Gadgetstronics

Everyone knows that computer motherboards tend to generate a whole lot of heat, so why not harness all the heat generated to push coolers which will then keep the system cool for better performance? This sounds like a novel idea, where MSI has come up with the ECOlution motherboard in order to harness the power of heat, transforming it into kinetic energy that will then power the chipset’s cooler. I guess this is a pretty automatic solution, because when the motherboard is cooled down enough, the cooler won’t have any more kinetic energy from heat and stop functioning until it is hot enough inside again. Hopefully the accessory on the motherboard won’t generate too much noise.

Thanks to a new program, the homeless in San Francisco, California will have an important tool to be able to get back on their feet. The new tool will be life-long voicemail accounts and phone numbers given to any homeless person in the city courtesy of Google.

The program, which is expected to start soon, will give homeless people a permanent, local voicemail phone number that can be accessed by any phone. This could prove useful if a homeless person needs to list a phone number on a job application or if he or she needs to receive important medical information from clinics.

According to Google senior project manager Craig Walker, “We’re firm believers in the power of technology to improve the daily lives of individuals and communities as a whole, and we recognize that access to phone and voicemail services is one way that Google can help San Francisco’s homeless stay connected with family, friends, social workers, health care providers, and potential employers.”

Read more at MSNBC.

The Peed/Storm Trojan dominated the top of the list at 16.88 percent of total detections, a strong resurgence given its absence from the January Top 10 Malware List. The “popularity” of the Windows WMF vulnerability decreased as viruses using its signature only accounted for 5.33 percent of total detections.

1. Packer.Malware.NSAnti.K 37.07%
2. Trojan.Peed.Gen 16.88%
3. Exploit.Win32.WMF-PFV 5.33%
4. BehavesLike:Trojan.Downloader 5.21%
5. Win32.Netsky.P@mm 3.36%
6. Win32.Parite.B 2.93%
7. Win32.NetSky.D@mm 0.92%
8. Win32.Netsky.AA@mm 0.88%
9. Win32.Nyxem.E@mm 0.69%
10. Trojan.Pandex.G 0.65%

The list was provided by BitDefender

The much hyped merger of Satellite radio providers XM and Sirius has stalled, and the deadline is looming. The original deal was struck on February 19, 2007 and the termination date is Saturday. Sirius is desperate for the merger but regulators have still not approved the plan. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said he expects the boards of both companies to meet to extend that deadline. The DOJ seems to be stuck on the question of whether the merger would result in a monopoly. The answer to most is no, given that most satellite radio usage happens in cars, where DVD players, iPods, and free radio are also options. Since February 20, 2007, Sirius shares have fallen 22% to $3.05, while XM shares have sunk 15% to $13.13.

Read [Reuters]

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This little case-mod is so sweet it almost seems that the parts were made for each other. Mark Irwin took a Dremel to an old 35mm slide viewer, adding two speakers into the capacious case to make a standalone, slot-in media center for an iPod Nano. A quick Google reveals that this was indeed a match made in retro-heaven:

ipod Nano – Width: 2.06 inches

35mm Slide Mount – Width 2 inches

With 1970’s manufacturing tolerances taken into account, that amounts to exactly the same size.

At the risk of gushing, this is probably one of the neatest, smartest little DIY projects I’ve seen. Plus, it has Zoolander in it.

Upgrade Your iPod Nano’s Screen The Retro Way [Retro Thing]

Ah, the Lexus - a sign to the world that you’ve arrived. Amerigon Incorporated has just announced that its proprietary Climate Control Seat (CCS) will be making its way as an optional feature in the front seats of the all new 2008 Lexus LX 570 premium luxury utility vehicle. According to Amerigon President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R. Coker, the CCS prides itself in being the only actively heated and cooled seat system on the global automotive market. This allows the driver and front seat passenger to individually heat or cool their seat for comfort in any climate. Man, I could definitely make do with such a seat in my beat up vehicle, combating the colds of winter as well as the sweltering summer heat at the touch of the button.

Coker went on to say further, “This is a completely redesigned Lexus model, and we are proud to be included in such a high-profile vehicle. We believe the fact that Lexus has engineered our CCS system into one of its most advanced and innovative vehicles is a validation of the strength of our technology. We consider this another milestone in our long and fruitful relationship with Lexus and Toyota.”

The CCS system was developed around Amerigon’s highly-efficient, solid-state thermoelectric device and is completely independent of the automobile’s heating and air conditioning system. In addition, it does not reduce power available to the engine so you can continue with your mountain climbs and overtaking vehicles on the slow lane with ease without suffering from the lack of fresh horses. Not only that, CCS is environmentally friendly as there is no emission of CFCs or other gases for Greenpeace activists to trail your luxury vehicle. How does it work?

Air is forced through the heat pump in the CCS system and thermally conditioned in response to electronic switch input from the seat occupant. The conditioned air circulates by a specially designed fan through ducts in the seat cushion and seat back, so that the surface can be heated or cooled. Each seat has individual electronic controls to adjust the level of heating or cooling. CCS substantially improves comfort compared with conventional air conditioners by focusing the cooling directly on the passenger through the seat, rather than waiting until ambient air cools the seat surface behind the passenger.

Press Release

Back in November, Verizon Wireless announced that the company was opening its network to “any device, any network” in an effort to gain a competitive advantage. Verizon Wireless had termed this move as its Open Development initiative. As a result, the company announced it would offer the first version of the technical specifications for open devices at its Open Development Device Conference on March 19.

The specifications offered will be used by Verizon Wireless for device certification. Verizon Wireless hopes to also begin matching application developers with device manufacturers to encourage adoption of open applications in the next few weeks. The conference on March 19 in New York City will consist of a single day focused on the goals and standards of the initiative followed by a day of one-on-one visits between the Verizon Wireless Open Development team and conference attendees and developers. A webcast of the conference will also be available for those who can’t attend at the Verizon Wireless website.

You would have to guess that the reason behind Verizon Wireless’ Open Development initiative is to take advantage of press coverage enjoyed by the the new open initiative being launched by Google and its Open Handset Alliance. It seems clear that devices running the Android operating system will be welcomed by Verizon Wireless with open arms based on their initiative. That’s not bad timing for Verizon Wireless and gives the appearance that the company is “leading edge,” though admittedly some carriers have argued that the network has been open for some time now.

Read more from the Verizon Wireless press release.

Posted Feb 29th 2008 4:53AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Gaming
Sony, we know you’re trying hard, which is why we think it must sting all the worse when you wake up to sales figures like this. According to a report, the Wii outsold PS3s in Japan 4-to-1 in the month of February, and its games dominated bestseller lists. What does that look like in cold, hard numbers? Nintendo moved 331,627 consoles over the month, while Sony only managed 89,131 units in the same time. But wait, there’s more: in January, the ratio was 3-to-1, which means that Nintendo’s lead seems to be growing as the year moves forward. Still, Sony could have it worse, the Xbox 360 only scraped up a paltry 14,079 Xbox 360 sales in that same span of time.

In a novel use of RFID technology, researchers are using the tracking chips to get new insights into the behavior of bees.

The experiment is being done at Queen Mary, University of London, where hundreds of bees have been fitted with the chips. A number of the chip reading devices have been set up around their hives and in artificial flowers in a bid to get the most accurate information ever recorded about their behavior.

Co-investigator on the project, Dr. Nigel Raine, said:

Previously we would use number plates to identify bees but it is error prone and would need someone sitting near each flower to visually identify each bee, limiting us to a very simple experiment … RFID allows us to carry out experiments on a much larger scale, using RFID to monitor multiple individuals at the same time. The technology is really helping us to do a lot more.

Information the researchers hope to glean from the experiment is how the bees pick routes to flowers and how they use foraging pheromones. The experiment also extends to the Arctic where some tracking is also being carried out.

Read more at Silicon.com.

Matthew’s Opinion

RFID was viewed quite negatively when it first started to appear due to the tracking issues it introduced. People were afraid the tags would be used to track your every move, offering better marketing feedback, but also removing privacy. Those fears are not gone, but have faded into the background of late, and this experiment does show a very positive aspect of the tech.

The article goes on to say that if the experiment can figure out how bees pick efficient routes between flowers and home, then it may come in useful for the tech industry. More specifically, it could form a new way to choose efficient routes for data to travel over a network.

In another round of Verizon Loves/Hates consumers, we have the new AirCard/smartphone data plans that are being announced on March 2nd in the spotlight. With Verizon having announced their unlimited calling plans and also details about their new “Open Network” to be set loose later this year, they looked like they were becoming more user-friendly. Well, that’s changed with this most recent event.

Beginning March 2, the newly-announced data plans for smartphones and AirCards are now beinging advertised as 5GB per month for $59.99, the same price as before. But this time, it has a catch that shoots them in the foot multiple times: if you go over your 5GB limit, each megabyte afterwards is 50 cents. So even if you go to 5,121 megabytes, you’ll be paying $60.49. We knew there were going to be tradeoffs in the good/bad Verizon ordeal, but did they really have to keep it the same? All you out there who’d like truly unlimited data, check out Sprint with their EVDO cards. Unfortunately for those like me who’s only EVDO Rev. A provider is Verizon and were getting ready to buy an AirCard, you’ll be stuck with the new plan.

No word on if you’ll be able to keep your old terms of service on your existing data plan, though.

Via [MobileBurn]

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