Pen Based Input Improvements

December 21, 2008 by 10 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE3XBytN-U]

Lately we’ve been focusing on multitouch technologies, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t interesting research going on in other areas of human-computer interaction. [Johnny Lee] posted a roundup of some the work that [Gonzalo Ramos] and others have done with pen based input. The video embedded above shows how pressure can be used to increase control precision. Have a look at his post to see how pen gestures can be used for seamless workspace sharing and how pen rolling can give additional control.

Scratch Built Air Muscles

December 21, 2008 by 9 Comments

airmuscle2

We first talked about air muscles in 2005 while lusting after Shadow Robotic’s dexterous hand. The pneumatic devices are known for being lightweight and compliant. They’re designed to be used in robot arms and legs. [jelengar] stumbled across this guide to building your own air muscles. We’re not exactly sure what the original source is since it reads like a machine translation. The core is a piece of silicone tubing used in aquariums. It’s sealed at one end with a bolt. Braided electrical sheathing is slid over the tube and secured using multiple wraps of 24gauge wire. They say to test it using 20psi, but there’s no mention of what the limits are.

Securing Your Data

December 20, 2008 by 6 Comments

Lifehacker has published an overview of some of the many ways you can secure your data. The post was prompted by recently released browser vulnerabilities: first IE, then Firefox. They cover techniques far beyond just browser security, like how to properly wipe your iPhone. They mention disk encryption go-to TrueCrypt along with password management tools like KeePass. They also suggest using temporary credit cards to mitigate the impact of fraud.

[photo: Rija 2.0]

Hacked Cell Phone Blood Analyzer

December 20, 2008 by 9 Comments

hacked_cell

Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow or LUCAS for short is an amazing new hack by a researcher at UCLA. This quick little hack involving only some wire, a filter, and an LED might revolutionize blood testing. This hacked camera replaces a unit that is usually the size of a refrigerator and very expensive to run. This is a pretty amazing achievement and should serve as inspiration for hackers all everywhere.

[thanks to everyone who sent us this link]

Flash For Jailbroken IPhones

December 20, 2008 by 9 Comments

flashiphone

Hackers are continuing to outpace Apple with feature additions. The team at iMobileCinema has created a flash plugin for the Mobile Safari browser. It’s a beta release and still a bit buggy. This app is only available to people who have jailbroken their iPhones. You just need to add d.imobilecinema.com to your sources in Cydia to get the package to appear. While it can crash from time to time, it’s certainly better than no support at all.

[via Gizmodo]

Netbooks, Slow Thanks To Microsoft

December 20, 2008 by 54 Comments

microsoft

[nico] pointed out something that didn’t seem to get any air-time during the recent netbook kerfuffle. Part of the original TechCrunch complaint was that netbooks are underpowered. This is a direct result of Microsoft’s Ultra Low Cost PC (ULCPC) licensing program. If manufacturer’s don’t stick to Microsoft’s restrictions, they can’t purchase XP at a discount ($26-32), which is the only way to get XP since they no longer sell it. These rules are why you can’t buy a netbook with more that 1GB of RAM.

[photo: secretlondon123]