Apple’s biggest updated ever to OS X could arrive as early as Friday. The update is said to weigh in at 400MB and will pack new features such as a list view for stacks, CD/DVD sharing, support for wireless backups using a network drive attached to an AirPort Extreme, and the ability to finally get rid of the transparency in the menu bar.

The latest updated, converting your computer to OS X 10.5.2, is said to contain no known issues. Expect a busy weekend playing around with all the shiny new features.

Richard Branson showcased today a model of the spaceship he hopes will be the first to take passengers into space on a regular basis. The SpaceShipTwo, as it is dubbed, will begin test flights later this year.

“Two thousand eight is going to be the year of the spaceship. We’re excited about this, and everything it will do,” said Branson.

Virgin Galactic, part of Branson’s Virgin Group, already has 200 people signed up and $30 million in deposits for the rides. What does a flight into space cost you? A measly $200,000. The trips are expected to take about two and a half hours with five minutes of weightlessness.

Let’s hope they get this thing perfected soon so that prices can start falling. I, for one, am excited for a vacation to the moon. Pics after the jump. Read more »

On the heels of contact lenses with circuits comes news of an eyeball-implanted camera patent. In the future, this technology could help restore sight to people with damaged vision. The camera could be charged wirelessly and would communicate directly with a chip implanted at the back of the eye.

Although not a new idea, this is the first time scientists think the whole mechanism can be squeezed inside of the human eye without using any external devices.

Hopefully this becomes a reality soon as a lot of people could use one of these. It also begs the question - will this not only give them sight, but also super-human power to zoom in and see at night on day?

This is one remote that will probably remind you that you’re overdue for another online poker tournament. Although just a concept, the idea behind the remote is simplicity - it ditches the buttons and instead allows the user to operate the it by using gestures. The same kind that you would use holding cards.

Sliding your thumb up or down changes the volume, and sliding the top card over to the left or right changes the channel.

Although definitely not a multipurpose remote to control all of your devices, or even a very full-featured TV remote, this thing would look pretty cool on your coffee table. Practical? Not really. But, stylish? Yes!

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of California at Berkeley have recently discovered a new way of making silicon into a better thermal conductor for turning even small amounts of heat into electricity. Unfortunately, they don’t quite know why it works. No matter, though, as the finding could one day free up power outlets all over our homes by getting rid of the need for chargers.

The scientists found a way to arrange and bend silicon nanowires in a particular fashion that lets them channel heat energy far more efficiently than current thermoconductors. They believe that the new method might be efficient enough to be able to charge the batteries in small technology.

Imagine a cell phone or iPod which will always work, simply because it’s stored in your pocket. This might even be an end to battery meters.

Researchers at UCLA have invented a WiFi music polling system for DJing by consensus. Instead of a DJ having to guess his listeners’ preferences, the “Smart Party” system polls the music on each party-goers’ WiFi enabled mobile device (so far only laptops) and creates a playlist based on the most popular songs or music genres.

There are still a lot of kinks to work out, such as dealing with DRM and supporting more devices including cell phones (come on, who brings a laptop to a party), but the system has the potential to create great party mixes tailored to the audience when it’s perfected.
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Vuzix has introduced their new AV920-C model in their Video iWear line due in February 2008. The personal video display will connect to Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, and other devices such as DVD players, iPods, and the like to provide an immersive experience and the equivalent of a 62-inch TV screen.

The really innovative feature of this headset is the ability to split up a multiplayer video game screen so that each person wearing a headset sees only his part. This way, four buddies need not each squint at a tiny quarter of a TV when playing a local Halo match, but can instead see their portion in full 62″ glory.

A price has not been announced, but based on their other headsets this should sell for around $400. At that price, you are probably too rich to be playing video games to be able to afford 4 of these things. However, for anyone that can get their hands on some, I expect that the experience would be thrilling.

Joel Levin has written a great article about what he thinks will be the 10 prominent features in our next generation laptops. Included are a 40 hour battery, USB 3.0, Blu-ray drive, SSD, and new kinds of memory, among others.

I’m looking forward to seeing a laptop with all of these features released. I’m guessing it will be instant-on, with a great looking screen, and it will be screaming with power, from the processor down to the hard drive.