Over the last decade or so, gaming has moved out of our living rooms, basements and dens, thanks to innovations in hardware and network infrastructure. No longer are we confined by the boundaries of the number of controllers one can connect to a console or the number of people you can fit on your couch.

My first experience with what might be called “social gaming” was with Quake on my PC. I was working at an Internet startup at the time, and a coworker mentioned that they were going to have an afternoon break where we’d meet up and play Team Deathmatch. It took me about a day before I was hooked. Even though we were all in cubicles in the same office, I was communicating and interacting with people that I would never have the reason to talk to on an everyday basis. For the first time in a long time, the idea of playing games with other people, even though I might not have had lots of gamer friends since I was a kid, became a reality.

Photo Credit: Will Merydith

Of course, Quake seems primitive by today’s standards, and there’s nothing quite like fragging your alien buddies in a round of Crysis 2 on one of today’s totally maxed out gaming PCs. Personally, I can’t wait to play it on that cool new Alienware Razer Blade laptop on a speedy wireless Internet connection.

Over the years, social interaction in games has evolved from its humble beginnings as a venue for taunting enemies in FPS games. Achievement and friends systems on game consoles and social networks have advanced social gaming to where it is today. So-called “gamification” rewards players with virtual trophies, prizes and leaderboards in exchange for achieving milestones in games. These badges of honor generally have no cash value, but the psychology behind them is pure genius.

People like to win and share their achievements with their friends and peers. With social games on platforms like Facebook, and a world that is connected virtually all the time, there’s a perfect storm which seems to have gathered. Not only do you have the opportunity to meet and interact with a seemingly infinite number of players at varied skill levels, but there’s an inherent sharing system built into the ecosystem. Sure, not all of your friends care that you just planted some new tomatoes in Farmville, but it still feels good to make it to that next level, and to let those who do care about the game know you’re a serious competitor. And the LEGO-like level-building tools in games have allowed users to get really creative and share their worlds for others to play in and enjoy.

Image Credit: Kevin Johnson

One of the coolest things about the tools being used to enable social gaming is that the basic infrastructure (the Internet), and platforms (i.e. Facebook, Google+), and delivery technologies (i.e. HTML5) are becoming ubiquitous across virtually all modern devices. Whether you’re on a laptop, netbook, smartphone or tablet, these games are starting to find their way to more and more players, no matter where they are. And it’s only a matter of time before these always-on connections will find their way into other consumer electronics. I can imagine a day in the not-too-distant future when your refrigerator and coffee maker will alert you when you lose your ranking on the Angry Birds 2013 leaderboard so you can jump online and reclaim your spot.

So how about you guys? Do you regularly play online and social games? What’s your favorite multiplayer game? What do you like most about it? Is it the game, the social interaction, or both?

This is the first post in Technabob’s Innovations Series, in partnership between Technabob and Intel®: Sponsors of Tomorrow. The Innovations Series is here to enlighten and stimulate discussion about technology and its impact on our everyday lives.

Put them in your shoes, turn them on for 45 minutes and they’ll kick germs in their germicidal nuts. Then just leave them in anyway, because they’re also shoe trees.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order a pair of SteriShoes at Amazon for $130. Don’t use ‘em to clean your toothbrush. That’s gross.

[via walyou]

The survey found that 34% of parents have to ask kids for help with fixing a gadget and 19% have to get kids to help with their computers. I am totally getting my kids those shirts that say, “No I won’t fix your computer.” Check out the list of the top ten things the survey found kids can do.

1. Turn the TV on
2. Get themselves dressed
3. Write their name
4. Turn a computer on
5. Work the DVD player
6. Ride a bike
7. Use the internet
8. Read a book
9. Use Sky+
10. Make their own breakfast

This is really no surprise considering geeks begat geeks. My son was using a computer all alone for kid games when he was three. He was correcting teachers at pre-k when he was four for calling the tower beside the desk the CPU. My daughter had to teach my wife how to use her new iPhone when she was four.

It has three slots and several interchangeable charging tips, so you can use it to charge a variety of random devices at once.

You can order the IDAPT at Firebox; the grey version costs £29.99 (approx. $47 USD), while the black version, which also has an additional USB port as shown above, costs £39.99 (approx. $63).

