Tech Shorts feed

I just created a Livejournal syndicated feed techshorts which mirrors what I am saving to my Bloglines feed. It's mostly snippets from tech RSS feeds, but encompasses strange stories from the news an new science discoveries that catch my eye.

Made-in-Ottawa Tech

Source: XYZ-RGB Corp

From their web site:

XYZ Imaging Inc. is the world’s first holographic printing bureau capable of creating production ready multi-resolution, full color, reflective holograms from pure digital media. This technology uses patented holographic technology developed over a 6 year timeframe at a cost of nearly $ 23 Million US dollars. Combined with a revolutionary emulsion that is more than 300 times finer than ISO 300 film on a super wide format that measures over 1 m wide, allowing for the production of never-before-seen large format holographic prints with a single sheet size of: 1m wide x 1.2m long or longer (based on the length of the film roll).

What is a hologram? A hologram is a three-dimensional scene with an incredible illusion of depth and motion that is unlike anything you've seen before. These holograms can be appreciated without glasses or a special viewing device. XYZ Imaging has created a new breed of large format, color static (non-rainbow) reflective holograms that astound viewers, gathers crowds and becomes the hot topic of conversation wherever they are displayed.

There's not much more to it except to say that it has to be seen to believed. A potential extension of this is to figure out how to replace the chemical emulsion with a digital display to animate it.  Check out the video of a soccer playing bouncing a ball and this advertisement for Final Fantasy.

Wii me a river

A bunch of Wii-related links. No, I don't have one and I'm not interested in getting one, but it's cool to watch a new technology emerge and go through its innevitable teething pains.

Source: Engadget it was bound to happen. A Wii user appealed to the Internet community to make donations to his Paypal account to fix the laptop that had its screen cracked by a Wiimote. Problem is, the image (seen here) is a screen-saver; the computer was never broken. No word on how much he soaked people for before his scam was discovered.

Source: Engadget On the more creative side of things, one user modified the Wiimote into a one-handed air drum. Beat your 'mote and generate music!

Source: Engadget Recognize it? Someone modified a Nintendo Power Glove(tm) to hold a Wiimote to avoid the problem of things being broken in frentic play. The buttons are fully functional. Give it some time and this mod will find its way into being a real product.

Source: Gizmodo Apparently, new Wiimotes will feature a stronger strap to counter claims of breakage. Good response time! That is how you keep customers.

Source: Engadget Meanwhile, for the rest of you with the original flavour of Wiimote, a suggested fix is to use high-test fishing line to augment the Wii strap.

Source: Engadget Ok, this is a little bit staged, but it apparently happened. According to the original poster, the TV was damaged by a flying Wiimote, but there being no camera and the players desperate to finish the game they pulled the remote out and Game On. The next day they re-inserted the Wiimote for the photo shoot. His reply also has a few videos of Wii-incidents that some of you might find amusing (I haven't had a look at them).

All things USB

Source: Engadget If your office is a battleground, then this USB airgun is for you.

Source: Gizmodo On the other hand, Marks & Spencer (briefly) thought that a wonderful gift idea was the computer-equivalent of the hula girl dashboard prop. Enter the USB pole dancer, which was pulled from the shelves (Gee, I wonder why?) less than a week after going on sale.

Source: Gizmodo On to something a bit more practical. This carry case doubles as a keyboard. Typing is about half your normal speed because the keys are made of fabric.

Source: Gizmodo For those who want surround sound from their laptop, a USB sound card. Only $40(US) so not a bad deal.

Source: Gizmodo Give the gift of toasty toes. Apparently the little USB port can even provide enough heat to power a heat... albeit for one foot. Splurge and buy two... you're worth it.

Source: Engadget To finish off the list, this half-gig flash drive requires your fingerprint before it will unlock your data. Just the thing for the security-conscious geek in your life.