Saturday, September 20, 2008
Software
Windows 7 Does Look Just Like Vista
11:30PM Mark Wilson | We have to agree with Mary Jay Foley, in the latest Windows 7 M3 Build, we see that Windows 7 looks a whole lot like Vista. There are updates for sure, but they’re subtle differences—a return to the Ribbon interface, a simplified start menu, My Documents replaced with Libraries, fewer User Account Control alerts and a “light” Windows Media Player to name a couple. From a superficial standpoint alone, not a lot has changed (though admittedly, that Vista background isn’t helping much). galleryPost('win7shots', 3, ''); Hit the link for the unabridged gallery. [thinknext Thanks Daniel!] More »
Games
PlayStation Home and Firmware 2.5 Hitting in October?
10:32PM Mark Wilson | It’s not officially confirmed, but PS3Fanboy received this screenshot of the PSHome beta tester forums. In it, you can see that Home Manager “TedtheDog” explaining that a fix to Home crashes will most likely be coming “later” next month with the release firmware 2.5. And though some of the remaining text is cut off, it seems that he hints to the firmware timing coinciding with Home 1.0. Since its original announcement, Home has certainly lost some of the mystique as we collectively remember what keeps us away from Second Life, but we’ll still give it a whirl. [PS3Fanboy] More »
Software
How Android Will Help Google Profile You
11:00AM Adam Frucci | The first Android phone is dropping next week, and the people who pick it up will be toting around mobile Google software in their pocket wherever they go. They’ll be using mobile Google apps, probably in concert with using Gmail, Gcal and Google Maps on their normal computer. We know that Google is tossing out all user data after 9 months, but you’ve got to wonder what kind of a picture Google is getting of its heavy users like that when it’s only getting info from how its apps are used. After the jump, an imagined day in the life of a Google user, as recorded and perceived by the Googleplex itself. More »
Gadgets
Stanton DaScratch SCS.3D DJ Pad Is All Touch Sensitive, Combines Mixer and Turntable In One Device
10:59AM Adrian Covert | Stanton’s new DaScratch USB-MIDI Tool is unique because it relies completely on touch technology to mix and manipulate music. With the possibility for 5 touch sensitive sliders, 19 touch sensitive buttons, and one giant, touch friendly rotary control (read: the big record-like circle in the middle), it appears you can run the show with little more than a laptop and one (maybe two) of these. More »
Vehicles
Oobject Roundup: Crazy Movie Camera Cars
10:45AM Wilson Rothman | In-car movie cameras are ridiculously complicated. Gone are the days where Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman gab while an unconvincing film loop plays behind them—now people at the wheel are really hurtling down a highway with bonus hardware all around. The Dukes of Hazzard vehicle above is one of the craziest examples, because it was built to stay on the road while the cab jacked back and forth to simulate those good ole’ car stunts. Below is another one, apparently from the thriller Deja Vu. Our friends at Oobject have a lot more, 12 total. Go vote for your favourite. [Oobject] More »
Networks
Comcast Opens Curtains On How They Filter Your Traffic
10:16AM Jason Chen | Comcast has just released a series of documents in response to the Federal Communications Commission detailing how, exactly, the ISP filters your traffic. Based on their traffic analysis, five protocols (Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack and Gnutella) were especially filtered. Not anymore. Now Comcast is going to be throttling ALL traffic you generate, even if it’s from their own Fancast streaming video service, if you’re generating abnormally high traffic compared to your peers.
Phones
Palm Treo Pro Finds A US Carrier, Is It AT&T?
8:36AM Adrian Covert | Palm announced in their quarterly call that it had found an unnamed carrier to sell their new Treo Pro, but declined to mention who, specifically, would peddle the $US550 phone (at a potentially subsidised cost). WM Experts seem to think the carrier will be AT&T, which makes enough sense, since AT&T tends to get the big Palm GSM phones first in the US. More »
Gadgets
Steampunk Predator Stands Guard Over Junk Shop
8:20AM Sean Fallon | Officially we are sick to death of steampunk, but we are willing to make an exception for a Predator with the skull of his alien adversary stuck to his spear. Currently the 8-foot statue stands guard outside of a London junk shop as a means of luring customers in to buy useless old crap. Whether it is successful in that endeavor is unclear, but the owners of the junk shop are not so attached that they are unwilling to sell it off to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, that bidder will have to pony up at least 5000 British pounds to take it home. That’s about $US9200 to us Yanks. More »
Science
UCSD’s StarCAVE Is a Real 3D Super-High-Def Danger Room
8:00AM Wilson Rothman | UC at San Diego has the closest thing to an X-Men-style Danger Room in its new StarCAVE, a small room that entirely surrounds you, hurtling 68 million pixels at your eyeballs at near-perfect resolution. Pop on polarised glasses and the whole thing goes 3D. Grasping a wireless “wand,” you can walk through tall buildings, fly over cities, pick apart tiny cell structures or embrace entire galaxies. All the while pretending to do actual academic research, of course. Here’s how to build your own for under $US1 million: More »
Vehicles
