I'm not a jewelery guy. Bling is not my thing, as
evidenced by the fact that for the last two weeks my wedding band has
been sitting behind the counter of a Nando's restaurant where I lost it,
waiting to be picked up. But I'll admit this ring speaks to the
spanner-wielding grease monkey within. It might just be the manliest
piece of jewelery I've ever come across. Check out the video after the
jump. Read More
There's no mistaking it: 2011 is the year of the
tablet PC. There's something like a hundred of these things coming out
in the next 12 months, following the trailblazing success of Apple's iPad. A significant number of them will be running Google's Android operating system and at CES
it became abundantly clear why Google has been telling developers not
to make Android 2.x tablets: because Android 3.0 has been in the works,
specifically designed for tablets as opposed to smartphones. And while
it's certain to suffer from a lot of the same device fragmentation
issues that have plagued Android smartphones, there's no denying that
3.0 looks fantastic in these preview videos. Read More
As powerful and multi-functional as smartphones have become, Motorola
is looking to go one step further with its ATRIX 4G. Powered by a Tegra
dual-core processor with each core running at 1 GHz to deliver up to 2
GHz of processing power and 1 GB of RAM, the device is designed to act
as the brains of a computer that can be taken with you. In addition to
being what Motorola calls the “world’s most powerful smartphone,” the
ATRIX 4G is also designed to slot into external docks that turn the
device into the engine for a desktop or laptop PC. Read More
Amongst the products being shown off at CES by China's e-Reader
king and developer of handwriting recognition technology, Hanvon
Technology, was the 7-inch HPad A116 tablet. The dual camera,
multi-touch device runs on a customized version of Android and is
powered by an ARM Cortex processor. There's Wireless-N connectivity
(with optional 3G) to connect to Hanvon's own application portal or
online bookstore and support for a range of common audio, video and text
formats. Read More
Parrot unveils connected car receiver running on Android
By Rick Martin
January 7, 2011
The wireless gurus over at Parrot
have just announced the company's latest car receiver, the Asteroid,
and from what we can see so far it looks pretty sweet. In addition to
the usual the bells and whistles you'd expect from a modern day system –
like geo-location, hands-free music listening, and hands-free telephony
– the Asteroid has thrown an unexpected element into the mix. It's
running on Android. Read More
Put simply, the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic is a thing
you can make to make your own things – automatically. It is a desktop
3D printer that comes in kit form and, once assembled, can then be
plugged into a PC via USB to print 3D objects from your own 3D digital
designs. While you won’t be able to print your own car or your own replacement organs, you will be able to churn out everything from a customized plastic chess set to an action figure of yourself. Read More
Outdoor electronics specialist Etón Corporation
has expanded its line of American Red Cross branded products with the
new TurboDyne Series. We checked out the three new self-powered
emergency preparedness devices – the Road Torq, Axis and Rover – at CES 2011. Read More
The soon-to-be-released SH100 Wi-Fi-enabled
compact from Samsung comes with a better lens than its predecessor, and
can wirelessly pair with a smartphone to allow frame previewing and shot
composition, as well as remote shutter release, away from the camera
itself. It'll also be capable of streaming content using DNLA technology
to a high definition television and automatically backing up photos and
videos to a computer, whether it's switched on or not. Read More
Micron announces 512GB SSDs in 1.8 and 2.5-inch form factors
By Paul Ridden
January 7, 2011
While hard disk storage solutions currently have
the affordability and the capacity edge over solid state drives (SSD),
as far as performance is concerned there's no contest. Micron Technology
has announced a new RealSSD portfolio with drives that are more than 10
times faster than standard HDDs, benefit from lightweight construction,
consume less power, and are more durable. The new 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch
form factor C400 drives are being made available both as part of
ready-built systems and direct to the consumer. Read More
Amptweaker reigns in heavy overdrive with TightMetal
By Paul Ridden
January 7, 2011
Veteran amp technician James Brown has announced
the forthcoming release of a new metal-head-pleasing crunch pedal in his
Tight line of Amptweaker effects units. The new TightMetal pedal has
all of the features of the original TightDrive, but with a few notable additions geared towards dark and dirty metal speedsters. Read More
Ion Audio is probably best known for creating
those nifty turntables that help those of us who own vinyl records to
conveniently convert them into a digital file format. Now, the company
has used its digital conversion know-how to create a device that can
scan a 200-page paper book and convert it into e-Reader format in 15
minutes. The Book Saver Book Scanner will allow you to quickly digitize
your huge library of printed books or magazines for archiving on
computer or to take on the road without weighing down your backpack or
suitcase. Read More
Vocalists and acoustic performers need no longer
hide their painful envy of guitarists able to plug an electric
instrument into an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
IK Multimedia has announced the forthcoming availability of a handheld
condenser microphone specifically designed for use with those very Apple
devices. The iRig Mic caters for real-time monitoring of recordings and
comes shipped with a new vocal processing and recording app, the
company's excellent AmpliTube app and a quick audio recording app. Read More
When Porsche promises a world premiere you expect
something very special and as the curtain went up on the North American
International Auto Show (NAIAS) this morning, it delivered. The company
has taken the drivetrain of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid and spliced it together with the silky lines of the 918 Spyder Concept
to create the Porsche 918 RSR – a mid-engine coupé that puts out a
remarkable 767 hp at peak using the combined forces of its direct
injection V8 engine and electric motors on each of the front wheels.
