Cell phones are arguably separated into three categories: iPhone / Palm Pre / BlackBerry, phones that suck are functional for people who don’t care, and everything else. In the everything else category, what distinguishes one phone from another is often (for better or worse) looks, and a company called Kent Displays may have trumped that category with a phone that changes color.
The entire outer surface of this prototype phone is actually a display, called a cholesteric liquid crystal display. Sounds tasty, right? It is tasty… The display is durable, can be molded into any shape, and (eventually) will display 4,000 colors at a high (but unspecified) resolution. A jolt of electricity changes the color, and that’s all it takes: once the color is set, no power is required to keep it up.
This is, of course, the type of thing that you’re not likely to see anytime soon, but it does exist. Is it cheap? No idea about that either, but I’d be willing to pay a premium for a phone that I could set to match my mood. I’m feeling mauve today, how ’bout you?
Foosball itself is rarely boring, but the non-descript plastic players are never that inspiring. So french designer Chloe Ruchon replaced them with Barbie dolls in her Barbiefoot foosball table. Now in France, foosball is more commonly known as babyfoot, so the Barbiefoot name is a bit more clever, but the goal of the table to “stimulate thoughts about different mentalities and the pre- digested everyday ideas we commonly face” will probably have the same effect no matter where you live.
Life’s got you down? Well apparently you can turn things around by simply strapping this unique Ever-Increasing watch to your wrist. It’s part of the SeaHope EleeNo Cyber collection and the time is displayed via a series of always climbing line graphs. So even though you may be feeling down, life will always be looking up! Yeah, I know, it’s a bit of a stretch. But if one of the thing’s that’s been getting you down is the inability to read your watch in direct sunlight, you’ll be happy to hear that the Ever-Increasing watch also features a special coating on the color LCD that makes it easy to see even in bright light! $206 from the Japan Trend Shop.
NASA’s new Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine (CECE) runs on hydrogen and oxygen. The H and O combine, igniting into 5,000 degree steam and releasing a whole heap of energy in the process. So how in the heck does the engine form icicles while it’s running? Well, the hydrogen and oxygen are stored as liquids, and to stay liquid, they have to be very, very cold: the hydrogen measures a rather nippy -423 degrees F. As the hydrogen circulates around the engine, it cools everything way, way down, and when the super hot steam exits the super cold engine, it condenses into water at the edges and then freezes into icicles.
The CECE is called “deep throttling,” which means that the thrust can be adjusted from 8% all the way up to 104% of its maximum rated output of 13,800 pounds of thrust. It’s designed to take people back to the moon, along with all of the crap they’re gonna need to make themselves at home there for a while.
Don’t you love it when you realize that you missed a movie in theaters, and thus have to wait months for it come out on DVD? I’m sure that the movie studios have a good reason for doing it (profit, mostly), but it can still be rather frustrating. Well a few movie studios including MGM, Paramount and Lionsgate have jumped on a project that will allow you to watch movies at home, before they are released on DVD.
The project is called Epix, and it works in two ways. First, it is a TV channel that will air movies in a pay-per-view fashion before they are released on DVD. Second, they will also allow you to stream the movies to your computer, in 720p no less. This all sounds pretty good right? It would be pretty cool if it weren’t for the one little catch. Epix will only be housing their servers with select ISPs. What that means is that you will have to have both TV and internet service through a specific ISP in order to enjoy these movies. Honestly, if I can stream movies online, why do I need a TV channel for it? I ditched my cable service in favor of Hulu and Boxee and I have no regrets. I think I can wait for a DVD.
As far as movie trilogies go, Back to the Future will probably always be in my top 5. I mean it’s got a time-traveling DeLorean, it’s always going to be cool. As such, we’re probably always going to see replicas of some of our favorite items from the movies. Be it actual props from the set, or Nike’s Hyperdunks which were nothing like the ones from the movie. Well today I’ve found the weird-looking hat Marty McFly Jr. wears in the second movie.
I think the most prominent feature of this hat is the strangely-colored fabric that it’s made out of. There’s really the most high-tech thing about it, and not really futuristic at all. I’m no fashion expert, but something tells me that kids aren’t going to be wearing these in 2015, unless they’re reenacting scenes from the movie. This cheesy one-size-fits-all replica will only set you back about $25 when it ships on July 15th.
It might not be as high-tech as a Dyson, but this 18-volt compact vacuum from Black & Decker still manages to one-up them when it comes to cleaning underneath furniture. It features a clever pivoting design allowing the vacuum to essentially fold in half, so not only can it reach deep underneath a couch or a coffee table, but you don’t have to get down on all fours to use it. It’s also got “Cyclonic Action” to keep the filter clean and maintain suction power as the dirt canister gets full, and a 3 stage filtration system for cleaner air exhaust. $99.99 from Amazon or other fine retailers.
There are gobs of Blu-ray players on the market today. I still think one of the better players is the PS3. I like that it has all the features you want from a Blu-ray player, can be updated with new features and plays great video games all for less than many other high-end Blu-ray players.
If you don’t want a PS3 there are certainly enough options available in the Blu-ray market and now there is one more brand to consider. Harman Kardon has announced its first Blu-ray player called the BDP1. You may recognize the Harman Kardon brand from the line of speakers the company has sold for years.
I have been traveling with my notebook many times and wished I had an external keyboard with me. This happens even more frequently now that I use a netbook with an even smaller keyboard and a tiny track pad.
Econo-Keys has announced a new portable keyboard called the EK-76-TP that offers 76 keys including 12 function keys in a small keyboard measuring in at 8.91-inches x 3.54-inches x 0.38-inch. The keyboard is also rugged and is sealed to IP67 standards making it resistant to dirt, dust, and water.
Related Tags: cell-phones, Displays, Innovation
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