Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Science
Portable Urine Glucose Meter Hates Needles, Loves Pee
11:20PM Mark Wilson | Most diabetics are tough enough to routinely test their blood without crying about it (the alternative to death is certainly a good one), but Tanita has announced a portable digital urine glucose meter for those with sugar-management diseases like diabetes and metabolic syndrome that needs no blood. More »
Computers
100% of MacBooks Getting LEDs in 2009
11:00PM Mark Wilson | According to the Taiwan-based Economic Daily News (who has spoken with Apple’s chief LED supplier), every MacBook shipped in 2009 will have an LED-backlit display. Consider the news unconfirmed, but the transition would certainly make sense, as Apple already uses LEDs in its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines. Aside from LEDs being an eco-friendly solution for display production, they’re also excellent for brightness, colour and battery life. We’ll be pleased to see this happen. Literally. [Digitimes via Electronista] More »
Home
Do We Care About Air-Conditioning Units? We Do When They Have Friends Like Her
10:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | This is Samsung’s new air-conditioning unit from its Hauzen range. Blah blah blah blah pretty laydee blah blah legs blah blah is she smiling at me blah blah BLAH. Gallery below, and feel free to improve on my captions in the comments. [Akihabara News] More »
Games
Holiday Price Drops on Consoles? Probably.
10:35PM Mark Wilson | Analyst Michael Pachter may be stating the obvious, but he expects a US$50 price drop on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this holiday season. (Yes, we know that’s like six months away.) That would put the Xbox 360 Premium at US$299 and the 40GB PlayStation 3 at US$349. He contends that such a price drop would lead to 19% growth of the industry in the US and 20% in Europe. We just think it will be hilarious when the 360 and PS3 are both priced below the Wii. [Kotaku][image] More »
Computers
Acer Goes for High-End Gamers With Predator PC
10:15PM Gizmodo US Edition | With its sassy orange and black body, the Predator is Acer’s riposte to HP’s Voodoo and Dell’s XPS and Alienware lines. Running an Intel Quad-Core processor, the desktop PC also has liquid cooling, a Blu-ray Disc drive and four swappable SATA disk drives, and uses Nvidia’s SLI graphics technology. Full stats below the gallery. More »
Hardware
Fruit-Powered Chip Promo Vid Shows Why Geeks Don’t do PR
9:40PM Gizmodo US Edition | Being of a scientific persuasion myself, I couldn’t help but chortle at this promotional video for the TI MSP430 Ultra Low Power microcontroller unit. Sure, the neat little device sucks really low current and is used in a wide range of gizmos like smoke detectors and the recent amazing Audeo voiceless translator. We talk a lot about alternative power sources here on Giz, and since these guys demo the chip’s low energy needs by doing the old “fruit-powered” trick, I applaud them. But, dear Adrian and Kevin, you need to hire a better script-writer and actually drink the martinis you mention as power sources if you’re going to get people revved-up about a specialised silicon chip! [YouTube— Thanks Lindsey] More »
Gadgets
Montegiro Lusso Turntable Won’t Give You Much Change from US$50,000
9:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | This Montegiro Lusso turntable looks like it should be teamed with something Sixties and space-age from Pierre Cardin and worn atop the head. It consists of three height-adjustable cones made from alternate layers of acrylic and aluminium, and a larger, inverted cone, on top of which sits the platter. The turntable rocks a ten-inch Da Vinci Nobile carbon-fibre arm, MG1 titanium cartridge and it’s powered by an ultra precise synchronous motor. A special version of the US$47,000 turntable has another cone, which supports a second, nine-inch SME 5009 tonearm. Sexy or excessy? Check the gallery below. More »
Science
Spammer Keeps Whining About Large Hadron Collider Assploding
9:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | Dear Moron Physicist Who Can’t Write Proper English,
Home
Cordless Propane Mosquito Trap Gives You Al Fresco Bug Jerky
8:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | Effective over up to an acre of land, this battery-powered garden gadget allows you to commit mass mosquito-cide using a tank of propane. Silent and odourless, the trap emits octenol (something that mozzies find sexy, aspazzarently) to lure the beasties close to the machine. Once there, a vacuum gathers them into the “removable catch basin”, or death pan, as I like to call it, where they are dehydrated, giving you the potential to serve mosquito, midge, black-fly and sand-fly biltong at your barbecues. Cost is US$500, and the mosquito trap will run for up to three weeks on a 9kg propane tank. [Hammacher Schlemmer] More »
Science
