Entertainment

Given that there are currently robots that can find trapped miners, swim through rubble and see through walls, it’s only natural that some of us humans might feel a little ... inferior, perhaps. Should you be one of those people, it will almost certainly make you feel better if you go to Budapest, and take in the Bacarobo Stupid Robot Championship. The three main rules: robots must operate automatically, they must be funny, and they must be useless. Read More

Here's a fun application from CES 2011 that allows users to centralize broadcast television, mobile TV and internet TV all in one place. Fuugo is a video content aggregator application from Axel Technologies that runs on a wide range of devices, including mobile platforms. Read More

Zhantra Entertainment has recently merged dance and technology to create a captivating spectacle. Resembling characters from sci-fi films such as Blade Runner and Minority Report, dancer Milena looks like she has stepped straight out of a cyberpunk future world. Dressed in an outfit custom-designed by Zhantra’s in-house designer, Gustavo, featuring LED lights, 17 individual lasers, and ballerina point shoes, the Bionic Ballerina displays moves that seem to defy the laws of human flexibility. Read More

A recent New York Times print advertisement for the Ford Edge crossover included barcodes that, when scanned by a mobile phone camera, provided readers with access to Times articles on style and technology. It’s part of a techy advertising campaign for the Edge, which will be the first vehicle to feature the likewise-techy MyFord Touch system. Touch is built around Ford’s existing Windows-based SYNC communications and entertainment system, and allows drivers to use the dashboard as... well, pretty much as a big smartphone. Read More

A new member of the Xperia smartphone family has just been announced by Sony Ericsson. The Xperia X8 is said to take the best features from the X10 and the Mini's, but will be introduced at a wallet-friendly price point. Amongst the Android-running smartphone's ease-of-use features are a one-touch application launch menu, a combined social networking timeline, and a camera with direct upload to Facebook. Read More

For those that like their entertainment as personal as possible, iTVGoggles has released an update of its ITG-Vidix video glasses. Along with offering a virtual screen of 50” and up to three hours on a single charge, they also feature 2GB of internal memory, a MicroSD slot and a built in media player. Read More

Claw vending machines have caused wide-spread frustration in arcades the world over for decades. Known as UFO catchers in Japan, and sometimes as 'teddy pickers' or 'skill testers' in other countries, these games offer little entertainment and even less hope of success. Well, for me anyway... But now that Japan-based company Mechatrax has developed the Robo-catcher I might have some improved hope of entertainment, if not some realistic chance at winning. Read More

In addition to its recent 7-year / 150,000km warranty announcement, Kia has created further interest with the showing of its UVO in-car voice and touch activated communication and entertainment system. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft, the system offers users an easy to use interactive hands-free alternative that uses speech recognition for making and taking calls, sending text messages and managing in-car music. Featuring a 4.3” full color touchscreen display and built-in 1GB storage with the ability to rip CD’s and MP3’s onto the system’s “Jukebox”, the open platform UVO system also doubles as a rear view camera when the vehicle is in reverse. Read More

Get ready to ditch those bulky set-top boxes and clunky media servers. The WirelessMediaStick from HSTi is a media streamer the size of a thumb drive that shares content from any computer on your home network with any USB-enabled media playback device. Connect the WirelessMediaStick to your Blu-ray or DVD player, TV, DVR, or even a digital picture frame, and you can play movies, music, and photos over your wireless network. Read More