Powerbook Laser Etching Revisited August 30, 2006
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Our sister from a different motha, Gina over at Lifehacker, got her Powerbook etched with a celtic knot this past weekend at the MAKE headquarters as part of the FOO Camp. She was nice enough to make a video of the very boring process in action.
The process is done using an Epilog laser cutter hooked up to a Windows machine (irony?) running Corel Draw to make the pretty pictures. Hit up the link here for more details on the laser-etching process and jump to see the video of Gina's Powerbook getting etchified.
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Hornmassive, One Big-Ass Horn August 30, 2006
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You know those little air horns that people bring to concerts and other events? Yeah, the same ones that manage to deafen you for a short period of time and result in a beating to the operator of the horn. Those small horns have gotten quite the upgrade. The Hornmassive is exactly that, a massive horn. It is capable of making noise that can be heard 1km away. This horn is primarily used at music festivals.
Supposedly the Hornmassive is capable of delivering superior sound, throw, range and efficiency from the 2-ton 2000-watt horn. Now, would it be mean for me to hope they take it to Burning Man and blow all of those hippies away?
Information Page [Via The Cool Hunter]
Teeny, Tiny MicroSound iPod Speakers August 30, 2006
READ MORE Portable Media
As if the iPod needed any more well thought out accessories, the MicroSound enters the fray looking to fill the apparent void in the nano speaker market. MicroSound is the brainchild of Miglia, the same company that makes the TVMax DVR system for the Mac mini. Migilia calls the MicroSound "slim, ultra-light and ultra-modern," which are pretty strong words for a pair of small speakers that—gasp!—integrate with an iPod. Just how small is it, I'm sure you're wondering? The dimensions come in at 2.3x0.7x1.1-inches. Small speakers, just as advertised.
The MicroSound plugs into the headphone jack of the iPod nano (and shuffle), making it "the perfect companion for any outdoor activity." ...So long as that activity lasts about 12 hours, since that's how long the MicroSound will keep playing music on a single AAA battery.
You can grab the MicroSound speakers online for about $30.
Product Page [Miglia via iLounge]
Core 2 Duo Macbooks in September? We Ask Steve Jobs August 30, 2006
READ MORE Laptops
New Macbooks in September? I don't know...people are still having heat problems with the current generation chips, and the new ones are supposedly much hotter. But enough about what we think.
What happens when we ask Steve Jobs himself?
He blasted us with deafening silence.
How about when we spam the top tech journalists in the country with that question? Cranky Geek John Dvorak, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue of the New York Times: they all ignored us. Finally, all the PC and Mac magazines wrote back.
Niko Coucouvanis, Editor, Mac Addict
I haven't been paying attention - after the Intel release party, I thought Apple would release or announce the next day. Given that whole thermal grease issue, I'd think they could handle a hotter unit in there if they put the goddamn thing together properly. I also hear they've been quietly tweaking the motherboard since day one, so maybe when they get that right Seems like a no-brainer that they'd use the core2, but as usual, I'll be the last one to know their plans.
Hybrids Bound for Formula One August 30, 2006
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Our beloved blood brothers at Jalopnik tell us that hybrid vehicles may be soon winding their way into Formula One racing, where overlords of that heady luxo-sport world are sniffing around the technology. Two big players who build such Formula One dream machines, N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l., have teamed up to build the first hybrid formula car. The single-seater open-wheeled race car will have a 250hp engine, presumably along with a thus-far unspecified electric motor that uses recursive braking to recharge its batteries.
The fact that hybrid engine technology is even being considered by world-class Formula One designers serves as an ad hoc endorsement for the idea. We're feeling the logic of that—after topping 44 miles per gallon on a multi-thousand mile road trip in a Honda Civic Hybrid last week, you can imagine how jazzed we are about hybrid engines. This development, along with the intriguing Tesla electric vehicle, show us that sometimes it is easy being green.
Green Goes Mean? Motorsports Firms to Build Hybrid F1 Car [Jalopnik]
Sony Ships AWG170A, Claimed to Be World's Fastest DVD Burner August 30, 2006
READ MORE Storage
Sony has started shipping the AWG170A in Europe, what Sony and its partner NEC claim to be the world's fastest DVD±R burner. Able to burn discs at 16x (whether or not 16x media is widely available is apparently irrelevant), the AWG170A also burns DVD-RAM (12x), DVD±R DL (8x), DVD+RW (8x), DVD-RW (6x) and CD-R/RW (48x).
