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Flip Video Ultra: Better Than the Original, But Still for Your Mom
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 11:59 PM on September 12, 2007
Today the Mossberg Solution takes a whack at Pure Digital's update to the Flip Video, the Flip Video Ultra. The 60-minute (2GB) and 30-minute (1GB) models run $30 more a piece than the original, but basically improve on them in every way (better screen, resolution, etc.). Overall, the Solution says it's "a pleasure to record startlingly good footage for a camera of its size both indoors and outside" and fairly easy to share video, which is the focus of the update. Just don't expect to share pristine quality video, since it's still lower res than a standard camcorder. [Mossy Solution]
No one should expect 3rd party apps to continue running on the iPhone after the next update. Much like Sony with their PSP, Apple refuses to be as progressive with a portable computer as they are with a clunky, traditional system. Yesterday, a lot of us took some of Apple VP Greg Joswiak's comments to 
The thing you see on the top of the camcorder was once a $25 Hot Wheels toy radar gun: Not any more, it ain't. Using a plastic drinks bottle and an Altoids tin, amongst other things, it's been turned into a full-on radar gun. "Even cops don't have one of these," says KipKay, the brains behind this, excitedly. How-to video is after the jump.
Today's processors have one fundamental weakness: heat. But NASA may have overcome that issue with their new super heat-resistant, silicon carbide chips that can operate in temperatures up to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit. An early test proved highly successful, as NASA's chip operated at 932 degrees Fahrenheit for 1,700 hours of continuous operation. And like most "space age" technology, the benefits will surely trickle down to consumers. 
Microsoft has been granted a patent for "stealthy audio watermarking," which is just a slick way of saying inaudible digital watermarks directly embedded in the audio of a file, allowing the owner to be traced. Apparently, in their version of the tech, the watermark's scattered throughout the file so it's more difficult to pull out or tweak and it's able to be compressed while remaining intact. You'd think they'd worry about actually selling music before trying to tie it down, though. [
A military clothing company has come up with Warrior Wear, a line of trousers and shirts with I.T.S. &mdash that's an integrated tourniquet system &mdash attached for those fighting on the front line. If you are hit, you just pull the corresponding tourniquet tight to stem the bleeding from the wound. There are four tourniquets on the trousers, and four on the shirt (the short-sleeved version has two) which can immediately be applied to the wound by either the wearer, his buddy, or a medic. As well as helping to stop deaths in the field, it is thought that using the I.T.S. will dramatically speed up the time it takes to recover from extreme blood loss injuries.
Sony took the time at their dealers convention in Japan today to announce the forthcoming arrival of four Bravia Blu-ray recorders. The BDZ-X90, BDZ-L70, BDZ-T70 and BDZ-T50 have anything from 500GB to 250GB of internal memory, are MP4 and AVC/H.264-compatible, and are expensive. Stats and prices are below the gallery.
A new nanoprinting technique has been developed by IBM, that they say could be scaled up to create mass-produced microchips. This picture of the sun - a copy of a 17th Century drawing by Robert Fludd - was made using the technique, out of tiny gold particles 60 billionths of a metre across. Surely they could have picked a more appropriate, or at least more interesting image?
Dr. Whippy, developed by Demitrios Kargotis, is an ice cream machine that will serve you delicious ice-y goodness depending on how unhappy you are. Using voice stress analysis, the machine will ask the user several questions and will use their responses to gauge their level of sadness.
The Philips Prestigo SR-M8015 remote control is so big you need two hands to use it - but at least there's more to love. The needlessly large remote control features up to 15 components, includes a configurable colour LCD screen and even has a his/her option that allows users to quickly switch from Football to Oprah to Football again without much hassle.
The Troja Arc Lamp is so gorgeous it's practically edible. The huge, arcing lamp is designed by Germany's hansandfranz studio and uses hundreds of individual LEDs in an adjustable aluminium frame to create a soft, unobtrusive glow. There is no information yet as to whether the Troja Arc will be available any time soon (or at all), the only thing that's known is that it's a must-have if you're a brooding, warehouse-living artist with obscene amounts of space and a flare for the dramatic. [
I don't care much for the green PC segment, as low power consumption usually equates to low CPU power production, but this one is pretty nifty. First of all, it's so energy efficient, with its AMD Athlon X2 Dual-core Processor, that it only takes up 45 watts, and can be powered by an optional solar panel. It's the quietest Thinkcenter PC ever, smaller than the last gen by 25%, and weighs under 4kgs. It also an "EPEAT Gold rated PC" and Energy star 4.0 compliant, but that doesn't really mean anything to any of us who would use such a machine. $US399, and designed for office drones, but man, solar powered PC? I'm stoked.
Seriously, do I really need a CD player on top of a mini fridge? Is it that much harder to bring out a boombox or an iPod speaker dock? If I were living in 1998, I might be impressed by the mini plug line out, because I could hook up my shiny new minidisc player to it. But that's still pretty questionable. If I were going to kick down $300, it wouldn't be on this. Luckily, only the UK has to deal with this monstrosity. [
Curious how your new iPod Nano can withstand Jack Bauer-like torture? PC World put the Nano through a series of tests to see if they could either break it and/or get it to tell them where Marwan is. Here are the results...
Simon Wright, founder of broadband news website 
Renaming the Apple's sixth generation of iPod the "iPod Classic" cemented the device into our cultural history. Beyond mere music or video device, Apple acknowledged that their once humble MP3 player had grown to cultural icon— just like Coca Cola. 
Sure, there might not be such a thing as an MP5 file, but that didn't stop whatever crappy company that makes this cheapo player from calling it an "MP5 Digital Player." Maybe they're in on something new and exciting that we have yet to hear about, but somehow, seeing that this is a $US60 1GB player from a no-name company, I doubt it. [
At first glance, Tokyoflash's Geomesh watch is an indecipherable mess that looks like a fragmented traffic light. Upon further review, and a glance at the instruction manual, the Geomesh becomes less intimidating and its retro-future awesomeness comes forth. In short, green dots represent the hour, yellow dots represent 5 minute chunks, and each red dot represents one minute. If I talk nicely to it, I wonder if it will beam me back up to the Starship Enterprise at 9:29. The Geomesh comes out soon for $US120. [
If you can't wait for the official Nintendo Wiimote Light Gun to come out, Brando's Light Gun looks just as good. It's the standard "gun up front, nunchuk in back" scheme that Nintendo has, but Brando's version actually detaches into a pistol-only mode. And if our hands-on time at E3 told us anything. breaking out into pistol mode is something you're going to want to do often (standard mode is kinda uncomfortable/weird). [
