The diminutive USB keyboard, from Crayola, is cute, colorful and completely awesome. Look at those giant words on the keys. “Space“, closely followed by that big ol’ “Enter” key, even the “Escape” Key

The EZ Type Keyboard works with both Macs and PCs, but would be useless for the former: where is the Command Key? We guess you could remap the useless vestigial flipper that is the Caps Lock key, but this keyboard isn’t about productivity.

Not with the rigidly aligned QWERTY, or the strangely marked cursor keys (just what is printed on them? Eyes? Fish?) Nope, this toy is meant for one thing: to teach little Jonny the joys of the grinding office game, the boredom of stretching a couple hours worth of pointless, soul-destroyingly banal tasks into a full eight hour day (plus overtime!)

Buy this, sit the kids down and let the mechanical manipulation of letters do their job for your kids.

]]> http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/indulge-your-kid-in-the-world-of-it/feed/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/iphone-3d-illusion-ihologram/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/iphone-3d-illusion-ihologram/#comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:35:45 +0000 Jacky http://blog.redhot.com.my/?p=284 iPhone-app has taken coding beyond what was imaginable by creating a 3D hologram that appears to jump off the handset’s screen.

The animation assumes a 35- to 45-degree viewing angle, so with the iPhone placed on a desktop, the 3D scene appears to be jumping out. And then you can rotate the phone and the animation will follow your perspective like a real 3D object.

A method called anamorphosis to create the 3D perspective — the same technique used in Hans Halbein’s painting The Ambassadors — only the application updates the perspective constantly using the iPhone’s built-in gyroscope to detect rotation.

Maximizing the creativity of iPhone’s components, programmers were invited to collaborate with the coding applications on this technique. At first glance, this looks like it’d just have gimmicky applications to show off your iPhone at social gatherings, but we’ll have to wait and see what developers think up.

iHologram - iPhone application from David OReilly on Vimeo.

It features (Emily) - a computer graphic illustration produced using a new modeling technology that enables the minute details of a facial expression to be captured and recreated. For the first minute and a half of the video, when they revert back to the source (the real actress), Emily’s face is being simulated by the technology.

This is done without traditional motion-capture. The technology instead analyzes video of real actors and models their facial expressions at a minute level.

This obviously has applications in the world of special effects - but it could be an even bigger deal as the technology makes its way down to consumer video. Imagine making video podcasts with photo-realistic animated talking heads - or machinima-type cartoons that look close to real.

Is this scary real, or what? Do drop your comments on what you guys think.

It has caught the attention of many people where a giant egg Ad was recently put up in Chicago. The giant egg billboard starts cracking and opens up in the morning and by breakfast it is hatched, and later it remains a whole egg till the next morning. This is to indicate the fresh availability of eggs.

It looks similar to Humpty Dumpty and the prevailing theory is that it is to promote their breakfast sandwiches. Another theory is that it is to brainbomb customers from an alien source into buying these sandwiches. Whatever the theory might be, the ad looks really interesting and sure is going to catch people’s attention and make them get inside the warm interiors of a Mc. Do watch out for that extra pound or two you will put on.

Today an electronic consumer company (Speakal-Lanchiya Technology) brought an identical yet cute portable docking station for the iPod. They name it the iPig. Quality, performance, compatibility and style are what the iPig brings to the audience.

The New iPig is compact in size and packed with defining technology.  It is not only an iPOD docking station; it is THE speaker that will bring life and an awe-inspiring experience to most of your audio, video and gaming devices.

This cutie compact yet powerful iPig has 5 speakers that output over 25-Watts of premium sound. Geared with a 4” subwoofer with bass reflex system, a dynamic airflow optimizer, a dynamic cooling system and a super sound amplification technology you can now listen and share songs with your friends around.

The iPig comes along with a light remote controller which is to allow easy and convenient browse trough your iPod features. Worries no more as it complements décor around your home, office, or dorm room with its three fashionable shiny colours to suits your taste.

It’s a perfect gift for those who crave for sound, technology and design.

]]> http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/the-new-ipig/feed/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/led-technology-bulb-to-be-replaced/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/led-technology-bulb-to-be-replaced/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:21:12 +0000 Jacky http://blog.redhot.com.my/?p=218 There’s another race at the Olympics that isn’t immediately obvious — to render the light bulb obsolete.

The latest development of light-emitting diodes (LED) technology is being used to illuminate the Beijing Olympics’ Water Cube structure, which displays a different color pattern each evening. The Water Cube’s lighting is composed of 3,000 “bubbles” made with the same plastic used for insulation in airplanes. Each bubble has the ability to display millions of different colors; the color patterns are computer-controlled.

An LED company is providing about 440,000 LEDs for the structure. The Water Cube’s LED-lighting is in line with the goal to completely replace light bulbs with LEDs over the next 20 years. Bulbs tense to fault faster and the lifespan of it is not that productive. This will save a lot in terms the usage of power and money too.

LED lighting can eliminate the need to build 133 coal-fired power plants, thereby saving 258 million tons of greenhouse gases, which could equate to powering 12 million homes a year.

]]> http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/led-technology-bulb-to-be-replaced/feed/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/minority-report-holographic-media/ http://blog.redhot.com.my/index.php/2008/08/minority-report-holographic-media/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:22:42 +0000 Jacky http://blog.redhot.com.my/?p=215 Remember the movie Minority Report acted by Tom Cruise.? Well the one touch holographic which came to reality and marks the beginning of future advertising.

Musion Systems the company whos responsible for the holographic technology has amazed both clients and audiences alike with the Musion Eyeliner 3D Holographic Projection system; a unique, dynamic approach to delivering 3-dimensional hologram effects to new media content.

It’s easy to see how this concept will change computing, presentations and videos. Video podcasters doing new presentations, for example, could directly interact with their visuals, both streamlining the production process and making it more visually interesting for viewers.

The technology, from digital design firm Obscura Digital, uses a multi-touch framework that senses where your hands are and combines that with a Musion 3D holographic presentation system.

The Musion Eyeliner showcased variety of applications including life-size holograms of Madonna (Grammy Awards), Gorillaz (MTV Awards), and Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Digital Launch), technical demonstrations such as the GEnx Aircraft Engine (Farnborough Air Show) and car showcasing as seen at the Ford Mondeo launch (Geneva Motor Show).

It turns to be the new era of new media advertising concept which already been mobilized by some of the media / advertising company worldwide. Pricey? Well, one will judge the on how you advertise or to promote your products.

It’s a very deep application, with support for creating scripts, storyboard scenes and sequences, develop characters, breakdown & tag elements, schedule production, and prepare detailed and informative production reports for cast and crew.

There are sample scripts included with the Celtx download to help you get started. For example, you can browse the scripts and storyboards for The Wizard Of Oz.

To help you get started, Celtx has created a series of feature walkthroughs at www.celtx.com.

The program is available for Mac, Windows and Linux and in over 20 languages. More than 250,000 media creators in 160 countries create with Celtx. Celtx is used by independent filmmakers and studio professionals, and by students in over 1,400 universities and film schools - many that have adopted Celtx for teaching and class work submission.

Celtx replaces ‘paper, pen & binder’ pre-production with a digital approach that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.