With its advance technology, Toyota has produced a robot that is able to play Violin, and sign autograph. These actions might seem simple, but it requires high level of mechanical and electrical control for a robot to achieve. The robot, which is 1.5m tall and weigh 56kg, has 17 joints on both its hands and arms, making it possible to achieve vibrato on a violin similar to that created by humans. Watch this video:Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Toyota's Voilin Playing Robot
With its advance technology, Toyota has produced a robot that is able to play Violin, and sign autograph. These actions might seem simple, but it requires high level of mechanical and electrical control for a robot to achieve. The robot, which is 1.5m tall and weigh 56kg, has 17 joints on both its hands and arms, making it possible to achieve vibrato on a violin similar to that created by humans. Watch this video:
MSN Messenger Tricks
MSN Messenger Tricks #1 - Sending Continuous NudgeYou might have experienced this before: one of your friend on MSN messenger keeps sending you non-stop nudges continuously, until you can hardly do anything on your MSN messenger. When you try to do the same back to him, you get the message "You may not send a nudge that often". If you have this experience before, I bet you will be desperately trying to find out how did your friend do those annoying stuff while you are not able to the same. And the answer is you need to install the NudgesToolsScript in order to do this. Just download the script and execute it (double click the .plsc file.. you will get a warning message.. just check the the check box that says "I accept the responsibility of installing this script" and click 'Import'). After installing the script, you will now be able to send continuous nudges to your friend with no delay. If you really want to annoy any of your friend :P, type "/sendnudge 1000 100" (without the double quotes) and hit enter. Your friend will then get 1000 nudges every 100 milliseconds! By the default setting, your own chat window will also be vibrating when you send nudges.. To prevent vibration on your own chat window, do this: go to Tools > Option > Messages, and uncheck the "Allow me to send and receive nudges" checkbox so that your chat window will not vibrate when sending nudges to your friend. To stop the nudges, type "/stopnudge" and it will stop immediately.
MSN Messenger Tricks #2 - Find out if somebody has blocked you on MSNThis is probably one of the most frequently asked question: how can I know if someone has block me on MSN messenger. There are lots of online services out there which claims to be able to check if someone has blocked you. As far as I know, many of them contains some sort of spyware, and will intrudes your MSN and sends annoying automated messages to all of your contacts. So instead of using those so called MSN block checker, here's a manual way to check if someone has blocked you:1. Register a new MSN account. Use a different nick name so that no one can recognize that it's you.2. Sign in to MSN on both your actual account and your new fake account. Having MP!L installed, you can sign in to 2 separate session of MSN simultaneously using different account.3. Add the contact that you want to check using your new account. If at anytime, someone appears online, or accept you into his/her contact on the new account, but appears offline in your actual account, he/she has blocked you. This seems to be a more troublesome way, but it saves you from being intruded by spyware, and most importantly, it works. :)
MSN Messenger Tricks #3 - Cool effects on MSN display nameThis is a cool trick that enable you to easily edit your display name and make it looks cooler. Install the script NameEditor. Then go to the script button (somewhere on the top of the messenger), and choose NameEditor > Edit Name. The Name Editor window will appears, which which enable you to fill in some cool effects for your display name. This will easily make your name stand out among all the names in your friends' contact list.
MSN Messenger Tricks #4 - Check Gmail with MSN MessengerThe original MSN Messenger will only alert you when you receive an email in your Hotmail account. With the Gmail Checker script, we will also be receiving incoming email alert for Gmail account. A pretty useful feature to be added to MSN Messenger!MSN Messenger Tricks #5 - Let your keyboard's LED alert you when you have incoming messageThis is a cool script that will flashes your keyboard's LED, and plays a beep sound from your laptop when you receive incoming MSN message. Just install the script KeyFlasher, and start playing around with the script configuration. You can specify which LED to flash (Num Lock / Caps Lock / Scroll Lock), the speed of the flashes, amount of the flashes, etc.. Simple and fun!MSN Messenger Tricks #6 - Easily translate the text in chat windowAnother very useful and cool script to be installed on your MSN messenger is the GoogleTranslator. You can easily translate the text in your chat window into another language by just hitting F5 on your keyboard. As the script name suggest, this script is using Google's translator to do the translation.. which means it supports multiple languages translation! A really useful script. With MP!L script, there are so many tricks that we can do with MSN Messenger. These are just some of the cool and useful MSN Messenger tricks that people would usually looks for. Hope you find this information useful. :)
MSN Messenger Tricks #2 - Find out if somebody has blocked you on MSNThis is probably one of the most frequently asked question: how can I know if someone has block me on MSN messenger. There are lots of online services out there which claims to be able to check if someone has blocked you. As far as I know, many of them contains some sort of spyware, and will intrudes your MSN and sends annoying automated messages to all of your contacts. So instead of using those so called MSN block checker, here's a manual way to check if someone has blocked you:1. Register a new MSN account. Use a different nick name so that no one can recognize that it's you.2. Sign in to MSN on both your actual account and your new fake account. Having MP!L installed, you can sign in to 2 separate session of MSN simultaneously using different account.3. Add the contact that you want to check using your new account. If at anytime, someone appears online, or accept you into his/her contact on the new account, but appears offline in your actual account, he/she has blocked you. This seems to be a more troublesome way, but it saves you from being intruded by spyware, and most importantly, it works. :)
MSN Messenger Tricks #3 - Cool effects on MSN display nameThis is a cool trick that enable you to easily edit your display name and make it looks cooler. Install the script NameEditor. Then go to the script button (somewhere on the top of the messenger), and choose NameEditor > Edit Name. The Name Editor window will appears, which which enable you to fill in some cool effects for your display name. This will easily make your name stand out among all the names in your friends' contact list.
