MIT Students Working On $12 Desktop For Developing Nations’ Schools [$12 Computer]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
Forget the OLPC laptop, MIT’s new hotness is the $12 desktop computer for developing countries based roughly on the NES. The goal is to create an equivalent of the Apple II from the ’80s for less fortunate students across the world, likely to complement the OLPC laptop initiative. The designers imagine schools with computer labs where kids could learn the basics that they could use later in life. And the good news for the students who may someday get these is that gaming is indeed part of the package. [Project Page via Baltimore Sun]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
Nikon adds four consumer Coolpix cameras
Aug 6, 2008 Technology
Nikon on Friday unveiled several new consumer-level cameras, including the touch-aware Coolpix S60, feature-packed S560, the intuitive S610, and wireless S610c, all coming in September. The Coolpix S60 offers users a touchscreen LCD, with simplified access to all the cameras functions and capabilities. The camera has a 5x optical zoom NIKKOR lens, …
Tags: apple, mac, Technology
Toshiba reveals 32GB flash for phones, PMPs
Aug 6, 2008 Technology
Toshiba tonight upgraded its onboard flash memory with a new, 32GB module destined for smaller portable devices. The storage combines eight 4GB NAND flash chips built using a smaller 43 nanometer manufacturing process and makes a single package, fitting twice as much capacity into a similar space as before. The design also builds in its own contr…
Tags: apple, mac, Technology
Canon wins SED lawsuit, can produce SED displays again
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
Filed under: Displays
It’s been a while since we’ve heard about Canon’s legal troubles with SED, but it sounds like things are taking a turn for the better — the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Canon had not broken its contract with Nano-Proprietary (now called Applied Nanotech Holdings) since Canon is now the sole owner of its previous joint venture with Toshiba, SED Inc. The court also reinstated Canon’s license to the SED tech, but since Canon stopped working on the tech last year, it’ll probably be a while before we see any SED displays actually show up. We’ll see how it goes down — hopefully those rumors of a skunkworks SED project inside Canon will make this all seem like a bad dream someday.
[Thanks, Alex]
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Tags: computers, gadgets, Technology
The Night Coaster: For Considerate Snoozers [Night Coaster]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
The Night Coaster is a small device you keep on your bedside table to host anything you might need during the night, like eyeglasses or your cigarettes or keys for the handcuffs. The neat bit is that it has a motion sensor that makes the coaster glow as you reach over to it, but not enough to wake your partner, just enough so that you can get what you need quietly. I believe this would be a great low-cost gift for the wedding of a couple you don’t really care about that much. [Taylor Gifts via 7Gadgets via Geek.com]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
GameTap Thursday: Grimm meets Little Red Riding Hood
Despite some awkward news today that parent-company Turner is trying to unload GameTap, the show must go on. With that said, American McGee’s Grimm adds a new episode this week, Little Red Riding Hood, which will be available to everyone — not just subscribers — for the first 24 hours after release.
- Grimm (Windows) - The ornery dwarf meets the naïve girl in the red coat.
There are no new additions to GameTap’s free games lineup this week. There should still be plenty of goodies on there to try for the freeloaders.
Continue reading GameTap Thursday: Grimm meets Little Red Riding Hood
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Tags: Games, Technology
New Flexible Image Sensors Could Enable Eyeball-Cams, More Realisitc Cyborgs [Optics]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
Traditional camera lenses have to have beefier optics to make up for the fact that the sensor is flat—but one reason why the human eye is such an efficient little cam at (576 megapixels! ISO 800!) is because our image sensors (err, retinas) are rounder to better capture the light transmitted by the lens on the other side of the sphere. Researchers at Northwestern and U. Chicago have found a way to create a traditional photo sensor that flexes without breaking, which means your cyborg glass eye of the future will be all the more lifelike.
The system works by linking the individual pixels of the sensor with flexible wires, which allow the sensor itself to take any shape necessary. This will result in more efficient and compact lenses for endoscopes and, potentially, the aforementioned artificial eyes. Right now the biggest sensor they’ve made only has 256 pixels, but apparently the manufacturing process is similar to current sensors so the researchers are confident they can scale it up quickly. [Medgadgets]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
The iPhone 3G Now In Stock At All Apple Retail Stores [IPhone 3G]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
If you’ve been wanting an iPhone 3G but haven’t had any lucking finding one in stock, your waiting might be over. According to Apple’s iPhone 3G inventory tracking tool every Apple store in the US has the new iPhone in stock as of today. As expected, the stock levels normalized once the initial rush ebbed. Sadly, AT&T stores are still filling back orders, so trying to buy one from the carrier could be hit or miss. But if you want one now, you know where to go. [Computer World via iPhone Buzz]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
Chrono Trigger not bound for Europe this year
Filed under: Nintendo DS, RPGs
As with most of Square Enix’s release dates, it’s best to put a clarifying asterisk next to it. For Infinite Undiscovery, that simultaneous worldwide release was actually a 9-day span. For Final Fantasy XIII, it’s PS3 Only … in Japan (at least for now). Let’s revisit the end of that Chrono Trigger DS teaser: “2008. Winter.* (Except for Europe).” Those across the pond will have to wait until Early 2009, according to Square Enix (via CVG). All we can offer is condolences and some screenshots that — surprise — look exactly like the 1995 rendition.