The drive, which is available in four different front bezel colors, uses a few different tricks to make sure all that high speed disc burning doesn't end up with the creation of lots of coasters. There's a built-in system to help correct unbalanced discs and a self-cooling design that works without noisy fans.
Allegedly shipping now to Europe, there's still no word when/if the AWG170A will reach the U.S. and for how much.
Sony ships 'world's fastest' DVD±R burner [The Register]
Sony Updates Bravia Line of HDTVs, Now with More Reality Mojo August 30, 2006
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Sony has goosed its line of Bravia LCDs once again, claiming the improved DRC-MF (Digital Reality Creation Multi Function) version 2.5 is even more like reality. From what we can gather trying to decipher the Japanese website, before-and-after pics on its website show how this Bravia Engine Pro image enhancement routine does a better job of up-rezzing anything that's not 1080p, while passing true 1080p signals through to the screen.
While that version 2.5 of the DRC-MF technology will only be included in the "X" line of Bravia sets, the company says this is a complete update of all of its Bravia LCD TVs, including the S, V, and X models from 32 to 53 inches. Sony also plans to update its rear-projection 50-inch and 60-inch 1080p Bravia models. Pricing and availability weren't announced yet.
Bravia Product Page (Japanese) [Sony, via Akihabara News]
MacBook Pro a Lemon? August 30, 2006
READ MORE Laptops
Is there something rotten in Cupertino? After hearing rumblings of problems with MacBook Pros, now David Ciccone of Mobility Today tells us about his nightmarish series of issues with the MacBook Pro he bought back in March of this year.
The problems started soon after the purchase, where Ciccone noticed whining noises emanating from his laptop, accompanied by extremely hot temperatures. Two unsuccessful repair attempts later, Apple replaced the MacBook with a new unit. Bringing that home, Ciccone noticed there was still a whining noise but used a plug-in to make that go away, only to find three weeks later there was a loud mooing noise coming out of the machine. Then the MagSafe connector began fraying from the heat, and at about the same time Apple recalled the unit's defective battery. Next he noticed severe warping in the battery slot area, causing the battery to wiggle. Now he's getting some sort of flaking problem.
At the end of his rope, Ciccone called Apple Executive Relations, asking for either a new MacBook Pro or a refund. The response: "It's to our discretion if we want to replace it and this is not an option for you." Now he's taken matters to the top, writing an open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Six different service issues on two different MacBook pros? Something's fishy here. Is Ciccone alone? Is everyone having these types of problems? What's happening here?
A Letter to Steve Jobs [Mobility Today]
NuVision 52LEDLP vs. Samsung HL-S5679W: A Pitched Battle Between Big High Def LED-Backlit TVs August 30, 2006
READ MORE Home Entertainment
The Nuvision 52LEDLP is the latest set from the relatively new, high end TV maker. While the rest of their lineup is comprised of LCDs, this is their first rear projection DLP, which they plan to announce formally at CEDIA in a few weeks. The set's screen is 52-inches diagonally, with a native resolution of 1080p—that's 1920 by 1080 pixels, and what we love to see from a TV of this size. What's remarkable is that its backlighting isn't done with the usual bulb and colorwheel. No, instead, it uses a red, green, and blue LED as a lightsource, which has the great advantages of eliminating the rainbow effect a traditional setup, along with a claimed 140% of HDTV's color palette. (Most LCDS only reach the 90th percentile.) The other thing that's crazy is just how similar this TV is to the Samsung HL-S5679W, which comes out the same time. We smell a fight!
Which of the two LED-backlit DLP rear projection TVs is better? Stat analysis after the jump!
WiFi Scope Sees Radio Waves August 30, 2006
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This Wifi can-tenna pans and tilts, recording radio signals it detects in the air. Then, it paints its findings in the visual spectrum, through a projector. It's an art project, but I'm sure there's a way to use it to optimize your WiFi Feng Shui
WIFI CAMERA PROTOTYPE [BoingBoing]
Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS: Widescreen With a FM Transmitter August 30, 2006
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What's the story with this leaked GPS? Well, I'll tell you. Garmin is trying to keep pace with TomTom's widescreen models by adding this 4.3-inch, 480 by 272 pixel touchscreen to their latest navigator. Their last generation of Nuvis had players had MP3 support, which sounded really shit coming out of the little speakers in back. This one has an FM transmitter to route the tunes through your stereo. FYI, I'm still not using a GPS as my music player, kthx.
