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Steve Jobs may have launched the iPhone 3G on Monday, and we may have gotten a hands on with it already, but in typical Apple fashion, there's still a lot of stuff left unsaid. How does activation work? How will first-gen iPhone users bring an iPhone 3G onto their plan? Does the GPS work for driving? How much will games cost on the App Store? We've got answers. Lots of them.
Chris and Jared over at Brickmodder rigged up this fantastic diorama of a scene inspired by Iron Man. There's a detail picture of Iron Man after the jump, but you can see from the wide shot that Iron-y is just hanging there, eyeballing that RPG as it gracefully flies past his head before blasting the two terrorists (or construction contractors) in the face with hand lasers. "Yeah, I can fly." [Brickmodder via Brothers Brick - Thanks Lindsay!]
A new program dubbed "Drive CarePhilly" is being rolled out in Philadelphia in an attempt to get drivers to follow speed limits. As part of the program, approximately 100 intersections will be fitted with high tech 3D decals that they believe will fake out drivers into thinking there is something in the intersection. While I can see this plan working initially, what happens when the locals grow accustomed to the decals? If they know the bumps are fake, what is to prevent them from speeding? It just doesn't seem logical in the long term. [KYW via Fark]
As soon as you think they can't build a more intense roller coaster, someone comes along and makes one that's crazier than anything anyone's seen before. Today's example: the Farenheit at Hershey Park, a coaster that drops you down a 97-degree slope. Yes, that's beyond vertical. It hits you with 4 Gs of force, more than what NASA astronauts are subjected to. Holy crap. Hit the jump for a video of this thing in action, then feel free to falsely claim how big a man you are and how much you'd enjoy this voluntary abuse.
Korean researchers have developed POMI, a penguin-looking robot that is able to see, hear, touch and smell. But even cooler, are its R2D2 qualities, which include flashing LEDs and a built-in projector for video playback. In addition, the robot has rudimentary facial expressions, a camera, a display screen, and the ability to speak in short phrases. To top things off, POMI has a mechanism to replicate a heartbeat that can be felt when you touch its case, and also emits "scent sprays to express happiness, sadness, and joy." Um, is there a difference between happiness and joy? [Fareastgizmos]
So you have decided to get the iPhone 3G. Good for you--way to spend money. But after you have brought that little gadget bundle home, a sense of panic may set in--for you are now in an elite club. Fear not my friends, because the folks at CNET UK have "discovered" a survival guide that will help you, the frightened consumer, overcome the challenges that owning a 3G iPhone can pose. Everything from proper 3G iPhone etiquette to protecting your phone from bullies and thieves to surviving withdrawal is covered--with amusing illustrations and broken English to boot. Hit the link to check out the full guide. [CNET UK]
Running a car on water has been the holy grail for car manufacturers for some time now, but it appears that a Japanese company named Genepax may have pulled ahead of the competition with a prototype vehicle that runs entirely on water and air. Their new "Water Energy System (WES)," generates power by supplying water and air to the fuel and air electrodes using a proprietary technology called the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). The secret behind MEA is a special material that is capable of breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen through a chemical reaction.
The UK has just sent up a new communications satellite that's completed their Skynet, the highly-advanced network that's going to give them the ability to allow robotic military units at long range. You know, like in the apocalyptic vision of the future from the Terminator movies. The network's name in those movies? Skynet. Have you learned nothing, England?!
We are really getting down to the wire here as far as Father's Day gifts are concerned, but there is still hope for finding that perfect present for hard-to-shop-for Dads. So, let's dispense with the normal fare like ties, golfing equiptment and GPS units (although GPS units are cool). Get something unique this year that he will always remember. The following guide will show you how.
AU: Obviously, it isn't Father's Day here in Australia. But if I were a father, I'd still want some of these , even if it was just a random gift for the hell of it. Hint.
In an interview with TomTom spokesperson Yann Lafargue, French site Mac Generation hit on a few interesting tidbits about 3rd party navigation software on the iPhone. During the interview, Lafargue confirmed that there was a version of TomTom software running on the iPhone but he does not know if they will ever actually ship the product. You would think that the major reason for not shipping would be the clause in the SDK agreement that states "applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance," but Lafargue insisted that is not a problem.
For those who have been softened by years of artificially produced 22-degree work, sleep and play, this "air-conditioned bed" is a promising tool to fight midsummer sleep sweat. A simple air pad that circulates fresh air under your body, the air-conditioned bed gets the cool air just where you need it--under your sweaty backside (a lesser man might call it "swass"). And for a measly 24 cents a day in operating costs, the US$399 price tag becomes a little more reasonable. [Japan Trendshop via Techfresh]
Watching the iPhone commercial yesterday, I wondered if the mellifluous tones on the iPhone 3G ad belonged to Robert Downey Jr. I emailed Apple, but they weren't interested. So, I asked around in Campfire, our virtual office, if they thought it was Tony Stark. What do you lot reckon?
