Interesting story from Wired about a company in a fight over getting better information out of those McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines. They’re a lot more “high tech” than you’d think.
Category: gadget
Arcade1up Infinity Game Table
Arcade1up announced a new product today, the Infinity Game Table. It’s a way to play digital games locally or with other people over the Internet. They talk about licensing Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and more. There will be two options, 24″ and 32″, and include Wi-Fi connectivity, removable legs (so you can just set it on your own table).
I think this would be a lot more interesting if they start licensing some of the sort of games you can find at BoardGameGeek.
How To Turn On The Screen of the Gold’s Gym Cycle Trainer 400 Ri
So, we just bought the Gold’s Gym Cycle Trainer 400 Ri. This thing was a real chore to get put together, but I was finally able to do it. After the peddles were in place, I sat down, pressed a button, and got three beeps from the console. No matter what I pressed, three beeps.
The top layer says go their website to activate the console; so I do that, and guess what? They want my credit card, and after the free trial, $15/month to use the features on the bike.
Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. The bike was a pain to put together, and now it says it wants a credit card? Surely (don’t call me Shirley!) there’s a way to use this bike and screen without paying an extra $15 a month for their app and workout program.
Turns out, you can. You have to press the “Bluetooth” button and hold it. The first thing you’ll notice is nothing happens…keep pressing! Then a green light will go on. Keep pressing! Finally, the screen will turn on. From there, you can pedal away. Turn the fan on (and off, by hitting reset).
The screen will turn off after a period of inactivity. The next time you want to use it, just start pedaling and the screen will come on.
If you want to use their workout program, by all means, set it up. But if you don’t, follow the instructions above.
I hope this helps you!
Synology DS420j NAS announced at CES 2020
Synology announced an affordable NAS for home at CES 2020. The Synology DS420j costs just $299. It’s a diskless NAS, so you’ll have to supply your own disks. It has room for four disks, a 64-bit 4-core 1.4 Ghz processor. If you’ve been looking for an inexpensive NAS, you’ll want to check it out!
Silent Echo
Telephone Lamp Project
AxiDraw V3
Project Soli – Radar Gesture Recognition
Imagine having a device recognize your hand gestures, without ever touching the device. That is Project Soli.
Dyson Robot Vacuum
There hasn’t been a lot of changes in robot vacuums over the last ten years, until now. Dyson’s new vacuum sports a 360 degree camera which it uses to determine reference points for where it is in the room. It has the suction tech Dyson vacuums are known for. It can also be controlled with an iPhone.
It’s a bit taller than a Roomba, so it’s not going to be able to go under a low couch. It’s going to be interesting to see how much this thing costs.
Nest pulls Nest Protect smoke detector for sale
Nest has pulled the Nest Protect from sale because of an issue where the detector could unintentionally be turned off, delaying the alarm in case of a real fire. Once the issue has been fixed, they’ll put it back for sale.
If you have one of these, Nest suggested you immediately disable this feature. When they fix the issue, they’ll produce an update.
Read more at 9to5google.com.
Update: As of last week (mid-June 2014), the Nest Protect is back for sale.