I need to figure out which of the 15 pins I need to connect to my USB adapter, but so far I’ve found four pinouts for the connector – and all four are different. Here’s my best-guess pinout:

1 – Ground
2 – Sound Out
3 – IRQ
4 – Port 1, Data 4
5 – Port 1, Data 3
6 – Port 1, Data 2
7 – Port 1, Data 1
8 – Port 1, Data 0
9 – Port 1, Data Clock
10 – Latch 2
11 – Latch 1
12 – Latch 0
13 – Port 0, Data 1
14 – Port 0, Clock
15 – +5V

In theory, that should be what I need to match up to my RetroGlove USB adapter:

The only question is – have I picked the right Famicom pinout to trust, or will I blow my PowerGlove? Any suggestions, Famicom experts?

• To Do: Support for larger LCDs
• To Improve: Better UTF-8 character handling
• To Do: Multiple RSS feed support

For now, however, it’s a pretty neat hack – and an alternative back-end allows it to display Twitter @ replies instead, with the person’s username on the top line of the display and the message below.

The aRSSduino relies on a USB connection between the Arduino and the host PC – it’s not a stand-alone project.  Currently, the Python back-end is written to run on a Linux-based host – although it should be relatively simple to port to Windows, I have no plans to do so at present.

You can download the project source code – both for the Arduino sketch and for the Python-based back-end here.  If you improve upon it, let me know!

The Toshiba Libretto W100 was launched as part of the company’s 25th anniversary celebrations – its first laptop, the Toshiba T1100 was launched back in 1985 – with the company’s Phil Osaki quoted by VentureBeat as stating that the company is aiming for the back-to-school season in the US.

Demonstrated over on Tech-On, the displays are based around Shinodo’s Plasma Tube Array technology, which allows the display to be created in a smooth curve rather than the more traditional flat plane.

Using the pre-curved display panels, the pair were able to come up with a single display – made from a pair of 1m x 1m panels – which fit around a pillar of 1m diameter, capable of showing full-colour full-motion video.

The companies admit that the the displays are still in the early stages of production – with the demonstration models, showcased at the Fujitsu Forum early last week, being produced merely to gauge market response prior to mass-production – but explain that “we expect that [the displays] will be used at railroad stations and public facilities” to provide advertising and informational displays around pre-existing support pillars.

Described as still “in development” over on Sony’s official blog, the un-named device will feature interchangeable lenses just like its still variant cousins – with promised support for both the Sony E-mount lenses used by the NEX 3 and NEX 5 and the A-mount lenses used by Sony’s range of Alpha digital SLR cameras, albeit via an adaptor.

Full details of the device are still held closely under wraps by Sony, but using the specifications of the NEX series as a base it can be expected that the camera will record to MemoryStick or SDHC card in the AVHCD format in – most likely – a full 1080p high-definition resolution at an expected 30 frames per second.

The use of interchangeable lenses will offer videographers a wealth of options for changing the capabilities of the camera, with options including macro, wide-angle, and telephoto lenses – and with the pre-existing A-mount lenses as options, the camera will enjoy a wide selection from launch.

Sadly, Sony has yet to announce a firm release date – or, indeed, pricing – for the camera, beyond a vague commitment to an official launch some time in Autumn.

Looking like an oversized digital watch from the mid-nineties, the FutureNow has an electrophoretic E-Ink – actually a Vizplex, if we’re talking trademarks – display which is capable of showing a range of pages, at least one of which will actually tell you what time it is.

Designed to provide a far greater viewing angle thanks to an active matrix setup – Seiko promises that the display will be viewable at up to 180 degrees in any direction – it’s a neat device, and shows promise for providing quick access to information without having to whip your smartphone out of your designer jeans.

Sadly, Seiko hasn’t yet provided pricing information – and if they did, I would probably be significantly less excited.  This is the sort of gadget that I would find difficult to justify – especially as I’ve got a drawer full of novelty watches already, including one that dispenses bubblegum.

No, really.  Bubblegum.  It’s awesome, and clearly designed for five year olds.  Can Seiko’s watch dispense bubblegum?  I don’t think so.

The first thing to catch my eye was the WePad from German manufacturer Neofonie.  The specifications call out to me – 11.6″ 1366×768 display, SDHC card support, USB ports, Android operating system, and a 1.66GHz Atom processor all pretty much crap on the iPad from a very great height, with the sole exception being the mere 6 hour battery life to the iPad’s 10 – and it looks shiny enough, but sadly it’s not yet available to buy.

Okay, so Android – if not rooted – is still a locked-down platform, but compared to the iPhone OS – as found on the iPod Touch, the iPhone (obviously) and the iPad – it’s as free as a kilt and no knickers.  Neofonie has even promised that, despite the fact they’re aiming the WePad as a platform for its WeMagazine digital publishing platform, full access to the Android Market will be granted – meaning third-party applications can be installed without restriction.

I’m still undecided as to the relative merits of the slate form factor, but the WePad has certainly got my attention – and not just because it sounds like a euphemism for Tena Lady.

Launching first in Korea – to be followed by a US and European release towards the end of May – the LX9500 is designed to appeal to the top end of the home entertainment market, featuring energy-efficient LED backlighting to achieve an impressive 10,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and a 480Hz picture engine.

The real killer feature is, of course, the 3D: powered by active shutter glasses, LG claims that the immersion offered by the LX9500 will “set
a higher benchmark in the global 3D TV industry.”
The glasses themselves – which produce the 3D effect by alternating which eye is able to see the picture at any given moment – are described as “comfortable to wear for an extended period of time” and last up to forty hours between charges.

LG is hoping to secure itself a chunk of the market with this and its other 3D TVs, stating that it is aiming for a 25 share by the end of the year.

With an impressively slim body at just 22.3mm and a 16mm bezel, the LX9500 is certainly an impressive beast, but it’s going to take personal
experience of the effect before people are likely to be convinced by the potential comfortable to wear for an extended period of timeof 3D TVs in general – not to mention the availability of suitable content.

As seen over on the company’s blog, the e-Paper Timing watch uses a curved e-ink screen to “show the time digitally in the negative space.”

The company has even seen fit to include Bluetooth functionality, making the watch vibrate and display a message on incoming calls or messages received by the paired handset.

Sadly, it’s only a concept at the moment – which is a shame, because it’s the first of Toykopop’s peculiar designs of wristwear that I could actually see myself spending three figures on.

It seems that after a few days of working perfectly happily the device drops off the network.  Well, not quite ‘off’ – it sits there continually sending out DHCP request after DHCP request.  My router, being a good router that does as it’s told, sends out DHCP offers in response to these requests – which are routinely ignored by the SoundBridge.

Switching to a static IP on the SoundBridge doesn’t do a lot of good: although it fixes the Herring Sandwich Experiment qualities of the issue by removing the continuous DHCP requests, the device still drops off the network.

I’ve upgraded the firmware to the latest beta release, but there’s still no joy.  Next step is an e-mail to Roku.