The Wii has a lot to answer for, apart from broken TVs and injured relatives. Not to mention healthy and fit gamers - who ever heard of such an outrage!
BT has started trialling motion sensing technology in the shape of a small adaptor that connects to a mobile device – laptop, tablet, handheld etc. – that will allow you to interact with menus and applications by just tilting or moving the device.
Dubbed BT Balance, it is based around an accelerometer chip like that found in the Wiimote. The idea is to allow people in the field or in difficult conditions to use a mobile device without having to use a keyboard. It’s in testing now but don’t expect to see it out on the streets for at least three years.
You’ll know it’s arrived when all new laptops and handhelds come with wrist straps.-Martin Lynch
[Silicon]
Wii laptops technology BT
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98651
It's one thing to be rescued by a robot like this, but it's a completely different ballgame to see one of these creepy bots crawling your way when you're in need of help. Designed by Marcos Nolan, the Elios is a spider-like robot with 10 arms (carried in its belly) designed to lift people from harm's way and into safety. Optical and biometric sensors ensure Elios keeps on target whereas its rugged shell keeps it from being damaged. I admit, it looks cool as hell, but I'd probably faint if I saw one of these crawling my way. – Louis Ramirez
A Giant Insect Robot Could Save Your Life [Electro Plankton via Gearfuse]
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98650
If you just can't seem to get enough Lego, now you can pack your lunch in one, available in your choice of pink, brown or blue. Unfortunately, that Lego cheeseburger isn't included in the box, and there's no word whether the lunchboxes interlock with each other.
Get yourself some Lego furniture to go along with this lunch carrier, and then all you need to do is build a Lego house and drive a Lego car, and the entire Lego illusion will be complete. – Charlie White
Product Page [Lego Store]
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98649
Former PlayStation Big Kahuna Ken Kutaragi has finally left the company. However, instead of going home to fish, play Wii or pinch bonsais, he plans to keep contact with Sony, helping them to cut costs on the PS3 after making it so expensive himself. He says he also will advise them on the next versions, while at the same time working "with a much wider world."
"As a matter of course, I have the vision of PlayStation 4, 5 and 6, which will merge into the network."
I also have a vision about Kutaragi-san. It involves rubber chickens, a bathtub full of tar, five bags of marshmallows and a Blu-ray laser on overdrive. Must be the same LSD on my cornflakes. – Jesus Diaz
Kutaragi hints PlayStation 4 plans [CVG]
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98648
I’m not the biggest fan of computer mice. I’m an average gamer who accepts that not all the DPI sensitivity in the world is going to improve my kill rate or reduce the speed at which my ass gets fried in online Halo 2.
Still, I’d have this mouse in a heart-beat, if only to look at all day long. This is The Bug, a cracking Steampunk mouse by the talented Jake. Other Steampunk inventions I’ve enjoyed recently are the Steampunk Laptop and Steampunk keyboard. Check out this clever ‘Ye Olde Worlde’ description of The Bug.
“One holds the device in a manner similar to the way a wood-worker holds a sanding block. The palm rests upon the “ball” in the foreground, with the fingers extending forward. The middle digit is placed upon the spiked cog, while the pointing-finger and the ring-bearing finger sit on the studded levers on either side. The thumb and small-finger rest comfortably on the side of the cylinder, helping to grip the contraption. The “Bug”, as the Professor calls it, is slid about upon a table top–thusly controlling a mobile indicator upon the Telecalculograph’s display. Push the device away from one’s self, and the arrow “moves” towards the top of the viewing window. When the arrow has been positioned appropriately so that it is pointing at the desired “item” on the glass, the user pushes down upon the various levers to elicit his desired effect. Turning the wheel in the center produces an action similar to turning a page in a book, or cranking a kinetoscope.”
Cute. Jump now for some more shots.–Martin Lynch
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98647
BBC overlord, the BBC Trust, has given the green light for the Beeb’s planned on-demand TV service. The proposed iPlayer service will allow us viewers to catch up on top BBC shows online for up to seven days after they were originally shown on the TV. It launches later this year.
You’ll be able to watch shows streamed over the Net – depending on the speed of your link – while others will be downloadable and can be stored on your PC for up to 30 days. The iPlayer service has been designed to run on Windows-based PCs with a big fat snub to Apple Mac users – even after stealing the ‘i’ for the service name.
The Trust has asked the BBC to rectify the matter within a ‘reasonable time frame’, but don't hold your breath. It’s not only Apple users getting the brush-off though, but arty-types too, since the Trust is not allowing classical recordings or book readings to be downloaded via iPlayer.
The iPlayer service is certainly going to be useful but, for me, the most important aspect was that this was the first proposed service to go through a public evaluation process, or Public Value Test (PVT), to test public response. In iPlayer’s case, a massive 10,500 people and organisations responded, most of them favourably.
It just goes to show that sometimes, just sometimes, that if enough of us want something we can get it.-Comrade Martin ‘Lenin’ Lynch
HDTV BBC TV internet
Trackback: http://blogs.vnunet.com/app/trackback/98646
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
