Gizmodo: Phantom

The Phantom Lapboard Is Finally Out

Mark Wilson — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:43:00 EDT

We weren't sure that this day would ever come. Even when we spoke with John Landino (Phantom Development Consultant) at CES, he wasn't sure the day would ever come. Today, I got an email from him.

That's right Mark; we have sold a product:) and booked a dollar...what is the world coming to?

It's good to see the $129 Phantom Lapboard finally released, a tale that started back in 2004 finally finished—expect the sky to fill with winged pigs shortly. [Phantom]

Phantom Lapboard Reviewed (Verdict: Holy Bees They've Shipped It And It's Only Half Bad)

Jason Chen — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Will Smith over at Maximum PC just reviewed the Phantom Lapboard—that keyboard from the Phantom console guys which we first held for ourselves back at E3 2004. Surprise! They think the keyboard "rocks". Their official position is that the pivoting scheme is comfortable and works great for righties and lefties. The only problem is their mouse. It sucks. Not only does it have signal dropouts, the left click button is "wimpy". Probably not worth your $130 until they can work out the mousing problems. [Maximum PC]

Phantom Keystroker Sets Makes Working With You Even More Irritating

Adam Frucci — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:09:01 EDT

If you're the "fun" guy in your office (and I'm guessing you are), you'll love the Phantom Keystroker. This little USB device is sure to drive anyone who has it hooked up to their machine insane: it randomly moves the mouse around and types out garbage text at random intervals, making the victim think their computer is busted and making work near-impossible. Sure, it's a little mean-spirited, but you're so good-looking there's no way anyone can stay mad at you. Right? [Product Page]

ScanEagle Sniffs Biological Threats, Tells When You Have to Start Running

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:20:33 EDT

Boeing Phantom Works, the guys who get to do all the awesome planes and play with the alien ships at Area 51, have modified and successfully tested ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles to "intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents." This means that the aircraft above will allow troops to locate biological threats faster, all without having to use trebuchets to launch goats into danger areas to test, which is the way they probably did it before (may not be as effective, but it could be a lot funnier. Fetchez la vache!) Full details after the jump.

ST. LOUIS, March 10, 2008 — The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have demonstrated successfully that ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles modified to look for biological warfare agents can effectively intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents.
Tests also show that the UAVs can successfully collect airborne material and data from a target site that can help U.S. forces combat the threat from biological agents and minimize the danger to friendly forces and civilians.

During the developmental tests at Fort Leonard Wood and the operational tests in the Gulf of Mexico, two BCAS ScanEagle UAVs, one equipped with a biological collection system and the other equipped with sensors to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), flew tandem beyond-line-of-sight missions into and out of simulated counterforce strike target locations. They were to collect air samples within simulated biological plumes, which represented the collateral effects of counterforce strikes on weapons-of-mass-destruction research and production facilities, and bring back the samples for further analysis.

In the final operational demonstration tests in late January, the two BCAS ScanEagles were launched at sea from the NAVAIR 38 ship, successfully intercepted seven of eight simulated biological plumes, then were successfully recovered aboard the ship and decontaminated.

The biological collection ScanEagle is equipped with bio-collection and plume tracking systems that are integrated into a unique customer payload that is designed specifically for the BCAS. The ISR ScanEagle incorporates significant data storage upgrades over the stock ScanEagle, along with unique beyond-line-of-sight picture snapshot technologies specifically designed for the BCAS mission.

F-15 Eagle Literally Breaking Apart

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:30:31 EST

As part of the ongoing investigation on the accident that has nearly one third of the US F-15 Eagle fleet grounded, Boeing Phantom Works has released this simulation reconstructing the "structural failure of a US Air National Guard F-15C, caused by fatigue cracking of a forward fuselage longeron, slowed down to one-fifth the actual speed of the event!" In other words: "ZOMG! The cockpit broke apart!" Fortunately, the pilot survived the extremely violent accident, which is amazing although not as incredible as the Israeli pilot who managed to land his Eagle after a crash ripped off an entire wing:

Looking at this video it seems that the F-15s are quite formidable machines, even while the USAF investigation is pointing at Boeing's responsibility for a "faulty manufacturing process" that led to the failure of the long structural beams (longerons) that keep the fuselage together.

