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Dell
Dell to Sell Most or All of Its Factories in 18 Months
According to the Wall Street Journal, Dell is restructuring their production in a massive overhaul that will send the entire manufacturing process overseas. According to one insider's account, most or all of Dell's factories, which are based in the US, will be sold off in 18 months. More »
Barack Obama
When Political Cross-Branding Goes Horribly Wrong
There's a good reason why Washington has generally veered away from 80s robot cartoons. And now we know that reason. [brewcityonline]
iPod Bike
Polygon Bike Has Integrated iPod Charger
I don't know what to say about the Polygon Bike, a concept that has an iPod-compatible charger powered by yourself. On one side, the bike-dock combo is just way too much. On the other, it may be actually useful for those days that you forget to charge it at home. The bike also has other useful features. More »
11:30 AM on Fri Sep 5 2008
By Jesus Diaz
2,029 views,
20 comments
Latest by gdville: "The bike also has other useful features." Like being made out of plywood? more »
Printout homes
Concrete-Jet Printer Gets Caterpillar Funding: Print-Out Houses on the Way
Check out this lengthy vid: it shows how one day you may just call-in giant robots to print out a new home based on a CAD model. Research into the concrete-jet printer is being carried out by USC, and their technology can already build up complex concrete structures using technology that's half-CNC machine and half inkjet-like. They've just got funding from Caterpillar to further the research. Amazing stuff, especially when the team says it should be eventually be able to put together a 2,000-square-foot, two storey home in just a day, with all the wiring and plumbing automatically inserted too. Even NASA is interested, as this may be a good solution for building Moonbases. [The Register via Bot Junkie]
Comcast
Comcast Sues FCC to Get P2P Slowdown Ban Reversed
Comcast has sued the FCC to overturn its order to stop slowing down P2P traffic, as was widely predicted. Even though they're fighting to have the FCC's ruling reversed, it's actually not so they can go back to mucking your P2P funtime—no, they're already way down the road of slowing down heavy users' entire connection to DSL speed for up to 20 minutes, with data caps beginning in October. More »
Garmin
Garmin's Free Lifetime Traffic Alerts Come at a Price
Garmin's new fleet of GPS nav units looks fantastic, especially in light of a particular feature: Free traffic alerts lasting the lifetime of your Garmin product. But according to the first review of the nüvi 755T by PC Magazine, Garmin is coincidently preloading map screen with clickable ads (probably to offset traffic alert costs). From PCMag: More »
Helicopters
Indoor R-C Helicopters Go DIY, Use Spare Electronics Parts
Forget the Picoo Z's, no matter how much fun they are they can't be as cool as making and flying your own indoor remote-control 'copter. And over at this site there's a set of instructions that'll help you DIY, assuming you have some spare CD drive motors and servos lying around, and are happy with soldering and detailed rotor-carving. The instructions even say how to add a wireless cam beneath the fuselage... useful for, um, imaging the precise moment you crash it into your cat? I suspect more nefarious purposes. Still, it's a full cyclic-control aircraft, so it should be extremely flyable. [Heliproject via Hacknmod]
Astronomy
StellarWindow Transforms Your Computer Into Galactic Guide
The StellarWindow is a USB stick loaded with a compass and tilt sensors and bundled with software to convert your laptop or tablet into an astronomy guide. Point the system at what you want to see for 3D stock photography and more information, or speak your target into the computer and the StellarWindow will point you in the right direction. The major flaw with the StellarWindow is probably not that you have to lift you laptop to the sky (a USB extension could probably solve this problem) but that a computer screen's light will blind your eyes to the most faint of stars. Look for the StellarWindow this year for $250. [Fairy Devices and Hobby Media via OhGizmo]
iTunes
Rumor: New iTunes Visualizer will be the Stunning Magnetosphere
