Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
A chic London restaurant and bar called Inamo is making patrons’ dining experiences digital by projecting colorful menus and aesthetic patterns onto touch-sensitive tabletops. When browsing, patrons can preview the food as if it were on the plate in front of them — only flatter, we suppose. They can also order their meals, look up neighborhood services, and select one of seven visual vibes without ever interacting with carbon-based lifeforms. Inamo isn’t the first automated establishment we’ve seen, and this sort of table menu tech isn’t new — but the futuristic panache is hard to beat. Hit the read link for more pics.
[Thanks, Nvyseal]
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Filed under: Cellphones
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Blackberry_Storm_Runs_iPhone_OS’; We can’t put our finger on it, but there’s something vaguely familiar about this new Storm 9500.
In case you’re reading this after these images get taken down — which they inevitably will be — this was the official marketing material posted tonight by RIM’s Storm launch partner, Vodafone.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm art department all soon to be fired
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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/First_hands_on_with_RIM_s_iPhone_killing_BlackBerry_Storm’; RIM’s a little late to the touchscreen party, but comes bearing goodies. The BlackBerry Storm is a beast of a phone in more ways than one. Fronted by a meaty, high-resolution touchscreen with an innovative clicking mechanism, the phone is easily the prettiest by RIM to date. There’s a brushed metal back, a beautiful new OS interface, and enough radios to give your grandkids cancer (EV-DO Rev. A, quad-band GSM, Europe-friendly HSPA, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, though sadly no WiFi). But the real test of a phone is usability, not flash. Check out our impressions after the break.
Continue reading BlackBerry Storm 9500 hands-on
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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
A storm’s arrival typically isn’t something to celebrate, but we’re going to make a notable exception here seeing how the BlackBerry Storm is less of a destructive weather pattern and more of an incredibly hot smartphone — arguably RIM’s hottest to date. Fit to its business-savvy roots, the long-rumored handset comes equipped with the most comprehensive global roaming capabilities of virtually any wireless device you’ll find anywhere, featuring EV-DO Rev. A, quadband EDGE, and 2100MHz HSPA for Europe. Beyond that, the Storm becomes RIM’s very first touchscreen phone, mounting a 3.26-inch 480 x 360 glass display on a unique clickable surface so that the entire thing can be pressed downwards — just like a real button — for tactile feedback when making selections. It includes a full HTML finger-navigable browser, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB of on-board storage with an 8GB microSD card bundled in the box, 3.5mm headphone jack, automatic orientation and ambient lighting sensors, and a 3.2-megapixel autofocus cam with dedicated flash, making it a legitimate jack-of-all-trades that seems likely to be able to handle even the most chaotic personal and professional lives users can throw its way. It’ll allegedly do 15 days of standby or 5.5 hours of talk time on either GSM or CDMA networks. No word on pricing yet — we’re told all will be revealed “in the coming weeks” — but it’ll launch on both Verizon and Vodafone in November.
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Filed under: Desktops
Oh sure, Stealth could’ve just phoned up NextComputing or ACME in order to acquire a beastly (albeit portable) LCD-infused desktop, but seriously, where’s the joviality in that? Instead, this clearly skilled individual decided to concoct a custom rig of his own, complete with two 22-inch LCDs, lots (and lots) of diamond plate and “zero compromises.” Dubbed the CinematographHD after a Lumière Brothers device from the 1980s, this massively potent video editing system also packs a Blu-ray drive, inbuilt speakers and a storage compartment for mice, keyboards and copious amounts of BAWLS. Check out the construction video just after the break.
[Thanks, Justin]
Continue reading CinematographHD case mod conceals monster video editing rig
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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
We could tell from the press shot that this here laptop bag was far and away the most beautiful of the TSA-approved bunch, and a recent review over at Gadling confirms it. Put simply, the Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer is “fantastic,” and even the reviewer found himself startled at just how much he dug it. The build quality was remarkable, the ease of use was commendable and the design itself was obviously worthy of praise. The only real rub is the bloated sticker; the price of admission is a stiff $220, and that’s before you add in any useful straps or extra packing cubes. ‘Course, you’re probably wondering how this thing fared in real-world use, and we’re happy to report that no cavity searches were required when passing through security on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam. Check the full writeup and a hands-on gallery in the read link.
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Filed under: Cellphones
It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally found a KIRF suitable to become the one and only successor to our very first “Keepin’ it real… WTF?!” This here iPhone — which is little more than a familiar chassis with a lead weight and a small amount of internal hardware — is reportedly used by scammers in Russia in order to barter for train tickets, grub, etc. In essence, the phone has just enough electronics within it to give the appearance of a “boot up” sequence, complete with the Apple logo; the scammer in possession of it then explains that the battery is simply drained, but that it will work perfectly fine once charged. After any given sucker hands over something quite valuable in exchange for this heap, he / she proceeds to crush it into a million pieces while cursing the unknown name of whoever fooled them in the first place. Moral of the story? Stay sharp, street traders.
[Thanks, Abhijit]
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Filed under: Wireless
The vulnerability of cards based on the
Mifare Classic RFID chip (like the
Oyster Card used for the London Underground) has been known for some time now but, unsurprisingly, some pesky legal business has prevented the complete details from being published. That has now finally been cleared up, however, and Professor Bart Jacobs and his colleagues from Radboud University have promptly published their complete paper online. What’s more, NXP Semiconductors, makers of the Mifare chip, are also now commenting on the matter, and saying that it never intended to completely stop publication of the research, but rather that it simply wanted to give customers time to update their systems. NXP’s Steve Owen also adds that the company now doesn’t “recommend the use of Mifare Classic for new installations,” and that it’s “working with customers to review their security.” Those looking to dig in can find the paper at the link below and, in case you missed it the first time around, there’s a video explaining the basics after the break.
[Via BBC Click]
Continue reading Oyster Card RFID hack gets detailed
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Uncle Woz is stirring things up today in an interview with The Telegraph, saying that he thinks “the iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one, things like, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while… they get real cheap and then they are not selling as much.” That’s certainly an interesting parallel to draw, since the iPod is unquestionably the market leader and the recent updates to the nano and classic weren’t particularly overwhelming — but we’ve got to disagree here and say that the metaphor doesn’t quite work.
Walkmans and radios were standalone products that didn’t really change over time, while the iPod is clearly evolving into a compelling standalone computing platform — and it’s tied to iTunes, which, hate it or love it, is the most popular content store out there. Sure, things could change dramatically — competitors like the Zune are getting way better, subscription music could finally take off, and DRM is slowly going away (at least for music) — but it’s hard to see Apple getting baited into a brand-tarnishing price war or simply letting the iPod fade away without putting up a fight. We’ll see, we suppose — any of you willing to throw down some bold predictions?
[Via Wired]
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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
We’re still waiting on Verizon to stop teasing us about this thing, but Vodafone (who’s been hinting at the phone since last month) just announced the BlackBerry Storm, RIM’s touchscreen flagship. As if you didn’t know already, Vodafone is confirming a 3.25-inch 460 x 360 touchscreen, 3.2 megapixle camera, automatic orientation flipping, 1GB of built-in storage and a host of multimedia capabilities, including iTunes sync.
[Thanks, Bob]
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