Hasta La Gadget!

Imagine being able to tell your car where you want to go in a few words, or pick out your music without taking your eyes off the road. That’s what BMW promises this fall with its new voice control system. BMW (and the rest of the car world) is playing catch-up with Ford’s Sync system. It’s possible BMW has passed Ford on the navigation side; some of the new BMW audio input controls still seem stunted and cumbersome, at least based on what BMW is disclosing now. It’s available on 2009 BMWs worldwide, the company says.

BMW calls it a “truly innovative, cutting-edge technology for voice control” because a single voice command lets you give your car the entire address. In BMW’s example, after you’ve started the voice command by pressing a button on the steering wheel and then after you’ve summoned up the navigation module, you say something as simple as, “Berlin, Willy-Brandt-Strasse 1”, and you go straight to the Federal Chancellery. Assuming you’re not in Boston at the time.

That’s on top of BMW’s ability to send map information from Google Maps to your car. Mercedes- Benz also has a send-to-car feature. It’s a nice way to preload a bunch of vacation destinations and can also be helpful if your rich but technically inept brother-in-law can’t make navigation work in his new 7 Series; you can do it for him. 

While this is by no means the first time we’ve seen a robotic snake prototype, it isn’t every day that we find one so close to deployment. This self-propelling, two feet long robot can crawl along the ground, climb through debris, and even stand erect to give the operator a better view. The Israeli Defense Force is will use this thing for routine surveillance and reconnaissance, broadcasting video and sound to a monitor and control station. And if this is not enough? In that case, the prototype can be wired with explosives — making it, according to the Jerusalem Post, a “suicide snake.” Fun! And rather upsetting. No proposed price or timetable yet, but you can see the thing in action for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Israeli military develops robot snake for battlefield, children’s nightmares

Filed under: Robots

Israeli military develops robot snake for battlefield, children’s nightmares originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite being "only" 720p, the Panasonic TC-P50X1 is a great bargain.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Flat-panel TVs are no longer playthings of the rich. In fact, dirt-cheap models can be had in every screen size and from numerous diverse makers. Here’s a guide to finding your way …

This article was written on December 27, 2006 by CyberNet.

PayPal is entering the virtual world with their Virtual Debit Card, aimed at preventing fraud and keeping your account safe. This idea by no means is new. My CitiBank card has been offering this for quite some time now, and I’m surprised it’s taken others, including PayPal so long to follow.  Regardless, it’s a great service, and one that a lot of people will benefit from.  The screenshot below is what I saw when I logged into my account. 

There’s more to it than just the virtual debit card.  Here’s what you can expect from PayPal Virtual Debit Card after downloading it:

• Fraud Site Alert: Warns you if you land on known or potentially fraudulent websites (And who hasn’t? They’re all over!)
• Privacy and 100% Protection: Financial information you provide is never shared with any merchant.  And you get 100% protection against unauthorized payments sent from your account.
• Faster checkout: The form fill feature automatically completes shipping and billing details (you can customize what it will fill in).

One of the best features is the fraudulent site alert. There are so many scammers out there pummeling fraudulent emails out to unsuspecting PayPal account holders.  The image to the right shows what you would see if you were on a fraudulent site.  A message pops up letting you know that you shouldn’t enter in your personal information. Some browsers have protection like this built in, so this will be yet another safe-guard to protect your account.

When you go to pay online using your Virtual PayPal debit card, you’ll be issued a card number that is good for that transaction only. If someone steals your account information, it won’t matter! A new number is generated for each purchase that you make. This new service will be available to use anywhere that Mastercard is accepted.

For now, only selected PayPal users have been invited to try this service out.  You’ll know if you’ve been invited by logging into your PayPal account. You’ll have a message letting you know, and a link for the download (4.8 MB). Now, in order to download the program, PayPal will call the phone number that is attached to your account and give you a security code to enter in. After you’ve entered in the correct code, you’ll be able to download the program.

After I downloaded the program, I went through the set-up process. I was asked to select an image(screenshot above). There were about 100 different images to choose from, and this image will appear on the screen every time that you use the Virtual Debit Card.  If you don’t recognize your image, or don’t see any image at all, this means that you shouldn’t log into the system because it’s a fraud attempt on your account.

You’ll need to be using IE 5.01 or later for the application to be integrated into the browser, along with Windows 98, ME, 2000, NT, or XP (we tested on Vista, and it worked as well). You can still use it without IE to generate a card number, but features like the form fill and fraud detector won’t work. If you’d like to take the tour that PayPal has put together on their website, click here. If you’d like to view the tour that users will see when setting up an account, click here. The tours are essentially the same thing, however the second goes more in depth on how to use it.

News Source: Slashdot

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Radically overhauled last year, Apple’s MacBook line of laptops moved to aluminum construction, edge-to-edge glass over LED displays, and oversize multitouch-touch pads (with the exception of the lone $999 white plastic model). The latest round of updates is more of a refinement than another revolution, but it adds some much-sought-after features, while lowering prices on many configurations.

Most notable, the 13-inch aluminum unibody MacBook has been promoted to join the MacBook Pro family. It’s a move that makes sense, as the differences between the two lines were becoming increasingly blurred. To complete the transformation, the 13-inch Pro regains its missing FireWire port, making it even more useful for creative professionals on the go.

New to the Pro line is something we never thought we’d see on a MacBook–an SD card slot. Standard on the 13- and 15-inch Pro laptops, this corrects one of our main MacBook annoyances. We’re also pleased to see the backlit keyboard–previously found in only the more expensive 13-inch versions–filter down to even the $1,149 base model (which is a nice discount from the previous $1,299 entry price).

Some have strong feelings about the nonremovable battery–similar to those already found on the MacBook Air and 17-inch Pro. It’s a legitimate concern, but we think the promise of better battery life (Apple claims up to a 40 percent improvement), and three times as many recharge cycles as older batteries is just as important.

There are still a few items on our 13-inch wish list–matte screens, mobile broadband options, Blu-ray–but Apple has done an admirable job in filling in some of the major missing pieces. By offering more features for less money, the 13-inch MacBook Pro remains one of the most universally useful laptops available.

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