Filed under: Household
You think it’s bad when computers on the International Space Station get spazzed — just imagine the chaos when the primary commode decides to stop functioning correctly. As of now, crew members are being forced to urinate in a “jury-rigged system” that’s connected to the seven-year old (!!!) can, but thankfully, the solid waste collecting part has yet to act up. Still, we can imagine that folks on board are already fearing the worst. NASA officials have stated that they are currently mulling the idea of tossing a few parts on the Discovery just before it lifts off next week for a planned docking trip, which we can only hope pans out. Godspeed just took on a whole new meaning.
[Image courtesy of Nohoz, thanks System48]
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Filed under: Home Entertainment
Remember Sony’s non-directional, glass-tube speaker prototype we showed you back in 2007? Guess what, it’s now slotted into a production run. On June 20th, our Japanese brethren with ¥1,000,000 (about €6,500 / $10,000) to burn can take home the 6-foot tall, 50- to 20,000Hz trembling monument to music now known as the Sautina Sountina aka NSA-PF1. Inputs include analog RCA and digital coax and optical TOS supporting up to 24bit/96kHz linear PCM (stereo). As to the sound quality from the 13-cm subwoofer, 7-cm mid, and organic glass tweeter… who cares? This is all about making a visual statement which you’ll communicate loud and clear, poser.
[Via Impress]
Continue reading Video: Sony’s $10k Sountina glass speaker gets a production nod
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Filed under: Home Entertainment
Remember Sony’s non-directional, glass-tube speaker prototype we showed you back in 2007? Guess what, it’s now slotted into a production run. On June 20th, our Japanese brethren with ¥1,000,000 (about €6,500 / $10,000) to burn can take home the 6-foot tall, 50- to 20,000Hz trembling monument to music now known as the Sautina, aka NSA-PF1. Inputs include analog RCA and digital coax and optical TOS supporting up to 24bit/96kHz linear PCM (stereo). As to the sound quality from the 13-cm subwoofer, 7-cm mid, and organic glass tweeter… who cares? This is all about making a visual statement which you’ll communicate loud and clear, poser.
[Via Impress]
Continue reading Video: Sony’s $10k Sautina glass speaker gets a production nod
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Filed under: Cellphones
It isn’t hard to see to perks to Apple’s “one size fits all” approach to software for the iPhone and iPod touch. After making N95-3 (the regular ol’ N95 for North America) users wait months to get the software updates of their European counterparts, it took ‘em another few days to get the N95-4 (the 8GB version for North America) up to snuff as well. Of course, the N95 8GB already had a few of the software improvements, but this seems to pull it in line with the v20 firmware all the cool kids are rocking. Unfortunately it’s not all gravy, you’re going to have to do all the heavy lifting of backing up and re-installing your apps, and we’ve been having trouble getting the update to work at all on our particular 8GB — we’ll let you know how that goes. Still, the speed gains are (probably) worth all the hassle, so fire that sucker up and get updating!
[Via Boy Genius Report]
Update: Problem solved, turned out to be a bum USB port on the PC we were using. You may also run into Vista compatibility issues using Nokia’s Software Update app, though we had no problems when we told Vista to front like XP SP2 using the shortcut. Proceed at your own risk!
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_shows_off_Multitouch_Windows_7′; Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer got on stage at D6 with Walt and Kara to talk… Microsoft, of course. While the company is still being rather coy about Windows 7 — some have blamed loose lips early on in Vista development for saddling the OS with too high of expectations and making things difficult for developers — they were nice enough to show off what Ballmer called “the smallest snippet” of Windows 7. The big reveal was multi-touch support, which utilizes technology developed by the Surface team. The taskbar seems to have been reworked a bit, and the demo was running live on a Dell Latitude XT tablet. Apparently Microsoft is reworking the whole user interface with a multitouch experience in mind. Steve reiterated the “three years after Vista” mantra for availability. Not exactly earth-shattering, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.
Update: Video added after the break. Enjoy! [Thanks, Dan Z.]
Continue reading Microsoft shows off “snippet” of Windows 7 at D6, reveals multi-touch support
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
We’re reporting live from D to see Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer chat it up with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher about all things Microsoft. Live coverage after the break!
Continue reading Live from D: Gates and Ballmer debut Windows 7
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
6:16PM PT - The joint’s filling up! Clearly no one’s on stage yet, though, so don’t go too far.
Continue reading Live from D: Gates and Ballmer debut Windows 7
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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Gaming, Peripherals
Hey, we’ve seen quite a few gimmicky game control schemes in our day. We thought we were jaded, believed that we could no longer be moved emotionally by a few dorks in a lab, promising to revolutionize video games with their insanity. Until we saw Cam-Trax. You’ll get it in a moment by peeping the video after the break, but the basic gist is this: Cam-Trax offers highly accurate and responsive tracking of random colorful objects you hold in front of your webcam and tell it to track. Gameplay can be EyeToy-esque, but it can also be so much more, since the unit can track many objects in a full three dimensions. The video shows everything from a glorified game of pong to a FPS, and promises to control “any game” with “any webcam.” Show us more, Cam-Trax.
[Thanks, Chen D.]
Continue reading Cam-Trax is “coolest thing since ice,” can provide Wii-like controls with any webcam
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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Gaming, Peripherals
Hey, we’ve seen quite a few gimmicky game control schemes in our day. We thought we were jaded, believed that we could no longer be moved emotionally by a few dorks in a lab, promising to revolutionize video games with their insanity. Until we saw Cam-Trax. You’ll get it in a moment by peeping the video after the break, but the basic gist is this: Cam-Trax offers highly accurate and responsive tracking of random colorful objects you hold in front of your webcam and tell it to track. Gameplay can be EyeToy-esque, but it can also be so much more, since the unit can track many objects in a full three dimensions. The video shows everything from a glorified game of pong to a FPS, and promises to control “any game” with “any webcam.” Show us more, Cam-Trax.
[Thanks, Chen D.]
Continue reading Cam-Trax is “coolest thing since ice,” can provide Wii-like controls with any webcam
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Gates and Ballmer are down at the WSJ’s All Things Digital conference to talk tech with Mossberg and Swisher, and it looks like tonight they’ll be unveiling the first (official) glimpses of Vista’s successor, currently known as Windows 7. We’ll be posting live from the event, so be sure to check back at 6:15pm PT (9:15 Eastern) as things kick off.
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