Read More
Lady Gaga-designed Polaroid camera sunglasses
By Darren Quick
January 10, 2011
Many companies have a hard time distinguishing themselves from the crowd at CES, so Polaroid
played the celebrity card using Lady Gaga to unveil a series of
products she actually helped design. Making up Polaroid’s new Grey Label
line is a digital camera that prints out photos and a mobile printer –
both using ZINK’s
Zero Ink thermal printing technology – but the most obviously
Gaga-esque product is a pair of sunglasses that feature a built-in
camera for taking pics and vids and LCD screens built into the lenses
for displaying them. Read More
The CB6000 chastity belt for naughty men (NSFW)
By Loz Blain
January 10, 2011
Our publisher Mike ran into this device at the
Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. It took him a good five minutes
to work out what it was for. "This is fascinating," he thought to
himself, "and it really needs to be written up for Gizmag. But certainly
not by me." So I'm not sure whether to take it as a compliment or a
measure of my character that he immediately sent the story my way ...
anyway, in the interests of transparency, I wish to point out before we
get started that the only chastity devices I have ever used have been my
looks and my personality – and even those powerful tools haven't been
very effective. Read More
Each year natural disasters and civil unrest
leave hundreds of thousands of people homeless throughout the world.
Many of these crises occur in developing nations where traditional
building materials are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive,
and where the focus is often on staying alive, not maintenance of a
home. The ECO:Shield
system from Innovative Composites International Inc. (ICI) may present
a welcome solution. The earthquake and hurricane resistant houses use
recyclable materials and according to ICI, are cheaper than both
conventional and other modular constructions. They are energy efficient
and durable – resisting moisture, insects, rot and mould. And they can
be constructed quickly using unskilled labor: an 8' x 16' (2.4 x 4.9
meters) ECO:Shield house can be assembled in less than 45 minutes with
standard tools. Read More
iCADE turns an iPad into a mini arcade cabinet
By Darren Quick
January 9, 2011
Yearning to relive the golden days of arcade
gaming but can’t afford a full sized arcade console? Then the iCADE
arcade-style controller for iPad
could be the next best thing. Originally appearing as an April Fools
joke on ThinkGeek last year, the fictional device garnered so much
interest ThinkGeek has partnered with ION to turn the concept into a
reality. The resulting unit packs a full-sized joystick and eight arcade
buttons in a mini arcade cabinet form factor. Read More
With a speed of 88.738 km/h (55.077 mph), the
University of New South Wales’ Sunswift IVy has claimed the Guinness
World Record for the fastest solar-powered vehicle. The record-beating
run took place on January 7 at HMAS Albatross navy base airstrip in
Nowra, Australia, and outdid the previous record-holder by more than 10
km/h (6.2 mph). Read More
A last minute addition to our list of automotive-goodness to watch out for when the Detroit Motor Show
kicks-off tomorrow – this time from Hyundai. The Korean automaker will
rip the covers off its HCD-12 Curb Concept as well as presenting the
world debut of its 2012 Veloster sports coupe, a vehicle that's
immediately notable for it's three forward-hinged doors (two on the
passenger side, one on the driver’s side). Read More
Contour announces GPS- and Bluetooth-enabled actioncam
By Ben Coxworth
January 12, 2011
The Contour HD
is definitely one of the main players in the actioncam industry,
although one of its limitations has always been its lack of a
viewfinder. While it does have two lasers mounted on either
side of the lens, that give a rough idea of what it’s pointing at, it’s
never been possible to tell exactly what the recorded shot will look
like. This can be kind of a big deal, particularly if users want to make
sure that their surfboard, handlebars, paintball gun or whatnot gets
far enough into the shot. At last week’s CES, however, the company
unveiled a rather unique solution to the problem – instead of opting for
an add-on viewfinder, like GoPro is developing, it has released a new camera that sends its picture to the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. Like the Oregon Scientific ATC9K, the Contour GPS also embeds GPS data on its footage. Read More
Retro greasers - it's time to break out your
Presley pout and your hot-rodded laptop soundcard for some songs from
yesteryear. Blue Microphones wasn't the only manufacturer to reveal a stylish new USB microphone at this year's CES,
the Meteor Mic from Samson Technologies also made a special appearance.
