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Posts Tagged ‘Digits’

How soon is now? Pre-order timing for iPad confirmed, 5:30 am PT

Filed under: Cult of Mac, iPad

We’ve had more than a few inbound requests today, via email and Twitter, asking a slightly obsessive but completely understandable question: When can I pre-order my freakin’ iPad?

True to form, the simple answer of “March 12th” is not adequate for the real early adopters, and they ask again: Yes, I know that, but what time can I push the button? When does the pre-order page go live on store.apple.com? Do I need to stay up all night, refreshing the page?

We understand. We know where you’re coming from. We asked Apple PR to help you plan your day tomorrow, and they responded:

“Customers can pre-order online at apple.com at 5:30am Pacific time on Friday, March 12.”

There you have it. 5:30 am PT, 8:30 am ET, and for those of you who happen to have US credit cards & shipping addresses but are currently elsewhere around the globe, here’s the global clock. Now please have a nice cup of tea, sit down with a favorite book, and remember that it’s still three more weeks until your new iPad hits your electrostatic digits.

TUAWHow soon is now? Pre-order timing for iPad confirmed, 5:30 am PT originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Displax film could turn nearly any surface into touchscreen, make your keyboard irate

Light Blue Optics already blew our minds up with its touchscreen-creating projector, but it looks like Displax will be the one to really turn the touchpanel into a modern day commodity. The Portugal-based company is trumpeting a new polymer film that can be stuck onto or just under glass, plastic or wood in order to transform a vanilla surface into one that responds to touch and airflow. Furthermore, the tech can be overlayed on curved panels, and it also plays nice with opaque and transparent surfaces. As the story goes, an array of nanowires embedded in the film recognizes your digits or pointed breath, and it then passes the information along to a microcontroller and software suite that transforms the inputs into reactions on your system. In its current form, the solution can detect up to 16 touch points on a 50-inch screen, and if all goes well, the first Displax-enabled wares will start shipping this July. Huzzah!

[Thanks, Ben]

Displax film could turn nearly any surface into touchscreen, make your keyboard irate originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget meets Woz

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple, Apple History

Engadget’s Josh Topolsky got to chat with none other than Woz recently, and they’ve finally shared a great video of their meeting. Woz says a lot of interesting things in the video (he runs six navigation systems at a time in his car just for comparison’s sake, and carries two iPhones nowadays, just in case the battery life runs out), but the most intriguing thing about this video is just seeing the great Wozniak thinking machine race along at the speed of Woz.

For example, those two iPhones he carries are the two different colors available. Why? “White and black, black and white. Resistor color codes: zero and nine. Those are the digits they end in!” Gosh, we love Steve Wozniak. You can watch the whole video after clicking the link below.

TUAWEngadget meets Woz originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic serves up latest prototype robots, dish washing servant included (video)

Keeping those dreams alive by scrubbing dishes at your least favorite eatery? Best put those aspirations on the front burner, as Panasonic’s got a mighty fine robot swooping in to take your place — and for a whole lot less cash, to boot. At Panny’s robotics laboratory in Osaka, the company recently showcased its latest gaggle of prototype robots designed to help humans take it easy more often. Among the usual suspects were a porter robot designed to help with heavy lifting, while the star of the show was undoubtedly the dish washing bot that wasn’t afraid to get its metallic digits wet and soapy. As expected, an array of integrated sensors kept it from grabbing a wine glass too tightly, and its four fingers enabled it to do most everything a human washer could (sans the kvetching). Have a peek at these guys in action just past the break.

[Via Impress]

Continue reading Panasonic serves up latest prototype robots, dish washing servant included (video)

Filed under: Household, Robots

Panasonic serves up latest prototype robots, dish washing servant included (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Elecom’s USB numeric touch keypad does touch gestures on the side

Elecom’s USB-powered numeric touch keypad is pretty simple. You plug it into your machine, tap your digits on the board and watch the numbers appear in your calculator app. Once that gets boring, you can also use this as a secondary trackpad. And given that it supports a variety of multi gesture functions (zoom in / out, shift up / down, etc.), we’d say the secondary features here may just be more enticing than the primary. Suddenly overcome with a feeling of want? Get yours later this month for ¥6,500 ($72).

[Via Akihabara News]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Elecom’s USB numeric touch keypad does touch gestures on the side originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple seeks to take multitouch where it’s never been before in new patent app

Another month, another compelling Apple patent application that’s just too delectable to ignore. This go ’round, the Cupertino powerhouse has filed a lengthy document that spells out its plans to revolutionize the multitouch game by creating a solution that recognizes both palms and all ten fingers. According to the filing, such a system could provide “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device,” and when we hear things like “computer input device,” we think of precisely one thing. Of course, the oft-rumored Apple tablet has been spinning for what feels like ages now, and we’ve definitely seen countless applications from the company that have yet to lead to any meaningful developments. Still, a multitouch surface that recognizes all ten digits simultaneously? Slap that on a Palm IIIc and we’d still be interested.

Apple seeks to take multitouch where it’s never been before in new patent app originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Crafthouse’s Melissa robotic hand sounds sweet, looks menacing

Is your poor robot getting by without digits? Without them the poor thing can’t greet others, catch ping pong balls, or dial up its cyber-shorties. You need the Melissa Hand from Crafthouse, a servo-driven mitt that’s just perfect for your little overlord-to-be. All five fingers open and close at the same time, so it’s not ideal for rude robo-gestures, but the videos after the break should give you an idea of what kind of trouble you can get into with the 60mm wide paw. The price? ¥60,000, or about $600. If that’s too rich you could always buy a single finger for around $50, but those who need the absolute best can spring for the so-called God Hand, a custom-made model that’s a bit smaller (45mm wide) and costs a whopping ¥180,000 — just shy of $2,000 for a set of left and right. For that kind of money we expect something a little more impressive.

[Via Boing Boing Gadgets, Impress]

Continue reading Video: Crafthouse’s Melissa robotic hand sounds sweet, looks menacing

Filed under: Robots

Video: Crafthouse’s Melissa robotic hand sounds sweet, looks menacing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple: "Exploding" iPhones succumbed to external pressure

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, iPhone

There’s been much news of “exploding” iPhones lately. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, the European Commission formally asked Apple to investigate a series of reports that users’ iPhones were abruptly cracking and/or catching fire. According to the French periodical Les Echos, an iPhone in Aix-en-Provence, France, started to “crackle and pop like a deep-frier” before breaking violently apart.

This past Friday, Apple said that, in all cases, the iPhones in question were damaged by an “external force,” not a faulty battery or glass screen:

“To date, there are no confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits. The iPhones with broken glass that we have analyzed to date show that in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone.”

It does seem odd that at least four cases have been reported in France in short order. Still, it’s even stranger that iPhones would suddenly turn into Molotov cocktails. We’ll keep you updated on this story.

TUAWApple: “Exploding” iPhones succumbed to external pressure originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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