Panasonic’s Art Nouveau Phone Concept Is Pure Eye Candy July 06, 2007
09 Jul
Posted by admin as Technology
Writer Mary Robinette Kowal has done a semi-steampunk mod on her laptop, calling it “The Kowal Portable Typewriter and Adding Machine.” And, unlike most mod freaks, she didn’t catalog everything to the minutest detail. I like her “I had a laptop, I made it look more purdy, what more do you want to know?” attitude.
Nixon Lodown For the Global Surfer: 200 Beaches, Good For 15 Years
09 Jul
Posted by admin as Shopping
The Nixon Lodown has 15 years worth of preprogrammed tidal info for 200 beaches all the world over. Right at your wrist you can monitor the height of the waves, and don’t be afraid to jump right in when the surf looks good—the Lodown has a water resistance rating of 100m. The Lodown’s simple presentation of data with its gray-on-black blocks makes it look pretty stylish, but is it $90 worth of stylish?
The official website for OpenMoko, the open source Linux-based phone dubbed the “hacker’s dream,” went live today. We groped an early base model back in February and had a righteously detailed breakdown of the latest details last week. Now that the site is live, you can order a developer preview phone kit from their store for the expected price of $300 for the base model or $450 for the advanced kit. Product Page
Amid the oil, chips and gears of the gladiatorial sport of RoboCup, only the toughest, bravest, and those with the longest lasting batteries can emerge victorious. Like all great clashes, whether on the battlefield or on the ballfield, only one man (er, bot) can call him / her / itself a “winner.” So who did win in RoboCup 2007? Well, the final standings (as detailed on the Cup’s Wiki) don’t exactly make for light or even sensible reading, but it appears that the foreboding yet attractive Team Osaka was beat out by Team NimbRo from the University of Freiburg in the Best Humanoid Robot event, the Tribots from the University of Osnabruck took home the middle-size league trophy, and the four-legged winners were the Nothern Bites, hailing from Bowdoin College in the US. For all the stats, you’ll want to cozy up to a terminal with a nice, large cup of coffee and some serious hang time.
From the beginning, the iPhone could read Microsoft Word documents, but now you’ll be able to do basic word processing on it with gOffice for iPhone. Developer Kevin Warnock created this mini application, which he calls the world’s first working word processor for the Apple iPhone. What’s the catch?
Fresh from the design room comes Musipen, a cylindrical MP3 concept with a curved glowing screen, twisty-knob controls, and a pretty power button. If that doesn’t have you excited, glance to the left and feast your eyes on that lithe form factor. There’s a play/pause/off button up top, knobs to control everything else, and a screen with plenty of space to display song info.
When a cooler full of ice can’t handle your mobile refrigeration needs, reach for the CarryCool refrigerated tote. The bag’s adapter plugs into a standard car lighter and draws enough power to keep everything inside nice and cool. When would you actually use this thing? Perhaps you’re in the business of smuggling dinosaur DNA samples across secluded islands in your Jeep. You can improve upon one of the world’s oldest (and cheapest) cooling methods for a mere $155.
It’s a bar, it’s a store, it’s a co-op. It’s the Dressing Room, a new lower eastside spot that is attempting to be a garment district community center of sorts. One side of the space is a co-op for new designers to sell their togs. The other side is a bar for designers or nabe regulars/artists to drink and socialize. Downstairs is the least expensive used and vintage clothing around, and they do a clothing exchange. Owned by stylist Nikki Fontanella and nightlife veteran, Max King, The Dressing Room is located at 75 a Orchard Street between Broome and Grand.
While analysts have been speculating that Apple may unleash a smaller (and cheaper) handset in the not too distant future in order to grab a sect of market share not interested in the relatively pricey iPhone, the rumors are seeming to gain traction. According to Kevin Chang, a JP Morgan analyst based in Taiwan, Apple is actually looking to “launch a cheaper version of the iPhone in the fourth quarter that could be based on its iPod nano music player.” The report cited anonymous sources “in the supply channel” and also referenced the now-famed patent that suggests such a device could be materializing. Still, we’d highly recommend taking all of this in with a healthy heap of salt for the time being, but don’t be incredibly shocked if your next iPod nano unexpectedly rings while you’re stereotypically browsing through Gorillaz tracks.
If you’re scouting a music player that can keep the jams rolling into the third day of an up-all-night long weekend, you’ve got a few options outside of the iAudio 7, but we doubt you’ll find one this sexy. Cowon’s latest flash-based device — rated for 60 hours of playback sans a recharge — is finally ready to delight, as the company has just announced that the silver accented 4GB unit and red accented 8GB flavor are both shipping to US customers as we speak. Of course, we’re sure the audiophiles are well aware of the potent integrated amplifier, built-in five-band equalizer, and lossless file support, but those just catching up can get their orders in now for $169.99 or $219.99 depending on capacity.