Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The idea of having hydrogen powered cars is nothing new: the theory has been around pretty much since World War II.  However, there have always been several flaws in the practicality of using hydrogen as a source of power.  It is expensive and energy consuming to make it usable.  Hydrogen is also not widely available, the batteries are bulky, the cars are expensive and they usually look horrible. So why has Honda made a hydrogen supercar?

The FC Sport revealed at the LA Auto Show is the pinnacle of design and hydrogen technology, combining the two in some environmentally chic blender in a way that has a product that can still classify as a supercar.  This is, as Honda so aptly put it, “a glimpse of the future of the supercar.“

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This is one of those concepts/ideas/products that would work great in the perfect world and if people used it right, would be really cool.  However this is the real world, and despite the undoubted merit in the idea behind this concept, I’m not sure it would work in the “real” world.  Nevertheless I may be wrong and we may soon see these adorning streets everywhere: I am willing to be proven wrong.  But what is it?  This is the Boombench and it is pretty much what it sounds like.

Pretend for a second that you haven’t just looked at the picture, and imaging a modern, sleek minimalistic bench combined with a 80s/90s.  Now open your eyes and see the epitome of minimalistic-cum-retro design: the aforementioned Boombench.  Keep reading for more.

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So far I have looked at two sections of Obama’s policies: an open Internet and his aim for a connected democracy and infrastructure so it comes the turn of the final section: teaching adults and children of the world of technology.

But what does teaching children and adults actually mean?  Let’s first address the children.  The first thing that Obama will put in place is to make teaching Math and Science a priority and although this may not seem like it will affect IT, not only will this have subsequent effects to this industry, but remember that we are talking about technology as a whole, not just IT.  Keep reading for the conclusion of this series.

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You’ve got to feel bad for YouTube.  After becoming the Internet’s darling for such fun gags, it wants to get a day job.  No longer content with just the clearing house for pranks and short clips, it wants to be in the full length movie business as well as the TV show business. 

YouTube served up this kind of content at one time but was forced to take most of it down over copyright claims.  Now YouTube is working with Hollywood to gain their trust and their content.

But it isn’t an easy road.  Sure YouTube has the traffic, 81 million folks in September but they also have the baggage.  And it’s more than just past indiscretions.

Find out what’s next for YouTube.

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Sections: Video, Content, Web, Websites, Online Music/Video

The quality of cameras in phones has risen exponentially in the last few years from poor VGA to the fairly good 3 megapixel and beyond.  But there is always progress to be made, and Sony Ericsson have outlined some fairly ambitious aims in the release of their four year plan for smart phones; not only with cameras but other aspects of the phones as well.

However I will begin with cameras, and Ericsson’s vision is that by 2012 the cameras on phones will be capable of 20 megapixels and even the ability to shoot full HD video.  This is incredibly ambitious in four years, especially considering the current economic climate, but there is nothing to suggest that it cannot be done.  This will certainly have far reaching effects regarding home videos allowing near professional home films to be made via phone cameras, which would be pretty cool! 

Keep reading for more info on where Sony Ericsson plans to take phones.

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Hopefully you all read the first post on President-Elect Obama, technology and the future (if not, it is here) in which I started addressing what Obama’s election means for the world of tech.  Having looked at how Obama will work for an open Internet, I will now delve into Obama’s plans for a connected democracy and infrastructure.

The first thing that Obama has promised to do is to create a more transparent government, a policy that has probably been prompted by the manner in which the Bush administration has been very secretive.  He will attempt to do this by “creating a new level of transparency, accountability and participation for America’s citizens” through the use of technology.  Presumably, this will be done by extensive use of the Internet, as well as other technology such as mobile phones, as shown in the selection of Joe Biden as his second man. 

Continued after the break.

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Getting in the Halloween spirit, how about carving a pumpkin, virtually, of course.  The carving demonstration is just another cool example of what the Microsoft Surface is capable of doing.

The application is courtesy of Vectorform, who was also responsible for the MSNBC election application, and while this may not be quite as important, it certainly is a lot more fun.  The application is called Vect-O’ Lantern, and it does exactly what you would think—it carves your virtual pumpkin.

Continue reading to check out the video and to find out what’s really cool about this app…

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Tru2way is coming and Panasonic is putting it in their VIERA TVs!  Yeah!  That’s great!  Now what is tru2way?!

Well tru2way is the consumer-friendly name for a technology that lets you have access to all kinds of cable television guides, on demand services, and actual cable television without the need for a convertor box. 

Panasonic is working with Comcast to show off tru2way in Denver and Chicago right now.  Other cable systems will roll out the service over time.  More after the break.

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Finishing up it’s two-day convention in San Fransisco yesterday, YPulse National Mashup is a yearly event that brings together youth media and marketing professionals from brands, agencies, and the non-profit sector to share practices for reaching today’s totally wired youth. And this year’s findings were a rather obvious one for anyone walking around any school, mall, or other teen gathering place. Teens are becoming more and more mobile and cell companies, advertisers, and other media companies plan to be sure to capitalize on this.

And capitalize on it they will indeed be able to.  It’s estimated that teens wield a whopping $200 billion annually in discretionary spending. Yep, you read that correctly, and it wasn’t a typo. Two-hundred BILLION. Today’s kids must be charging much more for lawn-mowing services than back in the day, or else get one heck of an allowance.

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Sections: Communications, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Web

Those that have seen the Harry Potter movies may remember his magic cloak that enabled him to be invisible from those around him. Sounds a bit fantastical and far-fetched doesn’t it? Well, the future may be closer than you think.

The ability to hide something from sight, is usually accomplished by using what is known as a superlens. This type of lens contains a negative refraction index,  the “refraction” part obviously meaning bending. In this case it allows it to bend electromagnetic waves back upon themselves. So, as a result, the object appears “invisible.“ Voila! No bulky cloak even needed.

Although superlensing isn’t exactly yet feasible for making something huge like a military warship invisible, there is still promise for more standard large objects. This is being done using copper-based meta-materials to create a type of cloaking cylinder.  Work is also being done on the lenses by Graeme Millton, of the University of Utah, who is currently working in mathematical models for the superlenses. 

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