Gizmo’s and Gadgets

At first glance an apple shaped remote may seem sort of ridiculous (and maybe it is) but there are certainly some interesting features to this concept device by Jason Roebuck. First off, the apple theme is more aesthetically pleasing than a standard remote —especially when arranged on its “bowl” recharging station. In fact, they actually add something to the decor.

The idea is that each member of the household would have their own personal remote, programmed to their tastes. The device could also respond to motion gestures like rotating it left to lower the volume, and rotating it right to raise it. When not in use, the apples can be returned to the bowl for recharging. I don’t know if Sony would actually be into something like this, but I can see how future products could incorporate some of these ideas.

VIA [ Yanko Design ]

Addressing one of the major reasons OLPC’s XO Laptop is being shunned by some countries—the lack of a Windows operating system—Microsoft is developing a version of Windows XP and Office that’s run directly off of a 2GB SD card. (They convinced OLPC to add an SD slot to the mobo for this very project.) It’ll be conducting “limited field trials” with OLPC next month, with a possible launch sometime after June. The catch?

It won’t be offered to anyone in the US or Canada, even quasi-philanthropists participating in the Get One, Give One program. But, we’re guessing the anti-copying measures won’t be particularly hardcore, meaning it’ll probably make its way to the internets not long after launch. Bootable Windows on an SD card would be pretty nice on our side of the world too, actually.

VIA [ CNET, CNET ]

In addition to Micron’s traditional solid state drives announced today, they also showed off a concept for a SSD module that resembles RAM in physical design and would fit into a similarly designed port. It’s obvious but genius: while the SSD drives with SATA interfaces are terrific because they can be used in current laptops with no mods, the real performance of flash mem is only going to be unlocked when we cast aside the legacy of spinning disks and their cases and interfaces and mount SSDs on the mobo like we do RAM modules.

The design uses a SATA interface and is only 4 mm thick. Micron claims the advantages of such a design are the small size and the ability to line up multiple drives next to each other. In addition, this design requires no wires or attaching the motherboard with screws, reducing the risk of the SSD becoming disconnnected or loose inside a computer. While this product is nowhere near ready for market, Micron says they would need to work with an OEM or someone who can offer a compatible computer solution.

VIA [Micron]

Randy Nunez’s Xbox 360 is being beaten to death by Halo 3, so that it “routinely, consistently, and systematically ‘froze,’ ‘crashed,’ or ‘locked up.’” Naturally, this “disrupted game play.” For his pain and suffering of having to reset his console to resume getting teabagged, he wants $5 million and class action status, ’cause “many consumers” are having these issues. Sorry. My bad. I take full responsibility for shooting people in the face that hard. I thought I was just knocking them off the internet, but apparently it’s crashing their 360s too. I apologize. But seriously.

As Ars points out, Microsoft’s been pretty public and all apologetic about the rampant Red Ring plague, dumping a billion dollars into seriously (and appropriately) extended warranties for repairs multiple times, and beefing up hardware to take the heat. More importantly, the Xbox 360 was killed by Halo with the candlestick in the living room connection is a thread that hasn’t exactly lit up the internet or the media, and they (we) love jumping on that kind of stuff.

Via [ GIZMODO ]

Using Star Wars films as one of the inspirations for his designs, a masters student at the University of Texas named Jason Mellard developed an aquatic research and housing facility to be located 50-100 miles offshore. Scientists studying marine and bird life would stay on the platform with their families in 6-13 month shifts and work in spheres consisting of laboratories, classrooms, computer labs, viewing platforms, holding tanks, offices and storage.

The actual research facilities would be submerged below sea level to aid in marine study and the living quarters would float on the surface. Certain portions could even be detached and act as independent vessels. And the whole thing would be powered using a combination of wind energy, solar energy, water currents and electricity collected from lightning.

Whether we will ever see this concept come to fruition remains unclear. A major stumbling block would certainly be Mallard’s estimated $500 million to $1 billion price tag. So, unless there is someone out there with really deep pockets and a love for whales/the films of George Lucas, this one will probably remain on the shelf for a while.

[AIA via Inhabitat]