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Sep 302009
(Credit: TiVo)Good news comes to TV-watchers with TiVo DVRs installed in their living rooms. On Wednesday, TiVo and BlackBerry-maker RIM unveiled a free TiVo app in that will let people control their TiVos from the BlackBerry smartphone.
The app will let TiVo owners see a guide of what’s …
Originally posted at The Download Blog
I like Japanese artist Mio Lizawa because he’s the kind of guy who sits around and thinks, “My, wouldn’t it be great if my PC had some sort of pulsating, frightening, brain-like thing hanging out of the side of it?” and then goes out and builds just such …
The Touch Wood mockup (top) and prototype based on the SH-04A model (bottom).
(Credit: NTT DoCoMo)
If you don’t think plastic is fantastic, here’s some good news: Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has created a new prototype cell phone made from cypress wood.
The Touch Wood handset is crafted …
How do OLED TVs from Sony and LG work? MIT professor Vladimir Bulovic explains using a glowing pickle and an accent to die for. Essentially, electrons pass through the pickle (or any other active organic matter) and charge the substance. When positive and negative charges collide, they release a photon (…
Sep 302009
Verizon Hub has been discontinued.
(Credit: Verizon)
Earlier this year, Verizon stepped into the Voice over IP business with the Verizon Hub, which had far loftier ambitions than simply replacing your landline. With weather and time widgets, a calendar system, traffic information, a family bulletin board, and even support for …
Originally posted at Dialed In Podcast
Workers in Japan have built a 60-foot statue of famous cartoon robot Gigantor in the city of Kobe. The statue is an actual-size replica of the hulking robot depicted in numerous manga and anime. It’s known as Tetsujin 28 in Japan.
Towering over Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park, the statue weighs 50 tons and cost some 135 million yen ($1.5 million) to build. It took about six weeks to erect.
The body parts were made earlier this summer. Here’s a neat video showing manufacturing at a factory in Kishiwada City, Osaka.
Gigantor follows the construction of another 60-foot robot statue in Japan. An incredibly detailed, life-size replica of the fictional Gundam robot was built in a park in Tokyo in June, and it could shoot light from its body.
Designed as a permanent tourist attraction, the Gigantor monument was organized under the NPO Kobe Tetsujin Project to honor the work of the late cartoonist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, a Kobe native and the genius behind such manga classics as Sally the Witch and Giant Robo.
Gigantor is also a symbol of the rebirth of Kobe after it was devastated by the 1995 earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people. January 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the tragedy.
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Even the world’s sexiest Prius is still just a Prius.
(Credit: Tommi Kaira)
Apparently, the 2010 Toyota Prius was feeling a bit frumpy and has decided to shake things up with a new look. So, the humble hybrid has gone under the knife of Japanese vehicle modifiers Tommi …
Originally posted at The Car Tech blog
According to VholdR, a waterproof case should be available for the ContourHD before the holidays.
(Credit: VholdR)
It figures that the day after we decide to give the VholdR ContourHD wearable camcorder our coveted Editors’ Choice award, that VholdR would go and announce something better. This, dear readers, is what we like to call a “good problem.”
The cleverly named ContourHD1080p takes the standard ContourHD’s 720p HD resolution and bumps it up to–you guessed it–1080p. All of the features that we loved in the original will still be there in the new unit, including the rotating wide-angle lens assembly, the rechargeable lithium ion battery, and the dual frickin’ laser beams.
What’s new is a plethora of additional recording modes. In addition to the original 720p/30 frames per second HD and 480p/60fps SD modes, the ContourHD1080p adds:
- Full HD – 1080p (1,920×1,080 pixels) at 30fps
- Tall HD – 960p (1,280×960 pixels) at 30fps
- Action HD – 720p (1,280×720 pixels) at 60fps
Additionally, with the use of the included Easy Edit software, you can set the contrast (high, medium, or low), metering (center, average, or spot), and exposure (-4 to +4). Its microphone sensitivity can be adjusted as well, which should help to reduce some of the wind noise that we found when testing the standard ContourHD.
