Gadgets posts

iPhones? Wii’s? Bet you think those are pretty fancy, right? Well, when it comes to sheer wow factor, those technologies have little on Skinput, which lets you control things by simply pressing different parts of your skin. Your skin! The system, which was developed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft, turns the human body into an interface. But rather than using electrical impulses, which is how the iPhone and other touch screens work, it actually measures the movement of sound made by tapping different parts of the arm or hand. But in addition to measuring acoustic waves, the…

If you’re not familiar with the telltale sound of a didgeridoo, Australia’s famous aboriginal instrument, think ‘being run over by a musical train’. If the thought of being run over by a musical train appeals to you, read on. 24-year-old Kyle Evans is a didgeridoo enthusiast. Apparently, such a thing exists. He is also an electronic music enthusiast. These two musical styles would appear as apples and oranges to most, but not to Kyle. After an experiment  with a Big Gulp and a USB adapter failed, Evans went on to develop his now-Bluetooth-based model, which plays notes strikingly similar…

For all the talk of a reading revolution and Amazon, Sony and now Apple are creating, all of this new technology doesn’t actually change reading very much. There’s some text on a blank background and – well, that’s about it. But a new concept developed by Swedish firm Tobii Technology promises to change all that by turning the tables on the reader – in this case, the book reads you. By using a combination of web programming languages and a tracking camera, what Tobii Technology call Text 2.0 actually tracks your eye movements to see what you are reading. Focus on a word for a while with a screwed-up face…

Alright, ‘fess up – sometimes, when you’re walking down the street late at night, you wish that you could tap your shoes to make music. It’s alright, don’t be shy – secretly, everybody who’s ever seen the video for “Billie Jean” wishes that. Thankfully, a trio of people have deigned to make your wish your come true with Beat Feet, a system that turns an ordinary pair of tap shoes into a synthesizer. The contraption works by attaching pressure sensors to a pair of shoes, which relay their information to a complex bit of software via a module that the team chose to put on a rather spiffy hat – which, in the…

Y’know how in a room with multiple lights, you never, NEVER hit the switch you need on the first try? Like there’s a karmic force taunting you about it? Happens to me every time I go to the bathroom. Designers Heo Jaesik and Lim Hojoont have decided to remove chance as a factor by designing a touch screen alternative to your conventional light switch. …

The iPad is just one of a series of futuristic devices Apple plans as it stakes an ever-larger slice of the connected home – expect the company to introduce an Internet and iTunes-connected HDTV. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster (one of the better Apple analysts) says the front room Apple-powered television will sell for “around $2,000” and will ship in “two to four years”. “Apple is uniquely positioned to deliver a premium all-in-one solution (different than Apple TV),” Munster wrote….

Eye-Fi modified it’s range today to lower the cost of it’s 802.11n offering. At the low end, the Connect X2 features simply 4GB of space at a price of $50. The Explore X2 model is now 8GB and the Pro X2 is $150. Both higher end models support geotagging, the pro X2 includes support for the Camera RAW format. Source: MacNN…

If the idea of actually having to hold a phone to your ear fills you with dread, then this gadget might be for you. The Bluetooth Landline Phone Adapter lets you connect up to eight bluetooth headsets for use with your landline, with a range of around 100 metres. Cost should be around $40, and can be used to connect headsets to your PC for use with Skype too. Viva la wireless! …

There’s an iPhone browser break out beginning, with Opera Software submitting its Opera Mini 5 browser/app for the iPhone to the App Store. All that’s left is to wait and see if Apple will approve the Safari-competing browser….

The alarm clock — destroyers of limited sleepers and enforcers of early risers — just got a bit more interesting. Sony’s new clock radio does something interest: it projects the time on the wall. Why might this be useful, you ask? Well, imagine laying in bed in your favorite position, aching all over, not wanting to move, but realizing you need to check the time to see if you have any time to spare. What do you do? …