prototypes

Battle of the suspiciously similar superhero games: Infamous vs. Prototype

Hollywood brains occasionally act in unintended tandem, producing simultaneous movies about, say, dangerous volcano eruptions, or killer meteors threatening to wipe out mankind. It's all completely unintentional, at least according to the lawyers, so we shouldn't be surprised to see the same seemingly cloned concepts come to game consoles.

Two of the most buzzed about current games are the PS3 exclusive Infamous--an open-city game with a superpowered anti-hero--and Prototype--also an open-city game with a superpowered anti-hero. How deeply do the similarities go? We've created a handy chart to sort it all out.… Read more

CrunchPad gets new, near-final design

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, who last year boldly proclaimed TechCrunch would break every embargo it agreed to, apparently has broken his own embargo and leaked some news about his little consumer electronics side project, the CrunchPad.

OK, maybe he didn't really break his own embargo, but we wouldn't put it past him. The fact is Arrington says he's "just about nailed down the final design for the device" and that he'll have "first working prototypes" in a few weeks.

Arrington has been posting progress reports on the creation of the CrunchPad, which … Read more

British site posts video of alleged OLED monitor

Updated on May 4 at 11:10 a.m. PDT with an official response from the site in question.

We've now seen several LED-based computer monitors released, such as the recent Dell G2410 and G2210, and just this week someone asked when I thought we'd be seeing the first consumer OLED computer monitors.

"Not for a while," was my answer and I guess I was right. Megawhat.tv (seriously, could they have come up with a more British sounding name for a tech site?) posted a video of what is, according to them, a 23-inch Samsung OLED prototype computer monitor.

(Update: On Monday, May 4, I received an e-mail from a rep of Megawhat.tv claiming the site was misled and that the monitor in the video is in fact the Samsung P2370L, which is not an OLED monitor. The site claims it received the following quote from Samsung: "It has recently come to our attention that the Samsung P2370L Monitor we have displayed at the Grand Designs Show uses LED BLU rather than OLED technology. Samsung would like to apologise for any confusion caused. This error was caused by an internal miscommunication on our part and all press materials have since been amended to include these details.")

Looking at the video, the form factor seems to be based of on the recently released Samsung P2370, but unlike the P2370, which only includes a DVI connection, the OLED version also includes HDMI. According to the site that is.

OK, after I first posted this earlier this afternoon a colleague of mine pointed me to this site, where it claims that this video is a fake. I was dubious about the video myself mostly because i'd never heard of the site "Megawhat," the display looked way too similar to the P2370 I have sitting right here in my office and the fact that the video gives no real details about what would be a pretty significant display.

According to the Megawhat video (which comes complete with ample '90s MTV-style camera work), the alleged OLED monitor won't be going into production until sometime in 2010.

I'm awaiting an official comment from Samsung on whether this thing actually exists, prototype or not. I'll update this post when I hear back. Until then, check out the video and leave a comment on whether you think it's a fake or not.

Update: Although I haven't receive a response from Samsung, I have received… Read more

GM countdown to final Volt prototype begins

Above the desk of Andrew Farah, the Volt's lead engineer, hangs a clock counting down the days until GM begins the production of 80 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid prototypes.

Production begins on June 1 with plans to ramp up to 10 prototypes a week until 80 have been made. The 30 that have been cruising around have the final preproduction powertrain, but not the final interior or exterior.

These prototypes "will look, taste, smell, and feel like the Volt. They are the Volt," Farrah is quoted saying to GM's blog about the Volt, "my goal … Read more

Carbon Motor's E7 designed by police for police

Carbon Motors is hitting the road with its next generation law enforcement vehicle to meet with state and federal government officials and promote its E7 police car.

The E7 prototype a step above the Ford Crown Victorias you typically see patrolling the streets. The high tech vehicle was designed in part based on input and suggestions from more than 3,000 law enforcement professionals. Chase ready, the E7 is equipped with a 300-horsepower clean diesel engine that propels the car from 0-60 in 6.5 seconds and has a top speed of 155 mph. … Read more

Asus' dual-screen concept laptop

Spotted at the German CeBit 2009 show was this interesting concept piece from Asus. It's a laptop with two displays, instead of a traditional screen and keyboard. The company calls it "a revolutionary dual-panel concept notebook," and says the design was inspired by "ideas contributed from users from around the world."

Using a Web site called WePC.com, consumers could submit and discuss ideas for innovative laptops, and many of the submitted ideas seem to revolve around multiple displays in a single unit.

These photos represent a stab at bringing one of these crowd-sourced ideas to life, but Asus warns that "the concept is still a work-in-progress which requires continued feedback."

This is how Asus describes the system:

The dual panel offers a flexible working space in which users can adapt to suit their prevailing usage scenarios, for example adjusting the size of the virtual touchpad and keyboard.

Through hand gestures, handwriting recognition, and multitouch, users are presented with a control surface that is both flexible and intuitive. Users can use the dual-panel concept in a myriad of usage scenarios, for example as a conventional notebook with multitouch screens, a virtual keyboard and touchpad; a multimedia hub, in which both dual panels could combine to form a larger display for widescreen entertainment; or an E-book mode in which users can hold the dual panel concept notebook just like they would a conventional book while flipping pages through intuitive gestures or by touch.

These concepts aim to bring convenience to the user through technological innovations and user-centric design.

More pics after the break.… Read more

40th Anniversary of "Mother of all demos"

Today is the 40th anniversary of what came to be known as "The Mother of All Demos", Doug Engelbart's presentation to the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco. In this one 90 minute presentation he showed, in working form, for the very first time all of the following technologies:

The mouse Graphical user interface with point and click and menus Intermingling of text and graphics within a document, styling of text in a document Hypertext and linking between documents Remote collaboration plus videoconferencing

That's a pretty astonishing list. It basically described the landscape of computing … Read more

Discovery's 'Prototype This' preps for debut

If you're a fan of things like MythBusters, Make magazine, Burning Man, the do-it-yourself movement and the like, you are probably going to love Prototype This

The new TV show, which debuts tonight at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel, is a celebration of what intelligent, creative, and slightly crazy people can make when given freedom, expert help, and a bit of a budget.

The basic theme of Prototype This is that the four hosts, Terry Sandin, Zoz Brooks, Mike North, and Joe Grand take their combined skills and use each episode to conceive of and craft some entirely … Read more

Hands-on: Lenovo Netbook (prototype)

Like a smaller, less-ornate version of the IdeaPad U110: That's my initial impression of Lenovo's new Netbook, which I saw in prototype form at a meeting this week.

What I saw was not quite the same as the IdeaPad S10 that will make it to the States come October--this was the 9-inch version for international markets--and it wasn't yet fully functional. Still, it was enough to get an idea of the look and feel of Lenovo's first Netbook. The glossy case, which will be available in red, black, and white, proved rather prone to fingerprint smudges. … Read more