Hasta La Gadget!

Love 3-D TV, but hate looking like a four-eyed nerd? Well, Toshiba may have the TV made specifically for you later this year. (There is still no official word from Toshiba). The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper is reporting that the Japanese electronics giant will unveil three models of televisions that creates a 3D effect without the need of glasses.

According to the report, the company has developed a method of method of beaming rays from various angels to create a stereoscopic effect. The technology reportedly will work on viewers regardless of which angle they are viewing the screen. Which is cool. The sets will also reportedly cost “several thousand dollars.”

The company rolled out a line of glass-dependent 3D TVs earlier this year, but sales were disappointing as many viewers complained of being irritated by the glasses.

via Physorg

Velocity Micro, makers of custom PCs and high-end gaming computers, announced that the Cruz line of 7-inch color touch-screen Android tablets are available to pre-order now. The Cruz comes in two flavors, the Cruz Reader and the Cruz Tablet. The Cruz Reader retails for $199.99, features a 4:3 800×600 display, and comes with a 4GB SD card in addition to its 256MB of internal storage. The Tablet retails for $299.99, features a 16:9 800×480 display, and comes with an 8GB bundled SD card in addition to its 4GB of on-board storage. Both tablets are Wi-Fi enabled, although the Reader supports 802.11 b/g and the Tablet features 802.11n.

Both tablets run Google’s Android mobile OS, although the Reader runs Android 2.0 and the Tablet runs 2.1. The Reader is designed to be primarily an eBook reader, but can also display photos, lets you surf the Web and watch Web video, and has access to the Android App Market (Velocity Micro has it branded the Cruz Market) for games and other apps. The Tablet does everything the Reader does, comes with apps to display video, and is designed to be an all-around tablet computer, complete with rich multimedia apps. Velocity Micro is accepting pre-orders now, and both units will begin shipping in September.

For developers with a long list of projects they would do if only they had the right hardware, the Nanonote 本(běn) might just be the answer.

Targeted squarely at developers and amateur coders who believe in open hardware and want to build their own applications, this platform has almost limitless possibilities. Want a box that streams music? Turn this nifty piece of hardware into a small networked music station streaming all the music from your computer. It’s probably not quite up to streaming movies, though.

While it boots Linux out of the box, you can also boot over USB to install your OS of choice.

An ultra-small form factor computing device, it has a 336-MHz processor, 2GB of Flash memory, a micro SD slot, a headphone jack, and a mini-USB port. It comes with a 850-mAh Lithium battery. The screen is tiny at only 3 inches, as is the attached keyboard.

Nanonote 本(běn) is available now for $99. A ten-pack (no discount) is also available.

That would be both frightening and awesome! But there’s only one way to find out. That’s why NASA engineers are all set to test their version of a “solar sail” called the NanoSail-D this fall.

The concept of a solar sail has been around for decades. It’s long been touted as a viable means of interplanetary (and even interstellar) travel. The idea works much the same way a traditional sailboat does, but instead of wind, it is propelled by charged particles from the sun (called “solar wind”) which flow all the way to the outer reaches of the solar system. These futuristic space yachts could harness this solar wind with huge sails; starting slow but steadily building speed through the frictionless seas.

To rev up to Star Trek-ish velocities, a “solar sail” would have to cover a huge area (some theorize 6 million square feet). But the NanoSail-D will start with a relatively modest 100 square feet made of a polymer no thicker than single-ply tissue paper.

The NanoSail-D is scheduled to hitch a ride on a Minotaur IV rocket as part of the payload aboard the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (or FASTSAT) and will be compacted into a container smaller than a loaf of bread before unfurling to full mast. The NanoSail-D will remain in orbit for 17 weeks and will hover at around 400 miles above the earth’s surface. The relatively low altitude means the NanoSail-D will probably not reach very high speeds due to drag created by the earth’s outer atmosphere, but this is really a proof-of-concept mission that will be a first step to making the universe a tiny bit smaller–and to bringing the dream of one day being a space pirate closer for us all.

A video description from NASA nerds it up after the jump.

Via physorg

Interactivity isn’t just for hands anymore. Now your shoes can get in on the fun! Portuguese multi-media interface firm Displax has created a system that allows users to interact with an image projected from above, which they call Moovit.

The company seems to be marketing Moovit as a branding tech for the much-coveted mall-pedestrian demographic. And it is cool. (Check out the video after the jump–you have to fast forward to about 40 seconds in to see it in action.) Moovit is a big step beyond projected ads that are ubiquitous to sidewalk gazers throughout the world’s urban environs. If you’re a company looking to capture consumers’ attention, this is some amazing eyeball bait.

But can it do more?

Perhaps this tech could be used more as an interface than as a mere (though admittedly, very cool) horizontal billboard. Picture a real-life version of those Fidelity Investments commercials with the animated green lines leading middle aged investors into retirement. Maybe it could lead not only the middle-aged, but everyone, through various labyrinths of modern day life: a museum, mass transit, in line at the deli. Our phones could identify us and let the eye in the sky know what kind of information (or location) we are seeking. The possibilities seem endless. Anybody doing anything with that yet? Displax? Hackers? Apple? Anyone?