The Geek Church

Some of you might remember when we discussed Corning when I was at CES. There is something about the idea of Gorilla Glass 2 and their super strong glass on our mobile devices gave me a sense of hope for the future.

The company has just made this video called “A Day Made of Glass 2″, which is apparently a sequel to a video that “captured the imaginations of millions”. Yeah, I haven’t seen it, but this sequel makes me want to check out the original. Feel free to watch the newest version above, but I will tell you after the jump that I kind of had mixed feelings about it.

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I remember one time I was listening to my headphones, and a friend of mine wanted to try them out. He then asked which one is the left and which is the right, and I honestly didn’t know.

Personally, I don’t usually even look when it comes to headphones. Maybe I have some hearing disorder, I don’t know. Still, researchers at Igarashi Design Interfaces Project in Tokyo are working on “Universal Headphones”, and the pair has the ability to automatically switch channels when placed in the wrong ear.

Here’s how it works: If the headphone is in your right ear, the sensor will point to the back of your head, and in the left it points to open air. The sensor interprets the information and relays to an embedded audio circuit that swaps the stereo channel to the proper ear if the headphones are mismatched.

That is a quote from my source, but I wonder if this could be a standard for headphones in the future. I suppose that we will see.

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Okay, I probably used way too many B-words in that title. I guess it shows my excitement for Buhel’s SpeakGoggle G33, some ski goggles that pair with your smartphone via Bluetooth.

That’s right, someone invented a ski goggles that work like a Bluetooth headset, so you can take phone calls while you are on the slopes.

In case you are wondering if you have to put something in your ear to have conversations or listen to MP3 audio files while you are skiing, the answer is “no”. You see, the SpeakGoggle G33 have bone conduction inside. If you aren’t familiar with bone conduction, it is a method of headphones that only require contact with the skin. In the case of Buhel’s SpeakGoggle G33, the bone conductors are at the nose.

In case you are wondering, the controls for the SpeakGoggle G33 are on the sides with those large buttons for easy controls, especially while you are wearing gloves. You can also do some voice dialing, and the battery is good for 12 hours of talk time and 10 hours of music playback.

Unfortunately, I have not heard a price or availability of the SpeakGoggle G33, but it really should be soon, as ski season is almost over.

Most of us have iPhone/iPod docks that usually take up some space on our nightstand, but what makes the JVC NX-BX3 unique is that it is a nightstand.

In other words, JVC realized that our iPhone/iPod docks are truly a part of our lives, and have made them into furniture. What the NX-BX3 has is SRS StudioSound HD, an FM tuner, 60 watt amp, a pair of 8cm and 30cm speakers, as well as many other things related to our favorite brand of iPod/iPhone docks.

Right now, the JVC NX-BX3 is only available in Japan. It measures in at about 500mm x 300mm x 110mm and weighs in at 20 kg. It is made of wood with a back or white finish and costs about $525.

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Welcome to a new age of marketing, where androids are the new mannequins. By androids, I am not talking about the popular operating system, but something a little more “WestWorld” but slightly less “Blade Runner”.

Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University, who has created Geminoid android robots that look a lot like human beings, has now discovered a way that his realistic robots can be used for marketing.

In Takashimiya, a department store in Japan, has an unusual method of promotion for V-day as they have a lifelike android mannequin in a glass display. Apparently, it is designed to react with people’s reactions, and I have no idea what that means.

Why else would I post this video? Yes, someone made a robot that can react, to human reactions for Valentine’s Day, and then put it in a glass cage. This is why human beings are the creations and not the creators.

I have to admit, it is pretty impressive that someone made an android that can actually yawn when no humans are looking at her. Should I be impressed or concerned? I’ll let you decide.

Anyone familiar with Morse Code? I don’t know it either. It’s kind of a dead medium in an age of typing, e-mailing, texting, and tweeting. Fortunately, you can have the best of both worlds with the Tworse Code, designed for you to Tweet in Morse Code.

So if you actually want to tweet about that thing that is really important to you, now you can make it an interesting intellectual challenge. Just be careful what you type. I heard of this one case where this lady was trying to type “SOS” but ended up entering in “OSO”. Apparently, OSO is bear in Spanish, so people thought she was being attacked by a bear. Yeah, I have no idea if that story is true either, and it probably isn’t.

In a related story, Peek just axed its e-mail/Twitter service. You remember Peek, right? That tiny keyboard that you can use to do e-mail and tweets? The one that you paid $299 plus $79 for the cost of “lifelong service”? Yeah, they sort of called it, and don’t appear to be offering any kind of restitution.

Just imagine if you had to use one of these options for tweeting!

I know how it is. A lot of us have touchscreen tablets, and we can type on them, but I’m not certain whether or not we are comfortable with that.

I think a lot of us are accustomed to the clickity-click of the keys, and so we feel that we have to get keyboards for our tablets. For this reason, Verbatim has created a Mobile Bluetooth Keyboard for the iPhone, iPad, iPad 2 and other Bluetooth-enabled tablets.

I got a chance to try it out, and it runs on AAA batteries, and folds up with a case for some nice portability action. Not only does it have all the keys that you love as buttons, but there is a bonus media console to control things like iTunes.

You should be able to get the Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard for about $104.00 at its official site. It is very good for iPhone, iPad, and iPad2 with iOS4 or higher, as well as Android 3.0 or higher tablet. That would be the minimum requirements, and I would recommend it for those devices, as it doesn’t really work with devices lower than that.

One of the problems that I have with helmets is: they take up a lot of space. I recently took a road trip and some new helmets that were recently bought for my kids took up a lot of trunk room.

Fortunately, Patrick Jouffret and engineer Philippe Arrouart are working on the “Overade” helm which is full of lots of fold-able parts so you can keep your helmet…well, not in the back of your pocket, but at least in some smaller form.

Apparently, these designers have been working on this helmet for a while (since 2010), and there is no word on when it will be finished or available.

As a blogger, I tried to speed things along by writing about it and hopefully see it become a reality.

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So, here’s some interesting transportation! This is from BOXX Corporation, and it certainly looks like a skinny box.

What you are seeing is something about one yard long, and weighs in at 120 pounds. The top speed is about 35 miles, and carry about 300 pounds.

You should be able to get it with traction control, anti-lock brakes, and LED lights. Other information from my source includes the price. I believe that $3,995 will get a 40-mile range model, and $599 can get a CORE 2 box. You can also get the $349 1-hour charger and the $149 heated seat.

Oh, I love it, and I wonder what it rides like.

I think we all know about smart-bombs, missiles, and other type of weaponry that is guided, but what about bullets. Sandia National Laboratories has developed a smart bullet with built-in actuators and fins that will guide it in flight to hit targets over one mile away.

The bullet has an 8-bit processor to adjust the position of its fins at 30 times per second, keeping a lased target in front of it. While most bullets from conventional rifles spin like footballs in the air, this guided bullet has a center of gravity flies like a a dart.

Okay, is anyone else a little bit afraid of a bullet that might have your name on it? I mean, it looks like it can hit a target with an accuracy of 8 inches of a mile target, while an ordinary bullet can do within 29 feet of traveling a mile. Granted, these bullets are definitely more special than ordinary bullets, and they will probably cost more as well.

However, if you can imagine an age where these smart bullets hit every target that they can put a laser to is somewhat out of science-fiction, and I’m talking about the nightmare Terminator stuff. I suppose we will see what the future has to offer with it’s guided bullets that seem plucked from the Tom Selleck movie Runaway.

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