Friday, April 27, 2007
_
Amazing Robot Reality, or Techno Puppet Show?
11:45PM Seamus Byrne | Jules is an impressive animatronic puppet created by American robotics designer David Hanson, first presented at the Wired NextFest last year. He’s the next version in a long line of 13 robots by Hanson so far. This one has camera eyes that can track human faces, can recognize speech, and is loaded with “conversational persona” software that gives him an uncanny realism. But this is just the beginning. Jules describes himself as “a baby,” and said to Hanson’s son, Zeno: “By the time you’re grown up, I’ll be as smart as a real person, and we will be like brothers. I do not know if you’ll remember me then, but I will never forget you. Someday I’ll come and find you, and we’ll be friends.” He’s going to come and find us? Let’s hope we’ll be friends. But is this a robot or a sophisticated puppet? What’s the diff? Either way, this is spooky stuff. – Charlie White Hanson Robotics Site More »
_
8-port HDMI Switcher Needs to Wait for More HDMI Devices
11:45PM Seamus Byrne | Does anyone out there really have enough devices to warrant an 8-port HDMI switcher? I mean, you could have a PS3, an Xbox 360 Elite, a HD DVD player and a Blu-ray player, and despite the redundancies and pointlessness in having all of those things you’d still have four empty ports. But then, I guess this thing isn’t really for regular consumer use, seeing it’s meant to be mounted in a rack and not sit on top of a receiver. And $900 isn’t a very consumer-friendly price for a boring old switcher. But hey, if you’re one of the half dozen or so people out there who really need to be able to switch between eight HDMI devices, go nuts. –Adam Frucci Product Page [Akihabara News] More »
_
Slouchpod: The Gamer’s Beanbag
11:33PM Seamus Byrne | If beanbags had a version 2.0, the Slouchpad would be it. A gamer’s dream, it has two built-in 5-watt RMS speakers and a 10-watt RMS subwoofer for those outta-the-chair moments when you’re playing Gears Of War. And it’s not just gamer-friendly, as you can plug just about anything into it, from MP3 players to TVs, DVDs and your laptop. The Slouchpad comes in six colors, including classic black, cream and red, and the more nausea-inducing lilac, pink and white. The price is $600 (ouch) and it’s available in the UK and Europe at the moment, but if you ask nicely, I’m sure they’ll ship it to you. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [Slouchpod via Red Ferret] More »
_
Intel Makes the Push for Flexible Screens
11:16PM Seamus Byrne | Intel has jumped onto the flexible display bandwagon, promising us a future with bendable cellphones, GPS navigators and PDAs. According to the company’s patent, the displays will be made up of two flexible sheets and magnetically controlled pixels. No word on when these displays will become a reality, but between Intel, LG Philips, and everyone else we’re hoping it’ll be sooner rather than later. – Louis Ramirez Intel is Working on Flexible Screen for Mobile Devices [Unwired View] More »
_
Fluffy Alarm Clocks Awaken Your Tackiest Impulses
11:13PM Seamus Byrne | Mother’s Day is coming up, and you know what that means: Time to break out the kitsch. Here are two perfect candidates, these fluffy alarm clocks by Luft, and hey, one of them even looks like an old-fashioned iMac. Sure, we showed you that Glo Pillow techno-pillow clock yesterday, but that one isn’t even real yet and will probably cost you a ton o’ money. Here’s the real thing, waking you up and embarrassing you if anyone else sees it in your house. And that joy, that comfort of knowing you have the tackiest taste on the whole cellblock—now that’s certainly priceless. – Charlie White Interesting Desk Clock (Chinese) [163.com, via Spluch] More »
_
iPods Banned by Schools to Stop Exam Cheating
10:45PM Seamus Byrne | Teachers, eh? First they came to praise the iPod, then they came to bury it. A spate of incidents involving iPods in class and exam rooms has led to a ban on digital media players in some schools. A high school in Idaho has been one of the first establishments to ban MP3 players after teachers overheard some of the kids talking about downloading formulae and other crib material onto the players. “It doesn’t take long to get out of the loop with teenagers,” said Aaron Maybon, principal of Mountain View High School. “They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast.” Unlike the students of Duke University of North Carolina, it seems. Three years ago it handed out iPods to its undergrads in an attempt to enhance the learning process. And have they seen an increase in cheating? No, according to Tim Dodd, exec director of The Center for Academic Integrity at Duke, who claims it is beneath his students to stoop to that level, and that such incidents have dropped over the past decade. So what’s the moral of the story? You can trust an undergrad, but not a high schooler, it seems. – Ad Dugdale Some schools ban iPods to stop cheating [Fox News] More »
_
Drag Racer Alarm Clock: A Gentle Way to Start your Day
9:55PM Seamus Byrne | The Drag Racer Alarm Clock strikes me as the perfect present for that special someone who you really don’t like. A person on whom you wish a jarring, migraine-popping, nightmareish start to the day—or failing that, a petrolhead. First of all, the amber lights on the Christmas tree start to flash, but it is not until they flip to green that the sound of 80-horsepower hell is unleashed in the bedroom. The manufacturers could have gone further, I suppose, and piped in the fried food ‘n’ petrol smells of the racetrack to rouse you from your dreams about that trackside babe oiled up to here and her boilersuit unzipped down to there. It has a snooze mode, as well as temperature and humidity gauges (just what you need in the steamy wilds of your bedroom, eh?) and it will set you back $29.95. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [SkyMall via Shiny Shiny] It costs $29.99. More »
_
Cat’s Arse Pencil Sharpener
9:07PM Seamus Byrne | I think this is self-explanatory. I’m more of a dog person, myself, so I’d have no qualms about having this on my desk. Apparently the cat goes “Meow” when you stick your pencil up its butt, which is not very realistic. Far better that it leap up and down and bite you, then do a poo on the desk. Anyway, the Cat’s Arse Pencil Sharpener costs $14. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [I Want One Of Those via UberGizmo] More »
_
Giz Oz: Our greatest week ever
3:20PM Seamus Byrne | Yes, without any competition, our first week wins the title of best ever. Here we’ve gathered some links back to the first week of Australian content, in case you missed them in the face of overwhelming US entries. We had some Sony videos: Creative Side and Kiss. That last one is still giving me nightmares. Virgin loosens up with $10/month for 1GB data. If you aren’t doing 3 X-Series, this is some kick ass data pricing. Sexy laser etched Bluetooth headsets. You can’t buy them (yet), but they sure make good eye candy. Samsung showed us their new TVs and the auto wall mount. 15,000:1 in an LCD TV is a sight to behold. AVCHD edits in da house! If you dig on a Sony ‘ecosystem’, then Vegas has got your AVCHD editing needs covered. Battery cell-size adapters and other crazy ideas. I learned some valuable lessons in battery recharging… did you? More »
_
