Friday, September 21, 2007
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Ferrari Racing GPS Pocket PC from Acer has Navteq Maps
11:54PM Addy Dugdale | Acer announced today another product in its hook-up with Ferrari: a pocket PC with GPS that includes the latest Navteq maps, and a feature called Powerful Trip Planning, that even shows you Ferrari Points of Interest, like Ferrari dealers and museums. Full specs below. More »
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Mobile Makers Agree on a Single Charging Plug
11:51PM Wilson Rothman | Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, and Nokia have agreed to use micro USB as a charging-plug standard for phones. Your days of buying a bagful of accessories every time you switch phones have come to an end. Well, not quite. You will still have to toss out all your mini USB chargers, as this decision in truth indicates a rejection of that budding de facto standard. Yep, all the carriers and accessories makers will have one last chance to profit before the standard is in place. [News.com via BoingBoing] AU: I think this is actually the best choice, because micro USB is suitable for devices like small Bluetooth headsets too. So all your accessories and phones will charge off one charger – perfect. And I already have more than one mini-to-micro USB adapter, so it isn’t like mini USB chargers will be out the door. They’ll easily adapt to the new task. Great to see a standard on the way! -SB More »
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Dreamliner’s Carbon Composite Body Unsafe? Wired Science Calls Bullshit
11:32PM Charlie White | We told you the other day about Dan Rather’s TV blather about how the Boeing 787 Dreamliner “could be unsafe” because of its carbon composite airframe, but now there are lots of experts disagreeing with that report. Aaron Rowe at Wired Science calls it “a cheap shot at Boeing,” and chides the mainstream news media for following along like sheep without questioning Rather’s assertions. In Rowe’s scathing and carefully reasoned article, he pretty much exposes Rather’s claims as nothing but scaremongering poppycock. More »
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Incoming Slim, Lighter Aluminium MacBook
11:20PM Jesus Diaz | After the iMac revamp, the fantabulous and always-about-to-happen slim aluminium MacBooks may be around the corner. That if you believe 9to5Mac.com, of iPod nano spyshots and touch rumour fame, the new models could be much slimmer, lighter and probably with an even smaller footprint than current ones —which incidentally is what you always would expect for the next generation. The coolest stuff, however, could be in the trackpad. More »
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Software Guru Rips Apple for Cashing in on Closed Systems
10:42PM Wilson Rothman | A few days ago, veteran Mac software developer and Apple community gadfly Wil Shipley published a tirade against Steve Jobs and Apple for limiting development on products like iPod and iPhone. He says what motivates the company now is not quality assurance, the usual excuse, but profiteering: More »
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Broomstick Arcade Succesfully Combines Nintendo Wii and DS Concepts In One (Verdict: Awesome)
10:00PM Jesus Diaz | Here’s the broomstick arcade machine again, now in some spellbinding hot witch video action. Although the pottertastic nature of the game is too niche, the controls look even better live: watch as she throws spells drawing signs in the game touch-sensitive screen while riding the broomstick. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the combination quite cool and, somehow, disturbingly arousing. [Gizmodo Japan] More »
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HomeHero 2-in-1 Gas and Fire Alarm System Could Save Your Life In Style
8:50PM Jesus Diaz | The HomeHero is a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm system that uses wirelessly interconnected nodes. The network can automatically warn anyone around the house, using both beeping and bilingual voice alerts that will tell you about the nature of the event, being it fire, carbon monoxide on the loose or fusion reactor core meltdown, so you can run out of your house feeling like Ellen Ripley. And, unlike other alarms, the units and the matching fire extinguisher looks great. Full specs after the jump. More »
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Bonaldo Swivel TV Stand Converts Home Entertainment Into Home Art
8:31PM Jesus Diaz | After getting bombarded at IFA with all kinds of boring TV stands and LCD screen mounting kits, the Bonaldo Swivel TV Stand looks like it belongs in a modern art museum. Available in black or white, the circular shape has space for the flat panel and one AV unit, swiveling on top of it’s chrome base. [Trendir] More »
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Meizu M8 Interface Is iPhone Ripoff, Just Like the Rest
7:43PM Jesus Diaz | Meizu has unveiled their new M8 cellphone user interface. Not surprisingly, it’s a knockoff of the iPhone, exactly like everything in this clone. Expect Apple to sue the pants out of them or send a ninja commando to obliterate their facilities soon. [Meizu BBS via MeizuMe] More »
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