Maybe we missed the MTube at CES because at 3.34 x 3.34 x 0.78 inches and 5.3 ounces, this Linux-based WiMax- and Wi-Fi-enabled UMPC is the smallest "full featured" computer in the world. Or maybe because we ran out of time and had to run to the adult entertainment expo to keep all our bases covered. Anyway, here are the full specs:
Wonder how we get the energy to pump out hundreds of posts from CES and AVN with only about four hours of sleep every night? Energizz, the new official drink of Gizzmodo. Energizz: Get Your Recommended Daily Allowance of Gizz.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a mini microwave. But looking at this thing, I find it hard to justify spending $150 just so I can conveniently heat up some crappy instant coffee or some Ramen noodles at my desk. However, if the manufacturer decides to make a USB powered version, we will talk. Measures 10.5"x12"x10." [Product Page via Random Good Stuff]
A digital video recorder with built-in micro camera and high quality recorder disguised as a belt buckle that could make Chuck Norris proud? My life is now complete. Thanks to Ajoka and their full-colour, sound-enabled Buckle DVR now you too can be an spy, a private dick and a Geek Squad technician. Yes, it looks like crap, but the specs are not bad at all:
Instead of treating smokers like outcasts, Paris architect Florian Brillet is embracing them with a new design that is intended to keep them comfortable while enjoying a smoke outdoors. The Smoker Bell is a helmet-like covering that includes a drink stand and an articulated arm that can be attached to the exterior of buildings. Plus, it is big enough to accommodate two people as they slowly kill themselves with nicotine and caffeine.
The Photosimile 5000 is a professional office photography machine that is able to take a professional 3D images from physical products/people placed in its central chamber. The imager works by utilising a camera running along a rail, which can take a number of user defined images that are then translated into one unified 3D photo. The device can only capture the uppermost half of the item in the central cage, as the camera rail does not run along the base; however, the item being captured is rotated in 360-degrees, meaning the resultant snapshot can be viewed from all angels. Check out the video to see it in action.
Here is a comforting thought for you. Apparently the FBI has routinely failed to pay telecom companies for providing phone and internet lines that they had been using for wiretaps and other super-secret surveillance. This has resulted in at least one company cutting a foreign intelligence wiretap until the bill is paid.
It's been a long week, and we're all feeling somewhat like this. But the CES 2008 press room just closed, so CES is largely over. We'll have some additional stuff to post, but we're pretty close to going home to rest up. Good night, ladies and gents.
Ryan Han has developed a concept for a Bello PMP, which, despite the striking unoriginaltiy of the design, it actually has some neat (concept) features. The standard finger clicks, swipes and flicks are all incorporated, but the most interesting features involve utilising shaking and pouring motions. Shaking the player will turn all the files into icon format, these can then be moved about and arranged, whilst tipping the PMP will begin file transfer mode. It's a neat little trick, but we won't ever see it happen. Nice try, Ryan. Check out the sexy gallery below.
Nobody wants to flick on a light in their kitchen to see a bunch of cockroaches scurrying about. And depending on where you live, its not like a rinky-dink little roach motel will get the job done. Those suckers can be huge. Sure you could use a baseball bat or a gun, but if you don't get the jump on them one of these super-roaches could take it right out of your hands. Then it would have a weapon. That's why you have to get serious with an electric roach motel to fry the little buggers.
The Hitachi CP-A100 ultra short throw projector here is rigged up to a touch-motion interface. Sitting at the edge of the table with a lens mounted about 15 inches from the screen, casting a 50" diagonal picture, in this case, a computer screen showing Google Earth. Tabletop applications are only the beginning—the XGA LCD-based projector casts a 120" screen from just a metre away. [Hitachi]
Wandering around the CES show floor, you have to laugh when the elaborate multi-million dollar structures designed to convince you of a company's credibility are called "booths." Of all we saw here this week, step through the most exquisite, best-designed and overall most awe-inspiring of them all in this top ten gallery of the Best Booths of CES. And yeah, we called them booths, but some might even be elevated to gadget status.
1. Intel's booth (pictured above), our favourite, spins lappies into a double helix that kicked our asses all the way into the middle of next week.
Inspired by the comic book, Gotham by Gaslight by Mike Mignola and Brian Augustyn (Batman vs. Jack the Ripper set in the late 19th century), the modder behind these action figures sought to place the members of the Justice League in the Victorian era. I think you will agree that he did one hell of a job. Hit the gallery to check out the individual figures. [Sillof's Workshop via Boing Boing]
Panasonic's 150-inch plasma is crazy huge, but it's also crazy expensive, with price estimates around $1,000 per inch. So can Panasonic justify building the thing?
