Lifestyle posts

Why leave home when you can just hang out online with all your friends? Skype has now made this more possible……… well, kinda. If you are a windows user, there is a new Skype 5.0 Beta download available which allows you to video chat with up to four people at once. I wonder if Apple users are going to be upset that it didn’t get released to them first. The plus side to this new featured is that you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home anymore. You can catch up with friends, hang out online, and even do your homework while gossiping. Talk about multi-tasking. But now we must ask the question………..

Alright internet, it’s confession time. I have a dark, disturbing secret for a geeky tech blogger. But I just have to let it out. Okay, ready? Here goes. I write for a magazine. No, not a ‘magazine-like website’. I mean one of those things that’s made by smearing ink on ground up sheets of dead trees. Yeah, those things. Because, to a lot of the tech world, it’s taken as truth that magazines are just backwards and obsolete and that they’ll be gone soon. And it’s a fact not lost on the makers of magazines themselves. In fact, they just launched a large advertising campaign to remind people of their worth….

I think it is safe to say that it was everyone has had at least one point in their lives where they dreamt of escaping the gravity of this world and spending some time weightless in space. Well, Space Adventures is going to be offering space flights at half the price of it’s competitors allowing dreamers to visit space for just over $100,000. The new price point has been achieved by the company teaming up with Armadillo Aerospace, which will be developing rockets for the journeys. Their approach is simple: strap you in, aim towards the sky, shoot you up 62 miles in a rocket, and turn the engines off allowing…

Smokers may have a new way to get their nicotine fix. The Model One, a new project by Stanford graduates, aims to give smokes a new way to get the social and ritual benefits of smoking without the majority of the downsides. The Model One has not claimed to be a healthier alternative to cigarettes, but it will most likely be a much more efficient way to get your daily tobacco fix. Considered a vaporizer, this new ‘cigarette’ will allow smokers to maximize their intake of nicotine without the waste… this means no smoke, therefore less irritating to non-smokers in the vicinity. The Model One, priced…

Has it been your dream to make it in the movie industry? Well, recently SneakOnTheLot.com has released a beta program in the guise of a social networking website, that players compete in for their shot at creating a $20,000 short film in Los Angeles. Think of it as the game version of something akin to America’s Got Talent. The game, set in a back lot environment, has players walk from building to building armed with film making tools and resources. The game side of the website offers a large amount of features and functions including: sound and music design, a screening room and critic’s corner,…

People may have a harder time downloading their crappy new wave electro-pop as sung by androgynous female singers now that LimeWire, the popular P2P platform, has lost the case against US record labels for copyright infringement. This marks another victory won by record labels against online file-sharing. On Tuesday, in a major court case, the federal court ruled against LimeWire finding the owners of the peer-to-peer program personally liable to copyright infringement. The case was brought forth by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing four major US labels,…

A robot car on its own is pretty cool, but couple that with the ability to learn new maneuvers and perform just as good if not better than James Bond; and you have something pretty damn awesome. Meet Junior, created by Stanford University, the robot car that took home second place in the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge. It has learned a few things since then, most noteworthy is it’s ability to decide to follow traditional physics models when driving or just try and repeat a past performance. And what’s cooler than pulling off a 180 degree turn into a cramped parking space? A robot car doing it. Junior…

Have you been waiting for one of these? You could purchase your very own C-3PO Star Wars backpack for your iPad. (Chewbacca suit not included) If you’ve always loved Star Wars and have an iPad, it was meant to be. Not only do you have to carry his pleather limbs around in some flimsy mesh bag but he, himself opens up in the back into one holding compartment with just enough room to hold your iPad safely inside. When your not taking your rusted tin-can of a friend out on your adventures, you can reassemble him into a three foot plush toy. Why reassemble, you ask? Only to take him apart and shove him back into…

Next time you sit down for a slap-up meal out keep an eye on the waiter – he (or she) may well take your order with an iPad. This replaces older PDA-based ordering systems, and could mean diners can even take a look at luch full-colour pictures of what they are ordering. It may even help restaurants keep an eye on the stock they have in hand. System developed by 4asoft.com. Perhaps you’ll be paying for your meal using an iPad, too. Square today introduced an iPhone credit card payment system, following last month’s introduction of a similar system for the iPhone. Via: PocketLint. Thumbnail image…

Cool UK gadget retailer, Firebox, has begun selling the SmartSwipe, a handy USB device which reads, encrypts and transmits your personal credit card data directly to the online payment page. Now, there’s a lot of insecurity about these days. We’re told hackers and crackers and spammers and other enemies of the people are all working hard to undermine our security and get their hands on our credit card details. SmartSwipe should help beat them at their game. Shoppers just need to swipe their card and click ‘confirm’ usung the onscreen purchase wizard. Your banking details are then encrypted,…