Daily Digest
It’s Official: The Canon 5D Mk II Will
Turn Us All Into Professional
Cinematographers [Canon 5D Mark II]
Yeah, sure, it was cool to see a professional photog-
rapher spin HD video gold from the Canon 5D Mark
II. But that guy is famous, had a mountain of equip-
ment, a crew, and a freaking helicopter. Not so for the
humble photographer and videographer at Akihabara
News, who took the 5D, a few days and a laptop to
shoot and splice together this stunningly beautiful five
minute video. The results are spectacular, and really
drive home the point that with this 2700 camera, any-
one with an eye for shooting and a laptop can create
a cinematographic masterpiece. There is a discernible
and annoying shake in some shots, but nothing that
couldn’t be remedied with a little jury rigging. Make
sure to enable the HD and smoothing options in the em-
bed, and check out the second half of the video for more
evidence that the 5D’s low-light capabilities are com-
pletely unreal. Another lesson learned from this video:
even the most amazing shots can be ruined by unset-
tling facial hair. Deal with it, Monsieur Akihabara.
[Akihabara News]
i-Sobot Tiny Humanoid Robot Now Just
Tiny 100[I − sobot]
iSobot may no longer be the world’s smallest bipedal
humanoid robot, but it’s still amazing, and it’s had
an amazing price cut too: Last year when it debuted
it was over 300, now it’s just 100. At that price you
could practically afford a small army of them, give them
a suitable evil make-over and re-enact the Orc battle
scene from the end of Lord of the Rings on your dining
table. Or something. [Hammacher via BotJunkie]
Oh Thank Goodness, Someone Made an
Antivirus App For Android [Android]
Ask an avid desktop Linux user if he or she (ok, he)
uses an antivirus solution, and he won’t give you an an-
swer, he’ll give you a sermon. And while his zeal might
be inappropriate, his sentiment will be largely correct:
Linux really doesn’t need antivirus software. Android,
1
with a smaller market share and simpler guts than most
common Linux distros, has even less to worry about
mdash; which is why it’s completely absurd for SMo-
bile systems to release VirusGuard, the first antivirus
software for the mobile platform. The software claims
to be able to scan devices and their memory cards for
over 400 types of known malware, none of which, as
far as I can tell, are harmful to Android phones. Now,
it’s not impossible that dangerous malware could find
its way to you G1 in the future mdash; in fact,Android
has already experienced one security scare mdash; but
installing a piece of software that scans your device for
Windows Mobile virii won’t do anything to stop minor
exploits like that, which can be quickly and effectively
patched anyway. Of course, all this security talk could
just be there to provide parents with excuse fodder to
install this on their child’s G1 mdash; it also moni-
tors voice and text communications. Anyway, Virus-
Guard is already available on Handango, but will make
its Marketplace debut when Google finally enables its
payment system in Q1 of 2009. You misguided peace
of mind will cost a whole 10, by the way. [Android
Community via Slashphone]
Sony Ericsson MBS-900 Bluetooth
Speaker [Speakers]
We hate to tempt you with UK-only products, but
the Sony Ericsson Wireless Home Audio System was
just too tempting to pass up. Featuring a monochrome
OLED display with touch controls, the system can sync
with select Sony Ericsson products to stream Bluetooth
A2DP and AVRCP. In other words, it can play your
phone’s music while the cellphone works as a remote.
To get a better sense of scale, the systems’s diameter is
just shy of eight inches. It packs a 2.1 speaker system
(2x10W and 20W subwoofer) that can play audio from
FM or 3.5mm jack when your phone isn’t around. It
also doubles as a speaker phone that auto-mutes as calls
come in. There’s no price yet, but you can look to
import the MBS-900 early next year. And if you’re
interested in more UK-only gear, hit up Sony Ericsson
to read about the new W705 Walkman phone. [Sony
Ericsson via engadget]
Lightning Review: Babaka Massage
Glasses (Verdict: Face Ticklingly
Weird) [Review]
The Gadget: Microcomputer Massage Glasses. Avail-
able as a freebie if you get China-based company Babaka’s
posture harness (more on that later)... or about 10 if
you choose to buy one yourself. The Price: 10 The Ver-
dict: So apparently these things are supposed to help
relax your eyes after hours of staring at a computer.
