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An actual veterinarian reviews the Bowlingual, that device from Japan which purports to decipher your dog’s barking, and concludes (surprise, surprise) that it simply doesn’t work: The translations went from bad to worse when I tested the apparatus on real- live dogs. I tested it on the home alone function, which records each bout of…
This is being billed as a step forward towards self-replicating robots – a project at Brandeis University that brings computer simulation into the real-world: The first step in robot evolution happens inside a computer. Manipulating designs that initially mutated using random sets of data, the computer worked on lines that would have been familiar to…
We have to stop ourselves everytime we come close to buying a Sony digital camera. Why? Because they all use Sony’s annoying Memory Stick card format (to be fair, a few of the expensive ones use CompactFlash as well), while all of our other gadgets, including our new laptop, support SecureDigital Flash memory cards. As…
Now that actually using your laptop in your lap means running the risk of a nasty burn, I suppose something like the Notebook Cooler might come in handy. It’s designed to fit underneath a laptop and keep it cool through a combination of aluminum to conduct away the heat, ventilation holes, and two small fans.…
A couple of new digital cameras coming from Sony, the high-end, eight megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-F828, which has a 7x Zeiss optical zoom lens and slots for both CompactFlash and MemoryStick memory cards; and the considerably less expensive two megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-U50 (pictured at right), which has a lens which can rotate 180-degrees for taking self-portraits.…
Wi-Fi Planet review of Sony’s new 802.11g wireless access point plus router, the CarrierGate PCWA-AR300. The PCWA-AR300 isn’t the cheapest around, but it does have one unusual design feature, as it’s split up into two parts, a functional-looking router and a sleeker, smaller access point. This physical separation of the wired and wireless components has…
Two new high definition televisions from Pioneer that each can display more than a billion colors. Both the 50-inch PDP-5040HD and the 43-inch PDP-4340HD should be out this fall. Read
Sega is striking back against the “Treamcast”, an apparently unauthorized portable version of their Dreamcast game console that can be found in Hong Kong that also plays MP3s and VideoCDs in addition to games. Now we can certainly understand Sega’s ire, but since they’ve discontinued the Dreamcast, the only thing that the Treamcast is doing…
ZDNet Australia with a roundup of ten new (and a few not so new) seventeen-inch LCD monitors, incliding the Viewsonic VX700, the Philips 107S4FB, IBM’s 6374-AB1 Thinkvision, and the one we want, the widescreen Samsung 172W (pictured at right). Read
A team of engineers with a lot of time on their hands completed the first successful flight across the Atlantic by a remote-controlled model airplane. It took 38 hours, but (and we’re not making this up) “The Spirit of Butts Farm” made it all the way from Ireland to Canada without a hitch. Read
The Pogo never really got off the ground, but a new handheld mobile communicator based on its technology, the nVoy e100, looks like it might actually see the light of day. The nVoy e100, which is somewhat similar to T-Mobile’s Sidekick in that it’s also designed for email, instant messaging, and accessing the web, will…
We almost forgot: it’s our one-year anniversary today! It’s been a crazy year, I can hardly even remember what it’s like to not have to wake up every morning and scour the web for new gadgets to blog. I’d like to say thank you to all our readers, and everyone who ever linked to us,…
A couple of readers had written in about this, but with all the hype about the Rio Karma, Rio’s other new hard drive-based MP3 player, the sleek-looking Nitrus sorta got lost in the shuffle. The 1.5GB Nitrus doesn’t even come close to the capacity of an iPod (though it sure comes close enough in price),…
New Bluetooth mouse from Belkin. The Bluetooth Wireless Optical Mouse comes out on October 1st and also comes with a Bluetooth USB adapter, which is good since it’s very few PCs come with Bluetooth built-in. Read
Some more details on those three new Palm PDAs which are rumored to be coming out in October. The Tungsten T3 has the same design as the T2, and will have a 320×480 pixel display, 64MB of RAM, built-in Bluetooth, and a list price of $399. The Tungsten E will have a 144MHz processor, 32MB…
This looks like it would be terrifying to actually ride in, but there’s a new motorized wheelchair for sale that can balance on two wheels and climb up and down stairs: The iBOT uses a unique combination of electronics, sensors and software components that work on the principle of balance to continuously and automatically adjust…
In the September issue of Wired, Josh McHugh gives Sony a piece of advice: buy Apple. Or at the very least cut some sort of distribution deal with them. While we love the fantasy baseball aspect of speculating on all these potential matchups – Disney and Apple, Apple and Universal, etc – we really hope…
And while the NYPD may have banned Segways, that doesn’t mean they won’t bust someone for stealing one. The man with blurred face in the picture at right was caught in a sting operation put together to recover a Segway HT which had been stolen a couple of months earlier. It’s not clear whether the…
We didn’t even realize that the New York Police Department possessed these sorts of powers, but apparently they’ve banned the use of the Segway HT on public streets, sidewalks, and parks. (Except for themselves — the NYPD is testing out ten Segways for use by its officers.) The defiant leader of the New York City…
Rob Galbraith reviews Nikon’s new four megapixel D2H digital SLR camera, the one with the optional WiFi attachment for beaming images directly to a PC. So besides the WiFi, what’s the big deal about the D2H? Rob says that the big deal is that it’s the first digital SLR that isn’t just a poor cousin…