This concept from Mac Funamizu is designed to show how truly badass a phone with an OLED-wrap display could look. The most important advance? No more bezels or borders of any kind. A concept like this makes even the iPhone look cluttered, with that primitive silver border. It’s a great little design, inspired by the Nokia Aeon concept, and we’d love to see the wrap-around screen idea on a real phone someday. [Boing Boing Gadgets]
Our sister site Kotaku posted the NPD’s PC software sales charts for the month of September, and it’s pretty interesting to see how mega-games like Spore measure up to less-exciting products like Microsoft Office. Spore may have nabbed the top spot, but MS Office 2007 grabs two spots, and despite its early troubles, MobileMe sneaks onto the list at number 19. What’s most interesting is that antivirus and anti-spyware software take a whopping 9 out of the top 20 spaces. Looks like digital security is the hot buy of the season. [Kotaku]
You know how awesome it feels to make it to the bathroom after holding it for a really long time? Not just the standard “I gotta go,” but somehow enduring the definite, palpable feeling that the thin membrane called your bladder is so full it’s going to burst at any second for a considerable length of time, maintaining control until you finally reach the appropriate vessel to relieve yourself into.
If you’re not interested in new Macbooks, but are eyeballing zoomier iMacs, it looks like you’ll get your wish sometime in the next four weeks, barring any problems, says AppleInsider. It’ll be new guts though, not a new house.
While we USB is our interface of choice for 3G laptop cards, ’cause it’ll work on anything and we switch laptops a lot, some people might still wanna leave a USB port free and fill up a standard PCMCIA slot instead. So Novatel’s EX720 Rev-A ExpressCard for Sprint, one of the first Rev. A ExpressCards, has been refreshed and now comes up with a PCMCIA adaptor for $US70 after rebate—the adaptor alone would run you $US50. It’s also got one touch activation, though you’ve still gotta install from a CD, unlike newer 3G cards. [EVDO Info]
Microsoft has started dispatching the first major wave of invites for the Vista Service Pack 2 beta. Like SP1, so far it doesn’t appear to add any major new features, though it rolls up some formerly optional ones, like Windows Search 4, which vastly improves the OS’s internal search engine. It also adds Bluetooth patches, support for Via’s 64-bit processors, and other app compatibility updates. The beta itself is supposed to go out in the next four weeks, with the final hitting sometime before Windows 7 comes out. [Neowin via ZD Net]
Anyone licking their chops at the prospect of a legal battle between Apple and Mac-cloner Psystar, where Apple would face the small (but real) chance that Psystar would be able to prove its antitrust claim in open court, can quit smacking their lips. Apple and Psystar have agreed to settle the case with Alternative Dispute Resolution, a process that will involve non-binding arbitration, early neutral evaluation, and mediation—and is totally behind closed doors.
The dudes over at The Tech Lounge sat down for a real-world—not canned—comparison of Mitsubishi’s cutting-edge, 65-inch LaserVue HDTV with the current reigning champ, Pioneer’s 60-inch Kuro plasma set. Does Mitsubishi’s fancy new tech really make for a better high-def experience? The tests show, at the very least, that the LaserVue can certainly hold its own against maybe the best HDTV in the world: “You’re not going to find a set that is capable of displaying colours quite like this one.”
The guys at Aving will cover any trade show, no matter how niche, and we love them for it. This week they’re at the EMS Expo, where companies peddle the latest gadgets that’ll save your life the next time you choke on a flaming meatball and dial 911. They can’t demo the Grip ET endotracheal tube holder by shoving one down a real person’s throat, so they use mannequins. Creepy, creepy mannequins, like the Thunderbirds crossed with a medical fetishist’s wet dream. Most disturbing—and hilarious. galleryPost('medmannequins', 3, ''); [AVING]
You know the recently deployed airport scanners that see through your clothes and show your bits ‘n’ pieces to some dude supposedly in a locked closet? Called backscatter, the tech been re-jiggered into a portal that cars crossing the border will have to drive through, allowing border agents to search your car without, you know, actually searching your car. The Z Portal will obviously strip-search anyone driving it, too, but a Customs spokesman swear it’s less revealing than the staticky porn your dad used to watch on an old TV.
