Gadgets Future

Posted Mar 31st 2008 6:00AM by Thomas Ricker
There’s hope for those of us suffering from chronic imbalance as a result of staring too long at periodic tables and 20-sided dice. It’s an implant developed by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The implant looks to off-set balance irregularities in the human vestibular system caused by trauma or disease affecting the gyroscopic function of the inner ear. A microprocessor converts signals received from a motion sensor worn on the head into electrical impulses. These are then sent to an electrode implanted into the inner ear. The first test will begin next week on a rhesus monkey. A move which evokes cries of “unfair” from us — unlike nerds, monkeys already have excellent balance.

The Placenta 10000 drink from Nihon Sofuken is a popular new drink in Japan. It’s supposed to taste like tender peaches. Yet, despite the fact that I’ve never tried it, my imagination and previous experience with Placenta products has already made it revolting.

Fellow Gadget Labber Rob Beschizza agrees: "One does not think "What a delicious, refreshing drink that would make," when one Googles "placenta.’"

According to myth, placenta has regenerative properties and is usually placed in dedicated areas. For example, if you suffer from a depigmentation ailment, you’re supposed to dab a little bit of it on the skin and the color will fill in after a few weeks. I once saw this experiment in person and the placenta-based alcohol mix on the skin was so strong that it burned the patient at first. After two weeks, the white splotch was gone.

However, using the uterine lining of human beings (or other beings) is usually regulated and considered illegal in some areas. Hard to believe, right? 

We attempted to read the Google-translated Nihon Sofuken page to find out how they get their placenta, but it only caused us more worry. Here are two machine-translated/bungled sentences:

"Fully managed their health. However, not their domestic dolphinラCenter at who and the raw materials and do me.”

"Foul whom soon corruption and the reasons for their blood who you will completely removed."

Let’s hope there is no whaling and dolphin-whacking going on with this product.

Here’s Rob again, speculating wildly on what the product page really says:

Once the offspring is removed and disposed of, our highly-trained specialists harvest the placenta before it comes into contact with air. This high-tech eviscerative process ensures the freshest and most delicious placenta.

People will do anything to look youthful.

The Cup concept PC is pretty interesting, as the computer will be able to dish out phrases like “Pour your data on the table” and “Pour your data into my cup” to your amusement. Modeled on common behaviors of people in everyday situations, the Cup PC concent boasts the (obvious) instinctive interface of a cup, where acts such as contain, collecting, piling and pouring water into other cups are mimed by the PC in order to perform storing, sharing and organizing information tasks. Since using a cup is so simple, there is no need for a manual. Thankfully this is but a concept PC since a real life model would be just plain painful to maintain when it comes to tech support.

Posted Mar 31st 2008 10:44AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs, Storage Okoro Media Systems has been offering up well-spec’d HTPCs for quite some time, but it has finally seen fit to jump on the flash-based storage bandwagon. The firm’s new ZX series of Extreme Digital Entertainment Systems gets going with the OMS-ZX100, which comes standard with a 32GB SSD (for the OS and such) and a 1TB HDD for media storage. Moreover, you’ll find a 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA’s 256MB GeForce 8600 GT graphics card, Blu-ray / hd dvd playback and your choice of “any automotive color” on the chassis. ‘Tis a shame it costs $5,995 to even join the ZX100 club, but look to spend even more if you’re hankering for a built-in CableCARD tuner and WiFi adapter.

Posted Mar 31st 2008 8:07AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, PeripheralsHot on the heels of AMD’s Radeon HD 3000 graphics card receiving its oh-so-coveted DisplayPort certification badge comes the firm’s first DisplayPort-equipped card for the professionals in attendance. Hailed as the “first commercially available 3D workstation graphics card with DisplayPort support,” the ATI FireGL V7700 sports a PCI Express 2.0 interface, 10-bit display engine, 512MB of onboard memory, dual-link DVI connector and a promise to handle CAD / DCC projects with ease. ‘Course, we don’t see you picking this one up just for kicks at $1,099, but those actually in need can place a gaping hole in their wallet in exchange for one next month.

