Monthly Archives: January 2010

Self-Charging Robots That Sense Wall Outlets

by J. Angelo Racoma
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Self-Charging Robots That Sense Wall Outlets

A common issue faced by any robot designer would not only be how to power the machine, but how the robot will recharge. If you’ve watched WALL-E, you’ll know that this cute little critter has to bask in the sunlight for a few moments to recharge his batteries (after which the familiar Apple-like sound would signal his “booting up”). How about other robots? Imagine having to plug in your robot at the end of each day. That would be tedious, wouldn’t it? And it would defeat the purpose of having a machine that should be autonomous in the first place. There have been research that looked into robots plugging themselves Read more »

Best of CES 2010 (Part One): 3DTV, Audio, Display, Processors, Gadgets

by andy
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Best of CES 2010 (Part One): 3DTV, Audio, Display, Processors, Gadgets

It’s Consumer Electronics Show time again, folks, which means many tech people camp out in Las Vegas to see what the big (and not so big) players in the world of consumer electronics have to offer for the coming year. Not all of it’s brand new, but CES is a great place to showcase it. There are geekier conventions, of course, but what would it be if Forever Geek didn’t give a decent nod Vegas way and showcase some of this year’s highlights. The show is still rolling as we speak, so we may not have captured all the best bits yet. Still, let’s take a look at what’s hot Read more »

A new e-book reader joins the race

by Darice de Cuba
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A new e-book reader joins the race

Even though the first Amazon Kindle was released in November 2007 it was last year that e-book readers became hugely popular. The Amazon Kindle success spurred on other companies like Sony to invest more on their e-book readers line and even a non-tech company albeit bookstore “Barnes & Noble” to release their own e-book reader instead of closing a contract with a brand name company to sell Barnes & Noble e-book readers. Basically the race is on for e-book readers and I don’t expect the announced releases of “slates” from Microsoft and Apple will diminish this race, neither does Skiff. Together with Sprint they will be releasing a new generation Read more »

Holiday Nostalgia: Getting Diablo II to work on today's computers

by Jayvee Fernandez
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Holiday Nostalgia: Getting Diablo II to work on today's computers

There’s nothing like a nostalgic trip down gaming in 800×600 with Diablo II. Every holiday season my buddies from all over come home and it’s been a tradition of sorts to hook up our notebooks to one of our friend’s WLAN and finish Diablo II: Lord of Destruction over several bags of Lay’s and Mountain Dew. We’re in our late twenties to early thirties. There’s nothing like it. That’s a photo of our regular set up. On the Macs, we used to run Diablo using Crossover for Games by Codeweavers but today our lazy asses are dual booting on Windows 7. Truth is, we found out that despite having such Read more »

HTC unveils latest smartphone: Smart

by andy
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HTC unveils latest smartphone: Smart

I suppose if you are going to launch a new smartphone, and the name iPhone has already gone, it’s not a stretch to call it the Smart. I’m surprised no-one’s gone for the name before HTC grabbed it. HTC tend to make some fairly decent cellphone handsets for those who haven’t gone Apple and aren’t looking towards the Nexus One or some other Android phone, and Smartä is intended to be a new class of smartphone. Looks are pretty much as you’d expect from HTC of late. You get HTC Sense which is supposed to be an intuitive user experience. What this means in reality is that general voice, text Read more »

Buffalo Dualie: iPod dock and portable hard drive in one

by andy
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Buffalo Dualie: iPod dock and portable hard drive in one

Mac users with an iPhone or iPod who want a docking station and some additional, portable storage might want to take a look at the new Dualie from Buffalo. This compact desktop companion features a dock that’ll take a range of iPhone or iPod models, plus a separate dock at the back that is ready fitted with a 500GB, Mac formatted portable hard drive. The dock has two USB 2.0 ports while the hard drive has a single USB and FireWire 400/800 port. Naturally, as it’s ready to use with Mac, it offers Time Machine compatibility, and it comes with a variety of adapters to fit most iPod models. Available Read more »

Toshiba intros powerful Cell TV system

by andy
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Toshiba intros powerful Cell TV system

For those of you keeping up with the latest display technology, here’s one from Toshiba: Cell TV. The fact is, manufacturers have crammed so many intensive functions into today’s televisions that high-end processors are a must. Gone are the days of a CRT blindly pushing out a picture one line at a time ad infinitum. These days, every pixel can be controlled on-the-fly to ensure the best picture is produced on our favourite LCD or plasma set. Now, Cell TV is designed for the high-end TV market, boasting some 143 times more processing power than available in current TV models. It fits with an improved display panel with a Direct Read more »

5 Uses for Samsung's Transparent AMOLED Screen

by Jayvee Fernandez
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5 Uses for Samsung's Transparent AMOLED Screen

Samsung raised the bar for innovation this CES 2010, bringing us one step closer to the floating digital interface we see in Avatar and Minority Report. So it’s baby steps with transparent screens. If you think about it though factors like sunlight glare and privacy will easily compromise usability. Here are five uses for the see-thru screen portable. 1. Team Based LAN Gaming Voice chat is a staple in today’s gaming industry. But sometimes your team wants to have a look at your screen’s killcam to know where exactly that n00b tuber is chucking out grenades. Rather than give your neck a bad strain, just look forward. 2. Call Centers Read more »

This Weapon Can Make You Sick. Or It Can Spice Up Your Party

by J. Angelo Racoma
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This Weapon Can Make You Sick. Or It Can Spice Up Your Party

Non-lethal armaments are the weapon of choice for urban crowd dispersals and generally when you just want someone to back off. Some would prefer tasers and pepper sprays, but while non-lethal, those still have painful (and sometimes debilitating) effects. Some weapons, like flashbangs, just aim for enemies stunned. Some are truly bedazzling, like the Bedazzler. The gadget is an array of flashing LEDs that are meant to cause seasickness on the target. An added benefit is that during peacetime, you can use the gadget to flash disco-style–a surefire way to spice up parties! After attending a conference where the $1 million “sea-sick flashlight” (named “THE DAZZLER”) was demonstrated by the Read more »