[via 7Gadgets]

The TruePower UCS Power Outlet With Built in USB Ports is available pre-order at FastMac for $10 (USD). It’s currently waiting on final UL Approval before they ship early next year.

[via Gizmodo]

Also known as “The Crown Joule of Laser Science” (I’m not kidding, check out their website if you want proof), the NIF’s laser can deliver up to 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy. It can heat a packet of hydrogen “smaller than a match head” to temperatures of up to 100 million degrees and subject it to 100 billion times the normal atmospheric pressure at the same time. So what’s the point of creating such a powerful device? Mainly for nuclear science -  scientists hope that they will gain a better understanding of the physics of nuclear weapons with the NIF, and maybe even discover the trick to harvesting energy from nuclear fusion.

Check out the full article at Neatorama for more interesting trivia.

[image via NIF gallery]

Lynxmotion, the company behind Robonova, is planning to produce a variety of accessories for the robot, such as a Bluetooth controller, gyros and even speech synthesis modules. Here’s a video of Robonova “practicing” martial arts routines:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And here’s a Robonova painted to look like Optimus Prime, amusing a group of movie goers. Unlike the Prime in the movie, who might as well be called The Fallen himself. Fallen from grace that is.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can buy your own Robonova kit for $900 USD at Lynxmotion. It will take you approximately 6 to 8 hours to assemble the robot, so if you think you won’t be able to do that, you can buy the Ready-to-Walk version for $1,050. That may seem expensive, until you realize that it took $200 million to excrete create Revenge of the Fallen.

Heinz, maker of Snap Pots, commissioned Andrews and Frazer to come up with a microwave that would complement their popular pork & beans snack. According to the company 69% of office workers are too busy/busy pretending to be busy that they don’t have time for lunch. So if Heinz can’t make customers come to them, they’ll just find a way to bring their product to the customers. Good ol’ business sense.

See what I mean? That guy isn’t an office worker, he’s a commercial model! Excel my ass. Anyway the Beanzawave remains a concept product, because Heinz wants to gauge the public’s interest before going ahead with production. Why, you may ask, does Brando not do this “wait and see” thing? Because they’re crazy that’s why. Also because Brando’s products are dead cheap, whereas the Beanzawave’s estimated price is about £100 ($165 USD). Ouch. But technology will most likely be on Heinz’ side, because the parts needed to build Beanzawavez will only become cheaper as time passes by.

[via Mail Online via Smidigt]

The head-to-head serves as a reminder of just how much technology has changed over the years, as well as a rough idea of how freakin’ rich Apple must be: while the old breadbox has a colossal lead in terms of total units sold at 32 million (it was first released in 1982),  a head esploding 1 million iPhone 3GS units were sold on its first 3 days on sale alone. That’s just insane.

That’s the start of the list. Funny how the C64 is almost all keyboard while the iPhone has no real keyboard at all. Other interesting facts: there are a total of 50,000 apps for the iPhone. McCracken(!) goes by the official number of C64 apps which is more or less 10,000, but several commenters are claiming that there are up to 100,000 programs for the C64. That seems like a huge advantage, until you realize that the iPhone is only less than 3 years old while the C64 is 27.

Of course the iPhone sweeps the tech specs trophies, but the C64 won lots of love because it offered… FREEDOM! The William Wallace of gadgets had neither carrier tie-ins nor app approval jujitsu. As one commenter said, if there was an iPhone emulator for the C64 it would’ve been warmly welcomed and immediately approved, no questions asked, except maybe “Would you like some cookies?”

Head on to Technologizer for the full list and the flame war. The C64 fanboys (fangrandfathers?) are winning. McCracken! Sorry.

[via Download Squad]

Aside from the significant water savings, the revolutionary cleaning system also uses 30% less energy; the efficiency of the nylon beads also translates to less detergent used. Clothes that are washed in this manner will dry faster because of the small amount of water used in cleaning them. It gets even better: the first Xeros washing machines are set to be on sale next year. They’ll be sold to commercial establishments at first, but hopefully us residential peeps will be able to own one soon after.

Check out Xeros’ website for more details, including a video demonstration.

