip into an acoustic charger, which cause their speakers to vibrate, creating a current that charges the device. As ever, just because a patent application surfaces doesn't mean a final product will ever see the light of day -- and these methods (particularly that big charging post) do seem like a long way to go to shave off the precious millimeters that inductive charging traditionally brings. But hey, Apple's all about the svelte devices, and stranger things have certainly happened.
