Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently succeeded in implanting sensors in the brain of a monkey, allowing it to move a mechanical arm with his thoughts. This is the latest breakthrough in the field of Neuroprosthetics, where implanted chips carry signals to the remaining limbs of an amputee, guiding movement. If the research holds, breakthroughs like these could lead to a reassessment of disabled people as ‘bionic’ and fully able, and lead to a new era of mind-controlled gadgets. Don’t believe us? In fact, it’s already happening. Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee, uses carbon fiber-composite legs and doesn’t define himself as disabled — he’s already considered one of the fastest men in the world. (Read the full post about ‘Prosthetic Limb Research Could Lead To Bionic Athletes, Gadgets Controlled by the Brain’…)
by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 29th 2008 at 2:58PM While it’s not quite the feat that an actual Wiimote-paddled canoe would be (or nearly as silly), this nunchuck-steered contraption is still pretty impressive in its own right, and quite the change in pace from the usual Wiimote-controlled robots. At the heart of the rig is the always-useful Arduino platform, which employs some custom software to control the two electric motors powered by a pair of golf cart batteries, along with some robot servos and a battle bot motor driver. (Read the full post about ‘Wii nunchuck braves the outdoors to steer electric canoe’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Jul 29th 2008 at 1:45PM If the E60 had you dozing last night, you’ll be conked out in no time by the time you finish reading this. Pentax is at it again, proving that point-and-shoot cameras can still be boring this day and age. The M60 tries to be fancy with a 10-megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom, 2.5-inch lcd monitor, “approximately 36.5MB of built-in memory,” movie / panorama modes, a variety of scene modes and smile detection capabilities to boot. (Read the full post about ‘Pentax rolls out another yawner: the 10MP M60 point-and-shoot’…)
Go silly with these bulb strand of Homers that will definitely light up your work experience with more than just a simple “D-oh!” whenever you hit a brick wall during those brainstorming sessions. There is a total of nine Homers in varying poses, and this is but a USB-powered device that will go down nicely with any Simpsons fan at the office. It is rather pricey at $32 a pop, but the cool factor is just there for all to see. Tags: ipod, toys, digital, mobile devices (Read the full post about ‘A String of Homers’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Jul 29th 2008 at 2:33PM Man, it has been quite awhile since we’ve seen an iPod of any sort get dressed up in limited edition attire. Thinking back to those Harry Potter, Madonna and Tony Hawk editions, we can’t help but wonder how this one missed the boat. Coincidentally (or not) enough, the CBS Store has decided to offer up a special run of 8GB Beverly Hills, 90210 ipod nanos just as The CW pushes the all new rendition of the show. (Read the full post about ‘Limited edition 90210 iPod nano surfaces, we hardly believe it’s real’…)
We’ve been waiting for months and months for this device. It’s been quite the cornucopia of rumors, codenames, and speculation. What once was thought to be the Style 2, then the Sidekick Aspen, or maybe the Sidekick Gekko, is officially here, and it’s going by the name of the Sidekick 2008. Yeah, we realize that 2008 is already half over too. We’re not sure why T-Mobile decided to go with an annual naming scheme this time, but as history shows, they can’t decide on a naming convention. Regardless, we’re here today to talk about the Sidekick 2008 *coughgekkocough*. We’re pretty impressed with a device that we had low expectations for. (Read the full post about ‘Sidekick 2008 Review’…)
It’s a done deal. XM and Sirius wasted very little time in completing the merger of the two satellite radio companies. We reported that the FCC finally cleared the merger on Friday after the two companies came to a compromise with the FCC over fines and violations as a result of equipment. XM and Sirius received clearance from the Justice Department back in March of this year.
On Tuesday, the companies reported the completion of the merger and disclosed the name of the new company which will be Sirius XM Radio Inc.
by Darren Murph, posted Jul 29th 2008 at 12:21PMJust as July began, we heard that Sprint would finally begin shipping its Airave signal booster nationwide before the month ended. It cut things close, but we can’t deny that the rumor proved true. Starting right now, Sprint users with horrendous service in their own homes can begrudgingly cough up $99.99 to have the base station sent directly to you. From there, you’ll have to throw down $4.99 per month for extending your coverage but still using your plan minutes, $10 per month if you’re looking to make unlimited calls (through the Airave) with a single Sprint phone or $20 per month for unlimited calling for multiple lines. (Read the full post about ‘Sprint’s Airave signal booster goes on sale nationwide’…)
Looks like our friends in Redmond, Washington are at it again with the globular display simply known as the Sphere. The Sphere is like Microsoft’s Surface, literally taken to the next dimension. It was developed by Global Imagination, and customized by Microsoft. It is expected to make its first public experience today at Microsoft’s Faculty Summit, but the Seattle PI was given a first look. I have included a YouTube video of a spokesman demonstrating its features below. One of these features is a photo viewer that allows some interesting dragging capabilities. In fact, if the user puts his or her hand on the photo, it will be instantly transported to the other side of the big silver ball. It also can project a globe that the user can spin just like a real one. The video capability is also quite interesting as a user can take footage from a 360-degree camera and “spin” it to get whatever angle he or she wishes. It even has this weird pong game done in three dimensions where the ball is stopped with a person’s hand, but this didn’t look easy to play. However, I can’t wait to see the possibilities of spherical video games. I believe the company is considering using the Sphere for public terminals. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft Surface goes round with Sphere’…)
As with any new hardware release, it makes sense for Lite-On’s new DVD writers to come with a speedy 22x speed as well as SmartErase. As you can tell from the latter’s name, this is a new data erasing feature that works with DVD+/-R (DL) and CD-R discs, overwriting existing data with random and meaningless characters so that nobody else will be able to read the disc regardless of the drive they use, enabling you to effectively keep what you want to be private that way forever. The SmartErase function has been included inside Nero 7 Essentials and will come bundled with each purchase. There is no word on pricing, although this new DVD writer will hit Europe sometime in October. (Read the full post about ‘Lite-On DVD Writers Faster, Better’…)