The GPS also has a high sensitivity SiRF star III receiver, built in traffic data, 700MB of internal memory for maps, a SD slot, a world currency converter, picture viewer, Bluetooth integration with a cellphone, and the usual Garmin interface that's sweet as a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich. Bye, I'm going to go eat now.
Wait, one more thing. The GPS guys at GPS Passion forums say that the bigger screen is going to make the Garmin slower to respond than older gen models. We shall see in September, when this thing hits for a little less than $1000.
Garmin Nuvi 660 [DX Chase and the Playas at GPS Passion. Their love for navigation never runs out of map data.]
T-Mobile Hacker Gets One Year of House Arrest, $10,000 Fine August 30, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Remember the twenty-something hacker who got into T-Mobile's servers, then got lots of pictures of celebrities off the Sidekick databases? He's been sentenced to one year's house arrest and a $10,000 restitution to T-Mobile.
All this hubbub and no nude pictures of Ashton Kutcher porking Demi Moore? I say he pays US $10,000 for getting our hopes up.
T-Mobile hacker gets house arrest [Mobile Tracker]
Electric Mini Hits 0-60 in 4.5 seconds August 30, 2006
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Minis are cool. From heist movies to racing, Minis have the kind of street cred that other modern ‘city cars’ can only ever beg for. And now someone has made an electric one. OK, STOP!! Right there, the street cred should be evaporating before our very eyes but, hang on.
This one is not just nicer to our green and blue spinning ball in space, but it goes like lightning. The PML Mini QED can hit 60mph in 4.5 seconds and top out at 150mph thanks to a small petrol engine and four, 160 horsepower electric motors inside each wheel. Yes, electric wheels.
The electric range alone is 200-250 miles which can be boosted to a cracking 952 miles when including the engine.
PS4 Arriving In…..2016 August 30, 2006
READ MORE Consoles , Gadgets , Games , Home Entertainment
The PS3 still hasn't left the production line and already the PS4 is up for discussion. According to the head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Kaz Hirai, the PS3 will have a lifecycle of 10 years which means it will be at least 7 years or so before we start bitchin' about it – an edgy blend of drooling over it and damning it in the same breath. He said:
“We look at our products having a 10 year life cycle, which we've proven with the PlayStation. Therefore, the PlayStation 3 is going to be a console that's going to be with you again for 10 years. We're not going to ask the consumers to suddenly buy another PlayStation console in five years' time and basically have their investment go by the wayside.”
I’d like to say ‘wow, that’s considerate’ but since we in the UK and Europe are about to get fleeced for £425 for the 60GB version, I should bloody well hope that the next one is at least 7-10 years off. - Martin Lynch
Via Cnet.
news games PS3 technology home
Bang & Olufsen's First TV-DAB Combo August 30, 2006
READ MORE Digital Audio , Gadgets , Home Entertainment , TV
Bang & Olufsen, or B&O (a.k.a “Oh Christ, that’s Expensive!”) has launched the world’s first TV with in-built DAB radio.
The stunningly good looking BeoCenter 6-23, is a 23in flat-screen LCD, high-definition telly with a DAB radio fleshing out its innards. In fact, it has all the style you’d expect from B&O, and all the pitfalls.
Anyone thinking that buying one of these will save you some cash on buying a separate high-def TV and DAB radio can think again. Unless you call £3,070 a bargain - but that does include the motorised stand – it’s back to that second job. Still, you do get to choose from six grille and frame colours and the FM/DAB radio has 99 presets. Whoopee!
Still, £3,000 for a small TV with no, yes NO, HDMI input? C’mon. - Martin Lynch
[MORE]
Armet Gurkha Armored Vehicle Kicks Hummvee Ass August 30, 2006
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The ultra rich have sportscars to spend hundreds on thousands of dollars on, if not millions. What do the SUV crowd do when they win the lottery? Buy a Gurka by Armet. Cousin site Jalopnik, who we have constant toy-envy of, says it best:
The squat and hedgehog-lookin' 19,000 lb beast-of-an-armored-vehicle ain't just built to shrug off a roadside bomb with its high strength ballistic aluminum armor, or stop a bullet from an AK-47 with its ballistic glass. No, it's also pretty fast for its size -- with a top speed of 93 mph.
At 93 MPH, you're not winning any races, but it doesn't matter when you can plow through the opposition. A steal at only £100,000.
