Do you know what “dark matter” is? I thought I knew what it was until I tried to explain it to myself and failed. But I no longer need to file away topics like this for later study (my ever-growing list of things I will learn someday in order to become a more cultured and informed human being) because I now know I can pick up knowledge about dark matter - enough to get by in a drunken conversation at a bar in any event - and other weighty scientific subjects in 60 seconds (or thereabouts).

As part of its 60-Second Science offerings, Scientific American has been running a video podcast series in which its editors explain big scientific topics of general interest, using common objects. I haven’t timed the videos to see how close they come to just 60 seconds, but they are indeed short enough that I don’t have time to get distracted like I did in high school science class. The editors at 60-Second Science know how to put together teaser headlines too, like “What can the Olsen twins tell us about telomeres?” You can subscribe to 60-Second Science on iTunes or in RSS. — (continues)

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You might have heard the news that the Microsoft Surface table has hit five select AT&T stores across the country, and are now available for you to try out for yourself. In case you haven’t had the chance to drop by any of these stores yet and seen the Microsoft Surface in action, we have here a video showing just how it can complement your AT&T experience by adding multi-touch and satellite mapping technology. The surface, it seems, could serve as a perfect tool for presentations with its touchscreen interface, and it adds a nice touch of interactivity while enabling easy, user-friendly graphics to complement the user-experience. Apple’s CoverFlow could make it much nicer, though. But that’s just my opinion.

Via [Gotta Be Mobile]

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The wonders of the built-in accelerometer are put to good, legitimate use by Nokia as it enables an automagic screen rotation feature on any European Nokia N95 8GB handset. This move makes Nokia look like it has accepted that the feature is really in-demand with users.

It might seem a novel idea, but who would’ve thought that this little trivial thing could become one of the most popular features ever on mobile phones? (Do I really need to say it? Um, iphone? Hello?) Unfortunately, Nokia N95 8GB NAM owners still have to wait a bit for official support to roll out on local shores. But you can ask your European friends how this old new feature fares out with their handsets. It’s non-intrusive, and you’re free to deactivate it if you deem you don’t really need it (Oh, come on.). So don’t waste time and test it for yourself already. I know you can’t wait.

Download [Nokia] Via [IntoMobile]

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For now, at least. Seriously speaking, how the heck are you going to cram in computer parts which are capable of running Windows XP or Vista in such a slim device as this? Surely motherboards have not shrunk to such a small size. The rest of the specifications as furnished by 13 Tech Design are possible though, including a touch screen display, a 10 megapixel camera with full HD camcorder capability, and integrated WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. It must run on nuclear power I presume, considering the rather power-hungry specifications. You’ll need to wait until 2020 for this to be released I guess.

Source: Gadget Insight

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Light sabers just made their way into the best edge-weapon fighting game around: Soul-Calibur IV. As you can see, Darth Vader is providing some serious stabbing in this image, but he’s not the only one, Yoda is also in the game, and although the doesn’t turn in to an over-energetic chipmunk like in the movie, it’s cool. Warning: I’m a fan of the franchise since the playstation 1 version, so I might be slightly biased. HD trailer for PS3 & Xbox 360

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Remember back to late Dec 07 when we announced the launch of text-to-web service, kwiry, which gives you a great way to add items (kwirys) to your Remember or To Do lists.

Well, kwiry is currently running a promotion at least until Jun 28, 2008 where you stand a chance of winning one of your kwirys assuming it’s a movie, book or music album. They’re giving away 1 per week each up to a value of US$25.

All you need to do is to kwiry like you normally do and just include the keyword ‘music’, ‘book’ or ‘movie’ along with the full title of the item. So if you wanted to kwiry “Spiderman 3″ b/c you wanted to remember to buy it, then tack on the keyword ‘movie’ to make it “spiderman 3 movie” or “movie spiderman 3″, and you’re golden.

BTW, if you haven’t tried kwiry, give it a whirl. It’ll take you 5 minutes to get set up and run a few tests. Honest.

