Near the beginning of this you’re like “Eh. It’s a kid on a bike.” Then, when you think of the planning that went into this carnival of lights, sound, and blue streamers you kind of realize that maybe the human race isn’t doomed after all if kids like these will be calling the shots in thirty years.

Thanks, John

Hitachi Maxell today unveiled noise-canceling iPod-only earphones [JP] that are powered through the player and therefore don’t require extra batteries. They weigh 22 grams and are 95cm long.

All that users need to do is to plug the HP-NC20.IPs to the dock connector, having to take into account the battery life will be reduced by up to a whopping 66%. In addition, users are forced to control the volume with the slider on the earphones since volume control on the iPod itself won’t work anymore.

Hitachi Maxell promises a maximum of 20dB of less noise. The earphones are only compatible to fourth generation (and up) iPods and iPod Touches of the first and second generation (they don’t connect to iPhones).

The HP-NC20.IPs will only be available in Japan for the time being (from December 12) and cost $80.

John Oliver learns about CNN’s touch wall the only way he knows how: by running around New York, making love to John King, and exposing CNN’s evil plan to take over the world. All in a days work for The Daily Show.

via Giz

OKI and a group of researchers of Waseda University in Tokyo have developed a device that is able to extract a person’s voice from a mix of background noise and other persons’ voices. The new voice-extraction technology is combined with a voice-recognition system that makes it possible to control appliances via spoken commands.

The prototype (which there are no photos of, I looked everywhere on the Japanese web) supposedly has the size and look of a typical remote control with four small microphones attached to its front. Users can dim the lights, turn on electric appliances or change TV programs by speaking into the device.

The technology is also suitable for recording lectures or speeches, cutting the voices of other people present and general background noise.

Via Nikkei [registration required / paid subscription]

By using ultra-fine polymer fibers, military researchers have been able to regrow damaged or missing organs and limbs. They will announce their findings officially next month at the 26th Army Science Conference in Florida.

One example given by John Parmentola, a director of research and lab management, involved a man who lost the entire tip of his finger while starting up a model airplane.

“That has been completely regrown . . . the nail, the bone, the tissue,” he said.

“There is one example of a young girl who . . . was born without a sex organ, and that was regrown,” he said.

The polymers act as a trellis for new cells which climb up and through the fine scaffolding. Once the organ is regrown, the scaffold is absorbed into the body and disappears.

The process cannot yet regrow complex organs like hearts but it can create skin, bone, and nails. In 2006, nanoscaffolding was used to regrow burned skin and it was discovered that skin cells will “sort themselves” into the right arrangement if given a proper foothold. Work is also being done to use the methods to repair nerve damage and spinal injuries.

When I first saw this I thought “Where have you been all my life?” Then I realized the answer: In 1.x iPhone and iTouch firmware. iMobileCinema is a homebrew app for 1.1.1-1.1.5 firmware and must be installed on jailbroken phones. This tool is all but useless to early adopters who are already into the 2.x version of the firmware but a version that should work with 2.1 is coming soon, according to the website.

The question, then, is whether this app breaks the terms of use.

The program is actually a Safari plug-in that breaks Flash video out of the page much like the YouTube program. It’s not a true Flash interpreter but instead uses the same techniques that the YouTube app uses but on a wider range of videos. It’s available free for download for those who have considerably older phones, at least in tech years.
via NoWhereElse

Rider Nylon guitar for guitar pickin’, classically-trained hoboes
Cute USB gadget alarm: Heart-shaped cup warmer and Stitch-shaped humidifier released
Send Your Gnome Into Space Day
HN-PP150: Sharp Japan releases Aquos photo player / printer with HDMI port
Bajca “emotional communicator”

HP has done a pretty good job with their line of convertible tablets thus far and today they announced the latest addition that incorporates multi-touch two-finger control, the TouchSmart tx2. The only caveat, however, is that the multi-touch functionality works within the HP MediaSmart suite of applications (like on the TouchSmart desktops), which isn’t really a caveat now that I think about it. It’s not like Apple is doing anything with their multi-touch technology on a notebook form factor, yet.

The TouchSmart tx2’s multi-touch screen can be attributed to an embedded N-trig digitizer (video after the jump). With a WXGA 12.1-inch screen the tx2 can handle up to 8GB or RAM with storage ranging from 160 to a 500GB 5400 RPM SATA drive and an AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core proc (2.0GHz up to 2.4GHz). What I really liked about the tx2 other than the multi-touch stuff was the textured trackpad. I don’t know why but I did.

Full specs after the jump.

This is not the tx2, but it gives you an idea of what it actually does.