Sony Ericsson W43S Clamshell Glows August 30, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Sony Ericsson's Japan-only W43S is a bit of a showboat. The phone has a 2.7 inch (240 × 432) screen, a 2 MegaPixel camera, and can play MP3s for 24 hours straight on one charge. But the phone also has 16 different skins that work with the 12 LEDs under it's lid, to put on quite a light show. They call it "Style Up" I call it shiny. We like shiny. More photos after the jump
Sony Ericsson W43S Clamshell [Mobilewhack via TechEBlog]
Sigma SD14 Foveon Camera Picture Leaked? August 30, 2006
READ MORE Digital cameras
To us, this picture from the xitek forums looks like the SIGMA teased here earlier today.
If you're not familiar with Sigma, it's the company that developed the Foveon X3, whose newest iteration is now called the Full Color Capture Direct Image Sensor. First introduced in its SD9 digital SLR in 2002, the groundbreaking sensor uses a special layered-grid technology that separates the three primary colors, offering significantly higher resolution and color clarity.
Personally, we like the picture a little bit lower down the page more than this camera picture.
Ricoh Caplio 500SE Camera Shrugs Off Dust, Likes WiFi and Bluetooth August 30, 2006
READ MORE Digital cameras
Ricoh's announced these wireless capable digital cameras over in Japan, and we can only hope to see them over here soon. The 8.13 Megapixel camera can send photos by Bluetooth 2.0, while the W model connects by both Bluetooth and B/G WiFi. On the front, there's a 3x zoom lens that we have no other info on, and on the back, you'll find a 2.5 inch LCD. The camera prefers that you feed it SD cards, unless you want to use the 26MB of internal memory. Yech, what does that hold? Two or three 8-megapixel images? These cameras cost about a £550, and weigh about a pound, including the water resistant, hard candy shell.
Ricoh Caplio [Dottocomu]
Doraemon Game With Strap-On Helecopter Hat August 30, 2006
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Doraemon fans rejoice! The "takekoputa"—a Japanese combination of some word and helicopter—allows you to fly around in a game using only your head. How so? Well, instead of using the controller, you strap on the helecopter and lean forward, back, left or right to control Doraemon as he's flying through the air.
There's a story mode, 10 minigames, and a free-mode where you can fly around and explore Japan from the skies. For ages 4 and up, this is powered by 4 batteries, and available only in Japan. Doraemon rules.
Product Page [Nikkeibp - Thanks Andy!]
Verbatim USB Thumb Drives Force Security Down Your Gullet August 30, 2006
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If you're going to store your passwords, photos, documents, and music on your thumb drives, you might as well do so securely with the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Corporate Secure USB Drives. These drives come in 1 to 4GB sizes, use a SHA-1 Hash to obfuscate your password, and require entering in your password every time you want to access data. If the wrong password is typed 10 times in a row, all your data gets erased. Harsh.
The drives have a read speed of 23MB/s and a write speed of 14MB/s, so it's no turtle. Prices range from £40 for the 1GB stick and £140 for the 4GB stick. Not a big investment when you consider the money lost if your competitors get their hands on your product info.
Product Page [Verbatim via Digital Trends]
Core 2 Duo Coming To Apple MacBooks Sept. 16? August 30, 2006
READ MORE Laptops
File this under R for "Rumor", but another Mac site is speculating that Apple will release updates to their laptop line come Sept. 16. The annual Paris Expo could be just the time for Apple to stick the recently released Core 2 Duo processors in their MacBooks and MacBook Pros, joining Toshiba, Dell, and Samsung in the upgraded notebook party.
Keep in mind this is just a rumor, and nobody knows whether Apple will do this or not. But if you can wait on your laptop purchase until the 16th of September, it's probably a good idea to.
Is Next-Gen Apple Laptop Coming Soon? [Mac News World via Crunchgear]
Windows Vista Available For Pre-order On Amazon August 30, 2006
READ MORE Software
We showed you the leaked Vista prices yesterday, but today we have actual pre-ordering for you courtesy of Amazon. The list date is January 30, 2007, and prices are around what they were in the leaked price list yesterday.
So far we see £200 for Vista Ultimate, £120 for Vista Home Premium, and £130 for the Vista Ultimate Upgrade.
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate DVD-Rom [Amazon via i4u]
Logitec WiFi Skype Phone Lets You Talk Wherever There's WiFi August 30, 2006
READ MORE Smartphones
Logitec's getting into the WiFi Skype game and releasing their own me-too phone. Again, this Logitec is the Logitec of Japan, not the Logitech (with an H) of the US. Fortunately for Skype phone collectors like me, this is just an OEM of the Belkin Skype phone, but in white, like SMC's OEM version.
