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When I was in Seattle last summer, I had the opportunity visit the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. As I entered in, I saw a very large sphere that had many images from old sci-fi shows being projected on it.

I only bring this up because I thought that sphere was unique to the Science Fiction Museum, but this spherical screen is available for anyone. All they have to do is order the Pufferfish PufferSphere, which can be set up with some inflating.

Which leads me to wonder how they get the projections up there. It appears that after a client inflates the PufferSphere on the easy tote base, there is an internal projection unit that takes care of that. Now all that is needed is a little imagination for what to put there.

The Pufferfish PufferSphere can be set up for all sorts of events, and is certainly one of the most unique displays that I have ever seen. I imagine that it will get so popular that it won’t be unique anymore. Remember those cool Stereograms back in the early nineties?

However, if this is something that you want to do for a party, feel free to check out the Pufferfish PufferSphere website.

Source

HP has announced the upgrade to the current dv2000 notebook, the new 13.3-inch dv3000 retains a similar look as the previous model although it offers a slightly smaller overall size. The dv3000 features a 2.5GHz T9300 Penryn Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, GeForce Go 8400M graphics with HDMI out, a dual-layer DVD burner, VGA webcam and is running Windows Vista Home Premium.

The dv3000 is expected to retail for around $1,399, which is not a bad price, except it will only be available (beginning in May) in the Asian market.

Via [Engadget]

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The Averatec 2575 ultra portable notebook is extremely pocket friendly, retailing for $1,099.99 while featuring the following :-

• 12.1″ WXGA widescreen display
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• 250GB hard drive
• 2GB RAM
• AMD Turion 64 X2 2.2GHz dual-core processor
• 802.11b/g connectivity
• 4-in-1 memory card reader
• SuperMulti DVD burner

Other than the generic design, what’s there not to like?

In this week’s Wired Gadget Lab Podcast, Dylan Tweney, Daniel Dumas, and Jose Fermoso will discuss the rip-roaring results from the FCC’s 700Mhz wireless spectrum auction. In particular, why Verizon’s big win will lead to open networks, how it may lead to a greater variety of device compatibility, and how Google may ultimately benefit from their own failed bid.

In addition, they will talk about the disappointing Samsung Ace smart phone, the upcoming HTC Dream phone (scheduled to be first ‘Googlephone’ released), and explain why Daniel received some potentially severe injuries in the middle of week.

Finally, they wonder whether the electric shocks coming from Rob Beschizza’s new Apple keyboard are another example of the business theory discussed in this week’s Evil/Genius feature on Steve Jobs.

Thank you for listening, and remember that you can subscribe to the podcast feed by clicking right here. And you can find the eighteen previous podcasts after the jump.

The Podcast (above) requires Quicktime (you can download it at Apple’s page here).

The last few Gadget Lab podcasts are below:

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #20: Exploding Batteries, Lost gadgets, and the Week’s Best Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #19: From the iphone SDK Release to Microsoft’s TechFest

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #18: From Nokia’s Phone of the Future to the DIY-Friendly Chumby Gadget

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #17: The Bankruptcy of The Sharper Image and Insider Info on the Death of hd dvd

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #16: The End of the HD DVD Format, 1080p Projectors, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #15:Technologies from Orwell’s 1984, Cool Gear From the Super Tuesday Primaries, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #14: From Garmin’s Nuviphone to the Linux-based Haier Ibiza Rhapsody mp3 player

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #13: Macworld 2008 Review and macbook air First Impressions

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #12: CES 2008, with Pioneer’s Project Kuro, the Dystopian Life Wall, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #11: The CES 2008 Preview with Touchscreen TVs, Wireless Phones, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #10: Last-Minute Holiday Gifts for Geeks and Wired’s 2007 Vaporware Awards

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #9: All Around Smackdowns Between the ipod and Zune 2 Media Players and Kid-Friendly Laptops

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #8: From Dell’s New Retail Strategy to the Film vs. Digital Deathmatch Controversy

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #7: From the Blu-ray/HD-DVD Wars to the Exploding Battery Mystery

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #6: From The Microsoft Zune 2 Release to Warner Music’s Surprising iTunes About-Face

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #5: From Google’s Android Alliance to the iPhone’s iBricking Firmware

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #4: From Wal-Mart’s Early Black Friday To NBC’s Word War With Apple

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #3: From the CTIA Trade Show to the Leopard Launch

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #2: We’re Giving Away Good Times (Nokia N810 Tablet and iPhone Apps)

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #1: Listen and Be Amazed (Microsoft’s Zune and the Gateway One PC)

Product: Sandio 3D Game O2 mouse (aka 3D Motion Controller with Laser Gaming Mouse)
Price: $79.99
Rating: 5.5/10
Pros: A good core laser mouse, comfortable wrist attachment, programmable mini joysticks and cool lookin’ lights.
Cons: Not as plug-and-play as promised with certain programs. Programming interface is not very intuitive. Some ergonomic issues as well.
Overall: As a regular mouse, this works pretty well but the 3D components are more awkward than necessary. Only consider buying if you have a specific non-gaming 3D need, forgiving hands, a strong wrist and lots of patience.

