Miscellaneous

Google Street View is Incredible

Street View Stack

Really, there is no other way to title this post. If you’re not entirely aware, Google have been taking their Maps product to the next level, providing street level imagery to better help you find the latest Bunnings et. al. However, this also throws up the opportunity to catch random moments in time that will be forever captured in time (or at least in Google’s cache for a while). In the 60’s, the man walking on the moon was considered memorable footage. These days, we have a visual record of some guy crashing on a bike, Street View style.

Check this link at KensingtonVictoria.com to see the full sequence of events.

It will never be cold enough for this…

Sternlab laptop interface

Sometimes different styles and fashions are considered an acquired taste. Well, I don’t think there’s any amount of acquiring that could go on in order to find this item fashionable. It is called a Body/Technology interface, and more specifically, a Laptop interface “for privacy, warmth, and concentration in public spaces”. We’re sure if you wear this around your friends you’ll be enjoying a certain type of privacy shortly after.

Check out more pictures at Sternlab here.

Tresling…what?

tresling

If you thought the bare simplicity of Tetris couldn’t be improved upon, well, you are probably right. However, a bunch of folks have put a page up on the interwebs to demonstrate how they plan to bring a little more of a physical challenge to the table.

Read more after the break

Continue reading…

Attack of the UMPCs: The race to the bottom

 Asus Eee PC vs Normal Laptop (sm)

 

Following the fanfare of the Asus Eee PC’s introduction in the last year, a bunch of other manufacturers have jumped on board the bandwagon in the race to the bottom. We’ve already covered HP’s upcoming effort, but some more to enter the race include:

MSI Wind PC (presumably to match your Nintendo Wii)
Everex Cloudbook
Intel Classmate PC
OLPC XO
VIA Nanobook
E-Lead Noahpad
Fukato’s Datacask

Continue reading…

Microhoo!(?)

MicroHoo! logo

All the news of the potential Microsoft/Yahoo! tie-up is going to be around for a while. With Microsoft’s officical bid for Yahoo! being worth just under AU$50 billion, this deal is far from done. It’s only a matter of time until numerous regulators form an orderly line to question the size of the deal.

So what does this mean for us?

Firstly, it could throw the cat in with the pigeons in terms of all of the (Microsoft) hotmail.com and yahoo! email addresses we all have out there. How are the spammers gonig ot send me more information about a random Nigerian prince wanting to transfer large sums of cash to my bank account if I give them my details, my passport, and the keys to my house?

Secondly, it could have a distinct impact on television in Australia, with Microsoft and Nine linked with nineMSN, and Yahoo! and Seven linked in via Yahoo!7. Would this lead to a wierd merger between Seven and Nine, where they would comine their individual stables of mediocre programming into one doubly mediocre collection of shows. I mean, honestly, have you seen the ads for that Monster House show??

While i’d usually be all for mergers that brought competition (and therefore innovation) to a market with such a dominant player (Google), Google isn’t doing a while lot wrong for me to vote against them right now.

feed the wires when your head unwinds…

So much stuff is changing around us. VCRs have been replaced by DVRs and PVRs, old box-style TVs are being superseeded by flat panel TVs that look similar but are so very different, virtual gaming is infringing on reality, and people are becoming more connected by cutting the wires between them. Where is one to come when confused by this all? Welcome to headwires.

headwires is a site which can hopefully be a sanctuary for the technologically confused, where acronyms can be turned into sense, where you can take power over the often confusing salespeople, and where you can generally make sense of it all!

Soon we will start adding information, reviews, and demonstrations of some recent releases, in languange and forms that actually make sense to the rest of us!