Hasta La Gadget!

As many of you who read my work here on SlashGear know, I’m an avid technology lover. My entire life has been dedicated to learning about technology, leveraging the tools that work best, and educating others on the value of it. From a young age, I was building my own PCs and taking apart products to see how they worked. It wasn’t long that I realized that having some sort of career in this fascinating world was a good idea.

[Image courtesy VintageComputing]

But over the last decade or so, I’ve seen a shift in the technology industry that makes me worry about the future. The technology industry was once a haven for folks like me (and perhaps you) that wanted to immerse themselves in electronics and use them as much as possible to get work done. For us, technology wasn’t an interest; it was a way of life.

Back then, those of us who loved technology had formed a special bond. We were speaking another language that many folks didn’t quite understand, and we were able to solve problems that others couldn’t. It was a special thing. And it was ours.

But over the last decade, I’ve watched my beloved technology industry become awfully commercial. Products are no longer judged solely on their usability or component power. Instead, products are judged based on their looks and how “intuitive” they are for the average technology user. Value has won out over power. And those of us who remember the old days are left scratching our heads.

“Computers are now personality-extensions, with branding and design to reflect that”

See, the technology industry is now a key component of pop culture. There’s not a day that goes by that someone on the news or a late night show or on MTV won’t mention an iPhone, iPad, or Android-based device. Computers were once purely functional pieces of equipment that helped us get work done. Now, they’re extensions of our personality, and have branding and design features to reflect that.

It’s now cool to go to school with the latest gadget in hand and show it off to friends. While discussing “gigabytes” and “Flash” and other topics were once reserved for the so-called “geeks,” they’re now commonplace in discussions with supposedly ordinary people.

Of course, some in the industry believe this is a good thing. As technology has become more accepted, major companies have generated more cash. Small companies built out of the success of larger firms are thriving. And more and more people are being employed by the industry.

It’s hard to argue with that. The technology industry really has become the cornerstone of the world economy. And companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Samsung are employing thousands of people that, 20 years ago, wouldn’t have had a job.

But excuse me for believing that maybe – just maybe – there was something special about the old days. The technology industry might not have been “cool,” but it was fun and exciting. And it was unique.

Maybe the old days are gone. But there’s something to be said about remembering – and honoring – your history.

Is the Technology World Too ‘Pop Culture’? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

One of the many things that new parents can become obsessed with is their baby’s weight. Parents want to be sure that the baby is getting enough nutrition and growing as the little one is supposed to. Sften they end up standing on their own scale holding the baby and doing math to try to figure out if their little one is gaining weight, as they should. This fascination with being sure your child grows appropriately is understandable and encouraged by many pediatricians.

Withings is the maker of the interesting Internet connected scale for adults that will share your weight with social networking sites if you want it to. The company has just launched a new Internet connected scale and the United States specifically made for children. The scale is called the Withings Smart Kid Scale and the company says that it can help parents keep kids interested in maintaining a healthy weight from a young age.

The scale has integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity allowing it to connect with your smart phone and an app called the Withings Baby Companion application. The app allows parents to track the history of the child’s weight readings allowing them to share readings with doctors and family. The child’s scale has a weight range of zero through 55 pounds.

The scale accuracy is within 10 g. The scale also features a large graphical display with 120 x 58 pixel resolution and power comes from for AAA batteries. The scale is designed to be used for children from infancy up to eight years old. The scale also allows parents to track height in addition to weight and the scale ships with a folding, interlocking baby basket for infants. The scale is available now for $179.95.

[via Withings]

Withings unveils world’s first Internet connected baby and toddler scale is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re in the middle of outfitting your geeky man cave or evil lair as the case may be, ThinkGeek has what might be the perfect wall decoration for you. That is assuming you don’t mind coughing up $500 on a geeky piece of wall art. Granted, this thing is a 100% accurate replica of the evil computer HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Let’s be honest, a typical fan of the film isn’t going to drop $499.99 on this replica, you need to be an uber fan. For your $499.99, you get a 100% accurate, life-size replica of HAL 9000. This thing was created from the actual studio blueprints used to create the devices for the film. The recreation is 100% accurate down to using the original studio files for the HAL 9000 label.

ThinkGeek says that the actual HAL 9000 used in the film used a lens that is rare and expensive called a Nikkor fish-eye lens. The replica uses a custom ground remake that even has a sticker with the writing from the NIKKOR lens used in the film so the product is accurate down to the close-up shots. Other than the incredible accuracy, the replica obviously has a red LED eye and it talks.

The replica will cycle through 15 phrases from the films and you can trigger the speech by talking to it. To activate the device you rotate the lens ring and it will shut off within 2 minutes of no activity to save battery power. One of the phrases the replica will say is, “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.” Check out the video of the device in action to see more.

[via ThinkGeek]

Life-size HAL 9000 replica is $500 of pure geek nostalgia is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

People out there who don’t have kids can’t understand what a big deal it is for parents to potty train their kids. Not only does it really suck to have to clean up wet and poopy diapers multiple times a day, but was disposable diapers are incredibly expensive as well. I’d wager many toddlers out there have seen mom and dad sitting on the throne using an iPad before.

It would make sense that giving your toddler a tablet to use while they go potty might help encourage them to do the deed somewhere other than their diaper. If you don’t have kids, trust me when I say parents will do just about anything to potty train. This is where an ingenious product comes in that was being displayed at CES called the iPotty.

The iPotty is a little plastic toilet for toddlers that has an integrated holder for an iPad. The idea is that your little one can sit down on the potty, play their favorite little kid apps, and take care of business. The setup looks like a decent training toilet and it even has the obligatory little boy pee shield on the front.

I would warn parents of little boys that once they decide to stand up, I wouldn’t want to have my tablet anywhere near that potty. The iPotty is impressively cheap at $39.99 and it will go on sale in March via Amazon.com. I expect this to be very popular with tech savvy toddlers and parents alike.

[via Huffington Post]

iPotty tries to get your toddler to use the toilet is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve seen plenty of remote-controlled toy robots over the years. We’ve seen remote-controlled devices that can fly such as the AR Drone and remote-controlled devices that roll around on the ground as well. What I don’t recall seeing is a remote-controlled device that combines both ground and air capability into one device.

This cool little toy is called the Hybrid Terrestrial and Aerial Quadrotor (HyTAQ) and was designed by Arash Kalantari and Matthew Spenko. Both of the designers hail from the robotics laboratory at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The device looks a lot like your typical four rotor flying helicopter toy inside a cage to help prevent you from breaking it when you smack into the wall.

Rather than that cage being for the protection of the rotors alone, it actually acts as a large wheel that allows the remote control device to roll around on the ground. The cage is made from a combination of polycarbonate and carbon fiber and has a long axle that is attached to the sides of the quadrotor flying machine. While the primary purpose of the cage is to allow ground mobility, it does actually protect the rotors.

You can see the device in action in the video below. It appears that the same controls that control flight for the little machine also control movement on the ground. The robotic machine can transition from ground operation to flight impressively quick and appears to be controlled like any other quadrotor we’ve seen before. The HyTAQ is capable of operating on just about any surface.

[via Technabob]

HyTAQ robot rolls on the ground and flies through the air is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.