Gadgets Base

If you haven’t been paying attention to the latest in technology news, you may not know that the big FCC auction has come to an end. The winners of the various 700 MHz spectrum blocks have been announced, and there is one name missing on the list of winners which is quite surprising.

Last year Google promised that they would place a bid for 4.7 billion for the larger C block, provided that the spectrum would be open to all applications and devices. They held true to their word, and while that does mean that the spectrum will be open, Verizon was the one that walked away with the victory. Their high bid came in at $6.6 billion.

This was a brilliant move by Google. They forced the spectrum to adopt an open standard without actually having to spend billions on it. Well played Google, well played indeed.

Source: Gearlog

Posted Mar 21st 2008 3:02PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Transportation
While we spent our high school days trying not to cut our thumbs off in shop class, these West Philly High School kids have been making a run on the $10 million Automotive X Prize. They’re building a plug-in diesel hybrid in an attempt to reach that magical 100 mpg mark “without sacrificing style, safety or affordability.” Pictured above is a previous project, a K1 Attack modded up hybrid and biofuel-style. Seems like they’ve got the chops, but they’re certainly up against a lot of competition.

When I was in Seattle last summer, I had the opportunity visit the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. As I entered in, I saw a very large sphere that had many images from old sci-fi shows being projected on it.

I only bring this up because I thought that sphere was unique to the Science Fiction Museum, but this spherical screen is available for anyone. All they have to do is order the Pufferfish PufferSphere, which can be set up with some inflating.

Which leads me to wonder how they get the projections up there. It appears that after a client inflates the PufferSphere on the easy tote base, there is an internal projection unit that takes care of that. Now all that is needed is a little imagination for what to put there.

The Pufferfish PufferSphere can be set up for all sorts of events, and is certainly one of the most unique displays that I have ever seen. I imagine that it will get so popular that it won’t be unique anymore. Remember those cool Stereograms back in the early nineties?

However, if this is something that you want to do for a party, feel free to check out the Pufferfish PufferSphere website.

Source

Averatec has released the 2575 12-inch notebook which is the newest addition to Averatec’s line-up of ultra portable consumer machines. With this latest offering, Averatec has integrated design and functionality with the hopes of attracting consumers interests, which could be difficult, especially with the slew of new notebooks hitting the market lately.

So, does the Averatec 2575 have anything new to offer to the ultra-portable notebook market? Depends on what your needs are and what you are looking for in portable computing machine. In addition to the “contemporary design” the Averatec 2575 comes pre-installed with Vista Home Premium and features an AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core chip, 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, ATI RS690 integrated graphics, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a 4-1 card reader. The 12.1-inch display sports a 1280 x 800 native resolution with AveraBrite Technology. All things considered its seems to be a good alternative, especially with the $1,100 price tag.

Product [Averatec] Read [PR Newswire]

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Posted Mar 21st 2008 11:33AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
Nary a fortnight after Nicholas Negroponte affirmed that his role wouldn’t be changing all that much once a new CEO was strapped in, along comes word that the nonprofit’s highly regarded Director of Security Architecture, Ivan Krstić, has moved on to greener pastures as of three weeks ago. According to a soul-bearing post on his own blog, the ex-chief outrightly noted that he could no longer “subscribe to the organization’s new aims or structure in good faith, nor [could he] reconcile them with [his] personal ethic.” Additionally, he admits that he was “asked to stop working with Walter Bender,” someone he greatly respected, and forced to report to a replacement “with no technical or engineering background who was put in charge of all OLPC technology.” It should be noted that Krstić seemed to admire his colleagues overwhelmingly, but we can’t help but wonder who else in there is feeling similarly about the recent internal restructuring.

[Via Yahoo / Infoworld, image courtesy of TheAge]

Posted Mar 21st 2008 9:31AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Oh yeah, we’ve seen homegrown Xbox 360 joysticks that we would love to wrap our digits around, but ShaolinDrunkard’s latest creation is almost too pretty to touch — almost. The Xbox 360 Classic Led joystick sports the prototypical stick / button layout, but also includes that iconic green swirl and a smattering of lovely LEDs to really get the oohs and ahhs flowing. The handmade oak chassis isn’t too shabby, either, and as much as we’d love to see these being offered up to those with more dollars than creative genius, we’ve all ideas this is a one-of-a-kind. Tap the read link for a few more pics.

