Gadgets and Gear: The Five Stages of Consumer Uptake
As far back as the nineteenth century, Fry’s Chocolate knew how to market garbage. Hidden in its classic 1902 “Five Boys” ad campaign is a comment on how consumer psychology has a cyclical character to it: they always come round!

As far back as the nineteenth century, Fry’s Chocolate knew how to market garbage. Hidden in its classic 1902 “Five Boys” ad campaign is a comment on how consumer psychology has a cyclical character to it: they always come round!

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Apple Patents Show Shuffle-Esque Remote Control, Other Goodies [Apple]

Apple has just walked home with six new patents, one of which details an iPod shuffle-like remote control. The image may not tell us much, but a reverse side clip is clearly visible, as is some form of circular control, which could be a scroll wheel or four way control pad. The iPhone comes with a basic in-line remote; could this be a more sophisticated offering? The other four patents described the following. Update: These products don’t seem to be bringing anything new. The lanyard looks to be an iPod nano peripheral; both iPod shuffle iterations indicate the current model, and the remote has a striking similarity to the current iPod remote control, with integrated FM radio. The image technology might still be a note worthy patent acquisition.

A lanyard design, two iPod shuffle variations and a technology that allows production of smooth motion compensated frames by combining multiple interpolation results. Information is scant beyond that, but we do know the remote control patent was filed back in March 2007, and has just now been cleared. Bearing that in mind, the idea might have made it to the scrap heap, but we shall watch this space nonetheless. [ipodnn via Mactropolis]

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Review: Haier Ibiza Rhapsody 30GB Rocks Us With Linux
The Ibiza’s iPod knock-off aesthetics hide one of the most innovative attempts at a media player in years. Paired with a Rhapsody To-Go music subscription ($15/month), the Linux-based player lets you access Rhapsody’s full content library from any Wi-Fi hotspot….

The Ibiza’s iPod knock-off aesthetics hide one of the most innovative attempts at a media player in years. Paired with a Rhapsody To-Go music subscription ($15/month), the Linux-based player lets you access Rhapsody’s full content library from any Wi-Fi hotspot. You can stream or download whole albums, listen to Internet radio, and find similar artists with ease. Even without the Rhapsody subscription, there’s a built-in flash player for AOL Video (like YouTube, but less so) and a podcast finder that lets you browse for and download new podcasts when you’ve got access. But Wi-Fi usage can also unfortunately sap the battery in a matter of hours.

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Very NSFW Video: Beautiful Topless Girl Playing Wii - Part 2 [Nsfw]

If you enjoyed our last NSFW Wii Bowling video, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. Here’s the lesson you budding amateur photographers should take away from this. Step 1: find a beautiful woman. Step 2: Find a Wii. Step 3: Capture said woman playing Wii. Watch as the money rolls in. NSFW Video after the jump.

[Attuworld (NSFW) via Fleshbot (NSFW)]

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One of the wags at ZDNet massages Apple’s semi-alarming financial results this week, applies a little math and comes to the conclusion that we’ll see a $300 iPhone by Easter to reinvigorate sales. Says he: To vigorously expand its user…

One of the wags at ZDNet massages Apple’s semi-alarming financial results this week, applies a tiny math and comes to the conclusion that we’ll see a $300 iPhone by Easter to reinvigorate sales. Says he:

To vigorously expand its user base, iPhone needs to harvest users who aren’t tied down to AT&T and are a while from cycling out of their two-year agreements. And in an economy that appears to be headed for megastress, Apple will need to lessen the $399.99 pain of buying an iPhone.

Here’s why I predict iPhone will come down to $299 within a few months [ZDNet]

Via [wired.com]

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VIA’s Isaiah Doubles Ultraportable Chip Performance
Via’s Isaiah CPU platform, as efficient as its older C7 lineup but more than twice as fast, marks a line in the sand for the longtime maker of low-power chips. “People used to state that if you’re not making 3GHz…

Via’s Isaiah CPU platform, as efficient as its older C7 lineup but more than twice as fast, marks a line in the sand for the longtime maker of low-power chips.

“People used to say that if you’re not making 3GHz processors, you’re not real men,” said G. Glenn Henry, president of Via subsidiary Centaur. “What everyone is now doing is very rewarding … what they’re doing suggests what we’ve done is right.”

Via Technologies, founded in 1987 in Taiwan, specializes in miniaturized motherboards and low-power chip technology, an area where it commands a substantial market share and managed to survive where once-time rival Transmeta floundered. With consumers becoming more interested in efficient computing and mobile devices like ultramobile Computers, it faces competition from industry giants like Intel, which has its own ultra-efficient chips ready to roll.

The new chips are 64 bit, will offer clock speeds of up to 2GHz, have front side busses of up to 1.3Ghz, two 64KB L1 caches and a 1MB L2 cache. Via’s especially proud of its floating point unit performance, which it says is the world’s fastest, and its “aggressive” power management features.Henry stated he expects his chips to outperform those forthcoming from Intel, codenamed Silverthorne.

