Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, April 06, 2009

NanoCrowd Suggests Your Next Movie Based on Keyword Groups [Recommendations]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/1_LYTLpgrns/nanocrowd-suggests-your-next-movie-based-on-keyword-groups

It happens to the best of us. Confronted with the vastness of modern media, the hundreds of thousands of possible choices, you throw your hands in the air and say "What to watch?"

Nanocrowd is a crowd-sourced movie selection tool. Similar to previously reviewed TasteKid, you give Nanocrowd the title of a movie you've already watched and enjoyed. Nanocrowd then suggests six NanoGenres, groupings of three key words related to the movie. I searched for Big Fish as seen in the screenshot above and selected the grouping of "Fantasy, Wondrous, Surreal" as my NanoGenre. Did NanoCrowd succeed at suggesting movies I'd enjoy?

Its number one pick was The City of Lost Children a relatively obscure French movie released in 1995 that happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. The rest of the 30 or so suggested movies were split evenly between movies I'd already seen—NanoCrowd has no way of knowing that of course—and movies I hadn't. Almost every movie listed I'd already seen, I'd watch again. If you give NanoCrowd a whirl, sound off in the comments below and tell us how accurate or inaccurate you find it.

NanoCrowd [via MakeUseOf]

Rumor: Nokia Is Gonna Make Netbooks [Nokia]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9yITiKlL7vM/rumor-nokia-is-gonna-make-netbooks

TheStreet says that Nokia "has sealed its plans" to get into netbooks, which will be made for them by Foxconn (so it's cheaper, easier and faster for them to start). But here's the real question: What OS is it gonna run? [The Street]

MLB's Incredible Web Video Plans: HD With Mosaic Picture-in-Picture, Live Streaming to iPhone [Mlb]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/R47JOmdPl2c/mlbs-incredible-web-video-plans-hd-with-mosaic-picture+in+picture-live-streaming-to-iphone

MLB's awesome and feature-packed iPhone app could be getting that killer feature—live video streaming—this summer thanks to a new streaming tool in iPhone 3.0, says MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman.

Here's what he says specifically:

If there were a heaven and it came out in midseason, maybe we offer a game or two a day and that way we don't drop the price for At Bat. We would love to do live games on the iPhone. I think people would watch. A whole game? Probably not. But ten minutes?

Beyond that, MLB.TV is about to crush everyone's expectations of what live web video should be: More than 2,000 games in HD, which you can watch four of simultaneously with a mosaic picture-in-picture, multiple audio tracks to pick from and full DVR features like pause and rewind. They're also working on finally allowing in-market web streaming, so you can watch your local team online if you feel like it, not just on your TV.

If I actually liked baseball, I'd pretty hyped right about now. But I wonder if their pay model would be able to be applied anywhere else—would people pay for network programming (Hulu) if it had this kind of functionality? Or just go to torrents?[Alley Insider, MLB.TV]

Mini Hydro Turbine concept could bring renewable energy production to your bathroom

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/mini-hydro-turbine-concept-could-bring-renewable-energy-producti/

Mini Hydro Turbine concept could bring renewable energy production to your bathroom

Environmentalists would have you believe that leaving the faucet running while you brush your teeth puts an unnecessary drain on the environment. We always disagreed, and if Jin Woo Han's concept Mini Hydro Turbine ever goes into production we might finally have something to back up our argument. The device would capture the "free" energy of your tap to spin a little generator, in theory producing enough juice to charge up an electric toothbrush or shaver. That actually sounds somewhat reasonable, but Han's suggestion of powering your boiler with this thing is probably a bit optimistic. It would also take quite an optimist to think this could some day appear in a bathroom made of tiles and not pixels, but we'll keep on hoping; pairing this with a turbine toilet might enable us to take our homes completely off the grid -- or our bathrooms at least.

[Via Gadget Lab]

Filed under: Household

Mini Hydro Turbine concept could bring renewable energy production to your bathroom originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG's new W53 SMART monitors pack more intelligence per pixel

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/lgs-new-w53-smart-monitors-pack-more-intelligence-per-pixel/

Just when we thought the desktop monitor market couldn't get any more staid, LG comes along and spices it up a little bit. The new W53 SMART Monitors series includes a few "smart" additions like ambient light detection for Auto Brightness adjustment (like some laptops have), a Cinema Mode for blacking out the rest of the screen when video is playing, a timer to remind you to take breaks (like right now, for instance... you feel yourself getting very sleepy...) and a proximity sensor to activate the monitor controls when your hand approaches the display, and hide them when you're not tweaking anything. Sizes range from 18.5- to 27-inches, and the models 21.5-inch and up do 1920 x 1080p Full HD at 16:9. The displays also offer contrast ratios up to 50,000:1, and 2ms response times. The lineup should hit worldwide this month.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Filed under: Displays

LG's new W53 SMART monitors pack more intelligence per pixel originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brando's fun lovin' SATA HDD dock / stereo speaker / USB hub

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/brandos-fun-lovin-sata-hdd-dock-stereo-speaker-usb-hub/

Brando, known for its zany USB gadgets (and for playing Superman's father Jor-El) is back on the scene with a combination SATA HDD dock / stereo speaker / USB hub. This might not come with the laugh appeal of, say, the Buffalo USB speakers -- and it may not tell you the temperature at your desk -- but if you don't mind one of these ugmos cluttering up your workstation we're sure you'll be able to put it to good use. Features include: compatibility with both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA hard disks, two USB 2.0 ports, USB audio, three watt stereo speakers (with "rich timbre"), and volume control.Yours for a smooth $59.

