Originally posted by Darren at Playfool.com

Known widely for the ambitious/crazy Optimus Maximus, the first keyboard with OLED screens for keys, Russian design house Art Lebedev has just unveiled its successor, Optimus Popularis. It’s a looker.

Details don’t extend much beyond what we can see here: the key caps are now practically all screen, whereas on the Maximus, a border frame cut down on the size of the visible portion. Also new is an overall much sleeker design, and a neat display bar that is home to several nicely designed widget readouts.

Pricing here is “under $1,000,” but I wouldn’t expect it to be too far under.

In the mobile browser world, the iPad has already surpassed both the Blackberry and Android devices in terms of use.  Granted, there are already 2 million+ iPads out in the world, and we’re talking about a device that touts a main use of consuming content, so that part isn’t terribly surprising.  But seeing it in black and white puts a new perspective onto things.

Here’s a simple but extremely useful solution using nothing more than a bulldog clip!!!

Clever cable holders. Via curled and feathered.

When looking for a cheap, reliable way to track gestures, Robert Wang and Jovan Popovic of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory came upon this notion: why not paint the operator’s hands (or better yet, his Lycra gloves) in a manner that will allow the computer to differentiate between different parts of the hand, and differentiate between the hand and the background? Starting with something that Howie Mandel might have worn in the 80s, the researchers are able to use a simple webcam to track the hands’ locations and gestures — with relatively little lag. The glove itself is split into twenty patches made up of ten different colors, and while there’s no telling when this technology will be available for consumers, something tells us that when it does become available it’ll be very hard not to notice.

Today at the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that MUBI — formerly known as The Auteurs — will be coming to the PlayStation 3 this fall. Think of MUBI as Netflix programmed by Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael and Martin Scorsese.

Although the larger MUBI service remains available throughout the world, the PlayStation 3 partnership will only be available in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Australia, New Zealand and the other countries where SCEE has dominion.

The MUBI PS3 app will be very much like the Netflix app. Once downloaded, users will be able to browse available films and then watch them either à la carte or pay for an unlimited monthly subscription. Some films will also be available to watch for free. Individual rentals are available for seven days.

Yes, while most of us are still staring in wonderment at the technical accomplishments of the movie Avatar. Sharp moved on and and as result have announced the first 3D HD camera for mobile devices.

Intended for mobile devices like smartphones and point-and-shoot digicams, this miniature wonder will be sampling in July and hitting mass production before the end of the year. Not much else is known about it at this point — I can guess it’ll cost a pretty penny when it debuts — but Sharp has penned an effusive press release which yu can read below

Press Release

Sharp Corporation has developed a 3D camera module for mobile devices capable of capturing high-definition (720p*2) 3D video images, an industry first. Sharp will start shipping samples in July. Mass production of these modules will begin within 2010.

3D images are composed of two views taken using two cameras that simultaneously capture separate images for the right and left eyes. Consequently, a 3D camera requires peripheral circuitry to apply image processing to the two images, for example, to adjust color or to correct positioning between the images from the two cameras. Manufacturers have thus been pursuing designs that reduce the size and weight of 3D cameras and seeking ways to shorten their development period.

The current 3D camera module developed by Sharp incorporates functions to process the image data output by the left and right cameras, including Color Synchronizing Processing to adjust color and brightness, Timing Synchronizing Processing to synchronize the timing of the video signals, and Optical Axis Control Processing to correct positioning. In addition, Fast Readout Technology rapidly transfers video data from the image sensor, enabling 3D images to be captured in high-resolution HD mode. Further, in developing this camera module, Sharp applied high-density mounting technology nurtured over long years of experience in camera module development to achieve a compact form. Embedding this camera module in mobile devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, and smartphones will contribute to the development of a wide range of new, innovative communications tools.

In the future, Sharp will be opening up new 3D markets based on 3D display technologies, including small/medium-size and large-size 3D LCDs, as well as on 3D input device technologies such as 3D camera modules.

Forget about Flash on the iPhone and iPad: Adobe, it seems, has turned its attention elsewhere. The company used the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco to show off a mysterious Google Android tablet that was running Flash flawlessly.

The Zedomax blog has managed to snap pictures and videos of the unbranded, iPad-like tablet at the Adobe booth at the expo, where the site reports there were no Apple products to be seen.

The tablet at the Adobe booth was running Google’s Android mobile operating system, the platform for which Adobe previously said it would concentrate on developing. The tablet ran Adobe Flash and Air app “flawlessly”, the report said, and videos show YouTube videos playing natively in the built-in browser.

The video of this unknown tablet from Zedomax also shows it running a beta of Wired magazine’s app, built with Adobe Air. The report quotes an Adobe employee at the booth as saying there will be a slew of Android tablets at the end of this year, to compete with the iPad, which already has sold more than one million devices.

This mysterious Android tablet not only demonstrates that Flash can run smoothly on a tablet device, but it also conflicts with Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ recent statements that Flash technology is not suitable for tablet computers at all.

In his “Thoughts on Flash,” Jobs argues that Adobe’s Flash technology is unreliable and insecure, that it drains battery life, and doesn’t function well with touch interfaces. Jobs also wrote that surfing the Web without Flash is not an incomplete experience, as alternative formats for Flash video are being adopted (HTML5).

However, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen replied to Jobs’ claims about Flash, saying they are “patently false,” and claiming that Apple’s Flash ban on iPhones and iPads is based purely on business interests. Because of this escalating dispute over Flash, Apple could reportedly face antitrust pressure from either the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice.