queen

Flexible smartphone curls up when it gets a call

The MorePhone is a very acrobatic smartphone. It's made with a flexible display and shape memory alloy wires. When a call comes in, it activates the wires and causes the whole phone to curl up. It's an unmistakeable visual cue that you've got someone on the line.

The curling smartphone was developed by researchers at Queen's University Human Media Lab in Canada. The thin electrophoretic display that makes the movement possible was manufactured by Plastic Logic, a company specializing in plastic electronics. The alloy wires can trigger the phone to curl up at all corners, or to curl back individual corners to indicate different events, like an incoming text message or e-mail.… Read more

Ace Queen HD 1.0 Review

Ace Queen HD is a simple game wrapped in an elaborate package. At first glance it's not immediately clear what type of game it is, but after spending a few minutes in just the first level, you will see that it is nothing more than a hidden object game. While there is nothing wrong with hidden object games, the execution is lacking in many ways, the story is non-existent, and the price point is unrealistically high.

The goal of the game is to compare two images of the same scene and find hidden objects on the right side that … Read more

Queen Elizabeth honors Marc Andreessen, others with engineering prize

Queen Elizabeth has honored five engineers who created the Internet and World Wide Web in her first Prize for Engineering.

Louis Pouzin, Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, and Marc Andreessen will share an award of 1 million pounds. They are credited for helping spawn the Internet, (Sorry, Al Gore. You didn't quite make the cut.), which the prize site said is "an engineering achievement that has changed the direction of the world."

"The Internet and WWW led to a communications revolution of unprecedented power and impact," the site said.

Pouzin, Kahn, and Cerf made … Read more

Freddie Mercury returns to the stage (sort of)

He's been gone since 1991, but legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is preparing for a long overdue encore performance tonight in London.

Well, sort of.

Queen guitarist Brian May told the BBC that an image of Mercury will appear onstage during a special 10th-anniversary performance of the musical "We Will Rock You" at London's Dominion Theatre. May said the image will not be a hologram, referring to it instead as an "optical illusion," but hinted at similarities to the hyped Tupac hologram seen at the Coachella festival last month. … Read more

The 404 897: Where you both owe me 14 bucks (podcast)

Remember the story we told you last week about the woman who spent $180 on what turned out to be a wooden Apple iPad? It happened again! In the same city! There's a lesson to be learned in all of this, and that lesson is to never trust anyone with more than four gold teeth.

Same rule goes for mustaches, and Google's celebrating Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday with a Web app that lets you add a mustache to every face on the Internet! We'll demo it today using someone else's face, however, since none of us are creepy enough to grow our own mustache.

We'll also talk about Amazon.com-branded delivery lockers popping up in select 7-Eleven stores, adding fuel to the fires already burning through the United States Postal Service, and introduce a new photo caption segment that Wilson cooked up over the weekend.

The 404 Digest for Episode 897

This is why Jeff and Wilson owe me 14 bones. After the $180 wooden iPad comes the $250 paper laptop (same city). Google honors Freddie Mercury with Mustachify.me. Google doodles a complex piece for Freddie Mercury. Amazon starts putting the USPS out of work, one 7-Eleven at a time. The U.S. Post Office says a winter shutdown is possible. Did somebody ask for pizza on a bullet-capsule to the moon? Check out this 404 photoshop, courtesy of Captain Carlos! Join The 404 Facebook Group! Add The 404 on Twitter, and while you're logged in, follow Jeff, Wilson, and Justin too!

Episode 897 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Google doodles a complex piece for Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury would have been 65 today (Monday).

That seems a very peculiar thought. Still, in his honor, Google's doodlers--who have truly risen to their metier over the last year--have labored with verve to deliver a doodle of which the shy and understated lead singer of Queen would have been proud.

To the tune of "Don't Stop Me Now," we see the full gamut of Mercurial splendor, animated with amusement and complexity. NBC Bay Area reports that the doodle took three months to put together. That's about as long as "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"… Read more

Is your iPhone obsolete? Meet PaperPhone

How many times have you wanted to smash your phone when talking to annoying people? Thanks to research at Queen's University in Canada, you'll soon be able to crush that handset mercilessly. Well, almost.

The e-paper prototype PaperPhone has a 3.75-inch thin-film display and developers call it the world's first flexible smartphone (remember Nokia's patent application for one?). It can do everything a smartphone can, such as make calls, display books, and play music.

"This is the future. Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," Queen's Human Media Lab Director Roel Vertegaal was quoted as saying in a release.

As seen in the vid below, the prototype is based on e-ink technology and is more like a bendable plastic sheet about the thickness of a conference badge. It can be operated by bending the corners to turn a page, squeezing to make a call, and even written on with a pen.

The lab has also been working on video game screens that are bent as a control input. … Read more

The queen: On Facebook, but not your friend

Ever since Helen Mirren played her in a movie, Queen Elizabeth II has enjoyed something of an image makeover.

When I grew up over there, it was tempting to believe that her majesty enjoyed such a royal highness that she wasn't always attuned to those who endured a less than regal lowness.

However, in recent times, she has used many of the technological tools at her disposal to make herself more accessible to the small world at large.

The bells at Westminster Abbey should, therefore, be ringing to welcome the queen to Facebook.

Yes, a lively little royal Facebook page … Read more

New parent for Diapers.com

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon is buying the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com

Google tests a product to let you record Google Voice calls in Gmail

Google disallows Facebook from pulling Gmail contacts to find friends

The BlackBerry Torch is now available for $99 in black, red, or white

A Chinese company is set to unveil a color e-ink eReader

November 17 will be the day to unfriend your undesirables on Facebook

But don't unfriend the Queen of England because she just joined Facebook

The Hex band gives you a way to be … Read more

Bad Ass American Rides Pt. 3: '68 Ford Mustang "Bullitt"

As I am currently putting together this web video blog, I am overlooking the beautiful hills and horizon of the unique American city known as San Francisco. So given this week's blog theme and my current city of residence I found it wholly appropriate to pay tribute to another of my favorite American muscle car classics, the timeless Ford Mustang GT...

The Ford Mustang has a rich 40 year history in American culture. The Mustang's humble origins were that of a "secretary" car that was transformed into a performance vehicle by racing designer Carroll Shelby. Since … Read more