Only 99% of American teenage boys (12-17) play video games? What happened to the other 1% is what I’d like to know! As for girls, 94% of them play vid games. If you’d like the whole boring report, Pew Research has it on their site.
They were always 3 choices in the operating system market – MacOS, Windows or Linux, with the latter being free but not much good for those who struggled with technology, and the others being quite pricey. Now Google have added Android to the mix, offering a free operating system that (hopefully!) will be easier to use than the Linux base – ironic, isn’t it? Android is built on a Linux operating system and now could possibly replace it.
Android was released in late 2007 as an open source software platform for phones, and contributed to Google’s sector entrance with the G1 which has become quite popular. Google are now hoping to pass on this popularity and familiararity to persuade users to adopt this OS for their computers, and manufacturers are looking to cash in on this to provide low cost laptops with the new operating system without having to resort to XP or a rather more complicated operating system.
Here’s the quick recap for the week:
Heinz’s new innovation is not a new type of super-bean, but in fact a microwave. Talk about diversification! This particular item was designed by Gordon Andrews and Stephen Frazer who entered a partnership with Heinz to produce this for Heinz’s small ‘Snap Pots’ which would benefit from an ultra-portable microwave to cook them with and rather aptly named it the ‘Beanzawave’.
For the technically gifted of you out there, the device users a range of mobile phone radio frequencies to cook the food on the inside and the outside at the same time and it conforms to all the relevant microwave safety regulations. There are also plans a-foot to power the microwave via rechargeable lithium ion batteries to make it truly portable. Pricing currently stands at £100 (approx. $163) but the manufacturers are looking to drive this down in the long run.
The Online Degrees Hub blog has an article listing 25 of what they consider the 25 most important TED talks. Sure, we’re not all going to agree on these, but there’s no question there will be overlap and you may discover something cool or interesting or something revolutionary that will change your life.
Take a look – I’m going to bookmark and watch the ones I haven’t seen yet. BTW, if you’ve never seen a TED talk, go take a look, you won’t be sorry.
We blogged back in March that Google had finally finished up their work on turning GrandCentral into Google Voice. Now they’re taking the next logical step which is to open it up to more than old GrandCentral members. If you had requested an invitation, keep your eyes peeled to your e-mail – you may receive an invite soon!
Meantime, check out the quick video overview of G Voice:
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, and one of the things that they are sponsoring is a contest called Engineering Your World where they’re inviting folks to submit videos showing off the use of engineering/technology in enhancing life in fun and/or interesting ways.
The grand prize winner makes off with a $500 gift certificate. Hurry, submissions end July 6. Here is a cheesy, but good example of a video you could submit:
Here’s some guidance:
Videos can be funny: Think Back to the Future’s opening scene, Pee-Wee Herman’s morning breakfast routine and Ferris Bueller’s “I’m still in bed and awfully sick” door-to-mannequin trick, or they can be serious, too, whatever you prefer. IEEE is simply asking people to showcase the cool ways in which they’ve made their lives easier or a little more interesting via innovative thought, engineering and creativity.
Today’s Gizmo is the Really Easy Reader whose aim is to get you reading documents at a faster speed – they claim that this can easily be double your normal reading speed. This basically works by flashing words on your screen very quickly (hit the manufacturer link for an example), or by running a ticker quickly across the screen, forcing you to read them very quickly and, as such, decreases the amount of time taken to read a document.
We’re ever looking for ways to save time and become more efficient in today’s world and this idea is no exception. Presenting the Metal Detecting Sandals, allowing you to detect metal while you walk via a sensor built into the sole up to 2 feet deep; a control box is then strapped to your leg to translate the signals from the ground into something a bit more meaningful.
When an item is found, the device alerts you with a flashing red or a gentle vibration or buzz. I can’t think of any better way to ruin a perfect romantic walk on the beach by a loud alarm signalling you’ve found a cent buried 2 feet underground!
Price: $59.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Yes! This is real news – a few organisations are reporting that Guitar Hero 5 is due to be released this fall to try and increase its target audience with a whole range of new features (not much news yet on what these are) but there seems to be general focus around so-called ’social play’. Some examples of new features are the ability to ‘jump’ in and out of songs, change the level of difficulty whenever you want during a song and adding more multiplayer game types such as a scenario where the weakest player in each song is eliminated, leaving just the best.
I like the idea of being able to change the difficulty mid-song.
