Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
A company in Japan have created a cool system which can render in real time your head and modify the look such as hairstyle, face paint and such. This type of technology could be used for gamers who interact with each other online or even for real world type stuff such as testing new hair styles before the scissors attack your hair. As it’s in Japanese, I have no idea when this will be available or any other details. Enjoy the video below.
Via: Barechoons
WoW (Blizzard Entertainment) have joined forces with Ed Fries (former MS game studios VP) to create 3D statues of individual characters from the popular game World of Warcraft. The service is named FigurePrints and costs around $100 to create professional looking 3D statues of your favourite character. When ordering you go through the step by step process and can choose anything from clothing to what they are standing on. Once built it will be delivered in a glass dome to where ever you wish.
The cool part of the system is that they use 3D printing to create the characters. 3D printers have been around for a few years, but still haven’t gained too much popularity due to high costs. The 3D printers can replicate any WoW model you wish and mixed with custom painting you have one seriously cool looking 3D model.
This Sat Nav device from Provia looks amazing. The images are displayed on an 800 x 400 7 inch display. As well as having a great looking screen, the GPS will have 3D models of landmark buildings to add a more realistic view to the navigation system. Also the Provia is capable of showing a picture in picture set up allowing DVDs to be watched while navigating although hopefully that wont pose a risk to drivers as it seems odd to mix the two together. The processor powering the Provia A1 is a 520MHz Intel PXa270 and the device has 128 Meg of RAM with an expansion slot too which allows for an SD card up to 2GB to be used.
This particular GPS device only seems to becoming available on the other side of the world in Korea. I think its time they send one over here for trial.
Via: SlipperyBrick
TomTom have been in the SatNav industry for a while now. I owned one of their first navigation pieces of software a few years back for my Cassiopeia EM500 Pocket PC. I was amazed at the 3D maps and how they could rotate as you changed direction. However, thats all old school now as TomTom have filed a cool new patent which allows for actual video footage to be displayed on the screen of the SatNav and then the line of the route you take is superimposed on top of the live video. This is an excellent way to go as you actually will see what you are supposed to rather then a guess at what exit you should be taking when the regular maps are not quite clear.
The 007 Phone is a mixture of an old phone with new insides. It reminds me of one of those old Motorola brick phones from the 80s, but yet crammed with todays technology. The screen is quite large at about 4 – 5 inches although specs do not confirm this. The phone has a built in 2 megapixel camera, 3D surround with stereo speakers and has a lot of James Bond images and music built in. One more picture after the jump. [Read more…]
Many business cards are boring to be honest. Most, if not all just show your name, rank and how you can be contacted. A guy named James Alliban has decided to used augmented reality to create his business cards. The cards were printed at moo.com and on the back contain a graphic which is then captured on to a computer via a webcam. When the camera picks up the little graphic a cool 3D grid of coloured planes pops up, each extruding towards the camera depending on the brightness of the pixel, and then a video can be played back with the business card owner being seen talking with a message about himself. [Read more…]
Nikon has announced the Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera. The new version of the camera allows full HD video to be captured in 1080p and has full time auto focus built in.
The Nikon D3100 has a 14.2 megapixel sensor and as mentioned above, is capable of full time auto focus while using live view. Nikon mention that this is a first for a DSLR camera.
Other features include the new EXPEED 2TM image processing engine that when mixed with the 14.2 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor, providers rich image quality. [Read more…]
Joby are known for making the Gorillapod devices that have flexible legs and can carry cameras to capture pictures from cool locations. The company has announced the Gorillatorch Flare that brings the same flexible/magnetic tripod system but to an emergency kit device.
The Gorillatorch Flare brings a bright and powerful beam to the tripod making it in to a powerful flash light that can be used in emergencies. The Gorillatorch Flare can attach to most things either magnetically or by wrapping it’s legs around an object such as a tree or fence post.
The device can light a target by using it’s four powerful LED’s that can shine at 100 lumens. One white LED is included along with 3 red LEDs. Various light modes can be selected which includes low, medium and high for brightness settings along with flashing white light, and steady or flashing red light. [Read more…]
As far as I can remember back, I don’t think we have ever covered the subject of pottery here at gadgetvenue. So, here we have perhaps the worlds first pottery gadget that uses 3D technology with an old art.
The device consists of a 3D scanner that tracks movement of your hands. The 3D scanner part is referred to as a Virtual wheel. This technology is combined with a 3D printer that converts ceramic powder in to a solid form and then cools it down.
So, you create your virtual potter subject and once done, you send it to print and it gets built for you as you designed it. [Read more…]
iKat is quite a cool looking Augmented Reality application that requires no real-world prompt to function correctly. Normally when augmented reality is used a place card is held up with an image on it which the phone can then lock on to and replace with the 3D rendered model. In the case if the iKat it just takes a quick scan of what the camera is looking at and can figure out where to place the 3D object.
The iKat application is basically just a cat that walks across a keyboard when holding the phone up to it, but the idea behind it is really what we are interested in here.
“Based on Zenitum’s D-Track engine, we are working on markerless mobile augmented reality application, iKat. You are breeding a virtual kitten on the phone. The kitten can be mixed into real world using AR. Since no markers or image targets are needed, you need to recognize the space in front of the camera for creating the appropriate space for your kitten.”
Sony have announced a new GPS unit designed for bike users. The device is called the Sony NV-U34 and is more rugged than a traditional satnav unit allowing it to be used in all weather conditions.
The unit is quite small measuring 112 x 17.8 x 79mm and weighs 176 grams. It has a 3.5 inch QVGA screen that is also touchscreen displaying 320 x 240 pixels. The software built in allows for both 2D and 3D navigation. A specifically designed handlebar mount is also available allowing it to be securely attached to a bike.
Storage wise it has 8GB of memory built in which can be increased by using Memory Stick Duo cards. [Read more…]
LG have created a new robot vacuum cleaner called the LG RoboKing. The RoboKing is smaller than the previous model measuring just 90mm tall where as before the previous version was 130mm tall. This allows the vacuum to manoeuvre more easily under objects such as book cases and furniture.
As well as being shorter in height the vacuum has also got 13db quieter and now measures 50db when in use. The LG RoboKing has two cameras built in allowing it to more easily navigate around a room. Programming has also been improved it seems as the vacuum also works 30 percent quicker than previous models perhaps by cleaning a room more efficiently rather than randomly like before. [Read more…]
