Physios turn to Wii Balance Board to help stroke victims recuperate
Physios in Australia are using a Nintendo Wii accessory to help them rehabilitate people who have had a stroke, according to an article in The New Scientist. It turns out that the £69.99 Wii Balance Board is a useable alternative to the lab-grade "force platforms" currently in use that cost £11,000. When re-teaching people how…
Today is Most Depressing Day: but there's a gadget for it
I've been waiting for the most depressing day of the year to be announced (one of my little hobbies..) and apparently it's today. Today, Monday the 18th January. 'Blue Monday' is always in January and usually the middle of January - when the glow from Christmas has faded off. A cheery psychologist called Cliff Arnall…
The Star Trek USB webcam
Want a webcam with a difference? A webcam that boldly goes where few webcams have gone before. A webcam that shows that you more than anyone else in the office is a true Trekkie fan..? From that house of magic, Brando, comes the Star Trek webcam - a mini replica of Original Star Ship Enterprise…
NYT maps Netflix rentals to create map of film taste
The New York Times has created one of the coolest infographics ever. Take a look at this.. it shows New York and other American cities coloured by their film taste. The graph-maps were compiled by data from dvd rental service Netflix (US equivalent of LoveFilm) which recorded the most popular DVDs by ZIP code area.…
Nearly a month on AR poster app Layar still not back on the iPhone
As regular readers know we are huge fans of the Augmented Reality app Layar. In case you missed it Layar lets you overlay a layer of digital content over external reality as seen through your phone's camera. Point your phone's camera at a street/building/person, and on the screen, information about what you're seeing is overlaid onto…
Ricky Gervais kick starts the Twitter backlash
Incredible as it might seem there are in fact a few celebs who don't use Twitter to plug their latest projects and have public chinwags with fellow celebs. The latest to break cover is Ricky Gervais who joins other Twitter refuseniks like David 'too many twits make a twat' Cameron in criticising the micro blogging…
5 great US sites we want to come to the UK
We just covered music service Vevo a site that has become massive in the US but is yet to launch in the UK. A number of good American sites can't be accessed from Britain - mostly music or video sites and mostly for reasons like country-specific copyright. (Well you could fake your IP address's nationality…
As Smartphones reach 50% of the population – do we need to redefine what they are?
Half of the population will be using their phones for more than texting and talking in 2010, suggest findings from mobile internet survey group Mediacells. They reckon 53% of us will be using apps, consuming media or doing other complicated stuff on our phones. Basically that means over half of us will be using smartphones.…
The USB Flower scents your office and runs off your computer
We're always up for weird USB gadgets, and this one is pretty out there. Not only is it a kooky shape - a flower, it also releases aromatherapy scents that waft gently from the head of the plastic flower and fill the immediate vicinity of your USB port with soothing odours. I suppose it does…
Hallmark create augmented reality greetings cards
If you thought Hallmark just did the cards with teddy bears on that you give to your gran, think again. The greetings card company have catapaulted themselves into the digital era with a new series of augmented reality greetings cards. Or greetings experiences rather. The virtual teddy bear can now hover above your gran's head…
