Electronic Toy World

Posted Jan 25th 2008 10:21AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
It all looks innocent and feasible on the surface, but behind the scenes we have no idea how realistic this gaming keyboard from United Keys is ever going to get. Sure, word of a manufacturing deal with FoxConn is good news, but it turns out a key employee has a bit of a history with false product launches. The man is Valdi Ivancic, of Medison fame — that $150 laptop that never was. Valdi spent seven months with United Keys in 2005, and then went on to purportedly found his own company named “Swedish Keys.” What’s unclear is the relationship between the two companies, but we’re not going to get our hopes up for much product from either until it shows up on store shelves. Oh, we almost forgot: Valdi’s last big move was considering his candidacy for Prime Minister of Sweden. Yeah, really reassuring.

[Thanks, Michael N.]

Posted Jan 25th 2008 5:44AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Wireless
According to Reuters, the 700MHz “C” Block has received an opening bid of $1.24 billion. Unfortunately, a minimum bid of $4.6 billion is required to trigger the open-access rule. The rule which requires the victor to open that long-propagating and basement-penetrating spectrum to any and all mobile devices and software applications. It’s so important that Google, Verizon, and others have been battling over it even before the FCC auction began. No worries, the auction has several weeks to go. If no one else steps up, Google is on-deck with that minimum bid.

Posted Jan 25th 2008 4:54AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Peripherals
We think it’s dark and it looks like rain. The wind is blowing like it’s the end of the world, you said. It’s so cold, it’s like the cold if you were dead. And then you smiled for a second, and told us the $19 Evergreen Goth keyboard is available in Japan only. Sigh.

Gallery: Evergreen’s Goth Keyboard for “meat-loving people”

Posted Jan 25th 2008 6:42AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Digital Cameras
The pre-PMA 2008 madness ushers in this trio of new Samsung shooters. The 8.1 megapixel i80 (pictured left) brings a standard 3x optical zoom and biggie 3-inch LCD with face recognition and integrated MP3 player. The i100 (pictured center) increases the load with a 10.2 megapixel sensor, optical image stabilization (instead of digital alone), ISO 3200 sensitivity, and a built-in “World Tour Guide” function for instant access to travel information in 30 countries. The entry-level S1060 ratchets the zoom up to 5x while dropping the LCD back to 2.7-inches. No prices announced but all the cams are expected to launch this spring.

[Via TechDigest]

Read — Samsung i80
Read — Samsung i100
Read — Samsung S1060

Posted Jan 25th 2008 3:02AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Household
Admirers of Macs and Z-Wave have longed for the day in which they could finally use their two dearest loves simultaneously, and thanks to Wayne-Dalton, that day is upon us. The WDUSB-10MAC is hailed as the world’s first Z-Wave-enabled home control system “designed specifically for the Mac OS X operating system.” Mac users simply plug in the USB dongle, install the bundled Houseport software and go wild creating and managing their home network. When all is said and done, OS X users will be able to “control light switches, appliances, electronics, thermostats and other Z-Wave-enabled devices from their computers or through the internet” — a feat previously only achievable by booting into Windows. Not too shabby for $87, eh?

[Via CEPro]

Sometimes I wonder if there’s just too much Space Invaders craft out there. But can there ever be too much of a good thing? You be the judge, but I happen to think these Invaders accessories are just perfect for that girl gamer in your life.

Created by Melbourne, Australia crafter contributor Pardalote, these hand-beaded earrings and necklaces feature the likeness of your favorite pixelated aliens from yesteryear.

Whether you’re a fan of the original Taito arcade classic or the Atari 2600 version, they’ve got you covered.

Prices for the pieces range from $15 for a simple pair of earrings up to $45 for a multi-part necklace. You can find all these pieces in the artist’s Etsy shop.

read more about:

bead, craft, earring, etsy, jewelry, space invaders

When I think of fiber optic lighting, all that comes to mind are those awful 1970s starburst lamps. So I was so thrilled when I came across these beautiful organic designs which use the same basic lighting technology that begat such ugliness in the first place.

