Hasta La Gadget!

You would have heard of the expression “wearing your heart on your sleeve”, but in the future, someone might actually ask you to wear your data. That puzzled look would soon make way for an acknowledgement in the future, as NASA scientists has discovered a method to transform fabrics into voluminous storage arrays. To put it in plain English, we are looking at a simple shirt being turned into a potential storage medium. As for the amount of memory that can be stored, it really depends, although terabytes would not be out of the question.

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Toothbrush fixes space station and tartar problems, Angry Birds Space Red Planet coming this fall,

Anyone who runs a farm or tends to some plot of land somewhere would realize that just as the land produces the good stuff like fruits and vegetables (if you have planted the right seeds, that is), so to, will the land churn out weeds. Getting rid of weeds are a whole lot harder than your crop, which is why this prototype weed-seeking automaton could revolutionize the way we eat as well as assist in lowering our reliance on highly toxic herbicides. Known as the Lettuce Bot, this four-wheeled weeding machine was specially designed and built by Indiana-based startup Blue River Technology.

It will use an integrated camera as well as an advanced visual algorithm suite in order to tell the difference between two breeds of lettuce and common field weeds. Once that is done, it will inject the weeds with a toxic cocktail of plant fertilizer, where the right amount will make short work of the weeds’ roots, with the byproduct being additional fertilizer that will further enhance the produce, resulting in a win-win. No idea on whether the Lettuce Bot can work in the middle of the night though, but if it could, the positive ramifications would be enormous to the entire agriculture industry.

Right now, the Lettuce Bot has a 98% accuracy rate, so it would be interesting to see if the Lettuce Bot’s concept can be translated over to other kinds of crops which also suffer from the scourge of weeds.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Intelligent robot bins require ID to dispose of rubbish in the Netherlands, Shimi the personal robotic DJ,

Reprising a Windows Phone 7 giveaway from back in 2010, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer announced at the company’s annual event that all 90,000 or so full-time employees are getting a taste of its latest hardware. That’s one Surface for Windows RT tablet and Windows Phone 8 phone (we’re told that last time around these came with two year contracts) in late December, along with a new touch compatible office computer running Windows 8, presumably arriving sooner. Forbes indicates those PCs can be a desktop, laptop, ultrabook or tablet, and we have a pic of one employee’s new Lenovo-built slate running Windows 8 on a Core i7 CPU with 8GB of RAM after the break. Pulling an Oprah, again, isn’t just one way to improve employee morale, it also ensures everyone’s familiar with the new products as they roll out and are ready to tell people about them. Will that provide the necessary bump to catch up with the competition from Apple and Google? Only time will tell, but if you’re wondering what to say when someone asks if every single person wants a Surface then our advice follows after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Microsoft gifts full-time employees with Surface tablets, Windows 8 phones and PCs

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile

Microsoft gifts full-time employees with Surface tablets, Windows 8 phones and PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 01:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Listen, the Roomba is really expensive and it works. Of course you want it. But—again, of course—you do not want to shell out the big bucks for a glorified dust buster. You could check eBay! More »

It was only a matter of time I guess,to hear that Fujifilm has gracefully pulled themselves out of the motion picture film production race from next spring onwards, with the main scourge of this business being their reason; being unable to maintain profitability. This is largely attributed to the rapid digitalization of the cinema industry, according to Kyodo News. It must be said that Fujifilm has had a long and distinguished history in the creation of film for movie cameras and for screening in theaters, clocking up nearly 80 years of experience in the field since it was establishment all the way back in 1934 (that is before World War 2 even started to get a better idea on how far back that was). These days, the entertainment industry tends to use digital cameras to shoot movies due to the subsequently easier editing and distribution processes.

This would mean the end of a Japanese institution, as Fujifilm is currently Japan’ only manufacturer of motion picture film. However, Fujifilm will still remain to stand steadfast behind the work of manufacturing special film that was specially designed to preserve motion pictures for a long period. Do you need a tissue to bid goodbye to the passing of an era? [Press Release]

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