To the surprise of precisely nobody, the implementation of a new fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) broadband network in Australia is already being delayed. The Australian reported today that the project is being hit with a four month delay because of the need to confirm an expert panel and to appease telecoms providers who say they need more time.
So, as it stands, the telecoms have until the end of July to submit their bids. After that there will be a three to four month decision-making process before the winner is chosen. Then it will take up to five years to build the network, although we’d expect to see a progressive rollout over that period, so if you live in the city you’ll probably get access well before rural Australians do.
The Boston Retinal Implant Project recently developed a bionic eye implant that will restore vision to those affected by degenerative blindness. The device works by being implanted into the back of the eyeball and working as a light transmitter to the brain, where the two are connected by a nerve/wire thinner than a human hair.
Lionsgate is in the midst of working out an agreement with Apple that will make it the latest movie studio to offer iTunes digital copies on select DVD and Blu-ray titles. In order to get a piece of the action you will have to redeem the copies using a code that will come packaged with the title. Then it is just a simple matter of plugging the code into iTunes and downloading. The first movies up for grabs with this addition are Rambo and The Eye, both of which will be released mid-year. Stallone and Alba kicking things off. Man, I can’t wait. [Canadian Press and PC World]
Art Lebedev and his Lebedevites are hard at work designing a followup to the Optimus Mini 3, a smaller, three-buttoned version of the Maximus keyboard we saw at CES. Here’s what they’re thinking: wireless, possibly Bluetooth, maybe AC-powered. People use this to control Powerpoint presentations (good idea, you can see what’s coming up before others do) and would like to have it not tethered to the computer. No actual renders of prototypes yet, but Art says they’re coming soon. [Optimus Blog]
So a 1TB external drive is nothing new, but it is hard to deny that this thing is pretty…real pretty. LaCie has been getting heavy into the aluminum casings recently, which may play a factor in cooling, but those devices definitely did not bring this kind of sleek, cool look. Users can also expect 7200rpm spindle speeds and USB 2.0. At the moment, there is no price or release date information available. [LaCie via Gizmos.es]
Before MySong from Microsoft Research, people without musical talent had to resort to consuming music and not bothering the rest of us with their amateur stylings. No longer. All you have to be able to do is sing a short tune (provided you can sing somewhat on key) and this MySong software will dynamically generate a piano accompaniment just for you.
We already told you about Intel’s new ultramobile SSDs, but their tiny size means high cost and low capacities, only up to 16GB. That’s why the company promised SATA-II SSDs in the 1.8″ and 2.5″ sizes with capacities up to 160GB, with read and write speeds exceeding Samsung’s 100MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively. Best of all, Intel says its goal is to drive down the currently exorbitant prices of solid-state storage to something less punitive, predicting two subsequent 50% drops in 2009 and 2010. [Daily Tech]
You have already seen the Swiftpoint Slider Mouse, a device that effectively makes your keyboard into one giant mousepad, and now we learn that there is a similar device made primarily for tablet PCs and multi-touch tabletop surfaces. Besides being pointier and cooler looking than the Slider, the Triped aims to “remove barriers to the growth of the Tablet PC market” by eliminating one of its major drawbacks—the pen.
We’re no stranger to maid-inspired casemods and PC accessories, but this Maid PC computer case? It’s the perfect PC case for the kind of guy who wants his PC to look like the belly button to upper thigh area of a maid, but doesn’t want to spend the time and effort it takes to build it himself. Be aware that the thing costs an extravagant $499, but who can put a price on being able to get off with your PC when the power’s not even on? [Kilian-Nakamura]
This is a Cowon Q5W PMP that’s been rigged to hook up to an original Playstation controller and running a SNES emulator. One the one hand, it’s sweet to see SNES games being played on a PMP. On the other hand, this is a honking $550+ PMP, so you’d probably be pretty pissed if it didn’t have the juice to do this. In any case, neat! I’ll take SNES emulation anywhere and everywhere. [Anything But iPod via Ubergizmo]