The whole team is working their collective butts off here at CES '08, and we do it all for you guys, but every now and then it would be nice to have someone tell us they really, really love us. We went in search for some affection; unfortunately, we asked the wrong guy.
The second generation of the Tank Chair is even bigger and badder than the original, with a 24v, 2hp, 127rpm variable speed motor powered by four Optima Deep Cycle batteries. It also has a 22:1 gear ratio and it can handle a 10% incline with no problems.
The upgrade even includes a full-sized and generously cushioned chair for optimum comfort on those bumpy off road excursions or for those times when you are forced to mow down some dude on a Rascal monster truck style. Pricing and release date information have not been made available. [Tank Chair via RegHardware via Crave]
The chaps at Delphi were just showing us a cool concept; they were using a web app on an iPhone to control a GMC Acadia vehicle. The prototype on display was able to check the automobiles vital stats, open and close windows, retain user configurations for seating options and even start the ignition.
Less than a week after it came out Sony BMG was planning to sell music not loaded down with copyright, they're officially selling DRM-free MP3s through Amazon's MP3 store later this month, making it the first to carry DRM-free music from all four major labels. Check the press release below, we're grabbing more details right now.
Mark, Chen and I just got out of AVN. We're making a video. This is an actual receipt I got for one of the services I paid for at AVN for use in our video. I need to expense this now. I'm sorry Blam, I really am. Stay tuned for the video, it's sure to make you think even less of me, if that's even possible.
UK based design firm PostlerFerguson's line of "Life Machines" was born "with the question of how an aging population's needs can be met through technology." They sought to design "domestic objects that reflect the needs of both machines and humans." Apparently, they feel that a symbiotic relationship between aging man and machine is defined by an old man's desire to euthanise himself and a robot's desire to kill. Thankfully, these are just concepts. Additional photo after the break.
Machine Ear Cleaning:
Last year at CES, we rounded up schwag every day to show you what crap people were handing out. This year, we didn't do it. We're also not doing some schwag giveaway. Why? Because schwag sucks, and we don't want to give free publicity to companies just because they had the bright idea to slap their logo on a cheap flash drive. Flash drives are so 2003, and we're pretty sure sending out a bunch of 256MB flash drives wouldn't be worth the cost of postage. We save our giveaways for things that are worthwhile. We hope you'll understand.
Mary Lou Jepsen, the XO laptop's designer and OLPC's CTO, split from the project a little over a week ago to "commercialise" some of the tech she developed for the project—the display in particular—through a for-profit venture, Pixel-Qi. Probable result: a new generation of OLPC competitors from commercial outfits. But it gets better! It's come out Pixel-Qi's aiming to completely undercut the OLPC with a 75 dollar laptop.
Okay, we remember how far OLPC spiralled way past its $US100 laptop goal. So how can XO's designer—who should know as well as anyone the difficulties involved in cranking out uber-cheap machines—except to slash 25 per cent off a price OLPC couldn't touch?
T minus four days and counting. Steve Jobs' Macworld 2008 keynote is next Tuesday and at this point we only know one thing for sure: something big is coming from Apple. Maybe not one single iceberg-sized thing, but this year we believe the Boom Count™ is going to be so high that Apple had to take their new big irons out of the way to clear the launching pad. And if it wasn't enough, there's plenty of evidence that points out the magnitude and importance of next week's announcements:
What we know for sure
• Without naming any specifics, our unofficial conversations with people inside Apple points out at a 2008 full of new products. Not new versions, but actual new products. According to them, as their consumer segment gets stronger by the day, the company can take risks that before were unthinkable.
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The Photosimile 5000 is a professional office photography machine that is able to take a professional 3D images from physical products/people placed in its central chamber. The imager works by utilising a camera running along a rail, which can take a number of user defined images that are then translated into one unified 3D photo. The device can only capture the uppermost half of the item in the central cage, as the camera rail does not run along the base; however, the item being captured is rotated in 360-degrees, meaning the resultant snapshot can be viewed from all angels. Check out the video to see it in action.
Panasonic's 150-inch plasma is crazy huge, but it's also crazy expensive, with price estimates around $1,000 per inch. So can Panasonic justify building the thing? 
The whole team is working their collective butts off here at CES '08, and we do it all for you guys, but every now and then it would be nice to have someone tell us they really, really love us. We went in search for some affection; unfortunately, we asked 
The chaps at Delphi were just showing us a cool concept; they were using a web app on an iPhone to control a GMC Acadia vehicle. The prototype on display was able to check the automobiles vital stats, open and close windows, retain user configurations for seating options and even start the ignition.