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Home Energy International in Holland has created the Energy Ball, an egg beater shaped wind turbine. Moving parallel to the wind, it generates less noise than the wind itself. It works at speeds as slow 4.5 mph while the average turbine needs about twice that to turn. The Energy Balls are sold in 1 and 2 meter versions, for $3,500 and $7,000 (not including installation,) but we would much rather see these dotting the landscape than more nuclear power plants.
Read More 
| Live Science
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Bendiboards Flexible Keyboards
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Video Games, USB,
Bendiboards are heavy duty, waterproof keyboards. Available in White or Black Space Invaders or the Union Jack, they are lightweight, ultra slim, and can be rolled up to take traveling. The keyboard material makes for silent typing as well as making it more ergonomic than your average plastic. Connectible by PS2 or USB port, the company will place your logo on the retroboards for a minimum order amount. Bendiboards carry a MSRP of £19.99 (~$40.00.)
Read More | BB Shopping
iPhone 2.1 firmware released
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,
Apple has finally unleashed the iPhone 2.1 firmware to the masses as of an hour or so ago. If you’ve been running iPhone 2.0 since July, then you’ve probably been waiting desperately for this firmware release, which is supposed to clear up a ton of bugs and other annoyances about the app-centric iPhone OS. Here’s a list of the changes and improvements:
- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation
So, there’s a lot of stuff there. Of course, most are concerned primarily with the big fixes. Here’s hoping that iPhone 2.1 is the solid OS that the 2.0 release should have been. You can get the update by connecting your iPhone to your computer, firing up iTunes 8 (it’s required), and hitting “Check for Update.” Good luck!
Read More | iPhone 2.1 details
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Pangea puts their iPhone Apps on sale
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Hot Deals, Software, Video Games,
Well, here’s something we could get used to. Pangea, maker of popular App Store titles like Cro-Mag Rally and Enigmo, have put their entire line of apps on sale. This is obviously just going to be for a limited time only, but we can’t seem to find the end date of the promotion anywhere. In the meantime, just know that for now, the prices on Pangea App Store software is as follows:
- Enigmo: $4.99, down from $9.99
- Cro-Mag Ralley: $1.99, down from $5.99
- Billy Frontier: $3.99, down from $5.99
- Beer Bounce: $1.99, down from $2.99
- Pangea VR Pro: $14.99, down from $19.99
A couple of these are fantastic for the money (we’re looking at you, Enigmo and Cro-Mag). Head on over to the App Store to start shopping. Here’s hoping this is just the beginning of App Store sales.
Read More | App Store
StarTech’s USBVGADOCK converts a single USB 2.0 port into multiple connections, including a VGA, 10/100 RJ45 network, dual audio, and four extra USB 2.0 ports. It has a 1600x1200, 32 bit resolution on a connected VGA monitor. Think of the advantage of switching between your notebook and home desktop PC with the disconnection of only one cord. The converter/adapter is available from the company for $129.99.
Read More | StarTech
Toshiba’s LED projector is tiny, tiny, tiny. At a size of 45 x 17 x 100mm, it weighs a mere 100g. Shown recently in Berlin, Germany, at the IFA expo, the phone-size device should make its presence known early next year. How wonderful that with the advent of LED, we no longer have to suffer with huge, roaring fans to cool projectors down and still do our part to save the planet. No price is available as yet.
Read More | gizmag
Emotiv’s EPOC headset will certainly change gaming as we know it. The BCI (brain computer interface) detects brain activity patterns then processes them. Over 30 differing emotions, actions, and expressions are picked up.
President and co-founder of Emotiv Systems, Tan Le, said, “Being able to control a computer with your mind is the ultimate quest of human-machine interaction.”
He added that the social aspect of gaming is the way of the future and believes that the interaction with the Wii is the first step in that direction.
Read More | CNN
Inventec Velocity 103 Smartphone
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Handhelds, Microsoft, Wireless / WiFi,
Inventec has announced that it will soon be shipping the Velocity 103, its new smartphone. Available in black, it features a 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 resolution touch screen with an Odyssey Interface. It also has 128 MB RAM, 256MB internal memory, a 2.0 megapixel cam, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 capability, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, microSD card slot, and TV out. You can pre-order the 103 at expansys for $499.99.
Read More | Velocity Mobile
LG HT33S Home Theater System
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Music, Portable Audio / Video, USB,
LG has revealed its home theater system, the 2.1 channel HT33S. The glossy black exterior houses iPod docking, an optical port for sound, and the ability to convert standard def DVDs to HD1080p through HDMI upscaling. DivX, DVD, CD, MP3, WMA and JPEG are all compatible via USB. Finally, CD files can be converted to MP3 and saved as well. Presented at the IFA 2008 and tuned by audio expert Mark Levinson, look for an October release of the system.
Read More | Aving
LHC Works Without Earth Being Sucked Up
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Science,
We are still here! In case you hadn’t heard, the LHC initialization is a success. After all the colliding beams are established, the researchers will be measuring and calibrating before performing 4 major experiments. One will help explain how gravity acts on mass and another will seek out the universe’s dark matter. Two others involve nature’s preference for matter over antimatter and matter as it began. Congrats to the team and thanks for allowing us to learn more without ending life as we know it, not to mention the kewl art it produced.
Read More | CERN
