Geeph.com is diving into Olympics mania with a 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium "Bird's Nest" MP3 player shaped like the now famous stadium.
MP3 player shaped like Beijing's 2008 Olympic Bird's Nest stadium.
(Credit: Geeph.com)Priced at $19.30, I'm going to take a wild guess and say this isn't an officially licensed 2008 Beijing Olympic souvenir, despite the logo.
The MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF, and WAV files, to name a few. It has an optional FM tuner, USB plug, seven equalizer settings, and a built-in mic for digital voice recording. Can it hold as many songs as the real Bird's Nest holds people?
Geeph takes the "One World, One Dream" message to heart, offering products for sale in British pounds, euros, and U.S., Canadian, Australian, or Hong Kong dollars.
Now if only they sold one in the shape of the Water Cube for that hard-to-buy-for record-breaking gold medalist in your life.
Of course, then it would have to be waterproof.
(Via Chip Chick)
This Olympic USB flash drive bears the same design as the Olympic torch.
(Credit: Lenovo)Computer maker Lenovo threw down some dough to become a sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, not only designing the Olympic torch but sponsoring athletes and supplying computers for the games' data and media teams. But the Chinese company may make some money back by hawking items like Olympic-themed USB flash drives that sport hefty price tags.
While America got stuck with boring flash drives bearing only the Olympic rings, visitors to Lenovo's Chinese Web site fared better with five types of interestingly designed USB flash drives (site in Chinese).
Lenovo announced the Olympic torch design, also featured on a Lenovo laptop, in early 2008, though the design didn't impress first reviewers.The 4GB flash drive sells for the equivalent of around $142.
Other patterns from Lenovo feature the adorable cartoon mascots of the Beijing Olympics: Beibei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, and NiNi. A medallion style is currently sold out on Lenovo's Chinese site, while a $29 4GB stick, and a $58 256MB oval-shaped drive, are for sale, with inexplicable price differences. The last of Lenovo's designs is a $58, 1GB oval flash-drive sporting the Olympic rings.
The five cartoon mascots from the Beijing Olympics adorn several types of flash drives, including this style.
(Credit: Lenovo)But perhaps the coolest, and most unnecessarily over-designed Olympics-related flash drives can be found on Everything USB.
According to that site, Lenovo also makes a set of titanium Olympic flash drives engraved with the Olympic mascots and sold in a mahogany box. However, we could not find those drives on Lenovo's Chinese site, nor could we locate the price. But if one Olympic flash drive is $142, imagine the cost of five metal ones with wooden box.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
The world watched in awe as China put on what some say was the best-ever Olympics opening ceremony ever. The proceedings culminated with the lighting of the Olympic torch by one of China's sporting greats, Li Ning, who was hanging from a wire high above the crowd. Who would have thought that at the same time, one of the stadium's projectors was displaying the famous Microsoft Blue Screen of Death?
Some eagle-eyed spectators caught it on camera, clearly showing the error message usually associated with serious software issues or hardware problems in a computer running Windows. Thankfully, this didn't mar the otherwise excellent show. Most people would have missed it with the explosion of sight and sound around them anyway.
Still, it acts as a reminder to future organizers of high-profile shows like this: writing your software in Linux or OS X could be a good option instead.
(Source: Crave Asia via Gizmodo)
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
Spectators at the Olympics will get a chance to touch the flame-bearing torch--a replica of it, that is. Instead of fire, the torches have a microelectromechanical system (MEMS), an accelerometer, and lines of LEDS embedded within.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
By waving the torch, an internal sensor will determine the left and right points, while the MEMS measures the degree of movement and transmits the information to a microchip that activates the LEDs to display "in the air" preprogrammed words or images relevant to the Olympics.
This idea is not novel, and you've probably seen similar products in gift shops. But what's impressive is that each visitor to the Games will probably get one in his or her goodie bag. This roughly translates to hundreds of thousands of torches being manufactured, and that doesn't include those for sale in the souvenir shops.
So what kept the production cost low? It's reported that a former MEMS engineer came up with technology that enabled the devices to be produced along any CMOS chip manufacturing line, thus driving the cost down and giving spectators a little something to bring home and remember the Olympics by.
(Via Crave Asia)
Click here for CNET News' package of stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
More related stories:
RFID goes prime time in Beijing Olympics
Olympic committee bans 'professional' cameras for visitors
(Credit:
Beijing2008.cn)
Radio frequency identification technology will be facing one of its first major tests during the Beijing Olympics, taking care of ticketing for the estimated 3 million athletes, journalists, and spectators. Despite the Chinese government's current uptight security measures, the RFID chips embedded in Olympics tickets will be not carrying personal information. Instead, they'll be linked to a remote database, designed primarily to combat counterfeits, facilitate check-in, and so on.
Following the recent food scare originating from China, local authorities will also be using an RFID-based food management system to maintain close tabs on food production, processing, and deliveries. The arrangement may be a lot more significant than the one mentioned above, considering the well-being of close to 10,700 international athletes and the daunting logistics of pulling off events across 31 competition venues throughout the country.
(Via Crave Asia)
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At Beijing Games, Haier washing-machine spin
Olympic committee bans 'professional' cameras for visitors
(Credit:
High-Def Digest)
With the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies happening this Friday, we're betting most of you will be stuck on the couch all weekend, rooting for your home country (probably the good ol' USA, right?) as they compete in baseball, basketball, football, maybe even synchronized swimming for those select few.
You should, since NBC, CNBC, Universal HD, and most of NBC's channels will be broadcasting the games around the world in gorgeous 1080i. If not, consider picking one of following new Blu-ray releases. Yes, the selection is slim for this week, but one of them did win an Oscar for best foreign film last year. Guess which one? And no, it wasn't the Starship Troopers trilogy.
