What's new on SlashGear.com

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• Concept Desktop Computer Prints and Scans from Inside Monitor
• Airless Metal Mesh Tires Awarded R&D 100 Award
• AirPlay Hack Now Enables All iDevice Apps to Send Video
• BlackBerry Storm2 to get OS 5.0.0.1015 on Verizon
• Panasonic’s EVOLTA Robot Uses 12-AA Batteries to Travel 317 Miles [Video]
• iPad Heading to 3 in the UK in the Coming Months
• Land Crawler exTreme Uses 12 Legs to Carry 175 Pounds
• 4th Amendment Wear for your TSA Protesting Family
• Sony slash Google TV prices; NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray deck under $300
• SlashGear Morning Wrap-up: November 26 2010
• Google Wave open-source reprieve possible if Apache agree
• $500 off-contract Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone tipped for MWC 2011 reveal
• DARwIn-OP open-source DIY robot gets premature reveal
• NoMute iPad app restores orientation lock switch in iOS 4.2
• Pirate Bay appeal sees jail time cut but fine boosted to $6.5m
• Nokia X7-00 leaks: S^3, quad-speakers and 8MP camera [Video]
• Pablo’s Heart-01 performance sampler is bizarrely brilliant [Video]
• Family still at your house? You need the Altoids tin martini kit
• Pure Twilight has nothing to do with vampires
• Russia to spend $2B to clean up orbiting space junk
• Tokyoflash outs Kisai RPM watch
• Optoma 3D-XL converter box to ship in December
• ASUS 12-inch Eee Note due Jan 2011; Eee Note EA800 priced sub-$293
• ThinkGeek ships TK-421 iPhone keyboard case
• Evolyte offers $100 off 32GB iPad WiFi
• ISS Astronauts come home aboard Soyuz capping a decade of ISS operation
• Microsoft offers up festive Christmas Windows 7 themes
• Mitsubishi electric unveils new 9-inch HD resolution screen for mobile TV
• Google “Mario” and “Andretti” Chrome OS netbooks in internal speed testing?
• Verizon wireless offers Jawbone Icon free with select phones today

Concept Desktop Computer Prints and Scans from Inside Monitor Posted: 26 Nov 2010 12:11 PM PST So you’ve got the need for some hard-copies of your papers to turn into your teachers for school, but you’d like to save space on the desk as well? Designer Byeong Min Choe has the answer you seek. This design is called “Document Extractor” and, looking like an iMac clone but with one giant difference, allows you to store a stack of paper in a tray behind it, and print, with the paper coming directly out the bottom. Not only that, the same place the paper comes out can also suck up, scanning single sheets of paper for you on the fly. This screen will be entirely touch-based as well, allowing you to crop and print portions of your screen using some sort of print/scan application. Choe aims for this computer to be a big time saver as it might be able to not only cut out the amount of devices you need sitting on your desk, but also the amount of time you need to move back and forth from different applications for each device. Sounds sweet? [Via YankoDesign]