In a 2D computer screen world, it can really become a pain in the wrist to try and navigate virtual 3D environments. Sure, VRML has pretty much dissolved from the world wide web but videogames, Second Life and even Google World still provide some pretty cool 3D goodness you’ll want to easily navigate.

Enter an innovative take on the computer mouse, Sandio’s 3D Game O2. It relies several mini joysticks that, when used together, are meant to help more naturally navigate through 3D environments. The concept may be great but the execution is a bit lacking especially for gamers.

Read [Gamertell]

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XM-I of Singapore are keeping themselves occupied as they have just revealed information on a wireless version of the next generation X-mini Capsule Speaker. There is no word on whether this new speaker will rely on Bluetooth or radio frequency to get audio signals across, but at least you don’t have to worry about tangled mess (although new worries light sound quality and a shorter battery life do come into play). Judging by it’s size, I would say there isn’t much point in harboring too much hope on the X-mini speakers to pump out audio at a decent volume and quality. Meant for casual use at best.

Here’s yet another idea that helps you save water - the Washup concept features a washing machine that is placed right on top of a porcelain throne, recycling waste water from the clothes washing cycle to flush down whatever logs you just laid. Pretty interesting, but will such an idea hold up? After all, doing laundry in a toilet isn’t exactly my cup of tea and it will take a paradigm shift for many traditionalists to move towards that direction.

You won’t see anybody at The Tape Project using anything as vulgar as an ipod. For those guys, even CDs and vinyl aren’t good enough, so they’ve started selling music on reel-to-reel tape.

The original studio master tapes are dubbed to a 1″ duplicate master and then copied to quarter inch tape for the ultimate in audiophile bragging rights. According to Dan and Paul of The Tape Project, “You just aren’t going to get any closer to the original master, short of buying a record label or two.”

You also aren’t going to get many titles. Currently the line-up number just ten, mostly classical and jazz. Sonny Rollins is in there, as is Robert Cray (no relation to Seymour Cray). If you buy the lot in one go, it’ll cost you $2000. And you’ll need to buy a player, too.

Product page [The Tape Project via Retro Thing]

In what seems to be the hot handset of the moment, the XPERIA 1 from Sony Ericsson has had some more details revealed courtesy of a recently released white paper, which came courtesy of the Sony Ericsson website.

The XPERIA X1 has not had any shortage of available information leaked up till now, but these are the official details. Its hard to even begin, the official white paper is a 40-page PDF document that is just full of goodies. Some of the highlights include:

• Information on the pre-loaded panels for the XPERIA interface, which will include a Sony Ericsson Panel, Media Experience Panel, Slideshow Panel, Microsoft Today Panel, 3D Fish Panel and some user customizable panels.
• Media Sharing using ActiveSync or Wi-Fi.
• Video recording options include MPEG-4: 30fps @ VGA, H.263: 30fps @ VGA except the U.S. model is only at 24fps and H.264: 15fps @ VGA but it is not supported on U.S model.
• Sadly Opera will not be pre-installed, opting for IE instead.
• Location services will include a pre-installed Google Maps.
• Email to include automatically configured POP3, Exchange Direct Push and wizards to set up Gmail, Yahoo, Live Hotmail.
• Pre-insalled Java ME.
• Sadly, as pointed out by inxperia, support for 1700MHz is missing.

While this is just a very brief summary of the details, if you are at all interested in this phone then check out the read link below for a link to the White Paper. It seems we have just about all the details that we can handle on the XPERIA X1, now we just need to get some in the wild and see some actual user reviews.

Read [Sony Ericsson Official White Paper] Via [inxperia]

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AMD today announced the appointment of Nigel Dessau as chief marketing officer (CMO). Before this job Nigel Dessau work for IBM and Sun. Now he has a difficult task: AMD’s global marketing, image and campaign strategies.

We wish him Good Luck but maybe AMD should hire some engineers to make better CPU…