Alli (aka Heavy from the old days) joins us on today's show and as usual, she brings up the wackiest topics. Today's tangents include Halloween costume ideas, time travel, and super powers...oh, and some stories from the Internet, too!
We always love having Alli on the show because she always brings up the weirdest topics of discussion. Case in point: Halloween costumes...it's the end of August! It's going to be hard to top last year's costumes but Alli has a great idea for a DOUBLE costume: Jon & Kate Plus 8--it's the perfect costume for us, aside from the fact that we'd have to stand next to each other all night and somehow abduct eight babies. This might be our last Halloween.
Next, we move onto a rundown of 10 joke technologies that sort of became real, but we actually only get into the invisibility cloak before getting sidetracked into our most desired super power. Jeff wishes he had the power to tan, I go with the ability to morph into a potted plant, and Alli just wishes she could get out of The 404 studio.
Plenty of more stories to get to, but don't just read about them here, listen to the show! We've got Bob Dylan voicing a GPS system (replete with our awful impersonations), the UK's disturbingly graphic "texting while driving" PSA, and Microsoft's tasteless Photoshop incident. You don't want to miss this episode!.
EPISODE 412
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The new cloak with the bump, left, and the prototype, right.
(Credit: Duke University)That cloaking device we've been dreaming of appears to be one step closer to actual cloakdom, so start pondering the mischievous possibilities.
Scientists from Duke University have improved on their earlier efforts at producing an invisibility cloak, coming up with a new type of device they say is significantly more sophisticated at cloaking an object (and eventually a person?) from visible light.
The device is made from a light-bending composite material that can detour electromagnetic waves around an object and reconnect them on the other side. That creates an effect similar to a distant mirage you'd see hovering above a road on a hot day.
In Duke's latest experiments, a beam of microwaves aimed through the cloaking device at a "bump" on a flat mirror surface bounced off the surface at the same angle, as if the bump wasn't there. Additionally, the device prevented the formation of scattered beams that would normally be expected from such a perturbation. (The team details its findings in far more technical terms than I ever could in the latest issue of Science magazine.)
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Much to my surprise, I spotted the LG Invision Wednesday night at the Mobile Focus show here at CTIA. Even though the LG Invision has launched with AT&T on August 20, it was just a soft launch on the online store and not an official launch across all its retail channels, and we have yet to receive a review unit. So, I was eager to get my hands on it to see how it really looks and feels in person.
As a reminder, the LG Invision is the latest handset to support AT&T Mobile TV, AT&T's live streaming TV service. It is only the third handset that supports this service--the other two are the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. The AT&T Mobile TV service currently works in around 58 markets in the country, but sadly San Francisco is not on that list.
But even though I couldn't test out the AT&T Mobile TV service, I did play around with the Invision for a little bit. Measuring 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide and less than 0.5 inch thick, the Invision is certainly the smallest and lightest of all the AT&T Mobile TV phones. As a device meant for watching video, I was also pleased to see such a vibrant and colorful display, though it is rather small at around 2.2 inches. I would probably prefer the Vu for watching video because of the wider screen.
LG Invision in hand
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)You might notice that the keypad looks a bit unusual, and that's because LG has rearranged the keys so that the bottom three keys on the keypad are now flanked on the right side. This makes the handset feel slightly wider and shorter, and we think that people might have to get used to this new keypad arrangement. There's also a dedicated TV button around the navigation keys, plus the four-way toggle is arranged in a cross in the middle of the phone. I thought this felt cramped, but I'll have to use it for a longer period of time to really get a feel for it. The back of the phone is clad in a rubberized texture that feels a little like faux leather, which makes the phone easier to grip.
Other features of the Invision include a 1.3-megapixel camera, HSDPA speeds, AT&T Mobile Music support, a music player, and stereo Bluetooth. It is available online only for $99.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement, and LG says it'll be available in retail stores later this year.
Invision.TV has created a personal recommendation engine for the Web that allows viewers to get a better selection of Web-based video content to watch.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)SAN DIEGO--There's so much video content on the Web today--YouTube, ESPN, news sites, and so forth--that it can be difficult to find what you want to watch.
That's the premise behind Invision.TV, a company that has created a dashboard for aggregating and sharing Web-based video content.
The idea is based on interactive TV program guides that many of us are familiar with through our subscription TV services, for example. But instead of giving you selections of content from TV services, the video all comes from the Web.
The service embeds many Web video sources' players into its dashboard, while with others it simply links out to sites. But either way, it gives users seamless control of a wide variety of content and an easy way to find what they want to watch.
Additionally, it has a social networking element, allowing users to share video content with friends on, say, Facebook.
All told, this seems like a nice way to deal with the massive amounts of video content that's available online at any time--and to keep up with your favorite sites' videos, all without having to search sites individually.
LG Invision
(Credit: AT&T)AT&T and LG just launched the LG Invision, a brand new cell phone which they claim is made for video on the go. We mentioned this awhile ago as a rumor, but now it's finally official. The Invision joins the LG Vu and the Samsung Access as the only devices capable of supporting AT&T's live mobile TV service, which currently broadcasts programs from providers such as CBS Mobile, ESPN Mobile TV, NBC2GO, and more.
Here are the specifications: The Invision measures 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by less than one-half inch thick, which makes it the smallest Mobile TV device of the lot. It features Video Share calling, a 1.3-megapixel camera, HSDPA speeds, AT&T Mobile Music support, a music player, stereo Bluetooth, and more. The Invision will be available for $99.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.
LG CB630 Invision
(Credit: LG)AT&T Mobile TV may get another handset to offer its live TV service in the form of the LG CB630 Invision.
According to Engadget Mobile, this Samsung Access-lookalike may debut for AT&T this August 13 for $99.99, with a $50 rebate and a two-year service agreement. So far, the only phones to support AT&T Mobile TV are the LG Vu and the Samsung Access, though there are rumblings that the Access may go the way of the Dodo when the Invision comes onboard. We don't know too much about the Invision just yet, but we'll keep you posted once we have more details.
(Credit:
Crave UK)
We get drawerfuls of Bluetooth headsets in that claim to be the smallest in the world, and of course most of them aren't. Whether or not it's the smallest isn't really important--it's how comfortable a headset is in your ear that makes a big difference.
Nextlink claims it's made the smallest Bluetooth headset ever in the form of the Invisio G5, and while we can't definitely confirm that it is, it certainly looks incredibly wee. It weighs a minuscule 7 grams, or less than a quarter of an ounce. But is it comfortable to wear?
The Invisio uses an interesting earbud that sticks and lodges itself in your ear. The system, called Soft Sprung, works quite well and we did find the G5 a comfortable device, which is the most important part of all. Click here to see more.
(Source: Crave UK)
Usually when we encounter the maddeningly overused term "scientific breakthrough," involuntary eye-rolling ensues. But this is one body of science where we wouldn't mind seeing the B-word used liberally.
U.S. and British researchers are reporting initial success in experiments with a "cloak of invisibility." That's right, we're talking H.G. Wells territory here.
To say that the technical explanation is over our heads would be the understatement of the year. But we managed to glean that the experiment involves detouring microwaves around an object and reconnecting them on the other side--creating an "artificial mirage," as one Duke researcher put it.
Our personal hopes aside, it's probably wise not to count on learning this trick anytime soon; the topic crops up every few years, and we still don't have invisible men and women roaming the planet. Then again, if they were, how would we know?
(Illustration: Casimir Fornalski/CNET News.com)
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