Author: Kat Hannaford

Flash, a longer battery life, outputting video at 1080p, a $1m app competition—these are just some of the ways Notion Ink is hoping its Android-powered Adam tablet will be able to win customers over.

The tablet has gone through several different guises since renders were unveiled in December. From the slick silver-edged device, to the roll-topped plastic prototype at CES, the latest renders suggest the final design will be more in keeping with that cheaper-looking prototype, although much slimmer. They’re reportedly considering launching two different models, with the key difference being how thin they are—either 12.9mm or 11.6mm, which suggests different displays being used.

Pitting it against the iPad, CEO Rohan Shravan told SlashGear that due to the Nvidia chip and Pixel Qi screen, the Adam will have a battery life at least two times longer. Plus, it’ll be able to output 1080p video whereas Apple’s tablet can only manage up to 576p, AND they’re exploring the use of Flash, which will apparently be shown off next week.

Recognizing that despite offering more spec than the iPad they still have a battle on their hands, they’re encouraging development for the Adam with a $1m bounty being put up for creating apps. They haven’t officially announced the competition yet, but as soon as we hear we’ll let you know how you can put your creative genius to work. [SlashGear]

This LG Mini GD880 is so good-looking it makes my brain hurt at the injustice of it (presumably) running LG’s S-Class OS, and not Android. Still, there’s some nice spec to back up this slim 16:9 phone.

Just like the Chocolate phone before it, the display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, in this case at 3.2-inches. LG hasn’t released many details about the internals just yet, but we do know it has a 5.0-megapixel camera with face detection, Wi-Fi, and HSDPA 7.2Mbps connectivity.

The lack of buttons, metal finishings and square corners make it look like it’ll be part of their more “premium” range of handsets, so expect to pay a pretty penny if you want it PAYG, otherwise it’ll most likely go for the usual month contract fees when it goes on sale in March in Europe—with worldwide availability expected shortly. I’m going to harass LG for confirmation of the OS, but with Mobile World Congress starting this weekend, I’m sure we’ll find out a whole load more then. [LG]

If a printer doesn’t need toner, ink or copy paper, is it still a printer? Well, I guess if a bear still shits in a forest, then yes. Using plastic paper, it’s a very green (and pricey) way of printing.

The PrePeat RP-3100 paper is actually made from PET plastic, which means it can be reused up to 1,000—so once your printed document is no longer needed, it can be inserted back in the printer, where the line thermal head prints the ink-less words on again.

However eco-friendly it may be, there are some major downsides to the PrePeat RP-3100. It only prints in black and white, and costs a whopping $5,600—which each sheet of plastic paper costing a further $3.35. Each. I guess you don’t need to buy ink for it, but that $3.35 price does sound astonishingly high. [Sanwa Newtec via Crunchgear]

Way back in ’72, this Gesundheit Radio was created by an “experimental research group” at Texas Instruments. Or at least, that’s what student James Chambers will tell you, who created the back-story for added “color” to his sneezing radio.

Yes, sneezing. As the questionable story goes, the radio is forced to sneeze every six months in order to protect the microprocessors from dust. Users can manually override the bi-annual sneeze, with a SNZ button being added for those days when you really don’t have time to give the feather duster a work-out.

The radio is on display at the Work In Progress exhibition at the Royal Collage of Art in London, though if you can’t get down there to check it out in person, hit up the video below to see the radio “sneezing,” with the dust being expelled (visually) through the front. [James Chambers via We Make Money Not Art via Slashgear]

Gesundheit Radio from James Chambers on Vimeo.

ASUS listened to those grumbling about the lack of Wi-Fi in the O!Play HDP-R1 media streamer, and has added Wi-Fi 802.11n to the newest model, the O!Play Air HDP-R3, for streaming 1080p video. You’re allowed to cheer, folks.

The O!Play streamers are very highly-regarded here at Gizmodo, especially when considering they don’t cost more than 200 notes. The addition of Wi-Fi 802.11n, along with a multi-format card reader and ethernet port, for €129.90 in Italy (around $177), is definitely worth the few extra bucks. [ASUS via Slashgear]

Seen here is the first SUPER AMOLED PHOOOONNNNEEE from Samsung, which is so SUPER you must wear a protective suit to touch it, lest you become SUPER too.

We knew their integrated AMOLEDs were on the way soon, and while the first device (which supposedly has a 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen) hasn’t been named/specced-out, at least we know it’ll have more sharp corners than the Motorola Droid. Crazy boasts are already being thrown around, suggesting the AMOLEDs will be five times brighter than the average phone, and will perform 20 per cent better when used outside—which is definitely an important issue, for anyone who struggles using their phone in direct sunlight. [Korea Times via OLED-display]

UPDATE: Yes, they’re just panels, not the actual phone. I need new glasses, I accidentally slept on them (and damaged them) the other night. Long story.

Just because you didn’t make it into the police force, it doesn’t mean you have to go through life with a naked belt. Strap Brando’s camera belt lock on for size, and feel the testosterone course through your veins.

