Gizmo Watch

Now, this could be the way we’d read the newspapers in the near future, or are e-book readers or good old paper better? Come, you take a pick, but do read this to decide.

Designed by a group of students af the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, the Infractor is an interactive and artistic software application that is based on the article database of the New York Times i.e. information from 1985 to the present. Being an interactive application, it is developed basically for a multitouch table; wherein more than one person can work together at the same application.

Not many of us are seen playing pinball anymore. No matter how addicted we may have been to the game back in its time, it has lost out now. Nanotech, however, wishes to revive the lost era of pinball, and has thus popped up the Multipin, a digital pinball simulator. Living that authenticity and size of the classic pinballer, the Multipin is a collection of 17 pinball machines finding refuge in a single electronic cabinet.

The gamers can enjoy a number of original pinball games along with some new and more gripping ones on the Multipin’s 32-inch 720p High Definition LCD monitor. The second LCD screen featured under the cabinet’s backglass display, displays scores, game graphics etc. The entire gaming experience is made all modernly-nostalgic with the machine’s mechanical plunger, clicky flipper buttons, classic trappings and wonderful music you’ll just love to hear through your gaming routine. In case you’re willing to try your hands on the Multipin, then do check out the video below. The Multipin is available for $6000 over at Hammacher.

Scientists from the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and the Helsinki University of Technology have developed a loudspeaker system, which unlike ever before, uses tiny aluminum wires suspended like a bridge between two supports to create a wide range of thermoacoustic applications. We’ve seen the technique of thermoacoustics tamed by the Chinese researchers in their effort to create a loudspeaker from carbon nanotubes, but this Finnish process may just be a simplification of the technique.

Herein, the aluminum wire bridge that measure 200 micrometers long, 3 micrometers wide and just 30 nanometers thick is suspended just a few micrometers above a substrate. When a controlled voltage is passed through this aluminum wire bridge, slight vibrations are generated which create tiny sound waves. By adding direct current however, researchers managed to generate speech and music from the morphed loudspeaker.

USB 3.0 is still juvenile, but it is steadily making a niche for itself. We’ve seen a storage solution and a webcam made to cope with this superfast technology, and now we have Super Talent delivering the first USB 3.0 thumb drive, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 RAIDDRive, to impress us. Besides the fast data transfer, delivered at speeds of up to 4.8Gbps, these drives measuring 95 x 37 x 13.5mm will be made available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities sometime in December. Have you got the supporting drives and USB 3.0 ports already? If not, then you still have a long time before you can benefit from those blistering speeds guaranteed here.

Via: The Register/Pocket-lint

A walking robot done at the expense of time and money, but the result still remains to be seen. Dubbed the Gigar (what and why on Earth this, no idea), it is a DIY robot that’s been resurrected at a cost of $10,000 and with over 100 hours of labor. The two-foot humanoid is an outcome of such high cost because the designer has used Dynamixels RX-64 and RX-28 units, which come in at $300 and $200 each, respectively. The servos used are expensive, but in context to the other cheaper DIY servos, these can deliver an amazing 1,000 ounces per inch of torque. In addition the tiny little humanoid is integrated with a camera and Wi-Fi and runs on Linux. What is all this used for, hit the jump to see it for yourself in the video.

My experience with District 9, a recently released sci-fi film, wasn’t too pleasant. But that gun Wickus van de Merwe carried around in the movie was surely exciting. There’s another guy out there who feels the same about the gun. While I am only praises for it, this designer has actually made one for himself and is ready to help you build one, in case you too have the same fascination. The designer’s actually done a great job with the detailing and other aspects of the unique gun. If you’re too lazy to follow the instructions to make one for yourself, just jump over to eBay and order it here.

Wearing a stainless steel body with a new black paint job, here is the all new E-P2 camera from Olympus making inroads. Highly appreciated for the 12.3MP sensor, the Olympus E-P2 finds an addition to its make with an articulating VF-2 electronic viewfinder and a still-unnamed accessory port, which allows for a new stereo microphone that takes sound capturing a little away from the camera’s body.

The E-P2 will be made available this January in two versions: 1) E-P2 Body with ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and EVF, 2) E-P2 Body with 17mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and EVF – both priced equally at $1100. The E-P2 in addition to the aforementioned upgrades also makes provision for a new iEnhance color adjustment and a Continuous Autofocus tracking system which to my surprise, works well for both stills and videos.

Headsets have started becoming so routine. Therefore, to break the jinks, maybe, Sony Ericsson has revealed the novel MW600, a Wireless Stereo Headset with built-in FM Radio. Featuring advanced Bluetooth technology besides the other attributes, the headset also offers an OLED display with easy access controls and RDS radio station information. Benefiting the users with the sound enhancing earbuds, the headset that measures 17.5-mm x 15.0-mm x 62.0-mm and weighs only 13-grams has a 3,5mm plug-in jack, so it just fits in today’s gadgetry.

Via: TechFresh

Scientists from Purdue University have prepared a new solid propellant with explosive results. The fuel, a combination of nanoaluminum and ice, is a new kind of environmentally friendly solid rocket fuel that could someday be used in missions to outer space. With the motive to minimize fuel consumption onboard, the fuel has been successfully field-tested in a nine-foot rocket which scaled an amazing height of 1300 feet at 200mph using seven inches of nanoaluminum and ice.

The desired temperatures for flight can be reached with aluminum and water, but the researchers believe the kinetics would be so slow and it would be hard to ignite, thus they have broken aluminum into very tiny nanoscopic pieces, which increases the kinetics, and it actually works. Because of its small size, i.e. smaller than 80 nanometers, the aluminum ice, or ALICE for short, can be compressed into a solid bar, thus making it safe and easy to transport.

Via: MSNBC

In case you want the power to shoot fire from your hand, come to the refuge of DIY-er Everett Bradford and he’ll provide you with the abilities to shoot flames out of your arm. Everett got together a pyrotechnical invention to build what’s called the Prometheus, which is a little wrist-mounted flame thrower. This flame thrower has a butane/propane tank strapped under the arm with an arc generator as the ignition source, which controlled by the micro-controlled servo ignites fire with the movement of the arm. Now, do you wish to try lighting fires with your burning hand? Video demonstration after the jump.