RSS Feeds
Peripherals
The DIY Quick-Draw Camera Strap That Puts All Other Straps to Shame
Posted by John Mahoney at 11:50 PM on October 10, 2008
SLR Camera straps haven't changed much over the last, oh, century or so, which is surprising considering how awkward most of them are. Then came the R-Strap, a $US44 strap that uses the tripod mount on the bottom of your camera instead of the rings on the sides, allowing for a comfortable over-the-shoulder sling paired with quick-draw action. Even better are these two how-tos, that show you how to make one yourself for just a few bucks worth of hardware (which Charlie from Wired had success with judging by his photo here). Check out the video below of an actual R-Strap in action Taxi Driver style for inspiration.
NYC is full of ATMs. It's one of the great things about living in this city--you're never more than a block or two away from cash. But a large, large percentage of NYC's ATMs are cut-rate bodega models that look like your card could catch something nasty from them once dipped. Helping spread the nasty is this, the newest development in ATM skimmers, 
After Microsoft launched the Xbox, they didn't have any intention of releasing an Xbox Lite or Xbox Slim. Instead, they went straight for the next generation with the 360. Meanwhile, one modder, caught in retro Xbox fandom, had to create a fantastic Xbox Slim of his own. Reduced by almost 5cm in length, width and height, the Xbox Slim has a total reduction in volume of around 60%. But that's just the start of it.
Did you think that records would stand idly by while MP3s took over the music industry? Sure, they turned a blind eye to 8-track and cassettes. Then CDs got a pass, too. But those were physical mediums, brothers-from-another-mothers. And if compact discs don't have the cojones to stand up to the digital music revolution, vinyl will just have to come back from the dead and start kicking some 1s and 0s butt.
I know I'm not the only one who's left on my PS3, justified it through Folding@Home, but really just wanted to recharge the USB controllers. I know I'm not the only one because today Sony has announced their solution. They are releasing a two-port USB AC adaptor that will allow gamers to recharge controllers from a wall socket. The plug will be available mid-December in Japan for about $US30 (there's no US release date at this time). And yes, it's a complicated solution to a problem that shouldn't exist. [
Just like 
These images of a new HTC handset from 
Verizon has decided to start asking for $US0.03 per message from anyone who wants to send mobile-terminated messages to its customers, possible strangling SMS-based services like Google SMS, Yahoo! oneSearch. The move will also penalise any other company that uses text message notifications for its customers (though the change won't affect rates for mobile-to-mobile messaging.) Like others, Verizon used to charge a fraction of a cent to text their subscribers, during which time lots companies built up SMS notification services for everything from social networking to banking — services which may now be too expensive to operate.
With a history of giving great impressions 
When Walmart made a special effort to remind us why DRM'd music should always be avoided by 
Some of you may be suffering from Steampunk fatigue, but I still get giddy when I see it done up right. Master toy modder 
Harrods of London is now selling a $US12,000 anti-ballistic polo shirt designed by Miguel Caballero. Caballero, sometimes called the "Armani of armour" caters to clients such as Prince Felipe of Spain and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The polo, made from ultra-lightweight bulletproof fabric can allegedly protect you from weaponry ranging from a 9mm pistol to an Uzi. Sure it can save you from an assassination attempt, but judging from this picture, it doesn't save you from looking like a giant douche. [
Despite Microsoft denying any plans to develop a Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360 at least a million times now, rumours are surfacing that the company's already made one and just needs to decide on a release date. If X-bit Labs is to be believed, a joint-venture between Toshiba and Samsung has been contracted to manufacture external Blu-ray disc drives for Microsoft's game console. According to their market sources, the company is aiming at a $US100 to $US150 price point in order to compete with the PlayStation 3. 
Ars Technica did an in-depth investigation into the numbers behind the war against piracy and found that Congress might as well be telling people counterfeit goods cost the economy eleventy billion zillion, for all the truth behind its figures. The oft invoked $US250 billion and 750,000 jobs lost because of intellectual property theft have been repeated for over a decade, with virtually no research to back it up.
Apparently the 
One of the strangest things about the Australian TiVo launch was that they decided to exclusively distribute the PVR through Harvey Norman and Domayne. While I'm sure they had a good reason (read - $$$), restricting your distribution channel just before the Olympics just didn't seem to make a lot of sense for a device with mainstream appeal. 
Scientists have connected up the world's first computer network protected by "quantum cryptography," a supposedly unbreakable system that functions off a scheme based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. For us non-science folk, that means that you can't grab information transmitted through the network without disturbing it somehow, making it easy to detect when somebody's trying to listen in on exchanges.
Next2Friends has released the first live video streaming client for newer Blackberry phones, like the Curve and the Pearl. Similar to Qik or Justin TV, you download the 
In perhaps the most spirited and cheery interview I've ever seen given by Sony chair Howard Stringer, the knight of the realm tells Charlie Rose that after several years in the driver's seat, he's still trying to integrate all of the electronics divisions of Sony. "We're so big that we're making the same thing twice in different parts of the company, and nobody seems to notice!" he laughs. On a side note, I am glad to see Stringer so relaxed. I think he really was playing Chicken during the Blu-ray/HD DVD 
I know the concepts of typing speed and words per minute are mindblowingly difficult ones. And if they're too much for you to wrap your head around, perhaps you should consider this USB Mice Wheel (no, thats not my grammatical error) that measures your words per minute in revolutions per minute. So when you're typing REALLY, REALLY FAST on that foldable witchcraft machine, the mouse wheel is spinning REALLY, REALLY FAST. Where would we be without technology? [
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder—68 different beholders in the case of Tommer Leyvand's new "beautification engine." The software, featured in a story in the 
Google just rolled out a new set of ads, making the total number of ad-based revenue streams roughly equal to the number of petabytes they search daily. This one appears at the bottom of the map when you search for a fairly generic topic. After I saw it 