"The accident investigation board president (Wignall) found, by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of this accident was a failure of the upper right longeron, a critical support structure in the F-15C aircraft," the report says.
About 20 minutes after takeoff from an airfield near St. Louis on Nov. 2, the forward fuselage of Maj. Stephen Stilwell's $42 million F-15C Eagle shook violently and then broke apart 18,000 feet above the ground. Stilwell, his left shoulder dislocated and his left arm shattered, barely had time to safely eject as pieces of his aircraft tumbled from the sky over the Missouri countryside.

More troubling, however, are the results of a parallel examination finding as many as 163 of the workhorse aircraft also have flawed support beams, or longerons. The aircraft remain grounded as the Air Force continues to search for how serious the problem is and whether extensive, costly repairs are needed. Another 19 of the aircraft have yet to be inspected and also remain grounded.

Nearly 260 of the A through D model F-15s, first fielded in the mid-1970s, were returned to flight status Tuesday following fleet-wide inspections.

[Defense Tech and Military.com]

Phantom Lapboard Keyboard (It's Coming) (Maybe)

Mark Wilson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:36:38 EST

We got our hands on a final build of the promising lap-ready Phantom Lapboard Keyboard at CES, and what can we say? It appeared every bit as wireless and ambidextrous as we thought. But this is the aptly named Phantom Keyboard we're talking about—the keyboard that Alienware wanted but couldn't secure—the keyboard we've been looking at since 2004. We talked to the Phantom Development Consultant John Landino and he shed some light on the delays.

In a discussion of surprising frankness, Landino admitted that the company took far longer than anticipated to finalize the product. From problems with internal electronics (like syncing) to problems with the tactile aspects (an underrated aspect in a good keyboard), "it was a lot more work than we had thought," Landino explained. He added that his company's light funding securing less than ideal mass manufacturers didn't help speed things along, either.

At the moment, they're just waiting for purchase orders so they can put the keyboard into production—another product, we're guessing, of financial shortages. Here's hoping it all works out, because we need a decent solution for playing PS3's Unreal Tournament 3 from our couch.

Your TV Sucks (Power, Even When It's Not Running)

Charlie White — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:20:50 EST

That TV set of yours still sips power even when it's turned off, to the point that phantom power use can add 10% to your electricity bill. In fact, the average US household consumes about 50 watts of standby power per hour. There's a lot of talk about Energy Star ratings for electronic devices, but plasma and LCD TVs are still sucking up energy when they're doing nothing, and that's why Get with Green tested 50" plasma and 37" LCD displays to see which ones are the hungriest in standby mode. Of the 50" plasma displays, it looks like the 1080p Panasonic TH-50PZ700U (pictured above) is one of the greenest in standby. Let's take a look at the list:

50" Plasma TVs
(Manufacturer/Model/Standby/On/Mode)
Panasonic TH-50PX75U 0.2W 499W 720p $1999.95
Panasonic TH-50PZ700U 0.2W 695W 1080p $2999.95
Panasonic TH-50PX77U 0.2W 499W 720p $2099.95
Panasonic TH-50PZ750U 0.2W 705W 1080p $3499.95
Hewlett-Packard PL5072N 0.4W 460W 720p $1799.99
Philips 50PDFP5332D/37 0.67W 480W 720p $1599.99
LG 50PC5DC 0.74W 418W — $1599.95
Sanyo DP50747 0.85W 460W 720p $1294.00
LG 50PB4DA 1W 420W — $1999.95

37" LCD TVs
Hewlett-Packard LT3700 0.3W 220W

Hewlett-Packard LC3772N 0.3W 220W

LG LB5DF-UC 0.3W 170W

LG 37 LB4DS-UA 0.4W 165W

LG 37 LC7D-UB 0.5W 177W

Philips 37PFL5332D/37 0.75W 190W

Philips 37PFL7332D/37 0.75W 200W

Sharp LC37GP1U 0.9W 165W

Samsung LN-T3732H 0.9W 180W

Sharp LC37D62U 0.9W 198W

Sharp LCC3742U 0.95W 185W

Sharp LC37D43U 0.95W 185W

Sharp LC37D42U 0.95W 185W

[Getting With Green] (Thanks, Kevin!)

