All 4 Toys

Huzzah! Yet another discovery for us to add to our ever-expanding list of “awesome things that’ll never actually happen!” Ibrahim Abou Hamad and colleagues from Mississippi State University have reportedly devised a method of charging batteries that could hasten the process rather significantly, and better still, it could provide “an increase in battery power densities” as well. The only problem? Lithium-ion batteries have been disappointing tech users for years, and so long as Energizer and Duracell are calling the shots, we kind of doubt a lot will be done to improve the longevity of ‘em. Skepticism aside, the new method involves some fancy black magic surrounding molecular dynamics simulations, and researchers have found a way to boost charging time by “simulating the intercalation of lithium ions into the battery’s graphite anode.” We know we just went way over your heads on a Friday afternoon, but if techobabble’s your thing, all you can handle is right there in the Source link.

Scientists discover method for rapid charging Li-ion batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you do your research, you read up on everything important about the PS3’s new Move controller, and you consider yourself well prepared for a future of wild merrymaking and multiplayer gaming parties. And then you find out you can’t use four full sets of controllers with your console. As it turns out, the PS3’s Bluetooth module is only fit to address up to seven wireless devices at a time, which poses something of a puzzler when you consider that you need a pair of Move controllers (or a Move plus a sub-controller) to get your money’s worth and four times two is, well, a number greater than seven. Perturbed by this, Gizmodo contacted Sony for an official response and the news gets even worse:
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Ready to graduate from DJ Hero? Got a house payment handy? Then Pioneer would like to show you the way to the pros. Say hello to the DJM-2000, a four-channel digital mixer built around a 5.8-inch multitouch screen and sporting enough knobs, buttons and sliders for a NASA launch sequence. Designed to play nice with the matching CDJ-2000 players Pioneer released last year, the unit features an integrated audio effects suite with six dedicated processors and several intriguing modes for multitouch music control. While the mixer has the traditional crossfade slider that allows DJs to assign a certain percentage of the output to channels on the left and right, the DJM-2000 debuts with “frequency mix,” a mode that lets DJs assign within seven narrow frequency bands as well by manipulating virtual sliders on the touchscreen, and a “sidechain remix” mode that uses the screen to apply custom effects in real time. Yeah, it’s not as wild as some other touchscreen DJ rigs we’ve seen, but at least this one’s for sale: Pioneer says the mixer will retail for $3000 this June. Droolworthy video demonstrations after the break. Read more »

Tired of the limited legroom, bad food, and worse movies you have to put up with during a flight? Well, it’s time to bust out your company credit card and get yourself a Martin Jetpack, which has just become the first commercially available jetpack. Driven by a pair of washing machine-sized fans strapped to your back, this personal transporter will give you a pretty cool 30 minutes of flight time and comes with a bunch of redundancy systems to ensure any mistakes don’t turn fatal. The rotors are built out of a carbon / Kevlar composite and are powered by a two-liter V4 two-stroke engine capable of delivering 200hp (or 150kW). Good old gasoline is the fuel of choice here and private individuals are expected to be offered the chance to fulfill every geek and geekette’s dream later this year. Just make sure you have $86,000 lying around to fund it. Read more »

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Hey remember that feel-good iPad introduction video with the Ben Folds cover of “Just Like Heaven” Apple posted on launch day? Yeah, well you’re going to remember the hell out of it once you watch it with Google’s auto-transcription enabled on YouTube. Trust us, you owe yourself these few moments of absurdity.

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If you’re a gadget fan (and let’s face it: you are) then there’s simply no excuse for using disposable batteries. Environmental concerns aside, rechargeables have advanced such that it just makes economic sense to switch. We’ve been unapologetic fans of Sanyo’s Eneloop series of Ni-MH batteries for years. Hell, we like any modern rechargeable that’s sold fully charged and is capable of maintaining that state even after years inside the family junk drawer. Today, Sanyo is announcing its Eneloop lite series scheduled for a June 22nd launch in Japan with a global release set for sometime later. These cells are meant to tempt you by their relatively low, up-front purchase price of ¥780 (about $8.64) for a pair of 1.2V 950mAh AAs or ¥640 ($7.09) for a pair of 1.2V 550mAh AAAs — each capable of about 2,000 recharges saving you at least $1,000 over their lifetime. They’re not going to power your hotshoe flash but they will handle the relatively low to medium power requirements of all the remote controls in your life. Do it. Read more »

We just found a new friend. Kojiro, a humanoid being built by the University of Tokyo’s JSK Robotics Laboratory, has a detailed musculoskeletal system built to mimic the human body. It works on a system of artificial bones, muscles and tendons to create a robot that is theoretically more light and agile than your regular bot, and which moves in a more organic fashion to our untrained eyes. The bot has motors which pull cables that simulate the method which muscles and tendons interact, and has about 100 tendon-muscle structures, giving it 60 degrees of freedom — more than an average rotary joint bot like Asimo (34 degrees, last time we checked). The robot shaves weight with its lighter, plastic materials and small brushless motors. The idea is to make a robot that’s more people friendly by not being substantially heavier or more rigid than a human it might come into contact with. Of course, that’s not the only perk of a bot built like this: the human-style flexible and twistable spine gives Kojiro all sorts of abilities that your regular bot is just too straight-spined for. Like the limbo, for instance. The big difficulty here is that all the motion and flexibility means Kojiro is a big chore to program, and there’s an army of gyros, accelerometers and force sensors embedded throughout the bot to help it learn its balance. Currently they’re working with an iterative learning process to get small motions down until Kojiro can eventually manage more complex motions like sitting motionless at a desk for nine hours on a Saturday, tending to FarmVille. Check out a video of Kojiro in limited action after the break. Read more »

One of the biggest mysteries in the blogosphere right now is probably Crave’s Nexus One, which somehow developed a cracked screen while simply charging on the desk (sounds familiar, right?). Not even HTC could unearth the cause from its forensic inspection, but it didn’t rule out the possibility of a small crack growing over time due to, for example, “getting knocked around by keys” and repetitive squeezes in tight pockets. That’s fine, but saying “people sometimes forget that they don’t go in pockets” is surely stretching a bit, no? What happened to the awesomeness in the compression test and bend test that we once witnessed? More importantly, has anyone here had the same baffling screen problem and been charged £180 ($273) for the repair? If so, do share your pain with us — we’ve got a shoulder for you. Read more »