Technology: 12/28/08

Friday, January 2, 2009

Nintendo Wii in 2010

The Nintendo Wii have revolutionized the way we know gaming but now it seems they are taking the same to the next level. After story about xbox 360 phone, now how about a mind-controlled game that Nintendo is proposing? T3 gives a little clue that all you have is a headset accessory that uses brainwaves to control characters and features immersing in-ear headphones. So just imagine a streamlined Wii emote with just one button, which you point and press and rest your brain takes over. Though brain-wave technology has already become a reality with Emotive pioneering in-game systems, but soon it seems Nintendo will come out with the first mind-controlled console on the market.

Read Article Tuvie

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Video Phone Concept with Unique Keypad

The challenge of the design brief was to create a design solution that enabled greater and easier levels of user interaction. The easy to understand keypad combined with the hand-writing recognition technology provides great information ergonomics for the user. Another of the video phone key selling points is its dual mode functionality. The phones keypad can be locked into place to provide a sturdy stand/rest to allow users to sit back enjoy the video calling experience.

Read Article Tuvie

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Ready To Explore The Antartica with Lotus Ice Vehicle ?

Lotus ice vehicle is a refreshing news after all the concept cars and other means of transport, there is a new one on the block for all you adventure seekers. The new concept Ice Vehicle is the new age vehicle that will help you explore the Antarctica. The vehicle design is pretty cool and is perfect companion to explore the only yet fully unexplored continent. The vehicle has a prop in the back while it has three ski feet to ride on. For the purpose of breaking it has a spiked front foot thus stopping the vehicle instantly. For navigational purposes it has ice radar so all in all it is sure a gizmo loaded mean machine. Let’s explore the Antartica with lotus ice vehicle.

Read Article Tuvie

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Roofus, Snow Mowing Robot with Remote Controls

Its winters and it’s that time when all the pathways are clogged with snow, and one needs to clear the same to make way. The new snow mowing robot called Roofus seems to be a welcome change as this small monster can do work equivalent to 25 workers. Apart from this it also comes with other extensions which can be used for other activities like land mowing, plow ending, road cleaning etc. So with so many options available it is surely a good all purpose tool which also comes with remote controls as it gives you power at your finger tips!

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Search Engines Keep Tabs on You

Internet search service provider biggies - Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, have been practicing user search data collection which has sparked user privacy controversy. On the other hand, search engines advocate using user data for further search innovations. Google had recently released a list of popular searches called "Zeitgeist" for many countries including India.

These search engine majors have been storing users' search history for further innovations and also as a part of the business model. By placing localized ads, the search engines give opportunities to local traders and also inflate their advertising revenue figures. These search engines have reportedly reduced the period of storing user search database that has personally-identifiable information.

Search engine majors claim to mask or delete the user-specific information like masking the IP addresses. Usually, like a Yahoo is to reduce the period of keeping user search database from 13 months to 90-days while Google agreed to keep user data till nine months instead of 18 months earlier. Microsoft stores user search information for 18 months.

Google and Yahoo block the last three digits of IP addresses while Microsoft deletes the entire IP address (how nice of them). However, merely reducing the user data storage period and masking IP addresses won't help. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, argues, "Removing the last three digits of the last octet is like taking the last digit or two off a phone number. It's the preceding digits that give you the most information."

Read Article Techtree

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Ford Unveils 2010 Shelby GT500 Mustang

Ford has officially unveiled the high-performance Shelby GT500 Mustang, which is set to debut at the Detroit Auto Show this month. "The new GT500 is the result of the partnership between Ford's Special Vehicle Team and Shelby Automobiles, owned by legendary race car driver Carroll Shelby," reports the Detroit News. "Both worked together to enhance the car's performance and looks."

According to Left Lane News, the speedy sports car is powered by a 5.4-liter V8 that makes 510 pound-feet of torque and 540 horsepower and is "more powerful than its predecessor by 40 horses." Despite the extra power, Ford has improved the GT500's fuel economy by 2 miles per gallon on the highway.

In addition to performance enhancements, the Mustang gets an updated, more muscular exterior and redesigned interior. "Although the Shelby is a high-end specialty car, Ford hopes that the pumped up design -- racing stripes that adorn the seats -- and performance help show off the company's commitment to high performance and quality," reports the Associated Press.

Jalopnik describes the interior enhancements: "The perforated metal dash insert takes inspiration from under hood heat shields while the leather seats get sewn-in racing stripes to match the striped on the car, whatever color you pick. Satin trim replaces chrome throughout and the short throw shifter is topped off with beefy cue ball sporting molded-in racing stripes. ... In all it's a much nicer work environment and we can't wait until we replace that silly ‘new car smell' with ‘burnt rubber.'" The Detroit News describes interior updates as "quite noticeable" and notes that they include interior lighting that can be adjusted to 125 colors.

Ford hasn't announced prices for the new Shelby GT500, but The Examiner speculates, "[T]he '09 GT500 lists for more than $45,220 and one shouldn't expect the 2010 to be priced lower."

Read Article US News

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Mac web share nears 10% in December

Net Applications' December results show Mac OS X surging from just under 8.9 percent in November to the new 9.6 percent mark for the tens of thousands of sites monitored by the web tracking firm.

The figure is an all-time high for Apple and a significant jump from the same period a year before, when the Mac maker held 7.3 percent.

Its iPhone also made significant inroads and claimed 0.44 percent versus 0.37 percent the previous month, and just 0.12 percent in December 2007. The handset still claims the title of the most popular non-desktop operating system and now has more than half the market share of Linux.

Apple's success during the holiday month, as with the month before, once again comes directly at Microsoft's expense. December represented the second month in a row where Windows had less than 90 percent and dropped nearly a full point to 88.7 percent; both Apple's computers and cellphones were responsible for much of the erosion of Windows' share.

Net Applications does caution that December can potentially skew the results. As more people are staying at home or are on vacation, the researchers note, users are more likely to be running Macs and iPhones than the Windows PCs that still rule the business world.

Read Article AppleInsider

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How to Unlock your iPhone 3G

The iPhone world has been clamoring for this one for awhile. And what better way to start the new year then by playing around with the Dev Team's newest creation--an official unlock for the iPhone 3G. We'll run through the basics of this wonderful little tool and show you exactly how you can jailbreak and unlock your phone. You'll be able to run as many third-party applications as you want on your device. And more importantly, you'll be able to use your iPhone on any cell phone carrier you want.

Unlocking your phone allows you to use it on any carrier you want, not just AT&T. You'll pop out your AT&T SIM card and insert the SIM card of a different carrier. The iPhone doesn't allow you to do this normally, so a little bit of hacking is involved.

Possibly. There's always the worry that the unlocking process will royally screw up your phone--but the only way to deal with that is to read the situations of others who have attempted the procedure before you. As long as you follow the instructions closely, you will greatly reduce your chances of bricking (screwing up) your iPhone. Beyond that, once you've unlocked your iPhone, you'll want to approach new iPhone updates with suspicion. Don't just click "update" in iTunes--wait for the various iPhone hackers to release (and safely test) new tools that will allow you to redo the same procedure on the new firmware.

Read Article Washington Post

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Microsoft Fixes Zune Leap Year Freak Out

The worldwide freezing of Microsoft's 30GB Zune media player, caused by a software bug unprepared for the 2008 leap year, has been fixed, Microsoft says.

On New Year’s Eve, reports began flooding across the Internet that Microsoft’s Zune media player was experiencing a worldwide meltdown, leaving Zune owners across the globe angry and confused. The glitch, caused by software that did not account for the extra day in the 2008 leap year, affected only the 30GB Zune models released in mid-November, 2006.

By the middle of the day, Microsoft had responded to the issue, posting an entry on the Zune FAQ Web page asking users to disconnect their Zune from USB and AC power sources, allow the battery to drain, wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 and then reconnect the media player.

“You can go back to using your Zune!” the posting exclaimed. But some owners couldn’t. As it turns out, Microsoft had to update the post with a note on DRM (digital rights managed) content:

“Most likely, rights-managed content will not be affected by this issue,” the posting read. “However, it's a good idea to sync your Zune with your computer once the freeze has been resolved, just to make sure your usage rights are up to date.”

Microsoft also attempted to disused those who turned to Internet forums to resolve the issue, telling Zune owners that advice regarding battery removal in order to reset the device was “a bad idea” and doing so would will void the warranty.

According to posted reports on various Zune forums, the devices began freezing after the startup status bar reached 100 percent. A message from Microsoft addressing the issue was slow in coming, prompting a slew of angry messages on forums across the Web.

Read Article Eweek

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