Gadgets Control

Isn’t it just wonderful to look back and see what we thought our “future” would bring? Such is the case of the “House of the Future” in Disneyland. This was an exhibit that lasted ten years (1957-1967), and had things like a microwave oven, speakerphones, and a big-screen color TV. It is nice to know that most homes have those features, so it is about time Disney put a modern-day (or should I say futuristic?) spin on the House of the Future. House 2.0 is going to be a lot more expensive at a cost of $15 million. It will also be quite large with 5,000 square feet of floor space. It will also have actors living in it that will represent a “family of the future”. (Read the full post about ‘Disneyland’s “House of the Future” Gets an Upgrade’…)

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Posted Feb 14th 2008 10:48AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Digital Cameras We’re pretty sure this camera setup won’t be putting the Wachowski Brothers out of a job any time soon, but some folks at Carnegie Mellon slapped this Matrix-style rig together for a “mere” $22,000. The cameras are mounted on linear guides, making them self-reconfigurable, and each can shoot 640 x 480 video at 30 fps. Their purported aims are “Image-based rendering,” creating 3D objects with little scene geometry info, but we’re sure they’re doing plenty of bullet time scenarios in their free time. (Read the full post about ‘Self-reconfigurable Matrix-style camera array soon to be self-aware’…)

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Google has announced the latest version of its Android software development kit (SDK). Android is the new, open mobile operating system Google is launching in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance which consists of a variety of companies which service the mobile wireless industry. The latest SDK is version m5-rc14.

Some of the changes to the latest Android SDK include a new user interface and new media codecs for the MediaPlayer class including OGG Vorbis, MIDI, XMF, iMelody, RTTL/RTX and OTA audio formats. Also new is the ability to create layout animations, an updated Eclipse plug-in and support for geo-coding, which allows an address to be translated into coordinates and vice-versa.

(Read the full post about ‘New Android SDK out’…)

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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! I am a sucker for some good movie memorabilia.  Personally, I found Spiderman 3 a little bit long in the tooth, but it has its fans.  A few props from the franchise have been doing the rounds and the Green Goblin stuff has been among the most popular.  It is a hard rubber sword, 31-inches long and said to be in perfect condition.  The detailing looks pretty cool and I the seller buysellcollections has a solid 99.7% satisfaction rating.  That all makes for a big auction. (Read the full post about ‘Green Goblin Sword Going on the Bay’…)

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Toshiba has successfully worked on a cell sensor which is capable of detecting hazardous substances, and the Japanese technology giant is currently exhibiting it at Nano Tech 2008 - an international comprehensive exhibition on nano technology. How does this sensor work exactly? Well, for starters, it comes incorporated with genes of enzyme and firefly luciferase which is capable of binding hazardous substances like dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and brominated flame retardants. This marks the first time Toshiba’s sensor has been unleashed upon the public, although there is no concrete date from Toshiba on deciding its commercialization schedule. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba cell sensor detects hazardous substances’…)

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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!  Electronic sports as we know them really got a boost back in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Nintendo World Championships were based on a monstrosity of a movie called The Wizard, which hopefully you either don’t remember or are too young to remember. The movie just seemed like one long commercial for the Power Glove which came out in the same year. Still, it was a golden time for Nintendo, way back before Sony had ever considered throwing their hat in the gaming console ring and PCs were still fetching as much as a good used car. (Read the full post about ‘Rare Nintendo Championships Gold Unpwned by Fred Savage’s Little Brother’…)

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The latest rumor is with Sprint who will start offering the Cradlepoint PHS300 as of March 1, 2008. The PHS300 is a personal and portable hot spot that allows you to create a Wi-Fi hot spot and share the access from your 3G modem or 3G phone. The PHS300 is currently available as a stand-alone device from Cradlepoint and retails for $179. Hopefully Sprint will see this as a great addition to have with 3G modems and start to bundle it in. Via [Gizmodo] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Sprint to offer the PHS300, a pocketable 3G wireless router’…)

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There’s not much that will get me blogging about the Republican National Committee (RNC). However, they’ve had a creative Valentine’s Day streak that’s remarkably hilarious (aw . . . they’re pretty hilarious when they’re serious too). There are six designs to choose from; three Obama and three Clinton. Each has a goofy-but-glib statement. Here are my two favorites: Tags: robots, gaming, speakers, video (Read the full post about ‘RNC Valentine’s Day Cards: You will LOL’…)

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There’s a good chance if you work in I.T. you’ve been there before. You do an upgrade the same way you always do and have had no problems before. Then one day you are doing it again, and sure enough production systems are affected. That’s basically what caused RIM’s blackberry outage on Monday.

According to an Associated Press report, RIM said a BlackBerry upgrade on Monday, which effectively took down the network, was part of “routine and ongoing” efforts. Like I said previously, it’s probably something that has happened to many I.T. departments before.

(Read the full post about ‘BlackBerry outage happened during “routine” efforts’…)

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Posted Feb 14th 2008 9:02AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Gaming, Laptops As is usually the case when you slap the latest and greatest silicon in a laptop, it’s going to best whatever came before. What’s surprising here is how thoroughly the Dell XPS M1730 with a Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor and dual GeForce 8800M GTX cards in SLI trounces the last generation of tech. The folks at ExtremeTech pitted the laptop against a hapless m9750 from Alienware, sporting the last generation of tech, and it handily bested it in every competition. CPU tests were heavily in the M1730’s favor, and GPU tests even more so. (Read the full post about ‘Dell XPS M1730 with 8800M GTX SLI reviewed — that sucker is fast’…)

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