Your's Web Tech Power Blog's: Mar 8, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Latest Posts on Coolest Gadgets

Attack of the RoboRoach
National Geographic show makes the “UP” flying balloon house a reality
Look out Apple iPad, here comes Iris by Asus
GoPad Atari Asteroids
Water And Light Lawn Show
Apple’s “Places” – I know where you are, and I saw what you did.
Gadget Thumbnails for 06-Mar-2011

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 04:26 PM PST

Do you remember when we did that report on the the Hexbug? Now some people have taken this robot bug toy and somehow grafted the technology onto an actual bug.

Welcome to the age of the RoboRoach, where some circuitry can be put into an insect’s nervous system so it can be steered around the room. You can watch the video of it after the jump if you want to see the roach in action.

This RoboRoach reminds me of a scene in The Fifth Element when the villain spies on president with a “bugged bug”. Seriously, it is a bug that is made to look like an actual bug, but if you look closely, you can see the microcircuits on it. In case you don’t remember this film, the president smashed that bug.

It sort of looks like the RoboRoach is going to get squished here in the video. Actually, if you could read the mind of this poor insect, it’s probably thinking: “I want to go into the dark, I want to turn left but…owww! Why can’t I just go left? I don’t want to go to the right. I’m going to be in the light if I do that. What is going on?”

Yeah, this RoboRoach does bring up the subject of animal cruelty. If that doesn’t bother you, then you might want to get the RoboRoach kit when it comes out. No word on the release date or price, only that the inventors are working on it.

Source

Tech Cult – We cover the latest tech news, but always with a funny twist.
[ Attack of the RoboRoach copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

National Geographic show makes the “UP” flying balloon house a reality

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 03:58 PM PST

One of the problems I had with the movie Up from Disney/Pixar was that I had to completely suspend my disbelief for the basic premise. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is one of the best films the studio has put out, but I’ve heard that it takes significantly more balloons to lift a house than the ones that Pixar’s animators put in.

Still, it is rather neat, isn’t it? A show produced by National Geographic known as How Hard Can It Be? shows how hard it is to make a house fly.

You can watch the Good Morning America video after the jump to see the house, and it is definitely modeled to look like the house from the film. As for the balloons, it uses weather balloons instead of carnival ones. These balloons are about the size of a person and take an entire helium tank just to fill.

The entire structure with the balloons is about 10 stories high, and it manged to reach a level of 10,000 feet for about one hour. I don’t have any word of how they got the house to come down. Maybe they had some guy with a key inside who slowly cut away some balloons.

The National Geographic show that will feature this floating house will premiere some time in the Fall of 2011. In all honesty, I’m surprised the boys at Mythbusters didn’t do this first.

Source

Conference Calendar – The global conference and expo finder.
[ National Geographic show makes the “UP” flying balloon house a reality copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Look out Apple iPad, here comes Iris by Asus

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 03:27 PM PST

Apple figured out a long time ago that they could make a single gadget that supposedly does everything with the iPhone and the iPad. Asus takes that idea and gives it a quantum leap forward with the Isis.

The Isis depends on a lot of technology that either needs to be seriously improved or hasn’t been invented yet. Clearly, it believes that holography is just going to get better and better as this thing can project a sky on your ceiling with twittering birds to wake you up.

Of course, holographic tech will probably be like that in a few, I don’t know, decades? The tech that I found most fascinating is the Isis is able to somehow grow and shrink by simply stretching it. This technology can make the Isis become a watch, phone, e-reader, or PC screen all-in-one. Watch the video of this that was displayed by ElectricPig at CeBIT.

I don’t know if we are looking at the near or far future when we would see an Iris kit with all the accessories like the alarm clock stand and wristband. I’m sure it would cost quite a lot, at first.

Apple, are you listening? Asus is trying to do some serious moving in on your “app for everything” business model. Seriously, this could turn Steve Jobs into Steve Jobless.

Source

Introducing Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool

[ Look out Apple iPad, here comes Iris by Asus copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

GoPad Atari Asteroids

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:16 AM PST

Want to have a blast from the past? You can place a pre-order for the GoPad Atari Asteroids, where it is tipped to ship from the middle of this month onwards to your house address (or wherever else you live/work/play, of course). At £14.99 each, surely this isn’t something that is considered to be too expensive for you, right? After all, the GoPad Atari Asteroids intends to deliver the perfect retro gaming experience unlike a regular clunky laptop keyboard, working in a plug-and-play mode.

This remarkable folding gadget is tiny enough to tote around in your pocket (just be careful so that you don’t lose it), and it will transform into a fully functional USB gaming pad with but a click of its clamshell design.

Features include a two-axis directional-pad, a quartet of action buttons, an equal number of shoulder buttons and turbo on/off buttons which will help you take full control of those classic pixels. Playing nice with both the Mac and PC platforms, the GoPad will also find the 1980's arcade classic Asteroids bundled into each purchase, now how about that to help you get started right out of the box?

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ GoPad Atari Asteroids copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Water And Light Lawn Show

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:12 AM PST

If you’re one of the luckier ones out there who stay in a place that has a lawn, here is something that might just be right up your alley – the Water And Light Lawn Show. What does this do? We’re pretty sure that the name itself is a dead giveaway, but as an added community service, here is a more detailed explanation on what it does.

This mister is able to cast a color-changing spray, where it will turn your normal, everyday lawn into an effervescent water and light show. Whenever there is water that flows through the mister, it will propel a turbine generator which will in turn power the color changing LEDs while pressurizing the water. As a result of that, your eyes will be able to enjoy a 6.5′ high by 19.3′ wide plume of fine mist which seamlessly transits from red to blue to green to yellow to purple.

The lightweight, diffuse mist won’t cause havoc among your delicate flower petals and seedlings, and even better is it won’t let your labrador get too excited since it won’t pool or create run off like a sprinkler. Seems to be the perfect pre-summer purchase at $49.95 a pop.

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Water And Light Lawn Show copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Apple’s “Places” – I know where you are, and I saw what you did.

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PST

Did you ever Google yourself and were amazed at the scary amount of information you could find? I mean, the days of an unlisted phone number keeping you hidden are gone like the buffalo. I was already concerned with what personal information could be found on the internet, and it just keeps getting more invasive. Don't get me wrong, they're all fantastic, amazing advances, and I love the idea of it all, but it seems to be, well, dangerous.

So I hate to join in on the rumor mill, but I will, as it looks like Apple is planning a social networking hub, and if I understand it correctly, this particular "service" will deserve the Big Brother Award, in the not too distant future. Ten days ago, The European Trademarks and Designs Office published Apple’s latest trademark application for “Places” under application 009760141 and if I am reading it correctly, "Places" is pretty much an online social networking service that, among other things will use Apples mobile devices and GPS to allow its users to actually locate people, anywhere.

I know the popularity of some location based social apps and I am drawn to the fun of it all, hide and seek at its best, finding your friends unexpectedly, always knowing where your loved ones are, but then, inevitably, I think of the bad that can come with it. Stalkers and ex's and stalking ex's and criminals… oh my!

Obviously we know an application doesn't mean it will happen, or even that it will happen the way it looked like it would, but with all the "location aware" devices out there, the technology is certainly in place and with Apple in the drivers seat I shudder at how advanced it will be. Is the day coming when your iDevice can pick a face out of a crowd in Times Square at midnight? and would that be a good thing? I always say to myself in situations like this, just because we can, doesn't mean we should, does it? Maybe it does.

Source: www.signalnews.com

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[ Apple’s “Places” – I know where you are, and I saw what you did. copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]