Rated: 80% (2 votes)
Loading ...Muchos Dino
Mark
It’s been a while since I last posted here, so this post will encapsulate a few of the tech. items that I have come across since my last entry.
First up we have the BeoSound 6 mp3 player from Bang & Olufsen.
Now, being a B&O product, you expect it to be a little on the pricey side, but you also expect a superb bit of kit for that money. Which 
makes the BeoSound 6 somewhat of a letdown.
4GB of storage (I couldn’t find out if it was HDD or Flash based, but going by the form factor I’d suspect Flash), 1.8″ display with the following formats supported - mp3, WMA and OGG. It will play nicely with iTunes via a plugin.
It’s dimensions are 3.5″ tall x 0.5″ thick.
It’ll cost you in the region of about £400, which is a bargain considering the 160 GB iPod classic costs you £229. Oh, hang on …
Next up we have a keyboard that costs a lot more than the $1,500 Optimus Maximus. A. Lot. More.
About $26,500 more!
That’s right, for about £15,000 you too could have one of these XYNERGI keyboards from Fairlight.
Now, to be fair, that price tag doesn’t just cover the cost of the keyboard, there’s a whole suite of audio and video editing software that comes with it, but still, I think I’d go for the Optimus Maximus if I had silly money to spend on a keyboard. I wonder if either of them work on Macs. *shrug*
Next up we are back with the music scene, and what could be 
arguably be labeled the nicest format of all; vinyl.
To start us off we have a turntable that has taken design cues from the process that is employed to actually cut the grooves in vinyl master discs. It’s designed around three separate units; the pick-up unit, the drive unit and the turntable. It also boasts to have completely silent bearings.
This one comes in two versions, a silver (chrome?) and black edition of the less than friendly price of $35,400 and the wallet busting Luxury Edition white/24k gold model, coming in at a cool $41,250 (pictured).
That’s just pocket change compared to the next one on the list.
This next one resembles something that wouldn’t look out of place on a science fiction set dresser’s list.
The ‘Work of Art‘ (yes, that’s actually it’s name) by Basis Audio will
set you back a whopping £75,000. What does the turntable give you for money that can be better spent on buying yourself a house? Well, among other things it has what’s called a Resonance Annihilator, which I’m sure would make the aforementioned set dresser go weak at the knees, but in reality it’s some fancy anti-vibration technology.
Finally we have the Pièce de résistance, the Reference II, by
Goldmund.
I really don’t know where to start with this, it has so many technical specs that I’m certainly not going to list them all here.
It’s also a limited run of just 25 (though weather that’s an initial run, or a total run, I do not know).
And the price? Well, that would be in the region of £150,000.
My house never cost that much.
I’d like to apologise for the layout of this post, there still seems to be problems when aligning text and images. >8+<
Rated: 80% (1 votes)
Loading ...Matrix-esque Goggles
Mark
Is it every kid’s wildest dream to be able to see things as if they were in The Matrix or Predator? If so then that dream just got a little closer.
A Russian artist has just designed a pair of goggles that enables the wearer to view the world quite differently.
Would you like to see the world loke Neo from the Matrix? No problem. How about the inverte-colour world of the Predator? Coming right up.
Originally invented to contribute to the growing ASCI art movement the development started to incorporate filters that can be commonly found in image editing applications such as Adobe’s Photoshop.
It doesn’t involve a computer or operating system and only requires you to carry around the image manipulation unit and the rather bulky goggles.
There’s also an in-built radio transmitter so that whatever the wearer is seeing can be seen on a T.V. or through a projector.
Aside from looking really geeky whilst wearing the rather cumbersome looking goggles I don’t really know what the benefits of this tech. could yeild.
Via : englishrussia & makezine
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
Loading ...iPod Docking Stations
Mark
I have an iPod. So does my wife. She also has one of these docking stations (in black), but these are not the kind of docking stations I had in mind. I have something a little more stylish to talk about today.
No, today I want to talk valves.
There’s a growing trend recently wanting to re-incorporate valves into modern technology, most of the time it seems to be a purely cosmetic feature, rather than an integral function.
This post will concentrate on the latter.
First up we have the Roth MC4 (and soon to be released MC8) Music Cocoon. The Music Cocoon has been designed for use with the iPod, any portable audio device (that’s why there is a 3.5mm socket on the back of the amplifier), any device which outputs audio to a 3.5mm jack (e.g. a laptop), or a CD player (that’ll be why there is a pair of RCA sockets on the back as well).
This means that regardless of the source unit, the MC4 can handle it, which immediately makes it more useful than a simple docking device but it’s not the most stylish looking of units.
Next we have the Fatman iTube ValveDock.
The Fatman iTube is a dock compatible with all iPods except the Shuffle. The iPod docking portion is the bit that looks like a treadmill, which is kind of ironic as the company is called Fatman. The other dock section is a valve amplifier that can export your video files onto a television or speaker system easily with the included remote.
Fatman also makes iTube 182 with ValveDock and iTube ValveDock Carbon Edition with Speakers.
Finally there’s the Shanling MC-30 iPod Music Center
This is my favourite of the lot. Alongside the iPod support, it’s a CD player, AM/FM tuner and a tube power amplifier. Inside the brushed aluminium chassis, the MC-30 sports a number of decent audio technologies such as Philips VAM-12 pick-up mechanism coupled with CD-7II servo system for low jitter tracking and D/A conversion accomplished by Burr-Brown PCM1738 DAC chip.
