Crave

See? No strum bar.

(Credit: YouTube)

The closer you can come to feeling like a real rock star in Guitar Hero or Rock Band the better, right? As long as you don't have to deal with the occasional drug overdose or huge bills from angry hotel managers, life is good. Now, two dudes on the Internets bring us slightly closer to living our fantasy.

YouTube user adderd019 posted a video of what is believed to be the world's first light beam gaming guitar. The guys took a gaming guitar, removed the strum bar, and replaced it with a single infrared beam, projected by a LED emitter.

The beam is 5 millimeters wide, and instead of having to stroke the strum bar, you can now tap, flip, slide, or emulate a real musician by pretending you have a guitar pick between your fingers to play each chord. As long as you break the infrared beam, you're good.

The beam is invisible, so we'll have to take the video's word that this actually is what they say it is. Although why someone would fake this is beyond me.

If the guys release schematics and instructions, maybe I'll actually start playing Rock Band. I don't like playing things I suck at, so I have little interest in the game as of now. Not sure if an invisible and intangible strum bar will make a difference, but that's the excuse I'm using now for my suckage.

(Credit: Engadget HD)

It appears as if Logitech is about to silence the complaints of thousands of PlayStation 3 owners who are frustrated with the system's lack of an infrared port. Those with Harmony remotes--or any universal remote for that matter--up until now have had to rely on clunky, hacked-up IR-to-Bluetooth USB dongles for their all-in-ones remotes to take control of their PS3. It seems the Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3 will play nicely with the line Harmony remotes right out of the box.

Among our largest concerns is whether the new device will have the capability to power on the PS3, something the IR solutions we've seen before don't handle as smoothly as we would have liked. There are no confirmed details yet, but a preemptive look at the FCC documents does include mention of Bluetooth and a separate power supply. Suffice to say, it sounds as this adapter will be able to power cycle your PS3. Imagine that.

You can be sure we'll have a review of this magical device the second it's available.

(Source: Engadget HD)

UPDATE: Since the publishing of this post, Logitech has spoke out about the device, shedding some light on some of the specific features of the Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3.

We can't give you all the details just yet, but we can say that this adapter will, when used with any Harmony remote, allows you to control your movie-watching experience on PS3. It will also turn the PS3 on and off - and allow you to set up your Harmony activities to include the PS3 just as you would any other device. You also won't need to dedicate any of your valuable USB ports to get that control.

If you're intrigued by multitouch technology as much as I am, you've probably been following it pretty closely and are at least impressed by its potential.

But what could it do better? According to Apple, taking the "touch" out of multitouch would be a good first step.

According to an article on AppleInsider, Apple has issued a 30-page patent that touches on the implementation of proximity sensors into its multitouch technology on devices larger than the iPhone.

The potential innards of a multitouch panel with proximity sensors don't do much for me, but robots may feel differently.

(Credit: Apple)

The multitouch sensors combined with proximity sensors would let users interact with the given interface without actually having to touch the screen. Now, this seems a tad ridiculous to me, and is anyone really too lazy to move their finger an extra inch? Yeah they are, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

Apple sees some different applications for the technology. According to the company, users would have the capability to turn off the entire touch-screen panel, or just portions of it. In addition, users would able to power down one or more of the computer's systems by dimming or brightening the screen as they see fit.

Awesome, huh?! Alas, no. OK, I may be missing something, but why would you need a proximity sensor to do this? You could just move your finger another inch and accomplish the same thing. The only unique feature Apple cited from the filing was the idea that you could highlight virtual buttons on a display without touching them. This could prepare the button for actually being pushed. Again, how is this useful?

The IR2BTci got the highest rating in our roundup, but it's probably overkill for most users.

The Sony PlayStation 3 is a game console first, but its Blu-ray playback also makes it one of the most popular home theater devices on the market. The only problem is that because the PS3 lacks an IR receptor, its difficult to integrate with home theaters centered around a IR-based universal remote, like a Harmony. For those who have become accustomed to controlling their gear using simple buttons that say "Watch TV" or "Watch a Blu-ray disc," it's a real pain that the PS3 requires using Sony's Blu-ray DVD remote or the game controller.

To deal with this issue, several essentially homemade devices have shown up on the market and we've done a roundup of the top three, plus a low cost alternative that's easier on your wallet. The main takeaway is that all the converters we tested performed essentially equally well, with only some minor differences in how user-configurable and upgradeable they are. And if you're willing to turn the console on and off manually, you might as well save yourself about $60 and go with the Nyko Blu-Wave.

Read CNET's roundup of IR-to-Bluetooth converter boxes.

This molecular-beam epitaxy system is used to make small laser materials for use in compact and low-cost breath meters for early cancer detection.

(Credit: University of Oklahoma)

University of Oklahoma researchers are working on a high-tech breath test that could one day help detect cancer.

