Mobile Devices

Isn’t it just wonderful to look back and see what we thought our “future” would bring? Such is the case of the “House of the Future” in Disneyland. This was an exhibit that lasted ten years (1957-1967), and had things like a microwave oven, speakerphones, and a big-screen color TV.

It is nice to know that most homes have those features, so it is about time Disney put a modern-day (or should I say futuristic?) spin on the House of the Future.

House 2.0 is going to be a lot more expensive at a cost of $15 million. It will also be quite large with 5,000 square feet of floor space. It will also have actors living in it that will represent a “family of the future”. Let us all pray that they do not use the same fake family as Phil of the Future.

Unlike the original House, which was sponsored by just Monsanto, the House of the Future will be sponsored by many big companies including Microsoft, HP, and LifeWare.

I can’t really imagine what kind of things this House will have, but I’m guessing it will probably be one of those “smart-homes” or something. Except don’t we already have those? Well, you can see if this House of the Future is truly beyond imagination when it debuts at the Magic Kingdom in May of this year.

Source

Sony’s going to parade its audio expertise by launching five new headsets to its range, including the headband PC headsets DR-220DPS and DR-220DPTM. There are a couple more headband headsets with in-line volume control known as the DR-220DPVS and DR-220DPVTM while the only USB-based model is the DR-260USBS. All five of them support a wide range of applications, including listening to music and having a ball of a time on online multi-player gaming sessions in addition to hands-free capability for Internet chatting and BoIP calls. All of them boast clear voice and sound transmission and a fully adjustable rotating flexible boom microphone. The DR-220DPS/TM, DR-220DPVS/TM, DR-G250DP, DR-260USBS, DR-115DP and DR-EX230DP will retail for €24.99, €29.99, €39.99, €59.99, €21.99 and €44.99, respectively.

Almost twenty years after finding the Holy Grail and stopping the Nazis in their dirty tracks, Indiana Jones returns this upcoming May in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The trailer was released earlier today and we didn’t want our dear readers to miss out on the buzz.

Not only will we get to experience the next great adventure in the saga but we’ll also be able to see Spielberg-quality reproduction of a few 50’s era gadgets, such as the Cold-War ready Aero Willys and Jeep MD vehicles.   

Of course, no gadget/tool is more distinctive in the Indiana Jones stories as the bullwhip, which has been used in a variety of ways. Indy’s used it to jump between buildings and to wrap it around his father’s legs to prevent him from falling off an out-of-control Nazi tank. 

There are only 97 days to go until the premiere, so you should start getting in line tonight. Your significant other will surely appreciate it. 

Posted Feb 14th 2008 12:27PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Laptops PC Mag wasn’t exactly bowled over by the subscription-based Zonbu desktop, but that didn’t stop them from coming back for another go ’round with the similarly subscription-happy Zonbu laptop, which they found a bit more to like about. While they again found the low upfront cost ($279, in this case) to be the the laptop’s biggest selling point, they also found it to be a good deal more capable than the desktop, thanks in no small part to its 60GB hard drive (as opposed to the 4GB flash drive and 25GB of online storage the desktop offered). As you might have guessed, however, they found the laptop’s VIA processor and graphics chip to be more than a tad lacking, and those recurring monthly bills could have you thinking twice about your decision after a while.

Posted Feb 14th 2008 11:04AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: HDTV
Finally, Michael Bay has stepped down from Cheese Mountain to pontificate on the finer points of the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray war. Speaking from the inner-sanctum of his lair — located equidistant from the Church of Scientology and a gigantic cotton candy stand — Mr. Bay reminds us that, “Blu-ray’s better, and I told everyone,” then goes on to further prop himself by adding, “I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it.” We’re glad that Bay can sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that the mere “quality” of the formats decided the winner of this battle, rather than massive business partnerships fueled by the desire for marketshare. He wrapped up his message (actually given at an awards ceremony held by the Visual Effects Society) by saying, “Am I thrilled? It really wasn’t my fight, but remember what I said in the press? I was kind of saying HD [DVD]’s going to lose… No one believed me.” He then slammed a trophy he was receiving to the floor, pointed to the packed room, and yelled, “In your face, hd dvd!”

[Via Blu-ray, thanks Kiwi616]

If you’re living in Korea, then do take some time to check out the “Love Detector” service on KTF Mobile which merges the idea of a video conference along with the suspense of classic Love Tester machines. All you need to do is point the cell phone camera at yourself for a video conference in order to see a “love meter” bar on the display during a conversation. An analysis of the conversation will be delivered via SMS later, breaking it down into the amount of affection, surprise, concentration and honesty of the other speaker. Hopefully you won’t end up being a Dead Fish! All this costs $1.59 monthly, and I’m not even sure if the algorithm (if any) works as intended in the first place.

There’s a good chance if you work in I.T. you’ve been there before. You do an upgrade the same way you always do and have had no problems before. Then one day you are doing it again, and sure enough production systems are affected. That’s basically what caused RIM’s blackberry outage on Monday.

According to an Associated Press report, RIM said a BlackBerry upgrade on Monday, which effectively took down the network, was part of “routine and ongoing” efforts. Like I said previously, it’s probably something that has happened to many I.T. departments before. The only exception is that when it happens to RIM it affects millions of users.

Considering the noise after the previous outage last year, you can bet that RIM will be crossing its Ts and dotting its Is on future upgrades. Two major outages in less then a year doesn’t exactly give customers warm fuzzies about the dependability of a service. Hopefully, RIM will be able to learn from its recent mistakes to prevent them in the future or at the very least to provide greater redundancy within its centralized network.

Read more from the Associated Press.

The AMKAR E-6 is one unique vehicle as it can carry up to six passengers besides being wheelchair accessible. Since it is battery powered as well, you don’t have to worry about adding to the pollution in your area, while bringing green accessibility to the disabled community. The E-6, when carrying two wheelchair passengers, has more than enough room to cater for four other ambulatory passengers. The wheelchair accessible ramps were specially designed to be opened and closed at the push of a button, and it operates in a similar fashion as that of a disabled-friendly public bus. Other features include safety glass windshields, headlamps, taillights, turn signals, high mounted stoplights, mirrors, and three-point safety belts. The battery-electric powered chassis provides up to 30 miles on fully charged batteries. You won’t be able to speed in this though as it ambles along at 25 mph.

GE aims to increase energy efficiency at schools by helping them control their ventilation and outdoor air supply by installing a bunch of sensors. Guess having a healthy body translates into a healthy mind, which will result in students picking up whatever they’re learning in the classroom at the moment (those who aren’t busy texting away anyways) much better. So far, GE has installed around 5,000 of such Telaire CO2 sensors in schools. Sounds like my home could do with one of these so that I don’t hack and wheeze my way through all day long.

AT&T have added two new mobile broadband cards to their current selection. The new cards are the GT Ultra and GT Ultra Express from Option. The GT Ultra has a retractable antenna and works with PCMCIA (Type II) card slots, the GT Ultra Express has a flip up antenna and works with ExpressCard34 slots. Both cards are compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and OS X 10.4 or later and are tri-band UMTS/HSPA (850/1900/2100 MHz) and GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) compatible.

The new cards will be available February 15, 2008 and for a limited time will be free (after mail-in-rebates) along with a two year agreement.

Read [PR Newswire]

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