Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Warren Harding has designed a program that allows you to watch YouTube videos in ASCII text. It was a test to see if he could access youtube without a nice GUI. He literally created a program which has all the menus and you just choose the video you want to play and it converts it in to ASCII text right on screen.
The Operating System running this is Linux Fedora 6 and it uses a lynx based browser to search for the videos. Check out the video of it working after the jump.
If you ever want to illuminate your house then spotlights is one way. Another option is to use LEDs which can switch colours and change the look of your home at night. As well as being able to light up your house, they can also light up the landscape around the home. The LEDs are easy to connect up and are ready to go once positioned in the right place. More pictures after the jump.
If you havent been in the queue on the east coast and picked up an iPhone 13 minutes ago then you can have a go of this virtual iPhone. This pretend phone doesnt actually allow you to play with any features though. Instead it allows you to mess up the screen, scratch and put fingerprints all over it. Its just for fun. 😉
The actual iPhone does have a glass screen which is supposedly better for keeping clean and scratch free.
SnowVolution is a concept which tackles the problem of indoor skiing and the slope basically ending too quick. It is a snow covered rotating planar disc which is up to 300 meters is diameter and set on an incline. 5 – 6 discs are combined which rotate independently of each other up to speeds of 15 meters per second. With the discs rotating you effectively have an endless slope to ski on and with the position of the discs and way they rotate, it can cater for many people skiing giving plenty of space for all.
After several months of waiting, the iPhone will be launching at 6pm tonight in the US. Wired put out the question today about iPhone hacks and what people want to see should they want more from their expensive iPhone. Suggestions such as Skype, MP3 ring tones, Instant Messaging, iPod and Internet without a phone plan and quite a few more have been mentioned. No doubt we will see an ongoing battle between the hackers and Apple like we do with the PSP and homebrew. Hopefully some decent apps can come out for the iPhone to make it in to an even more useful device. The collection of all programmers and Apple could make the good even better.
The Hyundai IDE HDD enclosure has fingerprint recognition allowing you to secure the data that is contained within. The enclosure is capable of holding up to a 2.5 inch hard disk drive. The fingerprint recognition can store up to 10 prints and if for some reason this doesnt work then there is also a set of backup passwords that will allow you access to the drives data.
A company named Photo Violation Technologies have created a parking meter that calls you when you are about to run out of time. As an added bonus you also have the option of topping up via your mobile phone or the internet to allow yourself more time should you be running late. If you decided you still do not want to pay then the option is also available to pay the fine at the meter. I know which I would prefer to do.
LED lights have been around a while now. They can replace a number of lights around the house. The next to receive LED treatment is the fluorescent tube. EverLED have created a replacement for the tube which allows you to plug it in and not many any changes to the light fitting. Each tube is 4 feet long and they have 5 different colour temperatures. Life span of these tubes is around 10 years and they give a 20% energy reduction to the regular fluorescent tubes you normally use.
LEGO has been around for ages and probably ranks as one of the most used toys ever. I had stacks of the stuff which was pretty much all Technics type Lego as well as a few other things. We recently wrote about the LEGO PS2 memory card holder and now we show you the Lego ring and cufflinks. They each can be made to order with custom colour preferences. The ring has a Swarovski crystal in it too.
GPS receivers tend to be about half the size of a mobile phone if they are standalone devices. This new miniGPS is just 39 x 33 x 20 mm and is able to attach to your keychain. miniGPS also is Bluetooth allowing you to connect without wires to your Pocket PC, mobile phone or any other Bluetooth compatible device. Inside the miniGPS you will find a SiRF Star III GPS chip which is capable of 20 satellite channels allowing for a very accurate position anywhere on the globe.
This inflatable roof rack is one of those excellent ideas which you are glad someone thought of. It is named the HandiRack and is set to cost around $100. The roof rack as mentioned earlier is inflatable which prevents you scratching or damaging the roof of your car while trying to fit it. Installation is easy as you just put them on your roof and fasten it to the car with straps which are thin enough to fit between the doors. Once inflated they can carry up to 175 pounds of weight.
The Swimming cap toiletry bag can store a ton of things in it due to its stretchy nature. Just be careful not to throw too much in it though as it could loose shape eventually. It basically is what girls used to wear when they went swimming and what you see the pros wear to streamline themselves. The difference here is that it has a zip around it to make it in to a bag also.