Airless Metal Mesh Tires Awarded R&D 100 Award Posted: 26 Nov 2010 11:55 AM PST These tires, constructed out of 800 interwoven load bearing springs, were awarded a 2010 R&D Award for their fabulous new airlessness. This award is also known as the Oscars of innovation, so it’s big freaking honor to say the least. This tire was created by NASA and Goodyear, so you know it was going to be a big deal out the door, and was made for use on the moon. Moon tires of the past were still just rubber, rubber that didn’t exactly hold up in heat, cold, and solar radiation. These new tires basically don’t even care about any of that ol’ crap. These spring tires not only contour to the surface upon which they roll, the energy used to deform the tire as they do this contouring is returned when the springs bounce back. NASA researcher Vivake Asani had this to says these tires do not have a “single point failure mode. What that means is that a hard impact that might cause a pneumatic tire to puncture and deflate would only damage one of the 800 load bearing springs. Along with having this ultra-redundant characteristic, the tire has a combination of overall stiffness yet flexibility that allows off-road vehicles to travel fast over rough terrain with relatively little motion being transferred to the vehicle.” Rockin! How long until these and other airless tire concepts are a reality here on Earth? Read the full press release from Goodyear below: Goodyear and NASA Honored for Innovative “Spring” Tire; Team Develops Energy Efficient Tire That Won’t Go Flat AKRON, Ohio, November 11, 2010 – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will be honored with the R&D 100 Award for an airless tire capable of transporting large, long-range vehicles across the surface of celestial bodies such as the moon or Mars.  The 44th Annual R&D 100 Awards ceremony, billed as the "Oscars of Innovation", was held today in Orlando, Florida. The tire, developed last year, is constructed out of 800 load bearing springs.  It is designed to carry much heavier vehicles over much greater distances than the wire mesh tire (which Goodyear also contributed to) that was previously used on the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV).  The new tire could allow for broader exploration and the eventual development and maintenance of planetary outposts.  It might also have applications on Earth. According to Vivake Asnani, principal investigator for the project at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the tire being recognized for an R&D 100 Award had to meet a significant change in requirements that required innovation.  "With the combined requirements of increased load and life, we needed to make a fundamental change to the original moon tire," he said.  "What the Goodyear-NASA team developed is an innovative, yet simple network of interwoven springs that does the job.  The tire design seems almost obvious in retrospect, as most good inventions do." The Spring Tire was installed last year on NASA's Lunar Electric Rover test vehicle and put through its paces at the "Rock Yard" at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where it performed successfully. "This tire is extremely durable and extremely energy efficient," noted Jim Benzing, Goodyear's lead innovator on the project.  "The spring design contours to the surface on which it's driven to provide traction.  But all of the energy used to deform the tire is returned when the springs rebound.  It doesn't generate heat like a normal tire." According to Goodyear engineers, development of the original Apollo lunar mission tires, and the new Spring Tire were driven by the fact that traditional rubber, pneumatic (air-filled) tires used on Earth have little utility on the moon.  This is because rubber properties vary significantly between the extreme cold and hot temperatures experienced in the shaded and directly sunlit areas of the moon.  Furthermore, unfiltered solar radiation degrades rubber, and pneumatic tires pose an unacceptable risk of deflation. According to Asnani, the Spring Tire does not have a "single point failure mode.  What that means," he said, "is that a hard impact that might cause a pneumatic tire to puncture and deflate would only damage one of the 800 load bearing springs.  Along with having this ultra-redundant characteristic, the tire has a combination of overall stiffness yet flexibility that allows off-road vehicles to travel fast over rough terrain with relatively little motion being transferred to the vehicle." Goodyear will have the Spring Tire on display at an exhibition being staged in conjunction with the R&D 100 Awards Ceremony in November. Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies.  It employs approximately 70,000 people and manufactures its products in 56 facilities in 21 countries around the world.  Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry.  For more information about Goodyear, go to www.goodyear.com. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center is one of NASA's 10 field centers, empowered with the resources for developing cutting-edge technologies and advancing scientific research that address NASA's mission to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.  Working in partnership with government, industry and academia, the center serves to maintain the U.S. economy's global leadership while benefiting the lives of people around the world. [Via Mangalorean]

AirPlay Hack Now Enables All iDevice Apps to Send Video Posted: 26 Nov 2010 11:33 AM PST I’m sure you remember when < ahref="http://www.slashgear.com/tuaw-hacks-apple-tv-now-ios-devices-can-play-3rd-party-video-over-airplay-24116222/" target="other">Erica Sadun / Steven Troughton-Smith whipped up some code to allow AirPlay to work with more third-party players than just the standard player Apple allowed? Well now a developer by the name of Zone-MR’s whipped up a new hack to allow you to transmit video through ALL apps including Safari. Does the quickness of this hack’s discovery mean Apple will allow this sort of thing standard in the future? Below is a video including both the way for you to get this hack working for yourself as well as a video showing it working in the wild. You can download the hack over at this Cydia repository, and have lots of fun playing all sorts of internet video and video through VLC and on your awesome or crappy 3rd party players, wherever: http://cydia.zone-mr.net. Just remember, like always, that this is a hack and it can potentially reap your device straight to heck, so use all caution, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do it at all. [Via 9to5Mac]

BlackBerry Storm2 to get OS 5.0.0.1015 on Verizon Posted: 26 Nov 2010 11:08 AM PST For those of you working on a Storm2, an update is either for you imminent or upon you! Storm2 users are able now to download OS 5.0.0.1015, an update which includes several improvements including a faster boot up time, smoother transitions between wireless coverage area, and improved audio quality on voice calls and content-protected video. Additionally, there’ll be improved video playback through your headset and with protected content media files. Several enhancements are included as well. Included in the OS 5.0.0.1015 update for BlackBerry Storm2 are the following enhancements: the ability to send text messages to multiple recipients while receiving a call (MULTITASKING wowzers,) the ability to enter more than 160 characters in a text message whilst connected to a GSM/UMTS network, the ability to download, browse, and install widgets from V CAST apps, and smooth activation of enterprise secure whipe/lock IT policy rule sets. Finally, new access to several widgets that let users with quick access to internet content. Check out the full update here: [VERIZON] and remember that even though this is an official update, take all precautions including backing up your info and settings incase something goes wacky. [Via IntoMobile]

