Gadgets Future

It appears that YouTube implemented a new audio compression scheme that causes problems for uploaded video clips with a wide dynamic range (some acoustic guitar pieces for example).

People concerned about this issue are already sharing audio tips and tricks to fool (so to speak) YouTube’s compression algorithm by manipulating the recorded sound. A Wired article mentions one tip suggesting using an inaudible high frequency sound (think dog whistle range) in quiet passages, for example.

If you are planning to use YouTube to promote something which requires decent audio quality, you definitely want to learn more about this new YouTube audio compression scheme.

For more information and sample YouTube clips read the Wired article: New YouTube Audio Compression Stymies Uploaders. You can also view the original YouTube community forum thread that highlighted the problems.

Sylvania jumps into the netbook game with the G MESO that will be powered by Intel’s Atom 1.6GHz processor. In addition, this tiny device will come with the following specifications :-

• 8.9″ 1,024 x 600 resolution LCD display with LED backlight
• 80GB hard drive
• 512MB RAM (black), 1GB RAM (other colors)
• Rated 4 hour battery life

You can choose from black, white, yellow and pink colors. Sylvania is currently targeting a $299 price point, although it remains to be seen whether Windows XP or Ubuntu Netbook Remix will be the operating system of choice. Interestingly enough, Sylvania makes light bulbs and affordable monitors, so it goes to show just how much of a commodity netbooks are at this point in time.

Samsung SGH-U900 Soul "Magical Touch"

Before we got our mits on this much hyped, 5-megapixel Korean import, we were slightly skeptical. Sure, we got to play with it a little at CTIA (when it was solely called the Soul) and were instantly cast under a spell of gadget lust. But really, anytime a manufacturer dubs a product “Magic” we’re secretly hoping it has the ability to turn PCs into Macs and make Edge networks disappear.

The Samsung U900 aka Soul aka Magical Touch doesn’t really have any supernatural abilities. What it does have is a tiny touch OLED nav-pad that is one of the coolest, most efficient touch interfaces we’ve seen on a handset. The small display (situated below the main 2.2-inch QVGA screen) features icons that morph based on whatever application they’re in. Switch to camera and controls for snapping pictures appear. Toggle to the music player and buttons for fast forward, rewind, pause, and play pop up. But unlike David Blaine or (shudder) Criss Angel, this genteel stainless steel slider boasts more than just a handful of cheap tricks.

The big selling point is the phone’s pocketability. The picture quality and dynamic range could be better (LED flash, we’re talking about you) but at 0.5 inches thick and 7 ounces heavy, this slider more svelte than just every 5MP cam we’ve tested. Ultimately, our biggest complaint is that you cannot use the camera without sliding open the phone first. This design protects the lens from dust bunnies and pocket grime, yes, but shooting with a fully-open device was a tad awkward at times. And you know, sometimes that just ruins the magic.  —Steven Leckart

WIRED External microSD slot makes it a cinch to swap cards on the fly. Bluetooth (+A2DP). Competent image editing suite. Video Editor allows you to layer additional audio tracks. Decent facial detection. Haptic feedback can be tweaked to three different levels of intesity or switched off entirely.

TIRED Bundled proprietary ear buds sound duller than Ben Stein. No Xenon flash. No GPS. No Wi-Fi. Lower-res vid clips. Proprietary headphone jack positioned on the side = hard to pocket. Noticeable screen glare when outdoors.

$400, samsung.com

(Photo by Issac Brekken for Wired.com)

That’s cool! 2008 Dodge Viper ACR, designed for ‘owners who want to drive to the track, punish a few Porsches and then drive home’. Let’s go for stopping first, this Viper pulled a 1.1g on the skid pad and stopped from 60 mph to zero in just 100 feet. In the opposite, zero to 60mph, it is achieving 3.7 seconds, similar to standard model but this ACR did run a slightly faster quarter-mile time of 11.6 seconds at 124.2 mph.
[ Source ]

Blizzard’s annual convention BlizzCon is extremely popular with gamers and getting a ticket is not only expensive, but likely very dificult unless you act quickly. So if you can’t make it to the Anaheim Convention Center, California between October 10-11, or you can’t afford the US$100 entrance fee, there is some good news.

