Toshiba TVs (in Japan) will be the first to feature good old Dubbly's newest technology, Dolby Volume, a smart system aimed at leveling off eardrum-shattering sources and content—hopefully eradicating the twin evils of loud-arse TV commercials and poorly-mastered MP3s. Here's how it works:
This little box from JWD does pack in a fair number of functions: 2-inch 220 x 176 TFT screen, built-in lithium battery, speakers, 1GB of memory, MP3, WMA and MP4 playback, FM radio and alarm clock. It can even record the radio or a line-in audio source, and has an SD slot for expansion. It doesn't have a touchscreen or Wi-Fi, but this Chumbyesque device is at least fairly reasonably priced: US$88 for one, with discounts if you buy in bulk. [Shopkami via Chipchick]
Costume National, purveyors of sleek, minimal-yet-glam clothes for people like me, has the perfect argument for not mixing clothes and technology, if you get my drift. A pair of the fuckiest fuck-me booties does not need to come with a stair counter screwed onto the ankle—a smaller (obviously) version of those machines that, I believe, exist in the gym. You do not do stairs in these shoes. You do your man in these shoes—maybe on the stairs, but believe me, no climbing is involved. They'll be out in September. [Fashion and Runway and WWD]
Giz is a big fan of the secret passageway, but this sub-staircase version really is the mutt's nuts. A cross between a drawbridge, a private jet and something that, to kids, is straight out of Indiana Jones and the Duplex of Suburbia, the concealed hidey-hole is just one of a series of designs from Creative Home Engineering, a firm that puts hidden doors just about everywhere you wouldn't think of looking. Prices range from US$5,000 to a cool quarter of a million. [Creative Home Engineering via BallerHouse]
Just the other day Casio came up with some colourful retrotastic G-shocks, and now the Baby-G is getting a colour treatment, with a neat zooming display. The BG-2000/2001 series come in white, yellow and orange with shiny wrist bands and complimentary coloured LCDs that you can customise in five styles. There's also that auto-zoom function that enlarges the digits when you tilt your wrist to read the time. They're shock-resistant, 100m water resistant, with world time and five independent alarms and have auto EL backlighting (LED for the yellow version). No word on pricing yet. [Casio and Fareastgizmos]
Milan's Salone di Mobile always has a bunch of concept gadgets designed by tech companies, and this is one of Yamaha's efforts. It's a keyboard-in-a-folder, and is the perfect tool for busy musicians and composers. Travellers stuck in the same train carriage as someone carrying this should thank their lucky stars that Yamaha didn't make a version for drummers. [Yamaha Global Gateway via Yanko]
Haven't you always wanted your Armani shades to have an inbuilt TV display, of 21-inch effective size at 1-metre distance? Well, thank the heavens for the i-Bean, as it will grab onto any of your shades with sucker mounts and do exactly that. Sure, it may weigh you down an extra 10g, and will set you back US$385, but think about the geek chic factor. The i-Bean comes equipped with a TV tuner that can operate with either 3 AAA batteries or via AC power, so you can now have Desperate Housewives on the bus, which is no way as cool as it sounds. [Red Ferret]
Spring segueing into summer means degree shows, when students show off their, frankly, outtahere-lunatic creations. So, without further ado, let's go to the Centre de Design at the University of Quebec in Montreal, where we have an innovative wall-hung dishwasher, or dishwasheur, as it's probably called.
Synology's new SATA NAS servers offer up to 4TB storage capacity and Synology is claiming they're the fastest non-PC RAID 5 NAS servers there are. The desktop Disk Station DS508 takes five hot-swappable drives, while the rack-style Rack Station RS408 fits in four drives for up to 3TB RAID 5 capacity.
Disney are teaming up with Thinkway Toys to make Wall-E into a real robot. The toy, titled Ultimate Wall-E, will retail at a stonking US$189.99 and will ship this summer (AU winter). The robot will feature 10 motors for movement, remote control, programming mode and obstacle, sound and touch detection sensors for basic environment interactions.
When we showed you those Sharp X-series ultra-thin LCD TVs recently, we mentioned how Sharp had achieved the slimming down: by putting most of the electronics in a separate box, connected by a single cable. Well, now there's news that Sharp has teamed up with AMIMON to do away with that cable and transmit the HDTV signal wirelessly to the display from the tuner box. The "WHDI" technology has a range of 100 feet, a latency of less than a millisecond and can transmit through multiple walls. So while the 37-, 42- and 46-inch TVs will now have an optional wireless video transmitter with AMIMON's tech inside, there's no info on the price yet. Read on for the full press release.
While mobile TV mobile phones are ten-a-penny in the Far East, the West is pretty much virgin territory for them. Samsung's P960, however, may have got the ball rolling, a mobile TV phone aimed at European consumers. A sleek grey slider, the P960 supports both European mobile TV standards, DVB-CBMS and OMA-BCAST, and its 2.6-inch QVGA TFT screen even lets you watch two channels at the same time. As to whether we're going to see a US-friendly version later on in the year—well, that's not clear yet, but since the menu behind the dude is in dollars, perhaps the Koreans are making their press budget go a little further. Press release is after the jump.