They don’t replace the C7 series, however, and are pin-compatible with them. In effect, C7 chips become a lower-performing budget model at the foot of the refreshed lineup. Manufacturers will be able to use both without retooling factories or redesigning their existing Via-based products.

In the last few years, chip giants Intel and AMD have moved in on the turf Via’s been tending for over a decade, thanks to the rise of tiny computers and tiny corresponding progress in battery technology. Ultramobile PCs and similar handhelds often can’t run for more than a few hours in real-world use, and everyone in the industry wants to make the most power-sipping chips possible.

Henry said that Via’s successes in making such chips and the motherboards that home them — current customers include Samsung, OQO, WiBrain, Everex, Packard Bell and others — shows that it’s in the right place.

Richard Brown, Via’s director of international marketing, stated that while it’s much smaller than its rivals, this gives is more agility and responsiveness in the marketplace.

“It’s a major achievement when you think of the thousands of people who work at Intel and at AMD.”

Added Henry: “Development cost matters, and our development costs are low.”

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The only time we use Bluetooth is to yap about in our vehicles while we’re driving or for transferring pics to and from our computer, but Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill is using it to help him walk again. The Iraq veteran has dual prosthesis with Bluetooth transmitters on board that sends signals between each motor, which updates each piece of the legs on what the others are doing, how it’s moving, and whether or not they need to make adjustments.

Older models of computer-controlled legs have to be “programmed” via wire by laptop computers before the amputee can use them. Those legs required more movement from the amputee’s remaining thigh muscle to generate motion in the prosthetic leg. Because of built-in motors, the Bluetooth legs allow Bleill to walk longer before he tires.

“We’ve compared walking several laps in both sets of legs and one, your legs come out burning and fatigued and these, you know, you sometimes are not even breaking a sweat yet.”

We weren’t kidding when we stated it helps him kick ass. “So sometimes the leg kicks harder than I want it to, or farther, and then I begin perpetuating, and I start moving faster than I really want to.” [CNN]

Via [gizmodo]

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We hate it when this happens: A personal virus is attached to a gadget (Insignia Digital Frame) during the manufacturing process; the item is sold throughout America in one of the biggest retailers available (Best Buy), and then, after the…

We hate it when this happens: A personal virus is attached to a gadget (Insignia Digital Frame) during the manufacturing process; the item is sold throughout America in one of the biggest retailers available (Best Buy), and then, after the massive holiday season, it’s found that many of them will trigger a crash-happy Trojan in Windows-based computers when they’re connected via USB. Not great.

Insignia released a statement on January 19th, oddly labeling the virus on their 10.4″ frame (model number NS-DPF10A), as an ‘older virus . . . easily identified’ by some of the latest versions of popular anti-virus software such as Norton, McAfee or Trend Micro. This statement seemed to encourage consumers to keep their frame since the anti-virus software would supposedly catch their own mistake. Thankfully, the company did the right thing and has now discontinued the model, pulling it from the major stores, including Ideal Buy. This is the only model from the Insignia line to include this virus, according to the manufacturer.

If you were one of the people who bought this digital frame, you can call Insignia’s customer care line at 1-877-467-4289.

Aside: Not to pile on, but isn’t that one of the most unappealing fake photos on a product in current memory?

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10 Examples of the iPhone Making People Crazy [Iphone Madness]

The iPhone is a popular gadget, there’s no doubt about it. As with all popular gadgets, people tend to get a tiny overenthusiastic. This enthusiasm can take multiple forms—like waiting in line for days to get the product, dressing up like the gadget for Halloween, selling cheap knockoffs or completely ridiculous accessories, or even building their own from scratch. The 10 images featured after the jump illustrate this phenomenon as it relates to the iPhone, and the video above shows just how much the new fangled iPhone technology can piss off a strung out old hippie.

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Infrared-Beaming Helmet May Battle Alzheimer’s [Medical]

Despite looking like a freaky PC case-mod for your head, researchers say this helmet may serve as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. It directs low levels of infrared light at the skulls of Alzheimer’s sufferers in order to combat the disease by stimulating brain cell growth.

A medical team from Sunderland and Durham Universities in the UK believe this could help combat the disease, having already tested the idea on mice. In that test, the mice gained better learning ability afterwards. A human test will go ahead in the summer.

Current therapy for Alzheimer’s sufferers doesn’t correct for cell-loss, which is why this technology may be promising. Infrared treatment, thought to stimulate cell re-growth, was developed first for cold sores (better known by snickering bloggers as “mouth herpes”) and according to doctors at the research company Virulite, shining IR lasers at Alzheimer’s sufferers led to improvements in eight out of nine cases.

The helmet design uses the same principle, and its trials on real people will use levels of IR equivalent to sunshine in the hope of reversing some of the crippling damage caused by this disease. No word yet when we’ll be able to use TV remotes to try and stave off Alzheimer’s at home. [BBC News and Daily Mail]

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