February 2012
20 posts
10 tags
Gesture Contols for Windows 7
I hadn’t seen this - video of how the gesture controls for Win 7 work. Its very cool…and just a little bit like a Jedi would use the force to work an operating system……
Research into soldiers using armed Avatar robots.
DARPA, one of the research arms of the Pentagon, are researching controllable, avatar like bi pedal armed robots that can be controlled remotely by US soldiers instead of them going into battle. *cough*skynet *cough*. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/darpa-sci-fi/
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Is Myspace coming back????
Myspace may be coming back. It is presently focusing on its band members who have used the site to post a *lot* of free music. I must admit, the free music and band promotion stuff on Myspace was very cool. Anyways, they say they have stopped losing members had have actually picked up membership
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Social media sites growth by registered users -...
Social media sites, growth by registered users: 2004 - 2012
Table shows growth by registered users, not unique visitors/traffic. Sources: Various Where multiple figures were available for any year, a mid year figure was used.
In short, Google + and Tumblr are doing well, Twitter appears to be doing well, though Twitter traditionally suffers from the register once, never return factor. This may...
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D800 Nikon - Officially released.
Reviewers have finally got their hands on the D800.
Quick details
It is full frame
36 megapixels
Live View
Better contrast autofocus
Bigger than the D700 (slightly taller)
Full HD 1080 Video
HDMI output
Cost is about $3000 USD, available in March.
Here’s a nice article from Gizmodo with lots of technical detail.
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The History of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is 25 this year.
Starting off as a obscure, basic, 8 bit chunky graphics game, it has grown to be one of the most well known games, with a reputation for great graphics, and has generated associated media including motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise.
Final fantasy pioneered a lot of roleplaying game aspects, now taken for granted. Technologically, it...
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Creepy Japanese Robot interacts with shoppers
Japan is of course at the forefront of Robot technology. As part of a Valentines Day promotion, a Japanese Dapartment store installed the a robot to interact with shoppers.
The Robot is very lifelike, capable of 60 expressions, and reacts to people around it. The robot is by Dr Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9TayMJ1pqzo
Hawaiian Internet tracking law pronounces dead.
Hawaiian state legislature were pushing for a law that would force ISPs to track users. ISP’s would have to see where users went, what they did there, track and record this, and then keep a dossier on each user.
This bill was not popular with civil rights groups.
Fortunately the main supported of the bill has admitted it is dead in the water.
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January 2012
5 posts
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Will Windows 8 kill the ipad?
Windows 8 is being seriously aimed at Tablets. Word on the ground is, its very good, will be a lot more touch capable than Win 7, and is very much designed with mobile tablets and phones in mind.
This could be the big clash between a full blown Operating System and the two Mobile OS’s - Android and iOS. If Microsoft get it right, it could be the end of Tablet specific operating systems.
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December 2011
21 posts
5 tags
An African Tablet????
Encipher, based in Nigeria, are releasing a 7 inch tablet. It is called the Inye, it is android based, designed by Encipher and manufactured in China.
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Website makes it difficult to steal cameras.
This website has made it very tricky(almost impossible) to steal Cameras! This is very cool!
When you take a pic, the camera keeps data about the settings (lens, focal length etc). I knew that much, but it also keeps the serial number/make model of the camera(which I didn’t realise). All this info is called the EXIF data. When you upload the pic to the Internet it uploads the info as...
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Using Twitter to Gauge the overall mood of the...
A team from the University of Vermont gathered 4.6 billion Twitter messages from Twitter’s 33 million users from around the world. Basically the idea is to do word searches on keywords like “happy” “sad” or “Laughter” in people’s posts and see what trends were resulting.
We’ve been a bit moodier in the last year and a half it seems, but major...
Solar Paint that produces Electricity
UNiversty of Notre Dame have produces power producing paint. Its nano technology, so power producing Nano tech particles are mixed in with the paint and generate power for the house.
