Microsoft OS Windows 8 Will Reduce Boot Time to 8 Seconds -- Watch Live Demo

Its way early to say something about the features of Microsoft’s new edition of Windows i.e. Windows 8; as it is scheduled to be released in 2012 but the latest post on Microsoft’s blog shows a significantly improved boot time in the next iteration of the Windows Operating System.

Microsoft OS Windows 8 Will Reduce Boot Time to 8 Seconds

It sounds really fresh to see that Microsoft is dedicating to minimize long boot times, which is one of the most infuriating aspects of computing for many users.

Very soon just about 8 seconds you will need from the moment the machine is turned on until it’s fully booted, which would really be a huge progress over most machines running earlier versions of Windows today. 

Even with Windows 8 the boot time will differ for different machines depending upon the hardware of the machines. Systems with a lot of RAM and an SSD instead of a HDD will help out extremely. 

Wondering how exactly Microsoft’s engineers did it? Microsoft has provided a very detailed breakdown of this achievement. In short, it’s a hybrid between traditional cold boot and resuming from hibernate. 

Watch video of the live demo below:

Samsung Released New Teaser Video Ahead of Galaxy S II Smartphone U.S. Launch

Samsung has just unleashed another teaser video hinting at the imminent US release of the much anticipated Galaxy S II smartphone. The device has been available in various parts of the world since April, and only now approaching a US launch. It is already suspected to make its big US debut during a special Samsung event scheduled for August 29.

Samsung Galaxy S II Smartphone: Aims to Make it Big at Special Event on August 29

 The video hints at the imminent US arrival while showing off some features with clever shots of the device in various parts of the world. The video starts off with the Galaxy S II’s large screen and dual-core processor in Europe, its thin profile in Japan, its kick-ass sales all over the world, and ending with the message that soon it’ll be big in America.

The Samsung Galaxy S II sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080p full HD video capture. And, it has an incredibly slim chassis at only 8.49mm thin.

Flipphandle Bike Designed by Alejandro Lacreu - - Allows to Turn Handlebars 90° to Line up With the Frame

Flipphandle Bike Designed by Alejandro Lacreu

If you've ever fought to store your bike in a hallway, on a train, or anywhere where space is at a premium, you've probably cursed your handlebars. So necessary while in motion, on a parked bike they turn out to be remarkably cumbersome, sticking out as they do. But a new design, the Flipphandle, does what its name says: it allows you to turn the handlebars 90° to line up with the frame, without turning the front wheel. Problem solved.

We've featured a lot of clever ways to store bikes, from a shelf that holds books and bikes to a system that puts the bike at the top of a light pole, to making robots do all the work. These ideas all work to mitigate the cumbersome nature of a parked bike, but the Flipphandle is the first design (apart from folding bikes) that makes the bike itself easier to store.

Designed by Alejandro Lacreu, the Flipphandle, which on its own looks resembles the hilt of a lightsaber, replaces the handlebar stem and can be installed on any bike. Check out the promotional video:

Flipphandle from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

But while the Flipphandle is ready for production, it needs to raise capital before it can hit stores. So check out their Kickstarter campaign- a $75 donation will get you your own Flipphandle, and get rid of your bike storage problems.

SOMEDAY by Justin Bieber: The Latest Celebrity Hit Fragrance

According to reports by USA Today; ‘Someday Fragrance’ launched by Justin Bieber has broken the records by becoming the biggest celebrity fragrance launch in Macy's history.

 

SOMEDAY by Justin Bieber: The Latest Celebrity Hit Fragrance

Justin Beiber has already announced that a part of profits from the sale of his fragrance will be donated to two of his favourite charities, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Pencils of Promise.

 To continue reading and watch the video link is provided below:

Chasing Celebrities

'Bergmönch' Hike-down Bike - Paddle-less and ultra-low weight bike to add more fun to your hiking experience (Must See Video)

Are you the kind of person that loves to go hiking, but gets bored by the time you get to the top? After all, going down is generally easier than climbing up, so what’s the fun in the return trip? One company thinks that the solution to this is to bike downhill. Of course, to do this you’ll need a bike that’s compact and light enough to be carried all the way to the top. That bike is the Bergmönch.

