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Architecture
Cellphones
Samsung Omnia Comes With Marching Band and Semi-Naked Dancers so It Must Be Good
Here's a viral video of the Samsung Omnia. I'm not sure if a troupe of minuscule, badly rotoscoped Vegas dancers and an orchestra will send the message home, but whatever works for the people who announced their alleged iPhone-wannabe in the worst day possible is good enough for us. [YouTube, thanks Jack]
Lighting
Kurage Fiber-Optic Chandelier Adjusts Brightness By Tweaking its Curves
This chandelier-ish lighting design, dubbed Kurage3, allows you to change its level of illumination by changing how curved a shape it makes. Simple science really: If you make it curve past the critical angle for the 1.5-mm fiber-optic, instead of shooting through the tube of glass, the light from an LED light source leaks out at the corners. It's a messy, organic-looking light fitting, which is how fiber-optic lighting should be, or so it feels to me... that way it'd fit into my organic-looking, messy home. It's from Schemata Studio, but there's no info on whether you'll be able to buy it for real. [Yanko Design]
htc diamond
HTC Diamond's Hidden Multitouch Revealed
If you're reading the back of the HTC Diamond's box, it doesn't show some little child laughing with glee as he pinches in and out of webpages or draws with two fingers at once, in fact, it doesn't even list multitouch as a feature at all. But just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. When using the program NavDbgTool, HTC's secret weapon is uncovered—the entire front case supports tandem touching: More »
Camcorders
Tropical Storm Fay from International Space Station Video Camera
The International Space Station was passing at exactly the right time and angle to take this beautiful travelling shot of tropical storm Fay, which is now increasing force over Florida threatening to become a hurricane and closing the Kennedy Space Center. From space, everything looks so calm and harmless. And nobody can hear you scream, which is a plus unless you are the moron who decided to kite surf in Miami using the storm winds, logically crashing against a wall (the following video may be to strong for the sensibility of most readers). More »
Intel
Intel Spills More Beans on Nehalem Microarchitecture at IDF
At the Intel Developers Forum Intel itself is turning the spotlight on the upcoming Nehalem chip microarchitecture. The chips will have integrated memory controllers built directly into the processor, as we mentioned before, which will allow three-times faster memory read-write speeds than previous generations. More »
Cases
Speck SeeThru iPhone 3G Hard Case is its Own Movie-Viewing Stand
Speck's See Thru Hard Shell case for the iPhone 3G is one of the few cases I've seen that makes me go "Oh, interesting" instead of "bah, nonsense." Firstly because it's simple, just snapping in two polycarbonate parts around the sides and rear of the phone, with rubberized grips so it doesn't slip out of your mitts. Secondly, when you've snapped it in two, one half remains snugly on the phone will the other half acts as a stand, perfect for impromptu movie-viewing. And that's just neat. It's in a variety of colors for $30. [Product page via Slipperybrick]
mower
The electric-sheep lawnmower may have tickled your fancy, but this Muwi concept mower from designer Yuli Sung will have you scratching your head. The concept's roughly the same as the sheep: It automatically assesses the grassy areas, and then cuts the lawn without supervision required. Cunningly, it grabs the grass cuttings inside where they won't lie around setting off people's hay-fever. But then it does something strange... it compacts the cuttings into toys. Scratching yet? The second image makes it clearer.
More »
Muwi Concept Lawnmower Turns Waste Grass into Playthings
The electric-sheep lawnmower may have tickled your fancy, but this Muwi concept mower from designer Yuli Sung will have you scratching your head. The concept's roughly the same as the sheep: It automatically assesses the grassy areas, and then cuts the lawn without supervision required. Cunningly, it grabs the grass cuttings inside where they won't lie around setting off people's hay-fever. But then it does something strange... it compacts the cuttings into toys. Scratching yet? The second image makes it clearer.