[via GreenBang via Inventor Spot]

HP has already secured the support of a few websites that will provide unique services and features available only to future users of the PSPWTSW. For example, users will be able to print USA Today stories straight off the printer’s touchscreen. Nickelodeon has a bunch of kid-friendly content for print such as word finds, color-ins and mazes. Users will also be able to print Google Maps, coupons, and even movie tickets. Neat.

The PSPWTSW will be available in the United States come autumn for $399 USD. Gizmodo was able to procure a test unit, and while they thought that the hardware is topnotch, they came upon the logical conclusion that the things you can do on the tiny touchscreen can be done just as easily – of not easier – on a normal computer. Maybe HP should have attached a printer to a monitor instead of attaching a tiny computer to a printer.

[via gadgetell]

The first thing that you’ll notice about the Go Computer is its keyboard, which has magnified letters and symbols on it to mark the keys. It’s mostly a win, until you get a closer look at some of the keys:

You might consider this nitpicking, but I’ll point it out anyway: the symbols on the backspace key and the keys grouped with delete and print screen are all  abbreviated. How is that useful to a non-techie? Would they be more familiar with “BS” than “backspace”?  “Delete” isn’t even “Del”, it’s “DL”. And look at how small the backspace key is. The keyboard was designed for users who are either unfamiliar with the layout of the keys or have weak eyesight right? Considering that they’re bound to make a lot of typing mistakes, shouldn’t the key that erases those mistakes be easily identifiable and accessible?

Fortunately the on-screen interface is much cleaner and simpler than the keyboard; the list in the middle of the screen pops out when the user clicks the GO button. The main screen of the Go Computer is a simplified version of an iGoogle or My Yahoo page, where users can see various information at a glance. To help entice what I call the “old noob” demographic, firstSTREET made a “fact sheet” (pdf) that has more marketing speak than facts, as well as a bunch of images that shows what old noobs can do with a computer:

It’s all good right? Then shit gets weird:

Oooookay. Let’s get to the pricing so you old noobs can order your own Go Computer and grow something. The Go Computer is available at firstSTREET for $800 (USD), but a substantial part of the user-friendliness of the computer is that the company will also maintain it for users, e.g. they’ll block spam, update software, etc., so there’s also a monthly subscription fee of $20. A broadband connection is required of course. Unfortunately the “fact sheet” fails to mention the OS that the computer uses or even hardware specs, only that it has a 19″ screen. Considering that one can get a Core i7 package for $800, lets hope that the Go Computer isn’t made of old parts. Heheh. Old parts. See what I — yeah you’re not reading anymore.

[via gadget venue]

The quote continues: ‘The system might know the requirements for various tasks in its repertoire, and it may try to perform those tasks to verify functionality.”  So at the very least, these future robots could be thinking, sensing and moving about as they are being built, testing their parts. Which could include what, guns, missiles, lasers?

DARPA recently held a convention (pdf) of evil, traitorous mad scientists to help with SELF. Well I think that this is future future technology.  First of all you’d either need to have versatile parts or a factory with all the parts that robots need for it to be able to build itself based on its programmed tasks. And second, I’m scared. Dammit why can’t DARPA setup programs that make us feel better?

[via The Register via Crave]

June 1st marked a milestone for robotkind, when Willow Garage alpha robot PR2 successfully made his way through 8 – not 1, not 2, but 8! – doors, and some pesky humans, and then plug its power cord into 9 outlets. How long do you think would it take you to go through 8 doors and plug a cord into 9 nine outlets? 5 minutes? 15?

Well PR2 took all of 58 minutes. Not an hour. Those are two different values.  I guess we could say that PR2 savors every minute of its life. If it’s even alive. Okay enough with the lame jokes, here’s PR2 in (super fast forwarded) action. He’s a good ‘bot.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Listen to them applaud. If I went through our office opening doors and plugging cords into outlets I’d be laughed at. Maybe even punched in the face. But hurray for robots! Store this timestamp in your drives, and remember: we applauded your door-opening, cord-plugging antics, like parents at Little League games we cheered for your mediocre shit. So when you’re all grown up don’t kill us all or enslave us okay?

[via robots.net]

According to gizmag‘s Ben Purvis, the infrared cameras can detect heat signatures up to 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) away. The range  of the cameras is also going to be used in the 1400GTR’s collision avoidance technology, which is basically an (ultra) early warning system that alerts drivers of possible obstacles up ahead. Purvis adds that the warning may come in the form of a Bluetooth alarm that’s also mounted on the rider’s helmet.

