Skype for Android has had an overhaul, so now the video quality’s actually, y’know, good. Oh, and the UI is massively improved, too.
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I usually write about innovations I think are really cool. The Blizzident is cool, but not the kind of cool I’d like to own. It’s cool as in very weird. I mean look at it. Cornelius in Planet of the Apes
rejected this set of chompers because even ape men don’t have such
hairy teeth. In fact, the Blizzident is a custom toothbrush,
not a set of false teeth, although I bet you’d be a hit wearing it on
Halloween.
At the recently concluded CEATEC 2013 in Japan, we managed to spend some hands-on time with the Nissan self-driving car, which also managed to pick up the Grand Prix award along the way. Well, Ford might not have a self-driving car, but they did demonstrate an advanced self-parking system which will drop you off before it speeds away to park itself. This would definitely jive well with any existing self-driving systems for sure. Barb Samardzich, Ford head of product development in Europe, shared, “Parking in today’s cities can be stressful and difficult. We want to make it as easy, efficient and accurate as possible.”
At the moment, existing parking assist systems make use of a range of sonar, radar or even camera sensors in order to assist motorists enter the parking bay, whether it is into parallel or perpendicular spots. Of course, the motorist will still have a hand (literally speaking) in this, where some vehicles will use the brake alone, while others require the operation of both the brake and throttle. Ford’s system, known as the Fully Assisted Parking Aid, would let you alight from your ride, where the push of a button on the key fob would then let it park itself. Is this impressive or what?
Ford Self-Parking System Does It Sans Driver In Car original content from Ubergizmo. 
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This is just totally nuts – it has been reported that Kuwait, one of the states in the oil rich Gulf area, will soon introduce what they call medical testing on travellers. The whole reason of these medical tests is to ‘detect’ gay people, and upon positive identification, they will be barred from entering the country. Right now, the countries that outlaw homosexuality in the Gulf area include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and this announcement does nothing but to add more incredulity.
A Kuwaiti government official was quoted as saying that this medical test, which is developed in Kuwait, will eventually be able to prevent ‘detected’ homosexuals from entering any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). In fact, those who were convicted of taking part in homosexual acts in Kuwait, assuming they are under 21, will be on the receiving end of a maximum 10 year jail sentence. I wonder what kind of criteria is used to detect these ‘gays’, and would only foreigners be subjected to such a test? I would be extremely surprised if this were to be implemented in the first place, as it would certainly make it pointless for folks to book their holidays there.
Kuwait To Prevent Entry On Travelers Who Have Been Detected As ‘Gay’ original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Apple’s designer extraordinaire, Sir Jony Ive, has been roped in to design a custom charity Leica rangefinder, which will also be one of the flagship products that will be introduced in next month’s Product (RED) charity auction. This custom Leica rangefinder camera also had a hand in its design by another industrial design celebrity, Marc Newson, and the final design has already been shown off by the manufacturer from Germany.
This custom camera was derived from the Leica M digital 35 millimeter full-frame camera, where it will feature a full-format CMOS sensor, in addition to a high-performance processor, as well as Leica’s APO-Summicron –M 50-millimeter f/2 ASPH lens. As for the camera’s body itself, it was developed using Ive’s signature anodized aluminum where it boasts of a pattern of small, laser machined holes, which is not too different from the speaker grilles which were showcased in Apple’s MacBook Pro range of laptop computers. We look forward to see just how much money can this particular custom designed Leica camera raise in an auction some time from now.
Leica claims that this particular camera took 85 days to create, and it was the result of both Ive and Newson going through a whopping 561 models as well as the prototyping process of nearly 1,000 parts. Truly, this is a labor of love.
What If Jony Ive Designed Leica Cameras? original content from Ubergizmo. 
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For those of us who happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, the bitter chill and cold of winter will soon be upon us. That is nice, since it would remind us that the holiday season is coming, and that would mean a time to take a break from the usual work and accompanying stress. However, there is also the cold that one would have to contend with, and this is where something like the Sanwa USB Muffler would come in handy. It will be different from the standard issue synthetic scarf, as the Sanwa USB Muffler (as you can tell by its name) would arrive with a bunch of extra features.
