Friday, December 7, 2007
Entertainment
Glass and Gold Centre Channel from Perfect8 a Snip Compared to its Speakers
11:28PM Addy Dugdale | Swedish audio firm Perfect8 has introduced a glass-and-gold centre channel that it sees as the perfect accompaniment to its FORCE speakers. Perfect, that is, if you’ve got $45,650 to spare. Still, that’s a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of the 6′7″ speakers, which weigh 160 kilograms each. You’ll find the awe-inspiring price below. More »
Vehicles
Trailer for Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer Has CGI, John Goodman and the Creamy Goodness of Christina Ricci
10:46PM Addy Dugdale | “Prepare to trip balls” says sister site Jalopnik about Speed Racer, the Wachowski Brothers movie that comes out next year, and they’re not wrong. Judging by the trailer, we’re going to be going on an acid-coloured trip on May 9, 2008—and the best thing is that Christina Ricci is coming along for the ride. Find out for yourselves here. [Jalopnik] More »
Entertainment
Kenwood’s Audio System is USB-Compatible, Skinny
9:39PM Addy Dugdale | Kenwood has brought out three slimline iPod-compatible audio players that can connect to your computer via USB. There’s a CD player that plays CDs and CD-R/RW also an AM/FM radio and it supports WMA as well as MP3s. Full specs of the CLK – 5i-S / W and CLK-7i-S are below. More »
Online
Update: Jet Blue Wi-Fi Crippled For a Reason
4:32PM Daniel Godfrey | Jet Blue’s air-to-ground cellular network (provided by LiveTV on the same spectrum as those in-flight phones no one uses) is still experiencing too many dropped connections between cell nodes to support the bandwidth necessary for full-on surfing, the NY Times is reporting. Hence the Yahoo Mail/IM and Blackberries only restriction, and the lack of cost. American, Virgin America, and Alaska Airlines are expected to join the fray with more robust, pay-per-use services “in the coming months,” the latter using a more reliable and international satellite connection for more bandwidth and range. [New York Times] More »
Hardware
ATI RV635 XT in the Wild – First DisplayPort-Capable Card
3:58PM Daniel Godfrey | Hot Hardware has snagged one of the first graphics cards launched with full DisplayPort support. Before you write off DisplayPort as just another adaptor to buy, consider its support for daisy-chaining: multi-head setups can be rigged up easily with the need for only one port on your box. Watch for the RX635 (along with the first DisplayPort LCDs) to hit first quarter ‘08. [via Hot Hardware] More »
Hardware
Inventor of Flash Memory Has Big Plans For Super-Fast 3D Processors
3:34PM Daniel Godfrey | Had Fujio Masuoka not invented flash memory for Toshiba in the 80s, this would be a very different blog. Forget your massive SSDs, your infinite digicam memory cards, and yes, forget even your Virgin Mary beating-heart thumbdrives. Masuoka-san isn’t finished with us yet, though, and the next-level tech he has his sights on next could keep us busy posting for many years to come. Moore’s law states that the amount of transistors able to be jam-packed into processors will double every two years or so. But if chip makers are going to keep this up, they’re going to have to move beyond the quaint world of two dimensions and into the realm of 3D processors. Masuoka has made a deal with Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics to develop new 3D chip designs, which he will then licence through the Singaporean government. More »
Computers
OLPC Order Watch: Peru is Onboard, Total Count 267k of 150 Million
2:06PM Brian Lam | Peru is onboard for 40k of the machines. By my rough count, that brings the total to 267k OLPCs out of an original estimate of 150 million laptops sold by a year from now. As the WSJ puts it, it seems an impossible goal. But I’m rooting for the project, nonetheless. [Gearlog] The Math: The OLPC is making about $US2m in donations a day from their Buy One Get One free program, so far selling 112,000 laptops through last Sunday. Uraguay has ordered 100k, Alabama (the State) asked for 15k of em, and now Peru’s 40k sales. More »
Cameras
D300 Test Shots: A “Photogenic Weekend” With a Japanese Babe
1:27PM Daniel Godfrey | While you’re drooling as the sample shots from Nikon’s full-frame D3 begin to roll in, maybe consider coming back to reality a bit to its able-bodied little cousin, the D300. Here, Impress puts one in the hands of a Japanese pro for a round of test shots under natural light (bounced off of reflectors) for a “photogenic weekend” with a hot Japanese actress. The tester was quite pleased with the D300’s rendering of skin tones under Nikon’s freshly-tweaked “Picture Control” colour management system, and I must say I’m in agreement. A few more after the break. More »
Gadgets
Super-Designer Philippe Starck At TED
1:04PM Brian Lam | Philippe Starck is the super designer of many Gizmodo fetish pieces, including watches, lamps, toothbrushes, toilet brushes, and soon, spaceports like Virgin’s in New Mexico. In this recently released TED video, he goes on and on for 18-minute video about design. He brushes up against the different kinds of design, some built to market goods, some as ego-pieces, and some as pure function, which Starck aims for. And somehow, over the rest of the talk, he ties design into a way of recording and expressing human evolution. I think. [TED] More »
Gadgets