Still, at £500 it’s not cheap.
So there we have it, a quick round-up of my favourite iPod docks of the moment.
The images below are all clickable.
Rated: 66.67% (3 votes)
Loading ...Modular computing
Mark
There’s been a bit of chatter on the boards just recently regarding modular computing (see here and here) but this design takes the next step and utilises the electrical cabling in a home as the means of distributing digital signals.
It’s a cool concept; the modules could be plugged in around the house and communicate through the electrical wiring. It’s a neat looking device too.
I’m not so sure about the wireless USB though. Shifting gigabits of video, storage and optical media wirelessly may not be every body’s idea of fun.
The Think module would be the main processor unit, the See module would be the graphics unit, the HDD is housed in the Store unit … you get the picture.
It’s still in concept at this stage, but it is a very good looking, ingenious design.
Images below are clickable.
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
Loading ...Eat more toast!
Mark
I’ve written about waffles, now it’s time for toast to get a look-in, or more precisely, toasters.
A concept only, right now, but given the state of the kitchen-gadgetry market, don’t be surprised to find this in your local, well your local anywhere that stocks kitchen-gatery *shrug*.
This toaster rotates, the central hub is what actually provides the heat, and you can remove each compartment once the toast is done and keep it warm on the hot plates until you are ready to eat it.
Other than simply looking cool there seems to be little or no benefit to this concept. I guess you could have as many as 6 and as little as 1 slice on the go at any one time and not require the whole toaster to heat up, which is a good thing.
Other snazzy toaster links :
Toaster Printer
Glide Toaster
Roller Toaster
Pirate Toaster
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
Loading ...Time = Money
Mark
I was just complaining to someone over IM that I couldn’t concentrate enough to make a blog post. Let me explain …
At the start of the year four of us worked in this department.
Now we are one man permanently down (this place essentially fired him and has no plan to replace him), but before he went another of our number arranged to have five weeks off so that he could attend a wedding in Canada as well as just take a holiday. All was cool. Then, as mentioned above, we lost one of our number.
Not wanting to cancel his Canadian holiday (nor should he), it was decided that me and the other guy should try our best to cope. So for the past two and-a-half weeks it’s been down to just two of us to do the work of four.
I’m currently approaching the end of my second set of 12 days straight.
It breaks down like this : 12 on 2 off, 12 on 2 off, 12 on 2 off.
But it’s not that simple, as half way through the 12 we also change shift (not to mention do a 17hr day). The first 5 days are day shift. Day 6 is the double-shift; day shift immediately followed by night shift. The following 6 days are night shift.
The only thing keeping me going is the thought of the overtime in next month’s pay, though I’ll be in no fit state to make use of it.
Below is a clickable thumbnail of my overtime sheet for this month.
August’s sheet is set to be just as full.
I have a very understanding wife, even though she is currently on her summer holiday (she’s a teacher), and I have some very kind friends who keep me company on IM during the evenings.
So to all those people I say a very big thank you. (8+)
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
Loading ...Blu-Ray camcorder
Mark
Hitachi has announced that it is planning on releasing camcorders that will record full HD images (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) on to a 3″ Blu-Ray disc.
Each of the discs will be able to hold 7 GB of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video.
The cameras in the image are non-functioning models, but Hitachi claims that they will feature a new 8cm drive and have a 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor.
No price has yet been announced for the devices, but they are expected to be in high-street shops by late autumn.
I particularly like the look of the camera in the
foreground on the image, it reminds me a little of the old Bolex 16mm film cameras.
Via : Akihabara News
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
Loading ...Steve Jobs, greedy?
Mark
According to Sony CEO Howard Stringer Apple CEO Steve Jobs is “greedy”.
You can read the news story and associated comments for yourself.
What I’ll say on this is that it’s actually Sony that’s greedy :
Exhibit A
The ZS-S2iP - iPod Dock Boombox, black
Exhibit B
The ICF-C1iP - iPod Dock Clock Radio, black
There’s nothing quite like an electronics company which, after trying and failing to beat it’s competition, gives up and releases products for that very competitor to use with their products. How else could you explain the company climbing on-board the iPod dock band-wagon?
So I put it to you, Mr. Stringer, that it is not in fact Steve Jobs that’s the “greedy” one, it is you.
Still, I suppose if you can’t beat ‘em you just have to join ‘em, eh?
Rated: 64% (5 votes)
Loading ...Privacy Scarf
Mark
Sometimes, a little privacy is required to view ’sensitive’ or ‘personal’ material. Need I say more?
Read more here.
Rated: 50% (2 votes)
Loading ...Pedal Power
Mark
Further to my previous post (seen below) on rocket powered transportation, I’m now going to take it back to where it all began : the humble wheel.
This is a most curious item for me, because I just do not know who the target buyer is.
I mean, short of an actual unicyclist - and how many of those do you know? - who would actually want this item?
It’s basically a 20″ wheel with pedals on it. It really has to be the most minimalist unicycle I have ever seen.
I do like this part of the description on the manufacturer’s site :
Weight : light! 