Alarm Clock Calls Your Friends if You Don’t Get up There seems to be a trend in the alarm clock industry to inflict increasingly outlandish tortures on the heavy sleeper, or the plain lazy-bones. Our favorites so far are a clock that donates your money to charity each time you…
There seems to be a trend in the alarm clock industry to inflict increasingly outlandish tortures on the heavy sleeper, or the plain lazy-bones. Our favorites so far are a clock that donates your money to charity every time you hit the snooze button, and a device which sends a screaming helicopter careening about the room at wake-up time.
The aptly named Tyrant alarm goes one step further, visiting upon the incorrigible slumberer the double incentives of cash and embarrassment. If you fail to rise when summoned by this evil white block, it will take over your cellphone and start to dial random numbers from your address book, presumably narrowcasting your snores to the various ladies (or gents) in your life.
Of course, you could deal with this the same way as you do your existing cellphone alarm: Hurl the phone across the room and, gently letting your eyelids succumb once again to gravity, listen to the satisfying smash of plastic on plaster.
Here at Gadget Lab, we’ve been toying with a more effective approach to getting our recalcitrant bloggers out of bed in the mornings. An alarm which tilts the bed back, pulls the sheet tight over your face and drips water steadily onto your terrified visage as you gasp for breath, the prospect of a day’s blogging seeming sweet in comparison to impending death. It’s called the WaterBoarder.
Nikon Announces New Top-End Speedlight In addition to the new D700 announced today, Nikon has also shown us the new SB-900 flash, which will replace the old flagship model, the SB-800. So what’s new? The SB-900 is slightly less powerful (a guide number of 34…
In addition to the new D700 announced this day, Nikon has also shown us the new SB-900 flash, which will replace the old flagship model, the SB-800.
So what’s new? The SB-900 is slightly less powerful (a guide number of 34 instead of 38), but has an extended zoom range, able to cover 17-200 mm without a diffuser panel (and 14mm with the panel). You can also select the shapes of the light; center-weighted, standard and “even” (which gives a flat edge-to-edge light). It will also spin through 180ยบ in either direction in addition to the tilt function.
Nikon states that recycle (recharge) times are quicker, although the SB-900 uses four AA batteries, one less than its predecessor. Most unusual is a gel auto-detection feature: when used with a D700 or D3, the flash will tell the camera the color of any colored gel attached and the camera will adjust white balance automatically. We’re not sure if it does this by actually looking at the gel or if you’ll have to use special Nikon-only filters. We hope not, but we wouldn’t be surprised.
Another small tweak, most useful for the manual flashers and Strobists out there, is the addition of a dial to adjust the output power. This should make things a lot quicker. It’s an incremental upgrade rather than a radical new product. But then, it’s a flash, so what do you anticipate? SB-800 owners need not rush out to purchase replacements. If you’re in the market, though, it’ll cost you $500.
From the department of “things that should be slung in a burlap sack and drowned” comes VideosTone, a video ringtone application for current, jailbroken iPhones. Hong Kong based company iFonetec (see the carrier on the screenshot? Chinese. Nice unlocking, guys)…
From the department of “things that should be slung in a burlap sack and drowned” comes VideosTone, a video ringtone application for current, jailbroken iPhones. Hong Kong based company iFonetec (see the carrier on the screenshot? Chinese. Nice unlocking, guys) has inflicted this horror upon us, even though thankfully it’s a little tricky to implement.
You install the application from the ifonetec repository (http://app.ifonetec.com). That part is easy. But you need to get the videos onto the phone. If the words /var/mobile/Media/VideoTone/Video/ mean anything to you, you’re good to go. But please. No Crazy Frog, or you’ll end up at the bottom of the lake, too.
Is ViewSonic’s New 26″ Display Too Cheap to be Good? ViewSonic has announced a new monster sized 26″ LCD monitor, and it’s cheap enough to make us worry. The $530 display will show 1080p images (the resolution is 1920ื1200 pixels), offers a contrast ratio of 6000:1 and has HDMI, VGA…
ViewSonic has announced a new monster sized 26″ LCD monitor, and it’s cheap enough to make us worry. The $530 display will show 1080p images (the resolution is 1920ื1200 pixels), offers a contrast ratio of 6000:1 and has HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs.
