December 17, 2010

Impossible Project revenue doubles to 8 million euro

Filed under: Gadgets,Photography by Branko Collin @ 8:45 am

In 2009 The Impossible Project bought the last remaining factory of Polaroid film in Enschede, as the latter company was getting out of the instant business, and started producing Polaroid compatible film themselves.

Last Monday business news website Z24 wrote that the company with 30 employees doubled its revenue from 4 million euro in 2009 to 8 million this year. Florian Kaps, one of the ten founders (former Polaroid employees), told the site that they had hoped for more, but due to a lack of raw materials they could only produce 500,000 boxes of film.

In the first year The Impossible Project were still busy inventing their film, as the factory sale had apparently not included Polaroid’s secret recipe, and made its money selling old Polaroid stock. In 2010 the project managed to produce their own film, available in both black and white and colour, and selling for about 20 euro per 10 exposures.

If anything the project has proved the viability of the instant film photography market, which Fujifilm and Polaroid have now (re-)entered. Polaroid introduced the 300 camera earlier this year and is expected to introduce their second new instant camera at CES next January.

(Photo by Patrick Tobin, some rights reserved)

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October 9, 2010

iPhone app developer catches iPhone thief using his app

Filed under: Gadgets,Gaming by Branko Collin @ 2:30 pm

A thief stealing an iPhone got caught after logging into the online game Merchant, Bright reports.

The phone belonged to Merchant developer Richard Osinga who kept an eye out for his phone’s IP number, and sure enough the dumb thief decided to try out the game and inadvertently handed himself in that way.

Osinga’s blog does not mention what data he collected to be able to find the thief. It took the police half a year to catch the criminal, but last Thursday they finally could report to the victim that they had got his iPhone back.

(Photo: Merchant.)

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September 24, 2010

Philips GoGear Connect: an Android phone without the phone?

Filed under: Gadgets by Branko Collin @ 8:58 pm

Engadget is none too impressed in their hands-on review with Philips’ latest Android PMP, the GoGear Connect:

Overall, we came away feeling like this is an interesting version 1.0 effort in a world of version 2.0 and 3.0 Android devices — and considering that Philips has mostly been a no-show in the smartphone game for the past several years, we can’t say we blame them for the Connect’s shortcomings. […] In the meantime, €250 (about $320) for a rough-around-the-edges 16GB media player — even more for the 32GB model — is a tough sell.

The tech-blog is hopeful though:

Dedicated PMPs aren’t necessarily a hot category at the moment, but add a year or two of refinement and some 3G radios to this bad boy, and there’s no reason to think the Dutch giant couldn’t get back into the phone race in a big way.

(Photo: Philips Communications)

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September 22, 2010

No more sex shop on Texel island for now

Filed under: Gadgets,General,Health by Orangemaster @ 12:26 pm

Due to family illness, the only sex shop on the island of Texel, owned by a woman and run together with her daughter, was forced to close after two years of existence. They tried to find someone to take over the business, but nobody responded.

Back when the shop opened, municipal rules had to be changed because a sex shop with adult toys was a no-no. However, since other shops like drugs stores and the likes sell sex-related articles, it was OK to have a sex shop on the island.

It’s the end of an era.

(Link: trouw.nl, Photo of Texel island by Searocket, some rights reserved)

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September 18, 2010

John’s Phone, ‘dumbphone’ with modern capabilities

Filed under: Design,Gadgets by Branko Collin @ 10:30 am

A designer ‘dumbphone’ from the Netherlands: ad agency John Doe from Amsterdam came up with this 80 euro marvel called John’s Phone, and as the price tag suggests they actually put it in production!

Dumbphones, mobile phones that stick to telephony and SMS, are nothing new, but so far have generally been aimed at people who did not need all the features a modern phone has to offer, like the elderly. John’s Phone on the other hand seems aimed at “those who are willing to pay extra to have less” as one BoingBoing commenter puts it.

Publishing an article about a mobile phone brings with it the grave responsibility to produce a spec list, so here goes:

  • No simlock
  • Quad band
  • A choice of one ringtone (pre-selected)
  • Always-on address book (paper, with pen)
  • Caller ID
  • 1200 mAh battery (estimated 3 weeks stand-by time)
  • Hands-free mode with included earphone
  • 10-number memory
  • Size: 10.5 x 6 x 1.5 cm
  • Weight: 95 grams

BoingBoing readers (presumably Americans) lamented the lack of compatible service plans, which makes me guess not every country has SIM-only plans, which can be had for as little as 3.50 euro a year. The lack of texting seems a more serious problem: if I see a 06 number (Dutch mobile phone number), I expect to be able to text to it.

