Gadgets Blog News

by Darren Murph, posted May 15th 2008 at 3:30PMRest assured, this won’t be the first or last time you hear of insects and mammals being used as inspiration for robotic creatures. Nevertheless, a recent MIT mechanical engineering course saw students craft bots that could handle “beaver-like tasks” such as “knocking down trees and gathering food in the form of street hockey balls” while fending off competitors in 45-second rounds. (Read the full post about ‘Beavers and bugs inspire robotic creations’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 15th 2008 at 3:01PM We can’t say we’ve ever felt the need to experience an accurate sensation of drilling through bone, but if you’ve always wondered what that was like (or, you know, are actually training to become a surgeon), you may want to take Medic Visions new Mediseus Surgical Drilling Simulator for a spin, which makes use of SensAble’s PHANTOM haptic device for that added sense of realism. That’ll apparently not only give you force feedback that’s able to “distinguish between the feeling of different parts of the temporal bone drilling procedure,” but some audio cues as well to round out the entire quease-inducing process. (Read the full post about ‘Medic Vision intros haptic Mediseus Surgical Drilling Simulator’…)

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As men lumber through their elderly years, often times the game of golf becomes a welcomed getaway into nature. A place to go for sanctuary, away from the nagging wife, and away from money gobbling kids. By the time men reach the “average” golfing age, they have either lost a considerable amount of muscle strength, yet are still too full of pride to pay a caddy to lug around their clubs, or just don’t want to miss out on the beautiful landscape as they trudge across their country club’s course. The three-wheeled Shadow Caddy is a fully autonomous set of wheels for the golf course. While you place your golf bag in the cart of the Shadow Caddy, the device loyally follows you around the green, without the need of a tip at every hole. (Read the full post about ‘An Autonomous Golf Caddy That Follows You From Hole To Hole’…)

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If you take tons of video, as I do, and want to send it to all the relatives, or are making funny YouTube videos to embarass your friends, then you’ll love this SmartCapture Lite ($99) which digitizes and compresses the data, making it simple to transfer to your PC or laptop. The size of a USB stick, SmartCapture Lite comes with its own playback software, weighs less than 0.3 oz. and does not require an external power source. By far the best feature is the one-click settings for popular Apple TV, ipod, iphone, Sony PSP, and more. High quality and low bitrate video make uploading videos to your favorite site easy. (Read the full post about ‘SmartCapture Lite - Tiny USB device captures and shares video’…)

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The BenQ T60 is a candybar phone offering a 3.2 megapixel camera as well as the following features: * 2.2″ 262k color TFT, QVGA (240×320 pixel) resolution display * video camcorder * mp3 player * FM radio * Bluetooth A2DP support * supports GSM/EDGE connections on 900 and 1800MHz frequency bands * 24MB * microSD card slot (up to 2GB) Via MobileBurn. Tags: lcd, pvr, sat-nav, electronic toys (Read the full post about ‘BenQ T60′…)

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The Samsung SCH-M470 is a slider phone offering a 2 megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* HSUPA capable
* video telephony
* WiFi
* Bluetooth connectivity
* push email
* Google search

Via MobileBurn.

Tags: pvr, cool gear, video games, cellphone

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A motion sensor spotlight that runs off batteries is perfect for those spots that your outdoor lights do not quite reach or that extra dark hallway at night. You do not have to worry about having to install any new wiring. The light only works at night so your batteries are not wasted, and it will also shut off automatically. You can also adjust the brightness accordingly. This is great for the not so handy man. There is nothing complicated about this product. This is also a great product for those who want some thing that will not affect the electric bill. Gimme! (Read the full post about ‘Motion Sensor LED Spotlight’…)

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Bathing your baby can be quite the bonding experience for either father or mother, and it makes perfect sense to get just the right temperature as you wouldn’t want to scald or shock the little one now, do you? The Bear Baby Bath Thermometer certainly comes in handy, helping you measure the current temperature of the bathwater by turning on automatically the moment it floats. Since it is made out of soft plastic, it doubles up as an impromptu bath toy as well. The Bear Baby Bath Thermometer will retail for $12, and I am pretty sure this can be used whenever you want to bathe your dog, too, although I’m rather skeptical whether it will be able to stand up against the chewing power of any pooch. (Read the full post about ‘Bear Baby Bath Thermometer’…)

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If you had a concept design in mind that involved using a circular LCD display, up until now you’d be pretty much out of luck at seeing your invention reach the production stage. Though now, LG has announced their new LCD displays which take on elliptical and circular shapes. LG Display has announced their success in developing the world’s largest 6-inch elliptical and 1.4-inch circular-shaped LCDs which take a side-step away from the traditional use of rectangular displays, and inches closer to full-production of alternative display form factors. The 6-inch elliptical LCD measures 78.8 x 131.4 mm, while the smaller 1.4-inch circular LCD measures only 35.5 mm diameter. (Read the full post about ‘LG Goes Full Circle With New Ellipitical and Circular LCDs’…)

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Luxim Corporation has just announced a brand new light source that will see action for street and area lighting. This LIFI Solid-State High-Intensity Light Source is touted to deliver 22,000 lumens with 120 lumens per Watt source efficiency and 30,000 hours life. Apparently, this source will feature a compact, directional beam with excellent color quality that lights up the night, and ought to be looked into as an option by those working in a line where area lighting is a must. According to LUXIM Chief Executive Officer, Tony McGettigan, “The LIFI-STA-40-01 is our first offering in Street and Area lighting and we are very pleased with the strong interest shown by energy consultants, architects, lighting designers and fixture makers. (Read the full post about ‘LIFI Solid-State High-Intensity Light Source’…)

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