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Check Your Disk Space - The Groovy Way

GADGETS Monday, March 1 by Captain


Excellent Aussie techie site, lifehacker.com.au has alerted us once more to something excellent. This time it's schmick looking program that details the contents of your hard drive in a sexy and useful way. Kind of like having a digital Pepper Potts, in some ways, kind of having an excuse to getting some futuristic stuff on your computer whilst at the same time pretending it's improving your 'productivity' in others.

Seriously though, diskspacefan is pretty gosh-darned cool. It looks pretty straightforward - a fan-graph of the contents of your hard drive, carefully colour coded making spotting file and folder sizes a snap. You can start off with a normal pie-chart, and then get into the nitty gritty that ends up looking like a fast-moving porcupine has hit a slow-moving truck.
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Sony Is Giving Us 3D - in JULY!

GADGETS Friday, February 26 by Captain


In a special presentation earlier this week, Sony announced their new line of BRAVIA TVs.

The big news - 3D. The even bigger news - it's coming this year. The even bigger news - Sony are going hard at it. Not just TVs but the PS3, cameras and Sony laptops will ALL have 3D capability.

Sony Australia’s deputy general manager of consumer products division, Toby Barbour, said the company’s line-up of 3D TVs would arrive in Australia in July. So far, there is only one fully integrated 3D model planned, the LX900. Two other models, the HX800 and 900, can display 3D with an optional accessory.
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The Minority Report Computer is Now REAL

GADGETS Thursday, February 18 by Captain


We all know that gesture-based computing is amongst us - heck, everyone's seen the Wii, but to actually get to the point where what you're seeing in a product display is just as cool as the computer interface used by Tom Cruise in the movie, Minority Report, is mindblowing.

Yes, mindblowing. Just a little bit.

Granted, we still can't manipulate the flow of spacetime and stop people from doing silly things with their cheating wives and sharp and/or blunt objects, but the sheer fluidity and complexity of the movements and manipulations of this marvel from Oblong Industries is a sight to behold.
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Lasers Melt Mosquitoes

GADGETS Tuesday, February 16 by Captain


If you've ever listened to the buzzzzBUZZZZZZzzzzzzBuzzzzzzzBUZZZZbuzzzzzzz of a midnight mosquito and wondered what kind of brutal justice you could mete out to this pesky insect that uses its wing beats and the threat of sucking your blood to keep you awake at all hours of the night when really you should be resting for that big Cosplay tournament in the morning, then THIS is going to some sweet footage for you.

Scientists at Intellectual Ventures in the US have perfected a system of lasers that zaps/fries/melts/pwns mosquitoes while they fly through the air.
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iPad = iPoo?

GADGETS Friday, January 29 by Captain


The internet has spoken, and it's not as impressed as it wanted to be with the latest release from Apple - the iPad.

The general consensus - it's an overgrown iPhone.

Like the iPhone, it doesn't have a full-blown, Flash-enabled browser, which means that your internet experience isn't going to be as good as when you use a laptop - it's going to be a bit iPhoney.



The 'killer app' for the iPad, is of course, the use of the printed word. It's a direct competitor for Amazon's Kindle, and is sized perfectly for the reading experience.
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Sony BraviaVPLVW85 Projector: Dunderhead Review

GADGETS Friday, January 29 by Captain


The VPLVW85 is the top of the home theatre line for Sony projectors, and we thought it necessary and prudent that we have a look at it personally so that you, dear reader, could find out just what it's like for normal people to use it, as opposed to the hard bitten video gadget reviewers who know about things like 'grayscale' and 'gamma'.

If you're with it enough to know all about that stuff, this review won't be too much use, except of course, for a laugh.

Okay, so, first thing we do is open it out of it's box. It's a big box, but doesn't weigh much. The projector comes in at 12 kilos. But there does seem to be a lot of padding…
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Finally, a Useful 3D Computer Interface: Bumptop for Mac

GADGETS Thursday, January 21 by Captain


Now for something you'll really like!

For computer geeks, one of life's little mysteries is The Secret To The Perfect Desktop. We search high and low for the perfect desktop wallpaper, we seek out mods for our GUI (graphical user interface) - we even use looped videos as our backgrounds to give our computer-centric lives a little colour and movement. Heck, there are even programs that you can download that let you walk around virtual houses where all your desktop widgets are hitched up against the wall.
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How Futuristic Movie Computer Readouts Are Made

GADGETS Tuesday, December 29 by Captain


Ever Wondered About Those Futuristic Computer Graphics In Sci Fi Movies?

You know, the ones on those semi-transparent computer terminals that just look so unbelievably awesome, yet you search the internet for some kind of representation and you cannot find it anywhere, so you just have to stick with some modding software you got from a website that gives you something that's okay, but not brilliant. You get all angsty, realising you don't have the coolest computer GUI on the planet. You play more Warcraft than is healthy, because this world is no longer pleasing to you.
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3D TV in Your Home, in 2010

GADGETS Friday, December 18 by Captain


LG is partnering up with Korean TV Station Skylife and already has plasma TVs with 3D capability on the market in Korea. Skylife and BSkyB will be the first channels in the world to produce regular 3D content.

LG announced Korea’s first 3D LCD TV in August 2009 and SkyLife will run a second trial of 3D broadcasting in January next year after airing earlier trial 3D content in October.

The Korean manufacturer plans to introduce a wide range of 3D TVs ranging in size from 42- to 72-inches next year, following the 47-inch LCD 3D TV (47LH503D) this year. The company also plans to include 3D functionality in its flagship models for next year. The new series features an ultra-slim bezel which is expected to maximize the 3D effect. LG’s 3D technology will also find its way into 150-inch projectors in the coming year.
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Paramount Releases iPhone App: Moovy Shakr

GADGETS Thursday, December 17 by Captain


WIth so much Sci Fi goodness brought to you by the people at Paramount, this may be well worth a look. Paramount Home Entertainment Australia (PHEA) have just announced their brand new, free (our favourite price) iPhone application: Moovy Shakr.

Turn on the app, shake your phone and get a movie recommendation. Pretty cool if you've foolishly taken three people into the video store - you can let random chance decide. Otherwise, users can input their mood, favourite actor or director and whether they are looking for a classic or a new release title, and Moovy Shakr will then find an appropriate film.

Not only can Moovy Shakr help you find that film you didn’t even know you were looking for, the application is also designed to give you details such as synopses, cast lists, details of special features, Blu-Ray availability and, for the film obsessed, links through to IMDB. Movie Shakr also provides directions to local DVD stores, and their contact details so you can call ahead and make sure the film is in stock.
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