Thursday, August 21, 2008
Software
This Man Isn’t Real, But Would You Have Guessed? (No.)
11:45PM Mark Wilson | Yesterday we showed you a clip of Emily, a product of Image Metrics facial mapping and animation. She looked very lifelike, but you could spot her flaws if you were looking for them. Then commenter totoro pointed out this other example clip (that uses the same techniques behind Emily) that’s, to my eyes, a generation beyond Emily. In fact, it’s…basically perfect…making it hard to believe that the model is not a real human. Truly, at least in this one particular circumstance/pose, the uncanny valley seems to have been crossed. Here’s the clip: More »
Science
Intel Says They’ve Taken A Huge Leap in Wireless Power Tech
11:30PM John Mahoney | Wireless power for charging gadgets has been among the more vapourous of developments we’ve been hearing promises of for years. While there are a few working instances of the tech on the market, its large-scale adoption still feels miles away. So the appropriate scepticism should be applied to this NY Times report claiming Intel will announce a major wireless power breakthrough today at the Intel Developers Forum, but the details do seem enticing this time around for one of the holy grails of the CE world soon becoming a bit more feasible. UPDATED: Pics of Intel’s IDF demo from today have been added. More »
Software
Gates and Seinfeld to Answer Apple’s PC vs Mac Ads
11:15PM Jesus Diaz | Microsoft is going to start a new US$300 million advertising blitz to try to regain some of the street credibility they have been losing over all these years. The campaign is built around the idea that “Windows breaks down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting.” Sounds like corporate PR-puffing, but there’s a twist: it will star Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. More »
Robots
Completely Unimpressive Robot Already Developing Bender Attitude
11:00PM Mark Wilson | One day, robots will whiz by us one one wheel at 1000kph while solving absurd equations that would take us lifetimes to calculate. But that day has not yet come. So when a robot with coordination no better than a toddler starts trash-talking its humanoid accomplice, you know we’re in for a painful and degrading future. Here’s the clip: More »
Games
RadioShack Flyer Indicates Xbox 360 Price Cuts on Elite, Arcade Systems
10:45PM John Mahoney | The Xbox 360 price cut rumours we’ve been hearing for September look to be gathering even more steam, as this RadioShack ad shows drops to US$399 for the Elite system and US$199 for the Arcade. That’s down US$50 on the Elite and US$80 on Arcade, making your choices a nice smooth progression of Benjamins–US$199/US$299/US$399. The drops are rumoured to hit early next month. UPDATE: We’ve also just heard from the folks at setteb.it, who have news of an official 60GB upgrade to the 20 GB Xbox 360 system at the same price, €270 in Italy. [Joystiq] More »
Robots
WowWee Femisapien On Sale Now
10:30PM Mark Wilson | For those of you looking for your first taste of a female robot that will do your bidding, the US$99 WowWee Femisapien is on sale now at WowWee’s site and major retailers like Target and Amazon. What’s super cool about this robot is that you can program its movements, essentially, with a touch of a button and dragging its limbs around rag doll style. It also sorta has boobies. [WowWee via RobotsRule] More »
Phones
Leaked Shot Of HTC Touch Diamond Shows CDMA Version Ate All the Pies
10:15PM Kit Eaton | Over at BoyGeniusReports is this leaked shot of what’s allegedly the CDMA version of HTC’s fabby Touch Diamond mobile phone. And oh boy, oh boy… that’s one phone that’s not been on a diet: compared to the GSM version sitting on top of it it’s one big ugly fat fellow. Apparently it’s actually “more comfortable to hold,” but you’ve got to wonder about the weight of the gizmo, and the tightness of your pockets. [Howardforums via BGR] More »
Home
Kitchen Oil Fires Have Pretty, Weird Solution: Flower Fire Exinguishers
9:33PM Kit Eaton | Fire extinguishers are damn handy, but hard to get excited about—unless they’re cool flying ones—but these flower extinguishers from Japan should be weird enough to pique your interest. They’re magnetic, so you just whack them on a convenient surface, like the front of your fridge. And if you’re unlucky enough to get an oil fire on your cooking range, then you simply grab the flowers and fling them into the fire. You’re probably thinking “Fighting fire with flowers? WTF?” right now. The flowers work by melting to create a film over the surface of the burning oil, cutting off its air supply and extinguishing the fire. See the video of them in action if you don’t believe it. More »
Cameras
Olympus Adds to Mju Range of Digital Cams with Mju 1060
8:43PM Kit Eaton | Olympus has just augmented the Mju range of point-and-shoot digital cams with the new 1060 model. It seems no slouch for a small pocket camera: It’s a 10-megapixel shooter, with a 7x optical zoom and “Dual Image Stabilisation” to reduce blur. Plus it’s got an new intelligent mode that auto-detects the five most commonly used “scenes” and tweaks the exposure settings for you. UPDATE: Olympus has just informed me that the mju 1060 will only be available in black in Australia, which isn’t such a bad thing – it looks much better than the boring old silver model. More »
Computers
