Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Meet the Man Behind CNN's Multitouch Magic Wall [Multitouch]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rr_f4aL4qTo/meet-the-man-behind-cnns-multitouch-magic-wall

Those of you who watch CNN have probably noticed the neat multitouch screen the anchors have been playing with since the beginning of the election season. Now that all the votes are coming in and we're literally counting down to the big reveal, the news network has given a shout out to the man behind the Magic Wall—Jeff Han of Perceptive Pixel.

Han first showed off his wall at an entertainment and design conference known as TED, where he charmed the CNN crew enough to take his product mainstream. The crew bought an eight-foot long version of his wall, which became an instant hit—garnering about as much screen time as Wolf Blitzer and inspiring parodies all over the place. But what I want to know, and what the article unfortunately doesn't touch on, is... where do I get my own? [CNN]


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Android G1 Jailbroken Already [Android]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oBhnN8y0KV0/android-g1-jailbroken-already

It's been less than two weeks since T-Mobile's G1 hit shelves, and Android's already been jailbroken. Folks over at the xda-developers forum discovered an easy way to start telnet on the device, log in as root and get full system access and read and write. While the Googlephone is nowhere near as restricted as the iPhone, there were apparently still a few walls that needed to be broken down and now, anything goes. Check out modmygphone for the full list of jailbreak instructions. [modmygphone - Thanks Kyle!]


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Know-It-All LCD Panel Can Scan Fingerprints, Sense Light [LCDs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EDz3r19kBB4/know+it+all-lcd-panel-can-scan-fingerprints-sense-light

The fundamental proposition of consumer technology is as follows: the closer we are to using the gadgets featured in the last 10 years of crappy spy thrillers and action movies, the more progress we've made. That's how the Surface came to be, and how we've ended up with the fingerprint-grabbing, light-sensing LCD panel. AU Optronics has developed systems that can handle both without interfering with a panel's display capabilities. While this tech is not likely to quickly replace the dirt-cheap light sensors that manage screen brightness now, LCD fingerprinting could add an interesting security layer for increasingly common touchscreen devices, among other things. [Tech-On via Gearlog]


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Planex GW-USMicronN: A Teeny, Tiny Wireless-N Adapter [Wireless]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/NBj3Y3bC2IA/planex-gw+usmicronn-a-teeny-tiny-wireless+n-adapter

Wireless-N speeds sound great and everything (74Mbps!), but who wants to buy a bulky new adapter? The GW-USMicronN from Planex makes the upgrade painless, assuming you have an N router. Possibly the smallest 802.11n USB adapter to date (1/6 the size of the D-Link beside it), early testing shows that its range and transfer speeds are competitive with its class, and it features all of the security measures found in bulkier adapters. Arriving in the US for $30 next month, this Planex is definitely worth keeping an eye on. [CNET and Planex]


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Scientist Designs Nanoparticle Optics That Self-Assemble [Nanotech]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/d1J68l5cJKs/scientist-designs-nanoparticle-optics-that-self+assemble

Nanoparticles that self-assemble into complex optical structures sounds like an early ingredient in a future Robot Uprising recipe, but the science team at University of California, Berkeley thinks they'll be useful for nicely tame things. The self-assembly of the nanoparticle silver crystals can be controlled to produce different nano "devices" and it's a a neat way of putting together nanotech that is more typically produced top-down by lithography. The devices can be as diverse as color-changing paint, optical computer elements, and ultrasensitive chemical sensors.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the possibility of using the nanoparticles to construct metamaterials. In this guise they may find use as "invisibility cloaks"... which are currently nearly impossible to manufacture, and that's where the self-assembly part comes in.

The octahedral silver nanoparticles are produced in solution, and are relatively large scale, which lends them potentially better optical properties than competing nanoparticle inventions. [TechnologyReview]


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