If you enjoy table football but have no one to play against then you need to check out the blog over at foospmp. They are in the process of creating a computer controlled opponent that can beat most players at table football. The video above shows a fairly good game happening and it looks to me like they are doing very well with the AI. The AI is able to have the computer team defend and attack as you can see goals being saved and goals being scored.
Automated Football Table
June 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Serious Overclocking by ABIT
June 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment
If you are not sure what over clocking is then it is speeding up your computer beyond the speed it was designed to run at. For example you could run a 2.4Ghz processor at a higher speed and thus, making your computer run quicker and games run smoother. However, when this happens the processor gets seriously hot and some good cooling is needed to perform over clocking. Depending on how cool you can keep the processor and RAM depends on the outcome. ABIT decided at Computex which was held recently, to over clock one of their processors from 2.93GHz up to 5GHz. That is a HUGE jump and no doubt, will probably burn out the processor with in seconds. But, ABIT had some liquid nitrogen to hand which is ultra cold. Strapping this to the processor they were able to work the processor for a while with out any signs of it over heating.
Now it isnt the greatest over clocking that has happened, but its still quite cool as I have not seen a processor cooled with liquid nitrogen before.
Custom Made Dance Pad
June 4, 2007 by 1 Comment
If you enjoy games like Dance Dance Revolution then you should check out this. Its a custom made dance pad for the game which started life as being not so good at all being made out of cardboard. The next version was made out of wood and was noisy and uncomfortable. The final model pictured above shows the mat with no fancy colours on it, no flashing lights but apparently it does work and is quiet. It is made from 2 separate parts. The pad and then the electronic circuit to connect it to the computer.
OLED Video Watch
June 2, 2007 by 4 Comments
The Video Watch has an OLED screen which is 1.5 inches in size. The OLED screen is colour and has a resolution of 128×128 pixels. Due to how slim the OLED screen is, it allows for the watch not to be too bulky.
The watch can play video in full colour which can be created by using the software at ThinkGeek. As well as being video capable the watch can also play MP3 and WMA audio. A microphone is also built in allowing you to record on to it’s built in 2GB storage capacity. The watch battery lasts 7 hours and charges when connecting to the computer via USB.
Blusens P27 PMP
June 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The P27 is created by Blusens and is a PMP (Portable Media Player) which has a 2.4 inch screen. The screen can show 260K colours which allows for a nice clear image. The device its self is small and measures 2.56 x 1.97 x 0.39 inches.
It is capable of playing video from AVI and MPEG file formats and also supports audio from MP3 and WMA. As well as being for audio and video this little player can also display JPEG images. Another nice feature of this little player is the built in 1GB of memory. Although thats not the hugest amount, it is larger then a few others. Memory is expandable via miniSD which currently has a capacity of 4GB.
Microsoft Surface Computer
May 30, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The Microsoft Surface Computer is a pretty cool device. It allows you to interact with your phone, camera and other devices through a surface type screen mounted in a table. The screen is multi touch allowing for greater interactivity between you and the computer. Sensors under the surface can detect when a device is placed on to the screen. Once the device is detected you can drag and drop images, video or appointments on to the device and all the connectivity is taken care of through wireless signals. If you have a photo you just took at a party and someone wants a copy then just place the camera and a phone on it and drag the picture across and the rest is taken care of.
Making use of a dynamic and interactive surface has many uses. A whiteboard could be kept on the wall or work surface in the kitchen and recipes could be downloaded, transferred for example.
The device will not primarily be made available to end users though for the home. It will mainly be directed towards shops and presentations. It could allow for easier browsing of an online catalogue for example.
Palm Foleo Mobile Companion
May 30, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The Palm Foleo is a device which is Linux based. It weighs just 2.5lbs and is a mobile companion which can run features like email, web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets and more. The device does not boot and is an instant on computer which has a 10.2 inch display. The keyboard is a full QWERTY keyboard. Battery life is rated at about 5 hours on a full charge. Connectivity to the internet is done through either Wifi or through a phone.
Phidgets USB Sensor Kit
May 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Phidgets USB sensors are used for monitoring environmental factors such as temperature, light, motion, magnetic field and vibration to name a few. When buying the product you need to choose the phidgets you want to use. According to the Phidgets website you do not need any technical knowledge, no programming skills and you do not need to know anything about communication protocols. In fact, they only recommend that you have an imagination. This opens up Phidgets to be used in any number of ways you could possibly think of. One project someone made is Tetris Weightlifting. This game is a highly modified version of the game in which lifting weights actually controls the pieces. You can imagine the pain on even the strongest mans face when he gets to level 9.
MS Windows XP in your Pocket
May 10, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The USB flash drive has become more useful over the years with devices such as the VPhone from Vonage allowing you to carry around a land line which can be loaded up on any computer with internet access. With the rise of memory storage capacity also come other uses such as this Windows backup OS on a flash drive.
Put your self in this situation. You are out on business and you load up some software containing a virus which destroys part of your Windows XP OS. Being out of the road and having no access to the internet on another PC would make it very hard to fix this issue. Having a bootable flash drive running Windows XP would solve this problem for you. Using Bart PE Builder you can create a very handy flash drive with OS and plenty of utilities which could save your laptop a lot quicker then sending it back to the IT dept to fix.
Eye-Tracking Device watching your moves
May 10, 2007 by Leave a Comment
This next item reminds me of the minority report where your eye gets scanned and the store knows who you are, what you like and displays ads to suit. The eyebox2 was created by a Canadian professor who developed a system to count how many people looked at his ads. It uses infra red and recognises the familiar red-eye effect found in photos. By emitting infrared the system can track what you are looking at while walking around a store and exactly what shelf you looked at or what screens you looked at. It can scan from up to 10 meters away and about 2 – 3 meters horizontally too.
Sinar Hy6 Digital Medium-Format Camera
May 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Sinar have launched a new digital camera named the Hy6. The Hy6 allows you to take both digital and convential film shots. An interesting feature of this camera is the ability to be able to change the image sensor for a larger and higher resolution sensor of sizes up to 56x56mm. The camera has the ability to be controlled remotly by computer by using Sinars CaptureShop software.
This camera might be a tad out of the average persons price range as it will set you back $32500.
Bubble Head Web Cameras
May 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Webcameras tend to have a similar look and feel to them among their creators. The Bubble Head Webcams look quite cool though and are a nice change to the standard looking webcams we see in the shops each day. Unfortunatly they are just prototypes right now and not in production. Should they ever make it to production I am sure they will hit a nice niche in the market to sell in bucket loads as they are more colourful and very unique.
