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Reflect Noise-Sensitive Table Calls Out Conversation Hogs
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 12:00 PM on June 29, 2008
Every office has one. The loud-mouthed, conversation-hogging know-it-all who interrupts meetings with long-winded diatribes, and then holds them hostage until the sweet release of 5 o' clock. The Reflect table tries to tackle this problem, and help quieter meeting attendees, perhaps, with a series of LED bulbs and microphones that track the flow of conversation. There's one little problem with this table, however. While great in theory, real-world applications might prove this table is more distracting than the one-sided meetings they're meant to relieve. [Reflect via MAKE]
If Radiation Shield Technologies' Demron fabric pans out, maybe our dystopian, radiation-soaked future won't be so bad after all. At the very least, we'll be toasty--and fashionable too! RST says the fabric (available in full body suits, blankets, gloves and boots) protects against particle ionising/nuclear radiation, and shields against X-ray and low-energy Gamma emissions. The crazy thing is it does it all without any lead inserts, which next to a few inches of solid concrete are currently most effective defence against radiation poisoning. Instead, the material uses a proprietary nanotechnology to block a host of biological, chemical and radioactive sources. The material is damn heavy too; a 90 x 75cm blanket weighs approximately 27kg. [
These dry-clean only shirts from Rhombuswear are, perhaps, the perfect "next step" for geeks looking to spruce up their wardrobe with a few articles that aren't open source project-branded polo shirts. From a distance, they're all business. But get close, and the little 1's and 0's start to take shape. Or Iowa test ovals, your choice. Just don't come complaining to us when you get reprimanded for making nasty words with the filled-in ovals. Then again, for US$75 a pop, you might want to leave the No. 2's at home. [
This is possibly the ultimate hack--turning your face into a remote control unit. A computer-science Ph.D student from UC San Diego can use his fizzog to speed up or slow down video, as part of a project that hopes to make robots better teachers using automated facial expression recognition.
The Boy Genius Report has a first look at Motorola's answer to the "Touch Screen Wars," called the Blaze. From the looks of the branding, this touchy-feely handset is coming to Verizon, complete with a special Verizon-only operating system. BGR says the touch screen is decent, and the mobile browser is "OK," but nothing to write home about. Email and texting functionality are also lambasted by BGR, as is the crush-the-screen-to-make-it-work haptic touchscreen feedback. Specs include a 2 megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A support, GPS, and Bluetooth. They didn't sound too keen on the Blaze, but they didn't write it off completely. Thoughts? [
Can't quite make it to a Six Flags this weekend? Sign up for a BuzzBall then, and bring the motion-induced vomiting to you! Cooked up by some crazy New Zealanders from Evento as a cure for 'coaster aficionados without access to the rails, the BuzzBall features a pair of electric motors, each of which controls a separate throttle. The two throttles cause the chair inside to spin, or they can work in tandem to move the ball around a flat space (or a hill, Mr. Extreme Sports, whatever you want). Once the ball gets moving, however, watch out, because that's when the real 
With the arrival of Topia's one-seater prototype, I think it's finally safe to say the SMART car has something it can take in a fight. Called the HUVO, this diminutive electric car forgoes features like "well-being" and "sanity" for "lightweight" (150kg) and "Jesus Christ watch out for that MINI Cooper!" To save weight and development costs, the HUVO is made out of materials that would make any contemporary golf cart proud; mainly plastic, ceramic, more plastic, and a bit of high-tensile steel plate. Although, as the headline implies, if HUVO goes into production Topia should probably just make the thing out of a nice, sturdy wood, and save your immediate family a step at the funeral parlor.
Going one better than the Jesus model (the original, not Giz's resident LEGO freak and sexy boy Diaz) is the Konepan, a bread maker from japanese toy manufacturer Megahouse. The kitchen gizmo, aimed at kids and recently-retired Giz writers, can turn your dough into 14 different shapes, most of them crazy, all of them fabulous. Teddy bears, elephants, 
A 21-year-old student from the UK has designed a cardboard bicycle that he has dubbed "the ultimate green machine." Supporting anyone up to 76kg, the frame, which costs around US$6 to make, is made from the cardboard used in industrial packaging, whilst the wheels and chain are standard bike issue, and will cost around US$24.
The 
Before we get into the details of this compact HybRed PC casemod from modder Ville "Willek" Kyrö, let's set the scene, shall we? An iMac sits comfortably at a local coffee shop, its wifi at 100%, eagerly sucking down megabytes of the latest Natasha Bedingfield mp3 from iTunes when all of a sudden, the HybRed bursts through the door and orders *gulp* a medium coffee, black, and pays with cash! Queue the scratching record as the iMac wets itself and shorts out. And... scene. More seriously, the all-in-one design is really all the HybRed shares with the iMac, because as you'll see this is one serious gaming rig.
It's 
Despite 
We could only surmise that this "realistic" DaVinci driving simulator from Mirage3D is for teaching this morning. I mean, why else would this thing have a passenger seat? Riding shotgun for a video game? Not when the couch is so comfy, thanks. Then again, this is also the perfect gift for that cousin with a penchant for racing and DUIs, as it lovingly recreates the extreme driving experience with roll bars, uber-realistic, working gauges (controlled by an on-board PC), and Dolby 5.1 surround--all without the danger of having him sloshed on I-90. Oh, and there's a seat belt. That's the DaVinci, alright: safety first, dignity second.
