Saturday, July 14, 2007
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Adobe’s Interactive Wall Is Like Minority Report Future Sans Apple and Microsoft
4:07PM Seamus Byrne | See Adobe’s interactive wall, featured in the New York Times and in fact on Giz, fewer than 24 hours ago. See nerds trying to get exercise they wouldn’t otherwise dream of, in the hopes of triggering one of Adobe’s—what was that, infrared?—motion sensors. Enjoy the man-on-the-street critiques of this cutting-edge technology, and most of all, without a doubt—Look, flying toasters! – Video by Nick McGlynn More »
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Mitsubishi hiring out robots as receptionists
1:22PM Seamus Byrne | Robots have long been a mainstay on high-end factory floors, but now they’re getting a lot more social and interacting with humans in the workplace. These Mitsubishi robots, named Wakamaru, are being hired out in Japan as receptionists for $1000 a day or $25,000 a year. It turns out these goofy-looking yellow droids are pretty good at the job, recognizing faces and even chatting it up with the customers, using their 10,000-word vocabulary to amaze and entertain, and possibly annoy. Standing a childlike 3′3″ tall and weighing 66 pounds, the robots cut a decidedly non-imposing figure, flashing a dorky-looking expression and generally doing nonthreatening things. They are at able to perform a few manual tasks, however, and we’re thinking that bringing us a beer might not be too challenging for these little droids. While we see opportunities for employing nonjudgmental servants, others may sense the beginning of the end for humanity. It might be a little of both. [Pink Tentacle, via Ubergizmo] More »
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Up Close With the Wii Fit
1:08PM Seamus Byrne | The Brians over at Kotaku got their horribly blistered feet all over the Wii Fit Balance Board and came out with the impression that yes, this is for exercise. After playing it, their legs definitely felt the burn, which reinforces the fact that it’s a “challenging” game made for exercise—instead of being an intuitive game like Wii Tennis where you’re supposed to “get it” right away. Hit up Kotaku to see other videos of them doing Wii Fit ski jump as well. [Kotaku] More »
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Hands-on With the Darth Vader Star Wars PSP
11:49AM Seamus Byrne | Crecente got some hands on time with the Darth Vader PSP, and he says it’s definitely lighter, possibly firmer, and has a new UMD tray. The buttons and D-Pad were also tweaked and improved, which is one of the bigger complaints in the old design. galleryPost('pspdarthvader', 4, 'The Darth Vader PSP'); [Kotaku] More »
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Graphic Tutorial to Install Ringtones in Your iPhone Now Available
11:49AM Seamus Byrne | Vini, vidi and now vinci: if you dare, you can now use a detailed step-by-step graphic tutorial to install your own ringtones in the iPhone. Unfortunately, it’s just not a program to transfer files, but something quite more complex involving two different hacking tools, Apple’s iPhone Software Restore file and the Terminal. Still, the guide is clear and detailed. So much that we are testing the procedure ourselves. However, given that it’s friday and it has been a long week, we may not finish it before the just-around-the-corner legit iTunes ringtones arrive. [Hack the iPhone] More »
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Peter Moore on the Limited Edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 Console
11:45AM Seamus Byrne | Remember that tepid reaction to the limited edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 announcement at Microsoft’s press conference on Tuesday? We had an interview with Peter Moore earlier today, and Moore blames the reaction on himself and his “showmanship” as a presenter. Moore also says he’s not worried about the reaction of the crowd, and will judge the reaction of the console by how much it sells. He also reiterated that the Halo 3 Xbox 360 will be a limited edition console (as in it won’t exist forever). Moore dismissed the question of whether having four SKUs existing simultaneously will be confusing by pointing to the fact that the Dreamcast had 15 SKUs simultaneously at once, with many different colors and designs. We’re not sure justifying what you’re doing by pointing to the Dreamcast is a good idea, but there it is. More »
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More Olympus E-P1 Details Leaked
11:42AM Seamus Byrne | Olympus’s mega rig is becoming the worst kept DSLR secret in the industry. First the easily answered riddle we saw a few weeks ago, now this leaked power point document pored over by CNet, highlighting technical features like a 10MP rating, multi-swivel live view lcd, and an October release date. Steve at CNet notes that this flagship’s stats make it competitive with the prosumer Canon and Nikon setups (the 30D and D200), not the truly rough-and-tumble pro rigs. It’s all still unconfirmed, but here are the details, along with some shots of the prototype we took back in March. galleryPost('epro', 4, 'E-P1'); More »
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Engrave Your iPhone
11:15AM Seamus Byrne | Device Nine Six in Los Angeles is doing laser etchings on iPhones, although we bet it zaps your warranty on first burn. Here’s a vid: Behold the glory of what we can only assume is the Jaegermeister reindeer emblazoned upon the shiny backside of one lucky person’s phone. Device Nine Six will go above and beyond the simple text-only engraving offered by Apple on their iPod products; their rule is, “If you can print it on a piece of paper, we can engrave it.” If you’re in the area and dying for some personalization, hit them up for a burn session. $30. [Device Nine Six via Cool Hunting] More »
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Hands-on Wii Zapper Assembly Video
10:57AM Seamus Byrne | Ashcraft and Crecente from Kotaku got a hands-on demonstration with the Wii Zapper. The video shows how you put the thing together—a combination of the Nunchuck and the Wiimote—but it also shows Ashcraft demonstrationg his acting chops. The Zapper is actually kind of uncomfortable, seeing as the two grips that you put your hands on are a bit close. It’s like holding a Tommy gun, except possibly even more awkward. What’s also weird is that the trigger was in the front, and not the back as you’d expect. [Kotaku] More »
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