Archive for 2010

XCM PS3 Light Gun

Posted in PS3 by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

Forget the fact that this light gun is white enough to pass for a Wii peripheral. It’s a prototype from XCM, for the PS3. Forget that it looks like a mod from a 4th grader thanks to the strange design, where it has half a Playstation controller with a gun on top. It looks like a mini crossbow for the latest Zelda game.

Even if this controller gives you a bit more control during gameplay, could you wield such a device without being laughed at by those in the room with you? Check out the video, then let us know what you think?

Buffalo Dualie Docking Station for iPhone and portable Hard Drives

Posted in Buffalo by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

Dualie is a silly name, but fitting for this product. Buffalo has released the Buffalo Dualie. The Dualie is a 500GB portable hard drive, and a dock for your iPhone or iPod, allowing you to save some space on your desk, by docking both products together in one base.

Two in one. Dualie. Get it? Those folks at Buffalo sure are clever. It’s a much better name than doubly or SinglyX2. The device features 2 additional USB ports, and lets you sync your device with your computer and access the hard drive at the same time.

Is a Firmware Update killing PS3 Blu-Ray drives?

Posted in PS3 by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

Say it ain’t so. Could a firmware update lead to the untimely death of your PS3′s Blu-Ray drive? Maybe. The actual cause is still unconfirmed, but many users over at the Playstation forums are reporting problems with Modern Warfare 2 after updating their consoles to the 3.10 firmware.

They’re experiencing freezing while playing the game, and then after checking, experiencing more freezing in other games too. Speculation is that the firmware has somehow affected the Blu-ray drives. There isn’t any official answer yet, but you may want to pay close atention to how your Playstation 3 is acting when you update and just after.

Meizu M8 Promotional Video

Posted in Meizu by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

The Meizu M8 is a very promising iPhone competitor and the latest promotional video of the phone has it looking very good indeed. The company has released a promo showing off the UI for its M8 phone. In the video, the phone seems to use features from several phones/platforms, including the iPhone, Palm, Android, and Windows Mobile.

It looks great, but what it really comes down to is whether or not you would want this over an iPhone or the Motorola Droid? What say you?

Dell Froot concept computer with no Keyboard and Monitor

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

The Dell Froot concept while oddly named aims to be environmentally friendly and save the planet with two projectors. One for a virtual keyboard, and another for the monitor. Pretty great idea and a great space saver to boot.

It was designed by Pauline Carlos as part of a sustainability contest from Dell. The colorful case is constructed from biodegradable starch-based polymer and looks like fruit/froot. The technology is nearly there. Not quite, but nearly.

Boxetti transforming home theater: A big box of ugly

Posted in Home Theater by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

We love home theater systems. The large sound and movie experience is awesome. But it can be challenging setting up all of the speakers and the rest of it. The Boxetti Thrill might make things easier, keeping it all in one place. It’s a home theater cabinet from Lithuanian designer Rolands Landsbergs.

When not in use, it looks like an ugly piece of furniture, a washer maybe, but when it’s movie time, it opens up Transformers style to reveal a full home theater rig including speakers and a flat screen TV on a motorized lift. There’s even hidden storage area for your DVDs and Blu-Rays. Problem is it doesn’t get any less fugly.

ASUS DR-570 e-reader: 6-inch OLED color screen, 122 hours of battery life

Posted in ebooks by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

Well, this one came from out of nowhere. We haven’t heard much from ASUS in the e-reader market, but according to Times Online’s InGear it’s building a 6-inch color OLED e-reader, which is currently dubbed the DR-570.

The device will play Flash video, has both WiFi and 3G, and if you believe it can last for 122 hours on a single charge under “real world conditions.” Which makes it sound like even they don’t quite believe it. The device should be released by the end of the year.

There’s also a “Texting While Walking” epidemic

Posted in Text Messaging by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

Sure we know about the dangers of texting while driving, but that isn’t the only texting epidemic. How about texting while walking? According to the New York Times, just over 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. Silly, but apparently true. And that is twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006.

