Hasta La Gadget!

What if you could take the almost infinite re-configurability of a touch-screen and marry it to the tactile, no-looking-needed interface of the old-fashioned button? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon university have done just that, using what at first looks like a big, flat balloon:

The display is made up of several layers, the topmost of which is a latex sheet. Below that lies a sheet of acrylic with holes cut in it where the buttons are to go. Pumping air in and out of the device causes the buttons to expand and stick out (or get sucked in, like an inny belly-button). And because the latex is translucent, images can be rear-projected onto these “buttons”.

It’s not quite as configurable as a touch-screen, as the design is limited to where you place the button-holes (ha!). But the rear projection offers a fair degree of on-the-fly customization and the moving buttons could prove very helpful in, say, a car where you don’t want to take your eyes from the road. Optical sensing tech inside means that there is also multi-touch functionality. Try that with a regular keypad. Finally, the semi-3D images that can be laid onto the buttons, like the global map in the clip, are just plain rad.

Next For Touchscreens: Temporary Pop-Up Buttons? [Pop Mech]

The Shweeb is a person-powered monorail. The theme-park ride is a combination of the most futuristic of transports and the oldest: pedal-power meets sky-train.

The Shweeb lives in the Agroventures Adventure Park, Rotorua, New Zealand, and is essentially a row of recumbent bikes inside a clear plastic bubble, suspended from a rail. The efficiency means that a team can run at around 40kph (25mph) without too much effort, and in fact the track record for one man is 36kph (22mph). Because of this speed, the capsules swing out around the corners and the result apparently gives you quite the rush.

The tech page on the ride’s site bangs on about the transportation of the future, but is is? the beauty of the bike is that you can go anywhere, when you like. A monorail, whether powered by oil, coal or legs, is still public transport and still tied to a track. Yes, it’s safer, it’s dry in the rain and it looks like a lot of fun, but the transport of the future is already here. It has two wheels, and it’s called a bike.

Product page [Shweeb via Oh Gizmo!]

Q: What’s the difference between the USB cable on the left and the USB cable on the right? A: When you plug the one on the right between keyboard and computer, it will transmit every key press to a remote receiver, one secret password or adult URL at a time.

The cable is in fact a disguised extension piece, and the round nubbin contains the electronics. It is available in kit form from Keelog, a company that will also sell you a ready made hardware keylogger for both USB and PS/2 keyboards.

The beauty of the hardware logger is that it doesn’t require anything to be installed on the victim’s machine, and is therefore both undetectable by software and doesn’t require any hacking to install. Yes, you need physical access to a machine to hook it up, but once you have that, setup is trivially easy.

Once done, you can sit back, hook the receiver to your own machine and watch as the letters and numbers appear on your screen in real time. The maximum range is 50 meters (56 yards), and when walls and the real world get involved, you can expect around 20m.

The kit involves not only soldering but the loading of firmware onto chips and, of course, building the cable so it looks convincing enough. $40, plus possible jail time.

Product page [Keelog. Thanks, Andrew!]

Ok, ok, “she” isn’t really getting married, that would be illegal outside of Massachusetts. Besides, HRP-4C is already hitched, apparently, to her creator Kazuhito Yokoi who appeared at the Osaka fashion show dressed in a tuxedo. Looking wobbly, perplexed, and creepy as hell, HRP-4C bravely slipped on a helmet of taffeta and lace in what’s being called her first professional runway appearance. The crowd seemed to enjoy it until HRP-4C turned on them with her green lasers. Really, see for yourself in the unsettling video embedded after the break.

[Via Crave]

Continue reading Video: HRP-4C ‘fashion robot’ is getting married, won’t shut up about it

Filed under: Robots

Video: HRP-4C ‘fashion robot’ is getting married, won’t shut up about it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on January 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

Bungie must have experienced some unexpected delays throughout the development process of Halo 3 because even Bill Gates was quoted as saying “It’s perfect. The day Sony launches, and they walk right into Halo 3.” By that he was referring to a Halo 3 launch date that coincided with that of the Playstation 3, but that happened more than a month ago and Halo 3 was no where in site. Of course the quote was from early 2005, but it still shows that their schedule was a little off.

I think nearly all Xbox 360 owners are anxiously awaiting the release of Halo 3 but no date has officially been set in stone, but a pre-release will soon be coming out. Bungie, the developer of Halo 3, will be seeking Beta testers in the Spring 2007, but it won’t be for the full version of the game. Instead they will be testing the multiplayer aspect and accepting feedback that could potentially make the game better.

The multiplayer Xbox 360 game might be a little closer to being ready than we expect because Microsoft is letting soldiers in Iraq get their hands on Halo 3 a little early. The image above shows the gaming stations that were setup and here are two (pretty short) videos that someone took of the game in action:

Part 1:

Part 2:

The second video really reminded me of Halo 2 but it has been a little while since I played it so I might just be imagining things.

As far as video game systems go I have been keeping my eye on the Wii because those controllers rock my socks off! I haven’t had the chance to personally try them but I have watched several videos of people playing games and it looks like a lot of fun. The only time that I really play games is when I have a bunch of friends over, and it looks like Nintendo also has the better selection of the multiplayer games…so when some spare cash is thrown my way I think I know what I’ll be getting.

Thanks for the tip Curtiss!

News Source: Uncle Gamer

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