Even though Paramount has taken longer to announce their Blu-ray slate than the other former HD DVD lackey, they're getting 'em out the door quicker, surprisingly. The first three BDs (I hate the acronym, but let's go ahead and digest it) from Paramount arrive May 20: Face/Off (yes!), Bee Movie and Next. Then it gets kinda sparse, with intermittent releases through the rest of the summer (AU winter), though its first simultaneous new release w/ DVD will be The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24. Not the hot roster I was looking for (Woo's opus excepted), but at least the Blu ball for every major studio is finally rolling. Update: We just did one better and got Paramount's press release with the full list (which confirms HR's report), check it out below.
The chowed down fish crowding the shot almost gives a new meaning to "in the wild" pics, but I digress. Until now we've only seen the bigger, badder Eee PC 900 in that single shade of paleness (unlike its little bro), but this shot seems to confirm that a veritable rainbow (or um, a pair) of colour options is shortly on the way. So what'll it be folks, black or white? More shots at the link, if you need help making up your mind. And yes, the fish is in all of 'em. [Flicka via EeeUser]
Posted by Nick Broughall at 1:30 PM on April 30, 2008
Yesterday afternoon I had the chance to sit down with Jim Carlton, Director of Streaming Media Systems at Logitech, and have a play around with their new Duet Network Music System. For those who don't remember, the Duet is a little bit like the Sonos Music system, where you use a single remote to control music throughout your house, using networked boxes that connect to your hi-fi gear anywhere in the building.
And while I'll be delivering a full review to you guys in a few weeks once I get my hands on a proper unit to put through its paces, I think I can fairly safely say this: "awesome".
"The term Google has become part of the English vernacular as a way to say go find out yourself...get informed. As someone who is part of a progressive generation who sees this small world as one interconnected community, I'm proud to represent the Australian arts scene on a global level."You can click here to see which other Australian artists are available, or if you want to widen your reach to see what the rest of the world is offering, check here.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 12:42 PM on April 30, 2008
Posted by Nick Broughall at 11:31 AM on April 30, 2008
You know how in cop shows they seize deviants' computers and bring them back to the lab for some good ol' latex gloved analysis to prove how obviously guilty or sick the suspect is? That's old hat. Microsoft's latest treat for law enforcement is COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor), a USB drive that'll cut through whatever flimsy security miscreants have slapped on their computer in a flash, and then automatically analyse the dirty bits the cops need to bust their arse, from internet activity to stored data, no pwnage skillz or trips to the lab needed. Microsoft's giving the wonder tube to lawmen for free, and 2,000 officers in 15 countries are already using it. But will it work on Macs? [Seattle Times, Thanks M]
If you had US$15 million to spend on a home, would you choose to drop that cash on this concept home set to be built in a Cotswold nature reserve? Apparently that is just what an anonymous buyer did recently, making the "Orchid House" the UKs most expensive country home—and it won't be completed for 3 years. For that money the buyer (rumoured to be in the entertainment industry) will get a home shaped like a bee orchid that should produce more energy that it consumes thanks to an underground pump and geothermal heating. Great, so the house will pay for itself in about a 1000 years. Additional pic after the break.
This unique foosball table dubbed "Toto Treme Terra" is a project recently unearthed by designer Chelpa Ferro. Not much is known about the hardware fitted into this thing, but it certainly does look intimidating. What we do know is that it results in a game of foosball with some unique sound effects. An audio clip is available on the project page link—but it would be a pity if that was all those speakers were used for. [Project Page via VVORK via Likecool]
We have all seen those gadgets that display the time or a message using a rapidly oscillating wand fixed with tiny LEDs. However, only designer Jacky Wu was clever enough to apply this technology to a jump rope. After all, it makes perfect sense—as you jump, the device records each revolution then displays that figure (along with time and calories burned) using LEDs embedded on the rope.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 8:37 AM on April 30, 2008
Trusted Reviews has a big investigation on inkjet printers and inkjet ink, and their year-long study comparing fading between more expensive manufacturer brand vs. the cheaper crappy brand shows that you get what you pay for. Over three months, the differences between the two were negligible, with pages only fading slightly (but noticeably) in quality.
The Gadget: Canon's 40D DSLR is their lower end prosumer DSLR, step above the Rebel series cams. It has, most notably a 10.1 megapixel rating and 3-inch LCD screen, Canon's latest DIGIC III processor and live view. I used the 30D and more recently the 40D for all Gizmodo's major liveblogging, so you've been seeing what the cam can do for some time now. (Which is also why I choose to shoot the cam sitting atop my messenger bag.)
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