Gadgets Base

The UK government are considering plans to cut off Internet access for people that illegally download music and films.

Adopting the US ‘three strikes’ rule the consultation green paper “suggests” internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material, via a e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their contract.

That means that over 6 million people in the UK could be cut off from the internet. Broadband providers that failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted and forced to provide the details of the downloaders to the courts!

Via [BBC]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

The Garmin Nuvifone is a full touch based phone with a camera with video recording as well as the following features:

* 3.5″ touchscreen and integrated GPS (includes Garmin Online)
* support for HSDPA high-speed 3G networks
* UMTS/GSM
* access to Google’s Panoramio library

Via MobileBurn.

London is the city that is hosting a Monster Mash, a giant collection of artwork mixed with robotronics. One such exhibit is the iC Hexapod hobby robot.

The iC Hexapod bears a strong resemblance to a certain probe droid that Han shot on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. The Hexapod appears to have the same mission, as it is programmed to walk around and take pictures.

In fact, it can take over 800 pictures and store them in its internal memory. The spidery robot can even download it to its personal website. It can operate for about 19 hours without recharging.

The iC Hexapod was designed by Matt Denton. Matt is the company manager of Micromagic Systems, which makes animatronics and puppet controls like the effects in the Harry Potter films. I wonder if he designed those spider thingys in Minority Report.

I’m not certain if there is any plan to mass-market the iC Hexapod, but I don’t see why. After all, it certainly sounds like something that could really liven up the party, and take a lot of pictures to remember the occasion. Unfortunately, the pictures would all be from a worm’s eyes point-of-view. Maybe someone better put longer legs on this guy. That, or make him hover. This could be scary, though.

Source

Dell brings Wireless USB as latest option available in the Inspiron 1525, XPS m1330, XPS m1530 and the XPS M1720 notebooks. The Wireless USB option is currently available and will set you back $150 but comes with a four-port Belkin Wireless USB hub. Overall not a bad deal, considering the Belkin Wireless USB hub normally retails for $200 by itself and without the option from Dell would also require a special dongle to work. The Dell notebooks will offer wireless USB connections at up to 480 Mbps, lets just hope that we start to see some devices with this functionality built-in that way we can move past the necessary hub.

Via [Notebooks.com]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

Apple has released the long awaited and once delayed “Take 2” update for the AppleTV. Current owners can get the download for free by going to Settings, then Update Software.

The update took less than two minutes to download and about ten minutes (with quite a few restarts and screen flickering) to actually install itself. Once the “Take 2” update is installed you get to see the new welcome screen that leads you into the new setup and menu’s. At first look it seems a bit strange and not as nice looking as the previous menu system, but I am sure with time I will get used to it.

There are a bunch of new items within the new menu that tie into the iTunes Store, for example in the Movie section you now have Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers and My Movies. At first reaction the movie rental section seems a tad slow, it seems to load the movie image icons at a slow rate, giving you some movies and some with just a generic movie ticket icon that takes time to load. Time to go and check out the movie rentals, and hopefully rent my first “HD” title. 

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

Nvidia is a company which is well-known for their graphics chips that are currently dominating the market. While none of their other technologies will likely ever become as popular as their GeForce chips, they have decided to venture into the cell phone market.

No, you aren’t going to see an Nvida phone per se, but don’t be surprised if you see a “Powered By Nvidia” sticker on the back of one. With the amount of experience they have with developing chips that process video and graphics, which would be valuable to an industry that is rapidly expanding their multimedia offerings.

What’s interesting is that handset manufacturers that decide to go with an Nvidia chip can bank on a certain degree of brand recognition. Sure, your mom and dad aren’t likely going to know who they are, but you can bet that every gamer will be excited to see that little sticker.

Nvidia already has a chip dubbed the APX 2500 which is clocked at 750MHz and can decode 720p high-def video. Now that would be a powerful phone worth picking up. They report that they already have several customers lined up, but are reluctant to give out any names.

Source: Crave

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!

The week is still young, but I think it is a fair bet that the USB Aroma Radio is going to be the stupidest thing that I come across. Where shall I begin, it is a radio with a USB power source. I get some kickass radio over the Internet, I don’t need a radio that is only going to play me the latest J-Pop sensations. The stupidity does not stop there. It is, unfortunately, just getting started, because the USB Aroma Radio is a mashup of stupid technologies (of which the USB Radio is about the smartest part). Take a USB radio, bundle it with a USB oil burner and throw in some USB powered mood lighting and you have a USB powered disgrace. Oh and if you don’t want to power it via USB, you can plug in not one, not two, but three AAA batteries.

Available from where else but USB Brando of Hong Kong, for the grand price of $30.00.

It seems like just a matter of time now before this format war will officially be over and a winner is declared. Most people had presumed HD DVD’s death back just before CES 2008, but things have seemed to only get worse for them, no special thanks to their attempted Super Bowl promotion and the recent announcement from Netflix.

The latest bad news coming from Best Buy, they have announced their plans to promote the Blu-ray format over HD DVD. While HD DVD will not be pushed out of the store, the Blu-ray players will have “preferred” placement in the stores, which also means that employees will tend to “recommend” it more often. I would also imagine it being kind of out-of-site and out-of-mind as far as the customers go.

This news does make some light on the recent Best Buy promotion announcement, where they will be offering a free HD DVD player with the purchase of an $899 Yamaha/Klipsch audio package, maybe this is just a way to clear the HD DVD inventory. Chalk this up as another round that goes to Blu-ray, I think its time to commit and make that purchase, anyone have any Blu-ray player recommendations?

Via [electronista]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

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 remain convinced that cooking, especially baking is a suitable activity for the technologically inclined.  There is so much science to it, when you get down to the blending of flavors, fermentation of yeast and that sort of thing.  Cooking can also be a lot of fun, if you know what you are doing.  Over at Snack or Die they just featured some delectable looking Pac Man Cheddar Crackers.  All you need to produce these is flour, salt, pepper butter and 8 oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese.   Appliances that are required include a blender and an oven and you will of course need some simple cookie cutters.  I won’t bother you with the recipe, because you can find it at the link above.

What do you think, just the thing for your next LAN party or what?  Don’t forget to keep the grease off your Lachesis.

Source: Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, Snack or Die

Posted Feb 12th 2008 6:40AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: StorageGranted, there are other 32GB SDHC cards already announced. But those pups dawdle along at Class 4 speeds. Panasonic just announced a Class 6 card, baby, blazing a 20MB/s max transfer rate when it rolls out in April. That’s about four hours of 1920 x 1080i, compressed AVCHD video. Surely you have $699 lying around, right? Shirley?