It’s pretty snazzy, but I prefer our own little gift guide. You only have to hear me talk if you want to, and there’s no extra layers between you and our reviews. Still, there’s something to be said for green screening yourself into a web app, although it is a bit Tronnish.

I could have done without the ‘behind the scenes’ type photos of Jay Maynard and his junk, but his impression of everyone’s initial reaction to his costume makes up for it. What a nerd. :)

The description from the YouTube page is as follows:

Without the networks and communities created by the PC, the world might never have even heard of the “Tron Guy” or internet phenomenons just like him.

As for the battle gear itself, it looks pretty awesome, although traditionally wraparound helmets have been avoided in combat due to decreased field of vision — troublesome, that. But with a personal cooling system and protection from both missile and laser attacks (!), South Korean soldiers should be sitting pretty even if they do get ambushed from their blind spot. Zug zug!

These fancy, $100 bags are part of the ScanFast for Her Collection, Mobile Edge’s line of lady-minded laptop bags. (I guess generic, dark-colored bags are too aggressive and masculine for women. Wait, what?) As with other Mobile Edge bags, these are Transportation Security Administration’s Checkpoint Friendly. That means, theoretically, that you’re not required to remove your laptop from the bag while you go through security. In my experience, however, the guys asking you to remove your laptop from your bag haven’t heard of such a program—all laptops out of your bags now or we’ll send you to Guantanamo. The joke’s on them: it’ll be closed soon enough!

Microsoft introduced the third generation Zune two months ago and rolled out the 3.1 update today, but electronista has just confirmed that the Zune is dropping in price. How much you ask? The 4GB is getting the biggest drop and will end up with a new MSRP of $99 while the 8GB will now sell for $139. The large-ish 16GB flavor is dropping by $20 to $179. All these prices should go into effect tomorrow, Wednesday, as the iPod vs Zune wars heat back up. The 4GB Zune is tempting now.

If the acquisition goes as planned, the Sanyo consumer tech division, which is losing money, will likely be scrapped or cannibalized. Likewise, Panasonic’s battery division will likely be rolled into the larger and more successful Sanyo one. Either way the Sanyo brand is probably on its way out. My only question is why didn’t they do this years ago?

Good news for Peek owners, as the previously e-mail-only service has been upgraded to handle text messaging with the greatest of ease. You’ll simply need to enter your Peek-less friends’ ten digit cell phone numbers (you have those all memorized, right?) into the TO: field of an e-mail message and they’ll receive whatever you type in the body as a text message. Messages sent back to you will show up in your inbox.

This is super good news for people who text all the time but don’t like paying per-message charges, because the Peek service is unlimited so you can text and e-mail all the livelong day. Peek also added a second update in the form of more robust image support. Previously, you’d been limited to viewing just JPEG images but now you can view JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP images.

Quick Version: Whether you’re new to the Call of Duty series of first-person shooters or you’ve played some or all of the past versions, you’ll likely find World at War to be a compelling and powerful addition to your library of games.

Overview and Features

• Set during World War II, you’ll play part of the game as a US Marine against the Japanese and part of the game as a Russian soldier against the Germans
• Voice acting by Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman
• Single player, cooperative, and multiplayer modes
• Really well-done cut scenes, audio, and gore. The action and violence is very, very graphic without being over-the-top or sensational – it’s got a Mature rating, though
• MSRP of $59.99 as reviewed for Xbox 360

Pros

If you’re a fan of the Call of Duty series, you’re interested in World War II, and/or you like first-person shooters, you’ll want to pick this one up. Some have wondered if Activision’s decision to return to historic combat after the successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would pay off, and I can tell you that yes, it did.

As far as gameplay and presentation are concerned, the game runs smoothly, the graphics are great, and the cut scenes are marvelous. Treyarch, the game’s developer, used historic war-time footage interspersed with quick cuts to various maps and strategic battle plans to move the story along in between levels.

They didn’t pull any punches, either, as there’s some pretty graphic video footage. Gameplay, too, features some of the most graphic and (what I’d assume to be) realistic death I’ve seen in a video game. You don’t just shoot someone dead, you might blow your enemy’s arm off first and hope to finish the job before he grabs his pistol with the remaining arm. The real wartime video during the cutscenes shows people getting shot dead, too. It’s quite jarring and unsettling.

The whole thing – cutscenes and gameplay – is gory and uncomfortable, but not in a “Oh that’s sick” kind of way. It’s more of a “Oh my God, war is even worse than I could have ever imagined,” feeling. Sad as it may sound, it took a videogame like this to give me a whole new appreciation for the shocking brutality of war. If you’re a parent, this is NOT an acceptable game for a child. It’s rated as Mature (17+) for a reason. If you insist on buying it for your kids, turn of the gore in the settings menu first.

