Gadgets Connect

by Donald Melanson, posted May 1st 2008 at 2:45PMWe’ve already seen a few viruses delivered via hardware, but a group of researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are now warning that we may not have seen anything yet. As New Scientist reports, they’ve apparently managed to develop their own “malicious circuits,” which they say can interfere with a computer at a deeper level than a virus, and completely bypass traditional anti-virus software. To accomplish that slightly unsettling feat, the researchers created a replica of the open source Leon3 processor, and added about 1,000 malicious circuits not present in the original processor. (Read the full post about ‘Researchers design “malicious circuits,” warn of potential risk’…)

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Britain’s lollypop ladies, the equivalent of our school crossing guards here in the US, have just been issued cameras and portable DVRs to record incidents of “lollipop rage” or school zone road rage. The cameras record traffic from both sides and feed their footage to an Archos portable DVR. The system was developed by a British firm known as Routesafe, and several local authorities have already implemented it in their communities. “It’s unbelievable that we have to take this action,” says the chairman of the Local Government Association’s transport board, “but the lives of children are at risk from increasing numbers of drivers who are so selfish that they are willing to put lives at risk by refusing to stop for 30 seconds at a school crossing.” Road rage is becoming an increasing problem in the UK. (Read the full post about ‘UK crossing guards given new weapon against road rage’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 1st 2008 at 5:24PM It may not be very practical just yet but, as Zatz Not Funny’s Dave Zatz points out, this recently discovered telnet “hack” for network remote control of a TiVo certainly offers no shortage of potential. Apparently, this one arose out of TiVo’s deal with Creston to allow for integration with their home automation framework which, fortunately for those that like to dabble in such things, simply involved having TiVo HD and Series3 units listen to port 31339 for connections from a Crestron device. As Zatz notes, however, there’s nothing to stop any device from telnetting to the TiVo’s easily-findable IP address using the aforementioned port and inputting IR codes command line-style. (Read the full post about ‘Telnet “hack” allows for network remote control of TiVo’…)

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Summer is coming and before you know it, you’ll be out frolicking in the sun without a care in the world. Most people will head for the beaches or lakes, as water-based activities are always a popular choice. Next time you do so, why not bring the Performance Water Cycle along with you? This is the single-seat water cycle that combines the exhilarating experience of riding a recumbent bicycle with the smooth water displacement of an open-topped kayak, allowing you to navigate smoothly around lakes, harbors, and ocean inlets. Appropriate for those wishing for a relaxing cruise or a vigorous workout, the craft has an efficient, smooth pedal crank that uses an 8:1 gear ratio to drive a 15″ two-blade propeller through the water, allowing you to reach a speed of up to 7 MPH–as fast as an Olympic swimmer and faster than typical paddleboats. An aluminum recumbent bicycle frame extends from the hull, providing a sturdy platform for its cushioned adjustable bicycle seat, allowing you to achieve an optimal pedaling position. The cycle frame separates from the hull for easy transport. Highly responsive turning is provided by a rudder controlled by the frame’s adjustable handlebars; stopping and reverse are accomplished by pedaling backward. The craft’s fiberglass-covered, high-density foam core hull is buoyant, seamless, and leakproof, with precisely-balanced integral pontoons for a stable ride, even in waves as high as 3′. Its shallow 17″ draft allows you to pedal into water only 2′ deep. Sounds like the perfect summer toy - only if you have a rather fat bank account, since the Performance Water Cycle will set you back by $2,999.95.
Email to a friend Leave a comment Subscribe because know why (via email or RSS)! Related Posts: Pet Spa - wash and blow dryMini Washing MachineStirling Engine Kit - Can It Save The World Too?LG electronics announces new addition to laundry lineFuturistic Bike Sheds Tags: equipment, Ogg, lcd, gear (Read the full post about ‘Performance Water Cycle’…)

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Online mega retailer Amazon isn’t at all happy with a new tax law passed in New York state. So much so, in fact, Amazon is letting loose their legal department and have launched a lawsuit against the northeastern state to have the new law declared illegal. The nexus of the dispute? It’s all about collecting sales taxes.

A new law recently passed in New York demands that online retailers now must collect sales tax for purchases made by residents living in the state. Called by some state officials, as the “Amazon Tax, ” this new tax law has Amazon officials saying, “No thanks,” so to speak.

(Read the full post about ‘New online sales tax law results in Amazon suing New York state’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 1st 2008 at 1:42PM
If you’re already taken care of on the HD media streamer front, Mvix is hoping you’ll look its way for a more portable solution. The pocket-friendly MV-2500U checks in at just 5- x 3- x 0.8-inches and makes room for a 2.5-inch internal hard drive. The simple, LCD-less exterior means that you’ll need to access the interface on-screen after plugging in the (component, we presume) cables to your HDTV, after which you’ll be able to watch video files encoded in MPEG1/2/4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX, XviD, BivX or VCD (DAT) for both PAL and NTSC systems. You’ll also find support for AC3, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG and M3U audio formats, and even JPEG photos can be shown in beautiful 720p / 1080i. (Read the full post about ‘Mvix unveils pocket-sized MV-2500U HD multimedia drive’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 1st 2008 at 8:24AM
Apparently, not only is CompUSA rising from the dead like a horrific, zombified corpse, but now its guts are getting bought up and replaced by another retail behemoth. According to reports, Best Buy has just paid $13.5 million for 17 CompUSA store leases, ranging in time from three to 14 years and totaling 453,000 square feet. If the nightmare of CompUSA wasn’t enough to haunt you in your sleep, the news that its now-defunct locations will be replaced with essentially more of the same should shake you to your very core. (Read the full post about ‘Best Buy snaps up 17 CompUSA leases’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 1st 2008 at 8:59AM Do you enjoy gangs of tiny, spider-like robot insectoids swarming all over your house, car, or personage? If you answered “yes,” you’re going to love what BAE Systems is cooking up. The company recently received an infusion of $38 million from the US Army Research Lab to fund the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) consortium; a team of scientists and researchers hell-bent on developing an “autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots that can operate in places too inaccessible or dangerous for humans.” Sure, that description (and accompanying photos, straight from BAE) does give you the impression that whoever came up with this really liked Minority Report, but won’t it make you feel safer at night knowing a swarm of metallic spiders are looking out for you? (Read the full post about ‘BAE Systems working on spider-bots, other ways to scare you to death’…)

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Although we have previously mentioned Toshiba’s face recognition technology in our coverage of the Satellite A300 and M300 and P300, it is only now that Toshiba is officially promoting the said feature. Toshiba has employed this technology to provide Satellite owners an additional way of securing their dear Toshiba machines from unauthorized users. The technology grants or denies access to people who might use the laptops depending on whether they are registered users. To use the face recognition technology to secure their laptops, users need to have their face profiled by the laptop’s webcam during a short setup process. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba pushing its facial recognition in Satellite series laptops’…)

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by Thomas Ricker, posted May 1st 2008 at 3:26AM We know it’s coming in Q3 but the price of Garmin’s hotly anticipated Nuvifone has always been a mystery. Until now. We just received a screenshot that a helpful reader snagged from a Garmin survey. In it, our tipster was asked the following question: “Now, how likely would you be to buy the Garmin nüvifone (for yourself or as a gift) if offered by AT&T for $499.99 with a two year contract? You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee.” So dear readers, we ask you… (Read the full post about ‘Garmin Nuvifone hitting AT&T for $500 plus?’…)

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