technology

Definitive Technology Shows Off Mindblowingly Thin Speaker System

Definitive Technology Mythos SpeakerWhen OLED technology became mainstream TVs slimmed down very quickly with competitors trying to out-do each other on a weekly basis. One thing that’s never particularly caught up with this slim TV phase is slim speakers to match.

It’s all very well have floor speakers that are huge, but when you’ve got your TV on your wall and want to put some uber slim speakers up there too it’s difficult to find them.

The Mythos XTR-50 from Definitive Technology will hopefully change that as they are offering speakers at just 38mm thick for wall-mounting next to your TV. They come in different set ups to allow for them at the sides of the TV, underneath it, or on stands dotted around your room.

It’s a well-known fact that if you choose a slim TV you undoubtedly sacrifice sound quality so adding this speakers to your home theatre set up will allow you to keep the slim looks and not compromise that all important sound. …

Deck the Halls with Cell Phones and iPods?

iPod Christmas Ornament Walking through my local Target the other day, my husband, my daughter and I decided to meander through the Christmas area that is tucked away in the back corner of the store. It is seriously hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is less than two months away.

My daughter and I slowly looked through the rows of sparkling glass ornaments. She is four years old and completely giddy with excitement that Santa’s visit is just weeks away. There were the typical snowmen, reindeer and Santa Clauses lining the walls. Then we looked through the assortment of Doras, Spongebobs and Disney princesses. And then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted some cell phone and iPod glass ornaments. I let out a little chuckle because this certainly demonstrates how tech-focused our society really is today.

Cellphone Christmas Ornament I didn’t purchase the cell phone or iPod ornament for my tree that day. Though, I think I will go back and buy them now. Every year, my tree is filled with ornaments that reflect the personalities, hobbies and memories of my family. And I live in a house of gizmo nuts. My husband and my daughter argue over who gets to use the one iPad. So, I think my tree should reflect that gizmo-mania. Don’t you?

So, deck the halls with cell phones and iPods? Sure. Why not? I’ll just stick the cellphone ornament next to the one of Princess Leia in the gold bikini. And let me just tell you, the Princess Leia one doesn’t belong to my daughter.

Death of The Video Rental Store

Death of Video Rental A few weeks ago, I was sitting at a traffic light by the Hollywood Video store near my home and glanced over at the empty parking lot. This was not an unusual sight because for years the parking lot at the Hollywood Video was always empty. But looking a bit closer, I realized the space was being gutted and prepped for an upcoming Advanced Auto Parts store. The Hollywood Video store was gone for good.

To be honest, I have not entered a video rental store in probably 10 years. But, I still felt a bit sad and nostalgic for all those Friday and Saturday nights back in the early 1990’s that I spent in the video store perusing the shelves for the newest flick with my boyfriend (who is now my wonderful husband). Rows and rows of videotapes, which eventually changed over to DVDs, were all lined up right at our fingertips. We really enjoyed going to the video store.

But then my husband and I stopped going to the video rental store. And it looks like everyone else stopped going too.

15 Technologies That Changed The Way We Watch Television

It’s easy to take for granted how important your television really is. It revolutionized how information spreads, empowered the common man and helped end practices that governments could no longer keep under wraps.

But in the bustle of life, it’s easy to lose sight of the TV advances that gave society so much power. Consider this article an eye opener; below you’ll find some of the most important (and oft-forgotten) gadgetry that brought TV to where it is today…

Book: Geeky Projects for Dads and Kids

Geek Dad Book Just in time for Father’s Day, if your dad is a Geek, “Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share” is a perfect book to gift that will provide you and him hours of entertainment.

Written by the editor of the incredibly popular GeekDad blog on wired.com, GeekDad (the book) is the ultimate, idea-packed guide guaranteed to help dads and kids alike enjoy the magic of playtime together and tap into the infinite possibility of their imagination. With illustrations throughout, this book offers projects for all ages to suit any timeframe or budget.

Some projects you can work on include creating Ethernet cuff links, a cyborg jack-o’-lantern, customized comic strip, your own board game, working lamp with LEGOs, the “Best Slip n’ Slide Ever”, fly a night-time kite ablaze with lights or launch a video camera with balloons!

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $16.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Memristors could take over from Transistors, increase # and power of chips

Transistors may make way for a new type of switch for computer chips. Called a memristor (short for memory resistor), they are simpler than transistors and can store information even without an electric current.

memristorAt the speed at which technology normally moves, it’s a bit surprising that this device first conceived of in 1971 by Leon Chua at UC Berkeley, has only seen the light in the past 2 years.

HP is leading the memristor charge and have announced significant progress. In particular, they have come up with ways to stack layers of switches upon each other, hugely increasing the density of chip components.

As for size, current transistors have sizes of 30 to 40nm (nanometers), while HP has been toying with 3nm memristors. That’s a 10x improvement in size, and that’s not even including the stacking advantage.

via NYTimes

48GB and 64GB SDXC cards to start appearing this spring

sdxc cardAnother technology that will see its latest revision usher in dramatic increases in capacity is SD cards. The latest incarnation is called SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) and has a maximum size of 2TB. Just imagine 2048GB in a card small enough to swallow.

What you need to know about SDXC
Don’t expect 2TB cards to appear just yet. 48 and 64GB cards from Panasonic and Toshiba should start appearing this Spring, with other vendors to follow closely.

You should also have some restraint; don’t rush out to buy SDXC cards without having devices that can read them. SDHC devices can read a small subset of SDXC cards only, and not at full speed.

The other major point that you should keep in mind is that only Windows 7 currently supports reading SDXC.

You can get more detailed information from the SD Card Association.

You may also want to read about USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4.

USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) is Fast! What to Expect and When

usb 3.0 superspeed logoAlthough the specs for USB 3.0 were nailed down in late 2008, production of devices that support or run USB 3.0 have really only now started showing up. Here’s a bit of insight as to what you can expect in the next 2 years.

At CES, a few manufacturers showed off their USB 3.0 wares. In particular, a few like Gigabyte and Asus have motherboards with USB 3.0 ports, while laptop makers HP, Asus and others joined the party, and of course external hard-drive makers like Western Digital and Seagate had their new gadgets with USB 3.0.

Happy New Year! And our 2010 Gadget Predictions

Happy New Year 2010!Happy New Year to you, our readers, your friends and family. Here’s hoping that 2010 is a better year for us all.

In the meantime, while we wait another 12 months to see how things will shake out, we dare to give you our humble predictions for what’s in store gadget and technology-wise for 2010. We’re not going to go too much out on a limb with our 2010 prophecies, because we don’t want to be too disappointed if they don’t come to pass!

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