Computer Information - myOddPc
France's Eurovia aims to make roads change color to warn of ice
Filed under: Transportation
While there's already
GPS systems out there that'll give drivers some indication of road conditions, French company Eurovia is aiming to provide some warnings that are decidedly more real-time, with it now testing a process that'll actually change the color of roads as the temperature dips into freezing territory. That's, of course, not an entirely new process (we've already seen
spoons that change color based on temperature), but Eurovia is apparently fine tuning things to hold up to the wear and tear it'll see on roads, and working to ensure that it turns color early enough so the salt trucks can be deployed before the roads get too dicey. While there's no word as to when we might see a wide-scale deployment, the company did test it with five patches over a 50 kilometer stretch of road in France this winter, and it sees no shortage of benefits to the technology in the future, adding that it could also be used to warn pedestrians to watch their steps on sidewalks.
[Via
Autoblog]
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Cool G108 watch phone is Maxwell Smart-approved
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables
For the half dozen or so folks actively seeking a run-of-the-mill watch phone to completely destroy any chance of landing new pals (let alone a SO) while out on the town, you've got a
surprising amount of
choices. Still, you'd be hard-pressed to find one as gaudy, yet curiously sleek as the Cool G108. Boasting what appears to be an electroluminescent keypad (is that a rotary dial design we see?) and a convenient flip-up screen, this watch / cellphone mishmash also features quad-band GSM / GPRS support, a 1.5-inch (160 x 128) internal display, 1.3-megapixel camera, multimedia player, Bluetooth, 0.5MB (generous, we know) of built-in memory and a MMS expansion slot in case you need more than a single
Duran Duran track on your wrist. You'll also find USB connectivity and a smallish external display, and while pricing remains a mystery, there's loads more pics waiting in the read link below.
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iPhone 3G's baseband chip revealed?
Filed under: Cellphones
The folks at
ZiPhone spotted some code in the brand new 2.0 beta iPhone firmware that could point to the chip to be used in the upcoming 3G iPhone. The code makes mention of "SGOLD3," which could very well refer to Infineon's followup chip to the S-GOLD2 which powers the current iPhone. Infineon's less fancy name for the S-GOLD3H chip is the PMB8878, a 7.2Mbps HSDPA chip with all the video acceleration and media playback features iPhone users have come to expect. Advantages over its predecessor include higher resolution camera support (5 megapixels instead of 2), a 2x speed MMC / SD interface and DVB-H module support, but that doesn't necessarily mean any of those specs will end up in the ensuing iPhone 3G -- S-GOLD2 has plenty of features the current iPhone doesn't take advantage of. The processor speed, however, remains the same.
[Via
ZiPhone; thanks Adam B.]
[Warning: PDF link]
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Segway has an epiphany, introduces RMP hyperdirectional transporter
Filed under: Transportation
Make no mistake -- we've been blasting the
ridiculousness of
the two-wheeled scooter for
eons now, but in one fell swoop, Segway just worked itself back into hearts. Introduced at this year's RoboBusiness, the RMP "hyperdirectional" transporter looks to hold at least one Earthling (up to 400-pounds) and can seemingly scoot about in any direction. Unfortunately, that's about it for details -- no release date or any juicy stuff like that -- but if the term "fifty thousand dollars" scares you whatsoever, the video posted after the break is probably as close as you'll ever get, anyway.
Continue reading Segway has an epiphany, introduces RMP hyperdirectional transporter
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Microsoft's Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000: now in more delicious hues
Filed under: Peripherals
Aside from shamelessly tooting its own horn, Microsoft is proudly announcing that the "number one best-selling notebook mouse in the US" now comes in five more adorable hues. The special edition
Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 will be available in Pomegranate (red), Dragon fruit (dark pink), Aloe (green), Milk chocolate (brown) and Creme brulee (khaki), all of which sound entirely more delicious than attractive. Nevertheless, the world famous travel critter will otherwise remain unchanged and should hit Best Buy stores in May (everywhere else in June,
Engadget store notwithstanding) for $29.95.
[Via
Electronista]
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Super-Talent Pico USB drives: lose 'em even faster
Filed under: Storage
Score, another "world's smallest" USB drive. Never
seen one of those before. Super-Talent's latest Pico drives
are mighty small though, and if one of you is somehow running the Tiny USB Hall of Records, it measures just 1.5 by .5 inches and holds 8GB in swivel, retractable, and waterproof versions. $35, should be out now.
[Via
Pocket-lint]
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Miniscule device gets injected into tumors, tracks radiation dosage
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Gurus at Purdue University have conjured up a prototype device which, when injected into a tumor, can actually track the "precise dose of radiation received and locate the exact position [of the tumor] during treatment." Currently, the needle-sized device is held within a hermetically sealed glass capillary, contains a miniature radiation dosimeter, operates without batteries and instead relies on "electrical coils placed next to the patient" for activation. As small as the RFID-enabled unit is, engineers are still hoping to create a version that is around the size of a grain of rice, and hopes are to have it in clinical trials in 2010.
[Via
Physorg]
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HP 2133 Mini-Note PC on sale now
Filed under: Laptops
Just in case you've been burying your face in those
glowing reviews of HP's latest UMPC, here's a quick heads-up to inform you that the 2133 Mini-Note PC is actually available to order. As of this very moment, prospective buyers can select a unit of their own at HP's website, and with five models ranging from $499 to $849, we're sure there's a Mini-Note for you in there somewhere.
[Thanks, Tharp]
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Google Mail Servers Enable Backscatter Spam
Mike Morris writes "Google email servers are responsible for a large volume of backscatter spam. No recipient validation is being performed for the domains googlegroups.com and blogger.com — possibly for other Google domains as well, but these two have been confirmed. (You can test this by sending an email to a bogus address in either of the domains; you'll quickly get a Google-generated bounce message.) Consequently spammers are able to launch dictionary attacks against these domains using forged envelope sender addresses. The owners of these forged addresses are then inundated with the bounce messages generated by the Google mail servers. The proper behavior would be for the mail servers to reject email traffic to non-existent users during the initial SMTP transaction. Attempts at contacting them via abuse@google.com and postmaster@google.com have gone unanswered for quite some time. Only automated responses are received which say Google isn't doing anything wrong."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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AT&T, 2Wire Ignoring Active Security Exploit
An anonymous reader writes "2Wire manufactures DSL modems and routers for AT&T and other major carriers. Their devices suffer from a DNS redirection vulnerability that can be used as part of a variety of attacks, including phishing, identity theft, and denial of service. This exploit was publicly reported more than eight months ago and applies to nearly all 2Wire firmware revisions. The exploit itself is trivial to implement, requiring the attacker only to embed a specially crafted URL into a Web site or email. User interaction is not required, as the URL may be embedded as an image that loads automatically with the requested content. The 2Wire exploit bypasses any password set on the modem/router and is being actively exploited in the wild. AT&T has been deploying 2Wire DSL modems and router/gateways for years, so there exists a large vulnerable installed base. So far, AT&T/2Wire haven't done anything about this exploit."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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