As a blogger, I’m always looking for things to keep my
eyesight from getting worse... but the benefits of this
product seem a little dubious. After wearing it for a
couple of seconds, my face started to go numb and I
could feel my contacts drying out. I’m still trying to
blink moisture back into them. These feelers stimulate
the pressure points around your eyes. The Chinese are
really big on acupressure. I love acupressure too, but
this machine feels less health massage and more sen-
sual massage, if you get my drift. Especially since you
can set it to cycle through three modes continuous vi-
bration, slow pulse vibration and fast pulse vibration.
Hmmmm. Oh, and the back brace. My parents insisted
I get one to remind myself to sit up straight while I’m
working. It kind of works... mostly because every time
I start to slouch, it cuts off my circulation and I get
light headed. Better posture through oxygen depriva-
tion FTW! [Babaka’s site. Chinese only.]
NES Air Max Sneakers Are Dignified
Even If Geriatric [Shoes]
They aren’t exactly what we pictured, but we can’t
deny that Nintendo and Nike’s dual venture NES Air
Max sneakers do invoke fond memories of the drab Nin-
tendo Entertainment System. Featuring two tones of
gray and a stripe of muted reddishness, only the keen
sneaker aficionado will know notice the subtle refer-
ence to the Start button, but anyone who doesn’t get it
might not be worth talking to anyway. Available now,
our guess is that collectors will gobble stock quickly if
they’re not already gone. [kicksonfire via Kotaku]
Live NFL Games Broadcast To Sprint
Phones Starting Tonight [Cellphones]
This evening’s Browns/Broncos game will be the
first to be broadcast live for the first time over the
Sprint network. It’s one of eight games that will be
pushed out live to Sprint fans, but the catch is, it’s only
games that are being broadcast on the NFL Network,
the league’s own network that the cable companies love
to hate carries a handful of games exclusively, and is
2
available mostly on DirectTV, Dish and FiOS and on a
few cable companies as an add-on. So if you’re a regu-
lar ol’ cable subscriber, your Sprint phone is probably
the only way to see these games. Full list of compatible
phones can be found here: [NFL on Sprint, WSJ]
EOps i24R3 Wireless Gesture-Control
iPhone Speaker is Quite Beautiful,
Actually [Speakers]
Just unveiled at Tokyo Designer’s Week, EOps i24R3
is probably the best-looking speaker system for the
iPod/iPhone I think I’ve seen. Plus it’s jammed-full
of wirelessness, so the iPod-dock, woofer-equipped base
station is paired with two or more (up to eight) remote
stereo speakers. And in the true spirit of iPhoneness
it’s gesture controlledmdash; touch-free gestures too:
you just wiggle your hand in front of the base station
and control volume and equalizer functions. gallery-
Post(’i24R3’, 3, ”); The satellite speakers are gesture-
controlled too... which inescapably brings to mind a
passage from the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy about
motion-control, which saves ”a lot of muscular expen-
diture of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriat-
ingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same”
thing. There is a full-function RF-remote control as an
alternative though. Plus there’s a wireless dongle to let
you stream music from a Mac or PC. Here’s designer
Michael Young demonstrating the unit:It’s due on the
shelves in early 2009, but with all that 2.4GHz wire-
lessness and sleek design, don’t expect the price to be
cheap. [EOpstech via Core77]
Ruh-Roh: BlackBerry Storm Hit by
Delays [Unconfirmed]
Man, this is scarily familiar territory for RIM. Mul-
tiple reports say that BlackBerry Storm release date
is slipping. Sources tell RBC Capital Markets ana-
lyst Mike Abramsky that the Storm is still undergo-
ing certification at Verizon, pushing its launch back to
late this monthmdash;or even later. Notably, Verizon
hasn’t announced a date yet, even though we’re already
a week into November. While there’s no reason (yet) to
think the delay will be nearly as egregious as the Bold,
Boy Genius points out that Vodafone has already gen-
tly nudged its Nov. 14 date back to the 18th for pre-
orders, and their forums are lit up with whispers of a
delay. These aren’t new rumors either. If at all pos-
sible, Verizon will launch the Storm by Black Friday,
and we think there’s a good chance they will. Just
don’t expect it too long before then. [Boy Genius]
Housefly-Driven Robot Arm Artist
Makes Art Like You’d Imagine [Fly Art]
Picture tracing a housefly’s skittering, random path
as it dots about your home with a trail of ink: That’s
kind of what this cooky art installation evokes. It’s
a robot arm connected to a sensor chamber that has
some kind of fly-enticing power. When a fly is inside
the chamber, the arm jerks spasmodically in time to
the fly’s movements, and traces a beautifully chaotic
drawing on a huge reel of paper. When the fly leaves,
the paper scrolls, so the artwork is constantly evolving.
