Yesterday we reported that Microsoft could be acquiring Powerset in the coming months. Well, just a day later and Microsoft has officially confirmed the acquisition of Powerset.
According to Microsoft, it bought Powerset because it was impressed with the people there, but also because they share a vision to take search to the next level by understanding the intent and meaning behind people’s search terms. By joining forces with Powerset, Microsoft hopes to improve its understanding of users’ intent behind their searches and provide an improved user experience, instead of just running a straight query on the keywords used and forcing users to click through numerous results to find what they want.
Powerset is also excited about the acquisition.
(Read the full post about ‘Microsoft confirms purchase of Powerset for $100 million’…)
Almost everybody has played air guitar one way or the other; especially while watching some rock band’s music video, but what about an Air Piano? Omer Yosha has created the Air Piano, which is an electronic piano of sorts, but allows users to play it without physically touching the piano itself. The Air Piano uses infrared technology to detect the user’s hand movements over it, and plays the appropriate note based on where the movement came from, including the height. The Air Piano is even able to detect if the hand is hovering over the same spot, and will sustain the note. The height factor comes into play when users want to change octaves, either by raising their hand higher, or lower, which is very intuitive. (Read the full post about ‘Air Piano’…)
We received the above screenshots from a Best Buy employee (they have access to see inventory coming) from their internal tools. Looks like T-Mobile switched around the misspelling of “Gecko” and are calling it the Sidekick Gecco. There’s not a whole lot of details other than the name of the device, the size and weight of the box, and the release date of July 27th that we knew about long ago. Oh wait, what’s that? $299? Is that the price of the Sidekick Gecco? Hmm.. Needless to say, this is exciting and only a couple weeks away! (Read the full post about ‘T-Mobile Sidekick Gecco is coming!’…)
Did you ever wonder why there are motorcycles motorized bicycles (motorcycles), but there are not motorized unicycles? Probably because unicycles require delicate balance just to stay up, and the high speed of a motor could really amplify the injures received from a normal unicycle accident. Well, now there is the UnoCycle, a one-wheeled motorized wonder that uses the same principles of the Segway. I’m guessing it also uses the same balancing principle that the Audi Snook uses. Believe it or not, the UnoCycle has only one button for its controls. There is no throttle, brakes, or handlebar, just the riders leaning in whatever direction. In fact, it uses the same Segway principle of LeanSteer. (Read the full post about ‘UnoCycle’…)
There seems to be a trend in the alarm clock industry to inflict increasingly outlandish tortures on the heavy sleeper, or the plain lazy-bones. Our favorites so far are a clock that donates your money to charity every time you hit the snooze button, and a device which sends a screaming helicopter careening about the room at wake-up time. The aptly named Tyrant alarm goes one step further, visiting upon the incorrigible slumberer the double incentives of cash and embarrassment. If you fail to rise when summoned by this evil white block, it will take over your cellphone and start to dial random numbers from your address book, presumably narrowcasting your snores to the various ladies (or gents) in your life. (Read the full post about ‘Alarm Clock Calls Your Friends if You Don’t Get up’…)
(Image courtesy of Gizmodo) Tuning dials?!?! We don’t need no stinking tuning dials! At least that is what designer Mikael Silvanto must have been thinking when he came up with the Aivan concept AM/FM radio. Looking more like a slide rule than a radio, the caliper style Aivan radio tunes-in stations by sliding the entire radio unit up and down the tuning scale which also doubles as the radio’s stand. Unfortunately, this is no information as to when, or if, the Aivan concept radio will actually hit the market. But if you’re the type of person that believes in the “more is more” philosophy of style, you can’t do much better to show your taste than having a radio like this sitting on your desk or table. (Read the full post about ‘Aivan concept radio slides into tune’…)
We reported last week of Ian Usher, a British man living in Australia who was auctioning his life on eBay. Once sold, he was going to use the proceeds to travel around the world and get away from his life, which had not been a happy one since his wife left him.
The auction ended on Sunday with the winner getting his house, his job and all of his belongings. The grand total winning bid? AUS$399,300 (US$381,293).
That’s well short of what Ian had been expecting and was looking to make around US$480,000.
(Read the full post about ‘Ian Usher’s eBay life sale ends in disappointment’…)
by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 2nd 2008 at 2:17AM It’s not the Stateside discount we’ve been waiting for, but at least Australia and New Zealand are looking at discounted Xbox 360 pricing across the board. No press release, just an update to the Aussie Xbox site indicating a new starting price of AU$349 Australian dollars for the Xbox 360 Arcade — the same console which sold for AU$399 just yesterday. That makes it AU$50 cheaper than the Wii locally. Gamespot spoke to local Xbox exec, Jeremy Hilton, who confirmed that the Xbox 360 Pro bundle has been slashed to AU$499 (was AU$579) and the Elite is now AU$649 (down from AU$729). (Read the full post about ‘Xbox 360 price cuts official… in Australia’…)
The government in Fiji aren’t very happy with Microsoft. They heard the Redmond giant were planning to use the word “Fiji” for one of their products, which sparked a row.
Fiji Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum even went so far as to write a letter to Bill Gates. The letter stated that Fiji own the rights to the name and will defend its use. In the letter he said:
This letter, therefore serves to put Microsoft on notice that the Government unreservedly objects to the use of the word Fiji in connection with Microsoft Corporation’s operating system or any of its products
The word Fiji was being used at Microsoft to represent the working project that is the Windows Media Center TV.
(Read the full post about ‘Fiji demands Microsoft stop using their name in products’…)
Green-House of Japan has released a new usb pen drive with 8GB storage capacity. The PicoDrive RC features a nice rotatable design that is not only stylish but also useful in that you don’t have to worry about losing the cap. The drive also boast of a unique switch that prevents accidental overwrite/erasure. The PicoDrive RC usb 2.0 drive will be available in the Japanese market from July for about $70 (8gb). [ source ] Tags: computers, gadgets, lcd, gadgets (Read the full post about ‘PicoDrive RC 8gb usb drive’…)
