Gadgets Base

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 20th 2008 at 3:40AM
Get ‘em while they’re hot. Amazon has its Kindle e-book reader back on sale, finally following up on that 5.5 hours of stock available the first time around. Of course, that $399 pricetag isn’t budging, so if you were looking for a cheaper way to get into this racket, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Or just squint really hard and pretend those two nines are zeros.

[Via GizmoScene]

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 19th 2008 at 3:42PM
Surely you’re not content with just multi-touch and built-in accelerometers, right? Microsoft Research is expecting not, as it’s already working towards integrating force-sensing technology that will enable gestures to twist on-screen imagery without crafting UMPCs out of flexible material. Essentially, the gurus behind the idea feel that implementing said tech would “turn an otherwise passive component that just holds the device together into an active input surface.” In the future, it’s likely that auditory cues would enable users to know when they’ve applied enough pressure to cause a change, and of course, they expect it to work hand-in-hand with existing human-computer interfaces. Yeah, who needs keypads these days, anyway? [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via BBC, thanks Joe]

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Amazon now has the Kindle back in stock. After the initial launch this past November the popular reader sold out after just about 5 hours and has remained near impossible to find ever since, that is aside from a few overpriced eBay auctions.

So, anyone who has been eyeing the Kindle and awaiting its return, you better not wait much longer, they are currently available and remain at the original retail price of $399.

Product [Amazon]

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With the flood of oil money, Dubai is a hotspot for construction with extravagant buildings being built on what was once a barren desert wasteland. The skyline has changed so much over the last 10 years compared to many other cities around the world, with ever higher skyscrapers being planned and built to wow even the most seasoned traveler. There is a new project coming up that not only ranks right up there where luxury is concerned, it will also boast architectural genius with the ability to generate up to 10 times the power it will use. Want to know more? Head on after the jump to find out.

Each floor of Dynamic Architecture’s wind-powered rotating skyscraper consists of a single apartment with the unique ability to rotate independently, allowing residents to change the current view at the touch of a button. Imagine moving along to the sun’s direction as you attempt to hang dry your clothes - although with that kind of money to purchase an apartment like this you’d be better off using a dryer instead. Wind turbines peppered on each floor is capable of generating a surplus of electricity that will then be used to power the surrounding neighborhood. This new building relies on pre-fabricated segments before being put together, making the entire construction process totally radical from what is being applied at the moment. Not only does this make it more secure, it also lowers the overall cost as well as construction times by quite a significant amount. I wonder whether existing buildings around the world will be able to be retro-fitted with such power-generating capability.

The rotating tower will begin construction soon, with the final product boasting 80 floors at 420 meters in height. Imagine each city center featuring a few buildings such as these - we won’t be suffering from an energy crisis then, at least for a while. There are currently talks being held to construct similar buildings in the cities of Milan, London, New York, Hamburg and Sao Paolo.

Source: Gizmag

So you’re driving around at night with no idea where you’re at, and your partner is having trouble reading the map? Obviously you haven’t heard of GPS navigation devices, so the next best thing is to flood the map with a light source, and what better way to do it than with the Seatbelt Light?

Just clip it onto your seat belt and turn it on when you need to read a map or follow directions. Passengers can use it without distracting the driver. Two levels of brightness from 4 LED lights (included). Uses 3 AA batteries (not included).

A set of two will retail for $14.99, although I’d say that using your car’s ceiling light ought to be good enough. Still, maybe you have a really old jalopy whose light has already expired a long while ago, making this little auto accessory a necessary purchase.

You might have heard the news that the Microsoft Surface table has hit five select AT&T stores across the country, and are now available for you to try out for yourself. In case you haven’t had the chance to drop by any of these stores yet and seen the Microsoft Surface in action, we have here a video showing just how it can complement your AT&T experience by adding multi-touch and satellite mapping technology. The surface, it seems, could serve as a perfect tool for presentations with its touchscreen interface, and it adds a nice touch of interactivity while enabling easy, user-friendly graphics to complement the user-experience. Apple’s CoverFlow could make it much nicer, though. But that’s just my opinion.

Via [Gotta Be Mobile]

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Here’s a nice light-hearted story that could inspire us all and reminds us that there are still a few remaining good samaritans out there. What makes this story more interesting is that the individuals involved are actually techie’s like us.

Scott Hacker lost his phone and realized it was lost only after receiving the following note on his Twitter account:

Hi. i found this phone. could you tell me how to find the owner…

After a few messages from his Twitter friends who also read Twitter message, Hacker met the good samaritan, Silje Rygland who found Hacker’s phone lying on the lawn of UC Berkeley. To make a long good story short, Scott Hacker got his phone back and wrote about the experience in his, yes you guess it right, blog. Incidentally aside from running his personal tech blog, Hacker is also the founder and administrator of ”The Archives of Misheard Lyrics”, a popular site that maintains a database of misheard lyrics to pop songs.

Lesson of the story? If you’re not in Twitter yet, better sign up now, for who knows you might lose your phone too and Twitter might help you find it.

Via [sarahintampa]

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Encyclopedia Britannica, through its Britannica Webshare program, is giving web publishers free subscription to Britannica Online that includes complete volumes of encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, thesaurus and other online resources. By web publishers, Britannica is referring to anybody who regularly publishes on the Internet, including bloggers, webmasters and writers.

To qualify for the free subscription, web publishers will need to sign up, register their blogs/websites and wait for Britannica’s approval. Once approved, they can start linking to Britannica content on their sites. When readers click on the links, they will be presented with the full content of Britannica resources. However, readers will not be able to access other parts of Britannica Online, only the linked content. Full access to the online content will still require a subscription.

In addition, web publishers can also opt to embed the particular Britannica information on their blog or sites. I think this is better than providing links, as they can make their readers stay on their site longer and at the same time add information value to their blogs/sites.

So, what’s in it for Britannica? Is this a gradual shift towards becoming like Wikipedia? I would have to think so. Encylopedia Britannica may be more authoritative as an information resource than Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is freely accessible, and offers almost the same kind of information. This is a good start towards opening its information resources freely towards a larger consumer base which is what made Wikipedia such a big success.

Via [TechCrunch] Read [Britannica Webshare]

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OWC has just introduced a new 500GB portable hard drive known as the Mercury On-The-Go drive. This one is a little bit special compared to the rest, since it not only hooks up to your computer via USB 2.0, it also features both FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 connections. The best part of all? There is no bulky power adapters to lug around as it runs off bus power instead. The drive isn’t too speedy at 5,400 rpm, but it ought to suffice for a portable hard drive. Best to use this with a FireWire connection, since USB 2.0 will require you to rely on an AC adapter still. Backup solutions that ship with each purchase include NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows and Prosoft DataBackup III for Mac OS X . You can pick it up today for $359.99.

Source: Digital Trends

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 5:47PM BenQ has been showing off its first stab at an MID since the Intel Developer Forum last fall, but it hasn’t exactly been all that forthcoming about the full specs of the device. That situation seems to have changed at the more recent IDF in Shanghai, however, although those details seem to just now be making their way across the Internet. As we knew before, the device will pack an Intel Atom processor (the base 800MHz model), which will apparently be backed up by 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD hard drive, and HSPDA support in addition to some integrated WiFi and Bluetooth. The device will also apparently pack a so-called “G-Senser” for “direct touch and free movement to surf on internet,” along with voice activation, and optional GPS. Still no word on the all important pricing or release details, unfortunately, although we hope BenQ will save itself some embarrassment but getting the thing out the door before the next Intel Developer Forum.

[Via Slash Gear]

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