Gadgety News

Well, the first lot of Asus Eee Top’s have hit the UK and even though I’m digging it at the mo I’m gonna hang on a while longer.

I’ve chatted about the 15.6-inch Eee Top before and, as far as I can tell, the touchscreen PC looks a decent bit of kit. 

You get a budget PC-based alternative to the iMac with a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, 1.3MP webcam, stereo speakers, plenty of connectivity plus Windows XP for your OS.

Don’t forget you still get a keyboard and mouse so can navigate your way round even when your hands are covered in jam.

But if you think that the 15.6 inch screen is letting down the whole package there is good news on on its way.

According to Asus CEO Jerry Shen, the  Eee Top is being outsourced to Quanta Computer, which will be producing new 20-inch and 22-inch models for 2009.

And this aint no limited edition. Five million of the things will be produced in the next couple of years - so says Mr Shen.

If you’re cool with the 15.6 model Eee Top you can grab one from this month for around £399.

I’ve only just got back into regular reading again this year.  Shameful I know. Even more shameful is that since moving to London in February 2004 I’ve yet to join a local library!

Well, a new multimedia venture has just been launched that will bring together the content from more than 1000 cultural organisations across Europe in a free online resource.

The British Library is amongst the institutions that have signed up to the new European online library called Europeana.

The European Commission and the Louvre Museum are also to add content.

This is sounding fantastic!

The ambition is for internet users to be able to access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archive documents, paintings and films.

More lazy students……..I didn’t think that was possible!

The project was created by the European Commission and is run by the European Digital Library Foundation, and will launch in 2010.

BBC News

Yesterday it was announced that Telia customers might be getting an MMS app for their iPhones.

The application was being developed by the carrier themselves and that they were planning its release in a couple of months.

Which sounded promising for the rest of us…………

I’ve just got word that Mobispine is probably the developer in question, and that they have plans to offer it to carriers all across this glorious globe of ours.

Mobispine says that the app will be branded to each particular operator, and distributed via Apple’s App Store - but the little blighters aren’t telling when.

The other thing of news is: 

If you notice on the pic above someone actually missed the news and needed telling (on November 15th!) that “Obama will be our next president.”  They obviously had a go at that space tourism thing!

Hmmmmmm……………

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “what the heck is that!?!”

Well, it’s the iCEphone of course.

The In Case of Emergency Phone is aiming to be the “Swiss Army knife of mobiles”  and dubbed as a micro-notebook by its manufacturer.

Well, it’s no surprise that things have gone this far as everyone is cramming more and more into their mobile blowers.

I saw the Asus R50a a few days ago and thought that was nifty - so what’s this got then?

For starters the iCEphone has software that can not only walk you through common medical emergencies like administering CPR, but it can one-touch dial your doctor, the nearest hospital and 911 at the same time.

The makers, Medical Phone, decided that the only way to get everything into a handset just larger than an N95 was to use a Jacobs Ladder-style hinge.

This funky hinge connects the 3 panels that feature a full QWERTY keyboard, a 3-inch 400 x 240 resolution touchscreen and a mouse / track pad.

Other goodies are dual SIM card slots, HSDPA support, quad-band GSM connectivity, GPS, a 3.1megapixel camera, WiFi and a 532MHz Freescale iMX31 CPU.

It’s almost out in Thailand and then should be hitting the UK sometime in Spring when it will cost around £700

If you want to see more………… feast your eyes on the vid below

Icephone site via UnwiredView

I’ve seen a few ‘designs’ that bring a little extra juice to the JesusPhone but most have been….how can I say………a little ample on the girth?

This one, however, I feel needs a mention.

The Power Slider by Incase promises to double your phone’s power for up to 5 hours talk time on the 3G network (10 hours on 2G), increase your audio playback time to 26 hours, and increase your video playback time to 7 hours.

You can even leave the iPhone in its warm snuggly case while you sync it.  Bonus!

