Monday, July 06, 2009

Guitar hero 5 drums - are you ready to rock ?


picture : engadget

Looks like that bulky Guitar Hero World Tour drumset might be getting itself an extreme makeover in time for the launch of Guitar Hero 5. According to our source, the blurred render above is the newest plastic percussion peripheral, and while functionality remains the same, it's moved the control console to the forefront, given the cymbals a more well-rounded existence, and done away with some of that body, particularly on the top and on the stand -- all in a all, a much more Rock Band look, if we do say so ourselves.


The back of the unit contains three mini ports -- two for kick pedals, and one ever mysterious black mini jack. Yeah, Rock Band's drums have that mysterious unused port, too, and who knows what nefarious needs either will serve. What's suspicious is that it's two months before GH5's release and we still haven't seen this officially, whereas the previous set was ceremoniously unveiled almost six months prior to GHWT's launch -- not that we wouldn't put it past Activision to keep it under lock and key for now, but why not let its newfound beauty shine?

[via : engadget ]

Mike and Maaike : How do peoples drive in the future?



picture by http://www.dezeen.com

Mike and Maike, the design firm responsible for the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 Phone (and its notorious chin), have come up with what they consider to be the car of the future. In this ideal car, you don't drive, and you don't speed. Instead, you sit back and relax in what amounts to a mobile living room.


The electric car, dubbed "ATNMBL" (Autonomobile) aims to change the way we ride in cars. The big windows and low speeds are meant to encourage you to enjoy the view at a leisurely pace, rather than revel in pure speed. It seats 7, has a large display piping in information from the Web via open-source software, and has an electric, sliding-glass door. Oh, and it has a bar!



Pointless, you say? Well imagine a night out on the town, where you've eaten yourself into a food coma. It's 11 PM, and driving back home or sitting in a smelly taxi is the last thing you want to do. You really just want to sit down somewhere and watch some TV while you're whisked away to your awaiting bed. The ATNMBL could essentially serve as your own, personal sleeping taxi.



As for tech specs, the car would use a combination of GPS, Lidar, radar and stereo cameras for the self-driving functionality, drawing upon a database of maps for navigation. The ATNMBL would be all-wheel-drive, with 4 electric motors powering each wheel separately. And to top it off, a solar panel would come equipped on the roof, for some auxiliary power.



Also neat is that the ANTMBL would have voice controls would also be featured in the car, able to discern where you would like to travel. The car would also ask how much time you have to get to your destination, and whether you'd like to take the fastest route, or a more scenic one. And when you exited the vehicle, it would park itself. Pretty dreamy even as far as concepts go, but it's a well-thought-out system that drastically re-imagines how we transport ourselves, with less pollution, greater time savings, and safer road conditions the end result.

[via : popsci ]

McDonald’s and NovaCharge launch EV Charging Stations


On July 14, electric vehicle owners will be able to charge up on a Big Mac while their electric vehicle charges in the parking lot.

A new McDonald's in Cary, North Carolina, will be the first of its kind, testing a pilot program with NovaCharge and Coulomb Technologies. The program may pave the way for electric charging stations in close proximity to where people drive and spend their leisure time. The entire McDonald's will be "eco-friendly" and built from environmentally friendly materials.



The concept is designed to demonstrate the benefits of parking lot charging not only for electric car drivers, but also for businesses: the hookup adds an incentive for people to linger at McDonald's longer and spend more.



Currently, the one missing link in the electric car market is the high cost of transporting electricity, but a larger infrastructure--similar to the existing model for gas stations--would make transportation cheaper and EV use more common.



The system uses a secure terminal called ChargePort, where customers can sign up for a paid subscription plan. The back-end network allows NovaCharge and Coulomb to monitor usage. A Web portal allows customers to view a map with all nearby ChargePort stations.

[via : popsci ]

80GB PS3 bundle with MGS4 and Killzone 2? real deal by bestbuy


Well, it's not a price cut, but it looks like Sony could be about to offer one of its best deals to date to potential PS3 customers, with a little help from Best Buy. Apparently, in an effort to clear out the 80GB PS3s once and for all (to make way for... something), Best Buy will soon selling a bundle that includes said console, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Killzone 2 -- all for the usual price of $399.99. Better still, that bundle is supposedly set to go on sale as soon as next Sunday and, as you can see above, at least some of 'em have apparently already made their way into the stores' back rooms.

[via : engadget ]

Fragrance burner powered by usb


If you are tired of the smells that appear in your office or workplace and are not one of those people who like to rock to boat, then this has got to be ideal for your situation. It is a USB powered fragrance and oil burner that requires no candle or naked flame. This is because the bowl that the oil is poured into is heated up and the air becomes full of sweet fragrances.

