Gadgets Control

Samsung has just made available its Gleam cell phone to Verizon Wireless in a brand new color - purple. I’ve always liked this color, and I suppose there must be enough people in the market like me for Samsung to come to that decision. Unfortunately, I don’t want to be tied down to another 2-year agreement so I’ll give this a pass for the moment. But enough about me - let’s get to the nitty gritty on what the Gleam has to offer to the masses. This shiny and slim clamshell handset comes with a living wallpaper user interface and is readily available at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores as well as online. What does living wallpaper mean? (Read the full post about ‘Verizon Wireless Gleam in purple’…)

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Posted Jan 28th 2008 4:39PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Cellphones We’re not exactly sure how this all went down, but we trust Erica Sadun over at TUAW when she says that it appears that the iPhone’s SDK key — which will probably be required by all “official” third-party apps — has been leaked. Two different sites currently have the key posted, but it’s all just for show until next month, when the SDK hits for real.[Via TUAW]Tags: TV, speaker, gadgetry, laptops (Read the full post about ‘iPhone SDK key leaked?’…)

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Remember yesterday when I was talking about convergence products? While the keyboard/Skype phone combination didn’t really appeal to me, I don’t doubt that there are people out there that would enjoy that particular device. However, cramming Skype phones into random peripherals seems to be the latest craze, and not all of them turn out quite as well as Buffalo’s keyboard/phone combo. This mouse seems to be one of the best cases of a good idea gone bad. I’m sure that they were thinking that almost everyone uses a mouse, so it would be great to give it an extra function. We’ve seen a Skype phone/mouse combo before that didn’t seem too bad, as it did resemble both a mouse and a phone. (Read the full post about ‘Skype phone/mouse just looks awkward’…)

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Could the RoboThespian be a new wave of actors that could possibly pick up an Oscar when technology that powers it is perfected? Perhaps, since this robotic puppet from Engineered Arts is already pretty capable of doing spoken parts, singing, story telling and even a few dance maneuvers. Currently, the RoboThespian is performing at The Eden Project in Cornwall. Tags: gprs, digital, audio, MP3 (Read the full post about ‘RoboThespian Robotic Puppet’…)

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We all know Bluetooth has been used in many ways to “cut the cord,” especially when it comes to mobile phones. Bluetooth technology has enabled the development of numerous hands-free solutions such as ear pieces, speakerphones, and car kits. Now that phones have gained the ability to play music, the technology is also being used to wirelessly transmit music to headphones and car stereos.

One thing you may not have imagined Bluetooth to be used for is to help people to walk again. That’s exactly what the technology is doing, according to a CNN report. Two Iraq war veterans who are double leg amputees are using a pair of prosthetics that have Bluetooth technology built-in.

(Read the full post about ‘Bluetooth enables veterans to walk again’…)

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Posted Jan 28th 2008 12:31PM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Digital Cameras Well folks, that Nikon D60 DSLR we’d heard whispers about way back in the crazy, carefree days of December 2007 appears to be on the verge of coming to light at this year’s PMAs. Digital Photography Review has gotten a leaked press release from the company concerning the new shooter, and now we’ve got a sheet of specs to backup the rumors. It looks like the 10.2-megapixel camera will be sporting a number of improvements, including a 0.19-second power-up, continuous shooting mode at three frames per second, Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering II, compatibility with AF-S and AF-I Nikkor lenses, RAW image handling, in-camera retouching capabilities, and a slew of other, incredibly technical functions that the true camera-geek will surely salivate over. (Read the full post about ‘Nikon D60 DSLR press release leaked’…)

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Criminals worldwide, beware! Psychology researchers at Glasgow University claim to have perfected an automated face recognition algorithm to 100%, which translates to sheer perfection. We modelled human familiarity by using image averaging to derive stable face representations from naturally varying photographs. This simple procedure increased the accuracy of an industry standard face-recognition algorithm from 54 per cent to 100 per cent, bringing the robust performance of a familiar human to an automated system. 100% reliability? I suppose police and the relevant authorities like the sound of that. For those thinking of doing the crime and not the time, make sure you aren’t too narcissistic and plaster (Read the full post about ‘Face Recognition Algorithm Perfected’…)

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A anonymous government official warned that a US intelligence satellite has lost power and could crash to earth sometime in February or March. When pushed on the matter, a National Security Council spokesman said this: “Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation. Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. (Read the full post about ‘Dead US Spy Satellite Hurtling Towards Earth; Where’s Your Car Parked? [Spy Game]’…)

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Posted Jan 28th 2008 10:35AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Portable Audio You know what your mother always used to say about things that seem too good to be true, but the deafening amount of hype and hyperbole being thrown about in reference to the “game changing” Qtrax with “25 million tracks” is quite distracting enough to take note of. According to the Qtrax website, the P2P client — Windows only, a Mac version is slated for March 18th — will be available at midnight EST, but while Qtrax is confident of its supposed deals with the majors, a few of those labels claim to be short of an actual deal with Qtrax. (Read the full post about ‘Qtrax promises unlimited, legal P2P downloads from all major labels. Probably too good to be true.’…)

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[DEMO 08] Eyealike is launching Eyealike Copyright, an application that helps video producers flag copyright infringed content across User Generated (UGC) Websites. This patent-pending technology is able to analyze and process hundreds of images and video clips per minute by image, motion and face to automatically recognize and flag any video content published illegally online. (Photo) This solution is very interesting, knowing the huge amount of money that copyright infringement could cost both in lawsuit (Viacom $1B lawsuit against YouTube) and profit loss. Eyealike Copyright is available immediately. The pricing is based on an annual licensing fee and varies depending on CPU, storage size, modules purchased and frequency of utilization. (Read the full post about ‘EYEALIKE: Visual-based Search to Prevent Online Video Copyright Infringement’…)

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