What you just heard was the sound of five new FinePix cameras popping out of Fujifilm’s doors. Yippie! If all goes well, we’ll be seeing these SDHC-loving / xD-hating babies from late August. Let’s start working through the list: the 12 megapixel, 720p-video (24fps) F300EXR boasts auto-focus speeds that are “as good as” DSLRs, all thanks to the camera’s hybrid auto-focus system — a combination of Contrast AF (as used on most compacts) and Phase Detection AF (as found on most DSLRs). Other goodies include a wide 15x (24-360mm equivalent) “low [...]

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When you consider it, we’re not so nice with our furniture. We plop our heavy selves down on some pieces and put drinks on others…sometimes without coasters. We push them around, figuratively and literally. This smart furniture, however, pushes back. // < ![CDATA[ newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11675110&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":375,"ratio":0.75,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"vimeo","wrap":true} [...]

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There’s an ongoing effort right now to develop a shared operating system for robots so that engineers and programmers can start making common progress, rather than retracing one anothers’ steps. “As a community a lot of us have wasted a lot of time reinventing the wheel,” Keenan Wyrobek, one of the co-directors for the Personal Robotics Program said. Instead, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the folks at Willow Garage have been working on a Robot Operating System, or ROS, which would give developers an advanced starting point for functions which have [...]

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What a great way to start off our parent company NBC Universal’s Green Week: it’s the greenest train system ever. Its transparent sides and top let you behold the scenic beauty of the aesthetically pleasing city of the future, but riding around in these glassy observation cars is guilt free — it’s all so sustainable with solar panels on top. Many of the support towers have the wind turbines on top, cranking out even more energy for this hanging monorail that glides along high over the city streets. The interior of the train cars are bristling with gadgetry as well, featuring [...]

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A Dutch company called Liquavista has developed a new type of screen for e-readers that blurs the line between LCDs and e-ink displays, seemingly enjoying the positives of each while attracting none of the negatives. This isn’t some far-flung tech, either; it could find its way into e-readers, phones and tablets in as little as a year. Shown off in the prototype you see above, the new display takes advantage of a process called “electrowetting,” which “involves small electrical charges moving coloured oil within each pixel,” according to the BBC. The process allows [...]

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We can’t decide if this thing is more jetski or surfboard, and its name, the “PowerSki Jetboard,” certainly isn’t helping. We’ll put our deliberations to bed for now, though, and ponder the virtues of a 45 horsepower motorized surfboard that tops out at 40 mph on the water. On the one hand, it allows for some interesting stunts that a jetski would have trouble pulling off, yet on the other, it seems to take the skill out of surfing. Then again, who cares when you’re jumping off waves like ramps? Check out the Jetboard in action in the video below and decide [...]

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Our friends over at Gizmodo have gotten their hands on the fourth-generation iPhone prototype. They’ve spent a whole week with the unit and even taken it apart. Keep in mind Apple hasn’t even announced a fourth-gen iPhone yet, let alone talked about it. Over the weekend Engadget posted some photos of an iPhone-resembling device that was apparently found on the floor of a San Jose bar. Pretty suspect, but then the editors at Gizmodo this morning posted a huge dissection of that very device (possibly prompted by Engadget’s article), which they say they’ve had for more than [...]

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The world is currently head over heels in love with tablets, due in large part to the iPad,but one concept mechanism called The Page offers something many media organizations would probably rather have instead. The concept e-reader would display interactive text, video and images on a foldable grid of paper-like material (something that is actually not far from emerging from many labs). Designed by Jae Kim, the form and function of the media reader is something we are actually likely to see within the next decade or so. You can see video of how The Page concept would operate in reality here. Via [...]

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Pulling almost unlimited energy from the ocean’s waves, tides, and currents isn’t a new quest. But Aquamarine Power’s Oyster takes a simple approach that may just find that holy grail. So far, harnessing ocean power has been tough, due the sea’s brutal, machine-crushing operating environment. (Turns out Neptune’s an angry, vengeful god.) But Aquamarine has a solution:

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I’m a big fan of electronic music, but tend to prefer really creative stuff rather than some guy just noodling on a synthesizer. Few, however, can match the creativity of Peruvian musician Jaime Oliver. While he shouldn’t be confused with the English chef with a similar name, this Oliver manages to cook up his own wonderful stew of amazing sounds. His Silent Drum may look like any old regular drum that you beat with your hand or some sticks, but it’s really an incredibly sophisticated synthesizer control surface. A camera pointed at the bottom of the flexible top skin measures [...]

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