Like you, I suffer from jealousy of Jamie and Adam’s high-speed cams, so I’m all jazzed that a new Casio Exilim can pull off 300fps at VGA quality thanks to a new high-speed CMOS.
As the translated press release puts it, “the high speed animated picture photographing function…catches the movement discernibly.” You can say that again!
It can also hit a ridiculous 60fps in still shooting mode—perhaps not enough to capture the bullet whizzing into the pig’s head, but definitely good enough to watch a ninja clap a sword in his hands. [Press Release via Akihabara News] More »
Close your eyes, think “Crayon” and the first thing that occurs to you isn’t the bright yellow box but the smell: part puke n’ earwax, part unbridled creativity. Now you can wear that essence, in the form of Demeter’s Crayon Cologne. At $19 an ounce, you better hope the message you’re giving off is Raw Sienna, not Burnt Umber. [Perpetual Kid] More »
Humans aren’t perfect, therefore human waiting staff aren’t perfect—as you’ll know if you’ve ever had hot soup spilled on you, or the wrong meal brought out. To err is human, after all. However, diners in Nuremberg, Germany, won’t have to put up with imperfection anymore because a new restaurant there is staffed entirely by robots. Check out a video of the future of dining after the jump. More »
Most phones now come with media playback features, but designers still seem to think that a wide range of proprietary headphone connections makes more sense than using a standard 3.5mm jack. This colorful invention gets around this problem, converting various manufacturers’ connections to a standard headphone socket. More »
Yesterday while winding our way through the show floor (which was still very much under construction), we stopped to appreciate one of the more impressive booths we’ve seen: Toshiba’s. We really dig the curved screens and tasteful graphics. They’ve managed to catch your eye without becoming Vegas gaudy. More pics after the jump. More »
NBC Universal is ending its iTunes support, meaning no more “Heroes,” “The Office” or “To Catch a Predator” in the iTunes store after December, when the current contract expires. What makes the rift somewhat serious for Apple is that NBC is iTunes’ biggest video supplier, pulling in about 40 percent of downloads. On top of that, it could spur a mini-revolt among other media companies like CBS and News Corp., whose contracts are also coming due.
The issue seems to be the same old, same old: NBC wants to bump prices and complicate the packaging/pricing structure, while Apple ostensibly wants to keep things the way they are: simple.
More than likely, NBC’s going to pull a Universal music: no long term contract, but short-term sales agreements to keep their content up. That way they can still make money while (maybe) maintaining some leverage for negotiation. There’s still a few months left, so it’s possible they’ll come to an agreement, but greed makes for some strong fences. [NYT] More »
Looking vaguely like an alien life-form from Lost in Space, the “Rocking Wheel Chair” is a concept rocking chair created by designer Mathias Koehler. With spindly alien legs and an ever-important overhead light, the rocking chair manages to be simultaneously hip and terrifyingly ugly — which is ironically what I look for in a woman.
The chair makes a great present for your cyber-punk grandmother who could sew you up a nice pair of anarchistic pants real quick. Still, why not go further with this, Mathias — let’s give it Bluetooth-capability and an engine, then we’re in business. [Mathias Koehler via TreeHugger] More »
OK, Ford, to me and many of you, is not the future. But Jalopnik got a tour of the voice command system’s final release and it’s pretty damn cool. Apparently, It can play MP3s off a thumbdrive, and search for artists by voice command. Nuts! And you can receive and send preset text messages by voice over bluetooth to your cellphone. Wow, Microsoft and Ford, making decent systems together. Those Apple/VW rumours have a lot to live up to. [Jalopnik] More »
The Gear Juice gadget charger is the latest in a trend for electronics — portable chargers that are rechargeable themselves. Using USB or any of the six supplied adapters, you can connect around 100 devices (cellphones, iPods, etc…) to Gear Juice and it will transfer power from its own Lithium Polymer battery into your gadgets.
IOGEAR gave us a hands-on with the Gear Juice and we were impressed. In addition to having a sleek form factor and a convenient power indicator, Gear Juice can fully charge a RAZR in an hour with the capacity for 3 charges. Recharging Gear Juice takes about three hours and holds its charge for 500 cycles. Gear Juice is currently iPhone unfriendly, but IOGEAR says they’re working on making it compatible. It’s out now for around $40.
This kaleidoscope Looks so cool on my ceiling When I’m really stoned.
