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Filed under: Wearables

Good news for the cyborgs in the crowd: the ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations that barred double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorious from a shot at the Olympics has been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Detractors from Oscar’s entry into the Olympics have cited a suspect study that says Oscar could be using as little as 25% of the energy of other sprinters, thanks to the mechanical advantage of his “Cheetah” prosthetics, which basically act as springs. Others feared that this could set a dangerous precedent for the entry of bionics into athletic competition, but the ruling was rather tightly worded, and if related cases come up they will be tried individually. Of course, Oscar still has to qualify, and his personal best in the 400 is about a second off the qualifying time for Beijing. Even if he can’t make it, he plans try for the world championships and the London Olympics in 2012.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Looks like a new sibling to the existing Asus Eee PC 900 is coming soon. The Asus Eee PC 901 may have the same specs as the 900 and the difference is only a new row of buttons between the keyboard and battery, along with a power plug on the left side.

Nothing much is different from the 900, but apparently Asus has thrown in a new row of buttons between the keyboard and battery, along with a power plug on the left side.Guess the measurements were not tampered with this time. I wonder if the innards will be different.

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Pic source = Asus.com

Tags: Asus Eee PC

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Original post by colbert low

Filed under: Laptops

After a fire at LG Chem, li-on batteries have been hard to come by for companies like Asus and Quanta. But fear not, laptop lovers, because it looks like the battery plant is getting things back in order. According to Sung Fu-hsang at Simplo — a battery manufacturer that relies on LG Chem — the li-on supply will return to normal by Q3 2008. So how bad is the current shortage? Asus CEO Jerry Shen noted that his company could have sold a lot more than 5 million Eee PCs were it not for the problem.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Spend some time using 3-D design software or exploring your neighborhood with Google Earth while using a traditional mouse, and you’ll come to a quick realization: While it does a fine job navigating the x and y axes, it doesn’t play so well with z. That’s not surprising, considering that the traditional mouse was designed to track movement across a 2-D surface. Thankfully, for those who spend more than a marginal amount of time computing across the third dimension, devices such as 3Dconnexion’s SpaceNavigator for Notebooks ($129.99 list) 3-D mouse can make the experience a lot more enjoyable.

Continue reading my full review of the SpaceNavigator for Notebooks on PCMag.com.

By Matt Safford

Original post by Gearlog

Today at the Virtual Worlds Conference in New York, 3Dconnexion announced that in mid-April its line of 3D mice–including the SpaceNavigator–will be compatible with Second Life. For users, this means better control and coordination with 3D objects within the 3D virtual world of Second Life.

For the most part, the SpaceNavigator has been used by designers in such programs as PhotoShop, AutoCAD, and so on. But I’ve used it in Google Earth and loved the ease of movement it gives. So this partnership seems like a natural.

Moving your avatar around will become much more fluid and seamless; you merely push, pull, and press on the device instead of fooling around with keyboard commands. For those who are into building objects within Second Life, you′ll be able to use the SpaceNavigator there too: “Users can pan, zoom and rotate 3D objects to view designs from multiple angles.”

Prices for the devices range from $59 for the SpaceNavigator Personal Edition up to $399 for the SpacePilot. Check them out at the company’s site.

Original post by Carol Mangis

Filed under: Cellphones

We’re sure there have been some really great Java Micro Edition apps developed over the years, we just haven’t been fortunate enough to find any that aren’t a Bejeweled variant run into many of them. But that could very well change with the news that Sun is using that fancy new SDK to develop a Java Virtual Machine for the iPhone, which it expects to have ready “some time after June,” and which will allow iPhone users access to the vast libraries of existing JME apps. We suppose the real conundrum now is which Java ME app we′ll grab first: Harry Potter, or MapQuest Mobile. These choices, they overwhelm us.

[Via Mac Rumors]

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Robots

Sure, you laughed yesterday when you heard professor Noel Sharkey warn against the impending, apocalyptic man vs. machine battle that was to come, but this news may have you singing a different tune. A pilot program in Nevada which employed robotic sentries to patrol Hawthorne Army Depot is getting an upgrade: 24 brand new drones called MDARS, or “Mobile Detection and Assessment and Response System.” The $40 million purchase will nab the Army diesel-powered robots which operate at speeds up to 20 MPH, use RFID tags to keep track of locks and barriers, and can run for 16 hours without refueling. Though the bots have been tested with automatic weapons, these new versions will be equipped with non-lethal armaments, thus making them considerably less deadly when Skynet goes online.

[Via Wired]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Not only is the British army hoping to make tanks and troops invisible to the naked eye, but it’ll soon be honing in on targets way before the mind would normally allow. In a $58.8 million deal, Thales UK has been selected to supply the troops with new Surveillance System and Range Finder (SSARF) technologies, which will reportedly “enable quick identification of enemy locations along with the ability to determine the best mortar or artillery firepower the situation on the ground requires.” Best of all, the handheld system will feature integrated GPS, thermal imaging and a five kilometer range, but unfortunately, it won′t be giving any Britons in the field an edge until 2009.

[Via MOD]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Spray-on liquid bandages aren′t a new idea by any means, but a company called BioCure has just received FDA approval for a gel-based version designed to treat combat wounds. Developed in conjunction with Rutgers University and the Army, the GelSpray Liquid Bandage is applied with a dual syringe that combines two different polymers that combine into a gel, spreading to cover and protect the wound. The gel only sticks to intact skin, not the wound itself, and it’s hard enough to resist abrasion. BioCure is already talking about medicated versions that will treat infection and stop severe bleeding, and the prospect of civilian applications are also on the table — but no dates have been given, sadly.

[Via Medgadget]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Portable Video

It may be exceptionally easy to use, but rolling out Apple′s iTunes movie rental service to Europe will be no easy task. This according to a piece just published by the The New York Times. Despite known collectively as Europe, the EU’s 27 member countries remain a patchwork of convoluted regulatory fragments related to digital media. For example, in The Netherlands, it remains uniquely and ambiguously legal to download, but not upload, copyrighted material. Release schedules also vary widely across Europe — sometimes releasing the same day as in the US or months later. Notably for Apple, a distributor of content must secure individual licenses to films in every country they wish to do business. No easy task given Apple’s rental agreements cover all the major and many smaller studios. This lack of coherence makes a pan-European iTunes rental agreement daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, commissioner Vivian Reding of the European Commission, plans to make a proposal mid-year that would streamline digital commerce efforts across European borders. Remember, Viv is the force responsible for stomping out the EU’s ridiculous roaming rates. In other words, we can expect more than just lip-service in the months ahead. Unfortunately, given Apple’s history of trouble with the EU over pan-European iTunes pricing and DRM, you can bet they’ll tread the EU waters carefully (read: slowly) as they attempt to go live in Europe.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Networking

Nothing too earth-shattering here, but it seems that those in the market for a dual band Wireless-N USB adapter could benefit from holding off just a wee bit longer. Netgear’s forthcoming WND򟜬 has found its way into the FCC’s doors, and while it doesn’t look to speak with aliens or any other fancy stuff, it does support WEP and WPA / WPʌ. Way too excited about this thing? Hit up the read link for test photos and a preliminary user’s manual — that ought to quell your inexplicable curiosity, right?

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Original post by Darren Murph