How to Turn Your Body Into a Hairless Wonderland With Gadgets: Part 2

Jason Chen — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:01:14 EST

In our first hairless wonderland feature, we took a look at how you could rid your entire body of hair using three simple gadgets. The Mangroomer, the Flowbee and the Philips Bodygroom allow you to make sure your back, head and crotchular regions are free of any unslightly plumage. But what about the most important part of your body; the part that everyone looks at during a conversation (no, not your jiblets—and the Bodygroom has that covered)? Yes, we're talking about the face. And with the Braun Pulsonic or the Gillette Fusion Power Phantom, you can be sure your mug is as glossy as the top of Patrick Stewart's head.

These two razors—Braun's Pulsonic and Gillette's Phantom—are actually quite different. The Pulsonic comes from the top branch of the electric shaver tree, whereas the Phantom is a regular blade razor with a vibrating twist (the twist is that it vibrates).

As I said before, I am a surprisingly hairy man. I'm consistently hairy around all of my body, face included. With the Pulsonic, however, it takes a couple passes to get rid of all the hair, leaving no rough patches. The neck pivots nicely, and the 10,000 "micro-vibrations per minute" really feel like it's working. The razor itself is heavy and has a nifty e-ink-like readout on the bottom that tells you how much charge is left, as well as how dirty the razor is. The first is self explanatory, but here's what the second is for.

The razor docks into the cleaning station, which allows you to automatically clean the razor with the touch of a button. Jets of cleaning fluid squirts into the tip while the razor sporadically turns itself on and off in a symphony of hair, facial oil and alcohol-cleanser. After an hour of this, your battery should be charged and the head should be clean. You don't even have to remove the foils beforehand.

Louis covered the Pulsonic a bit before, but I'm actually a dry-shave electric razor guy myself (as opposed to his blade razor preference). And from my point of view, it's pretty much the best electric razor around, and can get fairly close to a plain razor if you give yourself some time to master it. If you're still looking for a very last minute gift this year, you can't go wrong with the Pulsonic. That is, if you're shopping for someone you care enough to spend $200 on. [Amazon]

On the other hand, if you're a blade razor kinda guy, there's the Fusion Power Phantom. It looks like a Mach 3, but instead of three blades it has five. Not only is it 166% bladier, it's also got a vibration function. One flip of the switch and the thing starts trembling. This might sound like a bad thing—blades + shaking + face usually ends up like the elevator scene in The Shining—but it seems like it helps.

Being from the electric razor world, I'm usually pretty clumsy with the safety razor type. However, this Phantom seems to be the best of both worlds, meaning that I didn't cut myself silly when shaving. The next time you're on the road looking for a razor, check out the Fusion Power and try out them vibrating blades. It's only $10, and works slightly better than a standard razor. [Amazon]

Phantom Lapboard Ships on Phantom Dates

Haroon Malik — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:10:00 EST

Phantom Entertainment has certainly got the name right; they provide an excellent source of entertainment based on phantom product releases. The most recent of such products is the long-time-coming Phantom Lapboard, which is apparently available for purchase now. The asking price is $130, and it ships on...wait a minute...when does it ship?

That's right, those comedians are promising a most excellent lapboard, which will allow you on sofa access to your PC, but they aren't giving a shipping date! If you really, really want a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse and a mobile mouse surface that looks good/exists, we say don't wait on this one. Most certainly do not cough up your hard earned cash till the sleighs are packed with the goodies. That penultimate sentence comprises part of Gizmodo's Christmas Advice for Chumps, there's no need to thank us. [Phantom Entertainment - Thanks, Donald. D]

Sea Phantom: Helicopter Speed at a Powerboat Price?

Charlie White — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:16:29 EST

The Sea Phantom is a concept from long-time boat designer David Borman, whose James Bond-like vessel is designed to deliver helicopter speed at a powerboat price. Although the five-passenger prototype he's created so far doesn't go 150mph yet, that's the idea of this ominous-looking ghost ship that uses NASA's lifting body airfoil design.