Panasonic’s EVOLTA Robot Uses 12-AA Batteries to Travel 317 Miles [Video] Posted: 26 Nov 2010 09:49 AM PST Considering it is the day after Thanksgiving, how about a little publicity stunt from Panasonic to tide you over during your extended weekend? Even if batteries are one of the most commonly used items in the world, it seems Panasonic doesn’t think they get enough attention. That’s why they put together the EVOLTA robot, and decided to send the little robot on a 500-kilometer trek across Japan. Luckily enough for the EVOLTA, it made it, and actually did it ahead of schedule. The EVOLTA robot from Panasonic is a design that’s meant to showcase the power of AA batteries. Indeed, the little robot managed to go quite the distance on only 12-AA batteries. The robot didn’t make the trip from Tokyo to Kyoto by itself, though. No, the ‘bot brought along its team of EVOLTA Sisters for the ride. However, thanks to the infrared signal on board a vehicle in front of EVOLTA, it was perfectly capable of finding its own way. The robot was also allowed to be carried up stairs, when it came across them. Also, it was decided upon that the robot wouldn’t do any traveling if it were raining out. EVOLTA spent two months on the road, traveling 500-kilometers in total, and made it to Kyoto ahead of schedule, which Panasonic was pretty happy about. You can check out the little robot in the video below. [via CRAVE]

iPad Heading to 3 in the UK in the Coming Months Posted: 26 Nov 2010 09:24 AM PST Samsung’s tablet device, the Galaxy Tab, is popping up pretty much everywhere that you could imagine to find a 7-inch tablet device, but there’s still plenty of room, and desire, for Apple’s 9.7-inch tablet contraption of their own. While rumors of the second generation iPad are already in full tilt, that’s not stopping the UK carrier 3 from planning on launching the original iPad for their subscribers in the coming months. It was just announced on 3 UK’s blog that the iPad is coming to the wireless carrier. Not surprisingly though, the announcement isn’t tacked onto any additional information at this point. The carrier simply points out that the tablet is a great way to use apps, and stay connected. They do say that they’ll offer a model that promotes not just the WiFi-only model, but also with 3G access. And, as we mentioned above, 3 isn’t giving an exact launch date, just saying that the device will be available “in the coming months.” So if you can ignore those iPad 2 rumors, especially for that April launch date, then perhaps signing over a contract to get your hands on the iPad isn’t that bad of an idea. As long as the prices aren’t too ridiculous. [via 3's Blog; thanks, SuperCoolKg!]

Land Crawler exTreme Uses 12 Legs to Carry 175 Pounds Posted: 26 Nov 2010 09:05 AM PST While the United States Army may get all the glory when it comes to load-bearing robots, it’s pretty obvious that the designs are being built all around the globe. Whether it be for general purposes, or one in particular, these robots can usually be pretty small in their own right, but be able to carry quite a large amount given the right circumstances. The Land Crawler exTreme is one of those robots, which is reportedly being built to carry humans. The Land Crawler exTreme is a small robot, especially considering the job its being given. At just 27 pounds, you wouldn’t think this little walker was capable of doing much. But, it has the ability to hold a single human on its flat surface, as long as they weigh 175 pounds, at the most. Only thing is, it’s so small, that you can’t really lay down on the thing. If you want to ride the Land Crawler exTreme, you’ll need to be able to balance pretty well. Check out the little robot that could in the video below. [via TechnaBob]

4th Amendment Wear for your TSA Protesting Family Posted: 26 Nov 2010 08:59 AM PST So you plan on traveling for the holidays, yes? And you’re feeling kind of political, and want to get a jab in at TSA and their new screening process, perhaps? Well then, designers Tim Geoghegan and Matthew Ryan have just the set of clothing your you! And not only you, your whole family, with t-shirts, underwear (men’s and women’s), and kids clothing. What does it consist of, you might ask? Why, the fourth amendment printed in metallic ink, of course! And you know what metallic ink does when you pass through a TSA scanner, right? It shows up! As seen in the image above, your scanning personnel will be grabbing giggles (or maybe given cause to search you further) when you pass through their magical radiation machine. Get some “4th Amendment Wear” for the whole crew! And remember your rights. [Via 4th Amendment Wear]

