Gadget Access

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 1:28PMThe current generation of robots, whether they’re the gun-carrying or child-coddling variety, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to suit their intended purpose. But if research going on at Tufts University comes to fruition, future robots might feature designs that are rather more flexible. Scientists at the school are working on so-called “chemical robots” with no solid parts. Chembots could squeeze under doors, slither through cracks in walls, and even squirm into your orifices, performing internal diagnoses before slowly dissolving away, leaving nothing more than a feeling of creepy violation behind. What about assuming the shape and voice of John Connor’s adopted mother? We’re hoping that’s still a few years off.

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Never mind kids, I know a few adults who would love to decorate their walls to look like the inside of a Super Mario Bros. game with these Nintendo Wall Decals. Made with blik Re-Stik, the decals are movable and reusable (in case you have a change of heart and decide to relocate the decals to your kid’s room), and are based on the same 8-bit graphics of the original game. For $75, you get 36 decals. They also sell New Super Mario Bros. decals and Donkey Kong decals - directly on the Blik website.

Via Tokyo Mango.

Mitsubishi has a new range of flat panel TVs known as the Mitsubishi Ultra Thin Frame Premium Flat Panel TV with Integrated Sound Projector. Well, it certainly sounds like a mouthful, but good thing it provides an earful as well, featuring integrated sound capabilities that will transform the home entertainment experience with innovative sound technology by offering consumers a built-in home theater TV solution without the need and hassle to install extra speakers or additional wires. Best of all is, this system can be controlled via a solitary remote control, and you won’t suffer from the lack of viewable real estate either with 46″ and 52″ panels to choose from.

The integrated sound projector (iSP) reproduces true 5.1 surround sound from a single speaker cabinet attached below the TV screen. The speaker enclosure houses a 16-speaker array that creates a 5.1 channel sound field. Through the use of an advanced algorithm, the iSP delays the sound varying intervals to each of the 16 speakers. As a result, the speaker generates 5.1 distinct sound beams that are focused both directly and indirectly to the listener.

I’ve always been rather skeptical on how manufacturers claim that simulated environments are just as good as the real thing - I am a strong advocate that substitutes just aren’t up to par with the original. I suppose this Mitsubishi TV does a pretty decent job with its integrated sound projector, but will it work better in a small room or a large hall? I think the answer lies in the former, since sound has less distance to travel before it bounces off the walls to create that surround sound effect, whereas a large hall would sound pretty weak. It is like one of those virtual 5.1 earphones that are better off doing stereo sound IMHO. You can pick up the 46″ LT-46149 and 52″ LT-52149 this July for $3,299 and $3,699, respectively.

Press Release

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Google finds yet another internet niche, an animated series created by Seth MacFarlane (creator of “The Family Guy”) called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” which will be streamed on the web only. And they have high rolling backers who agree that the idea is worth millions.

What really makes their plan innovative? Their marketing scheme. Instead of just randomly dumping static ads here or there, Google plans to use their AdSense program to make sure they are hitting their primary demographic for the program - namely, young men. So, when Johnny goes searching for more, more, more MacFarlane… Johnny will now get to see a video clip of “Calvacade”. There will of course still be advertising built into the clips. It may be as simple as ”brought to you by”, or the usual little blip commercial before the actual clip starts for example.  Mr. MacFarlane, who receives a percentage of the ad revenue, has done his part by already building up a group of new characters to star in the web-series, which are slated to run in 50-minute clips. He described the installments as “animated versions of the one-frame cartoons you might see in The New Yorker, only edgier.”

Until now, Google has only dabbled in distributing original content. However, this partnership with Mr. MacFarlane represents a daring step into the distribution business.  A step that, if successful, will surely cause the entertainment business to take major note. Not merely the brainchild of a very high-profile Hollywood talent, “Cavalcade” also comes with a multimillion-dollar production price tag attached, easily the biggest ticket on original Internet content to date.