The problem? I no longer trust cheap monitors. I bought a cheap-o 22″ Acer AL2218W a few months ago, and it’s a piece of junk. Out of the box I had a bright blue stuck pixel, the fluorescent backlight bleeds white and makes the corners glow and the picture, next to that of my MacBook, is dull and flat. This isn’t to knock Acer. It’s a complaint about cheap LCD panels.
And the cheap ViewSonic adds in another worry: built in, 2.5 watt speakers. All these spec-sheet extras usually point to one thing: a poor quality core product. Still, I could well be wrong as I haven’t even seen one yet. 26″ is a good sized screen, and if you’re using it to view movies from a cross the room, even my imagined problems won’t be noticed.
DXG’s New HD Mini-camcorder Aims For Tiny Pockets It was only a matter of time before eager manufacturers jumped into the cheap mini camcorder market established by the Flip and formed a lineup of capable clones. Here’s the first to take a swing: DXG’s 567V mini. The DXG-567V…
It was only a matter of time before eager manufacturers jumped into the cheap mini camcorder market established by the Flip and formed a lineup of capable clones. Here’s the first to take a swing: DXG’s 567V mini.
The DXG-567V looks like an iPod and features a UI that is supposed to alleviate one of the main problems we found with the Flip camera: Unintuitive and over-sensitive buttons leading to unwanted recording choices.
In addition, the cam will have 32GB of internal flash memory, and you can add a 8GB SD card for another memory boost.
Just like the popular Flip Ultra and Mino camcorders, this mini cam (should we call them cammies?), is also built to upload quickly to video sharing sites like YouTube, and has a slightly better resolution cap: HD at 1280ื720/30 frames per second, d1 at 720ื480/30fps, and CIF at 320X240 (versus the Flips’ 640 x 480/30 fps).
One weird caveat: The DXG 567v will only work for Windows Vista and XP operating systems.
When we covered Japanese age-detecting cigarette vending machines back in may, one Gadget Lab reader, named Monjombo, left this comment: So if I hold up a picture of Sean Connery, I won’t be able to hack this? Well, Monjombo. It…
When we covered Japanese age-detecting cigarette vending machines back in may, one Gadget Lab reader, named Monjombo, left this comment:
So if I hold up a picture of Sean Connery, I won’t be able to hack this?
Well, Monjombo. It turns out that, yes, you could. A reporter for Sankei Sports tried fooling the machines with photographs. One was a 6″ wide “photo of a man who looked to be in his 50s” — probably not Sean Connery, but it worked. So did a 3″ picture of a woman in her 30s.
Fujitaka, the company behind the detection software, admits that pics can sometimes fool its machines, and is working on a fix. According to Pink Tentacle, it will be “a more advanced system that will make sure each face belongs to a real human”.
How it will achieve this is left unsaid, but to stop a flat pic fooling it each time, we’d guess that some sort of movement detector could be used, or perhaps a small needle should shoot out, scooping out a section of the customer’s face and testing it to determine their humanity. As a bonus, it could also test for mouth cancer. Surely any real smoker would happily put up with such humiliation in order to get their fix.
Nikon Reveals Rumored D700 at Last It’s here, and it’s exactly what we expected it to be. Nikon’s new semi high end DSLR, the D700, falls somewhere between the flagship D3 and the D300. There’s a lot of stuff packed into the magnesium case, so we’ll…
It’s here, and it’s exactly what we expected it to be. Nikon’s new semi high end DSLR, the D700, falls somewhere between the flagship D3 and the D300.
There’s a lot of stuff packed into the magnesium case, so we’ll focus on the main points, plus a few surprises. The D700 has the same 12.1 Megapixel, full-frame (36 mm x 23.9 mm) CMOS sensor that has made the D3 such a hit. Low light sensitivity is the thing here: the D700 has an ISO range of 200 to 6400, and you can drop it into a special mode that goes all the way up to ISO 25600.
