As much as this seems like too much government to me, there’s a part of me that wishes I lived in France where the French government is requiring builders to install fiber-optic cabling in new apartment complexes. The goal is that by 2010, all buildings with more than 25 apartments should be wired for broadband.
Posted in Networking & Internet
by Darren Murph, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 11:03AM
Just when you think Pong can’t be played any other way, yet another creative soul emerges to prove the notion wrong. Mike McCracken has managed to remove all visual aspects of the game yet still maintain the core goal by enabling one’s head to make the motions typically assigned to the hands. Essentially, a sound is emitted from the headphones on one side or the other, and the gamer has to tilt his / her head just so until the noise is centered. This back-and-forth sequence speeds up to intensify the challenge, and if you can’t manage to keep the ringing front and center, an unpalatable buzzer sounds and a light turns on to alert you of your defeat. Really, it’s way more clear how all this works in the video below, so have at it.
[Via MAKE]
Audio Ping Pong from loneconspirator on Vimeo.
Filed under: Gaming
As we previously reported, video rental giant Blockbuster has been looking to acquire electronics giant Circuit City. Blockbuster has already offered a whopping $1 billion, but reports are flying in, saying that they cannot fund such a hefty offer.
In an official statement from the company, Circuit City said:
“Circuit City awaits a viable financing structure that is predictably executable by Blockbuster given its current constraints of size and capital structure before it would be appropriate to allow further due diligence.”
While this may be just another attempt to stop the merger in its tracks, Blockbuster has no resistance to going hostile in the bid. More on this as it happens.
Via [Crave]
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Remember the scene in INDEPENDENCE DAY when Jeff Goldblum places a satellite like dish on the roof of his dad’s car and triangulates the signal of his wife’s cellphone to determine where she was in the White House? His dad asks him how he can do that and he replies “all cable repair men know how to do this, pop.” Well, the Hi-Gain USB Wireless-300N Dish Adapter from Hawking Technologies won’t triangulate a signal in the White House, but it will boost weak WiFi signals in areas where a signal isn’t very strong to begin with.
With a supports range of nearly 4,000 feet, this 802.11n capable antenna can extend a wireless network up to six times its range and claims a data throughput 12 times the average for transfer speeds in excess of 300Mbps. IN addition, the 300-N is purely plug and play by USB and is portable. Simply plug the 300N into your laptop, install the included software, and direct the HWDN1 towards a wireless source. The result will be blazing speeds when the only open chair at Starbucks is wrapped around rebar yielding a paltry 1 bar signal.
Just don’t tell those invading aliens we can do that. Otherwise they’ll use our wi-fi signal to cripple our defenses.
Hat Tip: Forever Geek
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Back in 06 we reported on the ESG Gryphon Personal Flying Wing, and it had military applications written all over it, or, a cool opening scene to the next James Bond Flick. The latest version, rechristened the Gryphon Attack Glider by SPELLCO (the new company name), has slimmed down the weight by 30 pounds and also offers the ability to carry up to 100 pounds of onboard gear and even carry weapons hard points for mini missiles and bombs. Yowsa. And with a maximum glide speed of 135 MPH, that makes this not only an attack glider, but a serious special ops platform for attacking well behind enemy lines.
Pilots wear a specially designed helmet that offers a heads-up display and provides on-board oxygen for those high altitude HALO JUMPS. And with its ability to coast as far as 125 miles inland, jumpers can launch from any air platform outside enemy airspace and glide to their target with a tiny radar cross section. Landing is accomplished by separating the wing from the parachute pack with the pull of a standard rip cord. As the pilot slows his descent, the attached wing dangles from a safety cord to land nearby. Which is good if you don’t want to attract attention by sending it out of control to land where you don’t want it. And while there is a commercial version of the Gryphon for parachute sport enthusiasts, if the company manages to create a fly by wire steering option (it currently steers by hand controllers) and mini jet turbines to increase its range, the Gryphon may go “black” for good.
But where’s the fun in that?
