newVideoPlayer("microsft_zunephone_gawker.flv", 475, 376); Now that the iPhone music is available to buy on iTunes, it seems like everyone and his dog is getting on an iPhone parody trip. Here’s the ZunePhone, a mock-up of what Microsoft’s iPod-Slayer would be like if it had Jesus-like qualities. [YouTube via TUAW]
Artist Frank Boelter has constructed a 9-metre paper boat from the stuff used to make Tetrabrik packs and is sailing it up the Elbe. The 37-year old artist came up with the idea one breakfast time, while he was sitting at his kitchen table fiddling with an empty milk carton, which he cut up and made into a scaled-down model. See how they built it after the jump.
Matsushita has agreed to cover the direct costs of the huge Nokia battery recall that covers 46 million units. The company will cover logistics costs, call center costs, and replacement battery costs. [Nokia]
Epson has debuted its new color scanner. Aimed at amateur photo freaks in a hurry, the V500 cuts warm-up time and scanning time, meaning you can get through a pile of negs, slides and photos in less time than other scanners, thanks to its ReadyScan LED technology.
You can blow pictures up to 17 x 22 inches from both film or print format, and the scanner comes with both Digital ICE and Epson Easy Photo Fix programs. Cost is $250 and the V500 is available right now. [Akihabara]
A few days ago, Ryan Block, Pete Rojas and Josh at Engadget wrote up a plan of attack for Palm and its aging Treo. Addressing problems with every aspect of the still useful but no longer glorious smartphone, it had some good points, and you could tell that they were writing it out of genuine concern. Today, Ed Colligan, Palm CEO wrote back.
Our colleague over at Prime Diary has hipped us to a pair of Transformers hand fans that serve a purpose while upping your geek-cred. Painted as either Optimus Prime or Megatron, each fan has a removable top revealing a soft fan blade that offers instant cool when you and your Autobots roll out. Judging from the box art, it not only looks like a Japan exclusive, but comes in Ultraman, Spiderman, Batman and Superman flavors as well. More pics can be found at Prime Diary. [Prime Diary]
I got to play with DivX’s Connected set top box that we showed you last night, and found a few more things out about the prototype. (Much of this could change by launch.) •DivX Connected Server runs on PC, and does the file serving as well as the decompression of most video content. •Only supports DivX video. No WMV or Quicktime files worked for us. •Non-HD video files stream and play quickly / Fast-forward with no delay or lag over b/g WiFi. Without N support for WiFi, HD content needs ethernet. •Music doesn’t support AAC or WMA formats. •There’s nice integration with Stage 6 (DivX’s version of Youtube, but mostly filled with geek/porn content) but there’s delay in streaming, and it doesn’t buffer, even when you pause.
When we’re sending naked pictures of ourselves to people we’ve never met, we want the process to go as quick as possible. Industrial Facility and luckybite — two UK Design firms — know that, and have teamed up with Madori Kuroda, Panasonic Japan’s Chief mobile device designer, to create a prototype phone dock called the Panasonic Pixi.
The Pixi, designed for the Mixi — Japan’s MySpace equivalent — has six buttons that will use your phone’s LCD screen, existing photos and internet connection to send your pictures directly to a diary, community, or pedophile on Mixi. There’s no pricing or information about the gadget’s release just yet — in fact, the only thing we can be sure about is that it’s going to look like a toy you’d find in a cereal box in the 80′s.
We’ve all watched Fight Club and wished that Brad Pitt’s rippling biceps would be a bit more, well, 3D….right? Either way, Mitsubishi is releasing 3D Blu-ray players that will be able to make any 2D movie 3-dimensional. Before you get too excited, just know that you’ll still have to be wearing 3D glasses (hip-looking, 80′s-styled 3D glasses) to get the full viewing experience.
It’s nice that 3D won’t just be reserved to an old creepy Michael Jackson space movie but it’ll be interesting to see how this thing actually works when it comes out. You guys know you can’t really do true 3d without recording video stereoscopically first, right? [SciFi]
