Even if you have the still hands of Solid Snake on Diazapam, night shots with a cellphone camera will often turn out a blur. Night Camera detects motion and pulls the trigger when your hands is at its steadiest. When you press the shutter button with Night Camera, the app starts taking accelerometer readings for three seconds; when the sensor determines that you're holding the camera steadily, Night Camera triggers the shutter at that exact moment. Accelerometer sensitivity and sensor reading time are all configurable.
Sure, the concept behind Whac-a-Mole makes a lot more sense. But what fun did anyone ever have spanking sense with a plastic mallet? Whac-a-Butt is a reinterpretation of the classic, featuring seven butts that must be whacked. With each successful butt hammering (the inclusion of a hammer in this set stinks a bit of anachronism, but then again, this is a game in which butts pop out of little holes to a timer) a slapping noise is made (again, not quite fitting a hammer, but we've never struck a butt with a hammer so who knows what that might sound like).
Along with the brand new touch N97, Nokia also unveiled new software at its Nokia World show in Spain today—bringing a free new version of Maps and updated email/IM services. The new Maps 3.0 Beta adds 3D topography and landmarks for 216 cities, high-res satellite photos, improved pedestrian directions and better turn-by-turn support. You can also plan a route online via Nokia's desktop Ovi service and then sync it immediately back to your phone. Anyone using S60 FP2 can download the new Maps beta today—Nokia's acquisition of Navteq is definitely showing its benefits here.
bsk_cw writes "With the exception of Google's Chrome (which got attention because it was, after all, Google), most of the alternative browsers out there tend to get lost in the shuffle. Computerworld asked three of their writers to take some lesser-known browsers out for a spin and see how they do. They looked at six candidates: Camino (for the Mac), Maxthon (for the PC), OmniWeb (for the Mac), Opera (both the Mac and the PC versions) and Shiira (for the Mac)." It would have been more interesting if they included some popular open source, Linux-friendly browsers like Konqueror or Epiphany, as well.
As if the 3,800-piece Lego Death Star wasn't enough to get me excited, the Giz crew is going to be sporting Tokyo Watches at the Gizmodo Gallery. You will be able to see them, you can touch them, you can lick them. And then ask for the time. Not only we will have Tokyo Watches a go go, but also a new Tokyo Watch that hasn't been released yet, the Kisai Tenmetsu. We can't show it to you yet, but the quality is very good, with a face full of transparent acrylic lens what give the LEDs inside a sweet diffuse effect. According to them, it's their best ever.
On one level, this video is fun because it explains how computers work in the most dumbed-down language imaginable. On another level, it's from the 90s, the golden early age of the internet. And it's aimed at the elderly, creating the trifecta.
WatersOfOblivion writes "Twenty years ago today, Edsger Dijkstra, the greatest computer scientist to never own a computer, hand wrote and distributed 'On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science,' discussing the then-current state of Computer Science education. Twenty years later, does what he said still hold true? I know it is not the case where I went to school, but have most schools corrected course and are now being necessarily cruel to their Computer Science students?" Bonus: Dijkstra's handwriting.
Each passing holiday season has become a critical, missed chance for Sony to catch up with the Xbox 360, and it's starting to become silly to say "maybe next year." According to Microsoft reported retailer data, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 3:1 in the US on Black Friday. Needless to say, aside from sales on that particular day, it's probably an indicator of complete 2008 holiday sales for these two competitors. Of course, the notably absent data was regarding the Nintendo Wii's sales on Black Friday. But our guess is that if Microsoft toppled that giant, even for a day, they would have mentioned it (at the top of their lungs from the tallest mountain they could find). [Kotaku]
If true, I love this: According to Pioneer, this 16-layer 400GB optical disc can be read in any normal Blu-ray player. And it's only the beginning, because they have planned 1TB for 2013. The technology of the super multi-layer read-only disc is based on Blu-ray Disc (BD) with a breakthrough in material of reflective layers, according to Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan. The specifications of the pick-up head (PUH) of the disc is the same as those for the PUH of blank BD discs, and therefore the Pioneer discs can be read on BD players.
One look at this conglomeration and you pretty much know it's from Brando. Their latest clunky tech masterpiece is officially named a USB Notebook Cooling Pad + 3-Port Hub + 2.5" HDD. At its core, the system is a dual-fan USB-powered laptop cooler with extra USB ports. Enter Brando, and this simple device gets injected with a rear-loaded 2.5" SATA hard drive dock to add extra storage. It's hard to believe that the average laptop USB port can power two fans, a SATA drive and three additional USB devices, but it looks like there's AC power to back up the system (the product description was a bit light on this point).
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