Continue reading Sync adds turn-by-turn, traffic reports for some 2010 Fords

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Sync adds turn-by-turn, traffic reports for some 2010 Fords originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What better way to welcome the new year than with a collection of bright and shiny party gadgets?

So here's the list to get you started. You can handle the basics: Flare pants. Sequin dress (for the ladies and some of the gentlemen if that's what they want). Hair gel. Beer. Breath mints.

But Wired's Gadget Lab has got the electronic tools you need to make this a truly 21st century event. Whether you are going to live it up on Times Square, throw your own block party, or merely make a drunken nuisance of yourself in a subway car, here are eleven cool gadgets that can help you pass the last few hours of 2008 in high-tech style.

Alcohawk ABI Digital Breathalyzer
So your New Year's Eve resolution is to quit drinking (for the 10th year in a row) but you want to have a blowout before you give it all up. Too bad you had to drive to the party. Before you get back into the car at 4 a.m., fish out the $100 Alcohawk digital breathalyzer and do a quick test. Above legal limit? Taxi!

Pacemaker Pocket DJ System
This beautiful piece of hardware is pricey ($800) -- but it's all you need to recreate a mobile disco. The Pacemaker has two digital “decks” that let you scratch, bend and tweak your tunes to create a party that you can actually start selling tickets for. It also comes with extensive mixing functionality including allowing you to change the pitch, cross fade and a 120 GB hard drive.

Soundproof Microphone
Clearly karaoke is not your thing. That's why you may want to put a bag over your head when you sing, or do the digital equivalent of it and get a soundproof microphone. This rather uncool-looking device muffles your singing and lets you belt out Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" without letting everyone know you are more like William Hung.

Porta-Party
Shy guest coming to your New Year's Eve party? Rent this booth so they can party in private -- sort of. Los Angeles-based artist Nick Rodrigues has created an iPod-shaped booth called Porta-Party that you can walk into. Shut the door, crank up the music and start grooving. The best part is the exhibitionist streak to the whole idea. The iPod-like screen on the booth shows a video of what's happening inside. Get ready to put on a show!

Remote Fireworks Launcher
Why risk starting the new year with first-degree burns? If you have a place to set off some neat pyrotechnics, then it's time to get the remote fireworks launcher. With a wireless remote you can then set off up to 5 different fireworks at one time. Burn, baby, burn!

DIY LED Mirror Ball
A disco mirror ball is a must-have for every New Year's Eve party. What else are you going to point your upraised hand towards when "Stayin' Alive" comes on? But ordinary mirror balls are so ... ordinary. Instead, buy a mirror ball and soup it up with some LED to make your party even more disco-licious.

Cocktail Fountain
The name suggests a centerpiece shooting a fountain of Martinis or Manhattans high into the sky. The Cocktail Fountain is not quite that awesome. But this electric device promises to deliver cascades of alcohol-y delight directly into cups, which is almost as good. It's the adult version of the chocolate fountain.

LED Throwies
Some people just talk about painting the town red. Others actually do something about it. LED throwies are little blobs of LEDs, stuck together with a battery and a rare-earth magnet that can be thrown and stuck to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood. They're cheap and easy to make. Throw a few on nearby trains, buses and bridges to light up the city.

Mood Lighting Kalediosopic Critters
Party lighting could mean candles and Christmas lights. Better yet, how about some glowing critters that look like cousins of Casper the friendly ghost? They come in four moods--chipper, peppy, dizzy and gloomy--which will probably reflect your mood cycles through the evening. So bring on the kaleidoscopic critters, add the mirror ball, the pocket DJ system and the cocktail fountain and it will be one helluva party.

Sony Dancing Egg Rolly
Need a party attraction? How about a dancing egg that flashes and rolls to the beat of the music it's emitting from its own flapping speakers? The Rolly dancing robot from Sony may be entirely useless, but it's good for a few laughs. It could be an icebreaker, too: If everyone is standing in the corners, roll this out on the dance floor and watch the crowds follow.

Cobra XRS Radar/Laser Detector
New Year's Eve can have more cops per square feet in your town than a drug bust on a Baltimore street. Which is why even going at 55 miles per hour in a 50-zone is enough to get the red and blue lights flashing behind you. Before you hop into the car, turn the radar detector on and give yourself some advance notice about upcoming speed traps. A warning though: Radar detectors are illegal in some states.

Photo: Disco Ball (massdistraction/Flickr)

So all that means I'm feeling pretty inadequate right now. And why shouldn't I? As CNN notes in their report on the latest invention out of Radio Flyer's Chicago-based HQ, this thing has enough gadgets and gizmos to give the family mini-fan a serious case of penis envy.

First, there's the aforementioned MP3 player and speaker system, meaning this could very well be the first wagon that little Timmy and friends will use to ghost ride down a cul de sac.

And when he gets tired of that, he can strap himself in to one of the two bucket seats using a five-point racing harness. At his fingertips will be a digital display panel, complete with temperature readouts, odometer and speedometer. Got a Juicy Juice sippy cup handy? No worries. The Cloud 9 has cupholders too.

“We approached this product much like an automotive company might with a concept car,” said Mark Johnson, Radio Flyer’s product development manager.

Should the Cloud 9 see the light of day, and there's a pretty good chance that it will, the asking price will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000. That's a small price to pay to ensure that your son or daughter has the stuff necessary to crush the spirits of the other neighborhood children and their parents. [CNN via Born Rich]

Now into its third year, the Ghostly Box Series is a smart way to introduce your friends and family to the Ghostly Universe. Series 8.0 of The Ghostly Box for 2008 is a hand-numbered edition of 50 that includes a Text Ghost Tee (designed by Ashkhan from Don't Stop Studio), an exclusive Ghostly Moleskine notebook with embossed logo and a copy of the Ghostly Swim compilation (which we covered earlier this year), available on CD for the first time.

Also included in the box set is your choice of any CD from Ghostly's 2008 full-length releases, a pair of Ghostly & Spectral lapel pins, an assortment of stickers and (a Cool Hunting office favorite) a set of three Ghostly Computer Decals that will turn any MacBook into a spooky ghost machine (see right).

To purchase the box set for $60 plus shipping, simply head to the Ghostly Store. To guarantee domestic holiday delivery, order Friday 19 December 2008 by 2pm EST to ship via UPS three-day Select or Monday 22 December 2008 by 2pm EST to ship via UPS 2nd Day Air.

In 300 B.C., years before the birth of black Jesus, Aristole postulated that all good things were made of "win." That was a pretty good guess, but he was drunk and probably also having an orgy. Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental "awesoments" that compose all good things. The Periodic table of Awesoments can be a very useful tool. It's designed to show the relationships between awesoments, and often one can even predict how awesoments interact simply by their positions on the table.

If you are needing to use your computer on the move why not hack it into a briefcase like imp558 has done.

"The next step will be to install my device programmer so it just shows a socket and indicator, and some black paint on the monitor brackets. The monitor is safely behind a piece of Lexan but it’s hard to see. The reason for this project is that I dual boot, which is easier from 2 seperate drives, and I need a third drive to use for storage of gigs and gigs of schematics. The drive in the middle was to be my windows drive but I found it had given up the ghost so a new WD3200 lives there now. The whole thing sends a little warm air out the back but nothing gets hot."

Via Hacked Gadgets Forum

(more…)

It goes to show that the economy's bad in space, too. But aside from budgetary overages, the MSL is one of the most advanced crafts ever to shoot for the red planet. It will be able to redirect its course late into the landing phase, and will actually touch down on a tether lowered from a hovering descent stage. On board will be the biggest science payload every to hit Martian soil, which will study past signs of water in four potential landing sites. [NASA]

Continue reading Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price's ghost perks up

Filed under: Gaming

Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price's ghost perks up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I'm broken.

Yep, the day has come, and I’m a bit sad – my N95-8GB provided 10 months of faithful service, before giving up the ghost (hardware-wise) the other day. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with the general function of the device – I just managed (somehow) to break the ‘zoom out/volume down’ part of the rocker button.

Quite how this occurred I don’t know, since I treat my kit very well – for example I’ve never dropped my device. But it would appear at least the spring under the button has failed. It IS a sad day for sure, especially as the Nokia is secured with Torx screws – meaning I can’t easily get in there and fix it. So now I am faced with the prospect of leaving it, or taking it to a service centre – who will no doubt want £70 or similar to fix it!

The N95-8GB has been a good performer in the time that I have had it – despite some annoying flaws (email client is rubbish, occasional reboots), it had a wealth of features that made it one of my fave devices for a very long time (great PC sync, fast texting, good screen).

So the day-to-day of mobile usage is now being run by an Apple iPhone – and you all know the fun I’ve had with that!

Alas poor N95-8GB, I knew him well……

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Update: Rocketship Apple: email…
• Palm Treo Pro Arrives on the Vodafone New Zealand Network
• Which is the best mobile email client – device and/or app?
• Helio serves up push email for any POP/IMAP email account
• Fly Mobile can play Nintendo games!!

UPDATE: Whaaa? It appears this clip just used cheese cut like a marshmallow. I feel so used and lied to.

[MAKE]