Gadgets Blog

You’ve probably seen the commercials on television touting the evils of plastic water bottles. “Forever in a landfill,” the commercial warns. Well, thanks to one high school student, forever may just get a lot shorter. It appears a Canadian teenager has figured out a way to make plastic decompose in only three months versus a thousand years.

Daniel Burd, a 16-year-old from Waterloo, Ontaria wanted to see if there was a way to make plastic bags composed of polyethelyne decompose faster. After some experimentation he concluded that by combining landfill dirt with yeast, tap water, and ground-up plastic and then letting the mixture sit, the rate of plastic decomposition was significantly increased.

Burd proved that there are polyethyelyne degrading microorganisms that do exist in nature and could be isolated for larger applications. He hopes his discovery could one day be used on an industrial scale to help reduce the amount of plastic sitting in landfills.

Read more at DVICE.

Funcom has released the sales figures for the long-awaited and well-received Age of Conan MMO, showing 400,000 copies sold since its release on May 20. Of those 400,000 copies sold, the North American market accounts for half of those figures.

The developer is claiming this release to be the highest amount of pre-orders ever for an original PC game. This combined with 2.2 million hits on the game’s website over the last week confirms what we already knew: people are excited for some Conan-themed MMO action.

Read more at next-gen.biz

Kenneth’s Opinion

With the kind of stranglehold that Blizzard had (and continues to have) on the MMO genre with so many subscribers and becoming such an embedded cultural presence that extends beyond gaming, it is somewhat surprising to see these numbers. Considering that playing two MMO’s at once is not something that most sane people would do, Funcom still has quite a fight on its hands to ensure that these numbers stay strong and grow versus the gigantic beast of WoW. The installed fanbase of Blizzard’s money machine will be hard to topple.

If LG’s LHT888 home theater system sounds familiar to you, that’s because it was first unveiled at CES 2008 in Las Vegas earlier this year, although it is not fit for consumer consumption till now. As with many of the other LG offerings these days, you can expect distinctive designs and advanced technology, including enhanced sound quality and user-friendly touch sensing controls. According to Allan Jason, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Digital Media, LG Electronics USA, Inc., “LG’s latest home theater and audio systems were designed to meet consumers’ desire for advanced technology that doesn’t compromise the stylish design of their homes. Our new systems offer consumers the best of both worlds and truly complement the entire entertainment experience.”

The LG LHT888 DVD Home Theater System draws inspiration from the slim, elegant form of the champagne flute. It looks way too fragile for me, and I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who has a household with toddlers and active kids running around - perhaps this would be best confined to a special movie room instead, or in homes where the kids have long left the nest, leaving two senior citizens with little choice other than to plonk themselves in front of a new HDTV while reliving their younger dates with each other by watching remastered content their favorite movies with the best possible audio experience possible.

The unique yet subtle silhouette of the loudspeakers make it possible to integrate into any premium home theater system, hence enhancing the entire room instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. Some of the LG LHT888’s features include :-

• Wireless rear speakers
• 700W 5.1-channel DVD receiver
• 1080p Up-scaling via HDMI
• USB Media Plus
• HDMI output
• LG SimpLink multi-device control (HDMI-CEC) and multi-format playback compatibility-MP3, JPEG, MPEG

You can pick up the LG LHT888 for $649.95.

Press Release

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Another piece of the international iphone puzzle has been jammed into place. When we detailed the contracts signed between Apple and telcos worldwide, there was a conspicuous gap in the map, above and to the right of Western Europe.

That has been filled by this press release from TeliaSonera, cellphone provider for the Nordic and Baltic markets:

TeliaSonera today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia later this year.

The number of countries expecting a new toy on June 9th is fast approaching 50. One notable exception is still Spain, despite strong evidence that Telefonica will be carrying the Iberian Stupendabrick. We’re expecting that announcement mañana.

Press release [TeliaSonera]

Over at Walt Mossberg’s D: All Things Digital conference, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have shown a small snippet of the upcoming Windows 7. The short version? Windows 7 looks like Vista with some new Multi touch clothes. The long version? There really isn’t one.

If you watch the video, which contains almost all of the “new” features demonstrated at D, you’ll be forgiven your feelings of déjà vu. In fact, it seems like the Windows team have switched their focus for inspiration from Mac OS X to the iPhone OS. Multitouch is the biggest addition, and will appear system-wide, usable anywhere. The screen used for the demo is made by Tyco Electronics, whose Elo TouchSystems are already found in kiosk hardware.

The pinch-to-zoom feature makes it in, as does a Cover Flow style touch-to-flip, seen here used to display information written on the back of a photograph. Google also seems to have been a muse. The mapping application comes on like a cross between Google Earth and the Maps application for the iphone, with added touch-screen goodness. Even the little pushpins look familiar. The touch screen piano, too, is old hat if you have a Jailbroken iPhone.