The team is using mid-infrared laser technology to measure suspected cancer biomarkers in the breath, such as ethane, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, and to establish the relationship between those gas molecules and the disease. Ultimately, they hope their work will lead to easy-to-use detection devices that don't emit radiation.

But it may take a while before doctors have such devices in hand. Patrick McCann, an OU professor of electrical and computer engineering who's leading the team, predicts that it will take 5 to 10 years for the gadgets to find their way into clinics.

Arnaud Sow, an OU graduate student from France, processes a sample for laser fabrication.

(Credit: University of Oklahoma)

Nonetheless, he sees them as a potentially profound advancement. "A device that measures cancer-specific gases in exhaled breath would change medical research as we know it," he said.

McCann expects to rely on nanotechnology to improve laser performance and shrink laser systems, which would allow battery-powered operation of a low-cost handheld device. The sensor, he says, would be particularly useful for cancers that are difficult to detect, such as lung cancer.

The researchers' work stems from studies showing that dogs can detect cancer by sniffing the exhaled breath of cancer patients. A March 2006 issue of the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies reported that by smelling breath samples, dogs identified breast and lung cancer patients with accuracies of 88 and 97 percent, respectively.

But even though data shows that dogs can detect cancer by smell, medical researchers still have to figure out exactly what the gases are that they're sniffing. And that's keeping McCann's group busy.

The team has been active in related research since 1991. One outcome of their work includes the spin-out of EkipsTechnologies, a start-up based in Norman, Okla., that's applying mid-infrared laser technology to develop breath analysis instruments to diagnose and monitor diseases such as asthma.

Other links between cancer and scent have emerged recently, as well. Scientists from Philadelphia's Monell Center reported at the American Chemical Society's annual conference last week that a common form of skin cancer could be diagnosed by its distinctive smell.

B+W Filters, made by Schneider Optics, earlier this month released two infrared filters for digital cameras, the B+W IR 092 and the B+W IR 093. The IR 092 is nearly opaque and allows a small amount of visible light through, similar to a No. 25 Wratten gel. The IR 093 is completely opaque, allowing only IR light to pass through, similar to a No. 87 Wratten gel. Both filters are available with screw-on mountings in 35 sizes from 19mm to 77mm to fit a variety of lenses.

While most digital cameras have an infrared blocking filter built-in, there are several purpose-made infrared capable digital cameras such as the Fujifilm Finepix IS-1 point-and-shoot camera, and the Fujifilm Finepix IS Pro DSLR, update to the S3 Pro-UVIR, modified with the IR/UV blocking filters removed creating a true full spectrum camera. On Sigma's 14MP SD-14 DSLR the IR blocking filter can be easily removed allowing for IR shooting, although probably not too good for your warranty. There are shops that can modify certain existing cameras for IR capability too. For more information on digital infrared photography other cameras that can shoot IR visit here.

(Credit: Spycatcher)

Even for the most effective night-vision goggles, there's always been one problem: It's difficult to be discreet while looking like "Buffalo Bill" from Silence of the Lambs.

But there may a more discreet way to carry out surreptitious missions with the "Infrar-Red Personal Night Viewer," which provides nocturnal vision on a 3.5-inch screen built into a handheld device. Better still, as OhGizmo notes, the 500-line-resolution display comes through in black and white, rather than that creepy green glow.

(Credit: Wavemaker)

Crave has visited the effects of sunlight on human behavior more than we care to remember, but it's all for a good cause. If a few colored lights can stave off violence in the workplace (namely ours), than we're all for it. One thing we'd never anticipated, however, is a product that can have similar results on non-human beings.

The "Fauna Sauna" (we're not making this up) uses solar-like radiant heat, sans ultra-violet rays, "to bring healing to your pet right in your home," according to InventorSpot. It's even available in two versions--"Classic" and "Pro"--depending on the severity of your pet's maladies.

This form of "far infrared" heat, according to the company, can treat everything from arthritis to skin wounds--and, of course, stress. Then again, maybe Rover wouldn't be so tense if he wasn't so freaked out by you hoarding his fur.

Do you sometimes feel that the convenience of having hundreds of songs and other digital files loaded onto your iPod is offset by the inconvenience of having to manually navigate through the file list? OK, well maybe not. But still, you should know that a researcher at Osaka University has come up with a prototype of a remote-control device that, when clipped to eyeglasses or headphones, allows the wearer to replay, skip, and pause songs through a combination of eye winks.

Infrared sensors and a microcomputer on the device--called the KomeKami Switch, or Temple Switch--are designed to detect differences in the movement of your skin when you wink. The switch then sends appropriate instructions to the iPod. The KomeKami Switch's principal developer, Kazuhiro Taniguchi, a researcher at the university's Graduate School of Engineering, notes that the device is capable of distinguishing between blinks and winks, so random eye movement won't suddenly send you a track ahead of that Rhianna tune you're obsessed with.