Cute Penguin Robot Helps You Keep a Lookout On The Road

This is cute!

A new idea from Pioneer, the little penguin-shaped bot is a robotic driving companion that stands on your dashboard and it acts as a blinking, chirping and flapping second set of eyes, thus keeping your drive a little safer.

It has an embedded camera and an advance image recognition ability to remind you that the traffic light has changed when it notices that you had not moved off after it changed for a few seconds. It can remember who is the driver as well, actually providing some sort of security to your car (though I do not think it can lock your ignition or activate your car alarm). It can also alert you if you're swerving off your lane as it can recognise the surroundings.

No word yet on pricing or availability, heck I do not even know if it is in production yet. But, I will be sure to tell you here again if I know more. In the meantime here are more pictures and you can download a Mpeg video (3.6Mb) to see it in action!


Recogising the driver


Internal structure

Cool Power Strip!

This one really looks too good! It'll accept any 2-pin plugs in any horizontal or vertical position. Oh yea, you can't insert the plug diagonally (physically not possible). Too bad they do not have one made for 3-pin plugs or I'll buy a bunch of them!

Want To Get A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Right Now?

You can get one, yes, right now! However, it's a smaller version (lol).

This miniature car uses the same technology as the future hydrogen car and you use solar energy to turn water into hydrogen before you transfer it to the car. Free and cheap power! The manufacturer assures that the hydrogen used is in a very small amount and kept in a safe way so there is very little danger. Hit the title link to get yourself one!

10.2 Megapixel Nikon D80 And Sony A100 Faces Off

A nice new article at hardwarezone.com compares the latest entry-level DSLR cameras from Nikon and Sony. Which is a better machine? You are! I think the skills of the photographer matters most, but lets hear what hardwarezone have to say!

Windows Vista To Lock Out Pirates

Yes, you heard me. Yup, I know many of you use pirated software, so listen up.

When Microsoft announced that it would be including all the versions of Windows Vista on a single DVD, possibly allowing people to crack the disc and save themselves some cash by installing Ultimate when they likely bought (or pirated) a cheaper version. Well according to The Associated Press, the Microsoft will be taking "much harsher steps to curtail piracy" than in years past.

The company will "deny access" to some of the "most anticipated features," including Windows Aero, the new GUI, start demanding that a legitimate copy be bought within 30 days, or else (not kidding here). So what's this 'or else'? Limiting Web access to an hour at a time, not being able to open documents from the desktop or run other programs such as Outlook e-mail software. Furthermore, "Microsoft said it won't stop a computer running pirated Vista software from working completely, and it will continue to deliver critical security updates."

To sum it up, Microsoft wants to make it as miserable as possible for you to use your computer, while keeping it as "safe" as possible. Now that I've made things clear, I believe many of you will be all over it once it debuts simply because someone out there will be making this his top hack of the year.

Get Your Treo 750v!

The 1st time a Treo running Windows Mobile 5 (it's actually WM5.2 on the website) is going to be sold by M1 in Singapore at the price of S$1, 268.

As expected, the 3G-enabled Treo 750v (specifications here) look almost the same as the Treo 700, sporting 300MHz Samsung processor, 128MB / 60MB memory, miniSD card slot, talk time of up to 4.5 hours GSM and 2.5 hours UMTS, Bluetooth 1.2 (with A2DP music profile) and IR but no WIFI. If you are not in Singapore, come over and buy it from us (hehe) but there's a good chance that neighbouring countries will catch this device in the coming months.