Devices Site

Posted Feb 29th 2008 2:09AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Robots
Sure, you laughed yesterday when you heard professor Noel Sharkey warn against the impending, apocalyptic man vs. machine battle that was to come, but this news may have you singing a different tune. A pilot program in Nevada which employed robotic sentries to patrol Hawthorne Army Depot is getting an upgrade: 24 brand new drones called MDARS, or “Mobile Detection and Assessment and Response System.” The $40 million purchase will nab the Army diesel-powered robots which operate at speeds up to 20 MPH, use RFID tags to keep track of locks and barriers, and can run for 16 hours without refueling. Though the bots have been tested with automatic weapons, these new versions will be equipped with non-lethal armaments, thus making them considerably less deadly when Skynet goes online.

[Via Wired]

Check out this cool Nintendo DS Bento box from Alafista.

It always surprises me when strange food mixes with electronics. Who loves their Nintendo DS so much that they want to eat it in effigy?

Via: Craftzine.com blog: Nintendo DS Bento

Most power strips aren’t all that handy when you have tons of appliances and devices hooked up to it. Tributaries’ T12 Power Strip basically, er, strips away all the problems that come with bulky AC plugs - it features unprecedented flexibility with a dozen outlets where eight of them can be rotated up to 90 degrees in a single, convenient package. You also get 4320 joules of surge suppression and noise filtering for AC power, in addition to signal-line protection for telecomm (RJ-11), network (RJ-45), and cable, antenna, and satellite (F-connector) signals. Blue and red LEDs indicate that the electrical system is properly grounded and AC surge protection is working fine respectively. It can be picked up at any retail store near you for $120 a pop, including a three-year warranty on parts and labor as well as a $25,000 warranty for connected equipment.

For folks who think you are the fastest typist in the West, why not put your skills to test with the USB WPM Speedometer? One thing’s for sure - hooking this up and trying to better your personal best will definitely win you brownie points with your boss from afar, considering how he sees you sweating profusely as you hit the keyboard in a furious manner. The gauge shows a maximum 260 WPM which is way faster than the current world record of 212 WPM (on a Dvorak keyboard, no less). This unique desktop toy retails for £19.99.

Posted Feb 28th 2008 10:46PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops
It’s no secret where this little bit of patented know-how ended up. Apple’s little port door for the macbook air is one of those design elements of legend that could one day go down next to MagSafe and the Click Wheel in the annals of Apple history — even if it’s near impossible to use without picking up the computer. So it’s a little ironic that even the dreamer that drew up this patent couldn’t imagine a mac without FireWire, Ethernet and a pair of USB ports. Oh Steve, you ask so much of us.

[Via SlashGear]

Everyone knows that bit rot occurs on DVDs and CDs, which is why it is better to also make a backup of your important data such as photos on a hard drive as yet another cushion. The Mitsubishi ARLEDIA DVD-R is position to deliver a long term DVD-R optical media storage platform, thanks to the gold and silver reflective film layer that prevents chemical oxidation while improving reflectivity for superior compatibility and durability where optical media is concerned. Mitsubishi claims that its 4.7GB DVD-R has double the life expectancy of a standard DVD-R. How many of you perform backups on DVDs?

Scythe’s 4-port HDMI switch known as the HDMI-4P enables you to connect up to a quartet of HDMI devices simultaneously, further expanding the functionality of your HDTV. This will come especially useful for HDTVs that have rather limited HDMI connectivity, which mostly hail from older sets compared to newer ones these days. There is also a switch remote that allows you to switch between the devices by selecting the desired video port. The Scythe HDMI-4P measures 142mm × 68mm × 24mm and tips the scales at 98g. It will hit retail stores in Japan from next month onwards for $65.

Don’t worry, you’re not losing it — yet, anyway. Corsair has indeed already launched a 16GB (and 32GB, for that matter) Voyager flash drive, but its forthcoming Voyager GT promises access speeds “up to four times faster” than standard USB 2.0 drives. Furthermore, this one comes housed in a water and shock resistant all-rubber casing, and could be entirely more appealing if that keyring slot were expanded to open bottles. Nevertheless, Corsair’s hoping that you’ll find enough to love to drop $169.99 after it debuts at CeBIT in just a few days.
[Source]

I love kitchen tools . . . just for decoration, since I, sadly, do not know how to cook. But I do love to crush things, don’t ask me why. Give me some nutmeg or vanilla beans or mustard seeds, and I’ll turn them into a fine dust with my mortar and pestle (even if a fine dust isn’t what you asked for).

If I had this Viking Mortar and Pestle from Drinkstuff.com, it could get ridiculous. I find the shape of the pestle kind of beautiful, but it actually has an ergonomic purpose - it fits more naturally in your hand. The mortar is made of beechwood, which contrasts nicely with the silvery pestle.

Costs 20GBP (about $40).

Via Kitchen Contraptions.

Trusted Reviews has a review of the Sony Ericsson K770i and writes, “Taking photos is also easy thanks to a side-mounted shutter button and getting to features is a doddle thanks to shortcut keys that double up on the keypad and are backlit blue when the camera is in use. Auto focus and a macro mode are among the features at your fingertips…Sadly, camera performance was lacklustre. Image quality was reasonable but not outstanding. I was especially disappointed with attempts to shoot anything moving. Blurred images were the order of the day there.

Read more about the Sony Ericsson K770i.