According to rumors, the new iTunes 8 presumably coming next week at the Apple "Let Us Rock" event will come with some beautiful new visualizations. Now, new rumors say that the new visualizations will actually be Magnetosphere, a formerly-available plugin by artist Robert Hodgins. After seeing the gorgeous video above, I hope this rumor ends up being true. [TUAW via Boing Boing Gadgets]
10:00 AM on Fri Sep 5 2008
By Adam Frucci
3,248 views,
53 comments
Latest by shorty63136: I got the bong. Gather round my futon. more »
multitouch
MultiTouch Cell Can Play Minority Report as Big as You'd Like
MultiTouch, the company, not the technology, has developed the MultiTouch Cell, a multitouch LCD display that's modular (meaning that many LCDs can assemble to make one big LCD). Beyond expandability, the screens are quite advanced, supporting multiple users and recognizing fingers in relationship to the hand as opposed to independent points (which allows for more complex interactions). The tech is still quite pricey—the 32" display runs $7,000 with the 1080p 46" version reaching $15,000—but it takes a lot of resources to be a non-crazy version of Tom Cruise. Read on for a pretty fantastic clip of the MultiTouch Cell in use. More »
Announcements
Sponsor Thanks
Without our sponsors, we couldn't afford the whippets that make this whole thing possible. So a very special thanks to Autotrader, Chevy Fuel Solutions, Clone Wars Soundtrack, Coors Light (Wilson Rothman's fave), Elgato Systems, Equifax, Gamestop, Hotflops, Lenovo, Microsoft Windows, Puma, Samsung, Sharp Aquos, Sprint, Starwood Aloft Hotels, Stolichnaya, T-Mobile, Toshiba Gaming, Unscrew America, Verizon. All of these companies are the best company ever.
Olpc
Amazon to Sell OLPC in November, Including Dual-Boot XP Model
From November you'll be able to buy the OLPC in its classic "buy one for the price of two" offer from Amazon, which should be a smoother way of distributing the device than when the OLPC was originally on sale from the source. This new Give 1 Get 1 program will also cover the Windows XP version, now that Microsoft have finalized it, as well as the Sugar OS version. One thing remains unknown: pricing. The previous G1G1 program went to US residents for $398, but maybe this time it'll be a little closer to the fabled $100 price tag. [Electronista and BBC]
ifa 2008
Addy Changes the World One Bag at a Time
Remember the video above, with our very own and beloved Addy Dugdale cursing and tearing apart Sharp's IFA 2007 sharp-as-knives gigantic swag bags? Well, I'm happy to report that Addy changed the world that day, once and forever. I witnessed the consequences of her actions at IFA 2008: More »
9:15 AM on Fri Sep 5 2008
By Jesus Diaz
6,446 views,
35 comments
Latest by dysthymia: ... to more un-recyclable plastic. Way to go sharp. This technology events are a nightmare for anyone that is trying to more »
Jobs
Jobs: We're Hiring an NYC Intern
We need a new intern for the fall in New York City. Here's what you need to know and what we want out of you, besides blood, sweat and the occasional tear: More »
Asus
Asus N10, An Eee with Some Oomph
While Asus has gone a little Netbook-nuts, their recently leaked N10 is actually a promising revision on the genre dominated by clones. The 1.6Ghz Atom, 10.2" screen and 2GB of RAM—that's all pretty standard stuff. But three things other than its draft n Wi-Fi and face/thumb recognition have us interested in the N10. First, it's got HDMI-out. And with its small footprint, one can easily imagine hooking this little laptop up to their TV. Second, it's loaded with high quality Altec Lansing speakers. Third, Asus netbooks are finally dealing with that whole lack of graphics card issue. More »
Intel Atom
Intel's Atom Roadmap Revealed: Next Gen "Pineview" Chips Due Fall 2009
Yesterday it was AMD, and today PC Watch has got hold of Intel's Atom roadmap: looks like the next-generation of chips, dubbed "Pineview," will hit in Q3 of next year. The 45nm processors will follow the route taken by the current gen, using hyperthreading to double up single and dual processor cores so that the OS sees them as dual-core and quad-cores. The microarchitecture is an update on the current Silverthorne system: like the bigger Nehalem chips, it ditches the idea of a frontside bus, instead using a Direct Media Interface to connect to I-O chips. It'll also integrate graphics core and memory manager right into the chip packaging. Wonder what AMD will come up with to counter that? [PCWatch via RegHardware]
Star Wars Gadgets
