Best Gadgets News

by Darren Murph, posted May 15th 2008 at 3:30PMRest assured, this won’t be the first or last time you hear of insects and mammals being used as inspiration for robotic creatures. Nevertheless, a recent MIT mechanical engineering course saw students craft bots that could handle “beaver-like tasks” such as “knocking down trees and gathering food in the form of street hockey balls” while fending off competitors in 45-second rounds. (Read the full post about ‘Beavers and bugs inspire robotic creations’…)

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With the deluge of budget airlines making their presence felt all over the world, no thanks to rising fuel and operating costs, it is nice to see a major airline continue to make profit without compromising on the quality of service. Singapore Airlines has just announced that it will be offering flights featuring iPod and iPhone connectivity on KrisWorld starting from yesterday. This privilege can be found on all newly reconfigured Business Class Airbus A340-500 flights between New York and Singapore, as well as routes between Los Angeles and Singapore from this August onwards. (Read the full post about ‘Singapore Airlines offer iPod and iPhone connectivity’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 15th 2008 at 4:35PMWhoops! Looks like Sumitomo President Hiromasa Yonekura was “misquoted” just a few days back, and there may actually not be any large OLED TVs churned out by the outfit in 2009. (Read the full post about ‘Sumitomo may not actually produce OLED TVs in 2009′…)

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Yahoo! may have thought the battle to keep Microsoft from buying the company was over, but it sounds like that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The latest round in the saga is being pushed by Carl Icahn who wrote a public letter to the Board of Directors of Yahoo! which includes Icahn’s slate for a new Board of Directors. Icahn has been making news over the last couple of weeks through his purchase of 59 million shares of Yahoo! and his desire to purchase US$2.5 billion dollars worth of Yahoo! stock.

Icahn takes a very sharp tone in his letter which accuses the Yahoo!

(Read the full post about ‘Icahn initiates proxy battle with Yahoo! over Microsoft bid’…)

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There is a social stigma that geeks can’t get chicks at all, or they have all the hottest ladies in tow - there is no middle ground. Drew Burrows has developed INBED - an infrared sensitive light projected virtual girlfriend. You will be able to interact with this 2D girlfriend, but she does have a fairly limited number of responses. A peck on the cheek when you slide into bed won’t get the response a hot blooded male would expect, as she’ll bury her face in the pillow instead. When you lie down on your side, she’ll casually move into a spoon position, cuddling up with you whenever you’re on your back. I wonder whether version 2.0 will feature a more raunchy version. (Read the full post about ‘INBED Virtual Girlfriend’…)

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If you were planning on picking up a few iPhones at an AT&T store you may have missed your window. Previously, AT&T had limited customers to three iphone in its stores but with iPhone inventories dwindling it seems AT&T has had to get a little more aggressive in the number of iPhones each customer can buy.

According to AppleInsider, AT&T will only allow one iPhone per customer at its company stores. The AT&T internal memo being reported on by AppleInsider further stated that iPhones will no longer be able to be purchased with cash or a check.

(Read the full post about ‘AT&T limits iPhones to one per customer’…)

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If you take tons of video, as I do, and want to send it to all the relatives, or are making funny YouTube videos to embarass your friends, then you’ll love this SmartCapture Lite ($99) which digitizes and compresses the data, making it simple to transfer to your PC or laptop. The size of a USB stick, SmartCapture Lite comes with its own playback software, weighs less than 0.3 oz. and does not require an external power source. By far the best feature is the one-click settings for popular Apple TV, ipod, iphone, Sony PSP, and more. High quality and low bitrate video make uploading videos to your favorite site easy. (Read the full post about ‘SmartCapture Lite - Tiny USB device captures and shares video’…)

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The uCan mp3 player from Ubana is yet another waterproof device to hit the market, giving swimmers (synchronized or otherwise) an additional method to relax while they’re busy cutting through the waves. It comes with 1GB of storage space in addition to 15 hours of playback time. You won’t be able to take this diving with you though, as it has a maximum working range of just 10 feet beneath sea level - any more than that and I believe the pressure will just crush the waterproof protection, rendering it useless. Good thing it floats up should it happen to slip off while you’re busy with your laps. (Read the full post about ‘Ubana uCan Wearable MP3 Player’…)

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Most, if not all toilets in Japan have built-in bidets, but how many of those you know are equipped with a remote control? Blooming Bidet has that added touch of elegance, allowing you to wield full control over the toilet including the water spray intensity and hot air aimed at your behind. I like the huge Stop button that ought to be easy enough to get things under control should you operate this while drunk. Flushing is automatic, hence the missing Flush button, but I would have liked to see a manual option. After all, some logs can be pretty stubborn when it comes to taking a ride down the sewer pipes. (Read the full post about ‘Blooming Bidet is Remote-Controlled’…)

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Considering the popularity of World of Warcraft and other MMO games, developers everywhere are trying to figure out how to make the gaming experience more real for the gamer. This is where devices like the jDome come in to play. As you can see, the jDome is a giant semispherical display that allows a gamer to see a semi-realistic 180 degree point-of-view of their player character. The jDome is made of a transparent material that allows images to be projected upon it. According to the picture, that projector must be placed at the height of a bookcase. I’m not certain why the jDome is set up for a person standing rather than sitting, but perhaps that is to make it more real. (Read the full post about ‘jDome Takes Gaming to the Next Level’…)

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