The D700 also gets a live view, just like each compact camera out there, although the press release doesn’t mention a live histogram. This has two modes: The Handheld mode uses the normal focus points (all 51 of them) and the Tripod mode uses focal plane contrast detection for focus. The assumption is that if you’re using a tripod, you’ve a little extra time for this slower but more accurate method.
Talking of focus, the D700 will let you fine tune the focal point of a lens, so if you find you have “back focussing” issues you can fix them and forget about it.
You’ll also find a new Kevlar/carbon fiber shutter, an EXPEED processor with four levels of Active D Lighting and a built in flash with a wireless controller. The price, when the camera makes it into stores later this month, will be $3000. More photos below.
This is the Image Fulgurator, half guerrilla-art stunt and half homemade-gadget awesomeness. Berlin based artist Julius von Bismarck uses his oddly named camera-mod to project images onto street furniture where they appear in the pics of strangers, but remain invisible…
This is the Image Fulgurator, half guerrilla-art stunt and half homemade-gadget awesomeness. Berlin based artist Julius von Bismarck uses his oddly named camera-mod to project images onto street furniture where they appear in the pics of strangers, but remain invisible to their eyes.
How? It’s simple. The device has a slave unit on top which is triggered when it sees a flash fire. This triggers his own flash, which fires through the back of the camera, through a film slide containing his slogan and then on and out through the lens at the front. This works because a camera is pretty much a projector in reverse. And because the light-graffiti is fired at the exact same moment the unsuspecting victim takes a picture, it ends up in their photograph and paranoid mind ramblings result. Neat.
Here’s a video of von Bismarck in action at fake Berlin tourist hot spot, Checkpoint Charlie (no relation):
The Brains Behind the Image Fulgurator Julius von Bismarck’s ‘Image Fulgurator’ projects stealth images into the photographs of strangers, while keeping those images invisible to human eyes. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either a clever hack or an obnoxious intrusion. Naturally, we had to find…
Julius von Bismarck’s ‘Image Fulgurator’ projects stealth images into the photographs of strangers, while keeping those images invisible to human eyes. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either a clever hack or an obnoxious intrusion. Naturally, we had to find out more.
Yesterday, von Bismarck’s device made its premature debut on the web. Today we met him in his hometown, Berlin, to talk about the device, the thinking behind it and the inevitable deluge of e-mails from viral marketers wanting use it to smash their way further into our brains.
But first, about that name: According to von Bismarck, ‘Image Fulgurator’ comes from the Latin for ‘lightning’ (fulgur) and means ‘Flash Thrower’.
First, let us make clear that von Bismarck has applied for a patent for the Fulgurator. He stressed this point. Of course, anyone with the requisite skills can make one of their own, but Julius wants to keep some degree of control over commercial use.
To see why, think about how it works. The device is a altered camera — in this case, an old manual Minolta SLR. A flashgun fires through the camera in reverse, from the back. The flash picks up the image of a slide inside and projects it out through the lens and onto any surface.
The trick is in the triggering. The Fulgurator lies in wait until an unsuspecting photographer takes a picture using a flash. When the device’s sensor sees this flash, it fires its own unit, throwing up an image which is captured by the hapless photographer’s camera while remaining unseen by the naked eye.
Now, imagine for a moment that an ad bureau gets hold of this. You couldn’t take a photograph of a tourist attraction ever again without worrying that some marketing crap would be pushed into your camera. As Julius told me, “I see it as a piece of media art. It could be a dangerous attack on media. [But] if people do shit with it, I feel bad.”
This is the reason for the patent, and even though he doesn’t have an army of lawyers behind him, Julius seems to be on top of the legal side of things. He’s also moving fast. This Fulgurator is the first prototype, and the most primitive. “It works, but it’s not practical,” he states. “In a few years time, big companies will use it for shit,” but by then, Julius will be at the next stage. He already has more working models (which I wasn’t allowed to see) which are refinements of this one.
