Google Maps is one of the most used websites in the world, no surprises there. But, its influence has flowed over to basically all the consumer electronics on the market. It is constantly expanding the amount of data available to consumers and Street View completely changed the way we are able to see parts of the world we may never be able to go to.

Rumoured by Google Operating System, we may be seeing the first redesign to Google Maps in some time. Whether this is to simply change the look or to include some interesting new features remains to be seen.

Google I/O is around the corner and we think that it would be the perfect platform to announce and explain the changes coming to the mapping service.
(more…)

This futuristic space ship looking device is the MB&F MusicMachine that plays music from its two cylinders.

Built in collaboration with music box maker Reuge, MB&F (known for its luxury watches) constructed the MusicMachine to play three tunes from each of its cylinders. The Star Wars theme, Imperial March, and Star Trek theme can be heard on one side while  ”Another Brick in the Wall”, “Smoke on the Water”, and “Imagine” on the other.

MB& F’s Maxmillan Busser, the main designer of this project explains the inspiration behind the MusicMachine -

“Like many kids, saving the world was my full time job when I was a boy. For MusicMachine, I delved into my childhood dreams and fantasies inspired by heroes such as Luke Skywalker and Captain James T. Kirk.”

(more…)

A Kickstarter fundraising project Wallet Works has recently raised over $10, 000 for its news invention that it calls “a simple, versatile and innovative wallet with a variety of personal and corporate uses”.

Wallet Works, invented and founded by Danny Wilk was born out of his wife’s irritation of his bulky wallet. Even after attempts at purging anything not absolutely essential, the classic fold-over wallet still felt uncomfortable and looked ridiculous. Enter Wallet Works.

(more…)

HP today announced it was selected by DreamWorks Animation to deliver the technology behind “The Croods,” pushing the boundaries of modern imagery for this prehistoric animated adventure that is anything but primitive. Building on a relationship that began in 2001, DreamWorks Animation relied on HP for nearly every facet of technology animation in the production of “The Croods.”

DreamWorks Animation leveraged technical resources throughout HP to create the most advanced graphics to date for the family comedy, which made its debut in South African theatres last Friday. HP Converged Infrastructure, comprising servers, storage, networking, services, management software and workstations, as well as HP printers and digital rendering, provided the seamless, high-performance foundation needed to meet the studio’s artistic demands.

“Cutting-edge digital manufacturing requires a huge amount of compute power and orchestrated collaboration across our studios,” said Derek Chan, head, Global Technology Operations, DreamWorks Animation. “HP Converged Infrastructure ensures that our filmmakers have the technical resources they require to bring their creative vision to life and deliver amazing films to our audiences.”

Servers meet massive compute demands (more…)

This is the truto one, introduced at the recent 2013 CeBIT International Trade Show that took place in Hannover, Germany. Developed by Cape Town based Bottomline Interactive and Human Interactive Technology, the truto one is the world’s first fully transparent display, capable of emitting full colour holographic images.

While transparent displays have been around for years, having been attempted by other companies, one colour had always been sacrificed to achieve the effect of transparency. Until now, one could never truly achieve a full colour display as the production of white and black was difficult because of the way the design employed technology.

The truto one changes that as the first completely transparent display with the ability to display rich, vivid and realistic colour. The truto one can also be combined with either touch or gesture based controls to interact with three holographic images.

(more…)

The Nexus 4 hit the market at the end of 2012, so it is still relatively new. But that doesn’t mean we can’t dream, does it? According to BGR, there are already rumours of the Nexus 5 being released alongside a Nexus 7.7 in the month of May. LG is reportedly going to manufacture the Nexus 5 as well.

Our friends over at AndroidPIT have imagined what the Nexus 5 would look like, or more accurately, what they would want it to look like. In all honesty, we think it is mind-blowingly gorgeous.

(more…)

Google has showcased yet another wearable technology innovation at the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Texas.

Having already spent much of the past year promoting its wearable glasses, Project Glass, the tech giant has now revealed a talking shoe.

While Google has admitted it is by no means getting into the shoe business, so this one isn’t exactly for commercial use, it has managed to give an Adidas sneaker “a voice” that tracks how active you are and responds accordingly, with a British accent might I add.

(more…)

Facebook has announced a while new look to the site for its news feed, with a cleaner, less cluttered and “more vibrant” look for  photos, news articles, maps and events.

The new design also mirrors that of Facebook on mobile and tablet.

(more…)