(Source photo: John’s Phone. Also check the ad agency’s Flash site for more complete details of the phone.)

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July 19, 2010

World record consecutive gaming in Dutch hands

Filed under: Dutch first,Gadgets,Gaming by Orangemaster @ 3:35 pm
4624233076_5dc81e604b

Dutch gamers in Rotterdam have scored a Guinness world record for the most hours of consecutive gaming: 50 hours playing Red Dead Redemption. The old record was held by Chirantan Patnaik from India at 40 hours 20 minutes, according to the print version Dutch daily De Pers.

The attempt to break the record was organised by Dutch company Vogel’s Products that wanted to promote a Sony PlayStation 3 controller.

(Link: wireupdate.com, Photo of a PlayStation controller 2 by blindfutur3′, some rights reserved)

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July 12, 2010

Sailboat uses wind power to generate electricity

Filed under: Gadgets,General,Sustainability by Branko Collin @ 10:54 am

Well. Well well well. Ah well.

In other news, astronaut-inventor Wubbo Ockels is at it again. For the past five years he has been working on a hybrid, energy-neutral ketch called Ecolution and it is almost ready.

The boat has a diesel engine that drives electric engines that in turn drive the propeller. When the boat is sailing, the process is partly reversed and the propellers generate electrical power which is stored in 10,000 kg of batteries that double as ballast. This Ethereal-like design generates a maximum of 20 kW, and the batteries can store up to 300 kWh, which should be enough to satisfy the hungriest of on-board luxury appliances.

Ecolution is marketed as a sailboat that can be operated by anyone, as computers and electric motors do the heavy lifting.

Anyway, go read the PDF, there’s too much to mention here. The Ecolution will be on display during Hisway 2010 (August) and will then be operated for test runs from Scheveningen until June 2011.

More of Ockel’s inventions:

(Link: Het Kan Wel. Photo: Ecolutions.)

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June 16, 2010

Students in Utrecht make cardboard mechanics

Filed under: Design,Gadgets by Orangemaster @ 12:02 pm

Cardboard Mechanics Installation from Sasj on Vimeo.

Cardboard Mechanics mady by Saskia Freeke, Fin Kingma, Davy Jacobs and Sonja van Vuure of the Utrecht School of Art and Technology.

(Link tip: The Presurfer)

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April 14, 2010

Dutch vodka with programmable LED label

Filed under: Gadgets by Orangemaster @ 7:45 pm

How to Program a Message on Your MEDEA Bottle from Medea Spirits on Vimeo.

I love a good troika: First, we had Guus Hiddink vodka, then Trump vodka made in The Netherlands and now, hi-tech Medea vodka from Schiedam, the birth place of genever (gin).

Medea vodka has a programmable LED label. It can be up to 225 characters, which is more than a Twitter ‘tweet’ (140 characters) or a text message (160 characters). You can turn off the text to save batteries, if so inclined and a bottle costs 30 euro. Being a regular buyer of vodka, Dutch vodka is often pricy at 30 euro a bottle, as compared to Polish and Russian vodka at 15-20 euro a bottle. But hey, this time you get a gadget with your booze.

Oh and by the way, the music in the video is Chopin’s Prelude No. 4 in E minor (Op. 28), which is the work that French composer and artist Serge Gainsbourg’s song ‘Jane B.’ is based on. You get that tidbit extra, as Serge drank more vodka and other alcohol than you drink water.

(Link: idealize.nl)

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March 22, 2010

Remarkable weapons on display in Delft

Filed under: Gadgets,Weird by Branko Collin @ 8:29 am

knuckles-pistol-dagger

The Dutch Army Museum is exhibiting 100 of its most remarkable weapons. Among them is this brass knuckles slash revolver slash dagger (slash!).

Apart from this perfect way to shoot yourself in the chest while trying to knock somebody out, hidden weapons such as ballpoint pens, walking sticks and belt buckles are also on display. Moreover, personal arms of Prince Bernhard, General Snijders and a gun that was used by the 1975 Malukan train hijackers will be shown.

The exhibition will run from March 18 to October 31.

(Source image: legermuseum.nl. Link: RTL Nieuws.)

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