In fact, the most interesting part of the touch UI is not the eye candy, it’s the Task Bar, which seems to have morphed into a pie menu. A pie menu is a circular pop-up menu which appears wherever your cursor (or finger) may be. It lays out the options into radial slices, making it, according to Fitts’ Law, much faster to navigate. Because the positions of the options don’t change, it is also possible to commit them to muscle memory. In the case of Windows 7, pie menus might also relieve some of the strain of holding your arms out straight in front of you all day long.

To be fair, Microsoft is trying not to give too much away. After the Vista debacle, which saw the operating system slough features like a Persian cat molts fur, Microsoft plans to keep things a little quieter. Chris Flores at the Windows Vista blog:

We know that when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action. As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we broadly share information that later changes.

Translation: If nobody knows what to expect, nobody will be disappointed. A few things we do know. Windows 7 will not, as has as been speculated, throw out the old OS kernel to start anew, which is what Apple did when it started over with Mac OS X. Instead it will, according to Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, be “an evolution” of the Vista underpinnings. Supposedly drivers will work just as well as they do in Vista (hardly a great promise). Sinofsky also gives us a launch date, although it is somewhat cryptic:

the next release of Windows, Windows 7, is about three years after the general availability of Windows Vista.

So, an interesting glimpse at the new Windows, but hardly a window onto its future. We haver ragged the company a little for borrowing others’ ideas, but to be honest, where else could it go? It’s much better to demo some eye candy that could already easily run on Vista than it is to make promises of, say, a revolutionary file system which might eventaully be dropped. We’re looking at you, Win FS.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, CEO Steve Ballmer and Windows 7 Preview [All Things D]

Windows chief talks ‘7′ [CNET]

If you’ve ever gone to purchase a universal battery for your laptop, you know that it can be a pain making sure that you get the voltage correct. Sure, you could just guess, but if you get it wrong, your entire laptop could go kaput. This new external battery from APC takes all of the guesswork out of it.

These new batteries come in 70-watt and 90-watt versions and will automatically detect the correct voltage before sending any juice to your laptop. As a bonus, it features two USB ports for charging things like phones and iPods. If you pick up the 90-watt model, you can expect to get around 8 hours of extra life out of your notebook, which makes it well worth the $225 price tag. The smaller version will run you $135.

Source: UberGizmo

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As much fun as constant sneezing and itchy eyes can be, most of us who suffer from hay fever dream of spending an entire summer symptom-free. British company Health Innovations claims they can now make that dream a reality, thanks to a new gadget called Medinose.

Medinose works by using to photo therapy to inhibit the release of histamine. Insert the prongs of the device into your nose for 4-5 minutes, two or three times a day, and you could apparently see a reduction or even elimination of your symptoms. This has to be worth a try: it’s drug-free, simple, and at £79.95 ($158) is a lot less expensive than weekly prescriptions…

Via Shiny Shiny.

Garmin Edge 705 GPS

Type-A training tweakers, metrics maniacs, peripatetic two-wheeled geo-cachers, and the geographically-challenged now have something to collectively rally around: the Garmin Edge 705.  This latest fitness offering from the GPS giant has more than a little somethin’ somethin’ for the can’t stay put, always get lost, urban treasure hunting, serious bike training, and it’s-the-journey-until-you-can’t-find-the-destination types. The Edge 705 combines (take a deep breath) GPS maps and navigation, heart rate, cadence and power output into a palm of your hand wireless unit. It can display up to 16 separate metrics during the ride and combined with the included software and Web-based apps it becomes an incredible tool for social networking, exploration and serious training analysis.

From a gander at the spec sheet, it seems setup and orientation would take a while, but it turned out to be a breeze straight out of the box. You don’t even have to calculate your wheel dimensions; it figures that out for you. Despite having to decipher some thick cyclist jargon, I was rolling in less than an hour – map telling me my location and plotting a course to the trailhead while spitting out vitals all along the way.

That was just the appetizer because data readout, collection and save-your-ass navigation are just part of the equation. Connected to your Mac or PC back at the lodge, the Edge 705 offers a myriad of ways to breakdown cycling actions that you’ve done. The included software (called Garmin Training Center) is very serviceable and helps you track courses, training regimes, and the mass of recorded data. And if you want to know what others around the globe are up to, Garmin’s recent acquisition, Motion Based is definitely for you.