More »
Intel
Info on Intel's Dual-Core Atom 330 Processor Hits Internets
Last we'd heard about dual-core version of Intel's tiny Atom processor it was delayed through supply problems... but now info on Intel's Atom 330 dual-core has arrived. It's a desktop chip, with a 533MHz frontside bus and based on the 45nm process, though there's no info on its clock speeds yet. It'll be compatible with Intel's upcoming D945GCLF2 mini-ITX motherboard, a 945GX chipset/GMA 950 graphics chip board due in September, which is presumably when the 330 hits the streets too. As yet there's no news on a mobile version, bearing the letter N in its numeric title. [Reghardware]
Apple
iPhone Copy and Paste Between Applications Is Here, But Not from Apple
At last, iPhone copy and paste between applications. However, it doesn't come from Apple is here, but from MagicPad developer Zac White. Cali Lewis, the ever-smiling presenter at GeekBrief, got the scoop on his new OpenClip open-source framework, which will enable any developer to implement copy and paste between applications without violating Apple's developer agreement. More »
PCs
Fujitsu's iMac-Alike FMV Desktop Gets Upgrade, Bigger 19-Inch Version
We'd already drawn comparisons between Fujitsu's all-in one FMV F-A50 desktop PC and the design aesthetic of the iMac, and now Fujitsu have upgraded the range and added a 19-inch version to the range. The F-B70T even features a bigger "chin" beneath the 1440 x 900 screen, alongside a Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 running at 2.26GHz, with 2GB RAM, a 500GB hard-drive, integrated TV Tuner, webcam and wi-fi. The smaller 16-inch F-B50 has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T8100 ticking over at 2.1GHz with a 320GB hard-drive, and looks much the same as the original A50. There's no data yet on pricing or availability. [Akihabaranews]
Intel
Mystery Intel Tablet is Panasonic Toughbook for Medical Types
That mystery tablet PC that appeared at the end of Intel's presentation at IDF last night is no classmate, or super-powered Speak&Spell either: It's a Panasonic Toughbook-alike tablet. More specifically it's a "Mobile Clinical Assistant" device, aimed at doctors and nurses who are under an increasing burden of digital data and imagery nowadays, though there's not much more info available than that fact yet. Shucks... and there we were hoping for something a little more Classmate-y. [Ubergizmo]
Microsoft sidewinder
I don't know who's designing Microsoft's gaming hardware after their brief hiatus from the market, but they're insane, in the best possible way—they've actually got some inspired, unique form factors, besides a huge Vader hard-on. The first Sidewinder keyboard ever, the X6, has a macro/numberpad that'll dock on either side and takes the number of macros up to 90, plus it has gaming usuals like adjustable backlighting. The X5 mouse is a slightly less swank version of the previous Sidewinder.
More »
Gaming on the Death Star: Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard With Switchable Keypad and X5 Mouse
I don't know who's designing Microsoft's gaming hardware after their brief hiatus from the market, but they're insane, in the best possible way—they've actually got some inspired, unique form factors, besides a huge Vader hard-on. The first Sidewinder keyboard ever, the X6, has a macro/numberpad that'll dock on either side and takes the number of macros up to 90, plus it has gaming usuals like adjustable backlighting. The X5 mouse is a slightly less swank version of the previous Sidewinder.
More »
green power
Student Develops Cheap Power Turbine For Developing Nations
It's one thing to tinker in your garage to restore that old gas-guzzling muscle car that you think will get you some action. It's something entirely different to invent an electricity-generating wind turbine out of scrap parts that could revolutionize personal power in developing nations, especially if you're in college. Max Robinson has done just that, designing a turbine out of spare parts that costs less than $40 to build out of readily available parts and can power a home's lighting for up to two and a half days or a radio for over a day. No word on how long an OLPC would last. [Daily Mail]
iphone gaming
Exit's Neutron Multiplayer Gaming Platform Coming To iPhone
Exit Games has a multiplayer gaming platform, called Neutron, on PCs, mobile devices, game consoles, and BREW phones. It works across devices and hardware, so you can play someone on their PC via your handset. And now it's ready for the iPhone. Today it was announced that the Neutron system of social network-like gaming now has iPhone support, or will as soon as developers code for it. The iPhone, with its svelte shape and always-on connectivity, makes for a lust-worthy multiplayer gaming device, so this is really just the next logical step in being able to play games with your friend on the train from across the world. [Exit Games via Kotaku via BBG]
Console Wars
Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In Japan, Totally Sold Out
We just got word from Microsoft that the Xbox 360 is totally sold out in Japan, and that's just how they like it. Microsoft's console has been outselling Sony's Playstation 3 lately at a rate of almost 3 to 1, with the Xbox selling 28,116 last at the start of August while Sony sold only 10,705 PS3s. Nintendo beat both with over 41,000 Wiis, yet still has stock available. So we have to question, did Microsoft short Japanese stock on purpose just to claim "sold out" status? [Translation at Kotaku]
Rockets
The Inmarsat-4, or I4-F3 broadband satellite to its friends, is a big satellite. Almost as big as a double decker bus and with an unfurled solar wingspan as wide as a football field, it needed an appropriately big ride into space. And so it hitched onto a Proton Rocket, a 58m-high, 700-ton monster used for sat positioning since 1996, but before that, used in the 1960's to visit planets for scientific research and deliver parts of the International Space Station and Mir Space Station. The flight was perfect. [Baikonur Campaigns via BBC via io9]
Giant Cold-War Era Russian Proton Rocket Successfully Launches Giant Satellite Into Space
The Inmarsat-4, or I4-F3 broadband satellite to its friends, is a big satellite. Almost as big as a double decker bus and with an unfurled solar wingspan as wide as a football field, it needed an appropriately big ride into space. And so it hitched onto a Proton Rocket, a 58m-high, 700-ton monster used for sat positioning since 1996, but before that, used in the 1960's to visit planets for scientific research and deliver parts of the International Space Station and Mir Space Station. The flight was perfect. [Baikonur Campaigns via BBC via io9]
Windows Mobile