This strange bike (if you can call it that, as it doesn’t appear to have any pedals) folds up and is attached to a backpack, which you will carry with you. This frees up your hands and feet for doing all of the necessary things that comes with hiking. The company claims that it is “ultra-low weight,” but I couldn’t find any actual numbers to support this. If you relish the idea of carrying a small bike up a mountain, then riding it back down, then such a thing will set you back $2.150.

Bergmönch - Hiking uphill Wheeling downhill from Thomas Kaiser on Vimeo.

Source:  Bergmönch.

Video and Photos - Aquaskipper: Have Fun with Human-powered Watercraft

I love to have fun with water, especially in the hot summer days. Here comes the new way to enjoy on the water surface other than boats, skis, inner tubes, surf boards, jet skis and even good old-fashioned swimming.

Aquaskipper: Have Fun with Human-powered Watercraft

The pictures above introduce all new human-powered water skimmers from Gadgets and Gear Online Store and dubbed as ‘Aquaskipper’.

What you have to do is just climb on board, and start jumping. The spring from your jump will give it the necessary power to propel you up to 17MPH across the water’s surface. Of course, should you get tired and stop, the Aquaskipper will lose balance, and tip over into the water. 

Aquaskipper: Have Fun with Human-powered Watercraft

The Aquaskipper's patented design, hydrofoil wings and fiber-glass spring let you fly across the water by hopping up and down. Hydrofoil wings have very little drag in the water. Plus, the aircraft aluminum frame weighs a mere 26 pounds. 

Aquaskipper: Have Fun with Human-powered Watercraft

So take on the surf. Try new tricks. Race your friends. And turn heads everywhere you ride.

If you have still some doublts in your mind you can see this amazing watercraft in action in the video below:

Play 360° Portable Speaker - - Bluetooth Enabled Small Package Full of Impeccable Features

I don’t usually get very excited about portable speakers. The reason for this is that while they are small enough to take with you, most of them have terrible sound. I’ve tried a number of them, and most of them barely outperform my phone, which isn’t worth the hassle. Nokia however, has piqued my interest with their new Play 360° portable speaker.

This device is packed with some pretty cool features, which make it seem like something worthwhile to keep around. It connects to your phone (or any other device) via Bluetooth or a standard stereo jack. It uses NFC, which allows you to pair it by simply tapping your device on the top of it. You can even pair two speakers together, and they will set themselves up as left and right channels. With 10 hours of battery life, I’d say that I’m sufficiently interested. The sound output would have to be pretty awesome to justify the $215 price tag, though. Look for these sometime in Q3 of this year.

TAG Heuer Link Smartphone - - Where Luxury Meets Functionality (Photos and Video)

Functionality of a regular smartphone and luxury element of TAG Heuer are combined in all new TAG Heuer Link Smartphone which is set to invade the markets in July, 2011 and will be available at TAG Heuer retailers with a price tag of whopping $6,730.

TAG Heuer Link Smartphone

This is the second luxury smartphone by TAG Heuer, Swiss luxury watchmaker, which is claimed to be ideal for business as well as for entertainment. Like the watchmaking heritage that inspires it, it delivers avant-garde luxury with uncompromising strength, precision and reliability. It shares the pinnacle of high-performance engineering and innovation with its partner, the MERIDIIST.

TAG Heuer Link Smartphone

TAG Heuer Link Smartphone

The TAG Heuer LINK seriously upgrades the way the world connects. The phone features a touchscreen and a body that comes in three different styles, alligator, 18k rose gold and titanium.

The video is here below showing TAG Heuer LINK Smartphone:

Leaked Smartphone Nokia Windows Phone 7 "Sea Ray" - Photos and Video

While Nokia is trying to follow the Apple's product secrecy methods for its WP7 devices; the CEO Stephen Elop unveiled the new undisclosed Windows smartphone in an event. The pictures and video was recorded and uploaded on YouTube even though Nokia CEO requested the participants not to do so. 

Leaked Smartphone Nokia Windows Phone 7 "Sea Ray"

The new Nokia Windows Phone 7 handset, aka Sea Ray, has a unusual resemblance to the Nokia N9. Elop explained and pointed out at the hardware camera button at the right hand side of the device, which is not present on the N9, before finally switching on the device. This handset was seen running on Windows Phone 7.5 aka Mango. The formal announcement is still a few months away, but that won't matter to people now, since the device has already been made public, and has been published all over the internet. The latter part of the video shows the features and functions of Windows Phone Mango on the Sea Ray.  