For starters, both ends will feature hand warmer pockets so that your hands will not be subject to the chills on the outside, but will be kept warm along the way. Of course, it goes without saying that in all probability, the main selling point of this particular muffler would be the ability to heat up so that you will be able to enjoy a fair amount of warmth when you are beside your computer. Basically, the heating element has been rated to warm to 37ºC before the thermostat cuts power, and it will not resume its power until it has cooled down to 32ºC. Available in Japan only at this point in time, the Sanwa USB Muffler will retail for $14.
Sanwa USB Muffler For Those Cold, Winter Days original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Hmmm, is it me, or is Disney making a slight shift from just churning out cartoons (as well as new Star Wars movies) by working on technologically advanced ideas for future toys? Well, that seems to be the case as we had already looked at a project which allowed one to generate enough electricity to power an LED simply by rubbing against a special kind of paper. This time around, we have distortion-free curved displays that were developed by a 3D printer which is capable of creating fiber optic cables. Project Papillon was talked about in July earlier this year, but it seems that Disney’s designers have managed to work on a cute new eye for its real world toys which will offer a wider range of designs through the separation of the light source from the display screen itself – all without having to worry about distortion, of course.
You just have to watch the view above to experience it fully, where Disney’s demonstration left no doubt for the viewers that they are able to accurately emulate the eyes of their cartoon characters. Take for instance the pupils which are able to swap from normal shapes to other items such as dollar signs and hearts, which will respectively evoke the emotion of greed and romance.
Disney Brings Papillon To A New Level original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Another week passes, another country gets Google’s blessing for its music locker and streaming service. This time out, Google Play Music All Access is hitting our neighbors to the south, Mexico. Just try not to brag about how awesome streaming 20,000 songs from your cloud library is, amigos — …
Music has definitely come a long way, especially in the format or media in which it is presented. Back in the days of our grandparents, they had this thing called vinyl records, and along the way, cassette tapes came and made a difference. Of course, we have sinced moved on to digital audio thanks to the introduction of CDs, and MP3s saw the explosion of mobile music regardless of the country that you reside in. Record companies claim that their industry is in a decline, and right now they have the intention of tempting fans away from the MP3 format through the release of albums in a crystal-clear Blu-Ray format.
Among the first few records to be released in this Blu-Ray format will be songs sung by those who have already passed on, including Nirvana’s Nevermind and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black albums as they debut in the UK later this month. Needless to say, you will need a Blu-Ray player as well as a stereo system (a PS3 will do nicely for the former) in order to play the discs, where there has been a promise attached to deliver “the sound as it was intended by the artist”. Do you think that Blu-Ray music albums will be able to arrest the slide in the physical media aspect of the music industry?
Music Albums To Arrive In Blu-Ray Format Soon original content from Ubergizmo. 
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When we talk about Disney, most of us would think of the company as one that operates the world’s happiest place, in addition to churning out plenty of cute cartoons along the way which have endeared themselves to the masses for many decades already. Well, they do have a stake in the world of technology, too, as we have seen in the middle of last month with the touch-powered sound transmitter, and this time around we are treated to the wonders of electricity generation using printable paper instead of regular batteries, now how about that?
The researchers who discovered a way to do this claim that the generator developed is able to create pieces of paper, that when manipulated in the right direction, is capable of generating enough juice so much so that it is capable of lighting up an LED and even to be able to turn on an eBook display. Researcher Ivan Poupyrev shared, “This simplicity leads to countless applications enabling interactivity everywhere and anytime. My overall goal is to make the whole world interactive, and creating ubiquitous power supplies is a key step in that direction.”
Just how does this paper work? It must use a material that is able to hold a “semi-permanent” electric charge, and one of the charge holding electrets happens to be Teflon. Whenever one rubs Teflon against an ordinary sheet of paper, it will create the opposite charge, so in this new material, both are manually rubbed together in order to generate and harness such energy.
Disney Uses Printable Paper To Generate Electricity original content from Ubergizmo. 
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