Perhaps you were "busy" doing "productive things" like "earning a living" this week, and missed your dose of Boing Boing tv? I'll re-embed the episodes below.
SPECIAL THANKS to our sponsor Toshiba for making this week's programming possible. Go have a look at laptopexperts.net, where Toshiba and various assembled experts will answer all your questions on gaming, hardware, buying, troubleshooting, the inner life of laptops, and why unicorns make us happy.
Back for more, eh? Well you've come to the right place -- the Engadget Podcast! Join Josh, Paul, and Nilay as they take you on a magical journey through the trials and tribulations of the BlackBerry Storm, investigate the legal situation the Apple-cloning operation known as Psystar, dish on the latest Zune and Xbox happenings, and lament the forthcoming death of FireWire as it cedes its high-speed throne to USB 3.0. And just think, access to this treasure-trove of information is yours free of charge!
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel Producer: Trent Wolbe Music:Paranoid
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
Researchers are using Guitar Hero to help train amputees who will use electrical signals from their residual muscles to control next generation bionic arms. From IEEE Spectrum:
In mid-October, Johns Hopkins University researchers Robert Armiger and Jacob Vogelstein traveled to RP 2009 partner Duke University, in Durham, N.C., to test the system on its target demographic, in this case Iraq veteran Jon Kuniholm. Kuniholm's right hand was lost to shrapnel three years ago. About to finish his Ph.D. at Duke's Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems, Kuniholm has been a volunteer for the DARPA program for the past two years and is the outspoken founder of the Open Prosthetics Project, an open-source Web site, independent of DARPA, that aims to make prosthetic-arm technology as open source and collaborative as Linux and Firefox.
With electrodes attached to his residual arm, Kuniholm was able to operate the frets using signals from the muscles there. "It's fun," says Kuniholm, who achieved the highest score reported by the experimental subjects: 70 percent. Kuniholm says that while Air Guitar Hero is the only game so far that requires individual finger movement to train an amputee to deal with those muscles again, the real success is in striving for a realistic goal. "You're doing something simple," he says. "It's not rocket science. But you have to do it fast and you have to time it right."
The folks over at Laptop have gotten some quality face time with a pre-production model of ASUS' 10-inch Eee PC 1002 HA, and they seem to like a lot of what they're seeing. It boasts stylings reminiscent of both the Eee PC S101 (trackpad) and the 1000H (keyboard), and as such is basically a hybridized version of the two, though the test model "wouldn't power on" so we can't got much further than that. We do however, know that it'll house a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, and that it'll have a two-cell battery which ASUS claims will give users five hours of juice (though that sounds pretty suspect to us). The Eee PC 1002 HA is expected to ready to roar on the first of December for $499, but if you simply can't wait until then to have a look at it, hit the read like for more photos and a really, really interesting video.
It isn't so much the technology behind Zumobi's free app Ziibii that refreshes RSS on the iPhone and iPod touch as it is its presentation. Ziibii, which means 'river' in Algonquin*, extends the metaphor to depict posts from your various RSS feeds as rafts floating along a stream of information.
Watching posts float by is fun concept--for a few minutes at least--and one that's heightened by the fact that stories, photos, and friends' status updates appear in random order as a round-up of all your RSS subscriptions.
Ziibii's feed flexibility is good, but not great. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube are represented, and you'll also be able to add presets from Ziibii's list of popular sites or add your own favorites. Hopefully soon, Ziibii will make it easy to select more popular sources and aggregators, as does Viigo's thorough RSS reader for other platforms.
Of course, not everyone appreciates this 'blended' view, nor the unconventional current-cum-display. My Type-A fellows can escape to a listed view of feeds and flick in either direction to see more mish-mashed headlines. When you're ready to read up on one feed at a time, the Filter button temporarily hides stories from all but your selected source.
Ziibii earns brownie points for including an in-app browser when you want to read a full article, and for being able to post stories to Twitter or e-mail them to a contact.
