Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Following a so-called “insider’s release” last year that targeted early adopters with beta software running on final-spec hardware, Chumby has finally completed and rolled out a somewhat massive firmware update for the plush lil’ buggers that adds significant functionality — significant enough, in fact, that they’re now being sold disclaimer-free to all comers. Besides a long, what’s-what list of bug fixes, the real draw in the new firmware is fairly comprehensive support for a variety of internet radio services, a feature that previous builds technically supported but had no user interface for (they are Linux-based, after all, and totally hackable). So yeah, if a cute touchscreen with an open-source platform, Flash player, and integrated speakers is just what the doctor ordered, you can pick one up now without the worry of pre-release software getting in your way for $179.95 in black, white, or “latte.”
[Thanks, Kurt]
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Filed under: Laptops
Sure, you probably caught a brief glimpse of the X300′s innards earlier this morning, but the photos waiting for you in the read link below are what we nerds really crave. Some lucky cat in Los Angeles managed to wrap his paws around Lenovo’s forthcoming machine, and rather than booting it up and keeping it a secret, he whipped out the pliers and went to work. You know the drill — tap that link below for all the guts ‘n bolts you can handle.
[Thanks, Loran M.]
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Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.
Last time on Movie Gadget Friday, we entered the 8th dimension with The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, but this week, we’re setting the dial back to the 1978 version of the Seventh Millenia in the original Battlestar Galactica. Filled with feathered 70′s haircuts, insect Ovion aliens, and, of course, Cylons, the movie is an underrated, campy classic.
Muffit II Robo-Daggit
Created as a robotic replacement to a daggit, Muffit II is a life-size, artificial intelligence prototype developed by Dr. Wilker on the Battlestar Galactica. Muffit II has an integrated visual response system, designed to help train the robotic daggit. By scanning a picture of a person into its circuits, Muffit II actively responds and interacts with them. The out-of-the-box system is able to handle basic moves such as sitting and wiggling its ears. However, with time, the robo-daggit can learn to be smart, performing such tasks as disarming Cylons by biting them in the leg while humans try to escape rapid fire. We’re patiently awaiting a Muffit II vs. Roboquad throw down challenge. More after the break.
Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: Battlestar Galactica (1978)
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Filed under: Gaming
Good news for folks with a GeForce 8 GPU and lots of questions about how the recent Ageia acquisition would affect them: your current card will be receiving PhysX support. When NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was questioned in a recent conference call, he noted that the firm was currently “working towards the physics-engine-to-CUDA port,” and it could be delivered as “a software update” to every card that’s CUDA-enabled (read: all of the GeForce 8 GPUs). Sadly, the bigwig still wouldn’t say when to expect the release of the first PhysX port, but we really can’t imagine it taking too awfully long now.
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Filed under: Displays
Ugh, we were already sick of digital photo frames — and now it looks those now-discontinued virus-ridden Insignia units from Best Buy and several other models produced in China were carrying a much nastier trojan that we’d originally heard. According to an analyst form Computer Associates, the trojan, called Mocmex, is able to block more than 100 types of security and anti-virus software from killing it, and bypasses the Windows firewall to download files from remote locations, spreading them randomly over your hard drive and any portable storage device you plug into your PC — like, for example, a digital photo frame. The trojan is apparently set to only steal gaming passwords at present, but CA says it’s capable of stealing nearly any information on your machine, and thinks it might be a test for a much worse virus yet to come. Infected frames have come from Sam’s Club, Target and Costco, in addition to Best Buy, so we’d say to avoid picking one up until this mess gets sorted out — or, you know, forever.
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