This is Digital Pot (no: not what you’re thinking,) a concept from designer Junyi Heo that’s a 21st Century plant pot. It’s filled with sensors measuring temperature, soil moisture and the like. It lets you know the results on a display with a mix of emoticons and symbols, so your plants can tell you what they want (and no: they probably don’t want you to smoke them.) It’s even clever enough to drain itself if you’re a chronic over-waterer like me, and charges via USB— also sending its data to your PC for your perusal. Just a concept, but a rather cute one, don’t you think? [Yanko Design]
Sure, there are other emergency chargers out there, ready to give your gizmos a puff of extra life when they’re out of juice, but perhaps none so pocketable as IOGear’s new GearJuice Rescue charger. Just big enough to house a single AA battery it’s got a mini-USB plug to connect up to many MP3 players, cameras and phones. It’ll give a phone about 15 mins of talk time— enough to call Mum and Dad and tell them you’ll be home late and your phone’s out of juice, anyway. Available for around US$11.99. [iogear and Akihabaranews]
The lightweight Linux variant Splashtop that’s been pre-installed on some Asus motherboards is shimmying its way over to a range of Asus notebooks, providing instant-on functions like wireless, web browsing, chat, etc. Since the software runs out of the computer’s RAM, you don’t have to wait for the full OS to boot up roll with basics (plus it saves battery life). Expect to see this and other software like it on more systems.
Via’s next-gen Isaiah processors that they’re hoping will break them into the mainstream market just got all official, going by the more consumer-friendly Nano moniker. When we talked with Via about them last week, they said that Isaiah-based processors will deliver 4x the performance of their current C7 chips (which power the OQO and Cloudbook) at the same power envelope. The press release touts the chips’ ability to playback Blu-ray and run Crysis—that might be true, but we have the feeling you won’t exactly want to in the latter case. Available to manufacturers now, you should start seeing Nano-powered wares in the fall. The low-power-but-decent-performance chip space is definitely getting a mite crowded.
If you’ve been dying for word on the Nintendo Channel for your Wii, here it is: May 30. That’s tomorrow. It’s also the day all Aussie Wii gamers will get to enjoy game trailers and demos (for both Wii and DS), plus any other Ninty-relevant information they want to put up there for you to see.
It’s a free download from the Wii shop channel. So even if you’re not that interested you should still download it. Because it’s free. And not much in this life is free. Except the best things (Thanks Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson!). Of which the Nintendo Channel is clearly one.
Does it seem like I’m rambling now? ‘Cos it feels like I’m rambling. So, In conclusion: Nintendo Channel. Tomorrow. Free.
[Nintendo]
If you play in the Windows Live sandbox (Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts and Spaces) and use a Nokia S60 phone, your life just got easier. Available today in a whole buncha places it wasn’t before, the Windows Live app for S60 syncs your Live contacts and Hotmail account with the phone’s address book and mail client (not push though), and lets you do pretty much all the regular Messenger stuff from your phone, like send pictures or files. And it’s all intemagrated. If you wind up installing, let us know how it goes. [Windows Live]
The guys at Crackberry have gotten their hands on some authentic looking slides that talk about the “Kickstart experience,” which is basically all about keeping the flip phone’s BlackBerriness intact. It’s mostly “duh” stuff, though it’s sorta interesting how feverishly they’re making the experience of opening and closing the phone exactly match holstering and unholstering the plank versions. Also, you can flip through missed alerts on the external screen without opening the phone. And play music! Very exciting. (If you think so too, check out all the slides over there.) [Crackberry]
After months of reigning as the best TVs on the planet, Pioneer’s Kuro is finally challenged for the throne by Panasonic’s THX Display-certified Viera TH-50PZ800U. It’s the THX mode that gives it the edge, with its superior colour accuracy and uniformity making it “one of the best-performing plasmas” Cnet has tested, even though the blacks (while very good) still aren’t at Kuro level. And of course, this isn’t compared to the new super-thin, super-black Kuros rolling out later this year. So enjoy the crown while you’ve got it, Panny. [Cnet]
A forum post on DP Review says that pricing info for Sony’s upcoming full-frame 25-megapixel flagship a900 DSLR went out to reps about a month ago, and that Sony’s aiming to to bring it to market for under two grand.
Alongside the Blu-ray recorder Panasonic unleashed yesterday, there were 14 new Viera TVs. That’s right. Fourteen. That number includes nine plasmas – including a new 46-inch model – and five new LCDs. 11 of these new sets will be available in time for the Olympics.
Six of the nine plasmas are Full HD, offering 1080p pictures, 24p cinema mode, 100Hz technology, 134 billion viewable colours and 30,000:1 native contrast ratio.
Panasonic have reiterated their position that plasmas are better for bigger screen sizes, while LCD TVs are perfect for smaller sizes and brightly lit rooms.
In the LCD department, sizes range from 32-inch to 37-inch, with Full HD models available in both sizes.
Hit the jump below for the full press releases, including release schedules and pricing:
