Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Portable Audio

We’re still baffled that traditional eSATA flash drives require power from the USB port in order to operate (at least until that Power Over eSATA initiative starts bearing fruit), but it seems that Ao-LAB has found a nice, practical workaround for the time being. The outfit’s eSATA / USB Combo Drive arrives in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB flavors and provides dual interfaces along with a convenient way to power it if you’re dead-set on using eSATA for transfers. And given that speeds over eSATA absolutely obliterate those over USB 2.0, you’re going to want to. Shame there’s no pricing / availability information, but we suspect you can get a few hundred of ‘em sans issue should you contact the company seeking a bulk contract.

[Via EverythingUSB]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Storage

Don’t spaz out or anything, but that thing you’re peering at above actually isn’t a small flask of cologne. No, no — it’s an 8GB USB drive, and it’s one of the most expensive you can buy. Reportedly built with titanium, the drive is water-resistant, crush-proof and fancied up further with a single red ruby. Sure, it’s 21,750 rubles ($837), but dollars to donuts they’d trade you one for a sure-to-be-authentic iPhone.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Blu-Ray may have won the format war at the beginning of the year, but the platform’s biggest struggle is still ahead: convincing people to buy it.

Sony’s president, Ryoji Chubachi, set the bold goal of 50 percent market share by the end of the year. Last week, the format dropped to 8-percent of the market. That marks a 13-percent drop from the week prior, according to PC World, leaving traditional DVDs with a whopping 92-percent.

Sony, naturally, has attempted to counteract the decline with a bit of pro-active marketing, including bundling the new issue of Wired with a Blu-Ray copy of the new Web series, Coma. The company will also ship titles like Men in Black with new players.

The company has also started knocking down the price on players, a move which has apparently already begun yielding results. The newly discounted BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, which recently got knocked down to $199.98 (from $399.99), is currently atop Amazon’s electronics sales chart.

That said, numbers don’t really bode well for the format at the moment. Blu-Ray is off to a shaky start, at best. Further price discounts will certainly help nudge things along–after all, HD-DVD’s major selling point was its price. Aside from PS3s, it been tough convincing consumers that they need to spend hundreds of dollars for higher definition discs–especially those without HDTVs.

The question, to my mind, is whether the format is a brief stopgap between DVDs and a more widescale adoption of TV to PC technologies. Of course, people have long been predicting the death of the format, right Lance?

Original post by Brian Heater

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM’s BlackBerry Javelin hasn’t exactly been making itself shy over the past few months, but if you’re still not Javelin’d out, you can dive into a fresh new batch of pics courtesy of BlackBerryForums member fr0zen and, if that’s still not enough, you can also now buy the very same phone on eBay. Considering that the bidding has already topped the $2,000 mark with six days to go, however, we’re guessing most will simply choose to bide their time with the pics available at the link below, which also helpfully includes some comparisons with a few other familiar phones.

Read - Blackberry Javelin on eBay
Read - BlackBerry News, “Stunning Photos of the Javelin Emerge!”

[Via CrackBerry.com, thanks Anderson]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Peripherals

Dell has a ways to go before it can match, say, Microsoft’s peripheral acumen — or the considerable buzz being generated by Blue Track at the moment. That said, the computer giant looks to have a couple new ones in the pipeline, and that’s always a treat for the folks too poor or lazy to replace their pre-bundled keyboard and mouse. The keyboard’s short-throw keys will be a love it or hate it affair, but the media keys seem nice enough, while the mouse offers sensitivity-denoting LEDs and some laser tech underneath to match those smooth, predictable contours. No word on a ship date, but look for these to show up in your new Dell boxes before long.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In all honesty, USBfever almost nailed this one. The $22.99 in-car charger plugs right into your cigarette socket and gives motorists their cigarette outlet back along with 4 charging USB ports. The one tweak we wish it would’ve made? Replace that cig adapter with a traditional AC outlet. Yeah, yeah — that would make the whole thing a lot bigger with the necessary power inverter, but you can’t deny that it would be way more useful. Version 2, anyone?

