If you use Google’s Public DNS server or OpenDNS as your DNS server, you may notice starting today that YouTube videos load faster and other web content comes in quicker. If you’re using your ISP’s DNS server as the default, now’s a good time to try Google’s or OpenDNS. More
As goofy as Bluetooth headsets may be, there’s still people who use them on a daily basis. So what happens to those people when they want to listen to music and use a headset? They need something like Jawbone’s The Nerd. More
Sony’s HMZ-T1 is a head-mounted 3D headset, to be released later this year in Japan. Two 1280×720 OLED displays, each just 7/10 of an inch across, create a virtual 750″ screen. Perceived 20m from the viewer, it “corresponds to the sense of cinema as seen from a large central seat.” It’ll be 60,000 Yen ($785) from mid-november. Source [Impress.co.jp]
Yesterday , we reported about Sony , Hitachi and Toshiba planning to establish a joint venture for small and mid-size LCD panels in Japan. And today, the three companies, plus major shareholder Innovation Network Corporation of Japan , made the plan official . As reported, the semi-public organization will control 70% of the venture (to be set up by the end of the year), with the other partners holding a 10% stake each. Tentatively named “Japan Display”, the venture will launch with a cool US$2.6 billion investment and instantly control 21.5% of the world market for small and medium-sized LCDs. According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Sharp will be the second-largest maker of this type of displays with a 20% market share. The same newspaper says the four companies involved in Japan Display are currently trying to figure out where to set up plants in order to start production as quickly as possible. Apart from LCDs, Japan Display will also invest in OLED-related research and development.
You know what’s great? Mechanical keyboards — what with their satisfying clicks. You know what’s less awesome? Having to listen to that obnoxious racket all day. Razer claims you can have your cake (in this case, tactile feedback) and eat it too (blessed silence!) with its BlackWidow Stealth Editions. These are, more or less, the same boards that debuted last August , but with quieter switches and a matte finish. Both models are available now, with the same programmable keys and on-the-fly macro recording, while the Ultimate version adds “extreme anti-ghosting” to its already impressive noise pwnage. The standard model will run you a cool $80, while the Ultimate weighs in at a hefty $140. Check out the gallery below, as well as the PR and video after the break. Gallery: Razer BlackWidow Stealth Edition Continue reading Razer BlackWidow Stealth keyboards keep the mechanical keys, ditch the noise Razer BlackWidow Stealth keyboards keep the mechanical keys, ditch the noise originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Photo: Jerome Rozen / American Museum of Natural History These sure aren’t your ordinary beehives! Behold the nest of the O. avoseta bee, which is made from flower petals: Each nest is a multicolored, textured little cocoon — a papier-mache husk surrounding a single egg, protecting it while it develops into an adult bee. To learn more, the scientists watched the busy mama bees. Building a nest takes a day or two, and the female might create about 10 nests in total, often right next to each other. To begin construction, she bites the petals off of flowers and flies each petal — one by one — back to the nest, a peanut-sized burrow in the ground. She then shapes the multi-colored petals into a cocoon-like structure, laying one petal on top of the other and occasionally using some nectar as glue. When the outer petal casing is complete, she reinforces the inside with a paper-thin layer of mud, and then another layer of petals, so both the outside and inside are wallpapered — a potpourri of purple, pink and yellow. NPR’s Kathleen Masterson has the fascinating story: Link
Tony Spore of the VV2C tells us all about upcoming Open Source projects!