Sony slash Google TV prices; NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray deck under $300 Posted: 26 Nov 2010 08:58 AM PST Sony has slashed prices on its Google TV range as part of its Black Friday promotions, reducing its larger HDTVs by up to $200 and cutting a whopping 25-percent from its NSZ-GT1 Google TV Blu-ray player. That makes the Blu-ray deck the same $299.99 as Logitech is asking for their Revue, though you’re also getting a more compact (if arguably confusing) remote control and Blu-ray playback. As for the HDTVs, the 40-inch NSX-40GT1 is down $100 to $899.99, while the 46-inch NSX-46GT1 is down $200 to $1,199.99. Best of all, you’ve got until November 29 to make your mind up, since Sony isn’t stopping the deals at the end of Black Friday. We weren’t 100-percent convinced by Google TV and how street-ready the smart TV platform is when we reviewed Logitech’s Revue yesterday, but a couple hundred dollars off the sticker price of a new Sony HDTV might leave us a little more willing to accommodate the teething pains. As for the Blu-ray player, considering the NSZ-GT1 is now the same price as the Revue itself, it seems crazy not to opt for that over the Logitech.

SlashGear Morning Wrap-up: November 26 2010 Posted: 26 Nov 2010 08:26 AM PST It’s the start of another wild, weird, and wacky day, with news coming in from Japan that Darth Vader is acting as spokesman for Android, pointing at you, demanding that you buy! If you’d like to escape his grasp, but would still love a nice drink in a Google-positive environment, you can head over to the new Android-themed bar, also in Japan. Then you’re going to see a real concentration of tablet-related news. The wave has really started to condense, everyone trying to chew off a piece of the one-sided hunk market that’s very much alive and wild this holiday season. Sit home instead of battling it out in the streets, stay warm, stay full of turkey, and drink lots of cider today with SlashGear Morning Wrap-up. R3 Media Network SlashPhone GSMA Launches Embedded SIM Initiative to Support the Connected Future Button Remapper for Rooted Android Smartphone Rumor: Motorola Olympus Tegra 2 Multimedia Smartphone Android Community Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone details leak: BRAVIA screen, MWC 2011 debut TeamViewer Beta now available for Android devices Darth Vader is Android spokesman in Japan…umm..k Leak hints at Galaxy S 2 hardware Woow Digital Android tablet coming soon NEC Smartia tablet is consumer version of Cloud Communicator [Video] Samsung Stealth V SCH-i510 outed by DLNA Android-Themed Bar Opens in Japan Notion Ink starts mystery countdown ending December 9th, its meaning is unknown Sharp IS03 sees 450,000 Japanese pre-orders Open your garage with your Android device Verizon Releases DROID Essential Packs for the Holidays SlashGear 3,000 Windows Phone 7 apps and 15k developers boasts Microsoft Google TVs from Toshiba and Vizio at CES 2011? Android 2.3 Gingerbread on Nexus S Photos Revealed NoMute iPad app restores orientation lock switch in iOS 4.2 Pirate Bay appeal sees jail time cut but fine boosted to $6.5m Nokia X7-00 leaks: S^3, quad-speakers and 8MP camera [Video] Russia to spend $2B to clean up orbiting space junk ThinkGeek ships TK-421 iPhone keyboard case Evolyte offers $100 off 32GB iPad WiFi ISS Astronauts come home aboard Soyuz capping a decade of ISS operation Microsoft offers up festive Christmas Windows 7 themes Google "Mario" and "Andretti" Chrome OS netbooks in internal speed testing? Verizon wireless offers Jawbone Icon free with select phones today Sony Reader relaunch in Japan due December 10 NEC Smartia gives Cloud Communicator tablet an expensive consumer focus Boxee Box gets first firmware update Apple Black Friday deals kick off: $101 off iMac, MacBook Pro & Air T-Mobile Galaxy Tab loses unlimited messaging extra Logitech Revue [REVIEW] Fujitsu 2011 tablet gets second outing [Video] Nokia C6-01 [REVIEW] ChevronWP7 Windows Phone 7 unlocker allows unofficial app sideloading Advent's Tegra 2 Vega tablet gets unofficial Market access 4.3-inch Samsung Stealth V SCH-i510 Froyo smartphone clears DLNA testing Nokia Z500 tablet facing failure as carriers reject pricing? Sony SNAP connected-device app framework frozen Sony going President shopping as Howard Stringer scales down responsibilities? PlayStation Move shortages until Feb 2011 warns Sony Libratone Beat wireless speakers arrive at Apple December 2010 Acer Windows 7 tablet to use AMD Bobcat APU confirm insiders Moshi Moshi MM03i Bluetooth handset packs iPhone dock Richard Branson Virgin "Project" iPad magazine in works TUAW Hacks Apple TV – Now iOS Devices Can Play 3rd Party Video Over AirPlay L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector Revealed by AAXA Angry Birds headed to Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