Via [NYTimes]

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Targus has just rolled out its new portable foldign speaker known as the AEM0702AP in Korea. I suppose you could always slip a love note inside it when folded to your mate, surprising her as she opens it at work to listen to the new CD you bought for her. Of course, if she happens to work in a place where power outlets are hard to come by, it would be prudent to include a quartet of AAA batteries into the mix so that these speakers can be powered. Alternatively, just hook it to your computer’s USB port and you’re good to go. No idea on pricing though.

Source: AVing

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For those of us plagued by thoughts of waste when contemplating ditching our old iPhones to upgrade to the 3G iPhone, there’s a bit of good news, as it turns out that the packaging for the new iphone to be released on July 11th is made of recyclable potato starch. Dutch company PaperFoam, maker of carbon-friendly packaging, is providing millions of paperfoam packages to Apple.

Via The Register, by way of textually.org.

If you love your pets and having normal pictures of them around isn’t enough, now you can have illuminated ones. That’s right, just place the photo in the picture frame that happens to double as a night light and Fluffy glows all night long. I have a cat, I really do love her and she’s pretty, but she’s completely retarded. In a picture frame, she’s not nearly as entertaining. When my power goes out and I have lost touch with the internet, she is what keeps me from going into complete and total melt down.

Mostly, because she will not only attack anything that moves, but also stationary objects as well. Whip out the laser pointer and she’s happy to do back flips just to catch the glowing dot. So you would see why I might scoff at having pictures of her, much less a glowing image of her. She’d probably smack it out of the light socket if it looked at her wrong. Then again, I have to admit I find a glowing image of any pet to make even the most sane person appear to be the crazy cat lady. The site doesn’t list any price, however, one nice perk is that when you order you can send in a jpeg and they will put the image in the frame for you.

Source: chipchick

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So the photo of the new Nikon DSLR model that has been circulating on the web the past couple of days is actually true. Nikon has made the D700 official and its product page its up at the Nikon USA site. From the looks of it, the Nikon D700 seems to be a powerful new Digital SLR camera and it has a price to match, retailing for $2,999, it is definitely geared for the prosumer market.

So, what do you get from the price? A 12.1-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor with Nikon’s EXPEED image processing technology, ISO sensitivity of up to 6400, continuous shooting at 5 fps, a 3-inch VGA color monitor with 170-degree wide-angle viewing, two live shooting modes, rugged magnesium alloy body, Dynamic Integrated Dust Reduction System, Nikon’s Scene Recognition System, and much more. But more importantly, this is the first DSLR that has a built-in flash.

This Nikon D700 will be available sometime in July.

Product [Nikon] Via [Engadget]

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Coming just a few months after the last software update for the Mylo COM-2, Sony has just released yet another update. This brings the version up to 1.201 and should be well worth the time it takes to update. The new version of software offers a few big items which include support for video recording and the ability to support Memory Stick Duo memory cards up to 16GB in size. In addition the update also includes some other notable items which include:

• Adds a new menu option for easier photo and video uploading
• Provides an “Optimize” option in Task Manager for system memory
• Adds a function to format Memory Stick Duo media
• Adds the ability to display thumbnail images in the Game menu
• Improves Flash playback of YouTube videos

Coming in at just about 60MB, the update is slightly large, but like I mentioned it seems to be a worthwhile update. Hit the update link below to find the download.

Update [Sony]

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As you can see from the message to all Netflix users above, the movie rental giant is keeping the profile feature on their world famous service.  When Netflix announced they were removing this feature, nerds around the world rioted.  When I say rioted, I mean purchased a domain name and began an internet petition. A topic which should sound familiar right about now, if you are following the Rogers/iphone scandal. The protest also expanded to emails and phone calls, which shows the gravity of the situation for users.  However, not only have the nerds won, but Netflix’s cred will only skyrocket from here on out.

Read [Download Squad]

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