Archive for: June 22, 2008

June 22, 2008

Solar-powered, glowing flower pot does just that

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household
There are all sorts of ways to tech-up your plants, be they fake or real. In that case, Firebox’s solar-powered pot takes in the sun’s energy during the day in order to glow at night. A solar cell is placed in the sun and connects to a ground spike with a 9.8-…

CNRS learns to control nanoscale strain in CPUs, heads to Jedi training

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Desktops, LaptopsWe’ve always heard that Chewbacca and friends had the capability to control nanoscale strain in processors in a galaxy far, far absent, but we Earthlings are just now getting caught up. Researchers at the Centre d’élaboration de matériaux et d’étude…

Robots to be our lovers by 2050, not just in Massachussetts

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Robots
Remember when you were a kid and you told your friends that you totally loved your new computer, and some little luddite looked at you and said, “So why don’t you marry it?” There was that brief moment when you thought your Commodore 64 could, in fact, build a nice spouse. whethe…

Openmoko FreeRunner looking good for early July release

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Unless you’re very, very special, you haven’t yet had an opportunity to run your hands by Openmoko’s latest open-source creation, the FreeRunner, which was announced several months back with the hope of a spring release. Unlike the Neo1973 before it, the FreeRunner…

NetBSD Moves to 2 Clause BSD License

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Alistair Crooks, president of the NetBSD Foundation, announced recently that it “has changed its recommended license to be a 2 clause BSD license”. that makes NetBSD more easily available to a number of organisations and individuals who may have been put off by the advertising or endorsement clauses…

Intel Centrino 2 mobile chips hit resellers

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Intel’s upcoming mobile processors are making a sneak preview at resellers.

HP's 6930p (photo) and Toshiba's Qosmio G55, among other laptops, are expected to use new Intel mobile processors.(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

Though the initial roll-…

Samsung’s i900 Omnia surfs web on video

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Cellphones
A full fortnight is way too enlarged to go without seeing a little more of Samsung’s Windows Mobile 6.1-powered i900 Omnia, so we were just tickled pink to find a new video showcasing the mobile’s user interface. More specifically, the web browsing function gets most of the a…

Microsoft’s Albuquerque Group–next and now

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

(Credit: Microsoft)

nearly 30 years ago, as Microsoft was preparing to leave Albuquerque, N.M., for Seattle, the original team gathered on Dec. 7, 1978, to pose for a photo. Pictured are, back row, from left: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace, Jim Lane; mom…

Montreal’s Public Bike System uses RFID, solar potential, and tons of social trust

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Transportation
There are all sorts of ways to deal with rising gas prices and public transportation needs, and Montreal is getting in the game with what they’re calling the Public Bike System. Utilizing a central stock and check-out website, solar-powered docking stations, and high-tech…

FineDigital showcases voice-recognizing FineDrive X700 GPS

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: GPS
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen anything fresh from FineDigital, but the firm has just introduced the slim and seductive FineDrive X700 by in South Korea. Humorously, the company is asserting that that specific unit is the first of its kind to offer voice recognition, but ev…

‘Newsweek’ on the Bill Gates without Microsoft

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

The new issue of Newsweek will hit the stands with a familiar face on the cover: Bill Gates.

Gates, who is stepping down from his full-time roll at Microsoft that week to focus on his $37 billion charitable foundation, is the subject of an article …

1,000-foot glass funnel could save London’s Battersea potential Station

Filed under: Review - 22 Jun 2008

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
The Battersea capability Station in London has been defunct since 1983, and urban developers have been scratching their heads to come up with a way to preserve the largest brick structure in all of Europe. Some wily Irish developers have come up with a way to turn the empt…

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