The battle between the HD-DVD supporters and the Blu-ray ones may have ended with Sony’s victory, but that doesn’t mean Toshiba is out of business for good. Not at all. The rivalry is too big to give everything up. Toshiba seems to be doing just fine, without embracing the Blu-reay format. Now, how exactly are they doing this? Simple, they enhance the good ol’ DVD format.

Ever since Blu-ray was proclaimed the HD format of choice, Toshiba has been hard at work on cheaper DVD players that will feature enhanced image scaling capabilities. TGDaily informs that Toshiba might be planning to release DVD players based on the company’s SpursEngine 1000 processor, a trimmed-down version of the Cell BE CPU, in order to deliver higher quality video scaling than what is offered in DVD players today.

Apparently, Toshiba is not solely concentrating on improved image quality. During the most recent DVD Steering Committee meeting held on June 11 in Los Angeles, the authority approved a new format which is presently known as DVD Download/DL, speculated to describe Internet connectivity to extend content stored on a DVD.

Furthermore, The DVD Steering Committee also approved an updated specs sheet for the Chinese HD-DVD format (C-HD-DVD) and the authority doesn’t seem to acknowledge the death of the HD-DVD format as of yet. As proof, the Committee also approved the HD DVD-Video Product Requirement & Guideline Version 1.2 in the June 11 meeting.

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To understand how the following gadget works, I’ll first explain its technology called Piezoelectric-Light.
There are some materials including crystals and ceramics, capable to generate electric potential as mechanical stress is applied. This characteristic is called piezoelectricity and produces when the material is hit and the most common example of application is the electric cigarette lighter. It lights up when you press the button because there is a spring-loaded hammer that hits the piezoelectric crystal. This action produces sufficient voltage for the electric current to flow across a small spark gap, heating the gas.

Piezoelectricity is a reversible phenomenon. As you remember, the electric cigarette lighter’s ignition disappears after several seconds.
Natural crystals used for this include berlinite, cane sugar, quartz, Rochelle salt, topaz and tourmaline-group minerals.
In the case of these two Flash Rocks you have to strike them together. They are made of translucent quartz to diffuse the light having a cool aspect especially during night.
Edmund Scientific was founded by Norman W. Edmund, who has experience as photographer and started its business in the World War II period. The store is known for the Astroscan Telescope that won the 1976 Industrial Design Award.



Now i want to show you three other unusual cool gadgets from the same provider. One is called Head Spa and was designed as a lightweight head cap. According to the company, it wears on your head very comfortably thanks to an ergonomic design and small shape, providing acupressure to simulate the sensation of hundreds of fingers simultaneously massaging your scalp.
It is supposed to remove your migraine pain, increase your blood circulation, and relieve stress and tension.
Head Spa is an adjustable device that accommodates different head sizes, starting at 10 x 6 1/2 x 7 inches. It uses a rechargeable battery and can power also via the AC adapter.



And here’s the third example of unusual cool gadgets from the same store. Swinging Sticks is a cool desk gadget or office gadget consisting of a stand and some sticks that swing continuously defying gravity. Powered by 4 AA batteries, the gadget works based on magnetic forces that determine the fluid motion of the sticks.



What about a special device that you could produce a cool rainbow light in your room?
The Rainbow Window Holographic Prism hangs on your room's window and during sunlight it spreads reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues and violets in your entire room. The light comes from a small disk measuring just 4 inches in diameter.

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You’re used to send your favorite smileys to the other people you chat via the instant messaging application and if you are an Internet addicted user you’ve remembered the symbols combination for those smileys. But wouldn’t it be much easier and fun to let the other person know your feelings without using hands and memory? Let’s say the computer knows when you are happy, can identify feelings, and sends a smile automatically via the instant chat window. It is possible if you have an Emokey, let me tell you how.

There is an advanced technology that can be used with specially designed headsets and that works similar with the other brain-controlled gaming headsets we’ve featured in previous articles. Emotiv developed this technology based on non-invasive electroencephalography to analyze the user’s individual electrical brain activity, and differentiate between the conscious thoughts and non-conscious emotions. The user can control several computing functionalities with the brain.

EmoKey is a tool designed to integrate expressive, affective and cognitive sectors into any application and works together with the EPOC neuroheadset. To use it with your Yahoo Messenger for example, you’d have to wear the headset and it will enable the translation of your brain events into keystrokes combinations. It even allows you to save profiles defining how detections are mapped to keystroke combinations, and share them with friends so they can use them too. It works both with chat applications where it can identify feelings, as well as with video games.

The Emotiv EPOC headset uses sensors to detect your brain’s electric signals, understand your thoughts, identify feelings and express them wirelessly via your computer. It also integrates 14 electrodes for best sensor positioning, a gyroscope to provide positional data for cursor and camera controls, advanced wireless technology to remove wires, and a Li-Ion battery for up to 12 hours of use.

In gaming you could manipulate the characters, adjust content, project facial expressions in real-time including winks, smiles and grimaces, and other things.

(Thanks for the tip, Miles Belanger!)

If you think the Microsoft’s Surface and the Diamondtouch device aren’t big enough for your tastes, check out a larger version of the touchy table coming from Interactive Scape.

This table integrates a a 58-inch touch surface that’s basically the same thing Microsoft Surface and Diamondtouch are offering. Of course, you can always spend ridiculous sums of money on the Microsoft TouchWall already available.

DVice claims that the Interactive Scape table lets you compute stuff in touchscreen-style by moving graphic objects around its 1080p touchscreen with your hands. Nothing new here, except that wider touch surface. In addition, just like the Surface table, Interactive Scape lets you transfer data to and from cell phones and pocket devices, by placing these on the edges of the table which integrate Bluetooth-compatible hardware.

The stylish table comes with its Corian surface decked out in your choice of colors. The German manufacturer doesn’t mention anything about pricing. It might be that this table could actually be more expensive than the Diamondtouch.

Hopefully, Interactive Scape will release the table sooner than Microsft, allowing them to lower the prices when the competition gets nasty. Here’s a short clip which depicts the way people interact with the Interactive Scape table: