When speed is everything, anything that shaves off a few seconds can mean the difference between winning and losing, so for Shimano’s new bicycle derailleurs, they’ve gotten rid of cables all together and replaced them with computer controlled motors and gear selectors in an effort to provide smoother and more consistent shifts during the most demanding of races.
They’re not without their detractors however:
“People choose bicycles precisely because a bicycle’s motion requires only human effort, and nothing could be more simple, independent and autonomous,” said Raymond Henry, a cycling historian in St. Etienne, France. “Any source of external energy, however weak, runs counter to this philosophy.”
As with any new technology, these things don’t come cheap, and initial systems are expected to add about $1,250 onto the cost of an already expensive system, but if they can prove their reliability and speed up a rider’s pace, they just might be shifting the gears of every high-dollar race bike in a few years time.
Etymotic Research’s ety8 Bluetooth Wireless Earphones are “the world’s first in-ear high fidelity, noise-isolating earphones”.
By using the optional 8•Mate adapter for your iPod, you can send music wirelessly to your earphones, and enjoy the crystal clear sound that Etymotic Research is known for. (They don’t call themselves the “World Leader of In-Ear Technology for nothing!)
The full kit includes a leather case, various eartips, a USB charging cable, and a filter changing tool and filters. Plus, if you’re using these on a device that already has Bluetooth built in, you can skip the iPod adapter and save a few bucks as well.
Microsoft has been testing their Photosynth software for some time now, but with so many people snapping away with their cameras during the Inauguration, now’s probably the perfect time to see what getting ‘synthy’ is all about.
The goal of Photosynth is to take a bunch of photos and create an experience that has the cinematic quality of a movie, the control of a video game, and the mind-blowing detail of the real world. Photosynth was the result of two independent breakthroughs: The ability to reconstruct a scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet:
It works by examining images for similarities to each other and using that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, Photosynth then recreates the space and uses it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos. Here’s a little video on the history and inspiration behind Photosynth:
It’s probably one of those ‘see it to believe it’ technologies, so head on over to Photosynth’s special Inauguration page and check out the different Synths that were created during the event.
When the V10 equipped Audi R8 hits the streets, it will be the first car in the world to have both high and low beam LED headlights as standard equipment. (The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum will be the first vehicle in the world to offer the all-LED technology.)
You’ve probably already seen Audis driving around with [...]
Claytorial is the claymation version of Common Craft, and their goal is to “help people understand complicated things”.
Their first demo is for a magazine called More2Girls, and it shows off what they’ve got in store, though I can’t wait to see what they can with a concept like the Google spider, which is currently in [...]