Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Glucose has been the building block for many zany creations ’round these parts, but using the widely available substance to create “products currently created from petroleum” has some fairly far reaching consequences. Gurus at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have reportedly “converted sugars ubiquitous in nature into a primary building block for fuel and polyesters,” dubbed hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Aside from the obvious benefits of finding yet another renewable energy to tap into, learning to harness this power could give garb and plastic manufacturers new routes to source raw materials. So what do the creators themselves think? “The opportunities are endless” — we say: prove it.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

As Pong attempts to solidify itself as the most hacked up game in the history of mankind, Ashish Derhgawen has programmed his computer to actually play a homegrown version of the title without any human interaction at all. By utilizing a webcam as the machine’s eyes, he was able to write up an image recognition program that could detect borders and make appropriate movements based on where the ball currently was. Nothing too dramatic in terms of execution, but teaching an old computer new tricks always brings about a certain sense of pride. Check the video after the jump.

[Via hack a day]

Continue reading Computer uses webcam to play Pong with itself

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS

QSTARZ is taking its familiarity with GPS receivers and integrating a data logger to form the newfangled BT-Q1000. This two-faced device doubles as a Bluetooth GPS receiver to navigate your course and allows you to “record your routes” in order to plot points on Google Earth and disseminate the map to your envious pals. Moreover, you can use the device to more accurately tag where your travel photos were snapped along the way, and if you’re in the fleet management biz, this here tool can keep your motorists from straying too far off the beaten path. Designed to last a whopping 32-hours without a recharge, the BT-Q1000 can make your next journey a whole lot more memorable for $119 when it lands later this month.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops

Those hoping for more than an X61s in cow’s clothing will be disappointed to learn that there isn’t much more to this ThinkPad Reserve Edition mystery. Lenovo unveiled the laptop today, with the expected Executive Support services and of course that leather case distracting from the fact that the laptop is nothing new hardware-wise. The support staff apparently will go the extra mile for you, with guaranteed on-site support in major cities within four hours, and even preventative tune-ups to make sure nothing does go wrong. Lenovo used some fancy Japanese saddle stitching techniques for the leatherwork, and left plenty of room for that extended 7 hour battery to do its thing. Specs include a Centrino Pro Core 2 Duo L7500 processor, WWAN, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD and of course that 12.1-inch not-a-touch-screen. Lenovo even tosses in an external multi-burner and an 80GB USB drive for good measure, but despite all the freebies, we’re having a hard time swallowing that $5,000 pricetag. Which is just as well, since the laptop is currently being sold “by invitation only,” and we’re not sitting on any invitations. Let us know if you have better luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

NEC‘s latest LCD displays have more business on a video-wall demonstration than in your living room, but who said having a tile matrix of displays in your game lounge was a bad idea? The 20 series commercial LCD lineup consists of a 40-inch MultiSync LCD4020 and 46-inch LCD4620, both of which feature NEC’s newfangled CV12 pixel technology. Hailed as the first displays to pack chevron-shaped pixels into a large-format LCD, it also delivers twice the contrast of traditional PVA panels, increases brightness and viewing angles, and minimizes off-angle color shift. Each touts a 1,366 x 768 resolution, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, ten-millisecond response time, and uber-thin bezels that come in “five times thinner” than current competitors. Don’t count on these niche LCDs to come cheap, though, as you’ll be laying down around $4,400 for the little guy and upwards of $6,300 for the 46-incher.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!