You can unlock it in just a second according to Brando, so that all-important kingfisher shot is never missed, and then to secure it safely you just push it down again on the lock. They don’t specify compatibility with manufacturers, but judging from the photo it looks like Canon 350D owners are sorted—and for only $14, too. [Brando]

I stumbled across an amazing photo of a kingfisher diving for its dinner, taken by photographer Adrian Groves with a Canon 40D camera. Though I can no longer show you here due to copyright issues…

Groves set up a tank of minnows as bait, camouflaged with some netting, and then hid out, waiting for the kingfisher to appear. When it finally did, the Canon 40D (with a 70-200f2.8L IS lens, set at f/8, 1/1000 seconds) managed to shoot the kingfisher diving for a feed. I can’t stop looking at it—the orange feathers make it look like it’s on fire.

Now I want a 40D. And a pet kingfisher. [TrekNature via Telegraph and Daily Mail]

UPDATE: images had to be removed due to copyright issues, but you can click over here if you want to see them all.

We’ve seen all manner of phones controlling robots, cars and helicopters, but a HTC Hero operating a Lego Mindstorms robot? Awesome. It works via a purpose-built app which uses the Hero’s accelerometer, connecting to the ‘bot over Wi-Fi.

It’s from the creative minds at Swedish tech company ENEA, who created the app to harness the Hero’s accelerometer to control the Mindstorms bot. Normally such a relationship between a controller and robot would be over Bluetooth, but ENEA was forced to use Wi-Fi due to the “limited Bluetooth support in Android OS version 1.5 (not supporting the Bluetooth serial port profile, SPP)”.

It’s not the best quality, but do check out the video below for a glimpse at the Hero getting all domineering on a little LEGO creature. [ENEA via Recombu]

Last year AT&T blocked access to 4chan for about a day, due to a DDoS attack against the site. I’d love to hear Verizon’s reasons on why they’ve blocked the site now, and how they’re going avoid the inevitable shitstorm.

Writing on the 4chan Status blog last night, founder Moot confirmed the site was down for Verizon customers, saying:

“After an hour and a half on the phone, we’ve received confirmation from Verizon’s Network Repair Bureau (NRB) that we are “explicitly blocked.””

Earlier yesterday morning, he said that they’ve been “receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the image boards,” for at least 72 hours.

“After investigating, we found that Verizon is dropping traffic to/from boards.4chan.org, only on port 80 (HTTP). No other subdomain/IP/port is affected, which leads us to believe this block is intentional.”

With access blocked for over four days now supposedly, Verizon might just find they’re on the receiving end of a nasty battle headed their way. [4chan Status – Thanks, Joey!]

Who needs apps telling them to pick up a pint of milk on the way home, anyway? This bamboo dry erase comes in two sizes, with a bunch of assorted accessories like magnets, a letter holder and hooks.

If you’d rather not have the accessories, that’ll lop $30 – $40 off the price, but I personally think you may as well spring for them, if you’re spending at least $40 (on a small model) on a piece of bamboo anyway. [Three by Three]

Being a lomo user, photographer Hunter Richards’s Canon 5D Mark II hack has totally made my Friday. Using a Russian lomo lens from the ’80s with an adapter, he managed to create a beautifully-shot lomo film worthy of your attention.

Hunter’s description of his set-up is probably the easiest way to explain it properly to curry favor with the photography crowd:

“What I think is cool about using 2x anamorphic lenses on the fullframe sensor of the 5d mark 2, is that you can extract the full 4-perf anamorphic gate size as on anamorphic 35mm film in video mode (as the 5d mark 2 sensor is 26mm tall and I only need an image height of about 18mmx22mm to use the image area designed for use with the lenses. Basically this is a very cheap way to shoot “full frame” digital anamorphic because there can be literally no crop factor (as with shooting anamorphic with the Red, F35, ect… which makes 2x anamorphic lenses behave like approx. 1.34x their focal length (more telephoto field of view)- The only current other digital systems available I know of for using the full image area required by 2x anamorphic lenses are the Arri 21 and Phantom HD- which of course make nicer images than the 5dmark2’s video mode- but its still fun none the less to get some of that look for relatively cheap.”

He uses two Lomo “roundfront” anamorphic lenses from Russia, made between the ’80s and ’90s, but in the video below he used a 75mm t2.4 one, which cost around $3,000 – $5,000. If you’re wanting to emulate his set-up, the Oct-19 EOS adapter used is from Cinemods.com and fits all EOS mount models. [Hunter Richards via Planet 5D]

5dm2 + lomo roundfront anamorphics first test from Hunter H. Richards on Vimeo.

The company that supplies Amazon with its Kindle displays is working on touchscreen electrophoretic panels according to Digitimes. This doesn’t necessarily mean Amazon will be using them, considering their recent snap-up of Touchco.

