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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

LG Projector Phone Is Like a Media-Throwing Web Shooter [Projectors]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/329101156/lg-projector-phone-is-like-a-media+throwing-web-shooter

The winner of LG's next phone design challenge has been announced—and by the looks of things, it appears that Spider-Man's web shooter was a major source of inspiration. The device is actually a pen-shaped cellphone/mobile projector that can throw images, video and other information on the back of the user's hand when mounted on a wrist strap. I'm not sure if LG still plans on manufacturing the winning concept phone, but slinging a mini or pico projector image around like a web shooter has definite geek appeal. UPDATE: This phone concept is actually a runner up. Hopefully we will know more about the winning entry from designer Dave Schultze soon.

[TelecomsKorea via Unwired View via AboutProjectors]

Monday, July 07, 2008

Massive Dubai Fountain Will Be the Largest, Most Technologically Advanced Water Works of its Kind [Mega Fountain]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/328481789/massive-dubai-fountain-will-be-the-largest-most-technologically-advanced-water-works-of-its-kind

In Dubai, they're doing things big these days. Big hotels, big palm tree islands, big wallets, and very soon, big $281 million fountains. The biggest one in the world, in fact, and it will be large enough to give the famed fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas an inferiority complex.

At 825 feet long, the unnamed fountain will be 25% larger than the Bellagio fountain. Powering the fountain will be pumps capable of shooting columns of water approximately 450 or so feet into the dry Middle Eastern air. A light and sound show produced by a network of 6,600 lights and 50 projectors will illuminate the burgeoning Dubai skyline at night. About 22,000 gallons of water are expected to cycle through the fountain at any given time when it is completed in 2009. Now, if you'll excuse me, nature calls.[Luxury Launches]

New report says SSDs are, in fact, more efficient

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/328256097/

Filed under: Storage

So LAPTOP magazine published a report confirming what most people already believe to be true about SSDs (that is, before last week when SSDs supposedly hit the fan): they use less power than traditional drives. Apparently they got up to 20 minutes more battery life when testing an SSD against a platter-based drive in an Eee PC and Gateway T-6828 (which jibes with our own experiences using SSDs in laptops), but if you ask us, the discussion seems a little moot. SSDs perform way faster and are far better suited to portable computing where drives are moved, bumped, and jostled -- the power savings is great, but the speed and reliability are still our top two reasons for going SSD.

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Prius to go (partially) solar

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/328458842/

Filed under: Transportation

According to Nikkei, Toyota's apparently going to be equipping future high-end Priuses with Kyocera-built roof-mounted solar panels. Somewhat counterintuitively, the sun's rays won't be used to power the car itself, but will instead run the AC. It also sounds like your next solar-assisted Prius won't be around for a while, as the panels aren't designed in yet, nor will they be until early next year when Toyota starts work on revamping the line.

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Sunday, July 06, 2008

The UBiqWindow: Google Earth Hologram Device You'll Want [Google Earth]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/326653833/the-ubiqwindow-google-earth-hologram-device-youll-want

If you can forgive the crap music, you'll just love this video of Google Earth mashed up with a hologram machine. This is real, and I want one very, very badly. By combining a 2D mid-air projection system and motion sensors, the device gives you a gesture-based interface for exploring the world. The term "badass" springs to mind. [UBiqWindow via GED via GEB]