The example they gave was for people who happen to drive Porsches. What they foresee as the future of the technology is that a Porsche driver will be able to go to a dedicated portal and download the noise cancellation frequencies for his model of porsche. That way, whenever he (or she) is driving along, roof down on their fancy-pants car and Bluetooth headset sticking from their ear, the device will be able to almost pre-cancel out the car’s engine.

It’s an interesting idea, even if it’s one that will probably take a while to implement and has lots of question marks surrounding it. What do you think?

We upgrade, update, and customise nearly everything, so why not our vision too? Reach for the stars and all that jazz. And even the tech fits the theme: some more common optical surgical procedures are actually based on NASA technology:

Wavefront technology, originally developed by NASA to aid the focus of the Hubble Space Telescope on distant stars, measures up to 250 spots in the pupil to provide a precise map of the cornea and iris. This offers the potential to correct problems not addressed by glasses, such as halos around lights at night or glare.

Fighter pilots, snipers, long-distance drivers, politicians, supermodels, and your average Sally or Joe Smith are getting eye surgery. Why? Some are doing it for vanity, to no longer have to wear glasses they may consider unsightly, or contacts that may be a hassle. Others are doing it to advance in their careers: some pilots wouldn’t be allowed to fly without meeting certain vision requirements, and others just wantbetter than normal vision.

Gradually it’s becoming more and more common for patients to request procedures which will over-correct or modify their corneas with goals other than simple 20/20 vision in mind. Those pilots might want better night vision and the speech givers want to avoid wearing reading glasses and request monovision. That’s great, but what about that Yankees catcher who gets surgery to see the balls flying at him better? While no one will care much about other cases, there could eventually be argument that his vision surgery is some form of unfair enhancement.

Potential arguments and debates aside, it’s not all just about boosting career aspirations and vanity though. Dr. Julian Stevens of Moorfields Eye Hospital, an expert on laser refractive surgery, gives an example of how “customized” vision helped a patient’s quality of life:

“One of my patients led an active life and had high-quality distance vision. When he became paralyzed from the neck down, his world became smaller – reading and television. Spectacles on your nose become painful if you can’t shift them.” The solution? Mr Stevens made him slightly short-sighted.

I must admit that this particular example made me cringe a little bit. What are the ethics of downgrading someone’s vision at his or her request even if it’s for an improvement in lifestyle. No matter. There’s some great potential for both good and evil in it, so I’ll be paying attention to advances in this whole custom-tailored vision trend, because my death glare definitely needs some upgrading. [Times Online]

Photo by bogenfreund

Now don’t get me wrong, I want ten of these things, but the art is so slick and the final result so expensive, that this would never leave the custom, hermetically sealed glass case I’d have to create for it. And, should it leave the glass case for travel purposes, I fear I’d need white cotton gloves, a bodyguard and a portable padded room just to have peace of mind.

This, of course, would defeat the purpose of an ultra portable, inexpensive netbook. If you’re rich and care-free however, go to town over at Ebay. [Ebay via Gadgetmix]

For those wondering why you would play £59 ($120) for a pair of these earphones when you could customise the equalizer on your own for free, the point to these earbuds are to give you an internally-built equalizer for its specific genre, without having to mess around with the equalizer—essentially, a plug and play:

So for Rock you get a big, warm but tightly controlled bass, with all the high end detail still present, with Jazz you get rhythm and pace, with a perfectly defined soundstage, our classical earphones faithfully reproduce every nuance of the performance, and with the pop earphones you’ll get a more dynamic, sharp listening experience with strong vocals and a great beat.

So if classical earphones “faithfully reproduce every nuance of the performance,” why don’t they just make all earphones like that? Also, I’m not exactly sure I want a pair of earphones that could control the rhythm, pace and beats of a song—it’s a little too magical for my liking.

Although these buds are custom tuned to only one genre, Radiopaq claims the earphones are simply optimised for that sound but also work with any other genres of music, just like how although an SUV was built for off-roading, you could still drive it around town. However, because the earbuds come with its genre written on its exterior, my ego’s going with the Rock pair no matter how much I secretly love Britney Spears. [Radiopaq via Engadget]

Up for auction is a custom built Transformer of Master Chief from the Halo series of games.  A quick transformation turns him from the iconic Spartan soldier into a battle ready Warthog LRV .  Stands 5 1/4″ tall when transformed and comes with a variety of weapons including a Sniper Rifle, Spike Grenade, and Warthog turret.  Built from a McFarlane Master Chief figure, an Actionclix Wartog and an Autobot Hound transformer, many hours of work have been put into this to make it a faithfull representation of both the vehicle and the character.

The auction ends on March 12, and is currently at $US51 with 15 bids. Hmm, I think I found what I’m going to blow my cash on this month. [eBay via geekologie]

This iPhone 3G wooden replacement case comes from the same guys who did the clear replacement case. [icustom]

It doesn’t seem to have gone live just yet, but we managed to track down a video of it in action after the jump: For the most part it sounds like a personal feature that lets you recall information the next time you do the same search, but there is also a community aspect as well. What do you guys think? Is it a feature you’re likely to use?

[Google]