It looks cute, its name is cute and it runs on electricity. What more could you want from a car? A place to dock your ipod perhaps? Done! According to Chrysler (via Engadget), production will begin on the GEM (Green Eco Mobility) Peapod sometime next year. I love the look and idea of this car but I have a couple of problems with it: one, no-one’s spilling the price, which can’t bode well for the budget-conscious among us (and that’s all of us these days) and two: the glass-all-over doors look a little… exposing. Not to mention hard to clean. (Read the full post about ‘Could Chrysler’s GEM Peapod be the car of the future?’…)
Maybe this will help shorten those long lines at the checkout counter. UCLA engineers say they have designed a bar code reader using a new imaging technique that is nearly a thousand times faster than the devices currently in use. The new technique can produce one-dimensional bar codes with a frame rate on the order of 25 million frames per second, say the researchers. Bar codes are big in retail for management of inventory but also used in other areas such as mail distribution. They are traditionally read by optically scanning the code’s alternating light and dark bars and then using a computer program to convert the resulting image into digital form. (Read the full post about ‘New Improved Bar Code Readers, Now 1000 Times Faster’…)
What is the one thing that you should always carry with you in case of an emergency? A bottle of your own blood, of course! Of course not. What we’re suggesting here is something lighter - the idea of carrying a bag of blood-like liquid with your blood type printed boldly on it. And you wear the Blood Drip Cellphone Strap on your cell phone or other small gadget. If you live in Japan, where some believe that your blood type is indicative of your personality, this cell phone strap can signal a subtle hint regarding your character to someone you’re trying to impress. According to this belief about a blood group-personality connection, my worst traits are that I am critical and indecisive. (Read the full post about ‘Blood bag cell phone strap is just what the doc ordered’…)
Photo: flattop341 / Flickr Our ‘life without a cellphone experiment’ kicked up a lot of interest from readers (not least the estimable beer sipping, budgie loving John Brownlee of BoingBoing gadgets, who openly sneers at my almost-retro Sony Ericsson P900). While my own experiment failed miserably (Brownlee: “Charlie Sorrel abandoned his quest to go a week without a cellphone within mere hours”) it’s worth looking at a few of the schemes you proposed, beginning with this quite excellent hack from regular Gadget Lab correspondent Andrea Biasi: I’ve read some time ago about an Android application which used geographical data of the GPS to use different settings for different location. (Read the full post about ‘Life Without a Cellphone: Readers’ Opinions’…)
by Donald Melanson, posted Sep 29th 2008 at 1:31PM It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from the normally very talkative Carl Freer, but the chief Gizmondo booster has now finally returned with a few new tidbits of information about the gaming handheld, which we know you’ve all been patiently waiting for. Most interestingly, but not surprisingly, Freer made no mention of that supposed end of 2008 release date, with him instead saying that the company plans to release the handheld’s full spec list by the end of October, and that they plan to have “volume availability” of the handled by the second quarter of 2009 — in Europe, at least. (Read the full post about ‘Carl Freer dishes out new Gizmondo tidbits’…)
There’s a new notebook coming out from MSI - the MSI PR211 Notebook. The PR211 is equipped with a 12.1″ display with a resolution of 1280×800, graphics card ATI Radeon HD 3200, processor AMD Turion X2 Dual Core ZM-80 2.1 GHz and 2 GB of RAM, with the possibility of expanding up to 4 GB if necessary. Data storage is done through a 250 GB SATA hard drive. In addition, there are also built optical drive DL DVD-RW, adapter Wireless LAN 802.11 a / b / g / n, slot ExpressCard, 1.3-megapixel webcam, port HDMI, three USB 2.0 connectors and 3-in-1 card-reader . PR211 maintain the confidentiality of your information through biometric fingerprint and crawler MSI FileSave. (Read the full post about ‘MSI PR211 Notebook’…)
LG has officially announced the “World’s Slimmest 8 Megapixel Camera Phone”. We’re not surprised — LG’s schtick is to concentrate on the camera and tuck in the other phone functions around it, just like the Viewty we played with at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The KC780 is just over half an inch thick (13.8mm), and can also shoot 30fps video. A camera phone is undoubtedly handy, and we expect the new LG offering to be perfectly capable within the limitations of a tiny lens and sensor. With images of this size, though, you’ll be buying a few extra microSD cards (the phone has just 140MB of on-board memory). Other specifications are unclear, as LG has so far only released pictures of the slider phone. (Read the full post about ‘LG Announces Ultra-Thin 8MP Camera Phone’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Sep 29th 2008 at 10:51AM Netgear, we’re here to tell you it’s been far, far too long since you threw any new 802.11n gear our way, so we’re pretty stoked to see a few new pieces roll out today. The outfit is formally introducing the WNR2000 Wireless-N router and DGN2000 Wireless-N router with built-in DSL modem this morning, both of which boast the company’s own Push ‘N’ Connect with Wi-Fi Protected Setup to eliminate the need to remember those pesky network security passwords. Both units are available in kit form as well, which sees a USB wireless adapter bundled in just in case your rig is operating sans an 802.11n WiFi module. (Read the full post about ‘Netgear launches WNR2000 / DGN2000 Wireless-N routers’…)
Ponoko, the online 3D printing service, has added a new way to make your sketches real. Photomake lets you upload a photograph of your doodles, whereupon it will be vectorized, sent to the Ponoko factory and be cut from the material of your choice by lasers. A while later it will turn up at your door, a solid, real world interpretation of your original drawing:
Ponoko already provides a set of tools to “print” your more exacting designs in materials from acrylic to plywood, as well as an online marketplace to buy and sell designs.
iRiver’s Mickey Mouse-like mp3 player known as the Mplayer has received an upgrade in the form of the Mplayer Eyes. The name itself is pretty self-explanatory - they come with lighted up “eyes” that look oh-too-cute for words. You can only choose from one model, and that holds 2GB worth of songs along with 10 LEDs to light up your day. Expect the Mplayer Eyes to hit Korea soon for $50. Tags: dap, home theater, camera, Ogg Vorbis (Read the full post about ‘iRiver Mplayer Sees Now With Eyes’…)
