Making its big screen debut in the James Bond flick "Octopussy", the Bede BD-5 is the world's smallest jet aircraft. This 860-pound microjet is powered by a single TRS-18 jet engine and has a top speed of 320mph. It can reach altitudes of up to 30,000 feet, "flying for 2 hours before having to re-fuel."
Microsoft has just posted a Knowledge Base document saying that it's confirmed WHS corrupts various files when saved to the server by certain apps. The bug affects several MS apps, including Money, Outlook 2007, Vista Photo Gallery, Live Photo Gallery, and SyncToy, but it also hits Quicken, Quickbooks, and -- fatally for a media server -- BitTorrent clients. Microsoft says it's working on a fix, but that in the meantime, you should avoid using WHS with these apps.
The "Dragon Bike" is the latest creation from famed bike artist Jay Broemmel —and it would undoubtedly turn some heads if you were to ride it down the street. Broemmel even added some special touches in the form of Blue LED headlight eyes that move when you turn the handlebar and a jaw that bites down when you squeeze the left brake (no flames shooting out of the mouth?).
For all you Devil May Cry fanatics out there (wait -- are there Devil May Cry fanatics out there?) you're about to get a super-special, unicorn explosion from Microsoft. That's right, babies, it's the Devil May Cry special edition Xbox 360. Actually, it's more like a bundle of the boring, old, non-special (though HDMI equipped) Xbox 360, coupled with the brand spaking new Devil May Cry 4, where the Devil, crying, and the possibility of crying meet for a fourth -- but probably not final -- time.
Nokia has again pushed back the launch of its gaming service N-gage due to delays in software testing, a spokesman said on Thursday, in the latest blow to the Internet services ambitions of the world's top cellphone maker.
PhoneArena reviews the high-end Samsung Giorgio Armani multimedia phone, which sports a 2.6-inch touchscreen display, 3.15-megapixel camera, microSD card slot, 60MB internal memory, and Bluetooth 2.0 w/A2DP.
DisplayPort is the most fun when you snag it on the cheap, and according to some leaked specs over on Madbox PC, AMD has a $50 Radeon in the works that'll have you running that 30-incher off of USB for a pittance. 
Sure, you'll need a foot pedal for the mouse clicking, which presents a problem for those disabled users who might have hoped to use such a device. But wait, there's a version that solves that problem, too. Check out the video to see this contraption in action.
Shares of Apple Inc. hit the $200 mark for the first time Wednesday- As investor confidence in the company continued rising near the end of what has been a strong year for the iPod and computer maker.
Google is among more than 260 companies vying for wireless licenses to be auctioned in January, which could allow the search giant to extend its reach to the mobile Internet.
There's also the Stig, a Stig-ette in a white bikini and helmet, Clarkson dining on an apple run over at the apex of a turn, a measurement device that we can't mention here, and lots of unkind things said of M3 drivers.
The 1640-square-foot craft, whose French designers say could take to the skies in a year or so, will have 60 rooms and travel at a breakneck speed of 173mph. Since this behemoth gets its lift from helium, there's not much danger of a fiery hydrogen explosion like that ill-fated Hindenburg, so we're thinking it might be fun to float around the world in a luxo-hotel. Of all the ideas like this, maybe this one will be the one to actually fly.
Despite it being designed for R/C models, this 4-stroke V12 engine is touted as the world's smallest. Featuring a 21mm bore, 87cc displacement, air cooling, and two camshafts.
Envy 1044 and Flair 1107
Estelo 3060 and Ultima 1107
Aura Black and Aura Gold
Tired of phony online friends? Make enemies instead. Riding on the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, new Web sites are poking fun at online friendships that connect you to the people you like, by turning attention to the ones you don't.
Over the past 18 months, sites such Snubster, Enemybook and Hatebook are appealing to Internet users who get a kick out of the tongue-in-cheek humor of mocking their friends and others who are just plain cynical.
"I didn't understand these fake-friend war chests that people were so busy building online," said Bryant Choung, a technology consultant who started Snubster last year.
"I would get Facebook requests from people I talked to for three minutes at a bar or party, and now this person wants to go online to peruse all of my photos and contacts. I just didn't get it," the 26-year-old added.
Snubster, a Facebook application and a Web site with 16,000 users worldwide, lets users compile people and things they dislike.
No one from Facebook, which boasts 59 million active users worldwide, was available to comment about the sites.
