Grass Armchair April 4, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Put together this corrugated cardboard frame, add 63 gallons of soil and a pack of grass seed, and before you know it you'll have a grass armchair. Gives new meaning to the term "your ass is grass." It's £65 from the oddly-named British housewares store Purves and Purves.
Grass Armchair [via Treehugger]
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SWISSMEMORYprestigeTH USB Memory Stick [Sic] April 4, 2006
READ MORE Portable Media
Rarely do we come across products with names as ridiculous as the SWISSMEMORYprestigeTH USB Memory Stick. Why are "SWISSMEMORY" and "prestige" stuck together? Why couldn't they just stay separate? And what's the deal with the "TH" at the end? What about a 1GB USB memory stick encased in a Swiss Army Knife-like shell of either solid 925-sterling silver or 18 carat white and yellow gold, that might have diamonds embedded in it by hand by actual Swiss craftsmen, says "TH" to you? This truly is a mystery for the ages.
A First Class Traveler For Your Data [gizmag]
Samsung Delays BD-P1000 Blu-Ray Player, Adds 1080p Playback April 4, 2006
READ MORE Home Entertainment
Samsung announced its BD-P1000 Blu-ray player will be delayed by a month, but the good news is the player will be capable of 1080p playback. The company insisted that its new June 25 ship date, although not quite as early as the May 23 day it previously set for the release, would still be the first Blu-ray disk player on the market, beating the release of rival players from Sony, Pioneer, LG and Panasonic. In a statement, Samsung said the reason for the delay was to complete compatibility testing with disks that will become available in late April. This from Samsung:
"Two new features have been added to our BD-P1000 model without changing the expected street price. The BD-P1000 will have a native 1080p output via HDMI for Blu-Ray software titles that are digitally mastered in 1920 x 1080 resolution and up to 1080p upconversion of conventional DVDs through the HDMI digital interface. Additionally, we have upgraded the built-in 9-in-2 multi memory card interface to 11-in-2 by adding support for Mini-SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo formats. By including a memory card interface into a Blu-Ray player, the native high definition resolution contained in 3MP or larger digital still pictures can be enjoyed on a high definition television."
Samsung re-schedules Blu-ray player debut [Reg Hardware]
Sony Network Walkman April 4, 2006
READ MORE Portable Media
Oh boy. We got a Sony Network Walkman! With flash memory! These buggers can hold up to 2GB, come in six colors, including lime, and the 512MB an 1GB models come with an FM tuner. Sony has been flogging their quick-charge feature and these can charge in about 3 minutes. They also play MP3, ATRAC (!!!!!), and unsecured WMA, meaning you won't really be able to enjoy your Napster music on this one. But then there's SonicStage, Sony's award winning music organization system that has been known to cause seizures in small children because of its unique and annoying interface.
Available in April.
Press Release [Sony]
EXCLUSIVE PICTURES [SilvaBokis]
XCute S50: Impossibly Thin Handset with 6-Megapixel Camera April 4, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Here's the XCute S50, an eye-catching candybar that somehow squeezes a 6-megapixel camera into its improbably thin 9mm profile. It's a tri-band phone with onboard flash memory, a 16.7 million color screen, and the ability to play back AVI, ASF and MOV files. It has onboard flash memory and T-flash expandability, too. No price or availability information was forthcoming.
Xcute S50 6-megapixel camera-phone [CNET Asia]
Sony Announces Z525 Clamshell and W700 Walkman Handsets April 4, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Sony announced the Z525 (pictured), a clamshell handset featuring Bluetooth, a VGA camera and push-to-talk capability. Its 1.8-inch internal display has 128x160 pixels and 65K colors, while its external display has 80x101 pixels and 4K colors. Its VGA camera features a 4x digital zoom, and can also record and play back video. Rounding out the package is a media player with MP3/AAC support and a speakerphone. Now available in a rather attractive-looking blue color, it will ship during Q2 of this year.
Sony Ericsson also announced a new member of its Walkman line, the W700 (pictured). Besides its music player, it has a 2-megapixel camera, and the company touts its as being well-suited for flying because you can turn off the cellphone and still use the music player. That phone will also ship during Q2, and will be available in titanium gold, with a white model available in some markets. No pricing was announced on either model.