The Counterfeiters, a Stefan Ruzowitzky film, fictionalizes Operation Bernhard, a secret plan by the Nazis during World War II to destabilize the United Kingdom by flooding the country with counterfeit bills. The film focuses on Salomon Sorowitsch, a Jewish counterfeiter who is coerced to help the Nazis while in a concentration camp. The Blu-ray release contains interviews, deleted scenes, and even exclusive BD-Live content.
For the kids, we have Nim's Island, starring Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine. "The film is an adventure-fantasy film focusing on a young girl, Nim," according to the film's Wikipedia entry, "who seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure series when her scientist father goes missing on a island in the South Pacific."
The BBC rounds out this week with two releases--one which is perfectly suited for the upcoming games, Wild China. Journey through the Himalayas to the Steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands as you flip the channel back and forth between the games.
- The Counterfeiters (Sony)
- Epic Conditions (Madacy)
- Korn: Live at Montreux (Eagle Rock)
- Lonesome Dove (Genius)
- Nim's Island (Fox)
- Robin Hood: Season One (BBC)
- Starship Troopers (Sony)
- Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (Sony)
- Starship Troopers Trilogy (Sony)
- Wild China (BBC)
(Source: High-Def Digest)
(Credit:
CNET Asia)
If you're heading to Beijing (or are already there) for the Olympics, take note that the Beijing Organizing Committee has imposed bans on several items, one of which is "professional camera equipment." Unless you have official press credentials, we suggest you just bring your point-and-shoot to the games.
So what constitutes "professional camera equipment"? Are there any measurements or benchmarks to compare with? Although the definition wasn't detailed on the official Olympics Web site, some netizens are speculating that the ban refers to SLRs with big lenses that could block other spectators' views. But what about Fujifilm's FinePix S100fs, which is physically bigger than some entry-level dSLRs? Or the Olympus E-420 fitted with the 25mm pancake lens, a combination small enough to look like a bulky point-and-shoot?
If not properly stated, this vague description may trigger some arguments at the security checkpoint, and I don't think spectators will be happy to be rejected at the door just because of the equipment they are carrying. The best way to steer clear of all the trouble and get your seat? Leave your SLR at home.
(Via CNET Asia)
For all the technology that will go into orchestrating the Beijing Olympics this year, a new report in British science journal Nature is reminding the world where it all began: with a 2,100-year-old gadget that tracked dates of the ancient Olympic games.
Known as the Antikythera Mechanism, the astronomical calculator was discovered by divers in 1901 as one of the artifacts collected from a shipwreck off the coast of Antikythera, Greece. With its 3,000 characters and 30 gears, scientists have come to conclude that the intricate and once technologically advanced device calculated moon, sun, and planet locations for specific dates. But most recently, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, experts have deciphered the word "Olympia" on the bronze device and discovered that one of its dials kept track of the four-year cycle of the Greek Olympic games.
A researcher told British paper The Daily Telegraph that the team was surprised to find that such a technologically advanced mechanism kept track of an event that could be tracked relatively easily compared with such cosmic events as eclipses. The dial, he said, served not only mathematical purposes, but also represented the harmony between technology and culture.
... Read moreSportswear maker Nike looks set to steal the limelight at this year's summer Beijing Olympics with its latest innovation, the Flywire track shoes. The company will supply the U.S. track and field team with two pieces of Flywire footwear--the Zoom Victory Spikes and Zoom Matumbo.
U.S. track and fielders will sport the Zoom Victory Spike, currently Nike's lightest middle-distance track spike, the company says.
(Credit: Crave Asia)Already creating quite a buzz in the industry with its revolutionary lightweight construction, the Flywire design is said to be inspired by the cables from a suspension bridge. It basically makes use of a strong Vectran thread arranged in a fan-shaped pattern at anchor points around the shoe. The result is a shoe that's extremely light, yet reportedly cheap and easy to manufacture.
But, just how light are the new Flywire track shoes? The Zoom Matumbo will be Nike's lightest distance track shoes at about .2 pounds per pair, while the Zoom Victory Spikes for middle distance events like the 800m and 5,000m will also weigh just about .2 pounds.
For the record, Michael Johnson's famed pair of golden track shoes at the 1996 Atlanta Games tipped the scales at about a quarter of a pound, which is lightweight even by today's standards.
Nike has made the Flywire technology available commercially with the recent launch of its Flywire series of running shoes in the U.S. The company plans to release the track shoes to consumers later in October. Running-shoe technology is coming a long way these days--have a look at these biodegradable shoes by Brooks.
(Via Crave Asia)
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
The days of tissue-thin tickets collected by human attendants are over in Beijing's underground. Riders on Monday were greeted by electronic ticketing with automatic gates.
When Beijing's Line 5 debuted in October last year, riders found out what they could expect, as new electronic gates were installed but not yet unfurled. Travelers in Asia will recognize the mechanisms from Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Beijing's new subway ticketing system was previewed with the opening of Line 5 in October 2007. They came into service June 9, 2008.
(Credit: Graham Webster)Besides removing the human factor from ticket sales and collection, a feat accomplished already with debit-based ticketing cards that have been in place for quite a while, the system puts Beijing in league with advanced systems that can use rider data to adjust service.
According to People's Daily:
As the new system requires passengers to check in and out electronically, it records precisely their entry and departing stations. This enables us to accurately record passenger flow on each line and station.
"The subway company can adjust train schedules to ease traffic. This is especially important when the Olympic Games are held in August in Beijing," Zhang said.
I'm looking forward to giving the new system a shot this week.
