(Credit:
zerozeros.com)
Things are certainly winding down here at the CNET New York offices as The 404 finishes up its last two live episodes for the year. In the studio with us today is Natali Del Conte along with her CBS producer Will--so it sounds like the show is about to get some Early Show love on Friday morning!
Today's show starts off on an unsettling note as we talk about word of U.S. drones being hacked in the skies of Iraq. Apparently, all that was needed was a cheap $26 program that allowed insurgents access to our unmanned aircrafts--how comforting!
Bonehead military security issues aside, it's about time the FCC addresses the all-too-common issue of blaring TV commercials. How many times have you blown an eardrum after an ad comes on that's 35 times louder than the program you were watching?
In our unintentional effort to destroy the green movement, we uncover the ridiculous side effect some new LED traffic lights are having involving their inability to melt snow. It's actually causing accidents, so maybe good-old-fashioned energy-sucking, heat-producing traffic lights were the way to go.
There's more 404 fun in today's show: Y2K memories, "Iron Man 2" talk, and the year's best YouTube videos!
EPISODE 489
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(Credit:
SchultzeWorks)
(Credit:
SchultzeWorks)
A California-based design studio has dreamed up a deliciously retro desktop PC that looks like it came from the set of midcentury sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet." The Philco PC from SchultzeWorks pays homage to an iconic brand of TV marketed in the late '50s, the Philco Predicta.
The hep PC won top-three placement in a design contest, according to SchultzeWorks. It was designed with Rhino modeling software.
The Philco Predicta was revolutionary for its time but suffered from poor picture quality. It featured a sculpted CRT separated from the receiver chassis and was marketed under the slogan "TV today from the world of tomorrow." Predictas sold well when launched in 1958, but color sets outsold them, and by 1962 Philco was bankrupt. Today, Telstar Electronics makes replica Predictas with color screens.
In styling his Eisenhower computer, Dave Schultze also drew upon antique typewriters for the keyboard design, as well as steampunk objects. He also seems to have been motivated by bland PC design in general, remarking that "most computers are engineered eyesores."
There's no word yet on whether anyone will actually make the Philco PC. For a closeup look at the concept, check out the promo video after the jump.
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(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET)
This year for Christmas, I finally decided to give my family something that they've been asking me about for more or less the past five years: I told them that I would clean my room.
No, really. I moved out of my childhood home years ago, but more or less shut the door to my room and didn't change a thing. It's sort of a late '90s-early '00s teenage time capsule. There was stuff in there that had not been touched since the Clinton administration. There were magazines with Justin Timberlake on the cover from an era when nobody expected he'd be cast as a Silicon Valley hotshot in a movie directed by the "Fight Club" guy. There were varsity letters and prom photos and model rockets and Warped Tour '01 memorabilia and pretty much whatever else you'd expect to find in the living space of a kid who came of age in the era of "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Dawson's Creek."
That inventory included one almost perfectly preserved AOL 7.0 installer disc, a CD-ROM that boasts "Faster Than Ever!" and offers 1,025 free hours of access or 45 days, whichever comes first, with no credit card required. (1,025 hours is slightly under 42 days.) On the red-and-gold packaging is the face of a Japanese anime-style character, the edges of the drawing blurred to make the marketing message absolutely clear: This is fast. This is the future.
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As the name implies, the Yeti is a big microphone. Look, even the font Blue Microphones used on the box is gigantic.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET)When Blue Microphones announced the Yeti USB microphone ($149) in November, I was a little apprehensive about the name. Sure, Blue Microphones has been playing it cutesy over the years with microphones named Snowball, Snowflake, Mikey, and Bottle Rocket--but Yeti?
Well, after getting my hands on this thing I can now say that I fully understand the thinking behind the name. For starters, this microphone is huge--like, disturbingly huge. It measures a foot tall, weighs 3.5 pounds, and--to be perfectly frank--it's starting to give me a complex.
But beyond its intimidating size, the Yeti moniker is just as fitting as a way to describe its sound. Compared with similar microphones, such as the Samson G-Track or even Blue's own $99 Snowball, the Yeti's sound quality offers noticeably better depth and detail. It's a big sound from a big microphone, which is probably what I should have said in the first place instead of wasting your time with the last two paragraphs.
OK, so what else are you getting with the Yeti? From a features perspective the Yeti offers an integrated control for gain adjustment, zero-latency headphone monitoring, headphone volume control, a handy little mute button, and a switch for selecting between four microphone recording patterns (omni, cardioid, stereo, bidirectional). The solid metal man-shaped stand is also a nice feature, and does a better job than the G-Track or Snowball at placing the microphone at mouth level. If the cutesy-ness of the stand is overwhelming, a standard, threaded mic stand mount is also included on the bottom of the Yeti.
When it comes to performance, the Yeti has plenty to brag about. For starters, this is the first microphone or audio input device to receive the coveted THX certification. I asked Blue Microphones to tell me what was required to get the THX stamp of approval. Apparently, it involves a multitude of factors, such as tests for frequency response and signal to noise ratio, and--perhaps more importantly--proof of performance consistency across multiple product batches. In other words, it had to sound good and have a reasonable chance of sounding good every time. ... Read more
Tentatively known as The Cube, this concept from Mintpass puts a retro spin on a conventional MP3 player.
(Credit: Mintpass)If you love the look of old reel-to-reel tape decks, hi-fi receivers, and analog mixing boards, the latest MP3 player concept from Korea's Mintpass design team will probably leave you drooling.
The Cube MP3 player offers not one but three analog VU meters, capable of displaying volume, battery live, and FM radio frequency.
