Archive for the World news CategoryFiled under: Cell Phones, Cameras, iPhone  We’ve seen these zoom lens add-ons before. Now Brando’s slapped together this 6x “Telescope” for the iPhone 3G — a phone not exactly revered for its image quality. Just snap the unit to the back of the iPhone 3G and get to work. How good is it? About as bad as the $19 worth of optics within. Seriously, 19 bucks and available now. [From: Brando] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Top Lists  It’s always fun to look back to see the “cutting edge” of technology from eras past. If you’re in London, you’ll have to stop by the British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre, where a collection of Victorian era gadgets has gone on display. Some of the gadgets are terribly unsophisticated precursors to modern must-haves, such as the wrist-watch-styled GPS ancestor with scrolling mini-maps. Some are ingenious Mouse Trap style doodads, like the alarm clock and steam-powered tea brewer. Others — we’re thinking of the eye-ball massager — are just plain frightening. If you can’t make it to London for the exhibit, head on over to the Daily Mail for some highlights from the collection. [From: Daily Mail] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Cell Phones 
Here we go folks. The New York Times is reporting that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer Android. According to “people briefed on the company’s plans,” the HTC phone will go on sale in the US “before Christmas, perhaps as early as October.” The NYT’s sources also say that the 5-row QWERTY slider from that Dream video (embedded after the break) matches the HTC device that T-Mobile will sell. The device is still waiting for FCC approval with a three-way Google, T-Mobile, and HTC announcement coming as early as September. The deal is expected to be exclusive making it the only Android phone available in the US this year.
Of course you know what this means? It’s the birth of the Android fanboy — sure you love ‘em at First!, but then they never shutup about Street View. Update: We’ve added a second video (from March) of what looks to be the same device demonstrated by Google’s own Andy Rubin. The 3G reference design runs a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200-based processor at just over 300MHz, includes a trackball, 3D graphics processor, and appears to have an HTC logo. [From: NYTimes] Continue reading T-Mobile to Sell Google Smart Phone as Early as October Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments  The squeal and pain of the dentists’ drill may soon be a thing of the past as oral caretakers look to the future… which, of course, means lasers. This is far from the first application of lasers in dental surgery, but until now they haven’t been strong enough to penetrate teeth. Because the lasers don’t require physical contact between the tooth and the tool, vibrations are greatly reduced, which means far less pain. In fact, unless removing the decaying portions exposes a nerve, there may be no need for Novacaine injections at all, though many dentists will still give them as a precautionary measure. Because decaying bone tissue in the teeth holds significantly more water than healthy enamel, the laser drill works by heating up water in the dead tissue causing microscopic explosions, literally blasting away the decayed bone. Unfortunately, traditional drills will still be needed to remove old-school mercury fillings, which can reflect the laser back at the dentist, posing a potential hazard. As of now, laser filings are still expensive, but then again. According to the article in the UK’s Daily Mail, the British National Health Service charges £75 (roughly $142) for one, compared with £40 ($75) for traditional filings. Here in the US, laser dentistry procedures cost about 30 percent more than standard dental procedures. [Source: Daily Mail] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Car Tech  Wait, wait. Something that was promised for next year is arriving… this year? Be still our hearts! Chrysler will reportedly offer up its in-car EV-DO solution (dubbed Uconnect Web) starting on August 25th, and owners of 2009 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles (along with a few “earlier models”) will be able to have the $499 box retrofitted into their rides. Apparently the auto maker isn’t planning to install the units directly at the factory, so those who want it will be forced to pay an additional $35 to $50 installation charge, a $35 activation fee and a $29 monthly subscription fee. The service is said to provide download speeds between 400Kbps and 800Kbps with uploads hovering around 400Kbps, and provider Autonet Mobile has promised that you’ll “never lose the connection.” That’s a pretty bold claim — thankfully we’ll be able to test it out in just a few weeks. [Via CrunchGear, image courtesy of Flickr] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Criterion Collection