Klar writes "If you're looking for something new to prove your tech prowess, Richard Piotter has a great how to on overclocking Texas Instruments graphing calculators. You can actually double the cpu speed, which is noticeable when graphing complex functions."

yahooooo writes "CoolTechZone.com has an article that talks about desktop hard drive developments in 2005. It looks this year is going to be a dud for the storage industry."

saccade writes "A couple years ago we read about a telemetry laden balloon launched to 80,000 feet single-handedly built by a laid-off engineer. Here's an even more elaborate one built at around the same time: A balloon launched model glider taken to about 60,000 feet that autonomously finds its way home. It had an auto-pilot and elaborate mission control system. Also impressive is the extensive testing done before launch."

rdnk writes "Here's something for the DIY people, a home made mp3 player built into a mint case. Total (minimum) cost for parts: ~50$. At least it's something different."

An anonymous reader writes "Realm Systems has developed a cellphone-sized mobile device that takes advantage of the hardware of a another PC by attaching via USB. It requires an Internet connection to connect to a backend system, but acts as a fully functional PC with dual PowerPC processors, a 20 GB drive and all your applications - if you can find someone who lets you connect to their PC. An interesting option especially for a price of $195 for the mobile device." So, for a $10,000 central server, a $1000 PC, and a $195 device, you can have the computing power of: a $1000 PC. It seems like there might be cheaper ways.

gnuguru writes "Here's a great use for some of your old hardware, a BSD beer brewing kit! Components: one 486, FreeBSD, a temperature logger kit, a relay board, some odds and ends from the useful box, and some time. Summer's just around the corner, so get to work gang!" You'll have to use this recipe, naturally.

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that a ruling against the Japanese software giant has been handed down in the case of Immersion vs. Sony. Immersion sued the company over the force feedback effect experienced in the dual-shock controller, which it has a patent on. From the article: "Now a Californian district court has ordered Sony to pay a 1.37 per cent license fee based on sales of the PlayStation console and of the named videogames, to be paid quarterly effective from July 1st."

Jac_no_k writes "O'Reilly's Make magazine is now taking subscription orders. They have an offer for one bonus 'mook' by using the offer code 'M5ZXML'. Their description: 'MAKE is a new hybrid magazine/book ("mook") published quarterly by O'Reilly. MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. It follows in line with the Hacks books and Hardware Hacking Projects, but it takes a highly visual and personal approach.'" If the quality of the magazine is the same as their technical books, this should be a worthwhile subscription.

sebFlyte writes "ZDNet is running a preview of Apple's newest version of OSX, Tiger, after Jobs said it was still on track for a q2 2005 release (long before Longhorn...)." And an anonymous reader writes "The Register is reporting that Powerbook G5s will ship in Q2 2005."

Ant writes "Security-minded U.S. decorators' supply outfit, Force Field Wireless, claims to have developed a do-it-yourself solution to the international menace of marauding geek wardrivers: DefendAir paint 'laced with copper and aluminum fibers that form an electromagnetic shield, blocking most radio waves and protecting wireless networks.' According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's report, one coat of the water-based paint 'shields Wi-Fi, WiMax and Bluetooth networks operating at frequencies from 100 megahertz to 2.4 gigahertz", while two or three applications are 'good for networks operating at up to five gigahertz.' However, there are downsides to this." Since it's a water-based paint, exterior use is only recommended for people who want more copper and aluminum in the soil surrounding their house.

MessageDrivenBean asks: "In a Windows-based terminal client environment, I'm looking for a smart flatbed-like scanner. It is okay to connect a scanner to a local USB-port and tunnel that scanner to the remote application on the terminal server. But actually scanning a page produces a lot of data and with a small bandwidth connection it takes like 10 minutes to get all the data in the application. Besides, I only need 2 specific small parts of the page in 300dpi, and JPEG is just fine, no need the get raw data. Does Slashdot know of an intelligent scanner that exposes some sort of API to be efficient in a low-bandwidth terminal client environment?"

Brandon Miniman submitted a story that discusses the whole iPAQ line of handhelds and specifically looks at the newly released iPAQ hx2755 Pocket PC. This one is unique in that it has a biometric fingerprint reader.

Joe Barr writes "NewsForge is running a story this morning on a personal hardware/software backup solution for your Linux desktop (NewsForge is owned by Slashdot's parent OSTG). The solution doesn't require a SCSI controller, or tape drive, or the ability to grok a scripting language or archiving tool to work, either. It's based on point-and-click free software. Plus it includes a dead-parrot joke by Linus Torvalds."

Dr. Manhattan asks: "My PDA was stolen on a business trip, and I'm looking for a replacement. I've enjoyed Palms for their simplicity and long battery life, but I'm not afraid to program and I'm considering something that can run Linux. However, my budget is rather limited; $150 is all I can spend. Relatively obsolete tech is fine, but I'm looking for: good battery life (my old Palm could run for weeks on a charge; I'm hoping for double-digit hours), dual expansion slots, all of the onboard hardware solidly supported by Linux. Does such a beast exist in my price range?"

pillageplunder writes "Businessweek has an interesting viewpoint on the state of the wireless spectrum and how it's not being utilized to its max. While it's an opinion piece, the author raises several valid points. Establishing an exchange-entity to facilitate trading wireless spectrum, ridding the restrictions on spectrum available for sale, and weeding out the politics behind many of the recent and not so recent FCC policies. A thought-provoking read."

Shuttertalk reports that Samsung have launched the world's first phone equipped with a continuous 3D movement sensor. Movement sensors in mobile phones to date have been limited to slope calculations and applied to some games and bio-related features. The potential is there to do away with the need for complex keypads on mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras and other handheld products. Many functions will be controlled by movement instead of buttons.

trs9000 writes "The Register has a blurb about simPC, an "idiot-proof" PC set to debut in May of this year. It seems like a step towards a thin-client world, though it is aimed primarily at the elderly. For about $400 for the box and a $13-per-month subscription, users get a box with a propietary OS and software preinstalled for online banking, spam filtering, virus detection and online storage. What users don't get is the ability to install software, burn CDs or download large files. Initial release is only for the Netherlands and Belgium."

Administration of headless machines can be a pain, and working on multiple machines can also be a bit of a bother. KVM boxes solve some of the problem, but sometimes finding a keyboard and a monitor to lug around to these machines is most of the problem. Is there a portable solution that might solve both of these problems? Wouldn't it be nice to carry around a specialized laptop that could act as both a portable display and input device? Does something like this currently exist?

Spong.com (via Kotaku) has a story discussing a dire portent for the N-Gage. The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association sales charts will no longer reflect N-Gage sales. From the article: "The N-Gage chart, though still produced, is of little interest to anyone. Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all. We still keep sales charted and are available on monthly, quarterly and annual reports, though we have dropped the platform from the ELSPA chart following a lack of interest."

AndroidCat writes "Leapfrog has just announced their Fly pen computer for children. It talks, giving feedback as they write and draw, and with special Fly paper, you can draw a calculator, press the 'buttons' with the pen and it will read the answers. Cute, but is this a real working product? Let's see. If they included a 1 GB USB drive, it would be an interesting product for geeks too--just don't write fdisk. And remember to turn off the voice when making notes during meetings." Here's a picture of the device.