A Japanese accessory manufacturer has added a unique twist on an ordinary household gadget, the flashlight. They have added a 300,000 pixel CMOS camera and microphone. Carrot Systems created this so-called AD-1500 flashlight to enable security personnel and crime fighters to record the actual events as they happen. All activities are recorded in MP4 format and it automatically switches to infra-red mode when used at night or in dark areas. The AD-1500 can only cover a distance of up to 4 meters but I think this is enough to capture evidence and actual events in real time. However, internal memory is limited to only 128MB. This innovative approach to ordinary gadget makes sense. (Read the full post about ‘Flashlight with built-in video camera now in available Japan’…)
On of the tools Google uses for web application testing is called Ratproxy. Its job is to audit applications, checking them for any problems specifically of a security nature. The tool is optimized based on data gathered from typical web 2.0 websites, including the traffic that visits them and more importantly how it visits them.
With Ratproxy they can pick up on cross-site scripting problems, broken defence mechanisms across multiple sites, data leaks and code that does not handle data retrieval from 3rd party sites securely. A useful tool you’d agree?
(Read the full post about ‘Google makes Ratproxy open source’…)
Some more information has been leaking about in regards to the upcoming BlackBerry Kickstart and thankfully this time it was not another set of blurry images. Instead its some speculation based on just how much RIM is planning to charge for this little clamshell blackberry. We have already heard that it was headed to T-Mobile and it looks like it will land there in September, but the latest information is calling for this to be a very affordable handset. Coming in at just $49.99 with a two-year agreement. Which assuming this is accurate would have it even less expensive than the popular and low-cost Palm Centro. At that price I think that RIM could have a winner on their hands. (Read the full post about ‘Rumor: BlackBerry Kickstart to land with T-Mobile for $49.99?’…)
Mozilla is growing, and it seems that in addition to the recent world record, which was set for the software downloads in a 24 hour time period, they have also risen to 19.03% of the market share. Mozilla saw an increase from 18.41% up to 19.03% from the end of May to the end of June. Of course, Firefox may be seeing an increase, which is at least partially due to the recent release of Firefox 3, but Internet Explorer still remains on top with a whopping 73.01%. On the other hand, some are saying that because of the auto-update features within Firefox, that those users are amongst the most users with up to date versions of their browser installed. (Read the full post about ‘Firefox claims a 19% market share in the browser wars’…)
by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 4th 2008 at 3:41PMAttempts to launch a solar sail into space haven’t exactly been met with success in the past, but NASA now looks set to try to notch one up in the win column, with the agency reportedly on track for a launch of its own as soon as July 29th. As the name suggests, its new NanoSail-D is smaller than previous sails, with it consisting of four 3-meter wide sails made of a plastic film coated with aluminum. Also, like similar missions, this one is primarily a proof of concept one, which NASA hopes will demonstrate the feasibility of deploying sails in orbit, including the possibility of using them to bring satellites back down to Earth when they’ve outlived their usefulness to keep space a bit tidier. (Read the full post about ‘New solar sail aims to not repeat recent history’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Jul 4th 2008 at 6:30PM Now that you’ve had a little over a month to cram down popcorn while enjoying your shiny matte new Roku Netflix Player, we’re interested to find just how pleased (or displeased) you are with the $99 purchase. Has it lived up to your expectations? Is the quality sufficient for you? How does it look on your HDTV? Is wireless performance up to par, or were you practically forced to run an Ethernet cable all the way downstairs? We already know what the paid professionals said — we want the cold, hard facts straight from the users themselves. Let us have it comments below.PermalinkEmail this15 CommentsFiled under: Home EntertainmentTags: mobile phone, amps, (Read the full post about ‘How would you change Roku’s Netflix Player?’…)
With the deal closed on the Dictionary.com purchase, Ask.com has now become, at least according to comScore, the ninth-largest web property. The all-cash deal originally began back in mid-May and had Ask.com purchasing Lexico Publishing Group LLC. The web properties that were included were Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com. Ask.com is reporting that this will give them an increase of around 15 million additional users on a month basis, which would put them up to a monthly audience of around 145 million. Terms of the acquisition, such as how much was paid were not disclosed. Read [Reuters] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Ask.com finalizes Dictionary.com purchase’…)
by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 4th 2008 at 1:34PM Sanyo’s Gorilla GPS devices are certainly never lacking when it comes to non-GPS-related features, and it looks like its new NV-SD585DT model is no exception. This one shrinks things down slightly from the last model we saw with a 5.8-inch touchscreen, although you’ll still get a 1Seg mobile TV tuner, 4GB of solid state storage, an FM transmitter, an SD card slot, and that same ECO driving mode seen on previous Gorilla models — not to mention all the usual GPS-related features like weather and traffic information. (Read the full post about ‘Sanyo rolls out 1Seg-packing “Gorilla” NV-SD585DT GPS unit’…)
In today’s hurried world, it’s not uncommon for many people to use their digital camera or even camera phone to record life’s moments as movies. While the quality is normally not on par with traditional video cameras, nothing beats the convenience of easy recording “in the moment”. Through the years I’ve gone from toting around professional video cameras (I have a Broadcast Television background) to having the latest and greatest camcorders. Most recently though, I find that I’m shooting more photos since the video camera is just too bulky, even at its smallest. Enter the Flip Video. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Flip Video Mino’…)
In today’s hurried world, it’s not uncommon for many people to use their digital camera or even camera phone to record life’s moments as movies. While the quality is normally not on par with traditional video cameras, nothing beats the convenience of easy recording “in the moment”. Through the years I’ve gone from toting around professional video cameras (I have a Broadcast Television background) to having the latest and greatest camcorders. Most recently though, I find that I’m shooting more photos since the video camera is just too bulky, even at its smallest. Enter the Flip Video. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Flip Video Mino’…)
