Friday, November 7, 2008
Software
Steve Ballmer Confirms Windows Mobile 6.5
11:53PM Matt Buchanan | Sure, Windows Mobile 7 is a year away, but while Steve Ballmer was busy talking smack about Android, he did manage to confirm that Windows Mobile 6.5, which Motorola leaked, is real. More »
Gadgets
Traffic Loop Sensor Trigger For Bikes Gets You More Green Lights
11:28PM John Mahoney | Those traffic loop sensors embedded at stop lights to detect the presence of a car have always provided fodder for vehicular snake oil vendors: I’ve seen products promising to eliminate red lights ONCE AND FOR ALL by ingeniously fooling a mysterious (but gullible, apparently) system hidden below the pavement. While false promises abound, this patent for bicycles seems to be more on the legit side, and could result in more carefree whizzing through intersections than previously allowed. More »
Games
How Many Games Each Console Sells
10:39PM Mark Wilson | Me and you, we may trash talk consoles based upon their overall sales. But developers and manufacturers also care about something else. It’s called the “attachment rate,” or how many games an owner of a particular console is likely to buy. After 23 months on the market, the PS3 and Wii were in a deadlock with 5.3 and 5.5 games sold per system, respectively. During the same time, the Xbox 360 was at 6.6 games per system (and now, at 36 months, that number is up to 8.1). More »
Phones
Sony Ericsson Claims 20MP Photography, HD Video Recording in 2012 Phones
10:00PM John Herrman | At the behest of Sony Ericsson, the newest, dumbest megapixel war is officially upon us — and this time it’s in mobile phones. In an ambitious presentation about the future of handset technology, the company made a point of throwing out a target for 12-20MP for it’s phone cameras, along with the capability to record HD video, to be met in 2012. We’ve seen that compact HD video recording is attractive and plausible, but years of relentless digital camera advertising has taught us that tons of megapixels does not a decent camera make.
Software
The iPhone Ocarina: Link Never Would Have Allowed This
9:12PM John Herrman | Until this week, tapping and shaking accounted for the whole of the questionable “iPhone as an instrument” experience. Now it’s gone too far. The SMule Ocarina app recognises the roar of you blowing into the iPhone’s mic and converts it to the moderately mellifluous sounds of a digital Ocarina. It comes with presets, exhibited here on video. The above preset: Zelda’s Overland Theme. Below: Robert Plant’s and Jimmy Page’s Greatest Indignity. [SMule via BBG] More »
Peripherals
Carboard Game Grip Also Aesthetically Ruins Your iPhone, But For Free
9:11PM Kit Eaton | For those of you who liked the ugly but hand-pain alleviating idea of Marware’s Game Grip, but didn’t want to splash the cash, here’s this: It’s a DIY version on the cheap, made of cardboard. Just copy Flickr user Ronnsprocket’s template onto some old cardboard boxes, trim them with a scalpel, and bing! one iPod touch/iPhone game grip that’ll make you the envy of your friends. If your friends are heavy-duty-paper fetishists perhaps. [Flickr via LikeCool] More »
Robots
Honda Robo-Legs Help Mobility at the Expense of Fertility
9:11PM John Herrman | Honda’s first foray into robotising old peoples’ haunches looked pretty tame, but this new one, on which geriatrics are supposed to mount like some sort of meat trophy, feels like a glimpse into a horrible, dystopian future where up is down, right is wrong and grandmas and grandpas amble through Sears on mechanised rectal steeds instead of walkers. The machine, which I’m 90% sure is just the missing half of this Battle Droid from Attack of the Clones, is more a passive support device than it is a set of active robot limbs, though it does have a small electric motor. More »
Robots
DIY Telepresence Robot Lets You Work At Work In Your Undies
9:00PM Kit Eaton | Telepresence robots pop up in different guises, including the Rovio (which lacks a screen to truly telepresence your image), but now there’s this DIY project to follow to build your own. At core Sparky the robot has a Mac-Mini, motorised carriage and a Make controller board—though you can use an arduino—and some custom software that works around Skype. Buy the gear, or cobble together your own from spare odds and sods, and you too can work at work while simultaneously sprawling on your sofa in your undies. Like we do. [Instructables via Hacknmod] More »
Cameras
Paul Smith Makes Lomo Camera Fashionable with Fisheye No.2
8:32PM Kit Eaton | Paul Smith’s Fisheye No.2 Lomo camera is a subtle mixture of two things: The 180-degree bug-eye lens creates distorted images that are even more arty than your usual Lomograph. Plus to the dwindling number of wet-chemistry photography fans (including myself) Lomography is something of a fashion-statement all of its own. The camera has bulb setting for long exposures, a multiple-exposure setting, built-in flash and a hotshoe, and is dressed up in trademark Paul Smith stripes. And it’s limited edition, so it’s going for a fashionably high $US150. [PaulSmith via LikeCool] More »
Toys
