virtual on technabob...

This new device uses RFID technology to connect your physical possessions with the digital world. Cool.

Violet (the makers of those quirky Nabaztag USB rabbits) is about to unleash Mir:ror, a small puck-shaped USB gadget which acts like an interface between your everyday belongings and your computer.

For example, you could place an RFID tag on an umbrella, wave it…

Bricksmith is an open source application that allows you to make awesome virtual Lego models on your Mac. It’s a bit like a complex, tricked-out version of this LEGO iPhone app concept.

Bricksmith was created by Allen Smith. The application includes a parts browser, a full Lego color palette, drag-and-drop building, and more. It’s been around for a few years,…

With all the buzz about the new iPhone SDK, all kinds of nifty applications are starting to crawl out of the woodwork. Of all the coming programs, this LEGO construction concept application has to be one of my favorites.

Designed by Nicholas G Panas of play /, LEGO-touch will let you build virtual LEGO creations using a large catalog of…

There’s nothing quite like a delicious virtual donut and a hot cup of paper coffee before parking it in front of the fake TV to get my day going.

This off-the-wall creative project takes items seen in the 3D virtual world of Second Life, and transforms them into real-world (paper) objects.

Export to World is a concept created by Linda…

I was over on the mStation website recently, when I stumbled across this interesting new sound system buried under “coming soon”. It looks like the mStation TheaterBar will soon join the ranks of one-box home theater sound systems, designed to mesh beautifully with today’s flat-screen televisions.

From the looks of the photos, the TheaterBar appears to offer not only a…

Every once in a while a company takes a stab at trying to resurrect pinball machines using modern technology. The latest entry into the digital pinball genre replaces the old mechanical table with a large flat screen display and interchangeable digital games.

The system offers up the familiar top-down view and flipper controllers you’d find on a traditional pinball machine,…

This amazing tech demo shows off an augmented reality system which can digitally swap out textures on clothing. While it sounds pretty simple, the ability to exactly mimic the behavior and appearance of cloth is extremely difficult to pull off.

Developed by computer graphics researchers Volker Scholz and Marcus Magnor, the texture replacement technology uses a complex algorithm which encodes…

If you’re on the road with your laptop and missing your theater setup at home, here’s a way to capture a bit of that big surround sound feel on the cheap.

The Virtual 7.1 Channel Adapter plugs into your USB port and adds virtual surround to your current PC audio system. Special driver software, called Xear 3D simulates 7.1 channel…

New Zealand digital artist Julian Oliver is working on a cool game that blends the electronic universe with the real world. His work-in-progress game called levelHead uses a series of cubes placed on a table top. Digital cameras and custom software sense the movements of the cubes and superimpose digital images of a tiny little 3-dimensional gameplay universe.

As you…

The latest in Yamaha’s series of “Digital Sound Projectors” takes the critically-acclaimed virtual surround technology found in their larger YSP series and shrinks it down to a box that’s just 24-inches wide. (The full-sized models are around 40-inches wide).

The YSP-500 reflects sound from 18 individual sound drivers to deliver truly immersive surround with only a single box. Just like…

The folks over at ezGear were kind enough to send me a pair of their $299 ezVision Video Glasses to put them through their paces. The glasses are designed to produce the illusion of a big screen television, but are small enough carry around in your briefcase or purse.

By sticking two tiny LCD screens in front of your eyeballs,…

Soundmatters is best known for their all-in-one surround sound systems which cram an entire 5.1 home theater into a single small box. Up until now, their designs were still a bit too unwieldy for placement anywhere but on a shelf or on top of rear-projection set. But their new system, the Slimstage40, takes the wide and thin approach, measuring in…

I’ll start out by telling you that I’ve never been a dweller of the Second Life universe, but then again, I’m too busy living three or four lives in the real world. But for those of you who do take up residence in the insanely popular virtual world, you’ll soon have a way to give your avatar a little more…

This new home theater system from Sony offers an immersive 3-dimensional surround sound effect using just two satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The system has a striking industrial design that’s very sleek and modern. It even has a cool touch-sensitive control panel hidden in its glass top.

Sony’s DAX-X10 is a complete home theater system that looks perfect for living…

Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Yamaha’s YSP line of home theater surround systems, this new Marantz ES7001 Sound Bar is designed to produce a fully-immersive home theater experience with a single box.

Like the Yamaha, the ES7001 crams all the amplifiers, speakers and surround processing gear into the same box. There’s no detail on what movie surround standards…