When Facebook opened up its network to outside applications earlier this year, some users decided it was an opportunity to poke fun at the phenomenon.
Kevin Matulef, the creator of Enemybook, said the idea for his Facebook application started as a joke last summer when friends at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were asking if someone was a real friend or a Facebook friend.
"It started basically as a satire, sort of a parody of some of the superficial aspects of Facebook and the connections that you have, but now it's kind of evolved and it allows people to express themselves via their dislikes," said Matulef, 28.
Enemybook, which has 9,000 users, is similar to Snubster in that it lets you "enemy" so-called friends, public figures and fictitious characters.
"A lot of people like myself use it just to joke around with our good friends," said Matulef.
Choung agrees. "I hope that most people take it as a joke, on occasion I do get complaints from people about others who take it too seriously."
But Murray Pomerance, a professor of pop culture sociology at Ryerson University in Toronto, said most people take their online relationships very seriously.
"There are a lot of people who do not believe the friends that they have on these sites are phony," he explained.
"I know people who have lots and lots of friends on these sites and who say things about themselves on these sites that they would never say to anyone straight up in public or in private."
Pomerance added that any online social networking, whether it's making friends or enemies, could be dangerous.
"Who you liked and who you hated used to be private," he said. "What they're doing is taking human feeling and emotion and making us actually register them through these online services."
Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/web_facebook_parodies_life_dc;_ylt=AijL6dbmTlRwNJQiJ2jvi3QjtBAF
It is hideous. Made by Swiss company Goldvish, the Le Million (what a name, just reeks of (cl)ass, doncha think?) comes in a choice of red, yellow or white gold. Tastefully studded with diamonds and what looks like crocodile skin (although surely croc is far too prosaic for such a phone, perhaps skin from something found in a freezer in Roswell might be more keeping with the exclusiveness of this—this thing) it's not available for just any old pleb, you know.
This followup to the first Ninja Gaiden (Xbox 360) game, builds upon its predecessor and offers players "an auto-generation health system, new enemies and locales, and thrilling combat built upon an extensive assortment of ninja weaponry."
Available in 3.1-Megapixel and 5-Megapixel models, you shoot your subject by lining it up in the crosshairs on the mask. LED lights on the glass indicate whether you're in video or stills mode. A USB port allows you to download from its 16MB internal memory, and there's an SD card slot allowing you to bump that up so you can shoot your swimming-pool version of Jaws. Price of the Liquid Image Camera-Mask hasn't been finalized yet, but the idea of smaller version will cost $99.This is just weird, even for the giddy parents-to-be types who like to run around showing off copies of their ultrasound at work. A hospital in England is one (two?)-upping old-school 2D ultrasounds with 4D scans of your in utero spawn.
read more | digg story
Oracle Corp. fared far better than analysts anticipated in its fiscal second quarter, easing worries that the sagging U.S. economy will curtail corporate spending on technology and drag down the business software maker.
So we know that AT&T slipped its MediaFLO-based mobile TV launch from the end of 2007 out to early '08, but just how "early" are we talking? Well, "as early as possible," to be specific. That rather unhelpful statement is all that's coming out of AT&T for the moment regarding its go-live window for the service, saying that testing is going "very, very well" but that it wanted to take an extra timeout to "make sure the user experience is absolutely optimal."
Overall technology dominated the lists, with the social networking sites doing particularly well. Proving that the Internet isn’t just for adults, with sites like Club Penguin and StarDoll featured heavily.
The article about the new tech's kind of trend-fishing with the iPod angle, since the hospital gives you the file on a CD or DVD, which you can load up on any portable media player. But sweet christ, I hope this doesn't become a real trend.
It seems to me that any modern person uses at last one kind of messenger. Unfortunately, people meet each other so rarely nowadays. That's why messenger is a very nice and handy solution for the majority of them. But.. I wish the messenger could reflect people's emotions. It's the biggest disadvantage of the messengers, because they can't.While cell phones make us truly mobile, they are becoming cluttered with more unnecessary features. Jin Le brings simplicity back with the "Circle Phone". It sports "only 3 buttons and a rotary style dial pad set in a very modern looking ring."
The upswing in high-tech technology integrated into every facet of our lives will soon (say 5+ years from now) experience a backlash started by none other than designers. The Circle Phone is an example of such a backlash.
Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/pictures-circle-phone-brings-simplicity-back
Just in case you haven't had a chance to play the original Sonic the Hedgehog on your Wii or Xbox 360 lately, now there's yet another platform that's offering the classic platformer for sale: the iPod. Yep, for $4.99 you can now download the classic Sonic the "I remember this being better" Hedgehog for all of your awkward, click-wheel-controlled gaming needs.
Microsoft on Tuesday said it will make publicly available a beta version of Windows XP Service Pack 3. But, like a car salesman pitching the new Corvette over the old jalopy, Microsoft argued that a switch to Vista is the better move.
According to the Wall Street Journal Asia, Jobs and Co are in Japan working out the details for a domestic iPhone launch. It's no surprise then that Jobs was rumored to have just met with NTT DoCoMo's president, Masao Nakamur, to discuss the deal with the largest carrier in the world's second-largest economy. As usual, Apple seems to be playing the carriers off one another with rumors that The Steve is courting Softbank as well. However, "people familiar with the situation" say that DoCoMo is the first choice. While the revenue sharing is a sticking point as usual, WSJA says that Apple doesn't expect to have any difficulty closing the deal. Funny, that's what everyone was saying about Vodafone in Europe.
P.S. For what it's worth, NTT DoCoMo does not run a GSM/EDGE network. Any iPhone released on DoCoMo's FOMA service will be HSDPA -- right, the 3G iPhone.
Source- http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/18/iphone-coming-to-japans-ntt-docomo/
When it comes to Dubai and attracting wealthy tourists, the word "restraint" is seldom used. Perhaps that is why it is not surprising that the locals are building a $1 billion theme park that will feature over 100 animatronic dinosaurs of 40 different species. Dubbed "Restless Planet," the park will attempt to provide an educational experience amidst all of the Vegas style spectacle. This will be done using history themed rides and robots / habitats that represent an accurate portrayal (based on current knowledge) of what life was like millions of years ago.
The robots will also be capable of interacting with guests by following them with their eyes or lunging at them as the walk by. Even though you would think that keeping the wraps on a 500,000 square foot park would be difficult, further details are scarce. However, the park is scheduled to open in late 2008 in City of Arabia, Dubai.
Source- http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/a-robotic-jurassic-park-coming-to-dubai-335002.php
Reportedly, this brainiac was created with absolutely one goal in life, and judging by eyewitness reports, it succeeds mightily. The fellow rocks a huge flat-panel display as a face and utilizes built-in sensors to determine the current position of each square and how to most quickly solve it. Interestingly, we heard that sabotaging the cube by removing a sticker would send Cube-Kun into fits of uncontrollable rage, but apparently, no one's been courageous enough to test its patience.
Toshiba boosted its portfolio with the release of 5 new 1.8 inch HDDs.
A few thin fiber optic strands should be attached to your hair to create an unforgettable appearance. What unusual is there? The strands are illuminated. They are shining and it looks like a magic spray was poured on your hair.
Aesthetically, the Cypres Mobile Phone by Nao Tamura is a work of art. It features a transparent case, integrated camera, and an OLED display. No word yet on pricing and availability.Tomy's i-SOBOT usually requires users to punch in one of 147 different keycodes on its monster handheld controller to get things moving, but a couple enterprising hackers have developed a control system that lets you get it on mo-cap style using a Wiimote and the nunchuk attachment.
The secret is the upcoming Robodance 4 software, which maps the i-SOBOTs commands to the Wiimote and a GUI for complex scripted macros -- which means it'll be even easier to pretend that the bot is actually your real friend. Check a vid of the system in action, apparently shot in someone's underground bunker, after the break.Pet stores in Australia have been selling a portable speaker with a built-in fish tank, designed to hook up to portable audio devices like the iPod.
The cleverly named iPond, which is currently drawing fire from animal rights groups for not providing adequate space for a fish to live.
Melbourne Aquarium officials say the Betta fish sold with the iPond need a 10 liter tank to swim and get a proper amount of oxygen, but the iPond's tank is only 650 milliliters. Acoustics experts also say sound from the speaker, which is built into the bottom of the iPond, could transfer into fish tank, bringing up another potential hazard.Good news for anyone looking to get into next gen gaming, Microsoft has slashed the price of the Xbox 360 significantly this holiday season.
For the month of December only, the Xbox 360 core console will be sold for Rs. 14,990 while the Pro version will set you back by Rs. 23,990. The core console will come bundled with two free games (Forza Motorsport 2 and Viva Piñata) while the Pro version will come bundled with four games (Project Gotham Racing 3, Forza Motorsport 2, Viva Piñata and Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007).