Filed under: Storage

Brando's fun lovin' SATA HDD dock / stereo speaker / USB hub originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's new SyncMaster 70 displays consume 33% less energy, 0% less pizzazz

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/samsungs-new-syncmaster-70-displays-consume-33-less-energy-0/

Taking global climate change as seriously as anyone is these days, Samsung has trotted out a pair of new SyncMaster 70 series monitors, on the green tip. Coming in at your choice of either 20- or 23-inches, the displays sport a 50000:1 contrast ration, 2ms response time, and consume thirty-three percent less energy than previous Sammy outings. No word yet on screen resolution, release date, or price. Don't tell us that you're not a little bit excited. Just a little?

Filed under: Displays

Samsung's new SyncMaster 70 displays consume 33% less energy, 0% less pizzazz originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LED-infused HDMI cables add some light to your home theater

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/04/led-infused-hdmi-cables-add-some-light-to-your-home-theater/

We know what you're thinking: you've decked out your gaming rig with a translucent case and a string of LEDs inside, and gave similar treatment to the wall just behind your display ... so why not add that special glow to your connection, too? Enter these HDMI 1.3 cables from Donya, available in only the finest of patriotic colors -- red, white, and blue. It'll set you back 999 yen (about US $10) plus an unknown amount for shipping, but if you're impatient, we're sure there's a little DIY weekend project to take from this.

[Via Akihabara News]

Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment

LED-infused HDMI cables add some light to your home theater originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell netbook roadmap leaks out, get ready for the Mini 11

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/04/dell-netbook-roadmap-leaks-out-get-ready-for-the-mini-11/

Oops, it looks like a Dell middle manager somewhere got a little too excited and let a full set of netbook roadmap slides leak out. The biggest news is a planned Mini 11 due sometime between now and the end of Q3, but the Mini 10 is where most of the action is in the short term -- the current model will get options for Vista, a 3G modem, and potentially a 1.86GHz Atom on April 17th, a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 SKU will arrive in May and everything will be updated again in the second half of the year with Intel's Pine Trail processors. Interesting, but we're wondering when Dell will realize that the Mini 10's HDMI output and 720p screen are useless unless it can handle true HD video -- Ion, anyone?

Filed under: Laptops

Dell netbook roadmap leaks out, get ready for the Mini 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo MRT800 touchscreen PMP unveiled, pities no fool

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/05/lenovo-mrt800-touchscreen-pmp-unveiled-pities-no-fool/

On the surface, Lenovo's MRT800 doesn't seem to have any surprises, but if you look closer... well, it's more or less the same. The touchscreen PMP's got a 4.3-inch TFT LCD with 480 x 272 resolution, a microSD expansion slot, FM tuner, and a voice recorder. Codec support includes RMVB, AVI, ASF, MP4, and FLV for video, and MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, and WAV for audio. Mum's the word on pricing, release date, or if anyone else mispronounces its name and gets the urge to watch A-Team reruns.

[Via iTech News]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Lenovo MRT800 touchscreen PMP unveiled, pities no fool originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia N97 hits FCC with glorious photography

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/nokia-n97-hits-fcc-with-glorious-photography/

We're not sure if these are false color images, weird lighting, a Finnish sense of humor, or an actual production color scheme for the N97, but regardless, we like it. Nay, love it. Ship it, Nokia. Anyhow, the FCC has published full submitted details of one of the non-North American varieties of Nokia's halo device for the year, putting GSM / EDGE 850 / 1900 and WCDMA band II (1900MHz, if you're curious) through their paces along with the FM transmitter, Bluetooth, and WiFi. We've also got a manual to peruse -- unfortunately, details on the Ovi Store are missing, but at least we can brush up on our phone basics before we get our hands on a device. Anyone else totally forget that it's got an internal magnetic compass, or was that just us?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia N97 hits FCC with glorious photography originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia's E75 now shipping to eMail lovers, pixel haters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/nokias-e75-now-shipping-to-email-lovers-pixel-haters/