MSN Messenger Tricks #4 - Check Gmail with MSN MessengerThe original MSN Messenger will only alert you when you receive an email in your Hotmail account. With the Gmail Checker script, we will also be receiving incoming email alert for Gmail account. A pretty useful feature to be added to MSN Messenger!MSN Messenger Tricks #5 - Let your keyboard's LED alert you when you have incoming messageThis is a cool script that will flashes your keyboard's LED, and plays a beep sound from your laptop when you receive incoming MSN message. Just install the script KeyFlasher, and start playing around with the script configuration. You can specify which LED to flash (Num Lock / Caps Lock / Scroll Lock), the speed of the flashes, amount of the flashes, etc.. Simple and fun!MSN Messenger Tricks #6 - Easily translate the text in chat windowAnother very useful and cool script to be installed on your MSN messenger is the GoogleTranslator. You can easily translate the text in your chat window into another language by just hitting F5 on your keyboard. As the script name suggest, this script is using Google's translator to do the translation.. which means it supports multiple languages translation! A really useful script. With MP!L script, there are so many tricks that we can do with MSN Messenger. These are just some of the cool and useful MSN Messenger tricks that people would usually looks for. Hope you find this information useful. :)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Mid-Level Laptop - New Acer Aspire 8920G
kxLast week we reviewed the 6920G, the mid-level laptop in Acer’s new Gemstone Blue range. We had come away impressed, with not only its specifications but also its impeccable finish and styling. This week let's check out the 8920G, the flagship model that's aimed at the desktop replacement market.
Keeping in mind the premium positioning of the 8920, we wish Acer had taken the trouble to at least make its flagship model distinctive. The 8920 is similar to the 6920 with regard to its build and finish. There were absolutely no changes that we could discern. The lid and area around LCD panel have the same high-gloss finish, with the Acer logo displayed on the lid.
The area around the keyboard too has remained the same. The speaker grill is present above the keyboard area and, keeping in mind the size of the laptop, has been scaled accordingly. The left side of the keyboard has the CineDash Media console, which gave us a couple of surprises (more about that in the performance section). Compared to the 6920, the keyboard has been expanded to include a numeric keypad. This is a welcome move and one we wish was adopted by more manufacturers. The touchpad is a bit larger and has the same silver finish as the 6920.
As mentioned earlier, the 8920 is a desktop replacement/media center model. For this purpose it’s been given an 18-inch LCD panel with a native resolution of 1920x1080 (16:9 resolution) and a 2x Blu-ray drive. The LCD panel in terms of its usability can be described as simply perfect. Like the panel on the 6920G, it has excellent levels of color and brightness, and actually goes beyond its younger brother by offering excellent side and top-down viewing angles. This was apparent in our gaming and multimedia tests.
The expanded keyboard shines too. Though it has a glossy finish, it has great tactile feedback with recessed keys, ensuring a very comfortable working experience.
Connectivity-wise the 8920 is very well-equipped. It offers a 5-in-1 card reader, 4 USB 2.0 ports, HMDI/ VGA slots, headphone and microphone jacks (with S/PDIF support), Ethernet, Blu-ray 2.0 support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/bg/g/n,modem, and an ExpressCard slot. The ODD, as we already saw, is a 2x Blu-ray drive.
Keeping in mind the premium positioning of the 8920, we wish Acer had taken the trouble to at least make its flagship model distinctive. The 8920 is similar to the 6920 with regard to its build and finish. There were absolutely no changes that we could discern. The lid and area around LCD panel have the same high-gloss finish, with the Acer logo displayed on the lid.
The area around the keyboard too has remained the same. The speaker grill is present above the keyboard area and, keeping in mind the size of the laptop, has been scaled accordingly. The left side of the keyboard has the CineDash Media console, which gave us a couple of surprises (more about that in the performance section). Compared to the 6920, the keyboard has been expanded to include a numeric keypad. This is a welcome move and one we wish was adopted by more manufacturers. The touchpad is a bit larger and has the same silver finish as the 6920.
As mentioned earlier, the 8920 is a desktop replacement/media center model. For this purpose it’s been given an 18-inch LCD panel with a native resolution of 1920x1080 (16:9 resolution) and a 2x Blu-ray drive. The LCD panel in terms of its usability can be described as simply perfect. Like the panel on the 6920G, it has excellent levels of color and brightness, and actually goes beyond its younger brother by offering excellent side and top-down viewing angles. This was apparent in our gaming and multimedia tests.