Uses PlayStation 3 as Reference Blu-ray PlayerPosted by: in World newsFiled under: Audio/Video  Yeah, you read that correctly — the obsessive audiophiles / videophiles at the Criterion Collection use Sony’s PlayStation 3 as its reference Blu-ray player. In all honesty, we can’t say we’re too surprised. Time and again, Sony’s latest console has been rated very highly as a dedicated BD deck, and the plentiful firmware updates ensure that it’s always at the forefront of whatever interactive functionality is next. This snippet of factual goodness was extracted from a recent writeup that took an in-depth look at how the CC would be revamping its home theater, and even famed calibration guru Joe Kane gave his approval at using the console for playing back Blu-ray Discs. The real kicker? They also settled upon a DVIGear HDMI cable over one of those obscenely overpriced Ogre cables — and that was after running clean out of coat hangers. [From: Sound and Vision Magazine via CNET] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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2008
Criterion Collection Uses PlayStation 3 as Reference Blu-ray PlayerPosted by: in World newsFiled under: Audio/Video Yeah, you read that correctly — the obsessive audiophiles / videophiles at the Criterion Collection use Sony’s PlayStation 3 as its reference Blu-ray player. In all honesty, we can’t say we’re too surprised. Time and again, Sony’s latest console has been rated very highly as a dedicated BD deck, and the plentiful firmware updates ensure that it’s always at the forefront of whatever interactive functionality is next. This snippet of factual goodness was extracted from a recent writeup that took an in-depth look at how the CC would be revamping its home theater, and even famed calibration guru Joe Kane gave his approval at using the console for playing back Blu-ray Discs. The real kicker? They also settled upon a DVIGear HDMI cable over one of those obscenely overpriced Ogre cables — and that was after running clean out of coat hangers. [From: Sound and Vision Magazine via CNET] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers  Alright, Microsoft: we take it all back. It was wrong, just wrong of us to impugn your promotional filmmaking skills. That Bruce Springsteen parody? Spot on. Awkward Vegas flirtations? True pathos. And now, to promote the launch of your latest version of the Surface table for Sheraton Hotels, you’ve crafted the touching story of a curious kid, a smug photo-twirler, her tardy date and a loving asian family. We don’t want to spoil anything, but complications ensue, folks, and this is one nail-biter worthy of a sequel. Do they all end up going to dinner together? Or are they destined to troll Craigslist that evening, seeking their missed connection… You: Cute family. Heartbreaking, simply heartbreaking. Video is after the break. Continue reading Touchscreen Microsoft Surface Table Checks Into Sheraton Hotels Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Audio/Video, TV  It’s one thing to craft a home theater that keeps guests coming back weekend after weekend, but it’s another to create one that keeps them rolling (literally) in by the dozens. Kevin Van fulfilled what we can only imagine was a mid-20s fantasy by building his very own backyard theater, complete with an Epson 77c projector, homemade 6-foot retractable screen and 8 vintage drive-in speakers rigged up to deliver 5.1 surround sound on his deck and 2-channel stereo around the pool. There’s also a concession stand, a homegrown outdoor subwoofer being pushed by 1,100 watts and a whole slew of other audio / video components. Those cruising through Fraser, Michigan should seriously look this guy up — sounds like a great way to spend a few hours. [Via UberReview] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments  We’re only at the nano scale folks so you’ll have to keep those high school fantasies of an invisibility-cloaked romp through the girls’ locker room tucked away for now. Still, two teams of US government funded researchers under the direction of Xian Zhanga at UC Berkeley say that they’ve developed a material which can bend visible light around 3-D objects, effectively making them disappear. While similar to the negative refractive properties of materials developed back in 2006, UCB’s so-called meta-material is easier to work with and absorbs far less light than those earlier products. As such, the material could scale to the size of invisibility cloaks to hide objects such as tanks or mischievous boy-wizards. However, that day is a long ways off. In the short term, the meta-material will most likely find use in the far less interesting (to consumers, anyway) application of building better microscopes. Hey, Xian, picture of your invisible material or it didn’t happen… oh, wait. [Via BBC News] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments |
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