At its simplest, the Fulgurator is a very easy hack. A hole has been cut in the back of the camera and a piece of clear, roughened acrylic put in its place. A rear tube grants the flashgun to slide in. Everything else remains intact. The slides themselves are just rolls of processed film (the pictures are snapped from Julius’ personal monitor) returned to their canisters and then loaded up as if a normal film. Any image on the reel can be selected by turning the rewind crank. When you hold the Fulgurator up, you can see the subject on the acrylic screen and line it with the image on the slide. You can also focus, to ensure the final projection ends up sharp.
But the magic happens inside the flash sensor on the top. Ordinary slave flashes (which fire whenever they detect another flash going off) aren’t reliable enough, so von Bismarck built his own circuitry. The original was based on the Arduino platform but has evolved into a custom-made circuit. The knobs were for tweaking the settings on the prototype, stuff which is all now taken care of by software.
Julius had ripped the guts out of the box for a newer version, so we couldn’t see it in action, but we know what it does. Modern digicams flash for all kinds of reasons, such as red-eye reduction and focus assistance. What Julius’ circuit does is to ignore all of these false strobes and fire only when the photo itself is taken. This is the secret sauce of the Fulgurator.
Clearly, this is a prankster’s dream. But Julius thinks it has a serious side, too, which is why it looks like a gun. “It’s important that people know it’s not just a funny idea,” he told me, “it can also do negative stuff.”
It seems that the “negative stuff” consists mainly of pissing people off, like the aforementioned marketing uses. We’re looking forward to seeing what the next gen hardware can do, though. Take a look at this picture:
The message is ‘Fulgurated’ onto a black laptop bag. Turning black to white is powerful stuff, but it’s not just slogans that can be fired. Although Julius frames his nerdery in an artistic context (he’s studying a German Diploma called “Digital Class” at UDK, Berlin’s art school) he clearly has a soft spot for tomfoolery. In the image below, you see an image of a naked body which can be projected onto a clothed person.
The possibilities are endless, but Julius is just getting started. When I suggested that he put his own URL on the images, so victims could later check to see just what had happened to their pictures, he seemed surprised (later I learned that he does plan to include it later, to promote his own work). In fact, the whole thing has happened a little too swiftly.
Yesterday’s ‘leak’ onto the internet was intended as a place holder for an entry into Ars Electronica’s Cyber Arts exhibition in September. Instead, it catapulted him into internet fame and he has already received expensive offers for his work. If he manages to keep on top of things, this little hack could make him some large money.
Let’s be honest. If we were willing to drop $600 for a cellphone last year, we’re clearly nerdy early adopters, and are unlikely to complain that the new iPhone will cost one third of the original 1G iPhone’s launch price….
Let’s be honest. If we were willing to drop $600 for a cellphone last year, we’re clearly nerdy early adopters, and are unlikely to complain that the new iPhone will cost one third of the original 1G iPhone’s launch price.
Those of us who think that the world is somehow responsible for our lives (you know who you’re. You’re the ones who sue people when you trip on a loose paving stone) can take heart. Instead of wringing your hands and demanding a rebate from Apple, you could sell your old iPhone for a profit. Jason Kottke, of the splendid Kottke.org, scouted out the prices of used iPhones on Craigslist and Ebay and found that boxed 16GB models are fetching up to $585.
Why? We suspect that these are the death throes of the unlocking industry, a final ejaculation before its neck breaks, hung by the stipulation to activate all forthcoming 3G iPhones in-store; drawn and quartered by the almost worldwide availability of the next-gen handsets. If you can live without your Stupendabrick for a few weeks, we recommend selling now, within this small window of opportunity.
There seems to be a trend in the alarm clock industry to inflict increasingly outlandish tortures on the heavy sleeper, or the plain lazy-bones. Our favorites so far are a clock that donates your money to charity every time you hit the snooze button, and a device which sends a screaming helicopter careening about the room at wake-up time.
In addition to the 
It’s here, and it’s exactly what we 
This is the Image Fulgurator, half guerrilla-art stunt and half homemade-gadget awesomeness. Berlin based artist Julius von Bismarck uses his oddly named camera-mod to project images onto street furniture where they appear in the pics of strangers, but remain invisible to their eyes.
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