Google Wave open-source reprieve possible if Apache agree Posted: 26 Nov 2010 08:20 AM PST Google may have given Wave its marching orders, reassigned its team members and lost the chief architect behind the short lived group-working system, but that doesn’t mean Wave is dead. A new Apache Incubator proposal would see an open-source version of the technology – hosted not by Google but by individual “Wave in a Box” (WIAB) projects – called Apache Wave live on. “Wave in a Box (WIAB) is the name of the main product at the moment, which is a server that hosts and federates waves, supports extensive APIs, and provides a rich web client. This project also includes an implementation of the Wave Federation protocol, to enable federated collaboration systems (such as multiple interoperable Wave In a Box instances).” Proposal Apache Wave would be more like existing mail server implementations, with a web-based client interface on top of underlying servers that actually host the Waves themselves. Despite Google’s decision to shift away official development, some engineers at the company are still working on the project; there are apparently also various companies and individuals either submitting code or expressing interest in the project as a standalone venture. “We anticipate early future committers coming from places like Novell, SAP, companies related to the US Navy’s usage of wave, startups in the wave ecosystem, and many independent individuals” the project submission suggests. More information here. [via Slashdot]

$500 off-contract Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone tipped for MWC 2011 reveal Posted: 26 Nov 2010 07:55 AM PST Sony Ericsson’s PlayStation Phone is poised to make its debut at Mobile World Congress in February 2011, according to the latest leaks, with the company likely to use Sony’s BRAVIA branding to describe the high-quality display and internally aiming for a $500 unsubsidized price. That’s the word from MobileCrunch‘s trusted tipster, who suggests the Android-based smartphone offered “the best gaming experience [they've] ever had on a mobile device.” There’s still plenty left to do before MWC 2011, though. The source reckons the PlayStation phone is “no where near ready” for a holiday 2010 release, with the nature of its games still unclear. It seems the handset won’t actually play full PSP download titles, instead getting custom-made games at sub-$10 prices; that $500 sticker apparently includes a five game bundle. Still to be decided is whether Sony Ericsson will distribute games as part of their “Z-System” – which seemingly describes both the platform and a distribution center – or, as they and Google are pushing for, in a separate part of the Android Market. Titles like Tekken have been mentioned, and the handset’s screen is supposedly on-par with the iPhone 4′s Retina Display. [via Android Community]

DARwIn-OP open-source DIY robot gets premature reveal Posted: 26 Nov 2010 06:43 AM PST A new version of the NSF-sponsored DARwIn-OP open-source robot has been spotted, the latest handiwork from Virginia Tech in collaboration with Purdue University, University of Pennsylvania, and Robotis Co. The images were discovered in among the DARwIn-OP support site photos by the RoboSavvy forum, though right now it’s unclear exactly what changes have been made. The robot differentiates itself by the openness not only of its hardware design but its software. The developers have committed to making all of the CAD files necessary to fabricate the ‘bot available, while the software is also open for free distribution and modification. It’s no basic firmware, either; according to Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory professor Dennis Hong, the DARwIn-OP will have: “Impressive HW (hardware), but even more impressive SW (software) it will have. All free and open of course! Bipedal walking engine, vision, localization, autonomous behaviors… Good enough for advanced research, making it able to be used beyond hobby robotics.” According to I, Bioloid, the new ‘bot will likely make its debut at the Humanoids 2010 conference in early December. [via PlasticPals]

NoMute iPad app restores orientation lock switch in iOS 4.2 Posted: 26 Nov 2010 06:16 AM PST Apple gave iPad users iOS 4.2 but took away the screen orientation lock switch in the process, and according to Steve Jobs it’s never coming back. Not so fast, says the iOS hacking community; a new app called NoMute for iPad has popped up in the Cydia app store, which flips the hardware switch from being a mute control back to a screen lock. As you may have guessed, there are some provisos involved, the biggest being that you’ll have to jailbreak your iPad before you can access the Cydia app store and use the app. If you’ve done that, you can find NoMute for iPad in the BigBoss repository, where it’s a free download. [via Download Squad]

