This guy just doesn't know when to stop. Johnny Chung Lee graces us with yet another one of his inventive Wiimote projects. This time, it involves using the Wii-mote and a pair of inexpensive LED safety goggles (with the standard LED's replaced with InfraRed ones) to allow positional head tracking, achieving an effect similar to what is experienced with three dimensional displays and CAVE systems. The video dramatically illustrates the effect. Game developers take note. This simple little variation on infrared tracking could allow for some seriously immersive gameplay in the future.
While looking at new Linux technologies, we ran across an amazing OS called Linux MCE. This OS literally resembles the Borg from the popular Star Trek series. The operating system assimilates every component in a house from audio video gear, receivers, TVs, phones, cell phones, web cams, all infrared devices, lighting, alarms systems, and many others into a mesh like network of interoperability. Is this the end all be all of Home media centers? It integrates every component in a house into one cohesive system that follows users anywhere. One would think that this monolithic orgy of electronic devices would take hours and hours to setup and thousands of dollars in equipment. However, it takes a little under four hours to have a fully automated, cataloged home media mesh network that puts cost effective home mobility and productivity to a whole new standard. Bill Gates' operational house for a minuscule of the price, read on for more information.
Here in the states, the Presidential primaries are just around the corner, and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has decided to get involved in the process with a tech-savvy twist. TechCrunch has set up a new sub-domain, primaries.techcrunch.com , for the sole purpose of polling it's huge user-base for the candidate they believe understands and represents them on many key technology based issues.
At the site, users can vote for the candidate as they see them, based on their stands on important issues such as Net Neutrality, Immigration and H1B Visas, Taxes & Internet Taxes, Technology Education, The Digital Divide, Identity Theft The Upcoming Mobile Spectrum Auction, China, Intellectual Property Rights and Renewable Energy. Head over and let your voice be heard.
Voting started the 18th of December and will continue through midnight PST, Friday January 18th. Right now, the polls are showing Dennis Kucinich as the leader for the democratic party with 38% of the vote. Ron Paul Leads the republican polls with a whopping 86% of the vote. View the current results here.
Nick Ciarelli, publisher of ThinkSecret , the number one website that Apple seems to despise, has agreed to close it's doors as a condition for settlement in an agreement with Apple regarding the lawsuit filed against them. Nick gets to keep his sources a secret, and Apple gets to quiet ThinkSecret's expository reporting. Being a lone college student with a small staff, it is no wonder Nick caved in to the mounting legal pressure.
Apple and Think Secret have settled their
lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for
both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were
revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli,
Think Secret's publisher, said "I'm pleased to have reached this
amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my
college studies and broader journalistic pursuits."
Although there are still a few websites left that cater to the Apple community in a way that the Jobs Mob does not particularly like, the loss of ThinkSecret will definitely be viewed as a bad thing by many in the Apple community. Another dissenting voice in the blogosphere dies, and the news becomes more bland and in lockstep with what a manufacturer wants you to hear.
