Gadgets Control

As a species, us humans just have a really hard time getting ourselves up in the morning. Whether it be an instinctual habit of receiving as much rest as possible or just an inherited laziness we’ve developed over the generations, we just really dislike getting woken up before we want to be awake.  Just look at some of the alarm clocks we’ve talked about in the past for proof of that. What human emotion to we need to spur in order to alert ourselves that we must wake up? Anger could work, but also might result in one very broken alarm clock. The Tyrant Clock uses one of the most feared emotions, humiliation. Forget drunk dialing, this is sleep dialing. (Read the full post about ‘Tyrant Alarm keeps you up with an iron fist of humiliation’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 2:55PM It looks like those wanting to add a workstation to their computing arsenal now have a relatively inexpensive option to consider from HP, which has just rolled out some new additions to its xw4550 series that start at a mere $599. That’ll get you a 2.0GHz AMD Opteron 1212 processor, along with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 290 graphics with 256 MB of RAM. (Read the full post about ‘HP lets loose $599 xw4550 Opteron-based workstation’…)

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We’ve all seen it happen time and time again. What was hot and happening even six months ago, is suddenly a dinosaur. It’s the nature of the ever-evolving technology game. Which is why industry giant Intel may just be well served by sitting up and taking note that the maker of cell-phone chips Qualcomm, just may be a major force to be reckoned with these days.  With a latest innovation, the Snapdragon, Qualcomm packs a rather mighty punch in a tiny package. An engineer for the company demonstrated a palm-sized circuit board capable of displaying high-definition video. While a fairly high quality video image is nothing new to write home about, what did make it pretty special was it’s microprocessor chip, the Snapdragon. (Read the full post about ‘Watch out Intel, the Snapdragon is here and it’s biting’…)

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When I walk out for a smoke and a spot of air in the evening (Yes, it’s sort of oxymoronic. Gimme a break.), I have a nasty habit of leaving my door wide open. At night, tons of flying insects are drawn towards the light, attracting mosquitoes and moths galore into my home. When I step inside and lay down in bed, the insects remain. And I must have some really sweet blood because mosquitoes just can’t resist feasting on me. I’d light up one of those bug repellent candles, but the fumes would no doubt keep me up, let alone destroy my beloved brain cells. The Riddex Bug Repellent Nightlight is a fume-free method for keeping bugs away from you while you sleep. (Read the full post about ‘Pest Repeller Nightlight gives you an excuse to fear the dark’…)

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In honor of Independence Day, here is a 3D image of the flag raising at Iwo Jima. We all know the famous photograph from World War II, but the filmographer who DIDN’T win a Pulitzer Prize, Bill Genaust, was standing right next to Joe Rosenthal. Using a frame from Genaust’s filming, we have documentation of a single historical moment in time from two different perspectives. You can use the two images to create a 3D image. Read more here: TBO: Dimensions Of Valor By juxtaposing Rosenthal’s photograph with the matching frame from Genaust’s film, it is possible to produce an authentic 3-D image of the Iwo Jima flag-raising. For the first time, we can see one of the most iconic moments in U.S. (Read the full post about ‘3D Image of the Flag Raising at Iwo Jima’…)

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Google finds yet another internet niche, an animated series created by Seth MacFarlane (creator of “The Family Guy”) called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” which will be streamed on the web only. And they have high rolling backers who agree that the idea is worth millions. What really makes their plan innovative? Their marketing scheme. Instead of just randomly dumping static ads here or there, Google plans to use their AdSense program to make sure they are hitting their primary demographic for the program - namely, young men. So, when Johnny goes searching for more, more, more MacFarlane… Johnny will now get to see a video clip of “Calvacade”. (Read the full post about ‘Google joins hands with the creator of “The Family Guy”’…)

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This loupe on a loop is an attempt to answer a question we have never asked, namely “How can I turn my camera’s LCD screen into a viewfinder?” The PRO-MC monitoring with two straps (to unfairly quote its machine translated name) is a $50 widget which sits over any LCD screen up to 3″ and magnifies it. The rubber edged box also cuts out extraneous light, which could conceivably help you in very bright sunlight, especially if you don’t have an optical viewfinder. I want to sneer at this as being a totally useless product, an overpriced niche toy, but two things stop me. One, I think that getting the camera up to your eye, by whatever means, will give you better photographs — more considered and certainly less shaky. (Read the full post about ‘LCD Magnifier Adds a Faux-Finder to Digicams’…)

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Mitsubishi has a new range of flat panel TVs known as the Mitsubishi Ultra Thin Frame Premium Flat Panel TV with Integrated Sound Projector. Well, it certainly sounds like a mouthful, but good thing it provides an earful as well, featuring integrated sound capabilities that will transform the home entertainment experience with innovative sound technology by offering consumers a built-in home theater TV solution without the need and hassle to install extra speakers or additional wires. Best of all is, this system can be controlled via a solitary remote control, and you won’t suffer from the lack of viewable real estate either with 46″ and 52″ panels to choose from. (Read the full post about ‘Mitsubishi Ultra Thin Frame Premium Flat Panel TV with Integrated Sound Projector’…)

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Japanese researchers have figured out a way to cram a Blu-ray slaying 42GB onto a single, old fashioned DVD. How have they managed this? By making the small pits that hold the data bigger. By replacing the shallow old flat-bottomed holes with new, high-tech v-shaped gouges, the discs have room for a lot more data. Apparently the same technique will work for CDs, too. You’re too smart to believe this, right? There must be a trick? There certainly is. A new data reading and writing technique has been developed by the Tohoku University researchers. Because the holes have sloping sides, the lasers can be bounced off at various angles, giving each pit the potential to store any one of a byte’s worth of bits. (Read the full post about ‘Japanese Eggheads Fit 42 GB Onto a Single DVD’…)

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Coming just a few months after the last software update for the Mylo COM-2, Sony has just released yet another update. This brings the version up to 1.201 and should be well worth the time it takes to update. The new version of software offers a few big items which include support for video recording and the ability to support Memory Stick Duo memory cards up to 16GB in size. In addition the update also includes some other notable items which include: Adds a new menu option for easier photo and video uploading Provides an “Optimize” option in Task Manager for system memory Adds a function to format Memory Stick Duo media Adds the ability to display thumbnail images in the Game menu Improves Flash playback of YouTube videos Coming in at just about 60MB, the update is slightly large, but like I mentioned it seems to be a worthwhile update. (Read the full post about ‘Sony Mylo COM-2 get software update; adds video recording, 16GB memory card support, more’…)

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