Friday, February 8, 2008
Entertainment
Kaleidescape Video Servers to Rip Blu-Ray in 2009
11:59PM Jesus Diaz | Kaleidescape, famous for their super-high-end home theater video server, has officially announced that they are going Blu-Ray in 2009, releasing a player that will integrate with their existing rip-to-HD equipment. Good news for the generation of Silicon Valley richies who currently use Kaleidescape plus 5 Netflix accounts to continuously catalog DVDs. Here’s their upgrade path. More »
Peripherals
Flashing Earphones from Brighton Let You Pimp Your Ears
11:11PM Gizmodo US Edition | The USP of Brighton Inc.’s new BI-LEDEAR earphones are light-up earpieces that flash in time to your music. Now, that’s what I call product satisfaction—everyone on the train can be irritated by flashing blue LED lights as well as the, tinny, secondhand noise of your tunes, while you sit there oblivious to the retina-searing effect your presence is having on your fellow passengers. Available in pink, clear or blue colours for around $32 in Japan, these phones should come with a stab-proof Kevlar jacket for extra protection. [AV Watch] More »
Vehicles
Three Tesla Electric Car Reviews
11:01PM Brian Lam | The Telsa Roadster’s been a long ways a comin’, and here are the first reviews in the March issues of the fossil-fuel loving, pulp-based mongrel cousins of Jalopnik. And after a few hours flogging the e-car on California’s Skyline Boulevard, most pubs have concluded that the Tesla is the first electric car—the first green car, really—that deserves a spot in any car aficionado’s fantasy garage. More »
Gadgets
Tandem Z Chinook R/C Helicopter Has Two Rotors for Double the Crashes
10:46PM Gizmodo US Edition | Picoo Z has just doubled the fun of R/C mini helicopters with the Tandem Z Chinook. Yes, two rotors, just like the real thing, for twice the number of high-speed crashes into walls, twice the chased-by-your-cat action. Its also got a three-channel remote control now, so you can try forward-backward moves properly—remember how tricky the original Pico Z was to fly with only up-down and left-right? Available for around US$79. [Geek Alerts] More »
Gadgets
Mustek PF-E700: a Digital Photo Frame With Extra Clock Screen
10:25PM Gizmodo US Edition | Mustek’s PF-E700 is yet another LCD photo frame, but with added alarm clock and indoor temperature gauge functions on a second small LCD screen at its base. The standard alarm snooze also gets an extra feature as a moody room light: you can set it so that each time you hit the snooze button you keep the frame’s backlight on. The display is a 7-inch TFT LCD with 480 x 234 pixels, it plays MP3s, AVIs and MPEGs and takes SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick Pro Duo, and Compact Flash memory cards. Available in April for US$150. [Electronista] More »
Computers
Everex Cloudbook to Get Touchscreen Display
9:35PM Haroon Malik | Everex is planning to release a touchscreen version of the Cloudbook, which they say will be out for developers 45 to 60 days after the normal model goes on sale, then released in Q3. Everex Marketing Director Paul C. Kim even speculated about an SSD option in future versions but, with the normal model still unreleased, all these promises feel a bit like vapourware. [Laptop Mag] More »
Phones
iPhone 1.1.3 Firmware Unlock Available, Requires Command Line Voodoo
8:57PM Jesus Diaz | A new software-based iPhone 1.1.3 firmware unlock has been claimed by GeoHot. Don’t expect a one-click solution like AnySIM or IPSF: it requires some hackertastic command line voodoo-juju, so it’s not apt for mere mortals. Also, be warned that it hasn’t been tested yet for secondary effects and may require a rabies shot before trying. At least, judging from the venom against the iPhone Dev and Elite teams: More »
Phones
Samsung Soul Has Mighty Morphing Touchpad Display
7:55PM Haroon Malik | Samsung’s Ultra Edition range will get a revamp with their new Soul, a 7.2Mbps HSDPA mobile which is only 12.9mm thick. It comes with auto focus 5MP camera, 2.2″ 320 x 240 pixel full-colour display, SD slot and a touchpad display system that will morph the user interface, changing icons according to the application you are using. For example, in music mode playback controls will appear, but while sending an SMS these will be replaced with editing functions. The rest of the specs are quite nice too. More »
Science
Knee Brace Charges Your Mobile
2:48PM Benny Goldman | A knee brace that generates enough electricity to power 10 cellphones was demonstrated by scientists recently. The brace harvests the energy of a person’s knee braking after taking a step, similar to the way hybrid car brakes collect energy to charge their batteries. The device only weighs 1.6kg, and does not need the intense effort that other human-powered energy generators such as hand cranks require. And while the mobile phone measurement given by the creators is pretty useless, they do have several practical applications in mind. More »
Phones