The Skype phone will be available in Japan and uses either 802.11b or g to place its calls. The phone also supposedly has Bluetooth so you can hook this up as a handset for your computer, but we're not sure how useful that feature will be. Read up on our thoughts on this model of Skype WiFi phone here.
Logitec's WiFi Skype phone [Akihabara News]
USB Vacuum With Retractable Cable Sucks Your Germs Away August 30, 2006
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Why do you need a USB Vacuum? Well, did you know the dirtiest part of your desk is probably your keyboard and mouse? Think about it, you and your unwashed hands, touching your keyboard day after day, scraping snot and belly button lint everywhere. Then there's your ham sandwich crumbs cozying up to your diet coke spatter, fermenting into some penicillin-like breakthrough in pharmacology. Screw that. Get one of these USB Mini Vacuums with the retractable cable and suck away all that gunk.
The cable is both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 compliant for some high speed 480 megabits per second sucking. There's even a turbo mode to clean at 24,000 RPM. Grab yours today for a low, low price of £10.
Product Page [Brando via Gearlog]
ATI Recalls TV Wonder 650 From Store Shelves August 30, 2006
READ MORE PC , TV
ATI's just issued a nation-wide recall of their ATI TV Wonder 650 tuner cards. They should already be off store shelves by now in retailers like Best Buy. No official reason was given, but an ATI insider says that only 30% to 50% of the already paltry 40 stated channels were functioning on these units.
ATI has told Best Buy to tell customers that a "similar product" will be released soon. If you've actually purchased one of these cards, we suggest you contact ATI to see if they can give you a refund or a replacement.
Do any readers have one? How's it holding up?
ATI TV Wonder 650 Total Recall [Daily Tech]
Bosch Power Box PB10-CD iPod Boombox for Toughguys, Reviewed August 30, 2006
READ MORE Digital Audio , Home Entertainment
Here's a review of the Bosch Power Box. Basically, an ipod HiFi for construction workers. Instead of a wimpy white cabinet, this one has a roll cage, a 12-volt accessory adapter, a built in fault-protected power strip, and a jack to charge up Bosch powertool batteries. It has a CD player, which is...well, a CD player. More interesting is the iPod dock, which combines a 12 volt power plug, a connector, and a suit of armor. The review is straight forward, going through the usual groping. The best quote:
The Bosch Power Box is "hip" enough for the ladies, but classic enough for the guys.
I don't know what that means. Nor do I want to meet any women who think this thing is hip.
Bosch Power Box PB10-CD [Methodshop via Coolest Gadgets]
Containership Power Strip August 30, 2006
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This is just damn cool. Forget the traditional power strips, those are dull and boring. This power strip looks like a containership and will conveniently power all of your gadgets. It was designed by Jim Termeer and is unfortunately a conceptual design, but maybe it will be put into production some day. Just don't actually put it into the water, because then not only will you be an idiot, you will be a dead idiot.
Containership Power Supply [Yanko]
Audio Peacock Struts Its Stuff Around In Search of Perfect Audio August 30, 2006
READ MORE Digital Audio
The Audio Peacock is the invention of Benoît Maubrey, a Germany-based artiste who makes weird junk for a living. Among the many pieces of art on his Web site is the Audio Peacock, a wearable sound system of sorts that combines plexiglass, 16 loudspeakers, amps and plenty of batteries. As you can see by this artistic picture, the whole apparatus resembles—though just barely—a giant peacock, or so the inventor says.
The "plumage" can either amplify its own sounds or you can pipe in external sounds for a one-man Audio Peacock extravaganza. Even better, four of these peacocks can be linked together ("acoustically choreographed") to create a "mobile quadraphonic loudspeaker system," or, a big, Voltron-like Audio Peacock bent on world domination.
Audio Clothes [Benoît Maubrey - Die Audio Gruppe via Music thing]
Hieroglyphic USB Flash Drives, Like Wingdings, but Makes Sense August 30, 2006
READ MORE Storage
A Japanese company called Solid Alliance has released a line of USB flash drives that come loaded up with whacky hieroglyphic messages. The meanings are somewhat obvious, friendship, love, etc. Available in Japan only for £15 and only available in 256MB. Speaking of, anybody actually know or use Wingdings? Wikipedia doesn't say much about the actual purpose of Wingdings and I'm a bit curious.
The USB stick of Love [newlaunches]
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