Sony’s second generation GPS came out today, building upon the solid, if not a little boring first system.

This one has a few tricks up its sleeves, though.
Most notably traffic monitoring, and finger gesture reading. Traffic is par for the course, but the finger gestures are something we'’ve never seen before. Essentially, you can do things like draw an upsidedown V on the touchscreen to set the nav to bring you home. (Sony told us it was the shape of a teepee or roof, so it should be easy to remember.)

The screen is 3.5 inches diagonal, and it has 7.5 million points of interest across North America. Both decent stats.

The downside is that…

the traffic sensor is built into a likely bulky bracket, while Garmin manages to fit their traffic modules inside of its StreetPilot series monitor. And I require any GPS I use for driving to have text to voice for street name announcement, which this does not have.

It’s a tight space, and I still think TomTom, Garmin and the soon to be released Dash are the best bets for the money. Final judgment reserved for the time when I get one in my hands. Or Charlie does another one of these awesome GPS vids. –Brian Lam

Sony NV-U71T [Sony]

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 6:57PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 8:57pm

Mobility Today has a gallery of the HTC Artemis, a GPS-enabled Windows Mobile smartphone that we saw reviewed here. You can see the 2-megapixel camera, the BlackBerry Pearl-like jog ball, and the slim slot.

Bonus shots of the Artemis against the T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur), Motorola Q, and the Samsung I-320 after the jump. If you were curious how big this GPS-phone is compared to a phone with a keyboard, check it out. – Jason Chen

First Look: HTC Artemis [Mobility Today]

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 6:41PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 8:41pm

Diana Eng of Project Runway fame is a geek’s fashion designer. Today, she’s teaching us how to sew LEDs into your clothing.

We’re all familiar with the LED belt buckle and the Motorola/Burton jacket, but now we’re grabbing fashion by the threads and showing you how to make your own tech-inspired clothing (and not look like an MIT project in the process). After the jump, we’re gonna show you how to sew an LED onto your shirt in 8 easy steps. Yeah, we’re gonna sew. But we will sew while drinking a beer to re-emphasize our masculinity.

Before you begin, you’ll need conductive thread (the same material used to make fencing vests), a sewing machine, a hand sewing needle, pliers, scissors, an LED, a 1,000 ohm resistor (which can be purchased at any Radio Shack), alligator clips (also from Radio Shack), and a 9-volt battery.

1) Start by cutting the end wires (or leads) of the resistor down to a shorter length.

2)Bend the leads in a round shape. You’ll notice that one LED has a longer lead. This is the + side of the LED that electricity flows into. The shorter lead of the LED is the ground side. Like the resistor, cut the leads and bend them into loops. Make the longer lead + a larger loop. Bend the loops so that the LED can sit flat on the fabric.

3)Mark where the components will go on the fabric. Make sure that the resistor is placed by the side of the LED that has a larger loop.

4)Thread your sewing machine. If the thread is too thick to pass through the needle, you can use a larger needle.

5)Sew lines and leave gaps where you’d like the resistor and LED to be (basically you will be sewing between the marks you made on the fabric). Be sure to backstitch the ends where you want to add your components (to back stitch, just push the reverse button on your sewing machine and the machine sews backwards). Backstitching keeps the end of thread from coming undone and ensures that there is more surface area for the components to make contact with. Using a hand sewing needle start from the back.


6)Hand stitch the loop of one lead to the edge of a sewn line.

7)Hand sew the resistor and LED into the circuit. Using a hand sewing needle start from the back of the fabric (so as to avoid loose threads in the front). Hand stitch the loop of one lead to the edge of a sewn line. Be sure that the hand stitched part overlaps with the sewn line.

8)Once all of your components are sewn on, add a power supply. Attach one end of an alligator clip to the + side of the battery and the other end to the resistor side of the sewn line (refer to red clip in photo). Using the second alligator clip attach one end to the side of the battery and the other end to the LED side of the sewn line (refer to green clip in photo). The LED should light up. Now throw on the shirt and hit the town.

Diana Eng is a nerdy fashion designer in New York City who’s designs are inspired by science. She was a contestant on Project Runway 2 and her work has been featured in Maker Faire, Siggraph, Wired, and ID Magazine. Diana has recently cocreated BlackBoxNation.com with Emily Albinski, a company dedicated to merging fashion with technology.

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 6:35PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 8:35pm

Lawyers ruin all the fun. Lik-Sang, the world-renowed importer of all things video game, has closed up shop for good. Guess who’s to blame? Our good friends at Sony, that’s who. Feeling the pressure from the legal threats Sony has been shooting across its bow recently (like threatening to unleash Hell if Lik-Sang sold imported PS3s into Europe before its official launch there), Lik-Sang decided to close once and for all. Yet another Web site consigned to the dustbin of history ($1 to Pat Buchanan). As expected, all orders have been canceled and will be refunded ASAP. There’s a really gnarly catch, however: Lik-Sang named names. High-ranking guys over at Sony apparently used to online importer to nab some goods, too. To see what Sony execs are (allegedly) hypocrites, click through the jump.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe’s very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan’s official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who’s who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.

Bad ass, Lik-Sang. You will be missed. Thanks again, Sony. We love ya! – Nicholas Deleon

Important Notice: Lik-Sang.com Out of Business due to Multiple Sony Lawsuits [Lik-Sang.com via The Register]

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 5:34PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 7:34pm

The Microsoft Zune may pay you for sharing a song with others if they end up buying that song themselves. As you probably know, the Zune’s WiFi capability will let you send a song to another Zune user, and then that user can listen to it three times for free within three days, after which a prompt appears asking for $1 to buy it. As the rumor goes, Microsoft will give you an unspecified number of credits for passing along that song that was later bought. Then, you can redeem those credits for free music or anything else from the Zune Marketplace.

This is a great idea. If enough people buy into Zune, the product will reach critical mass, and because of this bounty, everyone will be eager to offer their song lists to others in hopes of amassing enough credits to buy more music. It’s viral/incentive marketing on a micro-payment scale. If this is just a false rumor, if I were Microsoft I would do it anyway. – Charlie White

Zune to Pay You Back for Sharing Songs? [CrunchGear]

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 5:11PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 7:11pm

As if your day wasn’t already made with news of the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, rumors on the Internets point to a late October or early November release for the Cingular 8825, better known around the world as the HTC Hermes. There’s no word on price, but we do have some specs for you to pretend to drool over: Windows Mobile 5.0, tri-band UMTS/HSDPA, push e-mai… all of this and more on a 2.8-inch screen and a built-in 2-megapixel camera. Lots of fun to be had here.

Windows Mobile seems to be hitting its stride with recent releases such as the T-Mobile Dash, also from HTC. Looks like Cingular chose the right manufacturer to try to play catch up with. – Nicholas Deleon

Cingular/HTC 8525 / HSDPA (testing) [HowardForums via SlashPhone.com]

Originally
from Gizmodo

reBlogged

on Oct 24, 2006, 4:30PM

Originally from Gizmodo on October 24, 2006, 6:30pm