Pirate Bay appeal sees jail time cut but fine boosted to $6.5m Posted: 26 Nov 2010 06:01 AM PST Pirate Bay founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström have seen their convictions upheld by the Swedish court of appeal, and while the jail terms for each have been reduced, the fine levied against them has been significantly increased. Having originally been ordered to pay 30 million kronor in damages, that has been bumped up to 46 million kronor ($6.5 million). While all three were originally sentenced to a year in prison, those terms have been slashed. Neij will spend the longest inside, at ten months, Sunde at eight months, and Lundström the least, at four months. Fourth co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg will see his appeal held at a later date, as he was ill during the court sessions. According to Ludvig Werner, chair of the Swedish arm of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the appeal court decision is “an extremely clear signal”. However, the damages awarded still fell well short of the 120 million kronor ($17.1m) the entertainment industry were initially seeking.

Nokia X7-00 leaks: S^3, quad-speakers and 8MP camera [Video] Posted: 26 Nov 2010 05:39 AM PST Video and images seemingly showing Nokia’s unannounced X7-00 smartphone has emerged, with the touchscreen Symbian^3 handset playing Need For Speed Shift as well as navigating though the usual Nokia menus. The leak, from the Czech Modryzub forums [registration required], tips the Nokia X7 as having a polished metal body, 360 x 640 display and an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash. Video after the cut [Fixed] The display size is unspecified, but it looks to match the Nokia E7 at 4-inches. Onboard memory is 450MB with 245MB of RAM, and there’s a microUSB port and fixed battery. The X7-00 has four speakers, one at each corner, and is reportedly “very loud”. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone socket on the top edge, and a new, angular casing design. No word on release date or pricing at this stage. Update: Looks like the video has been made private and the forum post taken down. Update 2: MobileBulgaria grabbed a copy – thanks Ben! [via HDBlog]

Pablo’s Heart-01 performance sampler is bizarrely brilliant [Video] Posted: 26 Nov 2010 05:04 AM PST As bizarre instruments go, Rhea Jeong’s Pablo’s Heart-01 certainly manages to distinguish itself. Looking like a cross between an AK-16 – which the designer claims was a style inspiration – and a particularly skinny electric cello, PB-01 is actually a new performance sampler where audio clips are triggered by playing the physical strings or horn sections of the instrument. “The instrument elaborates with taking the analogue characters of existing instruments and transcending it to the digital, making it an innovative DJ performance culture” Jeong claims, and while we’re not entirely sure what that means, it certainly looks fun. The body of the PB-01 can be tapped and moved to amplify and twist pitching and tuning, too, reflecting the sampler’s intent as a stage instrument rather than something relegated to the depths of the studio. If you think that’s all bizarre, then you should definitely check out the video below showing the PB-01 being put through its glitchy paces by German electro band Cindy Sizer. Instruments that double as pugil sticks are probably the future. [via designboom]

Family still at your house? You need the Altoids tin martini kit Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:33 AM PST I can deal with most asshats without any issues or violence. If people I know get on my nerves too much I just don’t have to see them again. When it comes to family, we don't have that luxury. You can’t just stop seeing family in most instances and no one can get on your nerves like family. If you still have family hanging around the house, as I do, you may need a coping mechanism ready at all times. I prefer video games and foul language, but if your idea of coping leans more towards alcohol, this is the perfect DIY project for you. A geek has taken a tin sort of like an Altoids can and used it to create a martini kit. With this kit in your pocket, you are ready to drink any time your mother in law starts to get on your nerves. In my case, I’d be passed out in short order and lack the pocket space to carry enough of these things to drown out her gum flapping. Help me please. Construction video below if you need a Black Friday project.

Pure Twilight has nothing to do with vampires Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:22 AM PST If I want to watch a vampire movie I watch something along the lines of Blade. My wife on the other hand is a big Twilight fan and prefers her vampires all glittery and limp wristed. It’s hard to get away from Twilight and the latest product bearing the name has nothing to do with vampires. The Pure Twilight is a radio that has a dome on top that glows with all sorts of different colors as a type of light therapy. The Twilight has a USB port that you can sue to charge your phone or other device. You can connect your MP3 player or iPod to the thing easily for playback. The lights are supposed to help you fall asleep and the clock has a timer that will turn them of altogether when you want them to. It can be used for kids with built-in lullabies like twinkle, twinkle, little star' and 'rock-a-bye baby' and it has natural sounds like waves to help you fall asleep. Pricing is unknown at this time.

