GLENN’S SHOWNOTES
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NetGear Push2TV streams PC to TV wirelessly
device that connects your PC screen to your TV wirelessly
It utilises Intel’s newly-developed Wireless Display technology, which features on its 2010 processor range, to allow the streaming of content to a TV set which is connected to the Push2TV box via HDMI. Because the data is transmitted using a separate wireless connection, rather than being redirected through the same router being used to access streaming media, performance should be more reliable.
While the key application is likely to be streaming content from services such as the ABC’s iView, it also provides a solution for using a laptop PC as a Blu-ray player or simply playing downloaded TV episodes without the hassle of physically connecting your PC or buying a media extender box.
Push2TV will go on sale in Australia in March for $149.
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Sex robot offers social networking
aka “Roxxxy”, includes a range of artificial intelligence features.
A prototype of the True Companion robot was demonstrated at the Adult Entertainment Expo by creator Douglas Hines, who joked that it might have been more appropriate for the adjacent Consumer Electronics Show.
“She has a computer, she has IO boards, she has servos, she has a battery pack, she has an accelerometer, she has touch sensors and pressure sensors throughout her body,” Hines said. “She’s anatomically consistent with a real person. She has three inputs so what you could think of with a woman, she could do.”
The doll can be switched between a range of personalities, including Frigid Farrah, Wild Wendy, S&M Susan and Mature Martha. Owners can also develop their own personalities for the doll, and can “swap” personalities between models
A male version of the doll, dubbed Rocky, is also planned.
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Sony admits defeat on Memory Stick
announcing that it will begin manufacturing SD and SDHC cards and integrating options to use them into many of its devices
As well as manufacturing its own SD and SDHC cards, Sony will also begin adding SD storage options to some of its products. The first devices to see that shift will be its digital imaging range of Handycam and Cyber-shot camera
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RTA facial recognition to catch driving licence cheats
Anyone applying for a driver’s licence or photo card will now have their photo matched against the entire RTA photo database, Assistant Transport Minister David Borger says.
The system is designed to prevent people who have had their licence taken away from applying for a second one.
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Dolby brings theatre sound to gadgets
Dolby Volume was developed to address a complaint seeming as old as television itself; that shows on screens seem to whisper while commercials shout despite being on the same volume settings.
Volume inconsistencies can also occur when compact disks are switched in players or between music files in MP3 devices.
“One of the biggest complaints consumers have had is volume inconsistencies,” Mr Eggers said.Dolby consumer technology marketing director
“We solved that problem. Dolby Volume gives us the capability to choose our favourite volume level for all media then set aside the remote and never touch it again.”
The technology is being built into Toshiba televisions and car audio products this year, according to Dolby.
Dolby Axon in headsets for videogame lovers gives positional feedback to people talking to each other while playing together online by making voices sound as though they are coming from where virtual characters happen to be.
Voices get louder as gamers approach one another, and fainter with distance, according to Dolby. Like in life, sounds made by on-screen characters are obstructed by objects in the game.
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Travellers to wear body scan cost
Airlines say the cost of introducing the units, which overseas authorities price at between $160,000 and $260,000, will be passed on to passengers as increased security charges.
Australian air travellers already pay between $3.50 and $5.50 for that purpose, according to the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia.
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Microsoft sets December launch date for Project Natal
CES: Project Natal is an add-on to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 that senses total body movement and turns the gamer’s body into the controller, effectively surpassing devices such as Nintendo’s Wii.
“Project Natal will be available this holiday, 2010,” Mr Bach said. “2010 is going to be the biggest year in Xbox 360 history.” Mr Bach said Microsoft entertainment and devices division president Robbie Bach
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Google’s Nexus One smartphone bypasses Australia
Google’s touchscreen Nexus One is seen as the first serious threat to the popular iPhone that has sold more than 21 million units globally.
Nexus One will be available in the US, Britain, Singapore and Hong Kong for $US529 ($578) unlocked.
Based on Google’s Android operating system, it is the same weight as the iPhone but has a 5 megapixel camera instead of the iPhone’s 3 megapixels.
A Google Australia spokeswoman said the phone was not fully compatible with Telstra’s Next G network, although it should operate on “most” GSM networks.
“The phone will work with nearly all GSM SIM cards worldwide (but) there are some carriers like AT&T in the US and Telstra Next G who have different 3G frequencies, so users can only access 2G or Edge networks with the current Nexus One,” she said.
FROM CNN:
Nexus One mobile phone may be the New Cool Thing, but the family of sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick is alleging that the search giant lifted the device’s name straight from an iconic Dick novel without even bothering to pick up one of their fancy new smartphones to ask permission. “Google takes first and then deals with the fallout later,” Isa Dick Hackett, Dick’s daughter
the name originates from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that later became the sci-fi classic Blade Runner. In that story, a private detective is tracking down a rogue android, a Nexus 6 model.
Google explained the name had nothing to do with Dick’s work, and was simply using the word in its original sense — as a place where things converge. Additionally, the Nexus One character isn’t trademarked by the family
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Telcos eye 4G networks in government spectrum sale spectrum vacated by the switch from analog to digital television should be made available in a large contiguous block that would be attractive to mobile operators.
A 4G network could achieve peak download speeds of up to 100Mbps, significantly higher than the 14Mbps to 20Mbps Telstra achieves at present on its network and on par with the planned National Broadband Network.
Telstra’s ability to participate in the auction depends on its negotiations with the government over the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Senator Conroy has threatened to prevent Telstra from taking part in any auction unless it agrees to transfer its wholesale fixed-line network to the NBN.
hoping to raise $1 billion
No shownotes from Mark this week due to technical issues.
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