Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Mini projectors spark worries about "visual pollution"

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/242438139/

Filed under: Displays

Texas Instruments and others have been touting mini (or pico) projectors without hesitation as of late, but it seems that not everyone is quite so excited about them, with some folks now even warning about a number of potential dangers. One of those naysayers is Future Laboratory founder Martin Raymond, who told the BBC that while the projectors (likely to be used primarily in cellphones) are "appealing initially," he has concerns about the devices causing "visual pollution," adding that there could be "inappropriate showing of things that maybe other people shouldn't be seeing." Needless to say, he also foresees new laws and legislation controlling the use of the technology. No matter how things shake out, however, the one thing that seems clear is that the humble laser pointer will soon be about as antiquated as the spitball when it comes to juvenile means of public embarrassment.

[Via About Projectors]

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Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FS20 point-and-shoot gets reviewed

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/242507388/

Filed under: Digital Cameras

It hasn't even been a full month since Panasonic's PMA lineup was revealed, but the folks over at PhotographyBLOG have already had a chance to put the succulent Lumix DMC-FS20 through a series of paces. Upon whipping this shooter out, it was immediately praised for having a 4x wide-angle zoom and and a very pocket-friendly design, and thankfully for those looking into picking one up, the good news didn't stop there. Small niggles such as the lack of a true optical viewfinder and noticeable noise at high ISOs were overshadowed with buckets of compliments. Put simply, the cam was seen as "almost identical to the FX55" (albeit at a lower price point), and overall, it managed to snag 4.5 out of 5 twinkling stars from the powers that be.

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Grow pharmaceutical drugs by injecting proteins into plants

Source: http://www.news.com/2300-11392_3-6232201-2.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

Sonora Transplant set up a hothouse to discuss its plans to grow pharmaceutical drugs by injecting proteins into plants. The company said that the technology could be used to create nearly any drug that uses animal proteins, including treatments for diabetes and perhaps hormone therapies, but without using animals. It plans to start by developing a treatment for kennel cough in dogs. Although tomatoes were on display--Sonora Transplant grows them through grafted transplants rather than from seed--it would likely use herbs to harvest drugs.

Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET

Sonora Transplant

Zen concept PC caters to visually impaired

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/242589745/

There's hardly a shortage of pocketable devices for the blind, but the Zen is lookin' out for the visually impaired who crave a more full-fledged computing experience. Essentially, the Sandbox PC (hardware) and Zen (operating system) would team up to "create a computing environment that could be used with eyes closed." More specifically, it would utilize an Active Surface for displaying text in Braille and producing images, windows and icons that could be felt. No word on whether this contraption would handle other tasks such as reading one's e-mail aloud or enabling the blind to still participate in Hot or Not, but nevertheless, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

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Why hasn't anyone hacked the Kindle?

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/242660102/

Filed under: Handhelds

You know, the Kindle runs Linux, has USB, uses all standard processors and chipsets, even comes with free built-in EV-DO -- you'd kind of think that stuff (and all the rest) would make it about as high a profile target for hardware modders and hackers as there are. So what gives, why hasn't the hacker community glommed onto this thing? Hit the poll: anyone can answer, but we really want to hear from the über-geeks in the house why the call to Kindle has gone unheeded.

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