Trust me, I get Apple. As a lifetime Windows user I readily concede that they make the best laptops on the planet. The lack of bloat in OSX makes it a damned quick OS. What I don’t get is their unrealistic expectations when it comes to the price-tags on their monitors. Take the new LED Cinema Display. It is a beautiful monitor to be sure, but there are enough buts to put all but the most rabid fanbois off the purchase.
The extra 24-inches will be a welcome addition to folks tired of squinting at their laptop screens and the 1,920 x 1,200-pixel resolution will make for some awesome playback. It looks great, a worthy accompaniment to any unibody MBP, it has a spare set of controls, and according to all accounts is a sweet performer; Wired even went so far as calling it unparalleled.
It acts as a dock for the MBP, with a USB hub and an onboard MagSafe charge port; very convenient and what you would expect from something that is meant to extend Apple’s flagship notebooks.
But then there are the buts, and there are a few of them before you come anywhere near to the price. No DVI or HDMI, it uses mini DisplayPort. On the one hand, that is something that you would kind of expect, but given the size you would think that Apple would have built in a little bit more interoperability. It would be nice to be able to hook it up to a BluRay player or console as I do with my Samsung monitor.
But one deal breaker for me is that it doesn’t play nicely with Windows. Wired reports that it won’t work on an MBP via Boot Camp – something that seems more of a slight than an oversight.
The other deal breaker is the cost. While it might feature an arsenic-free screen backlit with mercury-free LEDs and offer “unparalleled performance” the price is a serious issue here. The fact is that I can get two pretty good 24-inch displays from Samsung or LG for the same amount of money. If it played nicely with my other gadgets I would consider the LED Cinema Display for $600 but not $900. I don’t need all that brightness, I normally turn my monitor brightness down. What I want is interoperability and value for money.
Researchers at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University have developed a pee-powered diaper monitoring system that will allow anyone who cares for small children or the elderly to know when they are due for a change.
A sensor is placed in the diaper; and a chemical reaction that occurs when the sensor comes into contact with urine is used to create the electricity that is needed to notify parents or staff – as long as they are within 3m of the soiled diaper.
I definitely think that this has more application in medical/daycare scenarios as most parents will not want to know the moment mini-them fills their pants. It will just make them feel guilty for waiting as long as they do.
Looking at the OSX and Windows takes on the calculator I realize two things: I have never actually opened my OSX calculator and that it looks a thousand times better than the Windows version.
These concept models are the work of the designers at MintPass. [BBG]
If you, like me, really suck at bowling then you are probably a little enthused by the idea of settling the score with a radio-controlled ball. Using a weight built into a threaded shaft, and a handheld control, it is possible to steer the RC900; allowing people to bowl who might not otherwise be able to so because of physical limitations.
Were it not for the insane price tag ($1500) and the fact that there is no disguising the fact that it is an RC ball, it would have real potential as a prank device.
I never really got into the bowling thing, part of it was the result of spending much of my childhood in a country without one single bowling alley, but that is a story for another day.