Russia to spend $2B to clean up orbiting space junk Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:06 AM PST You can take one look at the picture here that shows how much junk is orbiting the Earth and see that it’s really crowded up there. Moreover, we keep putting up new satellites all the time. It’s not only working satellites cluttering up the space around Earth, we also have all manner of trash and defunct items floating around up there. The Russian space corporation Energia has announced plans to build a special space pod that will go up and grab about 600 defunct satellites and knock them out of orbit somehow. The satellites will either splash down in the ocean or burn up in the atmosphere on reentry. The company plans to heave the design and testing complete by 2020 and the thing will have a nuclear power core. The lifespan of the satellite killer will be around 15 years. I wonder how the international community feels about this thing considering it would just as easily be used to knock working satellites out of orbit.

Tokyoflash outs Kisai RPM watch Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:56 AM PST You only need to read the name Tokyoflash to know that we are going to be talking about a watch that is nearly impossible to read. The latest watch from the company is really cool, but hard to read. The thing is called the Kisai RPM watch and it has a black stainless steel strap and face. The LED lights around the face that tell the time are blue and the thing looks very complex. The inner circle of lights is the hours. The outer circle of lights with the large segments are the minutes in groups of five. The five little dashes at the top of the watch in the 12 o’clock position are for individual minutes. Taken altogether the thing gives you the exact time in a complex style sure to blow the minds of your pals. The watch isn’t cheap with a MSRP of $208.42, but the thing is cool. Check out the video below.

Optoma 3D-XL converter box to ship in December Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:45 AM PST If you are a home theater fan looking to get into 3D movies and gaming you may be expecting some cool gear for Christmas. Optoma has an interesting converter box that will connect your HDMI 1.4a gear like your Blu-ray player, PS3 and other stuff to the 3D ready Optoma projectors or to any other 3D ready projector. The converter box supports multiple HDMI 1.4a inputs and can be changed between 2D and 3D modes. It supports 1080p 3D with passive glasses needed, which are much cheaper to buy than active 3D glasses. The thing is compatible with only DLP 3D projectors. If this is exactly what you need it will ship in December says 3D-Display-info with the price at Amazon of $499. The converter box ships with one pair of glasses. Each pair of extra glasses is $83. I wonder if since the thing uses passive glasses the glasses from the theater will work.

ASUS 12-inch Eee Note due Jan 2011; Eee Note EA800 priced sub-$293 Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:36 AM PST ASUS’ 8-inch Eee Note EA800 ereader/tablet hybrid will launch in December with a roughly $261 to $293 price tag in Taiwan, and be followed by a larger, 12-inch version hitting the market in January 2011. The 12-inch Eee Note – which will be officially announced next month, DigiTimes claims – will presumably also use a grayscale LCD display and have an active digitizer and camera for digital notetaking. However, while the EA800 is based around a Marvell processor, its 12-inch counterpart will supposedly use an Intel CPU, and there’s talk of Windows being the OS rather than the first Eee Note’s Linux system. It’s considerably more expensive, too, with pricing tipped at around $900. Meanwhile, the ASUS Eee Reader DR-900 may well be delayed over fears it could cut into Eee Note sales. Last month the company outlined its tablet plans, confirming two 10-inch Eee Pads – one based on Windows 7 running on Intel’s Oak Trail platform, the other using NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 and Android – priced between $499 and $599 for a March 2011 release. ASUS is also eyeing the 7-inch segment, planning either Tegra 2 or Qualcomm Snapdragon Android slates.

ThinkGeek ships TK-421 iPhone keyboard case Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:32 AM PST Back in September ThinkGeek unveiled its cool TK-421 iPhone case that had a Bluetooth keyboard inside to let you type on your iPhone Blackberry style. If you were intrigued by that case, ThinkGeek is now shipping the TK-421. If you missed this thing the first time around it is a case that has a swivel out Bluetooth keyboard inside that connects via Bluetooth to let you type on any app that the iPhone has. The QWERTY keyboard has clicky keys according to ThinkGeek. The keyboard is kept in the locked position using a magnetic clasp. You can get the TK-421 in version for the iPhone 4 and for the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3G will fit the 3GS case, but the 3G lacks support for BT keyboards. If you add this thing to your iPhone, you have no excuse for not telling your supervisor why you aren't at your post. You can order right now for $49.99 for either version.

Evolyte offers $100 off 32GB iPad WiFi Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:20 AM PST Most geeks are familiar with Woot and the deals the site offers where you can save big if you are paying attention. I bet a lot of you are familiar with Groupon as well. A new site called Evolyte has surfaced that is similar to Woot and Groupon. Evolyte describes itself as, “Imagine if Groupon and Woot had a superhero baby that never cried.” I think that description about sums it up. If you have a major jones for a new iPad, but you don't want to pay what the things cost right now Evolyte has a deal for you. For a limited time you can save $100 on a 32GB iPad WiFi tablet. When the site says for a limited time, they aren't kidding. The deal is good as of right now for about 4 days and 18 hours longer. There is also a limited number of the iPads at the special price. So far, seven out of the 50 offered have been purchased. You also get free shipping.