Leaked Smartphone Nokia Windows Phone 7 "Sea Ray"

Leaked Smartphone Nokia Windows Phone 7 "Sea Ray"

The Sea Ray will feature an 8 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, which is the same as in the N9. Other specs could include a 1 GHz processor (a 1 GHz processor is a must for all WP7 devices) and 512 MB RAM. The back looks similar to the N9 apart from the positioning of the dual LED flash. Apart from these minor differences, the handset has a similar structure to the N9.

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches - - Sensual and Organic Photo Shoot (Photos and Video)

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches

She is young, she is talented, she is enthusiastic and she is Kait Robinson; a 20-year-old Florida-born, New York-based fashion photographer who is currently a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In her latest assignment; Kait Robinson went back to her home state of Florida and took a trip with Karen Maruszewska of NEXT Models to a beach on the south side of the state. The resulting editorial features a series of fantastic shots that highlight the beach, seaside fun and understated sensuality.

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches

Kait Robinson Shoots Karen Maruszewska on Florida Beaches

Kait Robinson expressed her experience saying, “One of the most important things to me was to ensure that the model had a very natural, organic relationship with her environment. I didn’t want anything blatantly man-made to be present in the story.”

Sea Child Photoshoot: Behind the Scenes from Karla Ruiz-Gomez on Vimeo.
 

Gamera: Human Powered Helicopter made by Students of University of Maryland - - Ready for Test Flight on May 11, 2011 (Must See Video)

‘The Gamera’ is the name of Human Powered Helicopter project undertaken by the students of University of Maryland (Baltimore). 

Gamera: Human Powered Helicopter made by Students of University of Maryland

 The students will attempt to make history this Wednesday (May 11, 2011) when they set to attempt first full flight of their human-powered helicopter. The students are hopeful to win Sikorsky Prize for their brilliant effort.

Gamera has rotors at each of the four ends of its X-shaped frame. Each crossbar of the frame is 60-feet long and each rotor is 42 feet in diameter. Under the frame sits a pilot's model, where a student will power the helicopter with a combination of hand and foot pedaling.

If Gamera can hover for 60 seconds, reach a height of three meters and remain within a 10-meter box from lift off, the team will take home the Sikorsky Challenge's $250,000 prize. Doing so will also nab the team a world record for first human-powered helicopter powered by a female. 

This video was prepared in late 2010 when the vehicle was not fully completed. On May 6 the vehicle was fully assembled for the first time and the weight is down from the 140 lbs quoted in the video to an amazing 100lbs! That's careful design, planning, and testing at work. 

The Cool Leaf Keyboard - - Physical Keys Replaced with a Capacitative Touch Panel (Must See Video)

If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, you’ve no doubt noticed that their keyboards and such are all flat surfaces. This helps give it the futuristic look that we have come to appreciate over the years. With tablets, we can simulate that same look, for certain applications. However, if you’re looking for an actual keyboard like this, you’ve only got one option: the Cool Leaf keyboard.

This special keyboard uses a capacitative touch panel in place of physical keys. This is the same technologies used in many tablets and touchscreen phones. It also makes use of haptic feedback technology, which makes it vibrate slightly when a key is touched, so you know when a key has been pressed. I can’t say how useful it would be to actually type on, as opposed to a regular keyboard. On the bright side, it is much easier to clean, as it takes just a wipe to do so. The $320 price is enough to make sure that most people will happily stick to their trust old keyboards.

Devon Tread 1 Watch: Contains Four Compact Microstep Motors - - A Unique Wath With Price Tag of Around $22,000

Having a watch is somewhat or a rarity anymore as most of us have cell phones to check the time. There are a still some people out there that would feel naked without a timepiece to sit upon their wrist. If you are one of those few, you know how difficult it can be to find an interesting watch. Even harder still is to find one that is unique. Well, the search for individuality is over, but it comes with a price tag of around $22,000.

While you’re catching your breath and trying to figure out how many other things you could buy with that money, you might want to hear why it has a phenomenal price. This Devon Tread 1 Watch contains four compact microstep motors that power several glass-nylon belts that will turn to give you the date and time. The exasperating amount of time that went into this wristwatch likely makes the price tag feasible enough already, but there is still more to it. The steel case around this complex design is scratch-resistant bulletproof polycarbonate. It may be a tad pricey…but it’s a lot more interesting than something that is simply dipped in gold and covered in Swarovski crystals.

