Gadgetstronics

Good news: You can still use your iPod to tune out the old people in your life. A new report in BioMedical Engineering OnLine concludes media players do not interfere with cardiac pacemakers, despite previous reports  — apparently based on a single incident of dizziness –to that end.

An FDA researcher measured magnetic fields produced by four different models of iPod and found that all were hundreds of times weaker than what would be necessary to flummox a pacemaker.

New Research Shows That IPods Do Not Interfere With Cardiac Pacemakers [Medical News Today]

Have you ever visited a website called JibJab.com? If not chances are you have probably seen one of their videos. JibJab.com has developed a technology which can take a photo of a anyone and animate it to talk, sing, dance and pretty much do anything. JibJab.com took their technology to the next level when they introduced “Starring You!“. Using an online interface you can import photos of your friends and family and actually insert them into short videos. Surely, an easy night of entertainment.Now a new piece of software allows you to not only animate people, but instead of a face “cut-out” like that offered on JibJab.com, the software animates the photo of a person within the photo you import into it. That software is PQ Talking Photo. You’ve got to love the title of a piece software that says what it does!

Selecting A Victim

PQ Talking Photo has a very easy to use interface and if you have a minimal amount of artistic ability, like myself, rest assure that you’ll be able to animate any photo within a couple of minutes. Now since we are talking about animating photos you can select your “victim” from three groups. You can also Import a new image from the software’s Home screen as well. On the Model Editor there is even an option to “Add Tooth”. When I first selected this I thought it would animate the photo while a big bucktooth came out of the person’s mouth. Actually, it should really say “Add Teeth” since this it what it actually does. This allows some teeth to be shown as the mouth is open to prevent the look of a big empty black spot in the mouth while the “victim” is animated.

If you want to select one of the pre-installed photos simply change the Edit Mode on the Home tab to “Script View” to select how you want to animate this photo. Of course, there’s probably a good chance you’ll want to import your own photos. To do this, simply click on the “Import image” button.

Making A “Victim” An Actor

You’ll probably be amazed as much as me how easy it is to animate someone in a photo. On the “Create My Actor” tab you simply take six dots on the screen and move them to facial locations as indicated by the example in “Step 2″. This tells the software where the eyes and mouth of the “actor” is so that they can be animated properly. Naturally, the best animation occurs if the photo is of the “actor” looking at you. Side profiles will not work. Upon clicking on “Let’s talk” on Step 3 you are taking back to the Home tab.

Now The “Magic Happens”

Your imported photo should now be displayed on the Home tab. To select how to animate your “actor” click on the “Script-View” button next to Edit Mode. Luckily the software already comes with “Scripts” already done. These scripts include songs and text related to wishing someone a happy birthday, father’s day or mother’s day. Other little goodies are included as well.

Of course, the “magic” is in the fact that you can import other sounds including scripts or songs. Sounds must be in MP3 format. Once the sound is loaded you may have to modify some of the animation. You can do this using the “Expression Group”” and the “ScriptEditor” feature at the bottom of the page. This is very similar to editing videos in video editing software. You can also preview your work at any time using the player underneath the photo. The good news is that if the sound you import is pretty clean then the animation may not need any touch up at all.

A Gift Is Something You Share

Now animating a “victim” wouldn’t be fun if you couldn’t share it right? So, the software allows you to send your creation to anyone you choose using the Share my Talking Show tab. You simply enter your email address and the name of your show. If you want to simply save the “Talking show” for later you can do that as well.

Before you share your “Talking show” you can select whether you want it for Public or Private viewing. Once uploaded your web browser will open and show a list of all of the “Talking shows” you have listed under your email address. If you’d like to share any of these shows you can simply email the person the link next to the “Talking show” you’d like to share.

Summary

This is the ultimate prank software and it is one kids will enjoy to watch. I know my kids have loved watching themselves within the JibJab.com movies I can only imagine how they’ll react seeing themselves singing songs or talking like “Rocky” within their very own photo. A free “lite” version of the technology is available on the PQDVD.com website. The fully downloadable software is actually free with the purchase of the PQ DVD to iPod Video suite for US$39.95.

Get more information about PQ Talking Photo at the PQDVD.com website.

Posted Jan 31st 2008 5:28PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
When we forced the TiVo HD and Series3 to go mano-a-mano back in October of last year, we had a sneaking suspicion that the latter was actually no longer being produced. Fast forward (har) three months, and sure enough, it seems that the end really is nigh for the Series3. According to TiVo Lovers (who heard directly from DVRupgrade), TiVo is accelerating the EOL (end of life) of the Series3 and “focusing all efforts on the recently launched, lower cost TiVo HD.” Apparently, the firm managed to sell through oodles of Series3 boxes over the holidays (thanks in large part to a sizable rebate-based promotion), and rather than searching for creative ways to solve the “continued component shortage,” TiVo is reportedly choosing to nudge potential customers in the direction of the TiVo HD. Granted, we’d still take this with a (light) dose of salt for the time being, but don’t be shocked to see Series3 stock start dwindling in the coming weeks.

[Via TVSquad, thanks Brad L.]

Posted Jan 31st 2008 12:22PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Wireless
There was a brief, tense pause in the bidding this morning, but some anonymous giant telecom company (Google, perhaps?) has just pushed the price of the 700MHz C-block over the FCC’s reserve price of $4.6B — and the rest of us straight into the promised land of open access. Yep, January 31, 2008, Round 17 will be the day to remember — to think it was all a dream, we used to read Free Spectrum magazine.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Posted Jan 31st 2008 12:13PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: CellphonesWe’re getting reports from all over that AT&T customers are having trouble with 3G and EDGE data. A majority of the complaints are coming from the Midwest / Chicago areas, where things seem to be down entirely, but we’ve also heard from folks as far away as Florida. Team Engadget hasn’t hit any snags in New York or Vegas where we’re currently situated, but let us know if you’re having troubles wherever you might be — and what color crayon to use for this fancy “threat level” printout we’ve got pinned to the wall.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

What looks like a normal pen at the first sight, ends up being an audio recording pen. Since it is made for spies and all the wanna-be’s, the device is well cloaked and not even a FBI agent could work with it.

Taking in consideration the background noise when you are recording, there are 3 sound-sensitivity levels that can be changed in order to have the best quality possible. On the other hand, one of the most important features which is the internal memory, has capacity for 128MB, or in other words - 9 hours of high quality audio content.

As for the battery life, 12 hours when recording or 8 hours in playback mode.

Product Page

Priced at 149, approximately $296.

I’m not too sure whether anyone misses their notebook’s touchpad whenever they’re sitting in front of a PC, but apparently Sanwa thinks so with its new peripherals that come in wired and unwired varieties. Both of them feature a full keyboard complete with a touchpad at the bottom, just like your regular notebook to feel at home. No idea on how much this costs though, but I can’t see myself picking one up anytime soon or even in the near future.

ABBA (not the Swedish band) has just released its CL-168, a water-powered calculator that does away with the need for batteries or fuel. It comes with an 8-digit display and an ergonomic design. I wonder, assuming water could be harnessed to light up the display, it would do much better than any solar-powered calculator to date. No idea on how much this costs though.

Plants, just like humans, require oxygen in order to survive. While they release oxygen during the day whenever the process of photosynthesis occurs, they do require oxygen when there is no sunlight. Why not give them the very best with the ENKI Super O2 Watering System?

Grow greener, bigger and brighter plants with this unique watering system! The Enki Super O2 water system super-oxygenates water, so your plants produce more flowers and blooms than those watered with regular tap water.

Marketing gimmick or the real deal? At $99.95, it had better work or I want my money back.

After years searching for the perfect pointing device, did it ever strike you to wonder, "Hey, I know what we need. Inflatable mice!"

Designed by Bongkun Shin, Heungkyo Seo, Jiwoong Hwang and Wootiek Lim, the translucent plastic bags are given the breath of life in literal fashion. "As a bonus, it’s a total floaty," writes Yanko Design’s Long Tran.

Personally, I believe human interface devices are like family members: they really shouldn’t be taking care of one’s sexual needs in addition to their standard uses.

Blow-up Mouse [Yanko Design]