Best New Technology

What you see here is truly a work of art - the SKDubs Gold Boombox. Rarely has music and sculpture met in a whirlwind romance, but this one definitely ranks pretty much up there in terms of aesthetics as well as performance. It is but a boombox that has been built right into a body of a double bass, courtesy of artist David Ellis. Features include a 4-way stereo speaker system, a couple of vacuum tube preamps, a Crown power amp, and a Behringer equalizer for some serious sound. The only thing missing for this generation? An integrated ipod dock - having that would make the SKDubs Gold Boombox score full points in my book, but that glaring omission leaves it at a 9 out of 10. There will only be three of these available, retailing for a jaw-dropping $15,000 each.

Source: DVICE

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We all know that looking after a little bit of green is good for the eyes (and soul), since it does help soothe the soul especially in a highly stressed office environment. The USB Desktop Greenhouse brings some green to your messy desk, but if you’ve got a phobia of killing plants due to a missing green thumb, there is always the Flower Nurse to help you overcome those fears.

Brighten up your dull desk with this USB plug in contraption. This product provides the maximum conditions for your plant to grow, to adorn your desk with natural beauty in no time! It contains marigold seeds for you to plant, but plant whatever you want - the seeds of your favorite flower? It also comes with fake soil, an adjustable light and removable tray, and you can monitor its progress on your PC. You can’t fail to grow a beautiful healthy plant as it even tells you when it needs watering! The ultimate desktop pick-you-up, and an enjoyable, relaxing distraction from all your hard work!

The USB Desktop Greenhouse will retail for £29.99, which is roughly the equivalent of a gazillion US dollars today.

The Engineers at Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana seem to have a death wish. And it’s usually associated with rocket powered flight. Fresh off their James Bond-esque rocket jet pack design, TAM has announced the design of a rocket powered helicopter backpack which will enable rotor driven Rocketeers to jump into the sky and head anywhere in total freedom. Or kill themselves in a spectacular event only director John Landis could appreciate.

Dubiously named the Libelula, the helicopter backpack has tiny rocket motors in its rotor blades which not only eliminates the torque associated with helicopters with conventional tail rotor assemblies that stabilize flight, but also enables the system to be compact to wear on a pilot/soldier’s back for instant takeoff from anywhere. The rockets are tiny, about 1-1/2″ in diameter by 10″ long but they pack a alot of punch providingthe rotor with more than 2200 lbs of lift.

It’s only in the conceptual design phase at the moment (thank heavens), but should it reach the testing phase, it’s easy to see how this, like it’s rocket pack cousin, could have special forces applications. Attention Brocolli family, isn’t it time Bond flew in something like this again?

Hat Tip: D’VIce

Turning is accomplished by shifting the pilot’s center of gravity and turning a small weather van like rudder in the opposite direction.

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Nemo Gould’s steampunk squid draws an audience at the Maker Faire festival.

SAN MATEO, California — Creepy cyber art and strange steampunk shapes, like this giant mecha-squid, dominated the showroom floor during Saturday’s festivities.

On-lookers brave enough to push a pulsating, red button positioned next to the tentacles of the cephalopoda were rewarded by the steampunk machine slowly swimming to life.  Aided by a cleverly concealed chain-drive motor, the deep sea creature gently undulated for a minute or two before grinding to a halt.

Berkeley-based artist Nemo Gould, who spent nearly three months building the 400-pound, 11-foot long giant sea creature, took inspiration from science-fiction author Jules Verne to build the machine. "I borrowed the brain of a 14-year old boy," said Gould of his kinetic sculpture. "I just went straight to robots and monsters for ideas."

Gould fashioned the squid’s brassy tentacles from railings snagged at building site and formed the body by welding street lamp backs together.  Gould fasted red and blue LEDs behind elk eyeballs purchased at a taxidermy shop to give the beast a slightly menacing glare.

Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.com

Three of the top PC vendors have shown their support for Linux by stating they are now looking to ensure hardware they use has open-source drivers. By doing so they open up their machines to run Linux as a main OS without any hardware problems.

At the Linux Foundation conference last week all three companies outlined plans to “strongly encourage” companies they buy their hardware components from to use open-source drivers. Although not a total guarantee of open-source driver use, it signifies a move towards business and consumer PCs that encounter less problems when choosing Linux.

Stewart Smith, Linux Australia president said:

This makes it a lot easier to buy a system that flawlessly runs with Linux. If there are platforms with open drivers it means it should open up more systems that can run with Linux in the future.

