Tag: tech Digest
Tech Hotlinks for 30-May-07: Apple iPhone, Broadband, CD-Wow, CounterStrike, Google
– A loose-lipped exec has blabbed that there will indeed be Google apps available on the Apple iPhone, ending millennia of mass hype and hysteria.
– Broadband is more popular in Scotland than anywhere else in Britain, with more 50% of residents using high-speed connections to access .jpegs of sheep and perfectly formed black pudding.
– Ending a five-year legal battle, CD-Wow have been ordered to pay the UK record industry £41 million for importing cheap CDs…
PodXtreme Sound Box
The PodXtreme Sound Box claims to have a secret resonator (Ooh!) that gives this little speaker a great big sound. It’s powered by a built-in rechargeable Lithium ion battery which sucks power via USB or mains. Supposedly it functions the “same way as a quality subwoofer”, which seems like a suspiciously good deal at $29.95. (But it would be totally worth it if it did create “rich, powerful, party casing sound.” I always wanted to case rich parties courtesy of a dingdong in my pocket.) [GT]
Wind-powered apartment complex to be built in London
It’s not surprising from the look of the Waugh Thistleton 66-unit scheme for Ramsgate Street in Dalston, London, that it’s intended to be super-high tech: it’s thin, it’s sleek, and it’s got weird crenelations that look all futury. What you can’t see, however, is the helical wine turbine on the backside which will not only provide power for the building (and therefore reduce environmental impact) but reduce cost for the inhabitants, which is important as it’s being constructed in a low-income area. The turbine is expected to provide 15% of electricity required to run the building. Also, it looks incredibly cool and/or sexy (pick two). [GT]
Waugh Thistleton [via Dezeen]
3 megawatt solar roof will be largest in Europe
Shopping malls could be in danger of losing their cachet as bastions of gratuitous consumerism and excess if they all go the route of the Ciudad de las Comunicaciones. Located in Madrid, this office complex sports an enormous array of 16,600 solar panels on its 1km long rooftop, giving it the capacity to generate 3 megawatts of energy. Result: savings of 15% on climate conditioning in winter, and 34% in summer, plus an unknown (but non-trivial) amount on lighting. Investment on the project was 21.8 million euros. [GT]
Office complex – Ciudad de las Comunicaciones [via Metaefficient]
The Slurpr: WiFi aggregator
The idea behind the Slurpr is that it can grab open networks with its six wireless interfaces and aggregates them into one huge broadband connection. The inventor of this little doohickey, Dutch hacker Mark Hoekstra, is now working on an upgrade that will allow the user to aggregate closed networks as well. (Legality of that subject to inquiry.) You can pre-order the Slurpr for a thousand Euros, and then everyone can link all their Slurprs and it will eat the world. [GT]
Slurpr- the mother of all wardrive boxes [via Gadget Lab-Wired Blogs]
Don's solar scooter DIY
Don at Built It Solar has posted plans for how to turn a standard scooter into a solar-powered one. Basically it involves attaching a set of panels in a folding wing-style formation on each side of the scooter, and retracting them alongside the scooter when in use. Don emphasizes that this mod is entirely street-legal and that he’s put well over 2000km onto his scooter using it largely for commuting. Since commutes involve a lot of idling, you can multiply that out when calculating how much pollution and fuel he hasn’t touched. [GT]
Voyager robot fence, if you have land-lots-of-land
Cows tend to over-graze a certain area because it’s convenient, and moving them over to juicier pastures requires, until now, determined humans. Now, with the Voyager robotic fence, it could be as simple as programming a schedule and an area to cover, and letting it take care of the rest. The fence physically moves inward according to a program, forcing the cows to move along to avoid it, so the cows end up with more consistent nutrition and yield better milk. It’s better for the fields, too, since they’re cropped more evenly and don’t suffer the root damage of overly determined bovines. [GT]
Voyager robotic fence [via Robot Gossip]
Elecom AVD-WLCA5G Anti-Theft case for iPod
Attach the steel cable on the 2007 AVD-WLCA5G Anti-Theft case from Elecom, for 5G iPod, set the combination lock, and you can freely wander the office without fear. The ABS plastic case has a slick gel screen cover (not literally) to keep it as beautiful as it is secure. Comes with padding so you can adjust the fit. Available in black or white. $49. [GT]
2007 AVD-WLCA5G Anti-Theft case from Elecom, for 5G iPod [via UberReview]
Brain Machine: tune in, turn on, drop out
Drugs are so passé. The 21st century way to turn in is by hacking your brain – and the hack itself is a DIY. The resultant machine flashes LEDs in your eyes and blips sound in your ears to sync your beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves, allowing you to take a trip whenever you like, legally, and without the traditional destructive effects associated with controlled drugs. It’ll be interesting to see how governments respond as devices like this become commoner and finer-tuned. [GT]
Cos I’ve had the time of my life, oh and I owe it all to youuu… and my Dirty Dancing PC video game.
Oh god. Shield your eyes, quick, quick! You better sit down. We have some…some bad news to tell you. Remember that hooker-pink coated ’80s institution of a film you thought you left behind along with polar-fleece cut-off muscle tops, white hi-top Reeboks and that perm you thought really complimented your mullet? Yes, I’m talking Dirty Dancing, and the video game it’s being turned into.
Obviously showing us that not even Patrick Swayze is sacred, Codemasters and Lionsgate are collaborating to produce an action-puzzler due to hit every 30-something woman’s PC late this year. Oh, and Graham Norton’s too…
