Now building a computer into a desk is, when you think about it, a pretty daft idea. Not only are you saying that you don’t need the flexibility of a laptop, but you’re saying you’ll always be using your PC wherever your desk is. But there’s something about the Art Deco design of Gareth Battensby’s Sync concept that has swayed me.
Last year ASUS released a motherboard, the P5E3, with an embedded compact Linux distro it called Express Gate. Basically a fast-boot alternative that, in just five seconds, bypassed Windows and gave you a web-browser, media player and other apps, it was developed by a company called DeviceVM (under the name Splashtop). ASUS were obviously pleased with how the mini-OS performed, as they’ve now decided to add Express Gate to all of their motherboards.
Over at our cellular site Phone Magazine we’ve reviewed a few touchscreen handsets promising haptic feedback, and always found them to be a bit underwhelming; generally they just vibrate a little whenever you tap the screen, rather than giving any sort of accurate feedback to where you’ve pressed. Japanese Broadcasting Corp (NHK), however, have come up with a true haptic touchscreen. Unlike the phones, which rely on a simple vibration motor, NHK’s display is made up of an array of tiny pins that physically press through to the user’s fingertips.
Audio-Technica Japan have unveiled their latest headphones, the ATH-EQ700, which pack retractable cables to avoid in-bag tangling. With an adjustable over-ear clip and positionable driver angles to suit different ear shapes, they have a frequency range of 14 - 24,000Hz and 22 ohms impedance. Of course the clever part is the cabling: the cord between the two earphones can extend to up to 50cm, while the main cable can pull out to 1m.
When camping one of the main essentials is a water bottle, not many leave without one. So its nice that a company decided to incorporate that with a bit of technology to make an easy portable light.
One of the first Intel Atom powered Mobile Internet Devices, the Aigo MID, has reached the hands of reviewers, and first impressions look good. Basically the same unit as Gigabyte’s M528, it packs a 500MHz Z500 processor and runs a Linux-based OS with the Midinux 2.0 GUI. In fact the guys at UMPCFever pay the Aigo perhaps the ultimate compliment: that in use it’s just like the iPhone experience.
Check out the video of the Aigo MID in action ater the cut
Many gamers have often dreamed of having their own arcade machine, however, there are many of us that either can’t handle the price, our significant others won’t let us or there just isn’t enough space. Well if you have space constraints then you definitely should stay away from this big boy.
One might think that a solar briefcase was pretty self explanatory. It’s a briefcase, with solar panels, however it is much more complex than that.
For those of you that haven’t discovered The Guild yet, now is a good time to catch up on the many videos on YouTube. This award winning online series is a humorous, and sadly a fairly accurate portrayal of guild roles in many MMOs. Alright, not entirely accurate, but my guild definitely has a Mom in it with screaming children in the background.
I’ve been waiting for the day that she starts leaving them places or keeps them in a small cage. Today The Guild released their season finale. They have ten different episodes, so those of you that haven’t seen them before will have a bit of catching up to do.
Home automation and media specialists VidaBox have released their latest touchscreen controller, a wall-mounted 12.1-inch display that runs Windows XP embedded and boasts a unique mounting design. The TOUCHCLIENT12 package consists of a “roughbox” that is fixed into the wall and the computer itself, which requires only two connections - 12V power and ethernet - and magnetically clips into the mount. Once installed, the system can either be used as part of a whole-house media and automation setup, using a centralised server, or can act as a standalone device running any software compatible with XP embedded.
