Once a year in Tokyo, Sony invites some lucky people to check out the super-secret stuff their Computer Science Laboratories (CSL) have been cooking up. What’s the CSL? It’s the R&D division that explores future technologies with no specific product or division in mind, so they aren’t forced to only work on Blu-ray products or phone technologies.
Well, this year’s open house just happened, and Sony had some pretty neat stuff to show off. More »
Good old NASA is giving their Mars Rover a hardcore makeover. The next-gen Rover (the Mars Science Laboratory) is gonna weigh in at 1,800 pounds and pack rock-crushing lasers. As a matter of fact, it’s gonna pack so much tech it’ll have to run on nuclear power rather than solar arrays (like previous Rovers). More »
The UK city of Liverpool is playing host to a rather kooky piece of artwork for the next 18 months. Called Turning The Place Over (I do hope that’s not a reference to Scousers being nifty burglars) by Richard Wilson, it consists of a rotating wall that turns 360º. Cut in the wall of an old Yates’s Wine Lodge, the installation sits opposite one of the city’s train stations and is costing almost $900,000 – that’s $50,000 for each month of its existence.
I guess it will make moving in so much easier: you will be able to just “open” the wall and get that grand piano in without having to use two spazmos* who think they are Laurel and Hardy. – Ad Dugdale
* Spazmos-Spazmozikis: noun. Ancient greek. Very stupid man. Very.
City’s new room with a view – but is it art? [icLiverpool] More »
I don’t know if I like these wood-made peripherals by Marubeni Infotec or not. I mean, take this beautiful keyboard: I love the clean lines, the nice texture and the great clickity-clack sound it must make. On the other hand, my tree-hugging commie hippie side wonders if we really need the extremely resource-consuming technological industry to also devour trees in addition to fossil fuel. But then again, maybe the only thing that makes me write about this kind of stuff is that it allows me to do puerile jokes about Rocco Siffredi and talk about Ian McKellen’s penis in King Lear after the jump. More »
Hundreds of comments were in the running, but there could be only one winner. Remember, judges decision is final, so don’t come crying to me telling me you thought your comment was much cleverer than theirs. We love you all, and we’ll have more prizes really soon. REALLY soon!
Thanks again to Powermove for their support on this comp. We, and I’m sure the winner, really appreciate it.
We’ll update this post very shortly with the announcement!
BOOOOM! Drumroll, please! The winner(s) are…
A story in the SMH has popped up on new research out of MIT into the use of electromagnetic resonance to power devices. Initial testing has led to powering a 60 watt light bulb at a range of two metres.
They are aiming for greater efficiency and range, but see maximum ranges keeping the wireless range to “not extending beyond a room or factory floor”. Marin Soljacic, Physics professor at MIT who has been working on this project for years, says:
The technology is almost at the point where it could be used for a practical application.
Woah! I won’t be disappointed if it is one room only! That would be HEAVEN! I know my wife would love to see all these damn power cables hit the road.
They’re calling it ‘Witricity’. I think they need a better name.
Some shocking news about wireless electricity [SMH] Thanks to Jake Heath for flicking the tip! More »
Typically, the most shoddy work journalists put out is the ubiquitous trendspotting piece. And today’s NY Times article, “To Appeal to Women, Too, Gadgets Go Beyond ‘Cute’ and ‘Pink,’ ” excels at digging itself so far into stereotypical, sexist bunk I don’t even know where to begin to pull it apart.
The fundamentally flawed logic at its heart is that the effort to make gadgets smaller, easier to use and more people-friendly is one, a move to appeal to more women (rather than, you know, everyone) and two, that women need gadgets to be that way. As our six female readers can attest to, that’s total BS. More »
Epson has announced that their earlier price of $6,999 for the TW1000 1080p projector has now been reduced to a ridiculously enticing $4,999. That’s sub $5,000 for one of the best home theatre projectors I’ve had the pleasure of playing with (admittedly, I haven’t played with as many as some folks – particularly up the high-end).
I’ve got one here for testing right now, and I agree whole heartedly with everything mentioned in the earlier review by the mothership. This thing looks stunning, with plenty of tweaks to get the image and colour just how you like it.
The one problem I found was no keystone control, so while the angled throw was close to spot on, I’d have liked a control over the shape of the final image to square up the edges. Not a major drama, and Epson argue that they left it out because high-quality video nuts wouldn’t want it anyway, as it only serves to degrade the final image quality.
I know when I sort out my living room (and own it), I’ll be eager to install one of these puppies with a ceiling mount for a perfect little hook up. -Seamus Byrne
Remember when we gave you deets on the new Parallels 3.0 last week? Good news: it’s done and released already. So if you’ve been waiting for it with sweaty anticipation, clean yourself up and go grab a copy. Tally ho, dual OS cowboys! –Adam Frucci
AU: Yay! We gave THEM some news this morning. ;-)
Sony’s $300 Bravia Internet Video Link hits stores this July. It’s one of the most elegant systems yet available that delivers Internet video to the TV.
Your first question: What Internet video might that be? Yes, yes, it’s a very good question. Before we get into that, though, let’s see how it works.
galleryPost('SonyInternetVideoLink', 8, 'Sony Internet Video Link'); More »
