TechEBlog » Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future

Cool stuff! But some of it makes say, “Why?”

TechEBlog » Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future.

A great site

There is excellent gadget info to be found at Gearlog. JOBY's Gorillapod was the top listing at the time I made this link - it's an inexpensive flexible tripod.

Selecting a Digital Camera or Camcorder

You're going on vacation. You want to capture memories. You're overwhelmed by choices among cameras.

Of course, you can go to the Web for deep research - just Google "digital photography" and "digital video." And for the best bargains, go to Froogle.com and eBay.com.

Here's a list of the most important questions for you to ask:

" Stills or video? Many still cameras today can capture video; all video camcorders can capture stills. But the secondary function of each is much more limited. Do you want the extra work - and extra benefits - of video?

" Resolution. That's number of pixels (picture elements). Get at least 4 megapixels on a still camera; at least 1 megapixel for stills on a video camera.

" Zoom. Buy as much as you can afford, for both stills and video. 10x is a minimum. And that's optical zoom; digital zoom just makes the pixels bigger.

" Memory. Get an extra 1-gig card or two, especially if you're capturing sound and video.

" Batteries. Most cameras use rechargeables; buy extras so that some can be charging while you're using others. Check battery life; the longer, the better.

" Size and weight. You pay more for smaller and lighter.

" LCD viewfinder. Bigger is better. Check if visible outdoors - and if not, make sure there is an optical viewfinder.

" Controls. Make sure you can see and understand the main controls.

" Flash. Most still cameras have a flash; most video cameras don't. Be sure you know how to turn it off, so you can shoot by natural light when you want to.

" Stabilization. For video cameras, this is a very useful option, and can enhance the quality of your movies.

" Removable lenses. Important for the serious hobbyist, but increase the price substantially.

" Price. Under $100 to many thousands. An excellent still camera can be bought for $400, new; video for a bit more. Check eBay for used bargains.

" Accessories. Get a good bag, with room for everything you want to carry. Spare batteries, memory cards, standard and car chargers are useful. A light tripod is useful. Make sure you have the right cables, or the right memory card slot on your PC, for downloading pictures and videos.

" Sharing. Check out Picasa from Google; it's for organizing images and does simple editing. It connects to a couple of sharing methods. It's free. And go see Flickr.com - also free.

And here is the most powerful piece of advice I have for you when buying gadgets: Talk to people who own them. Most camera owners will be glad to tell you what they like and don't like about what they bought-and what they wish they had bought!

This article appears in Winchester Life Magazine.

Nokia 7380: Beautiful design, limited practicality

Nokia has taken “phone as fashion accessory” to a new limit – and for $700, you can have one. Read PCMag’s review here.

Will Wright's "Spore": Not a gadget, but coming to one near you very soon

Will Wright, the inventor of SimCity and related games, is, in my view, the greatest systems thinking educator the world has ever seen. His games are played by millions of people. Through the dynamics of simulation and the motivation of gaming fun, they quickly transition through metalevels of complexity and develop requisite variety in problem-solving that will serve them throughout life.

Watch this 35–minute film of Will’s presentation at a gaming conference and you’ll see why I think this is the convergence of CAD, simulation, UI, and transformative education.

Engadget: OQO under attack

From Engadget:

OQO to go vertical to fight UMPC

Posted Mar 14th 2006 5:44PM by Marc Perton
Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Less than a week after the rollout of the first UMPCs, a pioneer of lightweight portable computing has announced plans to shift its business model. OQO, which produces a 14-ounce computer that includes both a touchscreen and a keyboard, has been beset by production delays, a lukewarm market response, and turnover in the executive suite.

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Asimo speeds up

Honda’s humanoid robot, Asimo, can now run at 6 km/hour. Watch this anticlimactic – but impressive – short video.

NS: Think and type

'Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone

The "mental typewriter" could also be used as a games controller (Image: Fraunhofer Institute)

A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at a major trade fair in Germany.

The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.

The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) – dubbed the "mental typewriter" – was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. It was shown off at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany.

The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around.

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