Back in May we brought you some more data on the upcoming 3M pocket video projector, but only guesses on its release date: now we know it’s September 30th. The palm-sized MPro110 has a VGA and composite video input, so it’ll be good for either your laptop or portable gadgets with video-out. It’s got manual focus, but no speaker—but for most purposes I guess you won’t miss that. The guys at PopSci liked it, noting that it’s pretty basic but projects nicely onto walls, desks, paper and people in a variety of lighting conditions. We’ll have to wait to closer to the launch to hear more details, but the gizmo is set to cost US$359. [PopSci via TheEarthTimes]
Nokia filed a new patent last week trying to solve one of the problems of our digital lives: identifying what and who is in our digital photos. It’s the digital equivalent of scribbling on the white bit at the bottom of a Polaroid pic (you know the kind of text: “Steve looking silly in Hawaii,” “Me in hospital, April ’08″) and if you add in geotagging, it’d be a convenient way of keeping track. The patent details a system a little similar to Cover Flow, but when photos are flipped over to reveal a blank rear face, a user will have the option to annotate snaps with text entered on the keypad, and the text is permanently incorporated into the image file. If it makes it to reality, I hope they include that real “scribbling” option through touchscreen tech: I kinda miss writing on the back of my photos. [Patent via NewScientist]
That there is the grandpappy of those leaked Seagate hard drives, the 3.5-inch, 7200RPM, 1.5TB FreeAgent XTreme. It connects via USB 2.0, FireWire 400 or eSATA, the latter of which transfers files at a blazing 3GBit/second. Available in October, the US$300 LED-filled drive comes in three more sizes starting at $160 for 500GB. Seagate launched a whole slew of other HDDs too, including 5400RPMers, 2.5″ slim drives in four colours and two Mac-ready drives that’ll save you the inconvenience of running Disk Utility for US$40-US$70 more than their PC-counterparts. Catch ‘em in pics and press release down below.
It seems Gizmodian laziness has soared to heights not even our beloved ed’s openness to bribery*, an anonymous BMG artist or (gasp) finger food can overcome.
With just 10 days left until the much anticipated (and very exclusive) Sony UCHI party, we still have 5 double passes to the event up for grabs.
Since we’re such generous people here at Giz, and our previous calls for creativity have gone unanswered, we’re going to open up this comp.
To enter, simply tell us via the comments, in 25 words or less, why you should be the one schmoozing it with Sony and Australia’s tech media at the UCHI showcase on Thursday September 25th.
So get cracking. Entries close tomorrow, September 16th, at 5pm.
Here’s a great example of a robot originally developed for war being reused to help those in need. These tiny UAVs were once spy planes, but today they could deliver medical samples from isolated South African villages to labs for testing, or deliver emergency medicines and antidotes to those same locations. “The implications of these delays are huge for the individual and for the community,” says Barry Mendelow, a project leader with the South African National Health Laboratory Service. “The patient is waiting for treatment, and in the meantime they could be passing on a very contagious disease.”
I’m off to Hong Kong today for the “HP Engage. Excite. Experience” Media Summit, so while I’m flying today, enjoy the best from the weekend:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Is World’s Smallest Camera With Interchangeable Lenses Not quite a compact, not quite an SLR… I shall dub thee Frankenstein…
Philips Intimate Massager Sex Toys Get Detailed in Pics All the ladies in the house say “yeah!”
Actual HTC Opal Spyshots Surface (Touch’s Twin) If it looks just like the Touch, how do they know it’s the Opal? Homemade Human Catapult Provides Not-Quite-Safe Fun Whhhhhheeeeeeeeeee!
10 Gadgets for Instant Portable Partying Now you can spontaneously party anywhere, just like in the movies.
Modified New Zealand Wool Resists Blowtorches, Dog Bites, Sharp Knives So that’s what the All Black’s jerseys are made out of…
Nikon D300 DSLR Lightning Review Verdict: It’s good!
Last we left the Dream Car 123, the pyramid-shaped electric car that always gets picked last in kickball games, it was (in the words of Addy) “pootling” along the snowy streets of Illinois at about 70kph, with a 130km range. Today we can report that, while the thing still looks like all sorts of ridiculousness, it’s upped the range considerably, has bulletproof glass protecting the driver’s compartment—and cut costs to boot!
Fibre optics have a new competitor, if a group of Italian scientists can get their claim of a new world record for wireless data transmission confirmed by the people who confirm such things. The scientists, based in Pisa, claim that during an uninterrupted 12-hour experiment, they achieved throughput speeds above 1.2 Terabits per second. They say the speeds beat the previous wireless data transmission speed record of 160 Gigabits per second, set by some speedy Koreans. The Italians also claimed these speeds were previously attainable only with fibre optics. That’s fitting considering both methods involve communicating with light. Don’t get too excited though, as there are major issues keeping this experiment from becoming widespread. At least, on earth.
All we have is a blurb in Popular Science magazine this afternoon, but it would appear there’s a first look of sorts going down today with the XMp3. The portable device is an XM Radio player that can record up to five satellite stations at once. “Other portable players save only one channel,” Popsci notes, “but the XMp3 can decode five incoming streams to snag multiple songs whether it’s in the dock or in your pocket.” That’s it for now. Expect more soon or whenever XM decides to give up more info. [Orbitcast]
True to their word, the folks at Sprint came through and put the HTC Touch Diamond up for sale today at Sprint.com, just as we said they would. Nothing’s changed since we confirmed the September 14 release date 10 days ago, and that includes the US$250 price tag, with a two-year contract, and US$100 mail-in rebate. The US$200 price point we yearned for earlier did not make a surprise appearance today. Bummer. [Sprint]