Featuring the company's largest condenser mic capsule offering
CD-quality recording resolution, the utterly gorgeous microphone also
sports snazzy fold-up legs that can be adjusted to suit most recording
situations. Read More
Poo isn't something generally talked about in
polite company but like it or not, all of that human waste has to go
somewhere. In smaller rural communities, it usually goes to wastewater
lagoon systems; the alternative is mechanical treatment plants which
process waste far more quickly but are expensive, labor intensive and
often use chemicals. Enter the "Poo-Gloo," or Bio-Dome as it is
officially known – an igloo-shaped device that can reportedly clean up
sewage as effectively, but far more cheaply, than its mechanical
counterparts. The Poo-Gloo, developed by Wastewater Compliance Systems,
Inc., uses a combination of air, dark environment and large surface area
to encourage the growth of a bacterial biofilm which consumes the
wastewater pollutants. It is claimed that Poo-Gloos can treat pollutants
just as quickly as mechanical plants while operating at a fraction of
the cost – hundreds of dollars a month rather than thousands – and can
be retrofitted to existing lagoon systems. Read More
Recent technological advances are opening up more
of the night sky to astronomers, allowing them to follow events using
multiple telescopes as the Earth rotates. Researchers hope that a higher
frequency of rare extreme astrophysical events such as colliding
neutron stars will be detected using the next-generation radio
telescopes sited in Europe, South Africa and Western Australia. With the
so-called 4 Pi Sky project, events can be tracked across the sky using
this series of terrestrial telescopes. These events can then be further
analyzed using orbiting X-ray telescopes and ground based optical
telescopes. One of the grandest aims of the project is to provide
answers to some of the largest remaining question in physics, such as
the nature of gravity. Read More
At the 2011 Detroit Auto Show Mercedes-Benz has announced that its SLS AMG E-Cell, which was first unveiled as a prototype last year, will go into production. Part of Mercedes-AMG’s
“AMG Performance 2015” strategy that aims to continually reduce fuel
consumption and emissions, the battery-electric drive gullwing super
sports car, which generates 392 kW (525 hp) and 880 Nm (649 lb-ft) of
torque via four compact electric motors positioned near the wheels, will
be available to order from 2013. Read More
'Superstreet' concept shows promise in real-world test
By Grant Banks
January 12, 2011
No left turn. That is the simple concept behind
the Superstreet traffic design which promises significantly faster
travel times, plus a drastic reduction in auto-collisions and injuries.
These superstreets are ground level streets – not raised freeways or
highways – that allow for greater volume of thru-traffic by re-routing
traffic from side streets that would normally be trying to get across
the main road. While the idea has been around in urban transport
modeling textbooks for over 20 years, researchers from the North
Carolina State University have been the first to test the concept in the
real world and the results are promising. Read More
For those users who simply couldn't make up their minds whether to buy an e-reader or a tablet computer, the enTourage eDGe
dualbook offered a bit of both to ease the stress. Now the enTourage
has a baby brother called the Pocket eDGe. Like its larger sibling, it
has an e-Reader screen and a Tablet screen in the one device, is Wi-Fi
enabled and includes a video camera, stereo speakers and microphone.
Read More
Make waves with the Kymera jet-powered body board
By Grant Banks
January 11, 2011
Longing for a cheap and easily transportable
personal watercraft Jason Woods took matters into his own hands. He set
about designing a jet-powered body board, light enough to carry under
your arm, small enough to fit in the trunk of a compact sedan, and
efficient enough to enjoy all day without breaking the bank. Although
the first three prototypes ended up at the bottom of a lake the young
garage designer persisted. Three years on his dream has become a reality
– introducing the Kymera jetboard. Read More
Researchers at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute
have developed "liquid pistons" that could be suited to a variety of
applications. Using electromagnets the liquid pistons, which are highly
tunable, scalable and have no solid moving parts, can function as pumps
for lab-on-a-chip systems or could be used for adaptive lenses in future
mobile phone cameras and implantable lenses. Read More
It seems hard to believe that glass could be
stronger than steel, but a team of researchers has developed a
super-strong metallic glass that has incredible plasticity when placed
under stress, making it as strong and tough as metal. Typically, the
structure of glass is strong but brittle which can cause cracks to
develop and spread. The new metallic glass features palladium which has a
high “bulk-to-shear” stiffness ratio. This allows the metallic glass to
bend rather than crack – giving it a fracture toughness that goes
beyond the limits of some of the strongest and toughest materials known.