Scott Liu, chairman of PVI (which bought e-ink mid last year) reckons their color pressure-sensitive touchscreen EPDs will support animation this year, hinting at the possibility of being able to do more with e-ink than read books. Full of grandiose plans, Liu also hinted at flexible EPDs using TFT LCD components—something we’ve already looked at previously. [Digitimes]

Frank Miller, the comic god behind Sin City and 300, has licensed his wares to GelaSkins for some awesome-looking iPhone cases and laptop skins. I want them all—and I don’t even like cases! Or have an iPhone.

The prices are set at $14.95 for an iPod Touch or iPhone case, or $29.95 for a laptop skin—which are available for both MacBooks and PC laptops ranging in size from 13-inches to 15.4-inches. Seriously, these are some of the nicest cases I’ve seen in a while, and I’m betting I’m not alone in my Miller fandom. [GelaSkins]

How the hell did X2 think they could name their tablet PC the “iTablet,” and get away with it? Sure, Apple may not be using the name, but did X2 think we weren’t paying attention to all those rumors?

Nonetheless, the iTablet—which hails from the UK—actually sounds very decent. For a tablet taking on the iPad, anyway. It runs Windows 7 (alright, naysayers, keep it down in the back), and is powered by a 1.6GHz Intel processor. It’s available in two sizes, of 10.2 and 12.1-inches (both 35mm thick, which sounds horrendously thick, given the iPad is 13.4mm deep), and each model contains 250GB of internal storage, a 3G chip and Bluetooth.

While the iPad was an oversized iPod Touch, the iTablet actually manages to be a proper computer by the sounds of it, with three USB ports and HDMI-out, along with a 1.3-megapixel webcam. Out in April, prices haven’t been announced just yet, but given some of the aforementioned components, I would think they’d struggle to price it lower than the iPad. [X2 via Electricpig]

LG’s only sold two netbooks since entering the market in 2008—that’s two models, not two units, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the sales figures aren’t too far off, considering they were pretty average. Enter the X20.

Leaked via an FCC outing, the LG X20 has an Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor (joining HP’s Mini 210, Toshiba’s NB300 and NB305, MSI’s Wind U130 and U135, and Acer’s 532h ) and runs on Windows 7. It may look small due to the pics, but the screen measures 10.1-inches supposedly, with the LCD a 1366 x 768 pixels job. Up to 2GB of RAM and a 250GB HDD, the listing claims there’s also an Intel 3150 GMA graphics card, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 1.3-megapixel webcam—plus HSPA 3G-compatible.

Due to its very-much-unconfirmed nature, there’s no further info or photos of the X20, but apparently it’ll come in five variations of the model name—in the US, it’ll be the X20, but in Canada, Europe, Australia and Asian countries it’ll have either the X200, XB200, XD200 or XV200 model name. Tricksy.

LG announced the X300 at CES just a few weeks ago, which is a skinny 11.6-inch 1GB RAM machine. Looks like they’re offering up two choices for 2010—style, or substance. [FCC via Wireless Goodness via SlashGear]

Pre-ordered Nooks have only just started arriving on people’s doorsteps, but already Barnes & Noble is planning firmware update 1.2 for new units, with already-bought models having to wait a little while longer. No clues on what 1.2 will hold for the ebook reading-customers, but it’s apparently being released “this week.” Tick, tock. [Engadget]

You don’t need that rumored Toshiba phone that “acts like a secretary,” or even Maggie Gyllenhaal (though that would be nice), to have help when organizing your social life. Siri uses “speech recognition with a brain,” according to its CEO.

To use the iPhone app, you just have to say aloud a command like “Book a table for six at 7pm at McDonalds” (I’m sure you’re classier than that, but let’s stick with it for now), and then using speech-recognition technology and the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, your command is translated and processed by the app, responding with confirmation of booking—or lack of availability.

Siri, which has ties with Stanford Research Institude and DARPA, has collaborated with OpenTable, MovieTickets, StubHub, CitySearch and TaxiMagic to help with bookings and information, which pretty much wipes out the reason why you’d want to download any of those services’ apps individually.

It’s free to download on the iPhone now, but fear not, Android and BlackBerry users of the world—Siri plans on giving you a little phone secretary of your very own at some point. [Siri via NY Times]

Joining the SH1 and CS1 from a mere month ago are three new Xacti models from Sanyo—the GH2, CG102 and CG20. All three film in 1080i widescreen resolution, and will cost under $230 each. Score!

Of course, I’d rather have a camcorder shooting 1080p like the SH1 and CS1, but what’s a few less lines between friends? The CG20 and CG102 are both pistol-grip models, with the GH2 coming in a minute barrel shape. Specs-wise, the GH2 and CG102 take photos with a 14.4-megapixel sensor, with the CG20 a 10.7-megapixel one.

A “double-range zoom” on the first two models means you can switch between 5x and 12x zoom.

Expect all three to go on sale in March, with the GH2 and CG102 pricier at $229 and the CG20 just $199. [Electronista]