If the menage a trois of vintage analog gauges wasn't enough, the Mint Cube includes two rows of apologetically chunky buttons that hearken back to an era of cassette decks and bad hair. Other proposed features include Bluetooth audio, FM radio, A-B looping, shuffle, and a standard headphone output.
Of course, the whole thing is purely fiction at this point, with not even a hint of price or release date. Also, my gut is telling me that this thing would be wholly impractical to build. My retro nerd heart, however, is keeping hope alive.
(ViaTechfresh)
These are challenging times for camera manufacturers. The megapixel race is coming to an end, profit margins on entry-level cameras are slim to nil, and the thin line that separates cameras and phones will only get more blurry in the years ahead.
The challenge now is to make interesting products that offer features you won't ever find on a mobile phone. The new Olympus EP-1 (CNET review) does that by giving the point-and-shoot user a camera that offers a dSLR-like experience in a compact package that evokes the stylish feel of a classic camera from the "Mad Men" era. It'd be tough for a mobile phone to do that.
The EP-1 takes good pictures, but it also makes a powerful design statement. Inspired by the mid-1960s Olympus Pen, the $800 EP-1 hearkens back to the glory days of film cameras by offering removable lenses, a fast (1/4,000) shutter, and a lens format that keeps the the camera compact.
Just as importantly, it looks great when it hangs around your neck, it feels great in your hand, and you interact with it in an old-school way that requires a higher level of engagement than one normally associates with digital cameras, except perhaps prosumer-level digital SLRs.
The EP-1 is certainly easy on the eyes, but does it have what it takes to escape the forces that threaten to decimate the point-and-shoot camera segment? In this walkthough, we'll take a close look at the design and engineering choices Oympus made to bring this product to market.
Click a picture to enter the Design Review slideshow.
(Credit:
Aether & Hemera)
With the IKEA aesthetic taking over so many homes, you might be yearning for furniture that reflects your mood. Literally. The interactive Mood Chair by U.K. designers Aether & Hemera "changes color in response to the colors that its sensors perceive from the environment and the users."
Is it accurate? We're not sure. But we give the artists props for reminding us of mood rings from our adolescent years.
Aether & Hemera play with LED lights, fiber optics, projections, and UV lamps, creating installations that explore light and its power to trigger a sense of identity or set a mood. Although the partially translucent Mood Chair may never make it into living rooms, the design would sit well in a commercial setting.
(Via Technabob)
The Yashica EZ F521 (left) and my Holga.
(Credit: Leonard Goh/CNET Asia)I have a penchant for toy cameras, and it all started with the Lomo L-CA. I've since sold the Russian shooter, but I've held on to the Holga as a camera I really enjoy using despite its quirks--light leaks, soft images, plastic lens, and total lack of control. But that's what I like about such low-tech snappers.
Previously I wrote a Crave blog about the Yashica EZ F521, which from its toy-like facade, could very well be a digital twin to the Holga. After trying out the camera for a weekend, I have to say that the Yashica is close, but definitely not quaint enough to be a Holga.
The exterior
The EZ F521 is actually quite small. Also, notice the reddish tinge on the lens.
(Credit: Leonard Goh/CNET Asia)The EZ F521 may look big in pictures, but in reality it's quite small. Compared with a regular Holga, the Yashica is a petite half size. Weight-wise, it's light enough that you'll forget it's even in your tote bag.
The lens barrel can be rotated between two focal lengths: normal and macro. In normal mode, subjects that are 5 feet or more away will appear sharp, while macro mode allows you to snap about a half a foot to 1.3 feet away from the shooter.
Interestingly, the lens has a reddish tinge to it. I checked with the shop that loaned us the camera and the owner wasn't quite sure why it's like that. But this effect didn't surface in any of my shots.
There's a nice optical viewfinder on the Yashica, but this doesn't give a good representation of what you are taking. Still, it's a nice retro implementation.
Be warned about the flash because it's really bright. Subjects near the camera appeared washed-out, but that's the fun of using a toy-like camera.
Let's shoot
Taking pictures with the EZ F521 is as simple as point and shoot. In fact, there isn't even a half-press mechanism on the shutter for prefocusing. Just frame and snap. ... Read more
Humans have a nasty habit of producing and accumulating garbage, but Gabriel Dishaw, a junk-metal genius from Carmel, Ind., turns trash into artwork. His most recent pieces were inspired by his love of Nike shoes, as he fashioned five different kicks, including dunks and high tops.
Dishaw's shoes are collages of otherwise potentially useless hardware salvaged from computers, typewriters, and metal scraps. His work is meticulous, as it takes him up to several weeks to complete one pair of shoes and an accompanying carrying case for storage.
Though the sculptures are aesthetic replicas of real Nike shoes, they are far from wearable. His latest pair, Blazer Pentium 1.0 (named for Intel chips), weighs 15 pounds--and we're guessing the shoes don't have arch support.
See our photo gallery of Gabriel Dishaw's Nike-inspired junk art.
(Credit:
Roomba Pac-Man)
Students at Colorado University have reprogrammed five Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots to recreate the classic 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.
The machines move around a virtual maze, indicated by red tape on the floor, as the four ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde chase the Pac-Man Roomba as it vacuums up paper dots.
The Pac-Man Roomba is joystick-controlled by a user, but the ghosts navigate autonomously. They will try to chase Pac-Man until it sucks up a power pellet, which puts them into evade mode.
The Roombas are wirelessly linked to a laptop that processes their locations through an overhead camera positioning system.
The developers created Roomba Pac-Man to demonstrate their unmanned aerial guidance system software.
But this isn't the first time Roomba has been reprogrammed to recreate a game from yesteryear. The plucky puck-shaped robot has dodged Texas cars while reliving the adventures of Frogger.
