Technology posts

I want to make clear that I don’t dislike Sony, but you have to admit, this could be called a dick move. To help usher the 3D craze into our living rooms, the tech giant is launching a campaign featuring ‘fake’ 3D, intended for 2D televisions. “Do not adjust your set”, says the ad, before douchily (if that wasn’t a word, it is now) suggesting “maybe it’s time to get a 3D TV”. Ad agency Anomaly, who produced the campaign, are unsurprisingly unapologetic. Said Paul Graham, co-founder of the agency: “Unless you give viewers a bit of a jolt, a wake up, if you can’t make a serious impact then it is just another…

Hey, speaking of things in 2010 that feel like they came from the 80′s – no, not me – check out these gloves. Robert Wang, an MIT student, and his professor Jovan Popović, have developed the ugliest gloves I’ve ever seen in my life. But there’s a purpose for the fashion faux pas being committed here, and I’ll touch on that in a moment – first, you’re probably still wondering why the hell I’m talking about gloves to begin with. Simply put, you’re looking at the future of gesture interfaces. Wang and Popović have managed to develop gesture gloves that actually digitally recreate your entire hand, allowing…

Keith Alexander has just been appointed chief of Cyber Command. Doesn’t that sound awesome? That sounds 80′s cartoon awesome. Like he has a robot that turns into a tiger, or something. And the tiger has a sword, and it’s, like, taller than most buildings, and it fights interdimensional evil. From space. Sadly, the truth is about a tenth as rad. Keith Alexander (not to be confused with Alexander Keith, the beer) is a US military general, and Cyber Command is a new branch of the Pentagon dedicated to waging war in cyberspace. Apparently, that’s a big thing. Also, apparently the Pentagon named this…

If you were stranded on an island and could either have an iPad or Velcro, what would you choose? I mean, on one hand, the iPad is a multi-purpose piece of technology that users are going crazy over. Velcro is, well, an ingenious invention but not that exciting. Velcro doesn’t seem to get the credit it deserves. The iPad will get updated over the years, but velcro hasn’t changed since day one. A design so innovative, it needs no improvement. So what if someone decided to put both these technologies together. Yes, you might want to sit down for this. GENIUS!!!!!! An iPad as your on-dash GPS, or a digital…

With all the ballyhoo Google’s brought over Google TV in the last 36 hours, it would seem that people are about to get excited over television again. With that, I guess it’s only fitting I show you some totally cool TV tech. What you’re watching is a demo of SkÃ¥l. SkÃ¥l (pronounced ‘skÃ¥l’) is an interaction design for television that relies on RFID to tie physical objects to digital media on your computer or, in the case of Google TV, your TV. Just slap an RFID chip onto a small object, link it to the chosen media, and place it in the bowl to instantly experience the content. Sexy. Frankly, a system like…

Man, you continually have to give Japan credit – now it’s got its sights on the World Cup, and those sights are in 3D. When I say ‘World Cup’ I mean ’2022′, and when I say ’3D’, I mean ‘holograms’. Yes, as in help-me-Obi-Wan-Kenobi-you’re-my-only-hope holograms, should the technology allow. Japan has promised that should it have a successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup, fans will get to experience the games in glorious 3D all over the world via 200 HD cameras encircling the stadium and, if we’re there by 2022, that 3D will be projected onto pitches of over 400 stadiums worldwide, allowing for a practically…

In one of its funnier nose-thumbings at the enemies of its pirate creed, the file-sharing site Pirate Bay put up an amusing LOLcat to tell us all that resistance is futile. Source: Pirate Bay…

Worst headline pun ever. I’m so sorry. But, if you can forgive me, I’ll fill you in on something totally wikid. Okay, no, seriously, that’s the last ‘wiki’ pun. I’m lucky I was even able to get two. Alternate reality just keeps getting better; of course, when I say ‘better’ I mean ‘more practical’, due to augmented reality already pretty well being the zenith of rad things. But this is, like, turbo-rad. Wikitude Drive is an Android app, now in beta, that functions like every other GPS app and/or unit you’ve ever encountered, Jamesbondian sexy female voice and all, but includes a notable difference…

Like an unwanted pack of rats, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has fought a dragged out battle against the illegal distribution of music on the internet since the late 90s. Using strategic hit and run tactics, the organization is credited with taking down some of the most popular free peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing platforms, while forcing others to restructure. Flying under the radar as of late, we’ve heard little from the RIAA in recent history. That is, until last week. Just when you’d thought they had left the public eye for good, the RIAA has come out of the shadows and…

Everyone seemed skeptical at first, but over a million sales later and it seems pretty clear everybody is getting more and more interested in trying out Apple’s iPad. We bounced some ideas around the office to come up with six great apps we think every iPad user’s going to want to have installed on their new toy. 1. Marvel Comics Free, cost of comics varies This beautiful app seems set to change the way we consume comic books. It’s almost as if the iPad is built for them — now Marvel intends making new comic titles available digitally first. New titles are sold through an online store that works…