It’s been more than 40 years since the original “House of the Future” made it’s residence in Disneyland. The original house was demolished in 1967, but now it’s looking like it will be making a return. The original house had awe-inspiring technology such as hands-free phones, wall sized televisions, and electric razors.

Disneyland’s new House Of The Future is slated to open in May. Disney has partnered with Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard to try and bring an idea of what new technologies could be used in our houses in the future. The new house will look and feel like a regular suburban home, unlike the old house which had more of a science fiction feel to it.

Dave Miller, Director of alliance development for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts explains what Disney is trying to accomplish with the new house, “We won’t get into the bits and the bytes. It will be about the digital lifestyle and how that lifestyle can help you.”

A thermostat that automatically adjusts the temperature when someone enters a room; is just one of the technologies you can expect to see. When a movie is being played the room will detect it and dim the lights, and draw the shades accordingly. All of the gadgets will be used by real live actors, playing a scene of a family planning a trip to China.

Millions of people were frustrated yesterday, as their Blackberries went on the fritz. The outages for the Blackberry service occured around 3:30 pm. The extent of the outage is unknown at this time, and RIM who develops the blackberries has not released an official statement.

The blame was not put on the wireless carriers, as numerous blackberries on different networks were experiencing the outage. Also, only the data services of the Blackberry were unavailable, as the phone service was still able to be used. This is not the only outage that blackberry users have had to endure, as a mass outage occurred last April.

In the past year RIM has expanded it’s consumer base from businesses to everyday consumers. This increase could be at the cause of all the problems, as it’s reported that RIM has over 12 million users.

The RIM headquarters is located in Ontario, Canada. This is where the entire infastructure for Blackberry services is located. Questions have emerged as to whether their decision to have such a centralized structure is the cause of the problems.

It’s already looking lights out for the HD-DVD format, today yet another haymaker was sent HD-DVD’s way. Netflix has announced that from now on it will exclusively stock Blu-Ray movies for its’ HD movie section.

Netflix says the reason for the decision is that four out of the six movie studios are exclusively releasing HD movies in Blu-Ray format. Netflix also has stated that a majority of its’ customers request Blu-Ray movies over HD-DVD movies. People still latching onto their HD-DVD players still have a glimmer of sunshine. Netflix says it will still offer its’ current stock for rent, until the movies have reached the end of their life cycle.

Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix explains further, “From the Netflix perspective, focusing on one format will enable us to create the best experience for subscribers who want high-definition to be an important part of how they enjoy our service”

While HD-DVD still has some backing from two other major studios, it definitely looks as though the sun is settting for the format.

Sometimes when reporting on technology, it can all become kind of silly. Do we really need a toaster with a TV in it that also analyzes the stock market? Well, when a story comes along about technology that actually benefits the health of mankind, it makes it all worth it.

Eric Seibel, an associate professor of mechanical engineering has created a device that could potentially make cancer detection easier, and cheaper. The gadget is what can best be referred to as a “Pill Camera”. The camera consists of seven fiber obtic cables, attached at the end of a capsule the size of your average pain medication. The capsule is then swallowed and is attached to a 1.4 mm string. Once the pill is used it can be pulled back through, and used again.

Eric Seibel comments on how unswallowing a pill feels, “Never in your life have you ever swallowed anything and it’s still sticking out of your mouth, but once you do it, it’s easy”

The pill, at its’ release is going to be used to try and detect esophageal cancer. Doctors say that it could potentially be used to travel into places in the human body they have never been. Probably the greatest news of the “pill” is that unlike other forms of internal cameras which cost thousands of dollars, the pill will only cost $300.

Human testing is slated to being in about a month at the Seattle Veterans Administration hospital.

R2-D2’s method of messaging is apparently one step closer as the College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona in Tucson is on it’s way to perfecting the technology.

They are creating erasable three-dimensional hologram images.

“This is a new type of device, nothing like the tiny hologram of a dove on your credit card,” UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian is quoted as saying. “The hologram on your credit card is printed permanently. You cannot erase the image and replace it with an entirely new three-dimensional picture.”

So far, they’ve only pulled it off in the form of a 4 inch by 4 inch image and only in red, but they’re already thinking bigger. They’re currently working on one that’s 1 foot by 1 foot and they see the potential for multiple colors as within reach.

I’m personally hoping that the Snake Pliskin-style full body human impersonating model isn’t too far off.

(Via Engadget)

MySpace is quite close to letting developers loose on its huge user base. The social network has launched the MySpace Developer Platform as a way of allowing developers to get in some practice.

It’s being called “1-month application development period” and it is giving developers a chance to familiarize themselves with three sets of APIs. To a limited extent, they can build and test applicaions. Developers are thrilled.

Over 1,600 people have joined the MySpace Developer Platform’s forum in the last day. Over 200 posts have been made the majority of members have joined out of an interest in the subject rather than a need to get questions answered.

One can’t help but wonder how many applications will result from this effort. Still, the month-long sandbox period should give everyone a chance to iron out some kinks, and certain applications have always seemed like they’d be a match for MySpace’s more “colorful” profiles.