Gadgets Comp

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 11:54PM Hey you, hot-shot movie cutter! Now that we’ve got your attention, have a look at this. Adobe’s research laboratory has been toiling away with a sophisticated interactive video-object manipulation system, which gives video editors all sorts of creative windows with next to no rendering lag. An After Effects demonstration shows an editor selecting the outside of a cab and typing “taxi” — once the text is imprinted on the vehicle, it stays on the car as it moves up and down the street. We know, you’re totally scratching your head trying to envision what we just said, so why not just head past the break and give it a look?Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.Read PermalinkEmail this82 CommentsFiled under: Misc. (Read the full post about ‘Video: Adobe dabbles in video-object manipulation’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 5:26PM We’re pretty sharp on the fairy dust market, and while it no doubt goes for a premium in certain parts of the world, there’s still a serious surcharge being added in here for transparency. Japan’s own Hario is catering yet again to the affluent among us with its Harion speaker set, which boasts a subwoofer, two mid-range drivers and a pair of acrylic tweeters — all encased in heat-resistant glass. Of course, the company is no stranger to pumping out exclusive glass-based kit and charging a wad for it, as this particular package will run customers a staggering 16 million yen, or just north of $168,000. (Read the full post about ‘$168,000 Harion speaker set crafted from heat-resistant glass, fairy dust’…)

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by Jacob Schulman, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 12:09PM Admit it. You’ve got an old GameCube from yesteryear laying around, and the slow economy (and fear for your life) is holding you back from running to your nearest brick-and-mortar to pick up a Classic Controller for your Wii. You know you want to play Super Mario 64 to work off that turkey, but you can’t justify laying out the cash. Fret not; YouTube user marcan42 has you covered, courtesy of a PIC18F4520 microcontroller and makeshift GameCube connector, along with a chopped off Nunchuk extension cord. Of course, you could just pick up a different model, but that would be way too easy. (Read the full post about ‘Man hacks GameCube controller for the Wii with tremendous effort’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 3:40PMSure, you can go out and get yourself a laptop right now that’ll go 12.5-hours strong, but what if your portable computer could nearly outlast your Aigo A215? While L’s mythical quad core lappie came close in theory, Mary Lou Jepsen’s (the former CTO at OLPC) startup is hoping to eventually create a machine that can last between 20 and 40-hours between charges. Pixel Qi is being pretty closelipped right now (and understandably so) about what exactly it has going on, but we get the idea the secret sauce is in a highly efficient display that will require far less power than traditional LCDs. The best part? We could see one of these longevous notebooks in the pipeline as early as 2 (Read the full post about ‘Pixel Qi conjuring up black magic technology for 40-hour laptops’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 3:40PMSure, you can go out and get yourself a laptop right now that’ll go 12.5-hours strong, but what if your portable computer could nearly outlast your Aigo A215? While L’s mythical quad core lappie came close in theory, Mary Lou Jepsen’s (the former CTO at OLPC) startup is hoping to eventually create a machine that can last between 20 and 40-hours between charges. Pixel Qi is being pretty closelipped right now (and understandably so) about what exactly it has going on, but we get the idea the secret sauce is in a highly efficient display that will require far less power than traditional LCDs. The best part? We could see one of these longevous notebooks in the pipeline as early as 2 (Read the full post about ‘Pixel Qi conjuring up black magic technology for 40-hour laptops’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 1:48PM “Cyber Monday.” You probably couldn’t pick a worse name for a day of conspicuous, retailer-defined consumerism, but you’re welcome to try. (Read the full post about ‘SanDisk slashes some prices for the weekend, heading into world’s worst-named Monday’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Nov 28th 2008 at 11:00PM Interestingly enough, a lot of the gripes you readers had with the original Rock Band were addressed by Activision in the rivaling Guitar Hero: World Tour (cymbals, anyone?), but we’re pretty sure the picky ones out there still have something to complain about. And seriously, when dropping upwards of $180 to $190 for the full-on band kit, you absolutely have a right to nitpick. Now that you’ve hopefully rocked through a few set lists, how are you enjoying things? Are the revamped / new instruments to your liking? Are the sensors accurate enough? Do you wish there was a freestyle mode in order to give real drummers free reign over what beats they play? (Read the full post about ‘How would you change Guitar Hero: World Tour?’…)

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If your love of cars isn’t being expressed quite enough in your current home décor, you might check out this alarm.  There have been other alarms similar to this one, but luckily this one is a little cheaper than the others I’ve seen.  If you’re on the lookout for a gift for a guy impossible to buy for and he has a love for cars this would be an easy gift to pick up.  I’m sure he’d get a kick out of waking up to the sound of a high-powered V8 engine. (Read the full post about ‘The Start Your Engines Alarm Clock’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Nov 29th 2008 at 1:55AMIt’s not often that you find a webcam that’s multifaceted, but Earth Trek’s webcam is just that. Dubbed the “hottest webcam” this world has ever seen (um, no), this unit packs a 1.3-megapixel camera, VGA capture abilities, auto focus / auto brightness and the real kicker, a 2-port USB hub. (Read the full post about ‘Earth Trek offers up VGA webcam with 2-port USB hub’…)

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Feeling gloomy about the state of the world ? You may think there isn’t much you can do about the monumental messes we’re in. But here’s something that could change things, really change things. Give the XO, this cute-as-a-bug green laptop, to a kid in the developing world. And there’s a terrific sweetener: the deal includes a second XO for the child of your choice, even if the child is you. Yes, once again this year the One Laptop per Child folks have come up with a give-one get-one pitch. This means you can buy not one but two cutting-edge small computers for less than the price of conventional laptops retailers are hawking at this time of year: just $399. (Read the full post about ‘Give One Laptop per Child, get an XO for your child–or yourself’…)

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