It’s probably the closest so far to get me thinking about buying an extra boost for my 3G lovely. Even though it does chubby up the Apple beauty a little.

As yet there is no cost info and even though it should be available starting November 28.

I’ll be waiting for my sample (please) - Any one else tempted?

Incase

Looking for a virtually indestructible acoustic guitar?

Blackbird’s Rider Nylon guitar is really made of carbon fiber; it’s the strings that are nylon - don’t ask me why it’s not named the Rider CF!

Blackbird says that the Rider is “nearly indestructible” so that should make it pretty much the perfect travel guitar.

The unusual material has meant altering the style from a more traditional shape.

As you can see: it’s far squarer, and the sound hole has moved up to the neck, and been renamed a “soundscoop” instead.  This, apparently, makes for a better sound response.

The other side-effect is that it’s light enough at 3-pounds to fit into an aircraft overhead locker.

There is also a steel-stringed version but these carbon fiber axes aint what you’d class as budget strummers:

Nylon string model is $1,900 and the smaller steel-stringed version is $1,600.

They’ll be grinnin’ while you’ll be pickin’ boy!

Blackbird via GadgetLab

An AMD-commissioned YouGov research into British notebook usage has shown that most Brits would rather be hooked up to the interweb than own their own ride!

The study reveals that 90% of 18-24 year olds own a notebook with 73% saying that they “couldn’t live without” it.

I fear for Halfords - I really do!!

Britons apparently consider access to the internet (67%) as more important than access to a car (54%) or a washing machine (58%).

AMD suggests that the ”constantly-connected” Brits are shunning face-to-face get-togethers in favour of social networking sites and catching up with TV online.

The report states that almost half (41%) of men enjoy watching BBC iPlayer on their notebooks.

Men are the ones most likely to download music (71% men v 62% women) and the ladies are more interested in chatting with their friends and family on Instant Messenger (75% v 72% of men).

Now - I must get back to Twitter, check my email, see who’s online on MSN, AOL, ICQ….

1972 - I was one year old, still in Calgary and did not yet have a brother.

At the same time Pong, the world’s first successful video game, hit the market.  Nobody could even begin to guess how big video gaming would become.

But it has become huge; both financially and culturally. 

So much so that people are taking steps to ensure the preservation of the medium’s history.

On September 19th, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) announced the creation of the UK’s first official National Videogame Archive (NVA), a joint venture between Nottingham Trent University and the National Media Museum in Bradford, which will catalogue gaming’s history “from the humble beginnings of 1972’s ‘Pong,’ to the blockbusters of the 21st Century.”

The aim of the NVA is to “preserve, analyse and display the products of the global videogame industry by placing games in their historical, social, political and cultural contexts.”

So we’re not just talking about a collection of consoles and cartridges here!

October also saw the announcement of the Archive’s related initiative, Save the Videogame, where game developers have already begun making their cases for games they believe are worth preserving.

Check out: National Video Game Archive and Save The Video Game.

Thanks to Kareny Karen for the email!! 

This actual case of Vampire killing tools has just been sold at an auction for $14,850.

Guaranteed 100% authentic, this anti-vampire kit from the 19th century is an absolute bargain.

It has pretty much everything that aspiring Van Helsing’s will ever need to trackdown and finally put to rest any pointy-toothed blood sucking type - no matter how well they dress.

So, what does the rather nice-looking hand-carved walnut suitcase contain? Let me tell you:

• A Gothic style cross.
• Bible.
• Hand gun and silver bullets (just in case you happen across a Lycanthrope I guess).
• Holy oils.
• Holy water.
• Mirrors.
• Candles.
• Garlic.
• Top-of-the range wood and metal stake with added cross for vampiric extra-pain.
• Extra wood stakes, just in case.

The 19th century vampire killing kit was sold in an auction as part of the Jimmy Pippen estate, which shows that the aforementioned Jimmy Pippen was a either an ‘eccentric collector’ or knew something that most people don’t.