[via :zedomax ]

The new Tesco Land Rover S1 Sonin 'indestructible' phone



How tough do you want your mobile phone to be? Tesco is now selling the Land Rover S1 Sonin, which it describes as 'indestructible'.

Will the MoD sneak in and nick all the ruggedised handsets to protect squaddies in Afghanistan? Probably not.

Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Mobile, goes on to admit that the S1 is only "virtually indestructible", and then adds "It's the first phone in the world to be as tough as a Land Rover."

As reliable as the least reliable car

According to Which? magazine's reliability surveys, Land Rovers are regularly rated as the most error-prone new vehicles.

However, the S1 Sonin is the only IP67 military-rated GSM mobile phone, making it resistant to humidity, dust, shock, salt and heat. It's also water resistant up to 1 metre for 30 minutes and can survive falls from 2 metres onto concrete.

Other features include a 2MP camera, insanely loud (110dB) speakers, A-GPS, 1500 hour stand-by time and an FM radio.

You'll be pleased to hear Tesco is offering an 'unconditional three-year' warranty on the handset, which is available now unlocked for £250, or from £25 a month on contract.

[via : techradar ]

Cool supercheap Printable batteries


Get ready for a future where just about everything is electric.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems have developed batteries that are cheap, super-slim and flexible.

The new zinc-manganese batteries weigh less one gram, are less than one millimetre thick, meaning they can fit into something as small as a credit card.

Cards that talk to you

Powered bank cards could incorporate super-strong encryption or even miniature displays to show your balance at the touch of a button.

The batteries are printed using a silk-screen printing method similar to that used for t-shirts, laying down layers of anodes and cathodes that are about as thin as a human hair.

The process is cheap enough that batteries should cost around 5 pence to make and the researchers have already produced the batteries on a laboratory scale.

However, because the electrodes gradually dissipate while generating power, the printable batteries currently have a limited lifetime. The scientists hope to have commercially viable batteries ready by the end of the year.

[via : techradar ]

DropRecord - upload files to multiple hosts



Bulk uploading a file you want to share to multiple file hosting services is quite a time saver. DropRecord is a simple way to upload your files to over a dozen hosts.

DropRecord will accept files up to 500MB in size and will upload to over a dozen file hosts including the big players like RapidShare, MegaUpload, and EasyShare. Once you upload your file you're given a unique URL for the file which shows the hosts it was successfully uploaded to and provides quick links to download it from them.

DropRecord sports more hosts than Gazup but you lose the ability to upload selectively to only the hosts you want. Both services offer the ability to transfer files from web sites and FTP sites. If you have a favorite bulk uploading service, share it in the comments below.

[via : lifehacker ]

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Download 2 million free PDF ebooks at World eBook Fair



The Fourth Annual World eBook Fair has started and you can download 2 million free PDF ebooks from July 4th to August 4th, 2009.

The goal of the World eBook Fair is to provide free access for a month to 2 Million eBooks from Project Gutenberg, The World Public Library, The Internet Archive, eBooks About Everything etc. Browse the huge book collections and find free ebooks to download.

During the rest of the year you can download selection of 500,000 PDF eBooks by joining the World Public Library at an annual membership of $8.95 per year. So this is a good time to download ebooks for free.

[via : quickonlinetips ]

Friday, July 03, 2009

Camera on Spiderman's head

Street Heros Head Cam ~Jump


Who says our youth are out of shape because of all the video game playing they do? These guys were probably influenced by a video game but have probably taken it a bit farther than is healthy. With a camcorder strapped to his head the guy does some Spider-Man like moves.

[via : hackedgadgets ]

Dance with your finger Alarm Clock


This is an alarm clock combined with a miniature version of a light up dance pad, like the ones that kid like to dance on for hours on end. However, once the alarm goes off your fingers have to follow the lights; otherwise, you will never be able to turn it off.

[via : zedomax ]

Download bbPress 1.0 Final : Intergrate forum with your wordpress blog


Now you can download bbPress 1.0 Final, the latest release of the excellent forum software by the creators of WordPress. bbPress is the ideal way to integrate a forum with your WordPress blog.

bbPress is a simple forum software, easy to use, easy to administrate, and is very fast and clean. It has some powerful features and is highly customizable and WordPress bloggers will find the same WP goodiness and feel when they use bbPress.

We used bbPress for our forums earlier and here are the top 10 reasons to install bbPress. Some key highlights are pretty SEO optimized permalinks, lots of plugins and themes, open source, lots of feeds, Akismet spam control, integrated Gravatars, and lots more.

Download bbPress now and start a new forum for your site in minutes. Remember bbPress requires PHP 4.3 or greater and MySQL 4.0 or greater.


[via : quickonlinetips ]