With the exception of a small library of feeds, Ziibii is an excellent and creative alternative to your iPhone's RSS reader.
*Fun fact: The 'ssippi' in 'Mississippi' is derived from 'zibi.' The etymology according to Wikipedia: "(cf. Illinois mihsisiipiiwi and Ojibwe misiziibi, "great river," referring to the Mississippi River.)"
Great news for all you aspiring paparazzi -- it looks like someone has finally figured out how to eliminate that nasty camera phone shutter lag. By sending image data directly to the camera's display and capturing it as a modified SpeedTagged JPEG when the time comes to immortalize that precious moment (or romantic indiscretion), the Scalado Camera Solution not only takes nigh-on instantaneous photos, but also provides high quality, real-time preview, pan and zoom. With several camera phone sensor and module manufacturers (including Aptina, OmniVision Samsung, and MtekVision) already on the SpeedTags tip, it looks like that laggedy old camera phone may soon be a thing of the past. Don't believe us? Take a look at the demo video yourself. It's after the break.
Pokie Magic - Aztec Invaders is an Aussie style slot simulation (also called a poker machine or a "Pokie"). Play the pokies at home! The one time price gives you THREE great games - Aztec Invaders 5,Aztec Invaders 6 AND Aztec Invaders 6 Special Edition! Your registration code will work on all 3 games. The theme of this game is all about the mysterious Ancient Aztecs. You will have great wins in this much acclaimed game... Pokie Magic :: pokie :: magic :: aztec :: invaders :: pokie :: magic :: games :: cards :: casino :: lottery :: pokiemagic-aztecinvaders deluxe :: Pokie Magic- Aztec Invaders
Arcade Lines is an extremely addictive puzzle game using brilliant graphics, pulsating music and a great variety of different game modes. It is very easy to learn, but not so easy to master! You'll be hooked for hours. Try to prevent the board from filling by forming rows of 5 or more pieces of the same color. Also great for the kids, keeping them amused while developing strategic thinking... Download Software :: arcade lines 1 5 :: arcade lines :: arcade lines hack :: arcade lines 1 3 :: arcade lines 1 71 hack :: arcade line :: Arcade Lines
Rainbow Web takes you on a fun adventure to the land of fairies and elves. Spider, an evil wizard, has cast a spell over fairy creatures and spun a web over their kingdom... Sugar Games :: rainbow :: web :: sugar :: games :: games :: puzzles :: rainbowweb :: Rainbow Web
CheboMan is a classic arcade game, all about collecting treasures and rescuing your friends. Level after level, wandering through the forests, caves, oceans and mountain you will meet more monsters, face more obstacles and collect more bonuses. Life-saving isn#t one easy job, so, in case you need an extra hand with that, you can use the multi-player mode and play CheboMan with a friend of yours.... Alawar Entertainment :: cheboman :: arcade :: game :: games :: classic :: alawar :: entertainment :: CheboMan
You are playing through a little fairy named Ptolemy. Ptolemy knows the incantation that turns her enemies into cakes. When dropped from somewhere (you or somebody else can push it or it may fall down by itself), the caked enemy expires. You can use your enemies as footholds for moving around the playground. Some artifacts emerge on the screen during the game. Take them with you and use at the right moment.... Alawar Entertainment :: fairyland :: alawar :: game :: entertainment :: gameover :: arcade :: remake :: Fairyland
Beetle Ju is arcade game like earth-digging, stone-falling and fun thinking games such as Boulder Dash, Supaplex and Digger. A bunch of monsters invaded Ju's world, and nobody knows where they came from! You must get rid of them. The game features cartoon-like graphics, several dozens of in-game objects, such as bonuses, weapons and treasures, a lots of levels and levelpacks. Don't miss that game! It's a must-have for whole family.... Alawar Entertainment :: beetle :: ju :: alawar :: classic :: game :: remake :: advanced :: entertainment :: arcade :: Beetle Ju