Now on to the game itself. You get the standard single player and multiplayer modes, plus a new cooperative mode, which is basically playing through a slightly modified version of the single player game with one other person (split-screen) or up to three other players online. It works well and it’s a nice balance between the single player and multiplayer modes that adds a fair amount of replay value to the title.

I found multiplayer mode to work really well, mostly because my FPS skills have fallen off since college. Instead of being thrown into the middle of a deathmatch with a bunch of advanced players, you start out in “Boot Camp” which is basically made of people like yourself who are playing online for the first time. As you rack up kills and points and whatnot, you get promoted. Once you hit a certain level, you can’t play on the Boot Camp level any more and you’re forced to play against better competition.

Single player mode is done well, too, with voice acting by Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman prodding you along as the American and Russian sergeants, respectively. Aside from straight-up shooting, you’ll find yourself behind the wheel of a tank and manning the guns on a fighter plane, both are fun breaks from standard combat. 

Cons

I only have a couple of minor quibbles with Call of Duty: World at War. First, you’ve got a double storyline with little to no warning that you’re about to shift gears. You start the game as Private Miller, fighting against the Japanese and then all of a sudden the next level loads up and you’re lying in a ditch in Stalingrad, faking your own death so a German soldier won’t shoot you. Half of the action takes place out in the open in the Pacific while the other half in Europe is more enclosed in buildings and whatnot.

It’s not bad, actually, it just takes time to readjust to different combat styles. Often I’d find myself having a great time in one storyline only to be kicked over to the other storyline for a while. Some may like it, others may not. I just thought the whole process could have been a bit more seamless, that’s all.

And finally, like other Call of Duty titles, everything kind of moves along on a rail. You have an objective, you complete it, you get another objective. Repeat. No running too far left or right because the hills, bushes, or buildings will keep you moving forward along your predestined track. There were a few instances that I couldn’t figure out what I had to do to progress to the next waypoint, as it were, only to find that I hadn’t used the correct weapon to try to blow up a certain building or I hadn’t moved my player to a certain area of the level that would trip the next sequence of events into motion. It’d be nice to see what could be done with a more dynamic environment.

Recommendation

Despite the few minor, minor annoyances, Call of Duty: World at War is one of the best games I’ve played in a while. If you’re at all interested in the series, World War II, or first-person shooters, it’d be a worthwhile addition to your games collection.

MythTV is incredibly popular DVR alternative and the next update will roll-out new interface changes. The new software update gives developers dramatic more control over the GUI and should bring spectacular new effects including animations and OpenGL support. Every spot of the GUI should receive immediate updates and eventually more themes should appear utilizing the back-end. The .22 update just isn’t about eye candy as user interaction should be increased as well. If you haven’t checked out MythTV just yet, ya might wanna after this update has been out for a bit.

Americans had a saying in the 1840s: “54-40 or fight!” It referred to the Oregon Country-Canada border dispute we had with the British. Americans, feeling that their nation deserved to be a continental nation, were willing to go to war against the British, again, in order secure a few more swaths of land, and all the gold and glory that goes along with that.

I have a similar saying: “70 by Sunday.” It refers to my superhuman (read: sorry) effort to reach level 70 in World of Warcraft by Sunday, November 23. (I want to hit 80 by Christmas.) According to Titan Panel, I’ve played the game for 1 day, 20 hours (44 hours total) since Friday evening. You figure 10+ hours on Saturday and Sunday and you get an idea of the sheer trauma I’ve put my body through.

But never would I play the game for extended periods of time with little to no food and going on two hours sleep. That kid we mentioned yesterday? Turns out he didn’t pass out after a 15-hour WoW bender, no.

He played the game for nearly 24 hours in a row. (Also, the kid’s from Sweden, not the Netherlands.) Apparently he suffered an epileptic fit.

In summary: if you want to play WoW, or whatever game, for hours on end, for the love of God take a break every once in a while and be sure to eat and drink, preferably something healthy as per your body’s needs.

It is a device that you can use to browse the net, chat with friends, IM, email, write or draw. It works with most updated servers so that the information you have put on the scroll can be uploaded to any device. It even hosts a hologram to view Windows.

Look at the pictures. What about this device makes sense? How many rules of ergonomics does it break? Does the concept designer know what hologram is or how one is created? Does he think people want to carry holsters around all the time? I hate to rag so much on it, but honestly this is like something out of design kindergarten.