Created by Torbjörn Lundell of Sweden’s GloFab, these unusual fixtures radiate an ethereal glow as light courses through their fibrous veins.

I like to think of GloFab like an illuminated textile. By weaving intricate patterns of fiber optic cable, then connecting them to a bright light source, these wondrous glowing sculptures come to life.

GloFab lighting is available as either a woven fabric or in a spherical design, and are available only on a custom-quoted basis at this point.

[via designboom]

read more about:

fiber optic, halogen, lamp, light, organic, plastic, sweden, textile

Posted Jan 24th 2008 11:39PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming
Well, what do you know. After years of watching Microsoft chase billions of dollars into the bottomless pit that has been its Xbox Entertainment and Devices Division, the company is finally, as predicted, returning with some loot — $524 million in income over the past six months, compared to $423 million in losses over the same period last year. Microsoft says the achievement was primarily due to 360 successes, even though Zune and PC sales are factored in there somewhere. Sounds like decreasing production costs, decreased marketing and a little thing called Halo 3 all worked together to help rake in the cash, and Microsoft has high hopes for the rest of fiscal ‘08, since they “expect revenue to increase due to increased sales of Xbox 360 consoles and related games, accessories, and services.” Apparently Nintendo isn’t the only manufacturer this generation that’s figured out how to make some money… how’s it looking on your end, Sony?

[Via Joystiq]

Apple has introduced the world’s slimmest laptop, MacBook Air small enough to fit inside an office mailing envelope. With the invent of this slimmest lappy, it is expected that there will be a raise in the standard of mobile computing.

Even though being the most slender, MacBook Air embeds itself with a full-size notebook in 0.16 to 0.76 inch of soft and smooth but robust anodized aluminum. And as it so sleek it can be with you anywhere and everywhere!

The new notebook features an LED-backlit glossy 13.3-inch display. With its powerful resolution of 1280 by 800 it gives the most astounding and stunning images with their max luminance.

Now moving on to keyboard which is mounted with brittle but firm keys. The advanced feature of Macbook Air in comparison to that of MacBook is its backlight illumination technique which makes one comfortable in dim lights. This is done by a built in light sensor made for getting acquainted automatically and throwing appropriate light for proper visibility. There is multi-touch trackpad, which offers betterment for fingers.

FEATURES

· LED Display helps in providing a stylish look along with powerful efficiency.

· Microchip: - 1.8GHz or 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

· Multitouch with the help of which one can swipe, rotate to zoom or pinch on image or text.

· Thin plus Expansive: - this thinnest book comprise of 80GB hard drive and thence providing plenty of storage space.

· Sleek Battery: - along with the thinnest notebook it’s battery is also the slimmest one.

· Camera: - built-in iSight camera making chatting with video convenient.

Price: $1799

Source: Apple

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Why dig through stacks and stacks of individual comic books when you can quickly find the exact one you’re looking for using a wall-sized über-cool Minority Report-like user interface?

A project developed by Daniel Stødle and a team of PhD students from Norway’s University of Tromsø, this huge display wall can detect gestures to navigate through a catalog of over 3 years worth of comic strips, quickly jumping to any individual strip in seconds.

click to view this video clip

The enormous display is comprised of a grid of 28 synchronized video projectors, forming a whopping 7168 x 3072 display resolution (that’s over 22 megapixels). A system of 16 cameras and 9 computers detect and process user movements. Using hand gestures like those used on the iPhone, you can scale, rotate, pan and tilt across the collection almost instantaneously. A simple double-snap of your fingers makes the display zoom in an extra level of depth to the location where you snapped, while a single snap zooms back out.

Of course, the interface isn’t just designed for navigating comic strips, but is a proof of concept for using large scale displays and gesture recognition to navigate huge numbers of visual assets quickly. Very cool stuff indeed.

read more about:

comic, display, gesture, huge, interface, projector, video