Louvered shutters may not be everyone’s idea of a great time, but Damian Savio’s spangly, light-up version sure is mine. The 23-year-old industrial design student designed them for his final-year show at the University of Western Sydney. Using OLEDs and advance transparent Photovoltaic Nanoscale technology, the Lightway shutters allow the sunlight in during the day, while storing energy in solar cells to power the crazy lights at nighttime. Suddenly I feel like I want to party.
[Swongled]
We’ve talked about Philips Xenium mobile phones long battery life before, but the new Xenium 9@9j goes one better: it’s the first to use “BackuPower” battery technology. Slot an AAA battery into the phone, and the April-bound 9@9j will slurp power from it when its standard Li-ion battery goes flat, giving you an extra three hours of talk time. Its the first mobile to do this, and though it increases its size, those extra hours are going to be useful for people who spend time away from power sockets. AU: I wouldn’t hold your breath for a local release, my Australian friends – Philips handsets aren’t really available over here…
newVideoPlayer("indy4_gizmodo.flv", 475, 232,"");Here’s the trailer for the most anticipated movie of all time, at least for me: Indiana Jones IV. We knew there are going to be aliens and Soviet soldiers led by Cate Blanchett, but one thing is seeing those made of LEGO and the other is to actually see how it all looks. Which is amazing. Let’s hope it is as good as it feels now. And yes, there are no weird mechanical traps and gadgets on the trailer, but this is Indiana Jones, people. There’s nothing higher. Update: official video is up. [Yahoo Trailers]
Sharp’s scientists have improved their blue-violet laser technology, reducing waste heat and boosting power and efficiency so that soon your laptop Blu-ray drive will be able to burn at a rocking 6x speed. All while reducing its size to 3.3mm, which will mean thinner laptops. They will start mass production in April. [AV Watch]
Today, Mossberg takes a look at the lukewarmly anticipated Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista. It’s an odd little beast of a review, its flat, monotonal surface covering a bed of barbs. (Most of ‘em are true.) Here’s the sharpest one (bold is mine): SP1 doesn’t resolve some of the most annoying flaws in Vista, including slow start-ups and reboots, and a security system that nags you too much and requires add-on anti-virus software. I guess these problems will either never be fixed fully or will have to wait for SP2.
That’s a Stinger. Missile.
Blu-ray’s not all about the looky-looky. Sure, it gives us pictures that look like sex (especially if you happen to be watching some Digital Playground entertainment), but it’s important not to forget that the next-gen formats also offer sensational lossless audio.
Samsung have jumped on this by offering the HT-BD2T home theatre in a box solution that includes a Blu-ray player, plus a 7.1 speaker setup. The setup supports Dolby True HD audio, as well as lossless DTS.
For $1759 you get a center channel, 4 tower speakers, 2 satellites and an active subwoofer. Oh, and a Blu-ray player. Exactly which Blu-ray player wasn’t exactly made clear, but rest assured I’m chasing Samsung up to get the information for you pronto. UPDATE: Samsung has confirmed that it’s a brand new Blu-ray player made specifically for this combo setup.
newVideoPlayer("android_new_ui_4.flv", 463, 387,"");The first iteration of Android wasn’t the prettiest phone OS by a longshot. However, today’s release of the refreshed Android SDK shows a UI that has more than a bit of polish. We took screens, but you should also check out the details, like this video showing smooth, animated transitions. Good on them: Some have speculated that’s where most of the iPhone’s charm comes from. See for yourself.
In case you missed it, Channel 9′s new crime drama, Underbelly, was banned from being broadcast in Victoria by the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday as it may influence the result of a murder trial currently underway. The show is a “based on the true story” type show about the 10 year gang war in Melbourne.
But what makes this story really interesting is that within 30 minutes of it being aired last night throughout the rest of Australia, the show was popping up on torrent sites for people to download. Including people from Victoria. According to the SMH, “this morning more than 600 people were already downloading the show from one site”.
After years of verbal barbs, thinly veiled criticisms and the occasional spout of open hostility towards eachother, Channel 7 and Foxtel today kissed and made up, signing an agreement for Foxtel to retransmit the Channel 7 signal to its cable subscribers in the major capital cities within “a matter of weeks”. Satellite subscriers aren’t as lucky, having to wait until 2009 for the launch of the new Optus D3 satellite before they can receive the free-to-air channel.
It also means that Channel 7′s EPG information will be made available to Foxtel, giving the Pay TV operator the most comprehensive EPG on the Australian market.
There are so many alarm clocks out there that do their best to make you get out of bed – from having to put together a puzzle to hitting a target with a laser. The latest is a little bastard of clock that starts running away from you on its two oversized wheels after you’ve hit the snooze button. It can fall up to three feet, so it will just bounce right off your bedroom table if you don’t get your lazy backside out of bed.
It apparently sounds a lot like R2D2 too, as it beeps at you from the other side of the room, making you get out of bed to turn it off. I don’t know why I’d want to use an alarm that would not only piss me off when it wouldn’t shut up, but gradually turn my love for Star Wars robots into a deep-seeded loathing. I guess Lucas tried to do that himself with Attack of the Clones though…
