Hasta La Gadget!

Always on the lookout for bigger and better ways to faux-scratch a record with your PC, these students at Northeastern University have developed a human-computer interface that utilizes copper pads and our beloved theory of electrostatics. This little devil is able to track the position of a user’s hand in three dimensions, without attaching markers to the body or requiring the user to hold some sort of controller. We can think of a couple theremin players that would love to get their hands on one of these things (Mike Love, we’re looking at you). But don’t take out word for it — peep the video below to groove along with these dudes as they literally rock the (virtual) bells, play some organ, and even do a little fingerpainting.

Continue reading Students build 3D computer interface using copper, felt, and lots of moxie

Filed under: Peripherals

Students build 3D computer interface using copper, felt, and lots of moxie originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For this week’s Photoshop Contest, you were charged with inserting technology into historic scenes where it didn’t belong. History would be a lot more interesting if there were this many Wiimotes in it.

First Place — Dan Fruzzetti
Second Place — Ryan Warner
Third Place — N. Dwyer

For all the talk about robotic uprisings, man and machine have learned to coexist fairly peacefully–for the most part. Accidents do happen, and sometimes robots attack. Take, for example, the case of a worker tasked with repairing a rock-lifting machine in a Swedish factory.

The event occurred back in 2007, when the machine reportedly mistook the man’s head for a rock, which was roughly the same size as those it was programmed to lift. The man managed to escape the “attack” with his life, but got fairly seriously injured in the process.

“The man was very lucky. He broke four ribs and came close to losing his life,” prosecutor Leif Johansson told a local paper.

The man ultimately decided not to press charges, but the plant was fined 25,000 Kronor ($3,100). According to the witnesses, the robot told the victim, “I’ll be back.”

Nissan’s EVs are coming, but if people are really going to buy them in droves they’re going to need somewhere other than the rusty outlets in their garages to charge them. So, the company has been working like mad forming partnerships with municipalities around the world, from California to China, to get city-wide charging stations installed. The latest is Seattle, a place that gets much of its power through renewable means (hydro dams), thus making the boxy little car even greener. Only two questions remain: will they use a standardized plug that all manufacturers can share, and what will they call all those recharging hotspots? We vote for spark hydrant.

Filed under: Transportation

Seattle is latest lucky winner of an electric car partnership with Nissan originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The concrete details of Sony’s latest–and most significant–update to the PSPwill come at E3 in June, according to “sources directly involved with the new system.” The console has also reportedly been named: Sony will be calling it the PSP Go, in keeping with a recent line of add-ons for the European PSP brand. This information comes from 1up, which says it has confirmed these details with said sources.

The PSP Go, set to arrive in Japan in September and in the States in the months following, will do away with the UMD slot, as expected. Sony, however, will be making available more than 100 older PSP titles for download on the system (Gran Turismo Mobile is among those named).

1Up adds:

As for the hardware itself, the redesign will include a d-pad, analog nub, and face buttons as part of a sliding unit sticking out below the screen (as seen in our mockup above). Unfortunately for those looking for twin-stick shooter controls, the new system will not have a second analog stick, but instead will remain consistent with the current control configuration.

Sony, not surprisingly, isn’t commenting.