Its Electronica

Posted Mar 9th 2008 3:35PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: cellphones

Finally, iphone owners no longer have to mope around with a feeling of shame and embarrassment in their hearts: AT&T has blessed them with an “unlimited” calling plan. That’s right, if you so desire (and you do so desire, don’t you?), you can latch a $119.99 all-you-can-eat plan onto your super-device. Sure, it looks peachy, until you notice that despite your “unlimited” status, you still only get a measly 200 text messages, which is like a three-course steak dinner with no dessert. At least you’ll never again have to end a conversation with Mom because you’re worried about overages — though you’ll want to keep a close watch on those SMSs, since the prices seem to be constantly heading skyward.

[Thanks, impuLsive]

Dassault Systèmes invites the general public to join Fuchs in this charity race for Sports Without Borders via an Facebook application: virtual runners will be assigned 3D photorealistic avatars generated from 2D portraits and will select virtual running environments from a photo library. Once these steps completed, virtual runners will receive a video of their virtual run.

They can also build support for Sports Without Borders by inviting Facebook friends to participate, which will result in the creation of a solidarity chain linking all friends’ videos in a single virtual relay. Dassault Systèmes will feature the longest and zaniest relays in its Virtual Relay Hall of Fame on the dedicated mini-website, as well as a real-time counter of virtual (and real) kilometers run.

The kilometers run by virtual participants will be added to those run by Fuchs, and Dassault Systèmes will contribute accordingly to Sports Without Borders’ efforts to improve the living conditions of children in Latin American, Africa and Asia with athletic programs. Dassault Systèmes’ partnership with this dynamic NGO will leverage the universal appeal of 3D solutions in order to build awareness and support of Sports Without Borders’ projects internationally.

To follow or participate in the “Virtual Plus Reality Challenge”, please visit: www.3ds.com/VplusR

Posted Mar 9th 2008 7:08AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Storage

Samsung promised it was coming in March, and here she blows. The Spinpoint M6 is the first standard-height 500GB 2.5-incher available, at a lean 9.5mm, meaning you can cram it into most existing laptops unlike the 2.5-inch 500 giggers from Fujitsu and Hitachi. Samsung’s using some Perpendicular Magnetic Recording tech to cram everything in, stuffing three 167GB platters into the 5400rpm drive. The M6 goes for $299 and is shipping now. If DVD burning is more your pace, Samsung also just announced an “industry fastest” 22X DVD burner, the SH-S223. The SATA drive can stamp a 4.7GB disc in 12 minutes, and does dual-layer discs at a respectable 16X. No word on price yet for that one.

At last week’s Apple event, Steve Jobs went over the SDK release and how they hope to manage it.  Job’s lightly reviewed reasons Apple would reject an iPhone application; things like privacy concerns, content, or interfering with their business plan.  Somehow, Sun believes they’ll build a Java version for the iPhone.

According to InfoWorld, Java is planning on running the Java Virtual Machine on the iPhone.  However, according to the iPhone SDK documentation, the use of plug in architecture isn’t allowed.  It will be interesting to see how Sun works around this.

From InfoWorld:

Sun came to the conclusion it could make a JVM work on the iPhone after taking 24 hours to look at information on Apple’s SDK. Sun saw nothing in the public statements preventing the JVM from being one of the applications enabled on the iPhone, said Klein. Apple released the SDK in conjunction with the beta release if its iphone 2.0 software; the general release of iPhone 2.0 is scheduled for June.

From the quotes used, attributed to Sun officials and analysts, they seem to forget Apple has complete control over the apps and absolute control over what gets on (unjailbreaked, at least).

Read [InfoWorld] via [Ars Technica]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

Lavalamp Phone Charm

You can have this for ?5.95

My wife has a MacBook that I borrow from time to time. Now and then when I’m using it while plugged into the wall I’ll accidentally unplug the MagSafe power adapter. It’s really not a big deal, as it pops back into place rather easily. My wife, however, hates it when she knocks it out. I don’t really understand this obsession with having the plug stay in at all times, but at least I’ve found a simple gadget that will prevent it from happening in the future.

This is one of those things that you know the company that designed it will make a small fortune. It’s a simple piece of plastic that probably costs peanuts to make, yet provides a function that tons of people are going to want. You just plug it into the neighboring USB port, and it keeps your MagSafe adapter in place until you’re really ready to take it out. It’s cheap too, just $11.99.

Source: CrunchGear

Posted Mar 9th 2008 11:38AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. gadgets

Keeping with the Tangent tradition, the Quattro Mk 2 looks an awful lot like most every other tabletop radio the outfit cranks out. Nevertheless, this particular iteration pays no mind to DAB and focuses its attention on providing access to a smorgasbord of internet radio stations. Aside from featuring both integrated WiFi and an Ethernet port, you’ll also get WPA2 security support, FM tuning capabilities, a backlit LCD, a headphone jack and a auxiliary port for connecting DAPs / PMPs. Word on the street has the walnut and black models selling now for £179.95 ($362), while the glossy red and white versions demand an extra £20 ($40).

[Via Tech Digest]

Plug and Play Snowboarder
Yo dude, the powder's up. Forget consoles, now you can hop into a virtual pipe, like, for real.

You can have this for ?39.95

Pico Z Micro Helicopter

Picco Z Remote Controlled Helicopter The Picco Z is the perfect gift for all kids (big and small)…From Age 6 - 60, This is the kind of toy your dad say’s is stupid but secretly he’s playing with it while your asleep (thats why the batteries are always flat!) This fully operational, crash-resistant Picco Z helicopter is perfect for indoor aerial action and comes ready to fly, with take-off, hover and left/right functions providing enough manoeuvres to make Torvil & Dean dizzy.

 About The Picco Z  The inexpensive Picco Z is remarkably robust, made of tough expanded Polypropylene foam, features a brilliant blue LED strobe light allowing fantastic flights in the dark, and incorporates an auto stability system to make this easy to operate both indoors and outside in calm conditions.  

Picco Z has 2-channels, infrared control allows for left, right, up and down movement Picco Z is small in size which provides agility and speed Picco Z 3 selectable frequencies let you fly up to 3 Picco Z helicopters at once Picco Z Includes  1 Picco Z Remote Controlled Helicopter 1 Picco Z Transmitter 2 x Spare Propellers for the Picco Z Picco Z requires 6 x AA Batteries

Technorati Tags: Toys 4 Boys

Earlier this year we raved about the FPS Gaming Vest that punches you when you get shot, well if you don’t fancy being punched there is now an alternative, Mindwire V5 gives you physical feedback by way of electric shocks.

History of the Mindwire V5

“How much better would games such as Mortal Kombat or Streetfighter be if you were ELECTROCUTED each time you were hit!”

Sudenly there’s something to play for. Watch your opponent squirm as you beat him to a pulp, and fear every one of your opponents blows as you know its going to do a lot more than make your little animated character full backwards…

The Mindwire V5 works by connecting electrical pads to your body these then deliver a mild (we hope) shock when playing games. It has a ‘dumb dumb’ mode for existing games (reacts to the force-feedback signal) and offers other ’special’ features for specially designed games.

You can find more information and buy online for £99.99 (~$200) from the Mindwire V5 site [via The Sun].