It’s clever stuff by artist David Bowen, and if you’re
having[DWBowen]
Datamore Port Adds Lambo Doors to
Your Hard Drive [Peripherals]
Most hard drive enclosures aren’t winning any beauty
contests, but at least the Datamore Port is putting on
some lipstick, tightening the girdle and giving it her all.
This USB or eSATA enclosure for SATA drives features
that moving while standing still look along with a hot
rear gull-wing door. Bonus shot: Unfortunately, the
Datamore Port is a Korea-only product that’s priceless
at the moment. But it’s best our hard drive enclosures
don’t have such interesting moving parts because we’d
compulsively yank the drive at the wrong time and kill
all of our data within a week. [akihabara news]
Dealzmodo: Acer Aspire One Priced at
350, T oo[Deals]
Earlier this week we spotted the MSI Wind with its
price reduced to 350 at Best Buy. Not to be outdone,
Acer’s equally impressive Aspire One netbook is 350 as
well over at New Egg. So which 1.6GHz Atom system
should you buy? Your call. They’re both at the top of
their class, just note that the Wind’s screen is 1-inch
bigger while the Aspire One is spec’d at half a pound
lighter. [New Egg via dealnews]
Apple Patents Head-Tracking
Auditorium-Effect Wearable Display
[Apple Patents]
Apple’s patents are nothing if not copious, and oc-
casionally confusing: this new one is in the latter cat-
egory. It’s for a goggle-like display system with an
in-built head tracking system that changes the display
from a somewhat boring ”normal” static one into a dy-
namic view that recreates the feeling of being in an au-
ditorium, baseball park or movie theater. It could even
track the viewer’s eye movements to calculate their in-
tended gaze and overlay fake audiences in front of the
”screen” with accompanying audio effects. You know,
crumpling sweet packets and the like. Lovely. [Electro-
nista]
Japanese Umbrella Is One Huge
Speaker [Singin’ In The Rain]
Japanese researchers in Japan have developed a clever
way to turn an entire umbrella into one giant speaker.
Made of bamboo and paper, the Oto-Shigure uses a
built-in amplifier connected to four tiny vibrating mo-
tors located on the tips of the umbrella. And before
you imagine the streets of Tokyo turned into one giant
cacophony of sounds, the cool thing about this inven-
tion is that the music can’t be heard by anyone ex-
cept the person under the umbrella: As you can see
in the graphic, its design produces a three-dimensional
sound bubble in the area right in the center of the Oto-
Shigure. The inventors, Yusuke Kamiyama and Mai
Tanaka, are now showing the prototype and, if there’s
enough interest, they plan to sell it for just 100. [Pink
Tentacle]
iPhone 2.2 Screenshots Show Full
Podcast Interface, Polished Store App
[Apple]
New screenshots of the new iPhone operating sys-
tem update keep leaking from obscure European sites,
where they have no respect for NDAs and cheddar cheese.
These ones reveal the fully polished over-the-air pod-
cast interface. We got a glimpse of it beforein the
iPhone OS 2.2 rumor round-upbut these show the whole
whole thing, including the downloading process over
the 3G network. There’s a catch, however. gallery-
Post(’ipodpodcasts’, 3, ”); Apple has established that
the podcasts can’t be bigger than 10 MBytes, which will
be fine for most. Still, it looks like this is the closest
thing to ”live” content iPhone users are going to get.
The App Store looks sightly different, although know-
ing Apple’s graphical interface guidelines, I doubt they
will put ugly icons from other apps in the store cate-
gories, so these are probably placeholder. [Schimanke
via Apple Insider]