Autoerotique's Exploding Cakes - - "Turn Up The Volume"

Exploding Cakes - - "Turn Up The Volume"

You would love to hear with full volume on good set of speakers.

This Autoerotique video comes from the excellent team of Jay Miles and Derek Blais. This is one video that must be watched with a wicked set of speakers and in full-screen high definition.

Exploding Cakes. Solid beat. Sweet. Cakehead would be proud.

Directors: Jay Miles & Derek Blais

Producer: Eric Sim

Cinematographer: Max Chin

Editor: Chris MurphyChris Murphy

Art Director: Drew Lint

Set Designer & Master Cake: Zazu Myers

Wardrobe: Tania Martins

Hair & Makeup: Tami El Sombati

Offline Facility: Relish

Offline Producer: Kate Bate

Colourist: Conor Fisher

Colour Facility: Alter Ego

Google's April Fool Joke ‘Gmail Motion’ Turns into Reality by Institute for Creative Technologies

The newly introduced Google’s ‘Gmail Motion’ is nothing else than an April Fool joke. Google claimed that with this ‘Gmail Motion’ services user can control Gmail user interface with the movement and gestures of his body. The claim was just unbelievable; but when any user clicked on the "Get the Gmail Motion" he came to know that he became the victim of April Fool joke.

But this joke by Google stimulates the guys at Institute for Creative Technologies and they worked out something real out of this April Fool Joke. 

They are demonstrating their solution in the video - the Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving (SLOOW) - and show how it can be used with a Microsoft Kinect sensor to control Gmail using the gestures described by Google.

'Fit to Fly': Air New Zealand's latest video takes humour to new heights

“Air New Zealand” national airline of New Zealand, which is under a tremendous financial pressure due to rising fuel costs and natural disasters, has increase airfares up to 8%.

The story doesn’t end here as Air New Zealand came out with a new video over the weekend that some critics are calling the best in-flight safety briefing ever.

Let Richard Simmons get you fit to fly. Lose the baggage, fasten your safety belt, take a breather and let's GO!

Videos: Britney Spears Live Performance (March 25) at Palm Casino Resort, Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (March 26, 2011) - The 29-year-old Britney Spears rocked the stage in Las Vegas for her first live performance since 2009.

Palms Casino Resort welcomed Jive Records recording artist Britney Spears to Rain Nightclub for two surprise performances on Friday, March 25. The performance was filmed by MTV as part of an upcoming Britney Spears special that will air next week in celebration of her album release.

Watch and enjoy glimpses of her performance on the stage in a black leather bodysuit, which showed off her shapely body figure.

You Would Love This Video - Amazing Ping-pong Ball Skills by a Teenager

Amazing teenage boy is doing stunning tricks with the ping-pong ball. Watching this video and the skills of the kid; I just wonder how much he would have practiced each and every shot he displayed with perfection in this video.

I found this video on Youtube and can't stop myself to share it here.

I bet you would love it. 

Iran's Humanoid Robot 'Surena 2' Listed in World's Top 5 Robots

Hamid Taahbaz Tavakkoli, the secretary of development and technology institute of Iran's Industries and Mines Ministry, told that Surena 2, the humanoid robot made by Iran, has been included among the top five outstanding robots of the world after assessing the performances of the world's advanced robots by ‘Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)’.

According to recent report issued by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); the performances of the robots Asimo (Japan), Reem-B (Spain), Justin (German), Charli (US) and Surena (Iran) were assessed, Mr Tavakkoli added.

He further told that the Association tagged Surena as an "unexpected development."

Surena 2, which weighs in at 45 kilograms and is 1.45 meter high, has a total of 22 degrees of freedom: each leg has 6 DOF, each arm 4 DOF, and the head 2 DOF.

'its a party day' - Rebecca Black's Youtube sensation racks up 3.5 million viewers

A mind-meltingly horrific song called "Friday," sung by Rebecca Black; managed to rack up more than 2.2 million views on YouTube (yes, that's right, TWO-MILLION, TWO-HUNDRED-THOUSAND) just over this past weekend.

As I’m the latest viewer of this video on Youtube, at the time of writing these lines, the viewers count has reached to almost 3.5 million (3,412,997 exactly).