Posted in Networking & Internet

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Breathe easy, folks. Remember this morning’s news about PayPal planning to block Apple’s Safari browser after deeming it as unsafe? Well, all that is water under the bridge now as PayPal has issued a statement saying otherwise. A company spokeswoman mentioned in an e-mail late Friday, “We have absolutely no intention of blocking current versions of any browsers, including Apple’s Safari, from our website.” That’s great, as you will be able to continue experiencing all the benefits of Safari while doing your online shopping through a multitude of sites that support PayPal instead of relying on just buggy Internet Explorer.

Apparently, a research paper released the week before by Michael Barrett, the firm’s chief information security officer, mentioned that the payment service would ban browsers that lacked a way to block known or suspected phishing sites, and didn’t support Extended Validation (EV) certificates, was what sparked off this piece of news and thankfully PayPal has responded soon enough. Safari is one browser that does not come with an anti-fraud blocker, and it also does not support EVs - a recently introduced digital certificate system that is meant to reassure consumers that the site has been vetted and is legitimate, leading people to speculate that this PayPal paper has also lumped Safari under the same roof as the mentioned Internet Explorer 3 from 1996 and Microsoft’s 1997’s IE4 as well.

Here’s a little bit of history lesson for the uninitiated - Apple currently supports only Safari 3.0 with security updates as well as various patches, and good to know that Safari 2.0 which shipped with Mac OS X 10.4 (aka Tiger) is still supported as well, unlike IE4 that came with Windows 98. PayPal’s revised criteria is “obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems” will be blocked, which means IE5 is no go when 2010 rolls around while Safari 2.0 on Tiger will continue to receive support until Apple ships the successor to Mac OS X 10.5. Keep on shopping, guys!

Source: Computer World

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Mood Beams - Series 2
If you find you are in a particular mood and wish to alter it for the day, then our suggestion is to spend five minutes with a Mood Beam.

See price

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Head-worn camera for special eventsApr 20, 2008
Recording our lives has become wide-spread all over the world. But the technologies are being perfected all the time. Microsoft is working out in order to supply our society with wearable camera technology that will have a lot of features.

Actually, now it is just a concept. But there is a gadget that is worth its price, is advanced and is a really great high-resolution head-worn camera. Let’s see what functions it has and if they are useful for you.

The newest UKP300 (US5) head-worn device is already used by UK police. It is very handy for operations that need supervision. The gadget is qualitative and records all the necessary details. The 450 TVL resolution kit might also record even such entertainment events and trips like skiing, paragliding, mountain biking, paint balling, motorcycling, rock climbing and much more.

The device is fastened onto the ears, is connected via wires the back of the head and, of course, has a built-in microphone for audio recording. Moreover, it features a 4.3 mm lens that gives an 80 viewing angle.

It is important to mention that when the gadget is connected to a portable recorder, it makes very nice recordings of different occurrences.
You will be able to get the whole set of power and cables. With the help of all these accessories your recordings can be watched via a lot of gadgets. Some extra connections let you use it with any recorder that has video and audio phono inputs.

Finally, I’d like to add that the camera can be charged directly from a standard square battery, but sometimes the recorder can power the camera directly, and it means that extra connections won’t be necessary.

Related:

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by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 5:47PM BenQ has been showing off its first stab at an MID since the Intel Developer Forum last fall, but it hasn’t exactly been all that forthcoming about the full specs of the device. That situation seems to have changed at the more recent IDF in Shanghai, however, although those details seem to just now be making their way across the Internet. As we knew before, the device will pack an Intel Atom processor (the base 800MHz model), which will apparently be backed up by 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD hard drive, and HSPDA support in addition to some integrated WiFi and Bluetooth. The device will also apparently pack a so-called “G-Senser” for “direct touch and free movement to surf on internet,” along with voice activation, and optional GPS. Still no word on the all important pricing or release details, unfortunately, although we hope BenQ will save itself some embarrassment but getting the thing out the door before the next Intel Developer Forum.

[Via Slash Gear]

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