Archive for April, 2008
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
If you enjoy going scuba-diving and you really support Aquaman and the aquatic flora and fauna, you clearly have to have a waterproof camera. In case you don’t have such devices, you’d better take a look at the new Sea Life cameras.
The new DC800 from Sea Life has an 8 megapixel CCD sensor capable of producing extremely sharp images even at depths of up to 200 feet. However, DC800 is not “aquatic-only,†so you can remove the slim camera from its waterproof housing and you got your compact digital camera ready for dry conditions. Additionally, the camera acts more like a DSLR when it comes to shutter times, as it features a quick-start mode which provides virtually no shutter lag. Check out some of the other features:
• Sea mode with 3 UW color correction settings
• Ext Flash Auto mode for automatic exposure settings
• Ext Flash Manual mode for manual aperture and shutter speed exposure controls
• Spy Mode automatically shoots continuous pictures at set time intervals
• 2.7″ LCD display
• 20X zoom – 4X optical zoom plus 5X digital
• SD/SDHC memory card slot
• 22 Land modes
• 640 x 480 video recording
The SeaLife DC800 is scheduled to retail in May for about $549.95 and it is, obviously, compatible with the entire SeaLife line of accessories.
Posted in Cam Gadgets | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
It’s clear why people don’t want to use pollution-free electricity generators: fossil fuels come at good prices. Yet there are many ways to generate decent amounts of energy without burning stuff. I’m sure you’ve heard of solar panels or Aeolian mechanisms and these are just starting to get some attention. But apart from solar, wind and Brownian devices, we should also be considering the kinetic forces.
<-125×125 Button – right->Terry Kenney succeeded in building a device straight into the road, which would harvest the energy from the vehicles driving over it. Terry has been working on this project for about eight years, using components from all around the world. Just recently, he has managed to turn the “Dragon Power Station” on for the first time. New American Media reports that as trucks pass over plates embedded in the asphalt “they compress a tank of hydraulic fluid under the road, which in turn creates a series of pumping actions that turns a generator to produce electricity.”
Kenney expects it to produce 5,000 to 7,000 kilowatt-hours every day, which is enough to power 1,750 homes. The “Dragon” is already set to be installed in some other prime locations and Kenney foresees a profitable deal out of these devices.
Posted in News | 60 Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Ever wanted to take your old NES cartridges on trips without having to carry the actual console with you? Now you can, although the portable NES system doesn’t quite scream high definition.
FC Mobile’s portable NES console lets you play all those ‘80s titles while you’re on the move. I reckon the portable console resembles a Game Boy Micro. It runs on a couple of AA batteries, has a 2.4-inch LCD screen and incorporates stereo speakers (together with a headphone socket, if you somehow want to privately enjoy the 8-bit goodness). This portable version even lets you hook it up to your TV via the included AV cable, in case those blocky pixels look too small on the supplied LCD.
Unfortunately for Asian NES lovers, the FC Mobile console seems to accept only North American NES cartridges, rather than the Japanese. Although I’ve searched for an official site for this console, all I could find was some eBay offers. Expect to pay between $40 and $50, but the package comes with no game cartridges. Be sure to check everything that is related to the eBay sellers, you might get a brick instead of the actual console. Who’s running FC Mobile anyway?
Posted in Electronic Gadgets | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
You know the guys from Yamaha, those multi-talented Japanese bringing you some of the best motorcycles and musical instruments on the market. I personally haven’t heard of any new technology from them for quite some time now, but that is just my impression as now I see them coming up with an interesting musical instrument concept.
“Tenori-On” is a digital instrument that bares little to no resemblance to any other musical instrument you’ve seen. Basically, Tenori-On’s lets you operate an impressive array of LED buttons to play phrases and tempos. On both rear and front sides of the Tenori-On, 256 LEDs (16 columns x 16 rows) are laid out. Yamaha explains that the LEDs on the front side, which faces the user, are buttons that can be pressed to play music and compose songs, for example. The LEDs on the rear side display the same pattern as those on the front side, so viewers in the audience can enjoy the variation of sound and light when the Tenori-On is used for a stage performance.
How does it really work? Time (or tempo) is allotted horizontally, while tone is allotted vertically (in Score mode). In this mode, the Tenori-On displays a vertical line that runs from left to right at a certain speed. When you hold down a button, the appropriate LED at the pressed position turns on, and the sound is produced with the allocated tone (out of an impressive tone bank) when the vertical line reaches that position. Toshio Iwai, the media artist who created the concept and cooperated in its development, said that the Tenori-On was inspired by manual paper tape music boxes.
The product will be available worldwide starting May 12 and it’s priced at $1,158.
Posted in Electronic Gadgets | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Ready for a new watch design? Alright, here we go again. This time Casio presents a retro-futuristic watch that gets me confused a bit. It looks like a retro watch, but it’s named Futurist. Check it out!
This new LCD watch from Casio combines the simplistic styling of the earliest digital watches from the 1970s with the latest digital technologies. Admittedly, the Futurist LA-2002G looks quite flashy, but it’s functional at the same time. It offers 29 time zones around the globe, a 1/100th-second stop watch and countdown timer. To sum up the useful options, you also get up to five independent daily alarms and the usual day/date display. All I can think of now is that confusing “Back to the Future†movie title that could very well be applied to this watch if somebody cared to make a funny commercial for it.
The electronic stuff is housed in a matte gold finish stainless steel case with a textured body and articulated metal band. Funny thing, Casio lists the watch as a women’s design. Anyhow, it looks fairly unisex to me, unless that’s not really the advertised watch.
Initially, the Futurist was only available in Japan, but starting this month, you can fin it at TokyoFlash for $149 USD.
Posted in Electronic Gadgets | No Comments »
