Gadgets Control

Posted Feb 3rd 2008 4:03PM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Misc. Gadgets Apparently, water is all the rage these days if you want to get a message seen. In Tokyo Bay Monster-fashion (sans holographic video monster), a designer named Julius Popp has created a system of displaying moving text and images using falling drops of water, thus creating a kind of virtual billboard that appears to be hovering in mid-air. The system — called AquaScript — works by utilizing magnet-valves which expel single drops of water on demand; proprietary software syncs the valves into a “freely definable bitmap-muster” which produces blocks of images with the falling liquid. Check the video after the break and see the wetworks in action. (Read the full post about ‘AquaScript paints words onto water’…)

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  Would you have ever guessed that your Legos would one day be playing all of your fave tunes?! Fun speaker runs off of iPod’s energy and no batteries are required! Plus signs are your speakers with volume buttons in between! Plug this compact mini dock right into your iPod and rock out at your desk! [Buy] Tags: PDA, lcd, lcd, CD (Read the full post about ‘Retro Block iPod Speaker’…)

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Posted Feb 3rd 2008 1:55PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Digital Cameras We already witnessed the overseas announcement of JVC’s palm-friendly GR-D850, but now it looks as if the firm is making it official here in the US of A along with a slightly (and we stress “slightly”) more advanced sibling. The GR-D870 High-Band Digital Video Camera features the same 1/6-inch 680k pixel CCD, 35x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD monitor, DV in / out and 3D Noise Reducer, but steps it up ever so slightly by tossing in a SD / MMC card slot for snapping digital stills (up to 640 x 480) while recording footage to miniDV. (Read the full post about ‘JVC intros GR-D870 miniDV camcorder with 35x zoom’…)

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Hmm. Unless you want Child Protective Services knocking on your door, don’t hang a picture of your kids sleeping on these Livingstones floor cushions in your office. Few will believe that these realistic-looking stones are actually made of 100% virgin wool and are filled with hypoallergenic polysilicone fiber. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors and are available directly from smarindesign, where you can also obtain a price list. If you can keep CPS at bay until then, the Livingstones should be delivered within about four weeks of placing your order. Via GEARFUSE. (Read the full post about ‘Livingstones rock cushions’…)

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For the latest info on the coolest gadgets, emerging technology and wired madness, subscribe to our full news feed or have it delivered to your inbox. Always free. Always unique. Thanks for visiting! This Jedi Ginsu Knife cuts through everything. After watching the video below, you will want to purchase one for everyone on your Christmas list for next year. My only concern is that the price seems to be on the cheap side. Can’t see the video? Click here. (Read the full post about ‘Jedi Ginsu Knife Works like A Dream’…)

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Popcorn Maker An old fashioned popcorn brought back from the dead, reverse engineered shrunk down to a fraction of its original dimensions so it sits handily on your kitchen worktop See price Tags: gadgetry, hdtv, Ogg Vorbis, game (Read the full post about ‘Popcorn Maker’…)

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Posted Feb 3rd 2008 11:52AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Laptops During the recent Greener Gadgets Conference in New York, former OLPC CTO (and XO challenger) Mary Lou Jepsen discussed the real-world difficulties with using the kid-friendly laptops, including the creation of an XO “hospital” used to repair broken computers. Apparently, in the crowded conditions of schools in places like Nigeria, the little green laptops have a tendency to be jostled around and even knocked on the floor from time to time. As there’s typically no repair shops nearby, the kids have learned to fix the systems themselves, setting up a “laptop hospital” where they can repair what’s broken using simple tools and cheap replacement parts. (Read the full post about ‘5-year-olds repair OLPC laptops at Nigerian “hospital”’…)

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Posted Feb 3rd 2008 9:53AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Robots C’mon, be honest — the unofficial cutoff age for playing with Legos sans kids is sometime way before puberty, but thanks to a new development from Carnegie Mellon University, we adults may soon be able to unashamedly indulge in those desires once more. Posey, hailed as a “hands-on way of interacting with computers,” features a plethora of snap-together, sensor-laden parts that can communicate with PCs through ZigBee. When a user attaches a leg to a body, for instance, an on-screen representation immediately mimics the movement, providing hours of fun and some real promise for future applications. (Read the full post about ‘Posey makes playing with snap-together blocks okay for adults’…)

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Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:41AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Misc. Gadgets Unfortunately, Dr. Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester hasn’t yet figured out how to turn scrap metals into gold, but he, along with Dr. Anatoliy Y. Vorobyev, has discovered how to colorize a variety of metals. By utilizing a “femtosecond laser processing technique,” the duo has crafted a method for turning even aluminum into aluminum with an impeccable gold finish. Furthermore, they’ve also been successful in turning tungsten dark blue, leaving reason to believe that nearly any metal could be altered to appear as a different color. Ah, just imagine what these folks could do with your MacBook Pro.[Via The New York Time (Read the full post about ‘Researchers devise method for colorizing metals, alchemists swoon’…)

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Battery Lamp You can have this for ?14.95 Tags: cellphone, cool gear, game, dvr (Read the full post about ‘Battery Lamp’…)

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