Gizmodo: nextfest07

Sans Digital NAS with iTunes Support

blongo3 — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:15:50 EDT

At first glance the Sans Digital's MN2L NAS looks pretty standard. It has two SATA drive bays, USB2, Ethernet, and even FTP access. But what sets this NAS apart is the built in iTunes support. It can take your music files and dupe iTunes into thinking that it's just another PC and then streams the audio files to any PC/Mac running iTunes. This looks to be a great alternative running a separate PC as a dedicated server. The MN2L is available now and will set you back $299. [Product Page via Electronista]

Video of a Blonde Being Smashed by a Shovel (While, Thankfully, Wearing D3O Body Armor)

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:15:10 EDT

Here's a video of an attractive blonde woman being hit by a shovel wielded by another blonde. I swear, this is not merely lesbionic, but gadgety, too. She's wearing a knee brace reinforced with that D3O body armor gel/foam/flubber that gives her a +10 bonus against blunt weapons. No damage! [D3O via NextFest]

Me Being Run Over by a Mars Rover Prototype

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:43:21 EDT

Motorcycle crashes aside, here's another case of Man/Machine collision: The JPL designed NASA Mars Rover climbing over a viscous, blubbery, greasy surface known as My Back. The JPL lady said this thing only weighs 10-pounds, but it kind of felt heavier. The final Mars rover has six wheels, but the first prototype had eight as shown here. All wheels are independently driven. (They went to six because it was just as effective at rolling over boulders and love handles, and saved weight so they could arm the bot with stuff like sensors and miniguns.) [JPL via NextFest]

Jeff Han Talks Multitouch, iPhones, and Lame Minority Report Jokes

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:51:12 EDT

Bumping into Jeff Han, a man highly obsessed with touchscreens, was a highlight of my Nextfest fly through. He was showing off Perceptive Pixel's 16 foot long multitouch system and I got a chance to ask him about the UI, what he thinks of and the iPhone and other systems, and how much he must hate Minority Report jokes. (Including the one I happened to crack.) No one laughed. Couldn't help it, Jeff, sorry. [Perceptive Pixel via NextFest]

The Last Samurai Bot Would Eat Tom Cruise's Children

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:31:57 EDT

Here's a Japanese robot named Kiyomori designed to show off fully articulating knees that can bend and expand like human knees. Combined with the articulating pelvis that has 2 degrees of movement, it walks, they claim naturally. I'm not so impressed with its gait, which has been documented before, but note Kiyomori's glowing red eyes. Why does it have a full suit of feudal Japanese armor, a sword and 39 degrees of freedom? I'm not sure I know the answer to these questions, but I'm kind of glad it didn't draw its sword. Oh look, the brochure says it's "Ushering in the new world robot order" and will "spearhead the worldwide development of the new robot civilization." (Not kidding.)

Height: 160CM
Weight 74KG
Degrees of freedom: 39
Head: 2
Arm: 14
Waist: 3
Leg: 14
Walking speed: .5-1KPH
Power: NiH

Killacycle Inventor Crashes at NextFest

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:45:57 EDT

I forgot to tell this story. Apparently one exhibitor on an electric motorcycle took his ride out for a spin, and his throttle jammed. That's bad on any motorcycle cough*joebrown*cough but really bad on an electric drag racer with a zero to sixty time of one second. Creator Bill Dube hit a bus, possibly a school bus, but no one was inside. The guy? He's in the hospital, and his machine is in bits. Anyone know more or have photos/videos?
UPDATE: Dube actually hit a minivan. TG Daily even got a video of the whole thing. In an interview given to editor Humphrey Cheung, Dube claimed "More powerful than anything else, they last longer, they're safer than anything else out there." While the batteries may be safe, I'm not sure Dube can say the same about the rest of the bike. It is the world's fastest electric motorcycle, after all. But seriously, we hope he gets well soon. [TG Daily]

Best of Wired NextFest 2007 Walkthrough

Brian Lam — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:58:13 EDT

Before I catch my flight back to SF, here are a few choice shots of my favorite fun at Wired's 2007 NextFest down in LA. Notable things include nano ferrite "magnetic fluid" solutions, prototypes of JPL's Mars rover running over Justin from Justin.tv (above), a giant disco wall that comes to life when your cellphone EMI hits its wiring system, Jeff Han's latest multitouch systems, a Japanese robot that looks like a samurai, complete with sword, armor and glowing red eyes, a few rainbow touch instruments like the laptop orchestra, some UAVs, one blond wearing body armor being hit with a shovel by another blond, hyper-efficient solar cells that can collect light from multiple angles, a supercomputer efficient enough to be powered by a team of cyclists, a bipedal robot with Albert Einstein's head. Lots of stuff, and I'll have videos of the rest, tomorrow. Mega-gallery here: