Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

If you didn’t get the geeky watch you wanted for Christmas you should consider building yourself a MakerBotWatch. The watch is an Arduino, using an ATmega328 microcontroller running the bootloader. The watch has two concentric circles of LEDs for minutes and hours. A vertical row of four LEDs adds in the additional resolution needed to get 60 minutes on the watch face.

The schematic and board layout are available from an SVN repository so you can make your own board. The device will go into production as a kit but currently the laser-cut bezel will not be part of it.

[via Adafruit]

Zune 80: Review

The Zune 2nd-generation player launch is almost upon us, and today we bring you Zunerama’s pre-release review of the Zune 80GB player ("Zune 80").

The Zune 80 is part of a sweeping update by Microsoft of its digital media player offering. Along with Zune 80, two flash-memory players are being launched, as well as a significant firmware update, new PC software, an updated online Marketplace, and a new Zune Social community site.

Let’s start this review by noting that the Zune 80 unboxing is a most pleasurable experience. Check out our unboxing video and pics.

Zune 80 GB player review by Zunerama.

Microsoft and Bungie had a little surprise waiting for us today at the Halo 3 preview event – a new Zune! This is not the Zune you’ve seen before with a Master Chief wallpaper…



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Simply hop up and down and get propelled across the water like some sort of giant waterbug. It looks like a serous amount of fun, and my new goal is getting one in for review for this summer. They’re available for purchase now for $500 if you feel like giving it a whirl.



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Gizmodo reports

Our Zune source dropped off two more photos that claim to be the Wi-Fi firmware connecting to a base station for song downloading. Remember, these photos claim to be the new firmware running on the first-gen Zune, not the advanced Zune that was talked about earlier this week.

its kinda like the DS system with WIFI both subscription and points are suported, and your account is tied to your zune furthermore, once you download a song of the to go marketplace, you can then send them to other once you have synched back with your PC, copying your downloaded files back to your HD, when it becomes a normal downloaded song.

Apparently you’ll finally be able to put your WiFi to good use by using open WiFi hotspots and Microsoft points for downloading tracks. (Sorry, no word about subscriptions, syncing, and the like.) Also up to bat in the near future, further confirmation that we can expect Zune v2 and a flash Zune in the next month or so.



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<When reports of a Microsoft-hosted Zune event seemed to fizzle out the other day, other Zune blogs lost heart. But not iLounge, which originated the rumors, and says the event indeed took place as a private — and supposedly secret — tech preview by Microsoft to developers. iLounge purports that Microsoft wasn’t terribly happy to hear about the leak, and even more displeased when iLounge noted the meeting was underway. However, perhaps even more interesting than the drama surrounding the leak is the fact that Microsoft apparently has a flash-based Zune in the works, along with a larger-screened Zune with beefier storage options. The word is the flash Zune is nothing to write home about — bigger than a nano, and best described as “not bad” by the sources familiar. A bit more surprising is the large-screen Zune, which Microsoft might be positioning to capture folks digging the iPhone’s real estate, but looking for more movie storage. The leak seems to overlap and contradict prior rumors about a flash Zune, but a lot of this seems logical enough to be inevitable. No word on when these will be out, or how much they’ll cost, but rough estimates point to a couple months from now, and prices will most likely be pretty much in line with comparable Apple offerings.

The newest British Royal Navy’s submarine looks like a giant whale, can sit in the English Channel and fire cruise missiles at North Africa; but perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the British-built sub is that it will never need to be refuelled throughout its 25-year lifespan, meaning it can sail round the world 40 times without surfacing.



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Video: Jake Grossman @ Soulfood Books: MakeDamnSure

Microsoft has announced the launch of Windows Live Hotmail globally in 36 languages, complete with AJAX goodness.The new service has been built to be a vast improvement over the previous Hotmail offering, incorporating input from more than 20 million beta testers.



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Pen and teller get activist to sign a petition to ban water using tone and vocabulary of a environmentalist



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Today MarketWatch points out that the boys at Redmond have submitted a wireless device to the FCC for testing. Not just any wireless device, but one that can be used for talking over the Internet. Granted, the filing doesn’t mention Zune, so we should take this with a grain of salt, but the mystery device will be able to route digital TV and calls.

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Microsoft’s finally ready to take the wraps off Windows Mobile 6, the long-awaited successor to Windows Mobile 5 (what else?) that’s been baking in the oven for a while now as “Crossbow.” The platform formerly known as Pocket PC Phone Edition has become Windows Mobile 6 “Professional.”

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