ISS Astronauts come home aboard Soyuz capping a decade of ISS operation Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:10 AM PST NASA has announced that the return of three astronauts including two Americans and one Russian aboard a Soyuz capsule has market the ISS’ first decade of expeditions. The three astronauts included Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin. All three of the people were in space for five months. Yurchikhin was at the controls of the Soyuz as the spacecraft undocked and headed back to Earth at 8:23p.m. EST and the craft landed in the town of Arkalyk in Russia at 11:46 p.m. The Russian recovery team was on hand to help the Astronauts adjust to gravity and exit the Soyuz. The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 15. The astronauts along with other ISS dwellers participated in over 120 experiments and were on hand when the station had an emergency shutdown of the external cooling system.

Microsoft offers up festive Christmas Windows 7 themes Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:58 AM PST With Thanksgiving come and gone it’s time to start dragging out all those Christmas lights and decorations at home and in the office. I bet at least a few of you guys are the sorts who decorate their home and their office cubicle or desk with all sorts of lights and other stuff to make things look festive. Microsoft has unveiled a new and very cool holiday lights theme that you can download and install on your PC to make your computer festive. The theme has three wallpapers that all look cool; my favorite is the Christmas tree in the middle of the snowy forest. It looks really cold. The official blog post announcing the new theme also mentions that next week Halo fans will get a glimpse into the process behind creating the cool game with a new Windows 7 theme with Halo Reach concept art. I bet Halo fans just jizzed in their pants right now.

Mitsubishi electric unveils new 9-inch HD resolution screen for mobile TV Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:49 AM PST Mitsubishi Electric has pulled the wraps off a new TFT LCD screen that is aimed at the mobile TV market and more. The screen is compact and has a HD resolution making it ideal for video screens in cars and in other uses. The 9-inch screen is set to land on December 1 and as of now, no products that will use the screen have been revealed. The resolution of the screen is 960 x 540, which is exactly half of the resolution of a 1080p screen. The model number of the screen is AA090AA01 and it uses a 16:9 aspect ratio. The screen has a 1000:1 contrast ratio and a 170-degree horizontal/vertical viewing angle. Luminance is 400cd/m2. The screen promises a long life of 100,000 hours of use and has white LED backlighting that needs no inverter. The integrated LED driver is 9.5mm thick. The small screen can display 72% of the NTSC color gamut. The physical dimensions of the screen are 217mm W x 130mm H x 9.5mm D.

Google “Mario” and “Andretti” Chrome OS netbooks in internal speed testing? Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:48 AM PST Google is tipped to be “dogfooding” two own-brand Chrome OS netbooks, internally codenamed “Andretti” and “Mario”, with frequent mentions of the two computer types showing up in bug reports online. The models appear to be named after IndyCar driver Mario Andretti, known for being a particularly fast driver, and would suggest that Google is prioritizing netbook performance with its first self-branded models. The two machines have gradually been taking over from the seemingly generic ASUS, Toshiba and Lenovo netbooks previously most common in the bug reports. They were then phased out by hardware referenced as “dogfood” computers, themselves replaced by the Mario and Andretti netbooks. Interestingly, Google has also been test-running a Chrome OS version called “Indy”, further adding to the speed connection. Earlier this week rumors spread that Google’s Chrome OS hardware would be delayed into 2011, after CEO Eric Schmidt said devices running the cloud-centric OS shouldn’t be expected for the “next few months.” [via TechCrunch]

Verizon wireless offers Jawbone Icon free with select phones today Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:36 AM PST The Turkey is eaten and the pies are gone, that means Black Friday is here and retail workers all across the country are besieged with people trying to save money on stuff they don't need. Verizon Wireless has announced a special deal for today with certain mobile devices that will give you a free Bluetooth headset that is one of the better offerings on the market. Verizon Wireless will give you a Jawbone Icon Hero headset for free with the purchase of select phones. That headset normally sells for $99 at Verizon. We reviewed the Icon a while back and ended up liking the thing pretty well. In its infinite wisdom, Verizon has not offered details on exactly what phones come with the free Icon headset. A quick perusal of their website didn't reveal any other details either. I guess you have to go into the store to see which phones qualify for the free headset.

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