Brain Pacemaker Awakens the Near Vegetative

A new device could add hope to those who live in semi-consciousness from brain injury. Like a pacemaker, this device manufactured by Medtronic Inc. is embedded under the skin near the chest. But its two electrodes journey to the brain instead of the heart. Buried into the area controlling consciousness, the electrodes can jump-start patients to a more awake state, lending support to the damaged nerves in the area. One subject went from following voices with his eyes to speaking 16 words and drinking on his own. Eleven more patients will be tested in the pilot study, getting implanted with gadgets that, while sporting a decent battery life, have no MP3 or MP4 support.

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Casio Adds A 5.1 MP Cameraphone To Its Exilim Line

While Casio's Exilim line has become synonymous for quality cameras, they took a different route this time and hit us with the W53CA Cameraphone. The device features a 5.1 Megapixel camera with 9 point auto focus, image stabilization and a clamshell swivel screen. To top it off, Casio added MicroSD, MP3 support, and one hell of a sleek design. Unfortunately, it's a Korea exclusive. Sigh.

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Skyscraper Photo PC's Case Made Entirely of Wood

We're big fans of master craftsman and computer constructor Jeffrey Stephenson's work, and now he's outdone himself with the Skyscraper Photo PC, made entirely of basswood and mahogany veneer. We've shown you some of Stephenson's work before, the beautiful Decomatic Model 12, and now it looks like he's outdone himself with this case mod with a flat panel display out front to show off your favorite pics or vids.
The Skyscraper Photo PC is modeled after a 1931 Hammond Gregory clock (pictured above), a mantle timepiece that mimicked skyscrapers of the Deco era.

On Stephenson's PC, that's an 11.3" LCD up front, which he scavenged from an automotive ceiling-mounted DVD player. There's a Via motherboard inside with a fanless 1GHz C7 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 120W picoPSU power supply and it even has a CompactFlash adapter.

It's just gorgeous.

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Rock Out All Day (and Night) with Transcend's T.sonic 840 DAP

In a world of complex do-it-all gadgets, the T.sonic 840 might seem a little bland. It's a fairly basic digital audio player, supporting everything you'd expect in the audio (MP3, WMA, WAV, WMA-DRM10) and visual (JPG, BMP) departments. But it is the simple yet functional approach that allows Transcend's latest gadget to pump out tunes for thirty hours on single charge. The 1.8" color TFT-LCD displays everything including the karaoke lyrics scroller and will even do text, if you're into reading on tiny screens. It will even help you in your Spanish classes. ¿Qué? The 13-language display will test your knowledge of worldly communication techniques, but the built-in digital voice recorder pairs with a unique variable-speed A-to-B playback function to help you learn from dictated lectures or notes. As you listen to your recorded file, you can adjust the speed on a whim and repeat a given section with the push of a single button. The U.S. store doesn't have them in stock just yet (they should be available any day now), but the 2GB white version is billed at $125 across the pond with the 4GB black a tad higher at $167.

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First Fully-Armed Robots Patrolling in Iraq; First Shots Imminent

There have been robots patrolling the sunny sands of Iraq since the initial invasion, but until now, they've merely been there to scope stuff out. That was then, this is now. According to Noah over at the always-awesome Danger Room blog, the military has just deployed their new "special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system" (SWORDS) that has been in development for the past few years. What are the SWORDS, exactly? Oh, just some bomb-disposal robots armed with M249 machine guns. Holy shit, robots with machine guns.

This is a pretty huge step forward for robotics in warfare. Never before have armed robots been deployed in a war. There are only three of them deployed at the moment, and none of them have fired any rounds yet, but Michael Zecca, the SWORDS program manager, says "that'll be happening soon." Yikes.

In addition to the machine guns, the SWORDS can be loaded up with the optional X-ray kit to check out suspicious packages or to make sure the guy it just apprehended didn't swallow a bomb. That's all well and good, but just keep them over there rather than back home; I've seen the Itchy and Scratchy Land episode of The Simpsons. I know how this party is gonna end.

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Google Phone Prototypes, Software, Project Costing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

Valleywag realizes that Google will not likely do phone hardware themselves. Whatever. As long as it supports the software, hopefully some shiny Mobile Google OS, we're interested. Either way, this is what the WSJ and Reuters said today:
•"Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google's mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones."
•Google has invested hundreds of millions on the project.
•Google has also developed prototype phones, with partners like LG Electronics.

• "ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they're more personal" says Eric Schmidt (from AllthingsD)
•In Europe, T-Mobile and Orange are believed to be partners. Verizon rejected their plans in the US because they wanted to share ad revenue.
•Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008

Regardless of the reputations of both the WSJ and Reuters, take all of this with a grain of salt.

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LG's KC1 Smartphone has 4G WiMax/WiBro, Mobile TV, Lots of A/V

If you need another reminder of how far ahead Korea is in the cellphone space compared to us, here's the LG KC1. It's got WiBro support, which is 4G and lets the phone get Wi-Fi speeds pretty much anywhere. The fast speeds allow the phone to do stuff like remote PC control, streaming videos, video calls and other ridiculously high-bandwidth apps that you could only do over Wi-Fi before. As for features, it's got DMB for live TV, a 2-megapixel camera, 512MB flash, an audio/video player, microSD slot and the front camera for 3G video calling. Even though it's running Windows Mobile 5, this is still a phone we'd happily trade in most other phones for (provided we have the WiMAX/WiBro access to back it up).

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M.C. Escher's Waterfall Now in a 3D Sculpture and LEGO, Too

If you're a fan of artist M.C. Escher and his "Waterfall" woodcut, here's a scale model that somehow replicates that physically impossible structure. The $59.99 sculpture is six inches high, and will only be made in a limited edition of 500 units. At first we were hoping this was a working fountain, but the laws of physics wouldn't permit that. Take the jump for a look at the original Escher woodcut, and another Escher Waterfall made of LEGO.
This LEGO waterfall is from way back in 2003, but we thought it was quite clever nonetheless. For reference, here's the artwork both these replicas are mocking:

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Intel

Intel's bringing 45nm quad-core processors to the desktop in Q4 2007, which will make up 2-3% of its total line, and run at 3.33 GHz with a 1333MHz bus.

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Japan: Virtual Train Simulator For Japanese Kids

Can you imagine what kind of boring life you'd grow up to have if what you played with as a Japanese kid was a virtual commuter train simulator? All you do is go from one commuter stop to the next, picking up other sad sack salarymen, all the while enjoying the sights that is Japan's urban jungle. Makes me want to off myself just thinking about it.

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Trains: Caltrain GPS Project Tracks, Locates Late Trains

The Caltrain board is going to approve a multi-million-dollar project, finished by the end of 2008, that adds GPS and web-based tracking functionality for their trains. Caltrain, the SF Bay Area's commuter train, will then use the "Real Time Train Predictive Arrival GPS System" in nine train stops, allowing users to monitor the train's location/arrival via the website 511.org, and time their jog down to the train accordingly.

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