Filed under: Networking

Think you’re getting a decent speed for a decent price on your broadband? Well think again. Kuala Lumpur-based Velchip has just announced plans to create a vast broadband-over-powerline network which will deliver 224Mbps to users in Indonesia for about RM5 (or $1.57) per month. The goal is to connect Mosques across the country, linking together 400,000 houses of worship over existing wiring and delivering service to about 60 million users. The $14 billion project will be rolled out over the next three years, with participation from US satellite company STM Networks. It all makes that $149.95 DOCSIS 3.0 introduction look pretty weak, now doesn’t it?

Update: There was a bit of a mixup over whether this service was coming to Malaysia or Indonesia — we’ve corrected the problem.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

If you’ve covered your entire house in gold and diamonds and are left with little else to pimp out, you can always move on to the kitchen. The Nespresso Crystal Edition coffee machine is covered with 3100 Swarovski crystals and will only run you about £1,995 (or about $4,000). But does it make coffee? Does it ever – it comes with a removable grill for macciato lattes, sports an illuminated collecting pan for your used coffee capsules, and does it all with the single press of a pretty, shiny, blingy button.

[Via Red Ferret]

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Filed under: Gaming, Household

Kids — they hate brushing their teeth. Sure, we try and show them pictures of zombie faces and toothless seniors, but it just doesn’t work. Finally, someone has come up with a solution to the problem: make it fun. Researchers at the National Taiwan University have devised a scheme which turns brushing your teeth into a webcam-tracked video game. Using an LED-studded toothbrush, a camera mounted above a mirror, and an LCD display, kids can watch plaque and debris get annihilated from a cartoon mouth while they scrub their choppers. The system is able to track detailed, three-demensional movement of the child’s hand, covering 24 separate areas of the mouth. Kids who tested the system were found to brush twice as well as those who hadn’t used it, but were also extremely cocky about their perfect teeth. Check the video after the break to see the magic happen.

[Via Gizmo Watch]

Continue reading Researchers turn brushing your teeth into child’s play

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It’s a little sad when a “unique” entry in the PMP market means knocking off Nokia design (here we have a sterling example of the 5130) instead of Apple. That said, the M-700 from KNC seems to be a decent unit, with a 2.6-inch widescreen display, 400MHz processor and codecs galore — including DivX and XviD. There’s 4GB of storage built in, but no word on price or expandability.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The last time we got to feeling this crafty was in middle school and involved large quantities of cardboard. The folks at the National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest 2008 have clearly taken things to another level, and while the ingenuity is evident, the commitment to aesthetic excellence is what really makes this event a winner. Also the fake beards.

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