Sarah of Lifehacker AU notoriety (Gawd bless ‘er) yesterday did what computer geeks everywhere would gladly kill for – interview computing legend Linus Torvalds. So what’s the man like? A gadget hound? An evil amazing genius? Frankly, the answers are quite surprising and compelling at the same time. Hit the link for the full interview.[Lifehacker AU]
Point-and-shoots bore the hell out of me, and most of the PMA P-and-S spam has all bled together at this point. But, I really like the shock- and water-proof armour Olympus has surrounding its otherwise unremarkable 10MP Stylus 1030 SW. It’s a steely hardass with style, and I love the exposed. It’s actually very lightweight, but you still get a sense of its solidity in your hand (or banging it on the table). Its lesser sibling Stylus 850 SW is lesser both in person and on paper.
If you’re a TAFE or Uni student in Australia, Microsoft have got a great deal going for you. Head over to their It’s Not Cheating website, fill in a form using your TAFE or Uni email address, and you can purchase a full version of Microsoft Office Ultimate for $75, or a one year license for $25. The offer ends on May 15, so you should probably hurry, and it’s only for PC users at this stage.
[It's Not Cheating - Thanks Chris]
Today in a surprise announcement in New York City, Garmin announced the nuvifone, a full-fledged GSM HSDPA smartphone built on its own operating system with GPS navigation at its core—but e-mail and web browsing close to its heart, and a camera built in too. No pricing or carrier announcement has been made yet, though its likeliest compatible network is AT&T given the technology. (When T-Mobile launches HSDPA, it too will be suitable, and possibly more attractive than AT&T.)
After yesterday’s unveiling of Foxtel’s HD+ service, I thought it would be a good idea to take a closer look at the channel menu. Some of you were disappointed by the selection of only four dedicated HD channels. In reality there’s a little bit more on offer than just four channels, and a plan to roll out even more channels next year. Hit the jump for a closer analysis of the HD offerings.
I have always been frustrated using a standard mouse when it comes to playing FPS on a PC. Granted, most of that is due to the fact that I suck—but I digress. Zalman’s new FPSGun FG1000 is attempting to incorporate a more visceral experience into the popular FPS genre with a uniquely designed gun-like mouse. Maximum PC recently took the FPSGun for a spin, but the reality is that the device is far from perfect.
Pop quiz: Which one of these is the D60, and which one is a D40? You can’t tell, can you? Ha! That’s because it really is pretty much the same chassis (and guts) so if you know the D40x, you know the D60. The best new thing is the stop-motion movie stringer, which is quick, if simple—here’s the whole process:
It seems that the trend these days is to go for a clean look by incorporating speakers directly into furniture and fixtures. In this case, designer Jean Louis Frechin disguises computer speakers as shelf supports. The unit is described as “a shelf connected to a computer that doubles as a device for audio diffusion and archiving digital music files (MP3)”—but further details are scarce and the exact nature of the connection is unknown. It appears to be wireless, which would certainly be necessary for a wall fixture of this type. At any rate, it looks pretty slick—a marketable concept for sure. [pan-dan via Apartment Therapy]
Bill Gates has only made one presidential-candidate campaign donation this season, and it was to Barack Obama. Meanwhile, although Steve Jobs’ wife Laurene has given nice sums to each of the three leading Democratic candidates, Barack appears to be the apple of her eye, if you calculate that in terms of dollars. Steve himself is not in the registry. What’s more, neither billionaire tech household donated a (traceable) penny to any of the Republicans currently running for office.
Fine, it’s a little more complex than that. The Bath-O-Matic from Unique Automation is an automated bathtub filler that draws a bath just the way you like it. Through a touch screen interface, bathers can choose the temperature and height of the water, as well as any combination of oils, bubbles and fragrances.
