<![CDATA[Gizmodo: square]]> http://tags.gizmodo.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Gizmodo: square]]> http://gizmodo.com/tag/square http://gizmodo.com/tag/square <![CDATA[Dyson Applies For Patent On Kitchen Squareness]]> James Dyson wants everything in your kitchen to be square because it saves space. In fact, this eureka moment was so profound that he wants to patent the idea of kitchen squareness.

Their answer, given in patent filing US 2009/0095729, is a simple one: make all free-standing gadgets like kettles, toasters, juicers and food mixers in the shape of tall cuboids that can easily be pushed together on a worktop, with no wasted space between them. As the controls could be recessed in their flat lids or on the front panels, no space-wasting side access is required. The patent also suggests connecting the appliances together—presumably using a common power supply.

You know what this means right? Bedroom, office, living room and dining room squareness are still wide open. I'm calling dibs bitches! [Patent via New Scientist via Boing Boing and Fast Company]

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<![CDATA[Art Lebedev Tackles the Traffic Light: Square is the New Circle]]> Ol' Art Lebedev is a favorite around here. The guy is a brilliant designer, even if his ideas usually seem to get sidetracked or delayed somehow. His studio just introduced its Luxofor prototype, a traffic light replacement that uses very bright diodes for increased visibility. The new square design makes more efficient use of the available space, and can display more detailed signals. Just a concept for now, but the Luxofor is pretty, practical, and logical, so it has just as much of a chance as any of Art's designs to become real. [Electronista]

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<![CDATA[17,000 Square Foot LED Billboard Flipped On at 1 Times Square, Wraps Around Entire Building]]> When we first wrote about this comically huge Walgreens LED sign — the largest of its kind in the world — construction was just getting under way. That was May, and now they're done. D3 LED, the firm behind the sign, finally turned on this 17,000 square foot, 340ft tall, three-sided tribute to technical and commercial excess — and what timing! But before we start challenging the rationale behind displaying 300ft moving Tampax ads, it's worth looking at the extraordinary tech inside this thing.

The display, which wraps around the three most visible sides of 1 Times Square, is capable of playing contiguous video using all of its surfaces at once. Made up of a mix of 13 60in plasma TVs and over 12 million individual LEDs arranged in diagonal panels, the screen is purported to display a resolution of "20 times the resolution of standard HDTV," though it's not completely clear what that's supposed to mean. As far as the back-end goes, to play just 30 seconds of video calls for 150GB of data sent from 30 computers, all of which, I hope, one day conspire to make the greatest BSOD of all time. The sign was flipped on officially last night, though the trial run, featuring the awesome test pattern picture in this article, took place on Wednesday. Check out the local news report below for some more background and neat little renderings to put the whole thing into perspective. [NYT, image from Gothamist]

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<![CDATA[Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Abused by Britney Spears in New Video]]> Thanks to about a million tips, I've been forced to sit through the new Britney Spears music video for "Womanizer" because the flashy Nokia 5800 XpressMusic 'Tube' makes an appearance. The phone is used to take a picture of a ridiculously be-wigged Britney before she violently attacks the photographer and slams his face into a photocopier, sending the poor phone flying. But that's not the end of the technology in the video!

I won't get into any depth on the song, because this is Gizmodo and when a song only has two words and both of them are "womanizer," it's tough to glean any gadget connection. But the Nokia first makes an appearance at breakfast, when Britney's antagonist checks his calendar to see what kind of womanizing he'll get up to today.
It's pretty obvious product placement when the words "Nokia" glimmer for no reason, but I was too distracted by what he was eating to care:
Okay, a square egg is easy, you can just cut the white into whatever shape you want. But the YOLK is square too! Britney should stop singing and open a restaurant, because that's goddamn amazing. Luckily, all this happens in the first minute so you don't need to sit through the awful inane screeching for too long. [- Thanks, everyone who sent this in]

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<![CDATA[Square-Enix Teams Up With NeuroSky For Mind-Controlled Gaming Concept]]> Square-Enix and NeuroSky will unveil a mind-controlled gaming demo on Thursday at the Tokyo Game Show. The setup works with a Windows PC and the MindSky headset, and runs Square's software created specifically for this demo. The headset fits over your head with earmuffs and has one electrode that monitors brainwaves. The headset itself is compatible with many different platforms, but it isn't specified what level of control your brainwaves have over the game. Neurosky only says the headset it monitors your level of relaxation and concentration. The demo will take place in NeuroSky's booth at TGS. [BusinessWire]

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<![CDATA[Song Summoner is Square Enix's Song-Based RPG]]> Square Enix has just made an iPod—not iPhone—game called Song Summoner that takes the songs stored in your library and makes soldiers out of them. The gameplay is very much Final Fantasy Tactics, which is turn-based, and you control your guys with the click wheel. Out today at $4.99 for RPG and music fans everywhere. [Square Enix via Wired Games]

Update: Video after the jump.

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