Holophone offers Professional 5.1 Surround Sound at the camera for US$600
By Gizmag Team
January 17, 2010
The vast majority of multi-channel sound (stereo,
5.1, 6.1, etc) is produced post-production, making it difficult to
squeeze professional-grade discrete 5.1 audio quality into modest
production budgets … until now. The Holophone PortaMic 5.1 and PortaMic
Pro surround microphones both sit atop your video camera and offer a
cost-effective means of recording surround sound directly to a camera or
indeed, any stereo recording device. At US$600 and US$1000
respectively, the microphones permanently offer professional discrete
surround recording from a single point source for a once-only price off,
with no additional mixing required. Bargain! Read More
If you’ve seen a digitally-projected movie in the
theater, then chances are you’ve seen the work of Texas Instruments’ DLP projection system.
With a resolution of 1920 x 1080p, DLP’s exceptionally sharp, clear
picture has made it a favorite of the film industry. Soon, that same
high-end technology will be available on consumer cameras. Read More
A helping hand for the backyard chef - the Barbecue Hand Crank
By Mick Webb
January 17, 2010
Avid fans of the barbecue grill will know there
is little more annoying than having to constantly attend to making sure
the charcoal keeps on burning, often resulting in ever bigger huffs and
puffs and the odd singed eyebrow. Well huff and puff no more with what
is a very simple yet effective looking solution to backyard
breathlessness, the Barbecue Hand Crank. As the name suggests, the hand
held and operated portable blower lets the user produce a stream of
constant air with a simple turn of the handle. Read More
If you frequently travel to a lot of different
places, then you are doubtless familiar with one of the biggest
challenges facing today’s jet-setter - finding a decent cup of coffee.
Well, help is on the way. In fact, scratch that, it’s here. Danish fancy-gadget-seller Stelton is now offering the world’s smallest battery-powered espresso machine. Read More
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s,
the insidious fatal disease which slowly kills all your brain cells.
Already the seventh leading cause of death in the US, it is soon to
reach epidemic levels as the boomers becomes senior citizens. There are
more than 30 million people with dementia worldwide, but by 2050, this
figure will increase to over 100 million. Two sets of findings released
in the last few days bring hope that the accelerating research effort
will find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset, or prevent
it from developing. Most significantly, a simple and inexpensive eye
test could aid detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s at an earlier
stage than is currently possible and a “cocktail” of commonly available
supplements has shown promise in improving memory and fighting
Alzheimer’s. Read More
The world's population is aging rapidly, with
implications in numerous areas, not the least of which is that the
number of male drivers over the age of 70 will double in the next 20
years, and the number of female drivers over 70 will treble. Does this
pose a greater risk on the roads? A new in-depth report released today
by the UK's IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists contradicts the common
assumption that older drivers are a danger on the roads, comprehensively
proving that drivers over 70 are no more likely to cause crashes than
any other driver, and are indeed, considerably safer than younger
drivers. Read More
Now here's one out of left field. Despite the
massive development costs of hundreds of new models by dozens of
motorcycle manufacturers, and numerous landmark motorcycle launches of
2009, Suzuki's middleweight Gladius 650 has gained the most prestigious
award of the Japanese market, taking the honours in the motorcycle
category of the famous 'Good Design Awards'. Launched in the spring of
2009, the Gladius features a trellis-styled steel frame and a unique
style but unlike most motorcycle award winners (generally assessed by
sports oriented motorcycle journalists with added testosterone), it's
not a bike designed for the racetrack – it is an entry-level machine
aimed at people who want an all-round machine for economical and
enjoyable road usage. Read More
Should ‘tweet’, ‘Twitter’ or ‘unfriend’ be the 2009 word of the year?
By Jude Garvey
January 18, 2010
The English language is continually evolving and
thanks to the technology of the 21st century – including the media and
internet - new words and phrases are being created at an unprecedented
rate. Increasingly, these new words result from our love affair with the
internet, online social networking sites and geek-speak. This year, the
American Dialect Society (ADS) has voted “tweet” – a short message sent
via Twitter – as the 2009 word of the year. But two other organizations
disagreed. The Global Language Monitor nominated “Twitter” as the word
of the year and the New Oxford American Dictionary claimed “unfriend” –
meaning to “de-friend” someone on a social networking site such as
Facebook – deserved the 2009 word of the year award. Read More
ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) showed off some
new gaming notebooks at CES, with specs available including Intel i7
processor, Direct X 11 and 3D graphics, high definition audio and HDD
support for up to 1Tb of storage. Gizmag took the opportunity to have a
closer look. Read More
China's XP-themed Linux now available in English
By Rick Martin
January 18, 2010
Linux lovers and Windows haters everywhere are
gonna love this! Chinese company Ylmf (an abbreviation for Yulinmufeng,
or Rainforest Wind) has released a Linux distribution that's skinned to
look exactly like Windows XP. The company has even gone so far as to
purchase the XP.com domain, for a reported US$100,000, which currently
redirects to their website. Read More
With the continued proliferation of auto satnav,
handheld Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and mobile phone
navigational functionality, consumers are being offered ever more choice
in the way they experience navigation and location-based information.
Hence it was interesting to see the penetration of navigation
technologies into the population when digital map provider Navteq
released excerpts from its global research recently. In 2009, roughly
half of all people in mature markets such as US, UK, France and Germany
had used navigation devices - roughly double the number from 2006. The
research also concluded that mobile consumers are very interested in
pedestrian navigation too. The time is unquestionably near when we’ll
all be reliant on our handheld devices for finding our way around. Read More
Hammacher Schlemmer introduces picture scanning digital photo frame
By Karen Sprey
January 17, 2010
While at least 48% of the US still camera market
is now estimated to be digital, most people will have boxes and albums
full of 'old style' printed photos for many years to come. One way of
preserving and storing these pre-digital memories is to scan them and
convert them into digital images. Hammacher Schlemmer, the company that
has been offering unique gifts since 1848, has introduced a digital photo frame with built-in scanner that lets you preserve and view photos 'as easily as feeding bills into a vending machine'. Read More
From the first time we saw Nokia's N900 handheld
computer we thought that it would be the ultimate communications device.
With a large screen, fast processor, open OS and Firefox based browser,
it seemed destined to become one of Nokia's major success stories. This
was early September 2009, Nokia was showing off the device at their
NokiaWorld conference, along with a new version of their N97 Symbian smartphone,
and it looked like the N900 was the flagship product the the N97 SHOULD
have been when it came out a few months earlier. We jumped on the
bandwagon and were early supporters of the device. Read More
Prosumer-level video equipment is getting cheap
enough that serious image quality is well and truly within the reach of
the hobbyist. And thus, you've got a whole new market of amateur
videographers trying to work out how to get pro effects like sliding
dolly shots into their work. Devices like the UKP175 GlideTrack SD
strike an excellent balance between smoothness, quietness, portability
and low cost - and the results look amazing, as you'll see in the demo
video after the jump. Read More
Automotive X PRIZE events to begin in Michigan from April 2010
By Ben Coxworth
January 17, 2010
Things are beginning to heat up in the race for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE,
as the kick-off date for the actual on-the-road events approaches. The
fun will begin April 26th in Michigan, continue through August, and
culminate in a September awards presentation in Washington, DC. A number
of the contenders were on hand at the Detroit Auto Show this week,
where the official announcement was made. Read More
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