Korg's nanoSeries line of noise makers are unlike other Korg synths because they rely on computer production software to work. The slim, USB (data+power) devices are made to be portable, so you can take your studio on the go. nanoKEY is a 25-note keyboard, nanoPad has 12 Akai-style sampler/drum pads and Kaoss pad, and nanoKONTROL is a portable mixing board with 18 switches and 9 knobs. Release date and pricing are still TBD. [Music Radar]
Just because you have a baby at home doesn't mean that your partying days must come to an end. Fortunately, mothers that like to go out on Saturday nights and have a few drinks can prevent passing boob booze onto their kid using a system called Milkscreen. Basically, Milkscreen is a litmus test that screens breast milk for alcohol that could have a negative impact on a baby's health. The whole thing seems a little weird in a contentiously irresponsible sort of way, but I suppose it is better to be safe than have a drunken baby on your hands. Available for US$20 for a large pack.[Milkscreeen via Inventor Spot via Ubergizmo]
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony's in the middle of working on a PlayStation 3 controller that splits into two units, giving the player motion-sensing functionality much like the Wiimote + Nunchuk combination on the Wii. Their source knows of no official announcement timeline, but working units have been given to developers to test and integrate into future games.
Hey Nyko! Don't know know that no one but Nintendo is allowed to make money on the Wii? And according to them, you've violated their patents on the nunchuk. It doesn't matter that you made a (superior) wireless version of their US$20 peripheral. They claim that the Kama Wireless Nunchuk "wholly appropriates the novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the colour and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller." You, of course, heartily disagree. [Bloomberg via Kotaku]
And now, a Giz PSA: The iPhone 3G might have dealt a pretty solid blow to the value of a vanilla iPhone, but when you see an offer on Craigslist for a case of 10 iPhones for US$2,000 with a meetup in an isolated part of a shady neighbourhood, it might not be legit!
Digitimes is reporting that Intel is about to pop a series of cheap quad core processors (Q8000) to slap back at AMD's budget triple core offerings. The first will be the Core 2 Quad 8200, which'll run at 2.33GHz with a 4MB L2 cache, supporting a front-side bus of up to 1333MHz for around $200. Difference between these and standard Q9000 series is that these don't support Intel's Trusted Execution or Virtualisation Technology.
Sittiphol Phanvilai, a developer on the Nokia forums, managed to rig up a "multitouch" engine using the N95. With the camera, an IR filter on the back, a light pen and a TV, he cobbles together a system that allows drawing. Since this is only one pen, it's not exactly multitouch, but it is a start that shows what the N95 can do with the proper input systems. Does it means the N95 will get a multitouch screen some time in the future? Probably not. [Nokia Blogs]
While most of us are "addicted" to our mobiles, apparently some have it so bad that they're receiving treatment. Two children (ages 12 an 13) were admitted to a mental health clinic to cure what's been labelled as mobile phone addiction. From the Telegraph:
One year ago, we predicted that the infinite format war would rise from the ashes of the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war--that a million online services and set-top boxes would suddenly promise to deliver movies and video to your computer or TV. And that each one would essentially be their own format, since none of them are compatible, and each would promise only a fraction of available movies. We were right about our fears, but we also have a solution to a decent download collection.
AppleInsider has a scoop on the iPhone App Store and the limitations Apple is placing on them. Each individual app will have a hard limit of 2GB, as well as a ceiling of $999 for each app. These two look like pretty reasonable limits for all but the most extreme of cases. If someone wants to charge more than US$0, the lowest possible price is US$0.99. There are other details, such as how an App looks, how they're rated inside the store, and region control, but Apple's legal team had AppleInsider take those images down--always a sign that there was some good stuff there. [AppleInsider]
Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, is leaving Forbes after 10 years to fill the vacancy left by Steve Levy, who is going to Wired. Now there are five horsemen of the apocalypse.... Read More »
Here's what looks like a pretty legit shot of Toshiba's new gaming laptop, the Qosimo X305. Expected for a July 14th release, the new system features a 17-inch screen, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX, 3Ghz intel processor and dual 7200RPM hard drives up to 500GB a pop. We also dig the HDMI out and 4 Harmon Kardon speakers. But since we turned 12, this Pontiac red plastic styling hasn't really been our thing. Don't let us taint you, though. Here's a bonus shot:
For this week's Photoshop contest, I'm asking you to design or create your own gadget. One that, if released, would get you thrown in jail, or at least get whoever used it thrown in jail. Yes, I want totally illegal gadgets.
Not up to the messier parts of building a Hackintosh? EFiX is a USB dongle that promises to take care of all of that for you, automagically on any PC. Pop it into the port and you can install OS X straight from the DVD "without having to worry about patches, replacing files and anything like that." Update: There's a video demo of this black magic here.
Ruggedized, retro aviation, we've done portable iPod docks a-plenty. But until now I've not liked the look of any of them... so here's the Eino. It's pretty simple, with two speakers per channel pushing out 1.4W from a Class-D amp and a bass-enhancement system called Maxx BassR. The 7.7-inch wide thing fits into a carry case, with room for your iPod. And if you're not into the colour combos in the pic, there's a blue, white and black frame option. It's available for around US$56, but that's from a Japanese site. [Technabob via BBGadgets]
US firm Oceaneering International was recently awarded a US$745 million contract to design and test new spacesuits for future trips to the moon. Fully functional and considered the height of Mooninite fashion, the modular suit can be worn two ways depending on the occasion.
Laptop Mag says it works pretty well, if not overly sensitive at times.