Publicly disclosable details about the future of Windows Mobile are still sparse, but we can let the door open a bit wider on what was shown at this year's Mobius with regard to the next two versions of Windows Mobile. We all know that 6.1 is around the corner, but it's the next two versions beyond that which are really interesting. Post-6.1, WinMo will indeed have its app suite revamped, including a desktop-grade port of IE to Windows Mobile, which Microsoft is replacing pocket IE with and directly targeting mobile Safari. Likewise, the rest of the consumer-centric apps (photos, media, etc.) as well as the messaging suite will be upgraded to be a bit friendlier. This whole experience won't be too foreign to long-time users, but is the next step in the right direction.
Help could be at hand for millions of travelers who have previously ended up with some unexpected delicacy when ordering their meals in foreign restaurants.
Over at the Nokia Research Center in Helsinki they are looking at utilizing the camera in the phone to take a picture of the text on a menu and to translate it for you. A particularly challenging task will be the Asian market, where the literal translations often found on menus often offer no help at all.
A masterful Lego builder that goes by the name of Arvo is the man responsible for this unbelievably awesome Iron Man figure. And with results like that, the dude doesn't even need a last name. Just whispering "Arvo" will get grab the attention of geeks the world over.
Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS) Wii held on to its spot as the No. 1 video game console in the United States in November, selling 981,000 units, industry data showed on Thursday.
It was the Wii's best showing for the console since its November 2006 launch, topping last December's sales figure by 60%, according to market research firm NPD.
"Since there is still an evident inventory shortage at retail, it's difficult to say just how high sales could be if you took that issue out of the equation," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.
Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 console sold 770,000 units while Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation 3 sold 466,000 units, NPD said.
Activision Inc had the top-selling video game, "Call of Duty 4," which sold more than 2.01 million copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3, NPD said.
Nintendo also sold 1.53 million of its DS handheld device while Sony sold 567,000 of its PlayStation Portable, the data showed.
Activision's "Guitar Hero 3" sold 1.9 million copies for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and Sony's older PlayStation 2.
"Assassin's Creed" from France's Ubisoft sold nearly 1.36 million copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3, while Nintendo's "Super Mario Galaxy" for the Wii sold 1.12 million copies.
Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071214/tc_nm/videogames_sales_dc;_ylt=Aj2pjTgOFh7bNBSufpsBKRAjtBAF
NEW TOYOTA ROBOTS ARE THE ULTIMATE FESTIVE SEASON ACCESSORY
- Mobility Robot can walk owners around, carry shopping
- Violin-playing Robot can perform Christmas carols
Toyota has unveiled two new robots, a “Mobility Robot” and a “Violin-playing Robot”, which could become very useful at Christmas in years to come.
The Mobility Robot provides transport in places where conventional wheeled vehicles would fail, including steps, making it the ideal aid for all those hours of Christmas shopping.
The Mobility Robot can move at speeds of up to 4mph – human walking pace – and travel up to a distance of 13 miles on one hour of battery charge. In addition to being able to transport its owner, it can also follow people and avoid obstacles, allowing it to function as a porter, leaving the owner’s hands free at the New Year sales.
The Violin-playing Robot is capable of performing a variety of tasks with its hands and arms. Its delicacy of movement is best demonstrated by the fact it can play the violin. It can achieve vibrato on a violin similar to that created by humans, enabling it to play all the classic Christmas carols.
The 1.5-metre tall Violin-playing Robot, equipped with a total of 17 joints in each of its hands and arms, uses precise control and coordination to achieve human-like agility. It could also be used to assist with domestic duties or nursing and medical care.
These newest additions to the Toyota Partner Robot family are being developed to support people’s everyday life but unfortunately you won’t be able to purchase them for this Christmas. Toyota hopes to have these and other Toyota Partner Robots on sale in the early 2010s.
Toyota Partner Robots are envisioned to assist people in four main fields: domestic duties, nursing and healthcare, manufacturing and short-distance personal transport.
Toyota is primarily focussing on technology that works in harmony with people, such as assistance devices that can help move heavy instruments in a factory, on mobility technology for autonomous movement, on full-body coordination for walking and jumping, and on tool manipulation.
Source- http://www.gadgetlounge.net/archives/2007/12/06/violin-playing-robot-can-perform-christmas-carols-new-toyota-mobility-robot/#comment-49340