More and more geeks are going to a dual monitor setup to not only provide for me monitor space (real estate), but also because it allows for placing tools and uilties on one screen, while the second screen can be used as an actual interface for editing, drawing and other creative endeavors. Sadly, though, because these monitors are separate entitles, one has to deal with the encasement on both interfering with the unbroken image that can move across both screens. That is, until now. If it gets picked up by a manufacturer, this Double-Sided Transforming LCD Display will enable for an unbroken wide screen image, that can also double as a second separate screen. Wow.

At this time, the monitor is only conceptual and as such, a few hurdles remain in the way, chiefly, whether a bezel-less retractable monitor can be manufactured for an affordable price or if it will be the domain of business applications like the tri-screen Zenview Command Center Elite, which uses a a “special lens” that erases the bezel between images. And then there’s the programming involved which would allow for a second channel to be displayed when the monitor is in the back to back position and then switch to the master view when placed in the dual, wide screen mode.

Still, this is where cool gadgets begin, with an idea. If it it can be pulled off, it could be a breakthrough for those who want an affordable, dual screen option.

Only time will tell.

Hat Tip: Gear Fuse

In keeping with today’s apparent theme of customizing, hp has just announced three customizable computers in their lineup.

The first is the m9200t, which is designed “for the ultimate entertainment experience”. This particular model features an HP Easy Backup button to back up all those files, plus many options including one terabyte (TB) of hard drive space and a Blu-ray DVD writer. There are also some extra storage options including two built-in drive bays for backing up photos, music, and videos. In other words, this model will live up to its tagline.

Another big-ticket item is the HP Pavilion a6400z, which has a very low configuration price as low as $299. The options for this is a 1.8 GHz AMD Dual-Core Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 graphics cards, 1 GB worth of memory, a 250 GB hard drive, as well as some software tools for working with video clips and still photos.

There is also the HP Pavilion a6460t, which is an ENERGY STAR qualified device that features an 80 PLUS power supply which is not only cost-efficient, but energy-saving as well. The options on this model include an available Intel Core 2 Quad Processor, wireless LAN card, as well as a TV tuner for watching, recording, and pausing live TV.

All three of these models are available for you to custom at the HP Shopping site right now for varying prices.

Source

Motorola has been working on a 5 megapixel camera phone in collaboration with Kodak for what seems like years. Finally, the partnership might be about to bear fruit with the launch of the new Motorola Zine ZN5 camera phone at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas tomorrow.

The Zine will be the first phone released since Motorola split itself in two in an attempt to stop the company’s mobile phone division slipping even further into the red. This won’t make the Zine any good, though, as it still comes from a company whose last innovation was to paint the RAZR pink and sell it as a new phone!

More pics and derision after the jump.

Indeed, you get a sense of how bad the new Zine will be when you read that it looks like the ROKR E8 (see the above pic - it’s the phone on the left), which didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and despite having a 5 megapixel camera (which will therefore lead to some pretty huge files), will only come with EDGE connectivity. Yup, that’s right - not even 3G let alone HSDPA, just super-slow EDGE, which gives data transfer speeds not all that dissimilar to ye olde dial-up!

So, prepare for a lot of Motorola hype tomorrow when CTIA Vegas opens its doors, but expect to be sorely disappointed. Motorola’s mobile handset division is in deep trouble at the moment because it failed to compete in terms of style, features, marketing and any kind of understanding of what the consumer actually wants; don’t expect all that to change just because the company has spun off its mobile handset division.

[Source: UnwiredView]

The ipod mini, when it was first released, obtained plenty of praises from just about every quarter and it still looks ain’t half bad today. Those who missed the boat and want a little retro action can purchase the 4GB iPod mini for $79 minus shipping and handling. Compare that to new 2GB Shuffles which retail for $69 or refurbished 4GB nanos that are currently going for $129 a piece. Perfect for those looking for an entry level mp3 player with a proven track record.

To date, there has been a number of Apple TV users who have reported that problems with their wireless connections have started to appear, related to 5GHz 802.11n networks only after the installation of the 2.0.1 update. It seems that the update installation has resulted in Apple TV finding difficulty staying hooked up to certain wireless connections, suffering from dropped connections after a while. So far quick fixes include switching to a 2.4GHz network or turning off the “Use wide channels” option of Apple’s Airport Extreme Base Station.