Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

You know those late night e-mails you send out pleading for your girlfriend to take you back?  Then, you wake up the next morning and remember all the reasons you broke up with her in the first place and think oh my God what did I do?!? and wish there was a big old RETRACT button on your e-mail?  Well, until they come up with that e-mail retract button, they have something else.  Something that will at least sort of slow you down and make you think before you send that pleading missive of unrequited love.  Something that makes you solve math problems.

Yep.  You read that right.  Solve math problems.  See, GMail Engineer Jon Perlow over at Google Labs figured that if you are actually going to sit there and be able to think through solving some math problems, then just maybe you are in fact thinking clearly, and actually do want to send that email and the desire isn’t just an alcohol induced psychosis.  Find out more after the break.

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Just imagine watching Monday Night Football with the players looking like they are running right at you.  Talk about experiencing the excitement of the game without actually being there.  Or fighting the bad guys in your favorite video game (and you thought the Wii made the fighting seem realistic).

Scientists have finally broken the barrier that had prevented this type of technology by creating the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.  Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the University’s of Arizona’s Optical Sciences department, said, “This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology.” Although there is still work to be done, scientists are still very optimistic they are getting much closer to this becoming a reality in the next five to ten years.

Find out much more about holographic TV after the break!

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Delta says it plans to block websites it deems “inappropriate” when it rolls out its new Wi-Fi service.  The service will be available on selected planes later this year and on all of its flights in 2009.  The airline’s original plan was to let flight attendants handle any issues, but they changed their mind and will now be using a software solution.  Like American Airlines, they will also block VOIP service to avoid customer complaints of passengers making loud phone calls.

The Wi-Fi service will be provided by Aircell’s GoGo service, and they said they have no problem filtering content if requested.  Privacy experts, not surprisingly are critical of the idea, fearing it could open the floodgates for outright censorship.

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Here’s a quick question: would you give up beer before Wi-Fi?  According to a new study by the Wi-Fi Alliance, 48 percent of the 501 college students polled would.  That wasn’t the only question asked, though to some it can be interesting what college students prefer over beer.  Of the students polled, over half admitted to using MySpace, Facebook and/or email during class.  That’s not really all that surprising, a lot of college students flood computer labs during free time to check Facebook/MySpace, so why wouldn’t they during class if it’s available?

The main focus of the study, however, seems to be if Wi-Fi helps in college at all.  In the study, 79 percent of students “said that without Wi-Fi access, college would be a lot harder.” Again, not surprising.  Later, it mentions students getting a head start on assignments on their laptops before class ends, or quickly researching some small detail in order to appear smarter.  Another not-so-surprising finding, but an important fact is that more incoming students and their parents are looking at technology when choosing colleges, with 60 percent saying that “widely available Wi-Fi on campus is an indication that a school cares about its students.”

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Two years ago, Digital Foci introduced its Image Moments digital photo frame product line.  Two years after, Digital Foci has released several models of the Image Moments digital photo frame and the latest of which is the Image Moments 6, nicknamed the Executive.

What makes this digital photo frame special? Digital Foci claims that its 140ppi pixel density is the highest by industry standards so far.  According to the company, this enables the photo frame to display photos with excellent image clarity and detail.  This feature is complemented by a LED backlight which gives photos more colors when displayed on the photo frame. 

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Ecorio was one of the Android applications shown off at the T-Mobile G1 event.  The app tracks “your mobile carbon footprint” and is one of the winners in the Google Android Developer Challenge.

Interface

Ecorio has a very easy and simple interface.  The home screen shows your travel carbon footprint, displays some shortcuts and the four main features at the bottom of the screen (Start, Reduce, Inspire, and Offset).  The application runs in the background and tracks your trips.  There are no features hidden in a submenu of a menu.  The entire application is laid out cleanly.

Inspire: Ecorio’s social network

“Inspire” is the cool social networking feature of Ecorio.  This is the kind of thing where a social network makes a lot of sense.  You can see how others are reducing their carbon footprint and put together a carpool using the Inspire feature.

Find out more about Ecorio after the jump!

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The author of the infamous ransomware virus has finally been identified.  The virus began hitting computers in July and used a Trojan called Delf.ctk which encrypted all the files on the infected computer, rendering them inaccessible, then demanded victims call a 900 number and pay $35 to get them back.  The payment processor used is also used by various porn sites.

The author is believed to be a Russian national, and security experts think he’s probably behind similar ransomware attacks on 2006 and 2007.  The latter demanded $300, so this new attack was somewhat of a bargain.  Sources close to the authorities investigating the hacker say he also tried to profit from his malware by attempting to sell a tool that will restore access to files on infected computers to at least one security company. 

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As technology gets more and more advanced everyday, it is no surprise that we often find new technology being used in places we often wouldn’t have imagined a few years ago.  Baseball is a professional sport in which there was limited technology used in the past.  However, just as everything changes over time, so has baseball. 

Many professional sports leagues, such as the NBA, NFL, and NHL, have already adopted the use of Instant Replay.  Yet, baseball failed to incorporate this technology into everyday use, until recently.  As of now, it is only used to find out whether a home run is, in fact, a home run, or if it should be a double or a foul ball.  A home run call that was ruled incorrectly by an umpire can ultimately change an inning, game, series, or a season.  Such an effect has led Commissioner Bud Selig to introduce Instant Replay to MLB.

Learn more about the technology behind MLB’s Instant Replay after the break.

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The Register seems to have started an interesting little rumor that despite all their recent ads and millions spent to lure users to Vista, Microsoft is actually extending the time OEMs have to sell PCs that come with Vista with the support to downgrade to XP.  The deadline had been January 31, 2009, and it has supposedly been extended by six months to July 31, 2009.

The whole extension hasn’t had any official confirmation by anyone in Microsoft or any OEM, just a “Reg reader” was sourced in the original article.  Guess we’ll see.  In a way, it would make sense if Microsoft is trying to keep XP available for companies until the release of Windows 7, expected to come out sometime in early 2010 or thereabouts.  I’m sure this move (if true), would make several who have been dragging their feet on the transition to Vista very happy.

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Sony’s latest model in their Reader family, the PRS-700 gives consumers the opportunity to choose how they would like to experience reading electronically.  It is much closer to an actual “book” experience, but with all the cool e-reader add-ons.

The PRS-700 features an interactive touch display, that allows readers to actually flip pages simply with the slide of a finger.  You can also look for terms in a book or a document, take notes on the virtual keyboard, or even use the stylus pen to highlight text you find especially important or interesting.  This PRS-700 has plenty more features, check them out after the break.

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