Friday, October 19, 2007
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Dash Navigator Now Open to 3rd Party Apps
11:56PM Wilson Rothman | The eagerly anticipated Dash connected GPS navigator just made another extreme promise, offering third parties a chance to develop for the system. The example Dash uses is the real-estate value database Zillow—you can use the tool to check values of homes in the vicinity, as you see in the above pic. Dash will also encourage data providers to share data in standard formats such as RSS and KML (Google Earth files). After the jump, you can see a shot of the tool used to turn tags into Dash buttons. The company has lots to deliver on—we’re expecting review units in late December or January. [Dash] Thanks Gina! More »
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Fentix Cube: Play Games with Light and Multi-Touch
11:49PM Charlie White | Behold the Fentix Cube, where each of its intensely colorful sides gives you multi-touch control of a variety of games and electric light shows. The fun starts at a Rubik’s Cube-like diversion, and then goes far beyond into all sorts of puzzles and enough multidimensional shenanigans to give you dementia. It’s invented by designer and researcher Andrew Fentem, who’s made the cube so bright you can even play it in full sunlight. He’s selling a few at the Kinetica Museum in the UK, but no one’s talking price just yet. [Andrew Fentem] More »
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Touchless Keyboard Lets Disabled People Type With Their Heads
11:01PM Wilson Rothman | This touchless keyboard system’s breakthrough is that it combines both the typing and the mousing in a single sensor. When configured on a standard PC, the user wears the headgear shown in the picture, and navigates and types by moving their head and neck. Here’s what separates this product from similar ones: More »
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Pentacle Design USB Extractor Fan Keeps Laptops Cool, Witches Happy
10:13PM Addy Dugdale | Designed with witches and warlocks in mind, this USB extractor fan with its “mysterious touch” pentacle on the top should prevent Gandalf from burning his penis (and, lest we forget, there’s a lot of it to burn.) Attach the two-speed, 60g gadget to your laptop via the USB port and keep your machine cool. You can rotate the nozzle 180º to direct that blast of hot air wherever you want, and LED lighting will let everyone know that you have spooky-ooky powers. [WinWin Industry via Red Ferret] More »
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HTC Polaris Is Now HTC Touch Cruise, Specs Confirmed
9:50PM Jesus Diaz | The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS-enabled 3G HTC Polaris has been presented in the Netherlands and although we don’t have official pictures yet, we have its final name and confirmed specs: it’s going to be called HTC Touch Cruise, which probably means that it will have a “jump-on-sofa” vibration mode and a button to communicate with aliens. Looking at Dutch site Pocket Info’s specs, it seems like a good base for a potential Google Phone: More »
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Panoramic Mecha Simulator Arcade Game is Networked, Awesome
9:49PM Addy Dugdale | It may look like a decompression chamber, but Senjo No Kizuna is a networked arcade game in which you pilot a Mecha against other players. The game, developed by Banpresto, is, according to notre ami de Akihabara who gave it a spin, pretty damn good. Regular players can log their gaming history (scores, weapons, etc) on a card, so they can play in whichever arcade they fancy without starting from zero each time. Regardez le video below for a closer look. More »
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Scooterdesk to Open New Office Chair Racing Era
9:08PM Jesus Diaz | At last, someone has made a device that will lighten the lives of office workers and boost the bank account of trauma surgeons worldwide: the Scooterdesk, an infernal device that not only is ergonomic and beautifully designed but also serves the noble purpose of racing down cubicle aisles faster than Luke Skywalker in the Death Star’s trench. And there’s even more: You can also order a dual-seat version. [Utilia Design via Yanko Design] More »
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Man Builds $30,000 Jumbo Jet Simulator in his Bedroom
8:40PM Addy Dugdale | John Davis spent eight years and £15,000 building a Boeing 747 flight simulator in a room in his house. And now the 47-year-old’s hobby has turned into such a full-time occupation that he has jacked in his job as a graphic designer to run a full-time flight simulation business from his home in Coventry, UK. We interviewed John about his setup, including how much it costs to fly his sim: More »
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HDD USB Dock Plugs Bare SATA Drives Like NES Cartridges
8:34PM Jesus Diaz | Compatible with Windows and Macs, this $46.79 SATA HDD Stage Rack will allow you to plug any bare 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives into your computer like Nintendo cartridges or, for those of you old enough, 8-tracks. Just take the HD, plug it into the base, connect the base to your Mac or PC via USB, and it will appear on your desktop. It may not be as compact as other options, but nothing will come close to the clickity-clak sound and all that cartridge-like action, as you will see in the video: More »
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