Well, I’m going outside now so better wrap up, get my shades on and smear myself in factor 500……….

Antiqueandthearts via Gizmodo

I’ve been pointed in the direction of this rather natty media device called the TouchDiva.

Nope, I’d not heard of it before either - which is worrying as it is supposed to be released in the UK and Europe in a matter of weeks!

The specs match the looks with the guts of a B&O in the two 125W ICEpower (Bang & Olufsen-manufactured) amps and that 15.4-inch touchscreen.

You pay a subscription of  around a tenner a month and for that you can download as much music as you wish.

The Danish manufacturers claim to have “agreements with the four major music companies in the world (Warner, EMI, Sony-BMG and Universal),” giving them access to over 2 million songs.

The Diva itself has just two buttons - on/off and a reset.

If you like the idea of having a touchscreen digital jukebox you’ll be looking to have to pay around £750 from December 1st apparently.

TouchDiva

When Asus mentioned that they were gonna produce an Ultra Mobile PC that was going to be priced somewhere around the €500 mark I thought to myself, “well it had better be good”

Well, they’ve  done it and the Asus R50A is actually shipping at €1,475!

It’s up to whether you think that a pocket PC that runs Windows Vista with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, a gig of RAM, a 32GB SSD hard drive, a 5.6” screen at 1024 x 600, three USB ports, a microSD slot, a wireless keyboard, and an external DVD reader / writer is worth the cash.

You get hooked up to all the good stuff via 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G.

All in all it reads like a netbook but in a hand held stylee.

If you wanna earn those Geek-Points and have the cash - well, why not eh?
Pocketables

I dread to think of the queues that this is going to cause if high-street stores bring this in but if it actually makes my transactions more secure and the threat of fraud lower then chalk me down for one.

This new card from MBNA has a built-in numeric keypad, and when you put in your PIN, it’ll display a security code like the one sites always ask you for now - perhaps you already have one of those small calculator code jobbies for online banking as well?

Hopefully this extra stage will make spending a lot of money with a stolen card significantly harder if not impossible online.

Now, if my next laptop comes with a biometrically secured keypad to go along with my keypad locked hard-drive………………..

iPhone owners - it’s time to get your chops, riffs, and deep-knee-bends ready as Guitar Rock Tour has finally made it onto the JesusPhone!

Gameloft have made it pretty much a mobile alternative to Guitar Hero - the app let’s you choose your weapon - Drums, Guitar or Bass.

It’s pretty easy to get into and the game definitely makes the most of the iPhone’s touchscreen - you’ll soon be finger tapping, sliding and scrolling away.

Become a virtual career-muso: Start off in a garage and, if you’ve got what it takes, end up by gigging in the biggest stadiums around the world!

Ah - the dream!

Living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle means that the game throws in infrequent alcohol, cigarette and drug use references as well as the occasional sexual reference and a bit of nudity - but obviously nothing that will scare the parents!

There are 17 tracks to play along to including the great ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’, get your Ed Van Halen on with ‘Beat It’, wear a grungey cardigan for ‘Heart Shaped Box’ and of course jam out the hallowed ‘Smoke on the Water’.

It’s available at the iTunes app store - Part with £4.99 and Rock on! \,,/ \,,/

There’s a new Watchmen trailer (check it out at the bottom of this very post!) but there’s something missing.

Ol’ blurry blue nads now has some rather fetching briefs in order to cover his modesty.

That’s right, Dr. Manhattan’s manhood has been edited out by the censors - surly a move that will annoy the very strong following the graphic masterpiece has (the novel not Manhattans…..errr…yeah).

Apart from that the rest of the trailer contains explosions, ass kicking, Billy and the Pumpkins jamming away still and proof that the Silk Spectre can do more than just strut around and kiss people.

Watch it below and treat your eyes

Remember my announcement of the INQ1?

Well, the 3 Social Networking phone has now had its official launch.

OK, so it’s a phone that is neither that fancy or revolutionary.

However, its integration with Skype (just like 3’s Skypephone), Facebook, and a handful of other consumer-friendly apps is something worth taking note of.  Also that Open Source OS.

The socially charged slider will come in black and silver and probably cost under £99 with no contract.

This vid from Sony explains a new bit of gear that should make watching your telebox a lot nicer.

In the new BRAVIA Z4500 televisions there’s something called Motionflow 200hz (standard tele is 50hz).

So to cut to to the chase - the clever kit will insert some “transitional” images (3 in this case) in between each frame to make it even smoother.

Check out the vid as it explains it a lot better than I can

Word over at TechCrunch is that Apple may be working on a search engine of its own.

This isn’t wholly unreasonable when you see that its Safari web browser has 6-7% market share but uses Google as the search engine for both the computer and iPhone/iPod versions.

And they can’t be overly happy with Google’s competition to the iPhone - The Android powered G1.

The perplexing thing is that none of the big hitters have “lost search employees to Apple”, or heard of any specific hirings.

So, either Apple have got their own folk already working on this or they have something else in mind. Coz, let’s face it, you can’t do it without people who know what they’re doing.

Whilst most things point at the rumours being just that they still persist - so there must be something in it; right?

So far the thinking is that Apple is in fact working on a different mobile search experience that is much more visual than the existing one. It will likely still be powered by Google results, but Apple may present it in a very different way that suits mobile users much better.

Keep coming back for more as I get it………

After quite a lot of teasers, rumours and a smattering of hype RED just this moment went official with their eagerly anticipated DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System.

There’s many, many combinations to this thing, be warned.

Let’s start with your choice of the professional Scarlet or “master professional” EPIC brains which can then be configured into about “2,251,799,813,685,248 possible camera configurations” - so says RED in a half-jokey manner ;) 

These ‘brains’ are built upon Mysterium-X and Mysterium Monstro sensors which start at 2/3-inch and end at a whopping 6×17-cm!  Good news is that when a new sensor comes out all you do is just upgrade the brain.

Scarlet will launch in 4 choices ranging from $2,500 (maybe less) to $12,000 with a variety of lens mounts (Canon and Nikon) capable of shooting 3K @120fps on up to 6K @30fps.

If that is still a little on the cheap side Epic will offer similar mounts with capabilities spanning 5K @100fps ($28k) to 9K @50fps ($45k).  Want more? A 28K system hitting 25fps is expected in 2010 for $55k

The first Scarlet systems could come as early as Spring of 2009 while EPIC should arrive by summer. Of course, the brain is just the beginning of the costs.

Just to confuse me even more RED has also introduced a 3D camera today.

RedUser

Marketing is not really known for being up front in its way of making you part with your hard earned.

Market research is generally carried out via focus groups, analysing market trends and those people that pounce on you in the street with their clipboards at the ready.

It is the 21st century and research firm Nielson and California-based NeuroFocus have launched a service in Japan that scans the brain waves of potential customers to help companies improve marketing.

Not quite brain washing……

They say that they can measure how much certain ads grab the attention and tug at the emotional heartstrings of the people they’re targeting. 

This could do away with those 10 page research forms and multiple choice questionnaires.

lnstead of relying on someone ticking the box for “needs more naked flesh” the operators will be able to check the graphs and by looking at how your brain spasms they’ll be able to tell just how much nudity is required, when it appears and how blatent it needs to be for a guy to by an 8 bladed razor.

Japan Today

Pic Cred

Ever wanted to wander around ancient Rome and have a good ol’ gawp at the Circus Maximus?

Well, Google has announced the launch of an ancient Rome 3D layer in Google Earth via their blog.

Working alongside the Rome Reborn Project they invite everyone in the world to travel through time and discover Ancient Rome as it was 1688 years ago.

The project includes more than 6700 buildings of Ancient Rome rebuilt in 3D as they would have appeared in 320 AD.

Now, where did I leave my toga and gladius?

Watch the video on YouTube

Google blog