Gadgetstronics

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 12:45PM
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is about to join an extremely short list of space tourists, according to reports. The search engine-kingpin just dropped a $5 million dollar “investment” on the company Space Adventures, which all but guarantees him a seat on the outfit’s next flight in 2011. The trip aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket will take Brin to the ISS in the first-ever private flight to the station (Ubuntu head Mark Shuttleworth has made the trip, though not on a private mission). The company stresses that the ride will be less about tourism and more about commercial exploration, with passengers bringing aboard experiments and taking part in flight operations. Now the only riddle left to solve is whether the last Cylon is Brin or Bezos.

[Via Gear Diary]

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Filed under: Transportation

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 3:14PM We’ve already seen plenty of official pics and videos of Voodoo’s pricey new Omen desktop, but if you’ve been hankering to know what’s going on under its shiny hood you can now get your fix courtesy of Pocket-lint, which has cracked one open and snapped a couple of pics. Not surprisingly, the Omen’s insides are decided more cluttered than its minimalist exterior, not to mention considerably more brightly colored. Hit up the link below for a closer look.

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Filed under: Desktops

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 5:46PM
For sale:

One brand new autonomous Ford Escape Hybrid. Low miles, driven only to the showroom. Prototype version created by Virginia Tech researchers finished in third place at the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge. Utilizes Torc’s ByWire XGV drive-by-wire system; to be made available as a research platform in the field of robotic vehicles. Let it drive you off the lot today, $89,000 OBO.

[Image courtesy of CNET]

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Filed under: Transportation

SanDisk, a company that makes flash memory and MP3 products, announced this week that it has acquired MusicGremlin, which develops advanced digital content distribution technologies. SanDisk plans to place its new acquisition beneath its Sansa audio/video business unit.

MusicGremlin was first founded back in 2003 and in 2006 launched the MG-1000 Wi-Fi digital audio player. The company’s co-founder and co-CEO, Robert Khedouri, will join SanDisk’s Sansa business unit as vice-president of services. MusicGremlin’s intellectual portfolio includes direct-to-device and other wireless distribution technologies.

Since Khedouri will be the vice-president of services on the Sansa team, one can assume that Sansa is going to use the MusicGremlin technology to offer wireless content delivery services for Sansa MP3 players. That’s not a bad idea since it sounds like the next phase of organic growth for SanDisk will be in services. Previously, SanDisk has focused on flash memory products and MP3 players. Expanding services on top of those products will round out the company’s assets nicely.

Read more from the SanDisk press release.

Moog synthesizers have been around since the early 70’s. You’ve heard them on countless songs and you may have even played one yourself. They’re iconic instruments that have been used by everybody from Geddy Lee to Trent Reznor.

In the 90’s, Moog Music went out of business, but re-emerged in 2001 under the helm of the company’s founder Robert Moog once again. They have been churning out top-of-the-line synthesizers ever since. Today, they’ve moved into a market that they helped to innovate in the 80’s with the first keytars. That’s right, Moog is making guitars now.

It’s pretty innovative, too. The Moog Guitar Paul Vo Edition has five different sound modes, designed to give the player a wide range of possibilities to play. The most touted mode is the infinite sustain, which allows players to hold a note on every note and at every position.

Other modes include controlled sustain, mute mode, harmonic blends, and the Moog Filter which lets you, as the Moog Music website explains, “control the frequency of the built-in, resonant Moog ladder filter using the foot pedal or a CV Input“.

This beast of a guitar also includes strings that possess a particular metallurgy that go specifically well with the pick-ups designed for it. Watch the video to see a group of musicians (including Lou Reed) get some face-time with the US$6495 wunderguitar.

Read more at Moog Music, found via Wired

AOL has this week launched a new revenue-sharing platform that allows programmers to make money by developing Open AIM applications.

Open AIM is AOL’s bid to allow developers access to its AIM codebase. By doing so it hopes to encourage more applications to be created that form plug-ins and web applications using AIM and extending the number of users the company has access to.

With the introduction of this new revenue-sharing program, called AIM Money, AOL are adding another incentive to developers. The revenue comes from the adverts shown alongside your AIM application. The more popular your application is, the more adverts get displayed and the more money you (and they) can make.

Joanna Shields, President, AOL People Networks commented:

Through Open AIM we’ve empowered Web developers to leverage real-time messaging to enhance the way users interact with their products and services … AIM Money is now giving them a way to easily monetize their applications as they continue to develop new and innovative AIM-based Web experiences.

Integrating AIM Money into your applications is simple. Just visit the AIM Money web page, register for your Ad Code and add them as directed into your app. Then just sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in via a PayPal account.

Read more at TimeWarner.com, found via ZDNet UK

Matthew’s Opinion
There’s few greater incentives to get people to work on your platform than offering them money. Create a popular AIM app, copy a bit of code into your codebase and hopefully make a decent return. They couldn’t of made the process more simple, it just relies on your ability to code something people will like.

The program went live in March when Open AIM 2.0 was released, but has only now come online due to AIM 6.8 being released that includes the open interface. I’m sure some developers have been dying to get this functionality in as they already have popular apps. Others may see this as an opportunity to warrant looking at Open AIM and seeing if it’s worth the effort.

The big winner is always going to be AOL in this situation, however. They also receive ad revenue from your efforts as well as more functionality for free and possibly more users on their network.

Sky, Pantech & Curitel’s sub-brand, has just released of its customizable phone called SKY IM-U300K. This clamshell handset features a 2.2-inch QVGA display at 320 x 240 resolution, a 2 mégapixel external camera and a 3 megapixel internal camera, and a DMB Tuner. As an additional features include can play videos and MP3 files, runs on GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) network with HSDPA (3.6Mbps) support, and 8 LED for animation.
[ Source ]

The initial news about Voodoo’s upcoming Envy notebook did not reveal much information concerning the components. We knew it would use a 13.3-inch display, like the ThinkPad X300 and macbook air, and that there would be an SSD option, but details were sparse. By visiting VoodooPC.com you can now find the complete specifications for the system from a PDF.

CASING
- Carbon fiber with custom micro-weave design

DIMENSIONS
- 12.65 inches x 9.04 inches x .70 inches
- Weight starting at: 1.53Kg = 3.373 lbs. (with SSD & battery)

PROCESSOR
- Intel Centrino Processor Technology featuring Intel Core 2 Duo
processor SP7700 (1.8 GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
- Intel Centrino Processor Technology featuring Intel Core 2 Duo
processor SP7500 (1.6 GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)

DISPLAY
- 13.3″ WXGA High-Definition Widescreen LED Backlit Display (1280×800)
- Ambient light sensor

USER INTERFACE
- Large touchpad with multiple finger tracking, supporting chiral scrolling,
pinch and momentum gestures
- LED backlit Keyboard
- Proximity sensor for touchpad disable

GRAPHICS
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (shared)

HDD
- 64GB Solid State drive or 80G HDD 4200RPM

EXTERNAL ODD
- ID coordinated
- External slot-load eSATA Super Multi drive
- Dual format DVDRW, including both +R and -R in double layer: 24X CD
Read/ 24X CD-R Write/ 24X CD-RW Write/ 8X DVD Read/ 8X DVD+R/R/RW
Write in single layer, 6x dual layer. 5X DVD-RAM Read and Write.

NETWORKING & WIRELESS
- Integrated Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
- Bluetooth
- Voodoo Aura PowerConnect – 56W AC Power, plus integrated
802.11b/g wireless personal access point + RJ45

EXPANSION
- 34mm ExpressCard
I/O PORTS
- Video: HDMI video port (max resolution 1920×1080)
- Audio: Headphone out shared with Microphone in
Digital array microphone with beam-forming and noise
cancellation capability
- 2 speakers
- Additional I/O: DC
1 x USB 2.0
1 x e-SATA / USB 2.0 combo

POWER
- 3-Cell, 33 Whr Lithium ion polymer, user replaceable
- Up to 3 hr 45 min battery life, depending on usage
- 56W AC Power (Voodoo Aura PowerConnect)

So what can we take from all that? The biggest point is that the Envy uses the same low-power processor as the Air and X300. These are the undersized 65nm Intel processors that are said to have a TDP of 20W instead of the standard 35W. This makes the SP7700/SP7500 ideal for very slim notebooks where extra heat could really detract from the user experience.

Other notable features include the use of a meager 80GB hard drive if you don’t opt for the SSD, the use of eSATA which is great to see, and also a 3-cell battery that, from the looks of it, it not expandable. Voodoo puts the battery life at close to four hours, but we’ll see how long it actually lasts. Four hours would put it in the ballpark of the X300 and Air, but if this actually turns into three hours of real-life use, or less, it will drive away buyers. Unlike the X300, they could not fit an optical drive in the system, so there is an external option.

More information is available at VoodooPC.com

If you’re looking for a cheap digital audio player as a gift to a kid, perhaps the Sony NW-E020F will do nicely. This is a Disney-themed mp3 player that takes the minimalist route, going about its duty queitly and without much fuss. Available in 1GB or 2GB capacities, the Sony NW-E020F is compatible with MP3, WMA, and AAC audio file formats. The 1GB model will retail for approximately €50 while the 2GB version is going for €55 - the price difference is so minimal, I don’t see any reason not to purchase the 2GB one.

I read this tip on BoingBoing gadgets and thought it must be a very early (or very late) April Fool gag. But no — it works. An unknown coder at Google has built Konami’s famous cheat code into the Google Reader. Hit the right combo and you’ll a cute little ninja pops up in the feed list to the left. Try it:

↑↑↓↓←→←→BA

That’s my day wasted. I’m going to spend the next few hours entering up, down, left, right, Y, B, X, A into Twitter to see if I can get a “Turbo” edition which will stay online for more than five minutes.

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A: Google Reader does Konami code [BBGadgets]