Monthly Archives: February 2004

general February 21, 2004 posted by

Auto tune.

The Performa Automated Tuning System. ‘A small computer mounted inside the self tuning guitar controls motors that are linked to each string. The bridge and tailpiece are replaced by the self tuning system, allowing your imagination to run wild. At the touch of a button or footswitch, motors are activated to adjust the tension of each string.’

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Mouse tracks.

The USB Bullet Train Mouse [Babel] now arriving at Platform 9.5 is probably the world’s largest computer rodent. And it lights up in the dark. Sheesh!

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Veni, vidi, vici.

Cisco has launched VT Advantage. ‘Used in conjunction with Cisco’s industry-leading IP Telephony office phones, the Cisco Video Telephony (VT) Advantage delivers affordable, high-quality, and simple to use person-to-person video images seamlessly integrated with phone conversations.’ According to this report, it offers 30 fps video at high quality. Mmm…

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Dogster.

Dogster – ‘Dogster lets you view and save photos of dogs…Got a digital dog photo? Upload it to instantly create your own dog’s page and connect with Pup Pals, the dogs you know…Got no dog? No problem!…’ [via Benster] Ick.

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Flickr.

Flickr is a free photo sharing, chat making, group hugging, network sharing, buddy finding online community site. Or something. (Glowing review here.)

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Cheap eyes.

Saul Griffiths has just won an award for creating ‘a �desktop printer� for low-cost eyeglass lenses’ as well as a prototype device for testing vision in the field. Clever chap! ‘Patients need only wear the device, which looks like an oversized pair of goggles, and look at the world around them. An electronic sensor superimposed on the goggles monitors the lens in the wearer�s eye and adjusts the device�s lens to cancel the refractive errors, thus determining the correct prescription.’

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general February 21, 2004 posted by

Quote me.

The Giga-USA catalogued list of 18,000 quotes, proverbs and the like makes for a really valuable free resource. Worth a bookmark. See also the CurrentCodes.com site, which lists online shopping cart discount codes which provide discounts on everything from pet food to books.

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Roku round the clock.

The Roku Soundbridge. ‘The Roku SoundBridge lets you play your Mac or PC digital music files anywhere in the house. All major audio formats are supported � MP3, WMA, AAC, AIFF, WAV, FLAC and Ogg-Vorbis � and it’s network ready with wired Ethernet or an optional CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter. A large, bright display and Apple RendezvousTM and native iTunes support make this player a winning part of your home entertainment system.’

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Mobile lifestyles.

Mike & the Awesomely Fab Folk at Gizmo (arf!) have popped up with a great Siemens survey which looks at differing mobile phone cultures. Fascinating stuff indeed! Unfortunately it’s Far East only at the moment, but here’s hoping they do one over here, as it should make for some rather interesting reading. * ‘When I’ve forgotten my mobile phone at home, I just have to go back and get it’ More than half of the people in Asia Pacific say…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Digital camera trends.

Phil Askew [sorry – Askey] gives his round up of digital camera trends for this year based on the recent PMA show. * More megapixels, the race clearly isn’t over * Almost no new two megapixel digital cameras, three megapixel considered entry level * More and more cameras with built-in flash memory, less card bundling * Lots of compact and ultra-compact five megapixel digital cameras * Image Stabilisation * Two AA batteries instead of four * PictBridge, PictBridge and more…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Digital delights.

The new 5 megapixel HP R707 digital camera is not exactly the prettiest digicam I’ve ever seen. But – and it’s a big but – the ‘Real Life Technologies’ user features look to be totally delicious. * Adaptive Lighting Technology. ‘automatically adjusts high-contrast photos to bring faces out of shadows and details out of backgrounds. The technology balances brightness relationships between bright and dark areas in a photo, preserving gentle contrasts while compressing harsh contrasts.’ * HP Instant Share. ‘…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Plucked wires?

Electric guitar giants Gibson have developed an Ethernet enabled digital guitar. The imaginatively named Gibson Digital Guitar features digital pickups, full I/O capabilities via a standard Ethernet cable and some pretty neat technology. Hear that sound? It’s Jimi spinning in his Red House Over Yonder. ‘The best part of the Gibson Digital Guitar system is its delivery of signal processing on a string-by-string basis, providing increased quality and flexibility. This provides unprecedented control with the ability to adjust volume, pan…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

Mumble, grumble…

Is GrumbleText the world’s first SMS text complaint service? Probably. ‘Grumbletext is a UK consumer complaints website which allows you to post messages about poor goods and services you have received from companies, in particular companies conducting business in the UK. You can submit your messages via either the online forms or SMS text messages. In addition to offering you the satisfaction of grumbling about these companies in a public place, we also plan to forward your messages in reports…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

One disk wonder.

A useful list of single ‘Live’ CD Linux operating systems. Download and burn one to a CD and use it to boot into Linux on the machine of your choice. No need to hassle around installing Linux or anything tricky like that. A good way to test and compare, and don’t forget that Linux could just give your decrepit old computer a new lease of life! Although I should say that the Knoppix distro failed to load on either of…

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general February 19, 2004 posted by

WiFi cam.

I’m still trying to work out why anyone would need a Wifi consumer digicam. The Panasonic DMW-WT1 [Japanese] wireless adapter for Lumix brand digicams. Send your pictures from any WiFi hotspot? A product in search of an application? More here. [Babel] I can almost understand it for professionals out in the field, but consumers?

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