Hatched back in 2003 by outdoor data junkies Clark Weber and Aaron Roller, Motion Based, is a two-tiered site that combines the number crunching capabilities of Garmin Training Center with a global community of GPS aficionados who want to share their adventurous exploits. Users can easily upload their data to the Motion Based site and share activities. So let’s say you’re heading for France and want to get your Lance Armstrong on at the fabled L’Alpe d’Huez. No problem, just pick one of the many L’Alpe d’Huez rides uploaded by users on the site, click on “download to device” and you’ve got the whole course on your unit with turn-by-turn directions. The opportunities for fun and exploration are endless. Think of a destination, search the over 3 million activities in the database, download your choices to the Edge 705 and off you go on a magical tour sans mystery. Presently a separate web application, Motion Based will be folded into the Garmin Connect site by September with  a more robust and feature-laden platform.   

For the power-hounds out there, Garmin has embraced the open source ANT+Sport wireless standard. This 2.4 GHz frequency is a low power, totally locked-in to your device protocol that like Bluetooth, seems to be taking some time to get traction. It makes sense that the powermeter providers - SRM, PowerTap, Ergomo, iBike and Quarq among them - are taking their time since the Garmin co-opts their proprietary hardware, but it seems sensible and inevitable because the Edge 705 is a unifying device, and from our experience, is best of its breed. If you want the whole shootin’ match right now, SRM is the best choice and the most expensive. Quarq’s Cinq-O crank-based bolt-on should be on the market by the time you’re reading this, although with limited crank compatibility. I wasn’t able to test the Edge with a powermeter, but that’s coming, so keep an eye out on wired.com for a power update.

Over the course of a couple weeks I’ve put in over 40 hours on the road and trail with the 705 and I found it to be incredibly accurate, even in close quarters with other bike-borne wireless electronics. It’s righted my course a few times and has become an invaluable training tool, enabling me to analyze ride and race data over a couple months and realize marked improvements. At the end of the ride, the Garmin Edge 705 seems to be the Holy Grail for cycling enthusiasts. It tells you where you are, points the way to a destination, gets you home and provides every bit of data you need to become a fitter cyclists – if that’s your thing. And in 20 years of reviewing god knows how many gadgets, this is one of the dozen or so for which I’d gladly plunk down my own dough. So if you see me tooling through the trees or on some deserted twisty with it aboard my Specialized, you’ll know I put my money where my gob-smacked mouth was.  —Jackson Lynch

WIRED Detailed maps and directions are spot-on. GPS reception is excellent even in heavily wooded areas. Software and web app integration are   

TIRED Needs capability for more than three bikes. CD-ROM user manual needs more detail.  Should come with a glare-free screen skin. Must run the battery all the way down before the first charge or you’ll only get about 3 hours of use.

$650 as tested, garmin.com

(Photo by Jackson Lynch for Wired.com)

Filed in archive Photoshop by jim on May 28, 2008

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Adobe's Photoshop line of graphics programs are about as extensive as anyone could wish for, but let's be honest, they do have a very steep learning curve.

As if that's not enough, there are thousands of plugins and actions that can be used with these programs, which is great, if you know how to use them.

I found a website with links to about 20 helpful
free Adobe Photoshop tutorials that should help you, and me, get the most from these programs.

Source:www.adobe.com

The Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, has this week approved a new initiative to warn parents across Japan about the dangers of allowing their children to use mobile phones for long periods of time.

The initiative was thought up as a response to the growing number of children thought to be addicted to mobile phone use. Their use is going on for several hours a day and stopping children from getting involved in other activities away from the phones.

Masahura Kuba, the government official in charge of the initiative, commented:

Japanese parents are giving cell phones to their children without giving it enough thought … In Japan, cell phones have become an expensive toy.

Japan has the most advanced mobile phones in the world and the majority of models offer e-mail and Internet facilities across high-speed wireless networks. Not only are the children being given access to these facilities, but other children are pushing mobile phone use through the games they play with them and the bullying consequences of not playing to individual kids.

One quite drastic measure being implemented is a request to phone manufacturers to create models with just voice and GPS functionality. This would still render the phone usable to contact parents and friends and still offers a location system to keep children safe. The lack of other advanced features mean addiction problems should be quelled.

Read more at the Associated Press article

Matthew’s Opinion

You hand any young child an electronic device all their friends are using and they are going to spend a lot of time on it. It could be a mobile phone, Nintendo DS, PSP or even the latest Pokemon keyring gadget. The point is, kids want to fit in and be popular at school and will therefore strive to stay involved and be good with certain common interests.

With mobile phones they have a very good communication device that goes beyond anything they need in terms of communication functionality. The problem is not with the communication itself it seems, but with the amount of it. Being contacted outside of school by friends or enemies leads to a constant attitude of needing to stay up-to-date or be ridiculed in school the next day.

The idea of releasing a basic phone for kids may solve the problem long term, but requires parents buy them in their droves. If they don’t the kids carrying them around will be outcasts and likely suffer because of it.