Posted 10/19/09 at 09:58:46 AM by Paul Lilly

Boy oh boy has 3D technology come a long way since the advent of those horrendous blue and red glasses that are still around today. Taking the technology to a new level, Sony says it has developed a 360-degree 3D display, which it plans to show off during Tokyo's Digital Content Expo 2009 this Thursday.

Sony says no goofy glasses are required to view the stereoscopic, 24-bit color image, which measures just 96 x 128 pixels. The image is viewable from all angles, but Sony didn't say if you'll be able to see the side of the image, depending on where you're oriented in relation to the display.

It's just a novelty at this point, but as research and development continues, Sony said it could see this technology being used as a 3D photo frame or in videophones.

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Posted 10/06/09 at 08:40:04 AM by Paul Lilly

Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group plans to present a paper on five different touch-sensitive mice prototypes during this week's User Interface Software and Technology Conferences in British Columbia, Canada.

With Windows 7 touting mutlitouch capabilities, this could be Microsoft's way appealing to the majority of users who don't own a touchscreen display. But don't expect to see all five designs come to fruition - it's much more likely that the five prototypes would end up being whittled down to one or two products.

FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) Mouse

This prototype uses the principle of frustrated total internal reflection and has a built-in-camera to sense user's touches on top o an arc-shaped piece of acrylic.

Hit the jump to see all the prototypes and tell us which one you like best.

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Posted 10/02/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Logan Decker

Not many games let you turn your arm into a long steel blade and cut people in half—top half going this-a-way, bottom half going that-a-way. Even fewer let you turn your hands into giant claws to cut off your victims’ legs, too. And as far as we know, not one has ever let you run diagonally up the side of building, skitter over a collapsing fire escape, and take a leaping vault off the roof as your hand—now a 50-yard whip—tags a hovering ’copter and reels you toward the cockpit to the horror of the doomed pilots. Such is the awesome power you’ll wield in Prototype, Activision’s apocalyptic and wildly entertaining third-person action-adventure.

Events begin grimly, as Alex Mercer wakes up in a morgue. He quickly discovers that he’s become a nearly indestructible shape-shifter capable of creating weapons out of his flesh and disguising himself as anyone he consumes, among other interesting abilities—such as making giant spikes pop out of the ground to skewer his enemies. So, when the amnesiac Mercer wanders topside into a plague-ridden Manhattan and finds himself pursued by crazed pedestrians, the military, and genetic mutants, he doesn’t hesitate to break out the cutlery.

Continue reading this review after the jump.

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Posted 10/01/09 at 11:45:44 AM by Thomas McDonald

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that The Sims was designed for Someone Else. I don’t know who. Hottentots, perhaps.

I played through The Sims 3 with awe, respect…and profound boredom. It’s a brilliant piece of work, and if God is kind I’ll never have to play it again this side of Purgatory.

Meanwhile, I’ve been returning to Prototype. I like Prototype. I also liked it when it was called Spider-Man 2 and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. If a game is worth playing once, it’s worth playing two more times with different character models.

Games are all about wish-fulfillment and power fantasies. Some people are content to wield their mighty power to get three gems in a row. Others would prefer to jump 10 stories in the air and punch a helicopter out of the sky. If you have the opportunity to do the latter, I have no idea why you’d choose to do the former, but people are strange.

Continue reading after the jump. 

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Posted 04/16/09 at 12:30:31 PM by David Murphy

Open-source software is a pretty familiar concept to most geeks.  But what about an open-source car?  The idea is more than just a theoretical mash-up of computing terms and the automotive world.  Quite a few companies are working to bring the collaborative nature of open-source idea generation to the pavement, and some of their prototypes certainly blow the best of today's automarket right out of the water.  At least, they're pretty stunning in the design department.  Because that's the problem with a piece of hardware as complicated as an open-source car -- a concept is one thing, but execution seems to be a bit more difficult than creating a piece of software.

Pop the clutch and click the link to speed into the world of open-source vehicles!

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Posted 04/15/09 at 04:55:41 PM by Mark Edward Soper

ReadWriteWeb brings us an interesting look at what future Firefox versions might look like. The short answer - not much like any web browser you've seen before.

How about an iTunes-style interface that shows web page or content thumbnails in the main pane with media libraries, browsing history, surflists, and statistics in the left pane? Or, how about tabs, applications, and work spaces in the left pane to take full advantage of today's widescreen displays? Either way, the once-sharp distinctions between a web browser interface and an operating system management interface like Windows Explorer have become very blurry. While the jury's still out on the Firefox of the future's interface, it looks as if the Ubiquity command-line interface will definitely make it into Firefox by version 3.6.

Are you ready for a new browser experience? Take a look at the prototypes, mockups, and demos, then join us after the jump for your chance to sound off.

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Posted 03/17/09 at 10:15:04 AM by Paul Lilly

With the netbook craze in full swing and Intel's Atom processor opening all kinds of doors for smaller, low power devices, you can expect to see some groovy gadgets make it to market. And after two years in development, maybe we'll soon see Lenovo's svelte-looking pocket-sized PC.

Currently in concept form, the "Pocket Yoga"  is an extension of a folding notebook with a detachable keyboard, says Johnson Li, director of Lenovo's Beijing Innovation Center. And like its larger inspiration, the Pocket Yoga comes covered in leather, a fitting touch for a device shaped like a large wallet.

From a usability standpoint, a 360 hinge transforms the Pocket Yoga into a multifunction device. Open at a normal angle and you can use it as a laptop complete with full-function keyboard. Flip the cover all the way back and it suddenly becomes a tablet notebook.

Ensuring that geek stays chic, the leather-covered Pocket Yoga comes with a belt. And ensuring that chic stays geek, that belt turns into a mouse when removed. Pretty slick.

No word on projected price or availability, but we already want one.

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Posted 03/13/09 at 09:52:46 AM by Paul Lilly

If after seeing the PowerSquid you thought to yourself, "Self, what's next in powerstrip design?," then prepare to have that question answered. Meet the movable powerstrip.

Currently in prototype form, the Movable Powestrip purports to solve the problem of needing to rearrange furniture to fit the powerstrip rather than the other way around. Six bright blue-bordered sockets can be bent into a variety of orientations, from a straight line, to an L formation and every other Tetris combination you can think of to mesh with your environment.

And here we thought the only fun to be had with power sockets was by using a fork.

Is designer Jeff Carter on to something? Hit the jump and tell us what you think.

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