Thursday, March 27, 2008
Science
Plasma Speakers Create Music By Being Badass
11:47PM Mark Wilson | Plasma speakers have been around in science labs since the 1950s, but that doesn’t make them any less amazing in the 2000s. Like a standard speaker, plasma speakers work by creating compression waves in the air. But unlike a standard speaker that uses magnets and paper/plastic/etc to drive these compressions, plasma speakers are using the non-gas, non-liquid, non-solid “fourth state of matter” plasma. More »
Online
Sweded Tron Movie Is Probably Best Sweded Movie Ever
10:30PM Jesus Diaz | While it’s not the entire movie, this sweded lightcycle scene from Tron, every computer geek’s favourite movie this side of War Games, has to be the best sweded version of a film in the entire history of sweded films. It may not be as funny as the hilarious sweded BigDog quadruped robot or the sweded Star Wars after the jump, but the execution of its cardboardish cheesiness is absolutely perfect. More »
Gadgets
Bird-Electron EZISON 0 is Chunky Portable Speaker Bliss, Almost
10:22PM Haroon Malik | The EZISON 0 speaker has Bird-Electron written all over it; it’s pricey, utterly ridiculous and has a design that makes us swoon. Available in white, red, gold, blue or silver aluminium finishes, the EZISON 0 is quite the looker whatever colour you should choose, but we just cannot get our heads around the 7350 Yen (US$73) price tag. After all, a portable speaker that relies on your MP3 player for juice via the 3.5mm jack connection isn’t going to pump out the tunes. In fact, standing in at only 73×76×32mm, the EZISON 0 probably sounds just as good as an electron sized bird. (See what I did there with the old semantics? Please, stay seated.) [NewLaunches] More »
Computers
XO OLPC Overclocked: Now it Means Business (Kind of)
10:07PM Gizmodo US Edition | Think that the OLPC’s 433 MHz Geode LX 700 CPU is just too wimpy? Well, now you can toughen up it a bit and give it some processor bite by overclocking that mother. A post on OPLC News Hacks forum shows exactly how to do it: it boils down to some simple code to type into the open firmware prompt of an unlocked machine. A little informal testing shows it’s easy to boost processor performance by 30%. Exactly what those kids in developing countries need. OK, the computer geek ones. Maybe. More »
Gadgets
Brain Lamp is New Gizmodo Leader, Future Galactic Emperor
9:56PM Addy Dugdale | When I saw this come up in my RSS feeds, I thought it said Brian Lam, and so I got rather excited. I was, however, (as I so frequently am) wrong. This lamp is the brainchild of Alexander Lervik, who had an MR scan done in Stockholm of his own grey matter, before printing up the results on a 3-D printer. “Yes,” he says about his creation. “It is bright.” Oh, no one loves a smart arse, Lervik. [Lervik] More »
Gadgets
Firewinder Windlight, the More You Fart, the Brighter It Is (or Something)
9:09PM Addy Dugdale | Young British inventor Tom Lawton has spent years developing his Firewinder wind light, an outdoor light that illuminates by harnessing the power of the wind. With no batteries, and no power source, a 3mph gust is all you need to make the Firewinder twist and glow. Video of it in action, plus pricing and availability, after the jump. More »
Cameras
Samsung NV24HD HD Camera Has AMOLED Display and a Model with Great Hair
8:39PM Addy Dugdale | Clutched in the hands of this Asian Orlando Bloom-a-like is Samsung’s VLUU NV24HD, an 10-megapixel HD camera with 2.5-inch AMOLED display. As well as automatic smile detection and Red-Eye Fix, what else does the NV24HD have to offer? More »
Games
Trakonya Mutator Force Feedback Device Makes You Pay for Bad Gaming Skills
8:30PM Haroon Malik | The Trakonya Mutator attaches to a gamer’s wrist and will then shock said gamer if they screw up in-game. The device only functions with Unreal Tournament for now, but wider support is in the pipe works; next stop? Half Life—nice. We can think of a ton of games this type of self inflicted punishment would work well with, but for IS$59, we’re going to need wider support than just Unreal Tournament out of the box. Still, couple this with the 3rd Space Vest and you’ll be sure to end each gaming session with a flurry of bruises and fond memories. Bliss. [Product Page via Everything USB] More »
Gadgets
Thanko’s New MP3 Player Is Cranky for Power
8:22PM Gizmodo US Edition | Thanko has gifted its new MP3 player with an additional power source: you. Much like Trevor Bayliss’ crank-powered player, but nicer-looking, this new device will give you ten minutes of tunes for one minute of cranking— it’s also got an LED flashlight which’ll run for 50 minutes for the same effort. And if you’re wrists aren’t up to the job, it’ll also charge via USB or AC power brick. The Cranking MP3 Player is screen-less, plays MP3 and WMA, has 1GB of storage, and will cost you just US$60. [Akihabaranews] More »
Entertainment
4:17PM Nathan Taylor | Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has just announced a $37.9 million dollar plan to get us to all switch off our analogue TV sets by the end of 2013 and move to 100% digital reception.
That money is going to market research ($4.8 million), a taskforce to co-ordinate the switch ($16.9 million), developing a “digital-ready” logo for equipment ($6.7 million), research into digital reception on shared antennas ($1 million), and the remaining $8.5 million will go to ACMA (The Australian Communications and Media Authority) for evaluation of digital transmission and reception.
More »
Government to Switch Off Analogue TV by 2013, and This Time They’re Serious
4:17PM Nathan Taylor | Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has just announced a $37.9 million dollar plan to get us to all switch off our analogue TV sets by the end of 2013 and move to 100% digital reception.
That money is going to market research ($4.8 million), a taskforce to co-ordinate the switch ($16.9 million), developing a “digital-ready” logo for equipment ($6.7 million), research into digital reception on shared antennas ($1 million), and the remaining $8.5 million will go to ACMA (The Australian Communications and Media Authority) for evaluation of digital transmission and reception.
More » 