The expanded keyboard shines too. Though it has a glossy finish, it has great tactile feedback with recessed keys, ensuring a very comfortable working experience.
Connectivity-wise the 8920 is very well-equipped. It offers a 5-in-1 card reader, 4 USB 2.0 ports, HMDI/ VGA slots, headphone and microphone jacks (with S/PDIF support), Ethernet, Blu-ray 2.0 support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/bg/g/n,modem, and an ExpressCard slot. The ODD, as we already saw, is a 2x Blu-ray drive.
Next Generation Electronic Foldable Book: OLPC XO Laptop 2.0
bOLPC XO Laptop 2.0 it totally blows the original away. About half the XO 1.0's size and more like a foldable book, it does away with the keyboard and trackpad to go totally touchscreen—that's right, dual touchscreens, straight out of the future, like a kid's book in Minority Report. Folded all the way out, the displays work like a single continuous one, for say, a sweet game of Pong. Like XO 1.0, the display by Pixel-Qi will look fine indoors or in bright sunlight. Unfortunately, it really is from the future: Due in 2010, they're aiming for $75 and one-watt power consumption. Update: High-res shots and full press release, and they're calling it XOXO, or XO-2.
Interestingly, in this clip from Laptop Mag, Negroponte says that part of the reason they're unveiling the design so early is that they're hoping people will copy it—a radically different stance from the first time around, when riffs on the concept of a cheap subnotebook by competitors basically slew the original XO.
Good to see a more enlightened view. In other OLPC news, Give 1, Get 1 will start back up in August or September. Man, I want one of these, and I'm not even in a Third World country. Or Alabama.
Interestingly, in this clip from Laptop Mag, Negroponte says that part of the reason they're unveiling the design so early is that they're hoping people will copy it—a radically different stance from the first time around, when riffs on the concept of a cheap subnotebook by competitors basically slew the original XO.
Good to see a more enlightened view. In other OLPC news, Give 1, Get 1 will start back up in August or September. Man, I want one of these, and I'm not even in a Third World country. Or Alabama.
Lenovo X300 Pretty Slim With The Magnesium Construction
At first glance the Lenovo X300 does not appear to be anywhere as slim as the Macbook Air. However, a closer look at its dimensions of 12.5 x 9.1 x 0.73 inches compared to the Macbook Air’s 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.7 inches reveals a different story. They are virtually similar in size, shape, and weight, with the Macbook Air edging out the X300 with its virtually Frisbee like profile. The X300 in comparison resembles a normal notebook, albeit with a slimmer profile.
In a throwback to the ThinkPad days, the X300 retains the familiar trademark black boxy body with the magnesium construction. The lid however is different from other ThinkPads; it has a silky smooth matte finish that feels incredibly good to touch. The same finish has been used around the keyboard area and gives the laptop a sexy appeal despite the monotonous all-black color.
We've seen that the X300 is pretty slim, but the question is: how secure is its body? The answer is "quite hardy". Since it retains the magnesium construction build of its predecessors, it’s got a tight finish all over that does not squeak and gives the appearance that it will weather well over time.
Moving on to the keyboard, one is impressed again. The keyboard on the X300 is much superior to the Macbook Air's in terms of user comfort, with its soft keys recessed keys. Typing on this keyboard is similar to using a Logitech G15 keyboard in many ways and this makes working long hours a breeze.
As for the mouse, the company's gone for a typical dual-pointer approach, and the X300 has both a touchpad and a track-point. Using either is easy; the only irritant is the horrible location of the touchpad. It’s positioned at an odd angle which makes using the track-point kind of hard as the user’s hand will keep brushing against the touchpad, making the cursor wander all over the screen.
In a throwback to the ThinkPad days, the X300 retains the familiar trademark black boxy body with the magnesium construction. The lid however is different from other ThinkPads; it has a silky smooth matte finish that feels incredibly good to touch. The same finish has been used around the keyboard area and gives the laptop a sexy appeal despite the monotonous all-black color.We've seen that the X300 is pretty slim, but the question is: how secure is its body? The answer is "quite hardy". Since it retains the magnesium construction build of its predecessors, it’s got a tight finish all over that does not squeak and gives the appearance that it will weather well over time.
Moving on to the keyboard, one is impressed again. The keyboard on the X300 is much superior to the Macbook Air's in terms of user comfort, with its soft keys recessed keys. Typing on this keyboard is similar to using a Logitech G15 keyboard in many ways and this makes working long hours a breeze.As for the mouse, the company's gone for a typical dual-pointer approach, and the X300 has both a touchpad and a track-point. Using either is easy; the only irritant is the horrible location of the touchpad. It’s positioned at an odd angle which makes using the track-point kind of hard as the user’s hand will keep brushing against the touchpad, making the cursor wander all over the screen.
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