By utilizing open-source drivers any problems encountered using a piece of hardware with Linux can be solved more easily. Rather than having to rely upon the hardware vendors to issue a fix; the very active Linux community can also take it upon themselves to solve the problem.

Read more at Silicon.com

Matthew’s Opinion

I think hardware compatibility is one of the remaining stumbling blocks for flawless Linux operation on off-the-shelf PCs. The fact there are vendors offering Linux friendly PCs shows that this is still the case.

Getting over that hurdle will make the uptake of Linux much easier across both consumer and business users. Large-scale businesses are more concerned about cost and function rather than which OS they are going to use. If the hardware is 100% Linux compatible and the cost is lower than the Windows alternative, then for many Linux will be the option taken if it runs the software they need. It may take a few more iterations, but with business focused hardware vendors such as Dell and HP also pushing it is going to happen sooner rather than later.

The continued progression of Linux distributions such as Ubuntu are also making the operating system a legitimate alternative to Windows for any user. Breaking Windows dominance in the consumer market is an uphill battle, however.

If you’ve ever wanted to bring your collection of digital files with you wherever you go, the Mvix MVU-2500U portable media player might be the answer to your needs. ThMVU-2500U uses 2.5-inch PATA / IDE hard drives with support for up to 250GB, which is actually more than enough to contain 100 DVD quality movies. Mvix is touting their new media decoder as a perfect media device for people on the move, giving them the ability to bring their entire collection of HD-quality movies.

The MVU-2500U measure in at 5 x 3 x 0.5-inches and works like an external USB 2.0 hard drive when connected to a PC. The MVU2500U can store digital video in 480p, 720p and 1080i standards, as well as support files encoded in MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, DVD, DivX, Xvid, BivX, and VCD in both NTSC and PAL systems. As an added convenience, the media decoder comes with an IR remote control. The Mvix MVU-2500U will be available in the US beginning this month.

Product [MvixUSA] Read [PR Web]

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Foolproof Egg Timer

No, boiling an egg isn’t easy. Well OK, actually boiling it is easy, the ingredients are about as plug and play as it gets, but getting it perfect is a timing nightmare, until now. This little gizmo is, as its name suggests, foolproof. Just pop it in the water with your eggs and watch it (just so hi-tech). As the eggs cook the timer darkens towards the middle, when it reaches the right line for you, your eggs are done to perfection.

Graduated scales show when eggs are soft, medium or hard by sensing heat instead of time. The sensor accounts for the number of eggs, the amount of water, even the altitude at which the eggs are being cooked - so useful for high level cooking.

Here’s a clock that even the most simple minded among us will be able to cobble together - the Meaning of Time. This clock concept from Bomi Kim supplies you with the necessary mechanism to keep time, while you use your own imagination (or the lack of it) to supply the hour and minute hands. It works with virtually anything that can fit through the holes, although I would recommend on something more rigid just to make sure I won’t lose track of time.

While these images seem realistic, they could be a mix of just about anything from a Photoshop job to simply being an iPhone knock-off. One thing that is for sure is that these next-gen 3G iphone rumors and sightings are not going to stop until the official announcement comes.

The latest sighting consists of two images and comes courtesy of iPhon.fr, who claim that they cannot verify the source of the images, so take them for what they are worth. Whether real or faked, they certainly look a little more in the ballpark than the last “leaked” image that turned out to be nothing more than a new back piece being sold in Hong Kong.

Luckily June, the rumored release date is somewhat close, lets hope we can put these rumors to a rest. Of course, that just means another will pop up. Keep reading for one more pic, this time of the backside…

Read [iPhon.fr] Via [Engadget Mobile]

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by Darren Murph, posted May 2nd 2008 at 11:14AM

MTI Micro is edging dangerously close to vaporware status, but until 2009 comes and goes, we suspect we still owe it the benefit of the doubt. The ever-boastful company is at it once again, this time showing off a purported fuel cell powered-GPS prototype at the International Small Fuel Cells Conference in Atlanta. The Mobion-powered device promises to provide “three times as much energy as GPS devices powered by four disposable AA batteries,” meaning that users could see up to 60-hours of continuous use on a large, full-color screen navigator. You’ll also find an integrated USB port for using it as an energy source, so you could theoretically utilize your NAV to charge your handset / PMP / ray gun. At this point, however, we wouldn’t get too excited here — it’s not like there’s any guarantee that we’ll ever see this thing in commercial form.

[Via I4U News, image courtesy of John S.]

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