Read More
Recon reveals next gen sporting goggles technology
By Paul Ridden
January 13, 2011
If you thought that the Transcend Ski Goggles
featuring head mounted display technology were special, then you're
going to love what Recon Instruments currently has under development.
The company sees its next generation iteration being capable of
wirelessly connecting with smartphones and video cameras, of displaying
detailed trail maps and of being able to locate and track friends and
family on the slopes. Read More
Given that German scientists have already developed packaging film that kills food-inhabiting bacteria,
it only makes sense that Scottish scientists should be developing the
next step in the process – food packaging that changes color when the
food is going bad. The “intelligent plastic” film, which is being
created at Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde, is intended to take the
guesswork out of whether or not the food packaged within it is still
safe to eat. Read More
When you look back 20 years to the era of
brick-like mobile phones, film-based cameras and – scary as it is – no
Facebook, it's easy to see how far technology has come. But how far will
it go? In the final installment of our "on the go"
series we've cast our minds two decades into the future to take a look
at some of the most promising mobile technologies that are likely to
reach maturity by the year 2031, delivering connectivity, convenience
and portability on a science fiction scale. Read More
Samsung to release PC7 series computer with sliding keyboard
By Paul Ridden
January 13, 2011
Thanks to smartphones, most of us these days are
familiar with the idea of a sliding mechanism underneath a display
screen revealing a physical keyboard. So why has it taken so long for
someone to take this idea and use it for a tablet computer? Thankfully,
both ASUS
and Samsung have now introduced this feature to their new tablets,
albeit in slightly different forms. The Samsung PC7 series tablet runs
on an Atom processor, benefits from solid state storage and has Windows 7
as its operating system. Its high definition, touchscreen display
should also be capable of comfortably handling indoor and outdoor use
thanks to its 340-nit brightness. Read More
It's been just over three years ago since Bowers
& Wilkins exploded onto the iPod dock scene with the gorgeous Zeppelin,
and now the company is set to stir things up again with the Zeppelin
Air. Designed by the same team responsible for the earlier model, the
new hopeful retains the eye-pleasing lines of its popular predecessor
but its internals have undergone a major overhaul. The new device now
benefits from updated and improved speaker drivers, audiophile pleasing
digital-to-analog signal conversion and wireless streaming capability
courtesy of Apple Air. Read More
2011 Chrysler 300 Sedan makes its world premiere
By Grant Banks
January 13, 2011
The new Chrysler 300 made its world debut at the Detroit Auto Show
this week. The American auto giant's new flagship sedan features a more
aerodynamic profile, distinctive LED-illuminated running lamps, a
dual-pane panoramic sunroof, luxurious interior and massive 8.4-inch
Touch infotainment center. Read More
With the increase in popularity of home theater PCs and internet capabilities being built into HDTVs,
browsing the Web sitting on the couch is becoming a popular pastime.
But with the web being a “lean forward” technology that requires more
complicated input controls than the “lean back” consumption of
traditional television, the ol’ remote control just doesn’t cut it
anymore. While there’s been some outside-the-box designs, such as the GlideTV Navigator,
the all conquering keyboard is already launching an offensive on the
lounge room. The latest unit to join the fight is the GKM571R-581R 2.4
GHz wireless on-lap keyboard from IOGEAR. Read More
Wagan Tech previews five-panel solar-powered generator
By Darren Quick
January 12, 2011
There’s a number of small portable solar chargers
available which are designed to keep mobile gear such as MP3 players
and mobile phones powered up when there’s no electrical outlet around.
But with people cramming more and more devices on their person or in
their cars when heading off the grid, we're seeing a growing number of
larger and more powerful units
designed for more power hungry devices. The latest is thid portable
solar-powered generator from Wagan Tech which provides 1,500 watts of
power for seven to eight hours. Read More
Stretchability is not something you'd think of as
synonymous with electronics. For this very reason the realm of wearable
electronic devices has been limited to devices on clothes with rigid or at best semi-flexible circuit boards or solar panels and watches
that can do just about everything except make a decent espresso. The
game is about to change with the introduction of a silicon nanowire with
elastic properties that could enable the incorporation of stretchable
electronic devices into clothing, implantable health-monitoring devices,
and a host of other applications. Read More
We have previously reported on the development of prototype adaptive focus glasses
at the University of Arizona (UA) that were able to switch focus
electronically. Unlike manually adjustable focus glasses, such as TruFocals,
that place a flexible liquid lens between two rigid lenses, the lenses
of the prototype glasses consisted of a layer of liquid crystals
sandwiched between two pieces of glass. By applying an electric charge,
the orientation of the liquid crystals – and therefore the optical path
length through the lens – was able to be changed, resulting in glasses
that changed focus electronically. This technology is now on its way to
consumers with PixelOptics showing its emPower! glasses at CES 2011. Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment