Berkely Exoskeletons on Pre-Order

Check these amazing exoskeletons from Berkely Bionics, allowing you to run with less effort and carry loads you wouldn't normally be able to.


[Youtube video]

Now you can buy your own (or should I say - pre-order it - as we're still waiting for a final price.)

But considering the rising prices of fuel, I think it may be worth to sell you automobile and start "walking" to work in one of these. :)

HTC Android

And the HTC Android cell phone is already showing its stuff... I'm sure lots of engineers are working overtime to get it out on the stores as soon as possible - though everyone says it will still take a while.

Because, no matter how I might consider getting a 3G iPhone, I would sincerly prefer a more "open" platform such as Android's, where I wouldn't be stuck with iTunes and similar Apple software.



Now, just explain to me why everytime they want to show up a new gadget, they show it running classic "prehistoric" games? At least it wasn't Doom...

It kind of reminds me of those that buy a new "high-tech" gadget and then use it exclusively to run emulators to play the "old games" they had in their previous gadgets... :)

But of course that's not all it can do...

You can check how easy its interface is:


... how it handles Google Maps just like a desktop computer...


And of course, the best for last:
Check how you can have a virtual window into the world, thanks to Street View and this device integrated accelerometer.


via [Android Community]

OLPC 2 to Add Multitouch and Haptic Feedback?

While the first OLPC is still searching for its way to the public, the next generation will certainly be a lot more appealing.

Integrating dual displays, with multitouch capability and even rumoured haptic feedback (that would be great indeed, considering that there will be no physical keyboard.)



The target price point is $75, but unfortunately this is only scheduled for 2010.

Till then, I suspect some other manufacturer may jump in and take advantage of their concept...
It would certainly make me forget any Eee PC, Msi Wind and the like, in a flash.

via [Engadget]

CAM-TRAX

Do you envy Nintendo Wii and its Wiimote?

Well, if CAM-TRAX is has good as it seems to be, soon your PC won't have nothing to worry about, and you'll be able to use any object as a game controler.And all you'll need is a simple webcam (and any other object.)

Check the video:



Impressive, isn't it?

Eee PC to become Tablet PC?

There are rumours that state that the successful Eee PC (which will soon show up as a desktop mini PC ) may delve into the Tablet PC arena as well.

For now, this is nothing but a rumour - but considering how many owners have modded their Eee PCs to add a touchscreen (for just a few bucks - may I add) I guess Asus might have considered doing it as well.

Unfortnally, they also speak about launching it under a differente brand name, and not as "low-priced" as the Eee PC - which, if you recall, was supposed to cost $199 but is now closing to the $600 mark.

Pity... a $300 Eee Tablet PC might have revolutionized the tablet market just as the Eee PC did for the mini-laptops.

via [Gizmodo]

Samsung Speedy SSDs

I'm a big fan of SSDs (Solid State "Disks") - but when it comes to actually paying for it, it's hard to justify the expense.

And let's face it, until recently, most of these SSDs didn't quite deliver on raw throughput. Sure they have insanely fast access times, but when it came to read and write speeds, only a few (and really expensive ones) were able to fulfill.

But now, Samsung is annoucing their new 256GB Flash SSD, offering amazing speeds: 200MBytes/sec read and 160MBytes/sec write speeds.

I wouldn't mind having 4 of these in Raid 0 in my PC.


via [Gizmodo]

Handwriting Recognition - Leopard vs Vista

At last, something Vista seems to do amazingly well! :)

Check this video showing how handwriting recognition works on Leopard and Vista.




via [MobilitySite]

YouTomb

Once on the Internet, forever on the Internet.

This is usually true, but recently you may have noticed it's becoming more common to get those "Sorry, this Video is not available anymore" whenever you try to watch a YouTube video.

Well I do have to agree that copyright holders have the right to protect their videos, who's to say that some of these removed videos were done by the wrong reasons?

That's exactly why services like this YouTomb are always a good thing:

YouTomb is an interesting project by MIT Free Culture that collects YouTube videos taken down because of copyright infringements. "More specifically, YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns. Any information available in the metadata is retained, including who issued the complaint and how long the video was up before takedown. The goal of the project is to identify how YouTube recognizes potential copyright violations as well as to aggregate mistakes made by the algorithm."

Because, after all... who is watching the watchmen?

via [GoogleSystem]

USB over Ethernet

So you'd like to have an USB hub right next to you, or in some other place far away from your PC; who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! IOGEAR.

IOGEAR Usb Net Sharestation allows you share your USB devices across your network, while allowing you to place it where it's more convenient.

It can be your's now, for $80.

Gas Prices to Stop Climbing

Gas prices are bound to stop climbing... provided you head to the nearest gas station still using mechanical gas pumps.

"Apparently there are still places in the US where people are still using the old-fashioned analog gear driven pumps to meter gas instead of the common digital ones. The old pumps will need new gears to go past $3.99/gallon for gas and those parts are getting harder to come by. It is strangely like having a Babbage Difference Engine run the gas pump. Gear driven gas pumps are another unexpected but sad victim of rising gas prices. No more clicks and bells."

via [WashingtonPost]

Opera Mobile 9.5

Check out Opera mobile 9.5 on an HTC Advantage.
At last, Windows Mobile gets a browser that can compete with iPhone's Safari (and even beat it, or so we're told.)


[Video Review]

Is it just me, or does it seem like Opera took a few ideas from their Wii Opera Interface?

Google is Watching

Google is watching Google is watching Google is watching Google is...

Google Streetview Van caught itself in a mirror

Made me think of those ancient "video effects", of a camera video feedback when you point your camera at a TV showing it's own output; and you can see the TV on a TV on a TV...
Though this Google Van isn't quite as cool.

Optical Illusions

So you're crazy about optical illusions? (I have shown you some here already)

If you want to check some more, I leave you the amazing blog from Arthur Shapiro, Illusion Sciences which will certainly keep your eyes full for quite some time - literally!

There will be a new optical illusion every week, to show us that what you see isn't always what you get!

And I leave you with a short 2 min video showing 10 Optical Illusions:


Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. :)

Ubuntu Studio

If you're into Multimedia and worry about leaving Windows operating systems - even though you'd really like to try out that "Ubuntu" buzz and see if you can manage with it - then you should really give UbuntuStudio a try.

Ubuntu Studio, as they say:

Ubuntu Studio is aimed at the GNU/Linux audio, video and graphic enthusiast as well as professional.

We provide a suite of the best open-source applications available for multimedia creation. Completely free to use, modify and redistribute. Your only limitation is your imagination.

It includes, among others:

Audio

• Ardour 2 - A multitrack recorder/editor

Image

• GIMP
• Inkscape
• Blender
• RAW camera files tools
• Wacom drawing tablets support

Video

• PiTiVi
• Kino
• Cinepaint

Those might be all the multimedia tools you'll ever need.

(or you can give Studio64 a try as well)

Worldwide Telescope

Unfortunately for us, living next to a big city makes it impossible to look at the night sky and be amazed by the number of stars out there.

But now, thanks to Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope everyone can now look into the deepest parts of the Cosmos and be amazed by what's out there.

This project from Microsoft Research transforms any Windows PC into a powerful telescope, for amateurs and professionals alike, and you can even embark on a guided tour through the Cosmos with voice narration.

You can even use it to control you own telescope, if you're serious about it.

Windows 7 to be More Efficient, says Gates

While Microsoft continually brags about Windows Vista, the truth is public opinion doesn't always feel so great about it.

How can they? We've reached a point where they tell us 2GB is the RAM amount we need to run Vista "comfortably".

2 Gigabytes of RAM...
We think of this amount of 2GB as being meaningless...

How can anyone explain then, that I can regularly work on an old Win95 PC, running on an AMD 300Mhz CPU, with 64Mb RAM, and do 99% of things I can do with Vista?
How do they explain I can run XP with 256Mb quite nicely?

There's no excuse for an O.S. to be as bloated as Vista...

And it's now Bill Gates that comes to say that the next Windows, for now only known as Windows 7, will use less memory and be more efficient.

I guess we have to thank people for finally realizing that it's not all about "bigger is better." If that was true, all windows mobile devices running of much faster hardware than the iPhone would provide a better user experience - and that's the opposite of what it actually happens.

The trick is not having even faster hardware, what we need is for software makers to finally use every bit of available power as efficiently as possible. If Apple did what it did on the iPhone, why can't we have that same kind of efficient software running on hardware hundreds of time more powerful?

I hope the time for software efficiency has finally arrived. Where people won't tolerate waiting for dozens of seconds for something to pop up on screen...

I sure hope that time has come, where really good programmers can finally stand out from the crowd...

Soccer Suckers

Have you ever heard (or told it yourself) "Even I could score that goal?"

Well, after you check these amazing non-goals I bet you rally couldn't do any worse.



How can you not love this game?

Large Hadron Collider ATLAS Detector

We can't stop but wonder how they were able to finish this thing: the ATLAS detector at the core of the Large Hadron Collider.

This video illustrates the massive scale of this endeavor:

Google Reader Tags Folder

I use nothing but Google Reader when it comes to feeds. However, would it be too much too ask for the possibility to organize tags into folders just like any other feed?

I hate having all those tags occupying valuable screen space, considering they could all be nicely grouped together in one (or several) folder(s.)

iPhone 3D Racing Game

If you thought iPhone was unable to render nice 3D OpenGL games, here's Raging Thunder from Polarbit proving it can.

It wasn't that long ago that we were running worse looking 3D games in our PCs.



They just need to tweak the control method (using iPhone's accelerometers) a bit more.

via [modmyifone]

Moore's Law

Wouldn't it be great if salaries followed Moore's Law as well?



Source: [Computer History]

Chuck Norris - or should I say: Carlos Ray?

Who would have guessed?

Everyone knows him...
The entire Internet (and probably the entire Universe) fears him...
Some know him as Col. James Braddock, others as J.J. McQuade, and other's still, as Ranger Walker.

So, what do you think about Chuck Norris' real name being... (roll drums)...

Carlos Ray!

He has my first name!

Now, just be sure you don't tell him where you found out about it, or else... I might not live long enough to finish this sent...

[50 Celebrities' Real Names]

Google Visualization Gadgets

If you haven't noticed yet, be sure to check Google Spreadsheet's new visualization options.

Whether you use it for actual work, or just to add some nice graphics (even animated ones) or maps, you won't be able to wonder just how easy it is to use it.



Just check all exciting possibilites at Google Visualization Gallery.

Firefox Site Security

Here's an article everyone should read to ensure a safer browsing experience across the Internet.

It explains how the new Firefox 3 web browser displays information related to the trustworthiness of a web site, based on its security certificates and connection encryption.

It's now a lot easier to identify "fake" spoof sites that try to lure you into giving them your personal information and passwords.

One more reason to upgrade to the latest Firefox version.

[Firefox Site Identification]

Wiimote on Nokia N810 - Part II

Here's another (and let's say it: more exciting) project connecting a Wiimote to the Nokia MIDs.

(and Ryan, no it still doesn't require placing LEDs on the N810 screen... at least for now ;)

Retrievr - Flickr Image Search

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words - and if that's true, what's would be the vest way to search for a picture?

Welcome to Retrievr.

This service allows you to search Flickr photo based on what you sketch in the search box.

For instance, I draw a few splatches of color, thinking of crayons and... hold and behold! There they were!




No wonder google is also running full steam on indexing image searchs.

Maybe searching for a photo by entering: "Landscape photo with a lake, with a winding road with a red car, and a skydiver jumping from a plane flying above" is not that far out after all... :)

MacGyver Returns

Lee Davif Zlotoff (curious how after all these years, that name is still embedded in our brains) has just confirmed that there's a big budget MacGyver movie in the works.

What did you expect? If Knight Rider can come back, doesn't MacGyver deserve the same chance?

Count me in!

Now, we're just missing a renewed A-Team... but I'm sure there's someone working on that one as well, as we speak..

Besides Zlotoff's name, I guess there are a few other things we really can't ever forget... such as MacGyver's intro song:

Iron Man gets Dressed

Want to checkout how Tony Stark (a.k.a Iron Man) gets dressed?



Be sure not to miss it on the big screen. :)

YouTube is Down

Youtube is down?

Are they upgrading the service to allow true High-Def video streaming or simply deplying their new player?

Or, if you're into conspiracy theories: maybe they're under a major attack, or the ISPs finally locked it out because it was using too much bandwidth?

Stay tuned... :)

Farbrausch Debris

Just do me a favour...

Watch this Youtube video (and endure the 1st minute which is kind of slow).



Even so, this low resolution video pales in comparison to how ti looks like in full-screen, high resolution video as you can watch in your own PC (provided you have a decent 3D graphics card.)

The best part? How much do you think such a demo "weighs"? 300MB? 100Mb?
10MB?
1Mb?
500Kb?
200Kb?
... not quite...

Just an incredible 180 Kb!


You read it right, 180Kb for 7 minutes of high resolution 3D video, with music, detailed textures, particles, shadows, lighting, etc.

Just see it for yourself [Farbrausch fr-041 Debris]

Now... where are those guys claiming that 50GB wasn't enough for their game?...


If you prefer something a bit more interactive, you can try their FPS game, which will waste an even smaller 96Kb! kkrieger.

Now, tell me if we should let any game install Gigabytes of data into our hardrives unless it actually provides a better "experience", millions of times better than these small demo examples, to justify their hunger for Gigabytes.

Win-iPhone

I always said it was just a matter of time, and here's the proof: iSwish.

If you find iPhone's user interface to be fantastic, then you'll be glad to know that soon every Windows Mobile will be able to have a very similar interface.



I just find it sad that we had to endure all those years, while Pocket PCs and Windows mobile devices were on the streets, trying to use an awkward interface completely unsuitable for mobile users - and if it weren't for the iPhone, maybe we'd still be stuck with it for years to come.

Let's hope iSwish can deliver its promisses. :)