Mitsubishi’s Laser TV April 4, 2006
READ MORE TV
When it comes to skinny TVs we’ve had LCD and plasma, with the threat of SED thrown in for good measure. Later this week, Mitsubishi will add Laser TV to the mix. Apart from sounding cooler than the rest, the new TVs fire colored lasers that result in bright images with depth on big, skinny, lightweight screens. The 52in laser TV uses DLP technology from Texas Instruments, which is found in most newer projectors, combined with a HDTV chip. So what else is new?
According to the company, the stands needed to support the TVs will be smaller than those needed for current plasma/LCD screens. It weighs just half that of an equivalent plasma TV since the screen is made of advanced plastics, not glass. The solid state lasers will not die out like a lamp after a few years but keep going for the lifetime of the set. Oh yeah, they will consume a third of the power and be roughly the same price as plasma when they hit the streets en masse next year.
OK, well that’s the blurb. It would be nice if I could swallow it all but being a professional skeptic about company marketing claims, I’ll believe it when I see it. Or when they give me one as a bribe. Via NY Times.
Meet The Media Tank April 4, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets , PC , Peripherals , Portable Media , Storage
All this baby needs is a gun and some tracks. This industrial chunk of technology is the well-named Media Tank, designed to be all things to the many PC users with absolutely no room left in their systems for yet another hard drive/burner/card reader. The Media Tank, with prices starting at around £150 houses an 80GB 3.5in hard disk drive, dual-layer DVD burner and 6-in-1card reader supporting CompactFlash I/II, MicroDrive, Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro. Drives as big as 300GB can be accommodated.
Connectivity is via USB 2.0 and there’s a cooling fan and aluminum heat sink to stop the whole thing melting. Via Red Ferret.
technology gadgets storage peripherals hdd
James Bond Gadgets Explained April 4, 2006
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Could Oddjob’s head-lopping bowler hat have really worked and, if so, is there any chance in Hell it would have come back? A new book called The Science Of James Bond is coming in August and hopes to answer more than a few questions surrounding the possibilities and plausibility of all those super-cool gadgets.
The book’s full title is: The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology behind 007's Fabulous Films. At 224 pages, don’t expect to be bored by science though, since this looks like it might be a fun read with chapters devoted to certain gadgets both big and small. Mini-jets and rocket firing cigarettes through to poisonous shoes and decapitating trays will all be up for discussion. Pre-order here for $25. Via Commander Bond
gadgets james bond 007 Movies books
USB Cup Warmer April 4, 2006
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Your new USB heating gloves keeping your hands warm now, but your coffee's still getting cold in the mug? You could just get a thermal travel mug, but where's the fun in that? If you really love your gadgets, you know salvation lies with the Universal Serial Bus—this USB Cup Warmer will wrap around your mug and keep the temperature of the contents constant for a mere £9.
USB Cup Warmer [usb.brando.com.hk]
Google Mapping Your Photo Shoots April 4, 2006
READ MORE Digital cameras
Cool "How-To" on using Google Maps with your camera's GPS receiver, in this case a Ricoh D200. Using the GoogleMaps API, you can tag shots with map data that can later be ported back into GoogleMaps. Potential uses? Real estate? Civil engineering? I don't know. What do you all think?
Build your own Google Photo Map [GoogleMapsMania]
TrekStor i.Beat Organix April 4, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
In an example of unmitigated twattery, TrekStore has come out with an example of why we must eat the rich. This is a crappy OLED MP3 player clad in 18 carat gold and adorned with 63 diamonds. There's also some bullshit about sound quality, but even if you had the money, you'd be a damn fool to buy this.
i.Beat organix Gold the Worlds most Expensive MP3 Player [NewLaunches]
Mobile Phone Cameras to get an Autofocus Upgrade April 4, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Shicoh Engineering has designed the world's tiniest compact linear motor. What does a compact linear motor do? It regulates the autofocus function of mobile phone cameras. A better focused nude celebrity spy photo is always a good thing, right?
It is less than half of an inch square and just over a tenth of an inch thick. Shicoh will begin shipping these motors later this month.
World's tiniest motor for camera phones [Textually]
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