Gadget Access

This is a bit of a twist (well spin) on a traditional bathroom, a bath one minute but a with a 180 degree turn it transforms into a shower.

Designed by Ron Arad, the “Rotator” is made out of duralight® and is more of a work of art than just a simple bath. However looking at it does not fill me confidence about the comfort of bathing in it. To empty the bath simply rotate it until the water overflows, just make sure you have a drainage in your bathroom floor.

More info over on De Zeen found via ID Asia.

The T-Mobile MDA Touch Plus offers a 2 megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* sliding numeric keypad
* 3.5G connectivity
* Windows Mobile 6 Professional
* TouchFLO interface
* 2.6 inch QVGA flat touchscreen
* Bluetooth
* USB support

Via SoftPedia.

In the ‘really?’ department, the University of Chicago’s Law School has decided to block Internet access in classrooms, in what appears to be the first such school-mandated restriction.

While I understand restricting high-school students and to a much smaller degree college students, but law school students? Really? Aren’t they adults who should decide for themselves whether or not they pay attention in class? How about if they decided to just miss class altogether? Wouldn’t that amount to the same thing?

As long as they’re not making a lot of noise, I don’t see the problem, apart from annoying some uptight profs. I wish I had an Internet-connected laptop when I went to classes. I can see it being a valuable tool to help with learning the subject matter at hand. The fact of the matter is that you can only lead a horse to water; the rest is up to them. Just my $0.02.

via Slashdot

Posted in Networking & Internet

Pocket-lint does a first look review of the Sony Ericsson W980 and writes, “The W980 is one of the best Walkman phones yet with some really good features that will make it stand out from the crowd when it comes to offering music on the go…this still looks like an impressive handset and certainly one for music fans to watch.”

Read more about the Sony Ericsson W980.

Pocket-lint does a first look review of the Nokia N96 and writes, “Just like its predecessor the N96 sports HSDPA connectivity, a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, the Symbian S60 operating system and that dual slider screen that hides the keypad and dedicated music controls…Around the back you’ll find the 5 megapxiel camera that now features a “kickstand” around the lens that allows you to perch it on a desk for hands-free viewing.”

Read more about the Nokia N96.

Pocket-lint reviews the Motorola U9 and writes, “The phone also comes with a now almost defacto for the industry 2 megapixel camera with video mode but with virtually zero memory on-board as mentioned above you’ll have to invest in a memory card from day one.”

Read more about the Motorola U9.

With Hulu fresh out of the private beta status, there are now talks that they are looking to expand to other platforms, such as mobile phones. Overall it seems like a logical place to go and although Hulu CEO has made some comments they have been pretty generic up to this point. During the recent NAB video production expo, Jason Kilar was quoted as saying that “anything connected to the Internet” would be a possible match in the future, he also briefly mentioned the possibility of cellphones but failed to commit to any specific platform or device.

One issue that would be a hold up, or at least make for a slow roll out would be due to the wide variety of cellphones on the market. You would think that something along the lines of the iphone would make for a nice viewing experience, but the lack of Flash support could cause issues with Hulu’s current ad system.

As a user of Hulu, I can say that the desktop experience has been good so far, as for going mobile with the service, some mixed feelings come to mind. While it would be a nice option to have while on the go, it would be a concern that these shows are being streamed and not downloaded, thus potentially making a slow or choppy viewing experience. Either way it will be interesting to see where Hulu takes their service in the future.

Via [electronista]

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The Government Accountability Office recently sent out a report that there are stolen US military items currently being sold on Craigslist and eBay. However, there is no clue as to where these items came from or who is selling them. This comes after government investigators posed as buyers who successfully purchased prohibited items such as night vision goggles, army combat uniforms, special enhanced body armor vests and two F-14 fighter jet components. Investigators fear that these items, if sold to non-military personnel or civilians, could be used directly against the US troops and their allies.

Important discussions have arisen since such items were posted for sale. At present, eBay and Craigslist do not follow any official state rules as to selling prohibited items but are still trying to keep such off the site. Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craiglist even told the House National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee that the rules on what cannot and can be sold on the website are somewhat confusing.

Since there is no current law written to ban the sale of prohibited items such as these stolen military items, Massachusetts Representative John Tierney suggested that a law be passed to ban the sale of military items, especially those that are less than five decades old. Rep. Chris Shays of R-Connecticut, on the other hand, asked a Defense Department about how and why prohibited items have found their way into the websites. Shays further implied that maybe, there is a serious theft problem in the US, which needs to be solved right away.

Thinking about it, maybe there really is a serious theft problem in the country that needs to be given attention. Sales of stolen goods and prohibited items must be stopped, by hook or by crook.

Read [CNN]

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The Samsung SGH-J700 offers a 1.3 megapixel as well as the following features:

* Tri-band (900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
* GSM Phase 2+
* GPRS / EDGE Class 10
* Li-ion, 800 mAh battery
* 10 MB memory
* MicroSD
* Direct photo saving to microSD card
* Bluetooth v2.0
* USB v2.0
* 2.0″ 65K TFT, 128 x 160 pixels display
* Video Playback (H.263, MPEG4) and Recording
* MP3, AAC, AAC+, MIDI
* OMA DRM
* FM Radio
* Mobile Printing

WAP 2.0 / Openwave 6.2.3
Java MIDP 2.0
SMS/EMS/MMS/Video Messaging
Mobile Tracker, SOS
Java Games

Well okay. I admit. It won’t exactly make you strong enough to break anything other than crackers into two, and it definitely won’t make you a superhero.

BUT, this robot suit called “HAL” by Cyberdyne in Japan, can help the differently-abled or the elderly to stand on their own two feet. Yes, this suit is designed for medical purposes, so that people who can’t use their legs, could still stand. It’ll look a bit funny wearing that, but I bet a lot of people would prefer HAL over any wheelchair. The Cyberdyne plant in Japan will start operating in October this year, and it’s already currently looking at mass producing HAL 500 suits annually.

via