Intel’s Proteus security software starts out by getting to know you better—understanding your habits and network demands—using those statistical guidelines to clamp down on stuff that, let’s face it, doesn’t really sound like You. At least, not the You that Proteus has grown to love. This kind of learning really helps when trying to protect company-owned portables: Not surprisingly, typical behaviour at work and typical behaviour at home turn out to be two very different things.
Modder ShaolinDrunkard has given an Xbox 360 controller an awesome partly-retro, partly-modern makeover. So its got a classic old-style arcade layout with proper game cabinet-style buttons, and is housed in a chunky oak box. But then each button has bright LED backlighting, and the joystick has a neat Xbox green glow. Excellent, we think. Would make playing those old arcade games feel so much more authentic. Shame it’s a one-off. [Technabob]
With just two weeks to go before the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica hits the Sci-Fi Channel, the cast’s big hitters appeared on David Letterman last night to give us ten reasons why we should watch the first episode on April 4. Number Six was good, but Saul Tigh, at number five, was even better. Get. Em. Off! [YouTube]
The secret of a moose’s exceptional hearing is down to its antlers, apparently. Scientists have discovered that those cool, gnarly things that look so fabulous perched atop the furry freaks act as amplifiers, allowing Mr Moose to be able to hear things up to 2 miles away. Added to the animal’s already acute hearing—it’s to do with its large ears that rotate in almost every direction, apparently—antlers improve the beast’s audio capacities by as much as 19 per cent.
I am ashamed to say that the first time I saw this, I thought it a clamshell phone concept. Called the Tenga Flip Hole onacup, it’s a *whispers* wanking machine that opens up so you can clean it easily. It’s made of silicon, and there are vacuum and pump buttons buttons on it for you to adjust the side and, er, pump. It’s good for fifty goes, apparently, and will cost you US$99, for which they throw in three pots of lube. There’s a fascinating birds-eye view of it after the jump.
Dubai-based airline Emirates has claimed the first ever permitted mobile phone call from a commercial flight. The conversations took place aboard a Casablanca-bound Airbus A340 that had been kitted out with a system that stops mobile phones from messing with the plane’s electronics. By the end of the year its passengers will be able to clack away on their BlackBerries and use other data services, such as sending texts. Calls on night flights will not be allowed, and the crews will be allowed to prohibit yakking whenever they feel like it. The only stipulation is that cell users, who can only make calls when at cruising height keep their phones switched to silent—thank God—during flights. [BBC Online]
I’ve never got into Guitar Hero, but if you’re a fan and fancy a new controller, then here’s Nyko’s new Front Man for you. Wireless and fully compatible with GH3 (of course) it boasts all the usual control stuff like bidirectional strum bar and durable fret buttons. Plus it comes with interchangeable pick guards in “designer colors”. That’ll be black, white and shocking pink, then: perfect for those 70′s riffs. It’s available in the US now for US$49.99. [Ubergizmo]
Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, the scourge of high-tech companies and freeway drivers, is trying to block imports from Sony, Nokia, Motorola, LG, Matsushita and Samsung, after successfully settling a similar patent lawsuit against Philips last week. The U.S. International Trade Commission is launching an investigation on 30 companies, which will affect products with short-wavelength LEDs and laser diodes that are used everywhere, from mobiles to Blu-ray players:
It’s a pen, touchpad stylus, LED flashlight, laser pointer and UV banknote checker. In one. Handy for… well, all those things. Available for US$11. That is all. [Gadget4All via Red Ferret]
This gorgeous turntable is, believe it or not, handmade by hobbyist Mike Disher, who says he has a fascination for turntables and mechanical clock movements. Mounted on an acrylic plinth, his turntable uses just a VPI platter and Rega arm, whilst everything else is custom-made. He’s also done his own interpretations of the Michell Syncro, and his first work, a take on a Rega P3, which he called the P3 Skeleton. Feast your eyes on Mike’s work in the gallery below. [Inventive Guy via MAKE]
