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Movie Gadget Friday: The Road Warrior
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we went thirteen years into the future of failed technology with
Johnny Mnemonic. Gearing down from cyberpunk grunge to the post-apocalyptic Australian outback, this week we dust off the many dune gadgets and gas-guzzlers in The Road Warrior to take a closer look at the details. Known as the sequel to Mad Max, this leather-lust film takes the fight for survival by way of modded-out motors seriously (down to the skull hood ornaments). While electronics are scarce in this 1981 film, the ever-present tinkering and modification of hardware throughout more than keeps our attention.
The Interceptor From dune buggies to Desotos, custom-built cars are scrapped together from scavenged materials and outfitted with nitrous oxide tanks and whatever weapons and are within reach. The Interceptor features two large tanks strapped to the trunk and an impressive roll cage built for brutal road battles. Modded from an original
1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe and fitted with an impressive supercharger, Max's machine is capable of extreme speeds at the flip of a switch. Known as the last of the V8s, the vehicle contains a booby-trapped destruction device under the trunk in case of emergency. Other vehicles worth honorable hardware mentions are Pappagallo's custom-built scrap car with two Ford 351 engines, and the red Ford F100 featuring a boat windshield and some serious cobra door decals. More after the break.
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Digital Foci ships Image Moments 8 digiframe: for mom (or mom's mom)
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays
Call it
a hunch, but we wouldn't be surprised one iota if you received some form of digital photo frame for Mother's Day. If you're a mother, that is. Digital Foci is sure doing its best to sway your kid's purchasing decision by shipping its Image Moments 8 just in time. If you'll
recall, this one packs a respectable 450MB of internal memory, an 8-inch LED-backlit SVGA (800 x 600) display with a 500:1 contrast ratio, a multicard reader that handles CF, SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick, MS Pro, MS Duo, MS Pro Duo and xD formats and an obligatory USB port, too. There's even a set of integrated speakers and an audio output for placing a nice slow jam behind those honeymoon snaps. Take a look in the read link for the full rundown, and get set to part ways with $199 before May 11th (you know she's worth it).
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T-Mobile 3G goes live, with data (kind of)
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
T-Mobile's 3G network started going live today, and it looks like that
early word from a company memo may not hold true for all users. Some markets may in fact have a silent soft-launch of faster data rates, we've heard from several tipsters who've said that they're already getting faster data service, and now the company itself getting the word out that it's launching data as well. But company peeps were indeed instructed to make sure customers don't count on that faster data being present; bottom line is you may have it, you may not (but if you take T-Mobile at its word, you should). NYC is the first market to
light up, but others should come online soon -- anyone trying it out? How's it going? Hit us up in comments and let us know!
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How would you change HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC?
Filed under: Laptops
Sure, ASUS'
Eee PC may have done quite a bit to spark the
subnote revolution, but HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC has received an incredible amount of fanfare on its own. As soon as HP's order page
went live, however, we began to hear grumblings like "Where's my option for XP?," and "I'm stuck with a VIA?" Nevertheless,
reviewers found an awful lot to love about HP's first foray into the land of bargain-priced wee lappies, but we know the critical sect is out there keeping 'em honest. Now that the machines have been shipping for over a fortnight, we're interested to hear from you early adopters. Is it everything you hoped it would be? How on earth could the next model be improved upon? The floor is yours.
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Segway i2 now available in Metallic Sage, still not inviting
Filed under: Transportation
We appreciate the effort, we really do, but we can't see a new hue as being
the adjustment that coaxes the world to stop
laughing at the
Segway i2. Nevertheless, those who have convinced themselves that they just have to have a two-wheeled transporter can now snatch one up in Metallic Sage. Of course, it's not like anyone outside of the i2 owners circle will even notice the difference, but hey, we've heard that some seriously great relationships have come from within that exclusive sect. Sike.
[Via
Gearlog]
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NOVA 3D LED light display runs at 25fps
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
You know we love the crazy
light fixtures, and it doesn't get much crazier than the NOVA, a 3D LED display developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for its 150th birthday. Each of the 25,000 suspended lights contains 12 LEDs, and it's capable of pumping out 16M colors at 25fps. It's on display in Zurich until September 2009 (and we hear it might make an appearance at Wired's NEXTFEST), but if you're thinking about nabbing it for yourself, you'd better bring a crew -- it weighs in at over three tons. Hit the read link for way more info.
[Via
Digg and
Today and Tomorrow]
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Quickies — MIT's Intelligent Sticky Notes
Iddo Genuth writes to mention that MIT researchers have made their first pass at bringing the common yellow post-it note into the digital age. Using a combination of artificial intelligence, RFID, and ink recognition the team hopes to make the digital version as ubiquitous as possible. "The Quickie application not only allows users to browse their notes, but also lets users search for specific information or keywords. Using a freely available commonsense knowledge engine and computational AI techniques, the software processes the written text and determines the relevant context of the notes, categorizing them appropriately. "The system uses its understanding of the user's intentions, content, and the context of the notes to provide the user with reminders, alerts, messages, and just-in-time information" - said the inventors. Additionally, each Quickie carries a unique RFID tag, so that it can be easily located around the house or office. Therefore, users can be sure never to lose a bookmarked book or any other object marked with a Quickie."
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2008 International Broadband Rankings
itif writes to let us know about a major new report, released yesterday by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, showing how the US and other countries compare in terms of broadband access, speed, and price. The rankings (PDF) place the US 15th, this country having fallen every year since 2001. Here's the full report (PDF). According to the report's executive summary: "The US broadband policy environment is characterized on the one hand by market fundamentalists who see little or no role for government, and see government as the problem; and on the other by digital populists who favor a vastly expanded role for government (including government ownership of networks and strict and comprehensive regulation, including mandatory unbundling of incumbent networks and strict net neutrality regulations) and who see big corporations providing broadband as a problem. Given the policy advocacy and advice they are getting, it is no wonder that Congress and the Administration have done so little."
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Open-Source, Multitouch Display
shankar writes "Engineers at Eyebeam, an art and technology center based in New York, have created a scaled-down open-source version of Surface, called Cubit. By sharing the Cubit's hardware schematics and software source code, the engineers are significantly reducing the cost of owning a multitouch table. 'Multitouch displays are not new technology; in fact, they've been built in research labs for decades. Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs created an iconic multitouch table called DiamondTouch; more recently, Jeff Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel, based in New York, developed wall-sized multitouch screens that he sells to corporations and major government agencies. But because of the falling costs of many touch-screen components, such as infrared light sources and small cameras and projectors, it's now becoming feasible for people without access to a lab or venture-capital money to make their own multitouch displays.'"
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Hobbyist Renewable Energy?
vossman77 writes "I was looking into renewable energy from a hobbyist perspective, maybe generating a few watts of solar or wind power, just to reduce my electric bill. But upon further review, I found out that I need a special grid tie AC inverter that shuts off when the grid turns off (for worker safety reasons) and makes the current in-phase with the grid. These two additional features over the cheap inverters sold at department store, makes the cost upwards of $2000, but support more watts than I need. While this is fine for large scale projects, it is out of range for a small scale hobbyist. A Google search came with some home brew hacks at best. So, are there any Slashdotters out there doing small scale renewable energy projects with grid tie systems? What are other options for the hobbyist to play around with renewable energy, other than charging a cell phone?"
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