So, should you wait for this new model instead of picking up the current ContourHD?
Well, that depends. According to VholdR, the ContourHD1080p is aimed professional videographers, while the standard HD is for enthusiasts. Yet, the ContourHD1080p weighs in at an MSRP of $329.99, only $40 more than the 720p model. However, introducing more options for exposure and metering could confuse casual users and take away from the simple point and shoot nature that so endeared us to the standard ContourHD. We’ll wait and see how the controls pan out before making final judgment.
In the meantime, check out a video of the ContourHD1080p in action after the jump.
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Originally posted at The Car Tech blog
(Credit: Yanko Design)Place this one in the “interesting idea, bad execution” category.
Label With Green is a concept design by Shao Wei Huang, Chia-Yi Cho, Yu Pei Kuo, and Chung Kai Chiang that I spotted on Yanko. The idea is that you’d get a package of solar stickers, …
Sep 302009
Minivans. Frankly, there’s nothing more practical for families. Not only are minivans spacious and accommodating for passengers, but when they’re configured for pure cargo-hauling, they turn into furniture-sucking black holes. The downsides? At the risk of sounding superficial, minivans are usually a bore to look at. They aren’t exactly fun to drive, either. So, what do you do if you want to go bigger than a basic family sedan, but want to avoid making the leap to a minivan?
Well, how’s that for timing? Just after posting a story about Motorola Cliq presales,T-Mobile dropped the official details on pricing and the availability date for the Cliq. Motorola’s first Google …
Originally posted at Android Atlas
Fitbit uses a 3D motion sensor like the one in Nintendo’s Wii to track everything from calories burned to minutes slept.
(Credit: Fitbit)
Amount of steps you took today: 3,451. Miles traveled: 1.4. Calories burned: 348. Calories consumed: 625. Then you went to bed at 12:…
Originally posted at News – Health Tech
(Credit: Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET)For those of you waiting for the Motorola Cliq, it looks like you’re about 19 days away…from presales. T-Mobile has thrown up a promo page on its Web site, teasing the countdown to presales of the Cliq. Unfortunately, there’s still no …
Originally posted at Android Atlas
Sep 302009
Motorola VE440
(Credit: Motorola)
Motorola is no stranger to MetroPCS and Monday the manufacturer tightened the relationship even further with the new VE440. Positioned as a low-end music phone, the VE440′s candy bar design and functional feature set won’t amaze you, but it offers a few welcome goodies …
Originally posted at Dialed In Podcast
Check out our full review of the ContourHD wearable camcorder.
(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)
The ContourHD by VholdR is a tube-style camcorder designed to be worn as a helmet camera for recording extreme activities. But this is Car Tech and I’m a car guy, so I mostly tested …
Originally posted at The Car Tech blog
After watching Amazon make huge headway in the e-book self-publishing game with its Digital Text Platform, Sony is finally making a real push into this area with a new Publisher Portal and partnerships with self-publishing companies Smashwords and Author Solutions.
While Sony stressed that the portal was for large and …
Sep 302009
Extra performance by way of a low-wattage AMD chip helps Averatec’s D1133 All-In-One stand out from its dismal Nettop competition, but it remains a below-average deal in the grand scheme of budget desktops. We see the appeal of Netbooks, but the benefits of Nettops like this Averatec continue to elude us.
As text-messaging becomes more and more popular, cell phone manufacturers are releasing all sorts of finger-friendly devices with QWERTY keyboards, touch screens and other innovative features. We’ve got reviews of all the latest cell phones — good and bad. AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers really get the best of breed when it comes to text messaging phones, and Samsung and LG phones get the best reviews. The top texting pick for Verizon users is the LG enV Touch, a device that combines a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard. LG’s brand-new Xenon, which offers similar features, takes the top prize for AT&T customers.
The more time I spend with my Zune HD, the more I like it. Sound quality aside–and I know opinions differ dramatically here, but I’m stuck with my ears and my preferences–there are a bunch of features that make Apple’s products seem like they’ve fallen behind the …
Originally posted at Digital Noise: Music and Tech