This prototype is a 30-footer, and tests the concept of a craft that Borman says will someday run from Key West to Cuba in 20 minutes. Since its airfoil lifts the boat above the water, it's not subject to the bumps and rocking of the waves, and this reduced friction adds to fuel efficiency and speed. More pics and the latest developments:

You'll notice an outboard motor tacked onto the back of this first prototype, but since then, Borman says he's added a powerful inboard engine from Ilmor Engineering, a company makes Indy race car engines as well as power plants for some of the fastest go-fast boats in existence.

Borman says for $2.5 million his boat will have maritime transport capabilities that are the equivalent of a $10-$12 million aircraft, and that the first production models for civilian pleasure craft will cost between $400,000 and $600,000. He has big plans for his futuristic ship, forseeing it being used for mass transport field as well as the military. Says Borman:

"Many of the new breed of high-performance boats can travel at triple-digit speeds over the water. Our objective is to make this kind of speed practical, safe, comfortable and efficient - ultimately to make maritime transport a viable alternative to our crowded skies and highways."

Will this technology be commercialized, or is Borman just another crackpot with a lot of money to blow on expensive toys ? – Charlie White

Designer's Page [Maritime Flight Dynamics Inc. via Cool Hunter]

Sneak Peek at CBS' High-Def Super Bowl Gear

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:36:17 EST

We know you'll be watching the Super Bowl in HD come February 4th, but ever wonder what it takes to bring you this colossal event in glorious high-def? Well, the folks at CBS wanna tell you as they've hired over 500 staffers, 47 HD cameras, and even went through the trouble of replacing the lights at Miami's Dolphin Stadium all in the name of high-def. But at the top of their tech list this year is a new super-slow motion camera called the Phantom V10 which has the ability to capture 2,000 frames per second. The camera, which is made by Vision Research, will be joined by six of Sony's latest super-slo-mo camera systems and an army of robotic, unmanned cameras. Enough gadgetry to make you a football fan—even if you're not. – Louis Ramirez

No Trick Plays [Broadcasting & Cable via AVS Forum]

Super Slo-Mo: First Commercial Shot With the Kick-Ass Phantom HD Camera

Charlie White — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:59:00 EST

Serious progress is being made with digital film technology, with extremely high-rez cameras by Thompson, Dalsa and the upcoming Red One rivaling imagery that until recently could only be acquired on film. Now here's the first commercial spot shot with a one of the latest innovations in digital film, the 2K (2048x2048) Phantom HD camera (pictured at right) by Vision Research that can shoot in extremely high speed just like its film-based grandfathers.

This is looking terrific. Will this technology replace film any time soon? Has it already?

Check out that butta-smooth slo-mo, the result of cranking up the speed on the Phantom HD camera to frame rates as high as 1000 frames per second. That's right—the faster the frames go by when shooting, the slower the image moves when you play back those frames in real time. This is one sweet-looking spot, showing off the superior tech at work inside this camera.

Every time improvements such as these are made to digital cinema acquisition gear, more diehard filmmakers start leaning toward abandoning film and its chemicals, expense and clunky inconvenience. It's just a matter of time. – Charlie White

Hyundai -Fluid, see the QuickTime version of the spot ['boards] (Thanks, Lisa!)

Supplies! Phantom Lapboard Delayed 'Til 2007

Jason Chen — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:00:28 EST

Just when Phantom's managed to get a modicum of credibility back into their corner with the recent Lapboard news (even though the concept for the keyboard was all but firmed up even back in 2004), they go and blow it all like Charlie Sheen on $450 hookers. Yes, Phantom's just announced that they've found some suckers to manufacture their stuff, but they also say release is delayed until January 2007 for pre-order customers and March 2007 for wide release.

So once again, we were all fools to believe that the company who strung investors along for years with a nonexistent console could possibly make an adjustable keyboard and mousepad—something any two-bit third-world company can crap out in a month and a half. – Jason Chen

Phantom Anticipates 'Major Retail' Deployment of Lapboard [Yahoo News via Tech Dirt via Crunchgear]

Phantom Lapboard to Haunt Alienware

Charlie White — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:16:47 EDT

The Phantom Lapboard keyboard and mouse keeps coming back to haunt us, and now it's received a shot in the arm from Alienware, vowing to ship the input devices with its Media Center PCs. We've seen the Phantom before, first offered as wireless input devices for a hybrid PC console gaming system nearly 3 years ago.

