iPhone software allows you to run a bath !

The Bath-o-matic software for iPhone is available free from Apple's popular App Store, but users must also pay £4,000 for the technology at home. They will then be able to select the temperature, depth and fragrance of the water and even how many bubbles in the bath. The software means the phone can send instructions to a set of high-tech taps on a bath tub that can control the temperature, pressure and draining of the water so that the bath will be ready when arriving home.

The software means the phone can send instructions to a set of high-tech taps on a bath tub that can control the temperature, pressure and draining of the water Photo: NEWS INTERNATIONA

Unique Automation, the London-based company behind the device, showed off its wares at a trade show this week. A spokesman said: "At the touch of a button, Bath-o-matic fills the bath to perfection - even adding bubbles and perfumes.

"Bringing full automation to the bathroom at last, this technological breakthrough offers energy and water savings plus flooding and scalding prevention."

Sharon Munday, a 27 year-old secretary, viewed the Bath-o-matic demonstration at the CEDIA Expo 2009 at the ExCeL centre in London. "It really shows off just how the iPhone is becoming the ultimate remote control for everything in the home," she said.

"If I had £4,000 spare I'd get one. It would be perfect for me as I have a 20 minute drive home from the office and could set it to run as I leave and hop in as soon as I got home. That would be absolute bliss."

A shower version of the software is coming soon.

Cool PS3 Controller

Here's a cool video of Sony demonstrating its amazing PS3 motion controller with Playstation Eye at E3.

This is just a prototype at the moment and is due to be released spring 2010. This new controller is just what PS3 owners were all waiting for. We were blown away with what this can controller will do, how precise movements are and what it will bring to the PS3 in terms of Wii type games. Just imagine playing Star Wars games with light sabers or games like Time Crisis, Call of Duty with guns etc....check it out!



Sony has released a few more PS3 Motion Controller details to developers and confirmed that staging its motion sensing assault “across all genres” with support from first-party and third-party content providers. It also revealed that the PS3 Motion Controller will have force feedback, something that rival Project Natal can’t achieve for obvious reasons.

The final design and even the name of the PS3 Motion Controller are both still up in the air. The quirky looking device shown off on stage at E3 was by no means the finished article.

Sony also stated that you’ll be able to play with up to four of them at the same time. Four is not an unusual number for a console, but it is interesting given that part of the E3 demo showed a pair of Motion Controllers being used together. Therefore it seems that the more complex games could be limited to two players only.

However, Sony also reveals that it’s “looking into the possibility” of combining the Motion Controller with the standard Sixaxis / DualShock 3 controllers to be used in tandem. The example given was of using the Motion Controller as a sword while the standard controller acted as a shield.

Still no word on prices or a fixed release date yet.

With this controller, PS3 owners have a PS3 and Wii in one console. Look forward to reporting more on this is the coming months. Check out http://www.ps3now.net for cool PS3 stuff.

DJ Hero

From the makers of Guitar Hero, Activision is going to release DJ Hero this Fall. Will this finally inspire me to dust off my Technics and start mixing some phat beats? Probably not but that's ok! This game is gonna be cool! Music genres include "hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance," and the game will allow turntablists to create "original mixes" of songs.

Tel Domains

Hold the front page! .tel domains are now available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.

.tel is perhaps the biggest innovation since the launch of .com. Those who understand the potential early will see a great return on investment. The simple reason is that, as .com was innovative in pioneering the ease of access to new web content globally, .tel is a unique top level domain which drives communications and contact information right across the internet.

Or put less technically, it may just be the new, simple way to keep in touch with friends, business associates, customers or that potential “special person” sitting opposite you on that otherwise dull and monotonous journey, who knows?

This is what has already been said about the .tel revolution;

• Is “The Google of Online Phone Books” – CNN/Fortune
  
  
• “Think of .tel as a ‘live’ global white/yellow pages directory or communications hub that crucially leaves control of the contact and other information in the hands of the domain owner who can set different levels of access for different visitors.” – The Financial Times
  
  
• “The new domain, which stores and encrypts contact information directly into the Domain Name System, has the potential to become a phone book for the Internet.” – New York Times
  
  
• “Owners of .tel domains will be able to manage their contact details via a simple dashboard and surrender as much or as little information as they desire.” – BBC News
  

Beatles Rockband

Beatles Rock Band is out on 09/09/09. MTV Games and Harmonix have announced the bundle which will cost £179.99. Check out the cool Beatles Rock Band video!