Hat Tip: Geekologie
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Sony Ericsson has announced their latest clamshell handset, the Z780. This phone, as we already had a good idea of what it was going to look like, thanks to those leaked images, is really just now having the specs confirmed. The Z780 will have HSDPA support and feature a 2.2-inch display with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution, 2-megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom, Bluetooth and 35MB of internal memory with a Memory Stick Micro card slot for additional storage.
Similar to the G502, the Z780 will also be web and email friendly, offering automatic email setup with the Access NetFront Browser. The Z780 also offers RSS support, has Exchange ActiveSync support and will have Google Maps for Mobile pre-installed.
The Z780 will be available in either Grand Onyx or Amethyst Silver and will be released in Q2 2008, no word yet on any pricing. Keep reading for another image of the Z780…
Read [Sony Ericsson]
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It has been a while since we have reported on Tanita’s products. Tanita probably makes the best weighing scales in the world, but one of their products, the BC558 is more of a “Segmental Body Composition Monitor” than a scale.
So what exactly is a Segmental Body Composition Monitor? It is a way of taking individual measurements for each body segment, including the trunk, right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg.
So what exactly is the Tanita BC558 measuring? Everything. This includes your body fat percentage, body water percentage, muscle mass, bone mass, visceral fat, metabolic age, as well as weight. All of this information can be used to set up an exercise plan for yourself, and the Tanita BC558 can graph your weight loss progress on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
The set up of the Tantia BC558 is somewhat difficult, and involves setting up the date, time, and other personal weight settings. This setup process use retractable handgrip electrodes that allow for more accurate readings of the measurements that I mentioned above.
So if you are looking for a more disciplined and technical way of losing weight, the Tanita BC558 is the way to go. It can be purchased at the Competitive Edge website for about $299.99.
Source
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Samsung has announced four new desktop monitors bearing their “Touch of Color” product branding; the T190, T220, T240 and T260. All four monitors boast a maximum contrast ratio of 20,000:1 which gives out enhanced picture quality. Aside from high contrast ratio, these new desktop monitors were made to operate with the lowest energy cost as possible. In fact when putting them into standby mode, only 0.3-watts of power is consumed by the monitors. For its GTG response, both the T190 and T200 has 2ms GTG response while the T240 and T260 boasts of a 5ms response.
Other features of these monitors include; MagicColor intelligent color control, MagicBright Dynamic Contrast control, aspect ratio adjustment, multi-screen functionality and an HDMI connection on the T240 and T260. Both the T220 and T190 are now available and retail for $359 and $259 respectively, while the T240 and T260 will be available by end of July for $499 and $599 respectively.
Read [Business Wire] Product [Samsung]
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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 8:01AM
We’re a bit frightened by the fact that high-ranking political officials are told to leave their BlackBerrys outside in an unguarded basket during high-level meetings (really, it’s “common practice”), but nevertheless, one chap who tried to take advantage of the situation didn’t quite make it out undiscovered. During a recent political meetup in New Orleans, a Mexican press attaché managed to slip a half dozen or so BlackBerrys into his pocket before darting to the airport with visions of black market markups in his head. Before he could exit the country, however, Secret Service had tracked him down after catching him via surveillance footage. As it stands, the responsible individual has been fired from his post, but there’s been no word on whether the US will take any further actions. Reevaluating the whole “leaving them out in the open” practice may be a good start — just sayin’.
[Via The Boy Genius Report]
Filed under: cellphones
by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 24th 2008 at 9:04PM
CompUSA died a sputtering, inglorious death, but Ohio-based Systemax (which owns TigerDirect) didn’t shell out $30M to pick up the pieces for nothing: it’s just announced that it’s re-opening 15 US stores and opening a new one, 13 of which are in Florida. We’re not sure why the Sunshine State faces the brunt of CompUSA’s angry zombie wrath — do retirees enjoy being ripped off?* — but Texans and Puerto Ricans can join in the fun with four stores of their very own. These are all apparently open now — anyone brave enough to check out the scene?
*Rejected asides: “Is this punishment for that Pitbull record?” “Guess you don’t need braiiiiiins to pay these prices!” “Screw you, Mickey!”
[Thanks, Steven]
Filed under: Misc. gadgets