For the first time Blizzard has done a deal that will see BlizzCon televised. The service is being offered through DIRECTV on a pay per view basis, and even though pricing has yet to be announced, they are promising 8 hours per day of HD BlizzCon footage. That means you will get to see pretty much everything regarding World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 announcements and footage. There will also be discussion panels, tournaments and playable versions of future releases to watch.

Steven Roberts, senior vice president at DIRECTV said:

BlizzCon is one of the most highly anticipated gaming conventions of the year, and we are excited to partner with Blizzard Entertainment to deliver coverage of the show to gamers nationwide … With our BlizzCon pay per view package, members of Blizzard’s gaming communities who are not attending the event can now experience it in crystal-clear HD.

Those of you who would prefer to attend can buy tickets from August 11. For the rest of us we will have to wait and see how much the coverage will cost from DIRECTV, but if you take up one of their packages with free months attached you may end up paying nothing extra.

Read more at Blizzard.com, found via Edge-Online.com

FireWire, i.Link, IEEE-1394 — whatever you like to call it, the high-speed data transfer interface is getting a boost.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced Tuesday that it has approved two new FireWire specifications — S1600 and S3200 — capable of data-transfer rates of 1.6 Gbps and 3.2Gbps, respectively. To put it more simply, 3.2Gbps translates to an actual transfer rate of about 400 megabytes per second when moving data onto a FireWire S3200 hard drive. By way of comparison, you can move data onto current FireWire 800 hard drives at about 90MB per second.

What’s also cool is that both S1600 and S3200 interfaces will be compatible with current FireWire 800 cables, so you won’t need to add to your cable clutter.

We’ll have to wait and see which manufacturers choose to adopt the new-and-improved FireWire standard when it becomes available October. The upgrade is in direct competition with USB 3.0, which will have a 4.8Gbps transfer rate and be available by end of 2008.

IEEE approves 3.2 Gb/s IEEE 1394 high-speed serial bus specification [TG Daily]

(Photo credit: Shanghai Daddy/Flickr )

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 7:28AM
If you’ve been looking for more information about — and pictures of — Lenovo’s diminutive X200, you’ve come to the right place. Crave got their hands on the laptop, compared it with its bigger brothers, and even supplied some measuring tape for the size-conscious like some poor, chopping-block-destined farm animal. For review, the 3.5-pound machine sports the Centrino 2 platform, measures just 0.8-inches thick, runs around $1,200, and early reviews are positive.

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Filed under: Laptops

The Adaptive solar Tree by Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove is smart enough to move its solar panels (more like solar-powered tree branches) according to the sun’s movements, and will be able to escape shadows in order to optimize the energy income. Sounds smart, but unfortunately this feature won’t be applied to all the branches. In addition, these branches have the grey matter to come close together during strong winds in order to prevent any breakage. Hopefully they come with some sort of oxygen generating machine in order to emulate a real tree. This won’t do too much for the local ecosystem though as birds won’t be able to feed off this tree and woodpeckers might end up with a broken beak.

InfoSync reviews the Motorola Z9 and writes, “Images taken with the Moto Z9 weren’t horrible, and that’s being generous to a camera phone. Colors were okay, but edges and details were fuzzy at best, and oversharpened at worst. Images were noisy, even at the camera’s best settings. We did like that the camera isn’t hidden by the slide, but with middling performance, and the fact that the camera crashed on us sending an MMS message, means we won’t be relying on the lens for anything more than celebrity sightings.”

Read more about the Motorola Z9.

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 3:28AM
It’s been a while since we’ve reported about the doings of our robotic friend on Mars, but a press conference tomorrow (Thursday) could uncover Phoenix’s first positive report of water on the red planet. NASA’s conference will be held at 2 p.m. Eastern Thursday and we’re hearing that Pheonix Mission is ready to report that water ice is not only confirmed, but the research robot has dug some ice out of a trench, heated it, and confirmed that it is, in fact water. If this all holds true, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be able to determine whether or not the atmosphere could sustain life and lead to manned missions to Mars. We call shotgun.

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Filed under: Robots