The numbers come from a study conducted by Ohio State University. Though how they managed to keep tabs on so many idiots I have no idea.

Motorola Shadow / Nexus Two with sliding QWERTY keyboard

Posted in Motorola by Conner Flynn on January 17th, 2010

This could be just a render, but it could also be the real thing. The folks over at Mobile01 have two more photos the Motorola Shadow, which looks similar to the Droid / Milestone with a white keyboard and wrist strap. Word is that this could be Google’s next flagship device, dubbed the Nexus Two.

It seems very possible to us as it makes sense to compliment the Nexus One with one that has a physical QWERTY keyboard. But why the wrist strap? Then again it looks a little too good and people will likely complain about the Dpad placement. What do you think?

Record-breaking Wii, PS3 sales in December

Posted in Wii by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2010

Here’s some good news for Nintendo and Sony. After the video game console market shrunk by a fifth in October, NPD now has a new report that shows that December was the video game industry’s “biggest sales month ever.”

Console sales jumped 4% compared to last December, with the Nintendo Wii in the lead(It is the cheapest console out there, so not really a surprise) with 3.81 million units moved (up from 2.15 million were moved the previous year).

ZAGGbox media center now available for pre-order

Posted in Set Top Boxes by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2010

ZAGG has announced that the ZAGGbox is available for pre-order for $799. While it isn’t on the cheap end, that price includes some nice features, like simultaneous transcoding of captured video for viewing on both your TV and the mobile device. And it comes with its own iPhone app.

You’ll also get 1TB of storage, a wide range of A/V inputs and outputs, 802.11n WiFi, and Slingbox-like streaming to any device, anywhere.

Botropolis: This week in robots

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on January 15th, 2010

Happy Friday everyone. It’s time to take a look at what’s happening in the wonderful world of robots. We covered quite a bit this week over at Botropolis. And as far as we know, no robot has killed a human this week or through inaction allowed him to be killed, so that’s always something. Also we haven’t seen any reports of humans being abducted by robots and taken to secret lairs. But they are still taking our jobs at the same rate. So it’s been a good week. Here’s some of what we covered this week.

TrueCompanion: The World’s First Sex Robot Doll.

ENON: The Robot Salesman.

Predictions: Spot Robots On Time Traveler Transit Map.

ZAGGbox up for pre-order

Posted in Home Theater by Shane McGlaun on January 15th, 2010

I mentioned the Zaggbox media player back in late October 2009. At the time we didn’t have many details on the machine other than it was going to debut at CES 2010 and would be about $1000. Zagg has gone official now with the device and is giving up the goods.

The ZAGGbox is packed with connectivity for connecting to local TVs. It is also designed to stream media to smartphones via UPnP, video Podcasting or a built-in web server. The device will launch along with an iPhone app as well for streaming content.

T-Mobile prices myTouch 3G Fender edition and gives launch date

Posted in T-Mobile by Shane McGlaun on January 15th, 2010

We first heard about the Fender edition of the myTouch 3G smartphone back in October 2009. When the device first tipped up all we really had was a pic and a few specs about the phone. T-Mobile has now gone official with the launch date and price for the handset.

The phone will hit on January 20. It will come with music apps pre-installed along with several tracks from Eric Clapton. The free Clapton songs will include “Layla,” “My Father’s Eyes,” “Rock ‘N’ Roll Heart,” and “Wonderful Tonight.”

Sanyo eneloop music booster hits the stage

Posted in Sanyo by Shane McGlaun on January 15th, 2010

I guess I always assumed that musical instruments that needed electricity were plugged into an AC outlet. Apparently, there are lots of the items that get power from batteries of one sort or another. Sanyo has announced a new battery pack for musicians.

The pack is called the Sanyo eneloop music booster and the device is a rechargeable DC 9V battery unit for music devices. Inside the case is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with 7.35Ah of power. The device has two outlets for two musical devices at once.