Botian News

Your Daft Punk Homework: create your own EL suit

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:18:41 +0000

Good thing Halloween is months away. You’ll need that time to hone your sewing skills in the noble quest to create a Daft Punk suit of your very own. Instructables has everything you need (except the electroluminescent wire, soldering iron, heat gun, and pleather tracksuit) to build an EL suit worthy of electronic celebration. Best of all, your tutor for the course is none other than the suits’ creator for the duo’s 2007 tour. Now get moving humans, it’s time to let the robots rock the party.

Motorola announces MOTOZINE ZN5

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:21:09 +0000

Hints of Motorola’s new MOTOZINE series of devices have gone back as far as last year, but today marks the first time that Moto’s officially spilled any beans on the goods. The headlining feature on the first model, the ZN5 candybar, lies on the backside: a 5-megapixel sensor courtesy of a partnership with Kodak, featuring autofocus, a xenon flash, image stitching, and on-device integration with Kodak Gallery. Otherwise, you get WiFi (score), Motorola’s so-called “ModeShift” technology for morphing the keypad depending on device mode (a la the E8), and a run-of-the-mill quadband GSM radio with EDGE. China’s the first country to get the hookup starting next month, but Moto expects to take the ZN5 on a world tour over the course of the remainder of the year.

Alesis’ ProTrack turns your iPod into portable digital recorder

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:19:29 +0000

Though not the first audio recorder we’ve seen to get buddy-buddy with Apple’s darling for storage — nor the first Alesis product to partner up with the iPod — the ProTrack is still pretty swank in its own right. Hailed as a “professional handheld digital stereo recorder for iPod,” this unit enables direct-to-iPod stereo digital recording for folks needing gobs of storage space. You’ll find a pair of condenser microphones built-in along with twin XLR - 1/4-inch inputs for connecting external mics and line sources. Folks who can’t locate an AC outlet can count on four to five hours of use from four AAA cells, but it should be noted that only select iPods (2G / 3G nanos, 5G iPods and the iPod classic) are supported. Look for this one to land in Q3 for a currently undisclosed price.

Crapgadget: revolving USB hub, revolting MP4 watch, lavish amounts of lameness

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:22:16 +0000

Consider yourselves fortunate. You’ve had well over two whole months without an episode of Crapgadget, but today, that grace period ends. The most recent laughable load includes an absolutely vile wristwatch that supposedly plays MP3s / MP4s if you can manage to glance away from the bezel and band. Furthermore, we’ve got a TV tuner and webcam — in one — alongside a way-too-expensive WiFi sniffing pen that doesn’t do 802.11n. Bringing up the rear is Connectland’s 180° X2 Revolving USB Hub, which clearly raises the bar in USB hub design stupidity. Per usual, we’re begging for your vote on the crappiest below, but we’ll understand if you just can’t bear the thought of spending another moment thinking about these pitiful creations.

Read - Golden MP3 / MP4 watch
Read - Plustek TVcam VD100
Read - Revolving USB hub
Read - WiFi sniffing pen

Solar-powered, glowing flower pot does just that

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:23:48 +0000

There are all sorts of ways to tech-up your plants, be they fake or real. In this case, Firebox’s solar-powered pot takes in the sun’s energy during the day in order to glow at night. A solar cell is placed in the sun and connects to a ground spike with a 9.8-foot wire which then powers the color-changing flower pot. Could be an interesting — or gaudy — addition to your yard depending on your scheme. Available now for about $40.

CNRS learns to control nanoscale strain in CPUs, heads to Jedi training

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:30:42 +0000

We’ve always heard that Chewbacca and friends had the power to control nanoscale strain in processors in a galaxy far, far away, but we Earthlings are just now getting caught up. Researchers at the Centre d’élaboration de matériaux et d’études structurales (CEMES-CNRS) have reportedly patented a measurement device that will essentially “enable manufacturers to improve microprocessor production methods and optimize future computers.” We’ll warn you, the meat of this stuff is pretty technical, but the take home is this: the technique has a good chance at “optimizing strain modeling in transistors and enhancing their electrical efficiency,” which is just what we need for more potent chips that demand less energy. And that’s something even a layman can appreciate.

Robots to be our lovers by 2050, not just in Massachussetts

admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:25:52 +0000

Remember when you were a kid and you told your friends that you totally loved your new computer, and some little luddite looked at you and said, “So why don’t you marry it?” There was that brief moment when you thought your Commodore 64 could, in fact, make a nice spouse. If not, move along. If so, David Levy told participants at a conference last week that we would all be having loving relationships with robots by 2050, not just trysts in Massachussetts. He predicts that we’ll have robots as sex toys within five years and true, deep relationships later on. Some robots already kiss, some seem to hate, but Levy says we’ll have emotional relationships based on conversation by mid-century. Until that time, remember your C64, your first true love. She / she remembers you, you selfish jerk.

Openmoko FreeRunner looking good for early July release

admin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:57:41 +0000

Unless you’re very, very special, you haven’t yet had an opportunity to run your hands over Openmoko’s latest open-source creation, the FreeRunner, which was announced several months back with the hope of a spring release. Unlike the Neo1973 before it, the FreeRunner’s said to be chock full of enough spit and polish to take on an audience larger than the original’s hardcore developer base, and while a springtime date with destiny is now out of reach, it looks like they’ll only miss the mark by a few days. A recent message from Openmoko’s VP of marketing on the community listserv said that the retail phones should be packed and shipped by tomorrow and — if all goes well, of course — should clear customs by the first of July, meaning buyers should be able to get them delivered in the first week or two of the month. If they’d been able to squeeze in 3G, we’d hardly be able to contain ourselves, but even as it is, we suspect there’s enough buzz to get units sold; let’s just hope they’re already hard at work on version three.

Samsung’s i900 Omnia surfs web on video

admin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:59:01 +0000

A full fortnight is way too long to go without seeing a little more of Samsung’s Windows Mobile 6.1-powered i900 Omnia, so we were just tickled pink to find a new video showcasing the mobile’s user interface. More specifically, the web browsing function gets most of the attention, and while it doesn’t exactly look like a refined experience from here, why don’t you head on past the break and judge for yourself?

Montreal’s Public Bike System uses RFID, solar power, and tons of social trust

admin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:31:01 +0000

There are all sorts of ways to deal with rising gas prices and public transportation needs, and Montreal is getting in the game with what they’re calling the Public Bike System. Utilizing a central inventory and check-out website, solar-powered docking stations, and high-tech RFID-tagged aluminum bikes, the system is a gadget-maxed project that could be amazing or turn into a complete theft disaster. Each station holds six bikes and six docks, and users can find the nearest available bike on a website and then return the bike to any other dock. Payments can be made via credit, debit, or “member” card. Quick question, though — what if a popular destination has no available docks for a drop-off?