Eyeball DMT-1000 Speakers Designed for "Real World," Scaring Paranoid Schizophrenics May 15, 2007
READ MORE Digital Audio , Entertainment , Home Entertainment , Music
Are you an "audiophile system installer" frustrated by cabinet speakers that don't perform in your living room like they did in the lab? Do you like feeling a constant sense of vague paranoia, like someone's watching you? Then Proclaim Audiworks' DMT-1000 speakers just might be the speakers for you. While the spherical shape is ostensibly for sound quality, the design screams "look at me!" ('cause it's looking at you, duh) rather than "listen to me!" For $26,000, you had better be doing a lot of both. – Matt Buchanan
Product Page [via Crave]
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Windscraper Buildings Generate Power May 15, 2007
READ MORE Science
Architect, David Fisher, has envisioned a new tower that is one part wind turbine and one part skyscraper. The tower is based around a concrete center core, with each floor spinning like an individual wind turbine. When all of the turbines are harnessed together the tower will not only be able to power itself, but up to ten other similarly sized buildings, too. Question: How do occupants not vomit when the tradewinds hit?
Jump ahead to see a fun fanciful choreographed video of the proposed tower.
How To: Repel Sharks with Magnets May 15, 2007
READ MORE Gadgets
Here's a cool trick Eric Stroud and and Michael Herrmann discovered: Sharks hate magnets. And the thing is, anyone who is a shark-geek, and a magnet geek, can kind of mentally put it together. With the shark being able to sense weak currents in the water, this has GOT to feel like chewing tin foil to jaws. Next up: Magnets sewn into wetsuits.
Apple Beefs Up MacBooks May 15, 2007
READ MORE Apple , Laptops
For those that burst into flames at the mention of a notebook running Windows Anything, you can now rest easy and sate your portable needs with Apple’s new MacBooks.
I say new, but I really mean, updated. The looks are still ‘lovable’ [according to Apple’s promo material] but the horsepower under the hood has been jacked up thanks to some Intel Core duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard disk drives, up to 160GB.
They are approximately 1in thick, have 13in screens, built-in 802.11n wireless networking and a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing. And don’t forget the new MagSafe Power Adapter that “safely disconnects when under strain” – i.e. you’ll still break your face when you trip over the power cord but at least you won’t trash your MacBook.
The three models are the white 2GHz and 2.16GHz models and a less girly-looking black one, running at 2.16GHz version. They are priced at £699, £829 and £949, respectively.-Martin Lynch
apple laptops macbook notebook
Xbox 360 To Get Blu-ray Drive May 15, 2007
READ MORE Blu-ray , HD DVD , HDTV , Xbox
That’s the rumour of the day, and possibly of the week, since the thought of Microsoft – staunch supporter of HD-DVD – sucking face with Sony – creator of rival format Blu-ray - is almost too much to stomach.
However, Japanese news site ITmedia had an interview with Peter Moore, Microsoft's Xbox corporate VP of worldwide marketing and publishing, and he said that the Xbox 360 could have an add-on Blu-ray drive by Christmas, similar to the add-on HD DVD drive [pictured].
Owners of the portable HD DVD drive for the 360 drive might now be spitting cornflakes across their PCs, especially since it looks like they may have backed the wrong horse in the high-def race. Still, Moore was talking in Japan, where the PlayStation rules, and something like this could help boost the 360's pitiful marketshare over there.
Does it mean that Microsoft, one of THE strongest HD DVD supporters, is losing faith in the format? According to the interview, Moore now thinks that the chances of HD DVD becoming the winning HD standard are looking ‘bleak’. Oh dear.
Still, good news for 360 owners that want to be able to play whatever movie format they like.-Martin Lynch
xbox console PS3 blu-ray HD DVD
Hitachi’s Monster Laptop Drive May 15, 2007
READ MORE Laptops , Mobile Devices , Storage
I cringe with embarrassment at my weedy 40GB notebook drive which, more than year ago, was quite average but these days is the type of thing to make people snigger.
Hitachi’s solution is to break a few records and release a massive 200GB, 7200rpm notebook drive, claiming it to be the biggest and fastest on the block. That’s some notebook drive – in fact, it’s also about 120GB bigger than the HDD in my three year old PC. The Travelstar 7K200 is twice the size of its predecessor and 22% faster, according to Hitachi.
Dell and Alienware are the first vendors to sign up for this beast and, get this, with the XPS M2010 and Aurora m9700 notebooks, they’ll even fit two 7K200 drives inside each to provide a whopping 400GB of internal, portable storage.
Users can also plump for the optional “Bulk Data Encryption” feature from Hitachi, which is a hard-drive level security mechanism that promises better security than software-based alternatives.
A retail version of the drive will arrive this summer for about $249 in the US, so about £250 here, then.-Martin Lynch
laptops storage hard drive notebook
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