[Via Coolest Gadgets]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Transportation

We genuinely hope you don’t value your dash very much, because a great deal of it will vanish if you opt to install KNGT’s icom MK1.The full-fledged car computer wows passengers and drivers alike with its 6.95-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, on-screen QWERTY keyboard, wireless connectivity and mobile TV (T-DMB) tuner. Furthermore, you’ll find a 40GB / 80GB hard drive, upwards of 2GB of RAM, a few USB 2.0 ports, a 1.6GHz Intel CPU and Windows XP running the show. You know all those threats you made when you were younger about heading out and just living in your ‘79 Riviera? Following through just got a whole lot easier.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

Your retinas have been treated to plenty of external shots of Tesla’s Roadster, but have you ever stopped to wonder what kind of excitement sat just southwest of the steering wheel? CNET’s UK branch managed to get their camcorder within a Roadster parked on display over in Britain, and what they found was a rather robust interface that enables owners to get all sorts of involved with how and when the car charges. The representative did note that typical navigation functions were controlled via the JVC head unit, but the small panel just under the gauges enables motorists to control a number of aspects in relation to charging. There’s even a guide that explains which choices are cheaper and more beneficial for the long-term life of the battery. Have a look at the video in the read link.

[Via Digg]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

For the acronym-challenged, Audi is getting serious about its Multi Media Interface. The automaker’s present system is widely regarded as the best of the best already, but it’s staying one step ahead of itself with the revamped version prepped for the A8 luxury sedan. Within the whip, you’ll find a 7-inch LCD with an 800 x 480 resolution alongside a DVD drive, 40GB internal hard drive, Dolby Digital 5.1 support, optional analog / digital TV tuner, Bluetooth, twin CPUs (800MHz and 500MHz), NVIDIA graphics for “genuine 3D maps” and an optional (but necessary, really) Audi Music Interface for connecting your favorite PMP. For those uninterested in the A8 (but suddenly obsessed with this new MMI), hang tight — it will be hitting other Audi vehicles here soon.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS

Just over a month after the internet got all fired up about the problematic AVIC F-Series navigators, Pioneer has come to the rescue (we hope, anyway) with a free firmware update. Aimed specifically at the US-based AVIC-F90BT, AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F700BT, the update will reportedly “improve overall system performance and resolve certain software issues.” The outfit also notes that the AVIC-F500BT doesn’t need the upgrade, and even if your unit has been a-okay thus far, it still recommends applying the software. Take ten minutes or so and see what the latest firmware has to offer, and be sure to let us know if all (or some) of the kinks have indeed been ironed out.

[Thanks, Steven]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Here’s two things I’d never think to combine: Tori Amos portraiture and everyone’s favorite childhood building blocks. Found in the MAKE Flickr pool, Steven Goodwin made this Tory Amos portrait entirely from LEGO blocks.It really looks a lot like her when you squint at it.

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Original post by Becky Stern

Jon Edmiston wrote a nicely flexible C# application to control a LEGO NXT car with a Wiimote - he says he could switch the remote out for a Wii balance board and he could still control the car. via NXT Step

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Original post by Patti Schiendelman

Jason writes-

A paper cup, a sewing needle, and a simple LEGO Mindstorms robot make for a nice little record player. This might be a fun project to work on with the kids this 4th of July weekend. You know they’ve been wondering about the boxes of vinyl frisbees in the basement. Aside from anything else they might be learning, it’s a good opportunity to slip in some information about how music used to be groovy.

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Original post by Phillip Torrone

Here’s an awesome LEGO version of the Chaos unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). The site is, unfortunately, not in English. Here’s a translation:

LEGO Chaos Bot

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Original post by Gareth Branwyn

Man, I managed to sneak in a replicant reference yesterday and now this! A one-of-a-kind official Blade Runner “Spinner” car from LEGO!

Related:

The MAKE LEGO section is massive!

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Original post by Phillip Torrone