It currently only converts 1% of the power, but they are aiming at 5%
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/74035.html
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News for your Mobile Device
Lots of news services are appearing for quick news to be read on your tablet or smartphone. Flipboard, FLUD and currents.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/12/google-to-flipboard-to-flud/
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Drum Machine T shirt from Think Geek
Think Geek Drum machine - and yeah, it says its washable!.
Video of some dude walking along the street doing hip hop with it. Looks fun, though not exactly inconspicuous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoXUkvA9ge4
More at:
http://thinkgeek.com/ebb1?cpg=yt
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IPad 3 is on its way
Ipad 3 is said to be making an appearance in February 2012. Unusually, rumours are that it will be thicker than the current Ipad.
http://www.itworld.com/231621/ipad-3-be-thicker-will-support-smart-cover-report
Flexible screen from Samsung
Not quite ready yet, (they say in 2012) but Samsung are working on a flexible screen and have released this concept video.
Interesting, and slightly confusing aspect of high quality concept videos featuring cutting edge technoloyg, and the level of CGI used in them is…. you can’t tell whats real and what is an effect. Hmmmm *scratches beard*
Links to article
Link to video
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Browser wars!
Chrome is closing in on Firefox. I’m sort of suprised by this, I had used Chrome only a year ago, and it really didn’t have much i nterest, and was severely hampered by a lack of add ons.
Now it has lots of fans, and is ever increasing in market share. I must admit, it was one of the first to get on board and work properly with HTML 5. And of course, it has Google behind it….
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New Tablets from Motorola revealed by Wired.
Motorola following up the Xoom with an 8 inch and 10 inch tablet.
Looks like Motorola are using what they have learnt from Their Razr phones and applied it to their Tablets.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/12/motorola-droid-xyboard-tablet/
Robot car that works like a fish
The autonomo concept is an AI piloted car that is designed to save space on our ever overburdened roadways.
It works like a school of fish, working in tandem with other cars (with other occupants) to move together like a school of fish in order to reduce congestion on the roads…using “swarm robotics”. It uses object recognition to it can get in close with other vehicles.
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Livejournal vs The Kremlin
In the west, we tend to see Livejournal as an old network we used to use, or somewhere to write fan fic. But in Russia, it is a mighty beast that threatens the fearsome Kremlin. So much so, the Government attacked it and took it down the day before the elections!
Go the mighty LJ!
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Technology/2011/12/04/Russian_bloggers_fume_as_LJ_attacked_692656.html
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Blackberry's Tablet - Playbook discounted to $200
In a sign that all is not well in RIM land (the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry) they have discounted their cheapest Tablets to just $200…a massive discount.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/17/blackberry-playbook-gets-massive-temporary-300-price-cut-in-ca/
Pinpoint Ad Agency: Google is planning a local... →
pinpointadagency:
A New Google Venture, and Another Web Boundary Line Is Nudged
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and NICK BILTON
Published: December 1, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO — In another foray into commerce, Google is working on a delivery service that would let people order items from…
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Androidland!
Melbourne now has an Androidland to rival the Mac shop. Its all things Android, in one shop. Its in the Telstra Flagship store on the corner of Bourke and Swanston, and has all sorts of Android products.
Plus the staff dispense free green slurpees!
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/12/a-walk-through-telstras-android-wonderland/
November 2011
36 posts
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Samsung 1 - Apple 0..Samsung can sell their 10.1...
The ban against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been lifted in Australia, and although Apple plans to appeal to a higher court, it looks like that is likely to be unsuccessful.
The judges basically decided that the ban on selling the 10.1 shoudn’t of been granted by the judge previously. The ban centred around infringements of the Apple Tab by Samsung.
This could be used as a precedent...
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Kindle Fire sales expected to go beyond what was...
Industry analysts are expecting Kindle Fire sales to triple what they had previously predicted, finally making some real competition in the Tablet market for the Ipad.
I always thought that many people, doing christmas shopping, would consider a Kindle as a pressie at $199, but Ipad is a *serious* present at close to $500.
Kindle is currently only available in the US.
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