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Rumor has it that Apple is planning to release a Wi-Fi–enabled iPod by the end of the year. Component manufacturers in the far east claim that Apple has orders in for Wi-Fi modules for the music player, which would set up the iPod to compete directly with the Zune in the not-exactly-crowded Wi-Fi-enabled DAP market.
An iPhone-esque, widescreen iPod with Wi-Fi? Sounds good to me, as long as Apple learns from Microsoft’s mistakes when it comes to implementing Wi-Fi on a music player. –Adam Frucci
DigiTimes [via Apple Insider]
This sweet environmentally friendly house spins to face the sun, helping it stay nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It does this by using triple-glazed glass on one side of the house to keep it warm in the winter, and by super-insulating the other side to keep the house cool in the summer.
In addition, it’s got solar vacuum tubes that heat water using the sun. In the end, the house creates more energy than it uses, which is a pretty remarkable feat. Where can I order one? –Adam Frucci
Tree Hugger [via Sci Fi Tech]
What happens if you take a camcorder and completely destroy it in a blender, then try to return its blended-up remains to Best Buy? Well, there is a 14-day return policy, isn’t there? In a spinoff of its “Will It Blend?” series that promotes Blendtec blenders, one of the show’s brave souls attempted just that. Would Best Buy, just about to be stung by its notorious peeping geek incident, relent?
“I tripped, and it fell into a blender.” “Did you get the, uh, accidental plan on it?” “No.”
Beautifully edited! –Charlie White
Will It Return? [Blendtec](Thanks, Dan!)
So apparently a patent has just been filed for a PDA with a detachable cellphone. It works like this: The phone sits in a recess behind the PDA. When they’re docked, you can transfer contacts from one to the other. When detached, the mobile works like a standard cellie, relying on its own battery.
An idea like this would have been cool maybe 15 years ago (before smartphones came into the picture). Today, I can only see it being (slightly) useful if it’s a slim camera attached to a smartphone, so that taking pictures won’t suck up my phone’s battery life. –Louis Ramirez
Patent Filed for PDA with Detachable Mobile Phone [Mobile Whack]
Philips, always on the bleeding edge of the consumer electronics industry, has decided to buy DLO, makers of all sorts of iPod accessories. Do you think iPod accessories will be popular? Philips is like the Nostradamus of gadgets, so I bet this means that this sector is really going to take off, although it might take some time. In the meantime, they can always make loads of money by manufacturing accessories for their own line of mindblowing DAPs. -Adam Frucci
Press Release [Philips]
These Whoomp earbud enhancers make your ordinary iPod earbuds kick some serious ass. In case you missed them when when they were rolled out a couple of months ago, we wanted to show them to you because they’re an improvement on Griffin’s EarJams (some evocative imagery in that name; at least they didn’t name them EarCheeses). Snap these Whoomps onto your iPod earbuds and suddenly you’re dealing with an in-the-ear design, rattling your skull with jaw-jarring bass.
We’re big fans of Griffin’s EarJams, astonished at the increased fidelity you can get with a good seal in your ear canal. How do Whoomps improve on Griffin’s design?
They take that idea a step further with their soft “Comply” foam tips that are pliable and comfy, molding themselves to the unique shape of your ears. Plus, you get a choice of earpiece sizes, offered in a package of two pairs of either large or small Whoomps, or a pair of each size, for $19.95. Good deal, because you only get one pair of EarJams from Griffin for that same price.
Whoomp. I like that name. Ari Gold from Entourage and Steve Jobs should start saying that instead of “Boom.” Whoomp! –Charlie White
Product Page [Hearing Components, Inc.]
Check out this unusually designed webcam, branded GE but made by Jasco. Introduced last year, it can either be clipped to your laptop screen or stood up on its pedestal that collapses into a smaller lens-protecting package to take on the road. It is also four LEDs surrounding the lens, bringing out the twinkle in your eye, or maybe even smoothing out a wrinkle or two.
Yeah, this is a cheap webcam that sells for $31.95, but it still packs nominal specs such a 640×480 resolution, a built-in mic and 30fps video. They’ve been spotted with either a black or white finish. Might be a nice addition to your travel kit if your laptop doesn’t already have a built-in webcam. –Charlie White
galleryPost('gewebcam', 8, 'GE Webcam');
Product Page [X-treme Geek]
Those loveable patent sifters have discovered that Motorola, entering into some kind of twisted competition with Samsung and NTT Docomo, will consider development of its own “smell-o-phone.” Motorola says its phone would heat up a packet of scented gel, presumably one that you’re guaranteed to never grow sick of. It was apparently inspired by those popular plug-in-the wall air freshener/night-lights. In this case, the heat source is the phone’s own power amplifier, so it should be a quick mod, though probably not a help in extending battery life.
Note: STNKR is my own hastily crafted moniker for this would-be device, and should in no way reflect badly on the awesome creative naming power of the people who brought us RAZR, SLVR, ROKR, KRZR, RIZR and PEBL. –Wilson Rothman
Motorola’s Mobile Smell-O-Phone [New Scientist]
AMD has been teasing us with glimpses of ATI’s next-gen DirectX 10 video cards, and the latest peek is the most tantalizing. The cards will all fall into the HD 2000-series umbrella (the HD stands for their Avivo HD technology).
At the top of the line is the Radeon HD 2900 XT with 320 stream processors (each one reducing dependence on the CPU), native CrossFire support (making it easier to pair two of these babies up), and integrated HDMI out with support for 5.1 surround sound. They will also support
128-bit HRD rendering and 16x anti-aliasing. The RV630-based cards will fall under the Radeon HD 2600 umbrella with Pro and XT versions and finally the budget RV610-based models will carry the Radeon HD 2400 name. There’s no word on what kind of power consumption to expect from these cards, but hopefully we’ll hear the official word from ATI soon. The cards are expected to roll out starting this month (which is around the same time we expect Nvidia’s new 8800 Ultra card and their mid-tier cards as well). Let the war begin. –Louis Ramirez
Ed: There’s no HDMI in either of these pics.
ATI Releases More R600 Details [DailyTech]
Sony’s getting desperate to goose the street cred of its slow-selling PS3, digging deep into its idea basket to catch up to the popularity of the Nintendo Wii. Apparently the company’s plan of attack is to develop a VR/3-D controller, illustrated in this patent application for a “handheld computer interactive device” spotted today.
It takes the abilities of the Wii controller a step further, where in addition to determining where your hand is in 3D space, sensors in the glove can be triggered by individual fingers, letting you grasp objects or assign each finger to a different function. Added to that is tactile feedback. Hmm. Teledildonics, anyone? –Charlie White
VR/3D Controller for your Sony PS3 [Unwired View]