Included in the bundle will be:

• The Beatles: Rock Band software
• Höfner Bass controller: Large scale replica of the Bass famously used by Sir Paul McCartney
• Beatles-inspired and Ludwig-branded Rock Band 2 drums with classic pearl finish and vintage replica Beatles kick drum head
• Microphone
• Microphone Stand
• Additional special content

Quite what the nature of that additional content will be is open to speculation, but some extra in-game items - guitars, outfits, videos and the like - seems likely.

Pre-ordering the bundle gains entry to The Beatles: Rock Band pre-order club. Benefits thereof include "exclusive game elements including art and behind-the-scenes footage" which sounds thrilling. If you're interested, you can register to be informed when pre-orders become available some time in May.

The game itself will launch on 9 September (09/09/09) to coincide with the re-mastered Beatles discography's release.

Rockband Shopping...

Top 10 Most Expensive Domain Names

Here is the top 10 most expensive domain names. Just how much money is the word 'toys' worth on the Internet?

In a close bidding war, Toys 'R' Us last week bought the domain name Toys.com at auction for $5.1 million, placing it among the top 10 most expensive domain names on record.

And industry watchers say that it was probably a bargain. "Had it not been such a recession, I think it probably would have gone for a little bit more than that," Ron Jackson, editor and publisher of the Domain Name Journal, told ABCNews.com. In better economic times, he said it might have sold in the $7 to $8 million range.

According to the Domain Name Journal's records, below is a list of the top 10 most expensive domain names.

1. Fund.com, $9.99 million

2. Porn.com, $9.5 million

3. Diamonds.com, $7.5 million

4. Toys.com, $5.1 million

5. Vodka.com, $3 million

6. CreditCards.com, $2.75 million

7. Computers.com, $2.1 million

8. Seniors.com, $1.8 million

9. DataRecovery.com, $1.66 million

10. Cameras.com, $1.5 million

The reason a generic word like "toys" has such value, he said, is because it's a massive key word. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people type that word into search engines every day, generating an incredible flow of traffic to Toys.com. "It's like having a store in the middle of Times Square," Jackson said. "The name is really almost priceless." Jackson's industry magazine has tracked domain name sales since 2003.

Because transactions can take place privately and publicly, he said, it's difficult to record all sales. His magazine only records transactions that were pure cash sales. Others in the industry have speculated that Sex.com sold for $12.5 million, Business.com sold for $7.5 million, and Wine.com sold for $3 million. But as they were not pure cash sales, Jackson doesn't include them in his records.

Toys.com has not yet been added to his journal's records, but Jackson expects to add it once the name has been officially transferred to Toys 'R' Us.

160 Megapixel Camera!

This must be the highest megapixel camera in the world, correct me if I am wrong! This camera shoots at 160 megapixels to create a native 6 x 17-cm image. It is packed with an ISO range from 500 to 10,000, a read-out speed of 300MB per second, and a shutter speed of 1/20,000th second.


So the next question is, how are you going to store such huge image files...nearly 1 GB per uncompressed full panorama! Certainly not on your 16GB SDHC card, nor the upcoming 64GB CompactFlash cards - but rather via gigabit Ethernet to Seitz's "state-of-the-art computer system", which translates to a decked out Mac mini.


So what will this much imaging power cost you? 45,500 Swiss francs ($36,266) for the "mobile version" and 42,300 Swiss francs ($33,715) for the "studio version", and we're assuming that the Mac mini is included for that price.


However, given that this camera isn't quite what you'd front for a down payment on a Swiss châlet, the 6x17 Digital surely must be affordable to average working-class Zürich banker set, no? You can catch a glimpse of this bad boy at the upcoming Photokina expo in Germany, or can throw down some serious Swiss coinage now to pre-order this gargantuan cam, which won't become available until early 2007.

Originally posted by Engadget website [Link]