It's out, Nokia's E75 S60 QWERTY is now shipping according to a feverish Nokia press release. For Espoo, that leading "E" stands for businEss so this slider is all about corporate eMail -- a first handset to ship with Nokia's new eMail user interface -- as well as getting you connected to your personal accounts from Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. Unfortunately, the decent quad-band GSM / EDGE and dual-band HSPDA data, WiFi, microSD expansion, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a-GPS specs are offset by that puny 2.4-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) display. For our money, we'll be holding out for the 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel N97 QWERTY slider just peeped in the FCC, thankuverymuch.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia's E75 now shipping to eMail lovers, pixel haters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TiVo update brings pause menu ads to Series3 & TiVo HD owners

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/tivo-update-brings-pause-menu-ads-to-series3-and-tivo-hd-owners/

TiVo heard you liked ads, so it's putting ads in your pause menu so you can watch ads while you skip ads. Already rolled out on older Series2 hardware last December, Dave Zatz posts that the 11.0c software update for Series3 / TiVo HD hardware brings the new "feature" of ads popping up while viewers are time shifting. That can show up as a "More information" prompt for some shows, as seen above, but will hold advertisements on certain programs. The prompt will only show up once per recording, but if this new form of advertising bugs you, TiVo Community user bfdtv instructs that permanently hiding the progress bar can be achieved by pressing pause, press down to hide the popup, press play again, then enter SELECT-PLAY-SELECT-PAUSE-SELECT, which can also be reversed by using the code again while watching a recording. Still, we doubt the ad skipping arms race will end here.

Read - TiVo's Pause Menu Spam Hits S3/HD Units
Read - TivoHD Overview, Q&A, Setup, Tips

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

TiVo update brings pause menu ads to Series3 & TiVo HD owners originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, April 03, 2009

This Ornate Scroll Is A Gadget

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/amio4orSzhQ/

It's inlayed with some mother-of-pearl work and looks like the Korean 'Najawnchilgi' lacquer ware craft, but Gyo-Ji is actually a translation device. Compared to the ViewTrans that we saw recently, this scroll features a rolled-up screen and allows you to write the foreign script directly onto it for translation. Another way of getting the job done is to place the screen on the foreign script and then hit the translation button. At this rate I think translation dictionaries and handbooks will soon be redundant.

Designers: Soonkyu Jang, Taehee Woo, Yonghuk Yim & Chung Lee

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Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/c7LVd0Z433k/portable-ubuntu-runs-ubuntu-inside-windows

Windows only: Free application Portable Ubuntu for Windows runs an entire Linux operating system as a Windows application. As if that weren't cool enough, it's portable, so you can carry it on your thumb drive.

Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn't bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.

The coolest parts about Portable Ubuntu are:

It actually works (in most cases, on most systems).
It fits on a (larger) thumb drive and can run entirely from it.
It can work on, and save to, your Windows folders and files.
It's persistent, so changes you make and apps you install are carried around with you.
It's easily manageable from Windows, and works great on dual monitors.

Wanna give it a go? Grab the latest Portable Ubuntu package (about 438MB as of this writing), then double-click to unpack it to a folder. On Vista or Windows 7, you'll have to open your command prompt as an administrator (hit Windows key, type in cmd, then right-click on the "Command Prompt" option that appears and select "Run as Administrator"); on XP, you'll probably just hav! e to lau nch a command prompt. Head to the folder where you extracted your Portable Ubuntu, and enter run_portable_ubuntu and hit Enter to launch the .bat script.

Your machine will whir and decompress for a while, and you'll likely get a few prompts to "Unblock" coLinux and a few other apps' abilities on your system. Unblock all of them, and you'll eventually get a small, move-able menu bar on your desktop, as seen in the top screenshot. Drag this wherever it's comfortable to keep it, and you're on your way.

From those three pop-out menus—Applications, Places, and System—you can accomplish pretty much the same thing as any Linux user can, just without the full desktop. Launch a program, and it appears in a window that looks like any other on your Windows system. Open a file browser from "Places," and you can get to your Windows files by heading to /mnt/C (or substitute your drive name/letter for "C"). Feel free to carry around Audacity, GIMP, or any other editing programs that lack a Windows equivalent and start getting creative with them.

Whatever changes you make to your system stick with it. So if you, say, want to install VLC media player for some on-the-go media, you can install it from the Add/Remove dialog or tackle it manually in Accessories->Terminal, and it'll be planted right in the Sound & Video menu. The same goes for system tweaks or startup apps you add to your little Ubuntu package.

Portable Ubuntu makes for a great place to test out your more cutting-edge stuff, wi! thout ha ving to worry about messing up your working Windows system. The latest beta of Firefox 3.1/3.5? Even easier to run than the portable solution, and you can keep both your Windows and Portable-Ubuntu-launched Firefox browsers open at once.

When you're running Portable Ubuntu, Windows treats it like any other program. You can close down individual app windows from your taskbar, and pop it onto and off your desktop with little hassle.

Portable Ubuntu is a free, portable download that runs from Windows systems only. Drop your Linux-inside-Windows ideas and other geeky stuff in the comments.

Portable Ubuntu for Windows [via gHacks]

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