More information has been released on the T919 smart phone from Austrian company Tel.Me. The phone is due to be released in October for around �529.00, and will be based around a proprietary operating system rather than Symbian. There are some interesting differences between this handset and the SonyEricsson P800. T919: No Bluetooth, smaller screen than P800 (256×128 vs 208×320) and only dual band not tri-band as with the P800.The camera resolution is also lower at just 352 x 288…

The Creative Commons initiative, championed so eloquently by Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, now has a Web site and a fully formed proposal. The idea is that artists and other IP holders should be able to attach different strengths of rights to their works depending on their needs. The idea is to move away from a blanket process of copyright protection by offering a more pragmatic menu of different legal rights. What’s great about this system is that it does…

The folks from Virtual Devices have moved fast to develop their ‘virtual keyboard’. A project which looked like a concept a few months ago is now being touted as at working prototype stage, and in fact the press releases claim that products will be on the market by the end of this year. The device works by projecting the image of a keyboard onto a desk or other flat surface, using cameras to detect where your fingers strike in order…

TVShowsonDVD.com is an interesting site which lets fans vote for the shows they would like to see be produced on DVD sets. The idea is fascinating because it gives ordinary people an opportunity to tell the studio and network television people what they would like. Fans register and then can vote for their fave series, as well as specifying whether they’d like it delivered as a best of, season run or individual units). Of course there’s no guarantee that anything…

An absolutely terrifying report from the Boston Globe newspaper which details an MIT project where manipulated video appears to show people saying things that they have not said. The trick is done by reprocessing the footage to generate new lip movements for an audio soundtrack. It is currently limited to short duration shots where the person is facing the camera without moving, which makes it slightly less scary. The computer samples the face of someone talking for a few minutes…

Over the past few years there have been a succession of reports detailing the work of the Hubble telescope, accompanied by beautiful photos taken by this amazing device. Today I was intrigued enough by this BBC report to hunt around for a central source of the images and bingo, I stumbled across the Hubble Site Gallery. OK, so it’s not that hard to find, but it’s definitely worth a visit – if only to bask in the glory that is…

Or how to shrink a quarter coin using nothing more than a dose of high velocity electromagnetic energy and a metal coil. Twiddle a few knobs, push a few levers, shoot a few piccies and what you’ll be left with are a collection of midget sized ‘mini-me’ coins, almost identical to the original except for being…er…smaller. But why Bert, why?

Behold, the LG i-@ble Internet connected microwave oven, a masterpiece of engineering we are told. What the advertising appears to avoid mentioning, however, until you go to the Web site, is the fact that you can’t connect this little beauty up directly, you need to connect it to a PC which is then hooked up to the Net. So let me get this right. I am supposed to lug my PC (or maybe laptop?) into the kitchen, stick it down…

Well OK the title is actually a bit unfair on the poor old computer, what we’re really talking about here is something more like stupid programming. The Interface Hall of Shame has been around for quite a while but it’s still good value, especially as a reminder of how NOT to create a user interface. Some of the examples of bad software interface design are simply astonishing, especially in the Stupid Computer section.

Now here’s odd. A small British games developer has come out with a game based around computer hacking. Uplink is not your usual shoot ’em up and run fare, instead you have to conduct clandestine operations – i.e. hack other people’s computer systems – on behalf of a mysterious agency in order to earn money. And with the money you can buy yet more tools to hack your way to fame and fortune. I’m intrigued because this would make a…

In six days time this ‘family’ of strangers are going to be moving into the shop window of Harrods of London, as some sort of Big Brother type commercial gimmick. Web viewers will be able to watch them via Webcams, vote on challenges and activities for them to do, and all the while passers by will no doubt stand and gape in bewonderment at the strange antics of this pack of 21st century zoo freaks. Still, I suppose everyone deserves…

Welcome to kissmyfloppy.com, the ‘best site for computer humor’ anywhere. Riiiiight!

You’ve slagged them off in print, laughed at them in the movies, now why not wear them on your chest? The ErrorWear range of T-Shirts lets you wear those annoying computer errors right there where everyone can see them. Never be stuck for a ‘fatal exception error’ or ‘request time out’ again. Er…strictly for Geeks, or someone you don’t like, OK? [via Mikeslist.com]]

So there’s this company – PocketPC Films – which does nothing but distribute films which you can watch on your PocketPC? Er..is this a vulnerable business concept or am I missing something here?

Here’s a typical CNN tech report slamming the inkjet printer manufacturers for making the price of the refills so expensive. Now there’s no doubt that the branded refills are very expensive, but I reckon that this is not as bad as it looks. Before the dirt cheap inkjet printers came along we were all forced to pay �800 or more for black and white laser printers if we wanted any kind of decent printing capabilities. Suddenly we were presented with…