[Via technabob]

It may not be nice to look at or fun to use, but at least the horridly named EM-SOL1GIG portable media player by eMotion is great pals with the environment.

Not only do the built-in solar panels provide enough renewable juice for the 5.5″ x 3.0″ x 1.0″ device to play AVI videos at 25 frames per second and video game emulators on its 320 x 240 display, but they also power up the unit for playback and viewing of music (MP3, WAV, WMA, ADPCM), photos (JPG, BMP, GIF), and text files stored on the device’s 1GB of internal memory or on SD cards up to 2GB in size. The EM-SOL1GIG can even be used to charge the lithium batteries tucked inside external devices such as digital cameras and cell phones.

It makes more sense to me for the panels to be on the back of the player (rather than “inside” it) so that you can actually use it while it was charging, but for only $169, I guess I shouldn’t complain. I do, however, find it mighty suspicious that 1) the amount of time it takes for the EM-SOL1GIG to receive a full charge and 2) how long said charge actually lasts are both absent from the product page.

Via Crave.

I remember seeing this ad in a newspaper that claimed: “Now there is an easy answer. Laser Hair Removal!” It showed a pretty woman with great legs, and I can only assume that her bikini wax was somehow done with lasers.

Well, I have no idea how lasers can remove hair, but apparently they can restore hair. This is exactly what the X5 HairLaser is designed to do. This little gadget is designed to fit in your hand like a tiny scalp massager, and can blast “15 distinct points of coherent laser light directly to your scalp at the optimum power and wavelength”.

Somehow, all these lasers are supposed to promote hair growth. However, it doesn’t work all at once, but it is a treatment that requires 10-15 minutes, three times a week. Anyone know if that is better than Rogaine’s program?

To me, this item seems like snake oil, but I have to admit that I don’t know a dang about hair restoration, and I’m not at the stage where I really need it. However, given a few more decades, and I may discover how much hair I can lose in my old age. Perhaps this technology will have greatly improved by the time I do need it.

But if you need this now, the X5 HairLaser is available for about $300, and it has a six-month return policy.

Source

Product: Sandio 3D Game O2 mouse (aka 3D Motion Controller with Laser Gaming Mouse)
Price: $79.99
Rating: 5.5/10
Pros: A good core laser mouse, comfortable wrist attachment, programmable mini joysticks and cool lookin’ lights.
Cons: Not as plug-and-play as promised with certain programs. Programming interface is not very intuitive. Some ergonomic issues as well.
Overall: As a regular mouse, this works pretty well but the 3D components are more awkward than necessary. Only consider buying if you have a specific non-gaming 3D need, forgiving hands, a strong wrist and lots of patience.

In a 2D computer screen world, it can really become a pain in the wrist to try and navigate virtual 3D environments. Sure, VRML has pretty much dissolved from the world wide web but videogames, Second Life and even Google World still provide some pretty cool 3D goodness you’ll want to easily navigate.

Enter an innovative take on the computer mouse, Sandio’s 3D Game O2. It relies several mini joysticks that, when used together, are meant to help more naturally navigate through 3D environments. The concept may be great but the execution is a bit lacking especially for gamers.

Read [Gamertell]

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This story brings together some of my favourite things: cats, design ingenuity and intelligent young women kicking ass. Plus, it shakes off the stereotype that British people don’t care about teeth. (We do, just not our own…)

Seventeen year old British college student Rachel Gilbert has reached the final of a national competition, the Ideas Igloo Roadshow, with her design for feline false teeth.

They look a little ghoulish, but have a noble purpose: “When animals suffer broken or rotten teeth, they have had to be removed,” Rachel told her local newspaper, The Sheffield Star. “The gum can become infected and they find it difficult to chew food. We aim to reduce animals’ suffering and improve their quality of life.” Local vets are already on board with the design, which was created after taking a mold from a cat with damaged teeth. This revolution in animal dentistry could also be extended to dogs and sheep.

Rachel and her team of eight now have two minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of American Inventor-style entrepreneurs for a chance to win £2000 (around $4000) to help launch their business.

The best part of this whole story? Rachel’s from my home town. Not that I’m biased, but I hope she wins…