[Via DS Fanboy]
Gallery: Chrono Trigger
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Tags: Games, Technology
BBQ Grill Casemod is Cookin’ Up Some Gaming Goodness [Casemod]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
With all of the heat a serious gaming rig can produce, it was only a matter of time before someone got the bright idea to turn a grill into a PC case. There isn’t any information as far as specs are concerned, but we can see that this QuakeCon competitor has a decent sized monitor mounted inside the lid with some orange glowing fans in the range representing hot coals. It’s a nice casemod—but unless he has some sort of setup that can cook burgers with processor heat I’m not all that impressed.
[Big Download via Technabob via DVICE]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
Nikon’s Coolpix S60, S710, S610 and P6000 get outed
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Well, well. What have we here? A few new Nikon’s in the run-up to Photokina, based on looks alone. Up first is the previously rumored Coolpix P6000 (£429; $835), a high-end point-and-shoot with a patently absurd 14-megapixel sensor, a 4x optical zoom, 2.7-inch touchscreen monitor, geotagging support, full manual mode and the ability to capture in RAW. If that’s a bit much for you, you can check out the ultrathin Coolpix S60 (£299; $581), which packs a 3.5-inch 16:9 touchscreen that controls just about everything, a 10-megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom and an HDMI output. Next up is the S710, which unfortunately gets the aforementioned 14-megapixel sensor, a 3-inch LCD and a 3.6x optical zoom. Bringing up the rear is the 10-megapixel S560 (£179; $348) and the S610 / S610c (£249; $484), the latter of which includes WiFi for instant uploading. Look for most, if not all, of these to show up on shelves next month.
Read - Nikon’s Coolpix P6000
Read - The rest of Nikon’s stable
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Tags: computers, gadgets, Technology
VMware joins Linux Foundation–while reportedly violating the GPL
Aug 6, 2008 World News
The virtualization company needs to give some answers to its critics who allege that it is in knowing violation of the GPL.
Tags: international, national, world
$12 PC based on NES, not Apple II — even cooler
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
Filed under: Desktops
The $12 PC project just got a little more interesting — contrary to what the Boston Herald reported yesterday, the project is actually based around an off-license NES clone from China called the Victor, not the Apple II. The machine is entirely contained within a keyboard and accepts NES cartridges as well as Famicom software, so there’s already a BASIC — which might be what project members were referencing when they said that their generation had grown up programming Apple IIs. The Victor isn’t quite the machine the Apple II was, obviously, but we’re still totally intrigued by entire nations of budding console hackers — you ready for the competition, Ben Heck?
Read - Computerworld clarification
Read - Project wiki
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Tags: computers, gadgets, Technology
Delay Clock Tells Time, Looks Pretty and Pointy [Clocks]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
The Delay Clock looks complex and threatening, but if you take a look at where the three circles (hour, minute and second) meet near the middle, you can find the time pretty easily. This arty Dutch clock is made from stainless steel and aluminum, and its cogs are a more essential part of the design than others we’ve seen. I really hope it doesn’t have an alarm, because smacking this thing in the morning would be the rudest wakeup ever. This danger to life, internal organ, and limb from Studio Bloomm is priced at a hefty $1,962. [DVICE]
Tags: gadgets, Technology
College Student Arrested After Installing Webcam Spy Software On Women’s Laptops [Peeping Tom]
Aug 6, 2008 Blogs, Technology
A 23-year-old student named Craig Feigin is facing possible felony charges in Florida for allegedly putting spyware of the worst kind on up to 10 women’s laptop computers. The programs, which he apparently wrote himself, would cause the integrated webcams on the laptops to take snapshots at certain times when a person was close and upload them to a server on the internet, where he would be able to browse them at will. This included several photos of at least one woman in various states of undress. The moral of the story: Make sure you trust your computer repair geek, or at least keep an eye on what they’re doing to your machines. [Ars]
Tags: gadgets, Technology