Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Apple Introduces Innovative Cellphone. The iPhone will cost $499 or $599 and will be available with a single carrier, Cingular Wireless, at midyear. By JOHN MARKOFF. [NYT > Technology] 9:47:56 PM      Google It!.

iPhone, Apple TV Headline MacWorld Keynote. Steve Jobs kept his audience rapt at the MacWorld keynote today. He rehashed the announcement of the iTV, now called Apple TV, and announced the iPhone, a revolutionary phone/ipod/wrist-computer that had MacWorld attendees sitting on the edge of their seats. Retailing for $499 (4 gig)/$599 (8 gig), it has to be seen to be believed. It uses a touch screen with a new form of input control, runs OSX and many standard applications, and connects to the internet via WiFi. It has a camera, functions as a movie player, a music player, and can send emails and photos in the middle of a phone call. From the Engadget coverage: "'[OSX] let us create desktop class applications and networking, not the crippled stuff you find on most phones, these are real desktop applications.' He's quoting Alan Kay - 'People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.' 'So we're bringing breakthrough software to a mobile device for the first time.'" Seriously, go check this out. They're going to print money with this thing. [Slashdot] 9:46:14 PM      Google It!.

A Fully Programmable Mobile Robot. paxmaniac writes "iRobot has announced Create: a new fully programmable mobile robot based on the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. People have been hacking the Roomba since the day it came out. Well, hacking just got a whole lot easier. A command module for the Create provides a programmable 8-bit Atmel micro controller, four DB-9 ports for your own sensors, and a number of sample programs that can be compiled and uploaded to the command module via USB. Botmag has more details and some cool applications. This looks like the perfect robotics platform for hobbyists, schools, and universities alike."[Slashdot] 9:44:12 PM      Google It!.

A 3D Printer On Every Desktop?. holy_calamity writes "Two Cornell researchers have designed an open source 3D printer that costs just $2,400. The self-assembly kit is part of what they call the Fab@Home project [~] they hope it will spark development of rapid prototyping for the consumer market in the same way the Altair 8800 did for personal computing in seventies." Here is a video showing a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16-MB WMV). Update: 01/10 04:02 GMT by KD : The developers of this kit are at Cornell, not Carnegie Mellon University as the original post erroneously stated.[Slashdot] 9:43:07 PM      Google It!.

Blog Profile: Open Culture. I came across the weblog Open Culture last week and promptly subscribed to the site so that I can keep up with new postings. It's a valuable site for anyone interested in online educational resources, especially resources for higher education and self-guided instruction. The site is maintained by Dan Colman, Associate Dean of Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program. "Open Culture explores the best of contemporary cultural life and connects users to free, high-quality cultural media (enriching podcasts, videos, online courses, etc.) that make learning dynamic and fun." The Podcast Library includes these subcategories: A to Z Podcast Portal, Art & Culture Podcasts, Audio Book Podcasts, Foreign Language Lesson Podcasts, News/Information Podcasts, Technology Podcasts, and University Podcasts. The Learning Resources section contains these subcategories: University Podcast Collection, Educational Web Resources, University Online Courses & Online Media, and Smart Talks (Leading Thinkers Available in Multi-Media). See the Open Culture FAQ to orient to the site. ____JH [EduResources Weblog--Higher Education Resources Online] 4:43:09 PM      Google It!.

Engadget report on Apple's phone. But of course it's also a Mac, which is what makes it interesting. [Scripting News] this looks very nice and a practical elearning platform in your hand -- for a price  --BL 4:40:29 PM      Google It!.

Lottery offers facelifts as prizes. Read full story for latest details. [CNN.com] 7:36:09 AM      Google It!.

Homing nanoparticles pack multiple assault on tumors. Burnham Institute for Medical Research researchers have developed nanoparticles that home in on tumors and bind to their blood vessels, and then attract more nanoparticles to the tumor target.They demonstrated that the homing nanoparticle could b... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 7:33:15 AM      Google It!.

World Wide Mind. "World Wide Mind," the premiere episode of 22nd Century, a new PBS series, will air Wednesday, January 17, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. EST. In the first episode, surgeons have implant... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 7:29:30 AM      Google It!.

How to go to M.I.T. for free. By the end of this year, the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at MIT will be available online to anyone in the world. Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted. ... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 7:26:31 AM      Google It!.

Sling Streams iTunes Content To TV. Vitamin_Boy writes "Sling has a new product out, the 'SlingCatcher.' It sends video from the PC to the TV and does it for $200. Oh, and it works with iTunes. Will this undercut Apple's iTV? The Ars Technica article thinks it might: 'The SlingCatcher... is media-agnostic. It doesn't care what codec videos are encoded with, nor whether or not they have been purchased from an approved online store. It is designed to take video output and stream it, which means that you could use the SlingCatcher with video purchased from other online services, such as the iTunes Store or CinemaNow. In this way, the SlingCatcher may turn out to be a one-size-fits-all solution in a field populated with specialty products.'"[Slashdot] 7:24:07 AM      Google It!.