But still, this might be a good keyboard/mouse combo for those smart folks who are bypassing physical media such as Blu-ray, HD DVD and DVDs, putting a PC in their home theaters and watching their movies via video files. With the Phantom's 2.4GHz RF wireless capability, that noisy PC can be 32 feet away, no Bluetooth required.

A revealing video and some mildly caustic commentary, after the jump.

Too bad there's no backlighting for the keyboard—a must in home theaters with projectors—and unless your home theater has armless chairs, a Bluetooth mouse would suffice. Anyway, it looks cool. – Charlie White

Phantom Wireless Lapboard and Laser Mouse Hands On [Slash Gear]

Phantom Lapboard Gets a Price And a Date: $129 in November

Jason Chen — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:35:20 EDT

The Phantom Lapboard, the keyboard and mouse combination left over from the doomed Phantom console, finally has a price and a ship date. It's going to be $129.95 in November, but if you order now you can get $30 off.

The whole setup is wireless with a USB receiver which needs to go into your PC, Mac, or Media Center. The keyboard tilts up to 22-degrees to give your right hand more space to mouse around (go to hell lefty freaks!), and has volume and mute controls. At $99 it's actually not too shabby for a wireless keyboard to your Media Center machine. – Jason Chen

Update: "features a keyboard that rotates 360-degrees to accommodate left or right-handed users". You win again lefties.

Product Page [Phantom via Gadgets Fosfor]

Invisible Boomerang Reconnaissance Robot

Jason Chen — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 16:45:25 EDT

The defense industry is taking a page from the Batman School of War and making products with more of a boomerang shape. In this case, the Phantom Sentinel, an unmanned aerial vehicle that's not only shaped like a boomerang, but "is in constant motion" and "has a uniquely minimal cross section allowing it to 'slice' through even the most adverse weather conditions".

Great for both seeing what the local population is up to without being detected and a relaxing day at the park. – Jason Chen

'Invisibile' Boomerang 'Bot [Defensetech]

Phantom Console Truly Disappears

Jason Chen — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:10:34 EDT

Phantom, the "makers" of the Phantom Console, have removed all references to the never-released gaming system on their official site. The only items left under their products page are for the Phantom Lapboard, which is actually pretty cool, and the Phantom Game Service.

Can we finally put the Phantom Console to rest now? No more mentions on "Vaporware Top 10 Lists"? Yes, you know which site we're referring to. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Phantom via The Inquirer]

The Infinium Phantom Lives On

tgrumet — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 07:46:29 EST

Hey, hey, my, my, Infinium Labs' Phantom just won't die. First offered as a hybrid PC-console gaming system some two years ago, the Phantom has been delayed, beset by lawsuits, and has not even been able to fire a warning shot over the bow in the current generation of console wars. The innards of this machine were never too impressive, but the eye-catching hardware design lives on. And now it appears that Infinium has decided to un-bundle the Phantom's wireless keyboard and mouse, and sell it as an accessory starting in the second quarter of 2006. Called the Phantom Lapboard (okey dokey, then), its main coup is its intuitive interface, with a keyboard that can rotate for both right- and left-handed players. Two sets of inverted T-directional keys further the ambidextrous functionality. The Lapboard has a range of 30 feet, includes full-size keys and an extended spacebar. The mouse sits under the keyboard in order to keep your hands closer together and save desktop space. No price yet, but we'll keep you posted on The Phantom (I love saying that) for sure.

Infinium Phantom Lapboard for the dedicated gamer [Mobilemag]

Infinium Labs is Hiring

johnb — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:33:38 EDT

Infinium Labs, makers of the Phantom game console as well as the Ninjor Handheld Gaming Module (compatible with the GBA, PSP, Gameboy DS, MAME, and that LCD game of Dungeons and Dragons with the bat), the Sparkle Kitten PMP for Babies, and the Chitin Gaming Hard Suit, a full body controller that melds with your nervous system for maximum gaming performances—NOTE: None of these products will ever be released—is hiring!

Who are they looking for? A PhD in human-computer interaction? A bio-designer to create a next gen console with scales and feathers? Nope. They're looking for a lawyer in Seattle. Maybe they want to take Japan to court and need someone within ICBM distance.

CORPORATE ATTORNEY************* [Craigslist - The stars make it better!]