The electromagnetic fields from iPods won’t interfere with cardiac pacemakers, says an FDA research team, contrary to last year’s rumours. After a whole bunch of experiments using saline-filled bags and sensitive coil detectors to simulate the effect of a variety iPods on the body, the researchers concluded “that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested.” [Reuters]
The guys at T3 are saying one of their inside men has heard word that Sony will be producing a slimmer, sexier PS3 heading for the shelves this Spring. While everyone knows that Sony will eventually shrink its very obese console, such news would come as a surprise given that Sony took many more years to shrink their PSOne and PS2 (though Sony has recently successfully shrunken their Blu-ray laser to fit in laptops). Still, Sony’s biggest goal at the moment is building consoles cheaper. Maybe that means small, too. Maybe it doesn’t.
Going a few steps further than we did, iFixit has fully disassembled the MacBook Air. Along the way, they have found quite a few curious findings about its components, from the actual size and weight of the screen to the number of screws used to hold everything together:
LEGO may have the most amazing sets ever, but the fans keep leaving me speechless at every turn, specially the Steam Wars contest which is now closing. We already showed you the Steam Speeder, the Pod Racer and the TIE Fighter and X-Wing, and here you have an extremely detailed Steam Jabba Barge and Slave I. Those are my favourites, but the AT-sTEam, General Greeves Wheel Bike and the ARC-17 Steamfighter are also quite impressive, as you will see in the big galleries after the jump.
The couple above are about to a) bounce on the soft surface of the Livingstones, pillows with the shape and colours of rocks, b) break six ribs, dislocate a hip, fracture several vertebrae and lose various teeth, c) get some business time, or d) all of the above. Jump and bounce for more pictures, including their whole catalogue of indoor and outdoor models. galleryPost('livingstones', 3, 'Livingstones');
A recently uncovered Sony Ericsson patent details a mobile phone with a detachable screen. The utility of such a function is not openly discussed in the document, but we cannot help thinking it would have little benefit over other equivalent designs. The image depicts a clamshell phone, which means if this were a touchscreen, users could discriminate between which data entry method, but doesn’t the HTC Dual Touch solve this problem a little more succinctly? It is an interesting idea for sure, but we really cannot see a place for the LEGO-esque mobile. Any ideas? [Unwired View]
The US Navy has just completed a 10-megajoule test fire of their huge rail gun. For the first time ever, they fired a projectile with a velocity of 2,521 metres per second. That’s an amazing 9,077kph, and the gun is only firing at a third of its potential power. The other video shows you what the projectile looks like when loaded.
The Vudu software has just been updated to version 1.2, and with it comes 80 new HD titles for rent. The new additions will be in the price range of US$3.99 – $5.99, but the upgrade will also bring added functionality, including instant HD, (an indicator that alerts the user broadband speeds are high enough for HD content downloads); speed limit adjustment control, (user definable bandwidth limits and recommendations based on the imposed limit) and a constant audio setting for high-end audio equipment compatibility. In addition the UI will also get a slight re-work. Apple TV, are you scared? Not even a little? [Vudu Forum via TV Snob]
Micron and Intel have co-developed a new 8-gigabit SLC NAND chip, which has data-read speeds of 200 MB/second and write speeds of 100 MB/second: five times faster than previous SLC NANDs. The 50nm-process node devices are available as samples to OEMs now, with bulk manufacturing planned for late this year. This means that sometime soon we’ll have access to memory cards and SSDs for our cameras and laptops that are way speedier than existing ones, though you might expect insanely high prices for that speed hike—especially since SLC is expensive in the first place. [BusinessWire]
