Since the PSP Go is coming tomorrow, it was reasonable to expect a firmware update the PSP. We just didn’t expect one this full of content. Will it be enough to get the homebrew people to upgrade? Probably not, but for the casual user it’s quite the step forward.
Can you say tethering? I knew you could.
National Geographic magazine is running an article about the redwood forest this month, and part of that article included a very special vertical panoramic shot of a 300 foot tall tree. Shooting in the redwoods is particularly difficult because you lose the sense of scale. If there’s not something like a house or a bus next to the tree, you really can’t show how massive the trees really are.
Photographer Nick Nichols traveled out into the forest to do just that: capture a photo of a tree that’s over 300 feet tall, while keeping a sense of scale. Standard photographic techniques just wouldn’t cut it, so Nick had to get creative.
We hear about holographic storage time and again, but look around — do you see any holographic drive arrays around you? Didn’t think so. At the moment it’s just not cost-effective (compared with plain ol’ HDDs) and not fast enough (compared with SSDs and other flash arrays). That doesn’t mean it’ll be an exotic technology forever, though: GE is hard at work making it more compatible with existing technology, and thinks they’ve come up with something good. Their optics labs have increased reflectivity in their media to the point where a standard Blu-ray laser can be used to read them, though nothing is said about writing.
While we’re still in the dark as to when it’ll launch or how much damage it’ll do to our wallets, we just got word of where future owners will be picking up their new Nokia-made netbook. You want one? You’ll have to talk to the dudes in the blue polos.
At their holiday gift guide event, Best Buy announced that they’ll be the exclusive retailers for the Nokia Booklet in the U.S. That’s great – but look out for the big mean security guards on the way out.
Anyone who plays Warhammer 40K knows how much work goes into your army. The modeling, the filing, the painting, on and on and on. Then you send hours compiling your army list, carefully pack the Emperor’s superhuman servants in foam, take them down to the local game shop, and for what? To have them destroyed by heretics, foul xenos, and unsupervised kids. Such is the glory of tabletop gaming.
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We try not to cover too many concept cars and devices, but sometimes it’s just too compelling. I’ve always liked Subarus, personally, and although I’ve pledged not to buy a car until I can get a full electric, I might have to go back on that if this Tourer hybrid goes to production. I hope they find a better name, though, it’s a bit “Rural Juror” for me. But gullwings, baby, gullwings!
If you suddenly find yourself with $300 to burn, an old laptop, and too much time on your hands this weekend, I might suggest that you build a DIY Google Street View-style rig for your car. That’s what West Point student Roy Ragsdale did for his “disruptive technologies” class. And if someone at West Point does it, it’s okay for you to do it.
Remember the big technology story of the first half of the year? Analog signals were suppose to be shut-off on February 17, but Obama saved millions of households from their procrastination by delaying it a few months. But eventually on June 12, those signals were turned off. You have to imagine that retailers moved loads of analog to digital converter boxes through the shut-off date. Not many have likely been sold since though, which is why *gasp* sales have plummeted.
Earlier today, we passed on word of a rumor that the Sprint Touch Pro 2 would be seeing a price cut from the oh-so-absurd price of $349 (after a $100 mail-in rebate, mind you) down to the much more reasonable $149. It sounded great! With Verizon’s Touch Pro 2 already at that price, it certainly didn’t sound too good to be true – but it was, for the most part.
Bluetooth is a really versatile technology, and despite the fact that it has been out for years, we’re still seeing new stuff come out that uses it. That’s where this latest example comes in from TENQA.
The Qualcomm FLO TV is slowly taking shape. First we saw early concept art, which was followed by our exlucisive shots of the interface. But the just last week we saw a leaked photo and learned that it was manufactured by HTC. Today though, the retail packaging has been spotted. So…really the only thing left is the actual product announcement, which can’t be that far off. Hopefully.
Like many of you, my knowledge of Greenpeace begins and ends with that one Seinfeld episode, the one where the NBC executive, so in love with Elaine, freaks out and joins the organization in order to impress her. That is to say I don’t really understand the “point” of the organization, or who appointed it the protector of the environment. But, it is, somehow, so let’s roll with it. Good news for HP and Apple: Greenpeace hates you two a little bit less today! Break out the champagne!
Bad news, sports fans. Well, to be specific, DJ Hero fans. Anyhow, it looks like you won’t be able to use the turntable controller on any other video game. Why you’d want to use the turntable when playing, say, Street Fighter IV, I don’t know.
The “WiFi Body Scale” from French company Withings records your weight and BMI and automatically uploads it to a secure website, which would be a lot easier to make fun of if it weren’t for Wii Fit, which does that stuff but doesn’t upload it anywhere.
I’ve heard good things about The Jay Leno Show recently, which might be why he’s improving NBC’s TiVo stats. Previous seasons NBC saw nearly 70% of its viewers timeshift during the 10 p.m. time slot. Leno has managed to improve that to only 46%, with 20% of those people watching the show at 11 p.m. instead. That number is actually great considering CBS and ABC have been running 65% and 63% respectively over the last two weeks Leno has been on the air. Maybe I should watch this show…
Seems our compatriots across the sea will have the Amazon Kindle as soon as next week. “Reliable sources” have confirmed that the publishers involved signed non-disclosure agreements, adding weight to our previous suspicions that the e-book reader would be available in Britain this fall. It’s all quite a cloak-and-dagger event.
Amazon’s current wireless provider, Qualcomm, seems to be the one that will handle the magical spells wireless solution that gives Kindle owners access to an entire library in their pocket.
AT&T announced today that they are teaming up with Terrestar to release a smartphone with satellite capabilities. Previously, satellite phones were limited to just voice calls, or the occasional tethering (that didn’t work very well).
So Apple wasn’t so integral in that whole Light Peak thing after all. Rumors that Apple was integral in the design Light Peak process seem to be false which could put a damper on Apple’s plans to implement the technology in its new hardware.
I’m a fan of USB mini-monitors. They’re super handy if you’re a photoshop’r or to house Tweetdeck, but they can also get a little expensive and sometimes cost more than full size LCD monitors. But these from DoubleSight are little more on the affordable side. Plus, there is a webcam add-on for the larger model and everyone loves webcams.
(These guys are excited that they might soon be able to buy the Sprint Touch Pro 2 without declaring bankruptcy.)
Good news, everyone! According to some dude on the internet who heard it from another dude — and a bunch of people who have already managed to get the deal — the Sprint Touch Pro 2 is going to see a huge price drop as early as tomorrow.