We don’t have pics of the HUD or the high-tech helmet, so for now we can still hope that maybe, just maybe, the headgear will look like Shaider’s. or the one from Daft Punk. No not that one. The other helmet. The cooler one.

Ember may be pint-sized, but it’s shockproof and waterproof, so soldiers need not be gentle with it. But enough about tactical details, let me get back on why I think Ember is adorable. As you can see Ember has a flipper screwed on each side. The pair of flippers allow him to navigate a wide range of terrain. It’s surprisingly fun to watch the little guy move around. Here have a look:

Ember bears a striking resemblance to iRobot’s other military SUGVs (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles), except that those are heavier and have tracks in their flippers. iRobot is really on its way to conquering both our homes and the battlefield. I wish the Roomba was as charming as Ember.

[via Popsci]

The F1 is Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled. It also has GPS capabilities, an FM Tuner and a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus.

I wish we had hi-res pictures that would do justice to the F1′s 3.8 inch touchscreen, but we’ll have to be content with these shots for now. I also wish that Google would polish up their translator, because I’m pretty sure that ePrice didn’t mean to say that the F1′s “biggest selling point is a 1 GHz processor, doubling the speed while not really, but to ensure faster. ”

Here we see the buttons in front of the phone. I’m not sure if that’s three or four buttons; the ePrice article probably mentions it but again the answer got lost in translation.

That’s the camera right there, along with the LED flash. The vents on the lower left are speakers, and the tiny dent on the upper left of the F1 is actually its stylus.

You can check out more details regarding the F1 at ePrice (Google Mangled Translated version). For our readers who can read Chinese, click here for the original article. And please tell us if we missed any juicy bits.

[via Akihabara News]

The source image is on the left, and the CG is the one on the right. Currently, MotionPortrait can modify the CG face by adding glasses or facial hair, as well as changing hairstyles. Click here or here to see an example of a MotionPortrait in action.

The CG face is still obviously artificial – the color is too pale, and the movements are a bit stiff – but it’s not that far off. MotionPortrait technology has been used in commercials in Japan, but I’m really hoping that the technology could be incorporated into video games someday.

Think of it: you snap a picture of yourself, upload it into your console, and it generates a CG face that you can use in games, complete with facial expressions. How awesome would it be to see a CG version of yourself playing basketball with the pros in NBA 2k15? Or be able to play Final Fantasy 25 with you as the hero? Technology: it’s the bee’s knees.

[via Tech on!]

Don’t squint at the image, I’ll tell you what’s written on the card: the PC-in-a-vase runs on an Intel Atom 230 CPU, a Nvidia ION GPU and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM. The vase even has what netbooks don’t have: an optical drive, and it’s Blu-ray at that.

The refreshingly designed PC uses 2.5″ HDDs for storage. A power jack, 2 USB ports, an Ethernet port and an HDMI port can be found at the bottom of the vase, which justifies the raised wooden base. See? form and function.

The on/off switch as well as what looks like a vent can be found at the mouth of the vase.

Even though the PC-in-a-vase is just a concept, it’s proof of how far computer technology has come. And also how Brando-like ECS is. But seriously, ECS just made envisioning a future where computers are embedded into pretty much anything so much easier. I want a PC-in-a-wall.

[Engadget via Slippery Brick]

As you can see, the bezels were intentionally rusted, or, to use a fancy word, oxidized. A special coating has been applied to the bezels to prevent further rusting. Now the bezels in the limited limited edition Tourbillon Steampunk Ala Grande (Romain Jerome sure know how to name their products) are not only rusted, they’re “studded with 80 hand-applied rivets and have four bolts that resemble watertight hatches.”

I honestly think that honoring a notorious and deadly ship is questionable at the very least. Nonetheless, this is one kick ass watch with looks  that match its undisclosed yet no doubt titanic price tag. Only 9 Tourbillon Steampunk Ala Grande watches were made. Because there are only 9 people in the world who can afford the thing. Kidding.

A hundred years from now, Romain Jerome will be releasing the Recession Clusterfrack Ala Grande, watches with bits of concrete from the buildings of Circuit City, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Still kidding. I hope.

[via TFTS]