New Home Gadgets

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 11:03AM
Apple’s always been known for its amusingly-conservative disclaimers (you can’t use iTunes to “design a nuclear weapon,” for example) and it looks like the products-liability team at the Fruit has had their way with the iphone SDK agreement as well, inserting a provision specifically prohibiting developers from creating apps “marketed for real time route guidance; automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other mechanical devices; dispatch or fleet management; or emergency or life-saving purposes.” Yep, that’s right — no real-time route guidance (or, uh, fleet management) allowed. (Read the full post about ‘iPhone SDK agreement forbids real-time route guidance, dancing, rock’n’roll’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 8:45AM
If you’re tired of worrying about carpal tunnel syndrome setting in and ruining your ability to surf the intarwebz, Martin Tall is cooking up an alternative to the tried-and-true mouse / keyboard control combo. The NeoVisus Gaze prototype, quite simply, enables computer users to control the action on screen with just their eyes. Granted, this setup works entirely better when viewing photos than, say, typing up a thesis — but there’s always voice recognition software for that, right? (Read the full post about ‘Video: NeoVisus Gaze prototype enables handsfree computer control’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 10:55AM
So, what do you do after announcing your intentions to spend nearly $30 billion on America’s fifth largest carrier? Why, you announce a trio of new phones for the summertime, that’s what. Verizon Wireless is trumpeting the launch of the Dare (pictured), Decoy and Chocolate 3, all of which are being provided by LG. As for the Dare, you’ll find 3G, V CAST, VZ Navigator and a 3.2-megapixel camera, while the Decoy becomes the world’s first handset with a Bluetooth headset integrated into its body. Finally, the Chocolate 3 goes all flip-phone on us and includes an FM transmitter, twin speakers, 1GB of internal storage, 2-megapixel camera and V CAST support. (Read the full post about ‘Verizon snags LG Dare, Decoy and Chocolate 3′…)

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While we were all set and waiting for the final release of Firefox to drop at anytime now, CNET is reporting that some of us may indeed be given an RC 3 sometime today. The latest release, which will come officially as RC 3 will only be for Mac users as the Windows and Linux versions are already considered stable. The changes are also reported to be “internal” so assuming you are a Mac user and do choose to update, its more than likely you will not see any difference. Still no word of any delay with the final release, so as of now Firefox 3 is still on track for a “mid-June” release. Read [CNET] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed &rarr (Read the full post about ‘Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3 coming today?’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 9:07AM DisplayLink monitors are fine and dandy, but what if you’re looking to get that PowerPoint presentation even bigger? Enter InFocus’ IN3100 / IN1100 series of multimedia projectors, both of which claim to be the first of their kind with DisplayLink embedded. With a simple USB-to-PC connection, the beamers blast whatever totally boring and equally insignificant chart you’re being forced to speak on upside the wall. As for specs, we’re left in the dark with regard to resolution (hint: don’t set your expectations too high), but the IN3100 series boasts 3,000 to 3,500 lumens and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio while the IN1100 series offers up 2,000 lumens and an 1,800:1 contrast ratio. (Read the full post about ‘InFocus IN3100 / IN1100 series projectors nab DisplayLink’…)

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In one of my former lives, I worked as a PC Technician at a Boy Scout office (and down the street at the Girl Scout office). It was a surprisingly difficult job because there is no centralized software that the organization uses. Each region office, section office, council office, and troop has to develop its own software to keep track of everything. I remember Microsoft Access databases that would make you cry.

They’ve finally wised up and realized that they can take advantage of an enormous resource. Their alumni.

(Read the full post about ‘The Boy Scouts need a few good open-source coders’…)

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QA: What’s Intel’s take on GPU computing?: “we’re not taking issues on GPUs…” “GPUs are the correct architectural response to a traditional view on visual computing. We have to move beyond raster graphics…” “multi-core CPUs can outperform GPUs at ray-tracing”.

There you go, here’s a new round of controversy in the making. It looks like Intel is going to present a Larabee paper at SIGGRAPH to try to push their view. Justin Rattner (Intel Senior Fellow) thinks that there a need to move “beyond” rasterization, and therefore beyond GPUs as we know them today. I’ll add some pointer on this topic later today

10:34: That’s all folks, now we’re going on the show floor to take a peek.

(Read the full post about ‘Intel Research Day – Keynote (Live)’…)

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You know what would be really cool? An extension application that not only told you your word and character count, but also calculated the distance your writing would span if you were to line up all of your text in a straight line. Sure, it wouldn’t have much use unless you were planning on making one gigantic banner, but it would be pretty nifty.

While an application like that might be even too geeky for the masses, for those still writing with the old pencil and paper, this 3 Mile Pencil lets you know how far your text would span if you were to arrange it all in one gigantic line.

(Read the full post about ‘3 Mile Pencil: How Far Can You Write?’…)

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If you’ve got a budding astronomer in your home, why not make him/her happy with the STAR MASTER Mini Star Projector? This nifty little toy might even evoke the sense of wonder in adults as they remain cooped in a dark room, doing some personal reflection on just how small they are compared to the relative size of the universe. Powered by a trio of AA batteries, it will throw a bunch of colorful stars in the immediate vicinity. Don’t worry if the light bulb decides to give up the ghost - each purchase comes with a spare.

(Read the full post about ‘STAR MASTER Mini Star Projector’…)

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Hopefully you have followed our live blogging of HP’s Phil McKinney’ keynote yesterday. We have uploaded photos that show the various concepts demonstrated by HP during the event, you can tell that they have sparked a lot of interest. My personal favorite is the volume printer. As its name indicates, it can print objects layer by layer. This is great to prototype stuff. Imagine all the things that we could make ourselves if it was cheap enough. That would create a new generation of designers. Click here (or on the photo on the right) to look at the high-resolution photos. (Read the full post about ‘HP Berlin 2008 Concepts – Live Photos’…)

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