Those that enjoy seeing the inside of their gadgets are going to love this new kit for the Nintendo DSi. It coats your DSi in a bright candy color and keeps things nice and clear. It’s far more interesting than just slapping a skin on the outside and a little easier than attempting to create a clear case that will show the insides of it all on your own.
The kit comes in various colors, those being candy apple red, emerald green, electric blue, a completely clear shell and then a non-clear matte black and then a white one. Not only is there a shell included, but color coordinated buttons to complete the transformation. They also include the tools you’ll need to make the case your own and keep it customized to your tastes. As far as putting the shell on all you’ll need is a screwdriver. The shell will cost you $25.99 from Divineo.
Now you can own your very own mysterious box. It just sits there, a square piece of plastic, not even appearing to be anything the slightest bit interesting. After spinning the little box, it reveals a total of 4 USB ports that were previously concealed. It’s a neat little trick, there’s not a ton of point behind it, but it keeps things interesting. You could justify it by saying when the ports are tucked away it keeps them protected. Of course the truth is that it give you something to fiddle with when you’re bored out of your mind at work.
The ports come in two different colors, you can purchase it in either the green or the orange. Tragically there isn’t a plain black version, if they did, then you could have a mysterious black plastic box. Of course the down side with this design is that the bulkier drives probably aren’t going to work with this. The USB drives that have the normal shape will work just fine though. You can purchase the hub for $12.
The fast-food industry gets a lot of flack these days. I feel sorry for them. It’s not easy to take the criticism from those who say that fast food is bad for you. These are the same people who probably eat it.
It would appear that two of the fast food corporate giants are finding a way to give back. Recently, McDonalds announced that it would install electric vehicle charging stations for electric cars. So, the next time you’re waiting in the drive thru for a Big Mac, you can charge up your electric car, assuming you have one.
Burger King is also doing something energy efficient with their drive thru. You know that speed bump that your car goes over? A BK plans to install one that harnesses the kinetic energy produced by the cars running over it. The speed-bump is the same technology used by the Supermarket Parking Lot that makes its own power.
It would appear that our Fast-food nations are giving something back. This reminds me of some information that I heard about Biofuels, and how the grease used for fast food could be used as fuel for automobiles. I never really saw much development on that, but that is another way fast food people can give more energy to consumers.
This next device may or may not be real, but it really should be. Some of you may have been at sporting events that had people shoot T-shirts into the crowd, but how would you like to be the one doing the shooting?
I suppose this is the appeal of the “limited edition†T-shirt shooting gun that shoots nothing but “authentic Nike shirtsâ€. It is even engraved with a signature by an authentic Nike Athlete. Do these Nike guys know how to party, or what?
If you want to see it in action, feel free to view the video of the Nike 6.0 Shredders with Steven Jackson after the jump. Yes, it does look fun to have a T-shirt fight.
Not to be a spoiler, but am I really supposed to believe that you can fire a shirt and make the victim wear the shirt? That’s cartoon physics happening here, really. By the way, did you see the smoke coming from these guns? What exactly is creating the firepower here?
Assuming these T-shirt guns are real, I have heard that the price is about $1,500. I think I am going to pass on this one, unless they make a model that doesn’t shoot authentic Nike Shirts. Why should I pay top dollar to shoot high-priced clothes, when all I want to do is shoot ordinary laundry?
See the two gigantic yellow arms, with claws? Those are robot grapples, each with the power to lift 50 tons, and spin at 70 kilometers per hour (12 revolutions per minute).
I’m sure that control of these metal monsters must be difficult, but Simon Wittber from the Australian firm Transmin has greatly simplified it using a Wiimote for controls.
That’s right, the very device used to play WiiSports is now playing a new game! I have included a video of their demonstration that you can view after the jump, and it is something to see and hear.
So maybe this Wiimote makes the work of grappling easier, but I have another use: Skill Crane. Yes, this Wiimote-powered grapple could be useful on a new type of game show where the contestant must sift through a pile of wrecked cars to get the real prize: a brand new car.
Of course, that new car would probably be smashed, wouldn’t it? Well, I still like the large skill crane idea.
Different people have their ways of dealing with the charging situation of their gadgets. Some have them charging at various places throughout the house. Then there are those that would strongly prefer to keep things simple and have one spot that charges all of the various gadgets. It is a much more tidy and simplistic way to handle things. Especially for those that have multiple gadgets between them and their significant other. Well this Charging Tube is meant to help you out and hopefully simplify the charging situation.
The Charging Tube can charge up to 4 different mobile devices at once. When you purchase the tube, it will come with 5 charging adapters, the iPod/iPhone, Micro USB, Mini USB, LG Chocolate and Samsung SCH. The great thing is that if you don’t see the adapter you need within that list, you can order the one you need from their website free of charge. The entire tube plugs in through an AC adapter and on the tube itself is a light to indicate that it’s on or off. You can purchase it for $29.95.
Sony’s line of Handycam camcorders hark back to the days where optical discs and abundant flash memory were not even available to the masses, and these Handycams can be said to be huge and unwieldy, but that’s the price to pay if you want to preserve your favorite memories in video format. Well, thanks to the advancement of technology over the years, video recorders have become smaller and smaller and yet are more capable than their predecessors. All those factors have resulted in Sony releasing its new HDR-CX520V and HDR-CX500V Handycam camcorders that are more than able to capture full 1,920 x 1,080 high-definition video and up to 12-megapixel stills, storing those on a 64GB or 32GB internal flash memory (depending on the model, of course), which more or less translates to around 25 hours of HD video in LP mode.
Both the HDR-CX520V and HDR-CX500V camcorders will feature 60p output, where your content are automatically converted to 60 progressive frames per second when connected to a compatible high-definition television (obviously, Sony will tell you to use their Bravia line). In addition, avid video enthusiasts will find the Optical SteadyShot with Active Mode feature useful as it comes with a moveable lens element to shift with greater range of motion during camera shake. Along with that you get 3-Way Shake Canceling that will help reduce hand shake in three directions, and these include both vertical and horizontal shake that relies on optical image stabilization while the third uses electronic image stabilization to facilitate corrections for lateral-roll shake.
Inside you will find Sony’s powerful BIONZ imaging processor that boasts a Face Touch function, letting users choose the person’s face to be prioritized by the camcorder when shooting a sea of people. Perfect for loverboys who want to impress their girl who is posing in a crowd. Apart from that, with new technology that can down-convert from AVCHD to MPEG2, Sony does away with the need for a computer, making it a snap to create simple DVDs using the optional DVDirect Express (VRD-P1) DVD writer. Expect to pick up the HDR-CX500V and HDR-CX520V sometime this September for approximately $1,100 and $1,300, respectively.
Sony did take a stand against manufacturing netbooks simply because the profit margin was so low, and with the company’s notorious reputation of pricing their goods beyond the average figure, consumers who are looking for a cheap and yet decently equipped netbook will most probably pick one from Dell, HP, Asus, Acer, Gateway and numerous other players in the game. In fact, when Sony unveiled the VAIO P at CES earlier this year, they went so far as to inform everyone not to call it a netbook. Well, guess the Japanese company will have to eat their own words this time round as they attempt to make some headway into the netbook crowd with its newest VAIO W Series.
In typical Sony fashion, the VAIO W will feature an ultra-portable design, making it perfect for use as a secondary computing device that is lightweight enough to be carried with you halfway around the globe without having to break your back while you’re at it. There are three colors to choose from - berry pink, sugar white and cocoa brown, where the exterior hue is subtle while the touchpad is lined with a splash of brightness. According to Mike Abary, senior vice president of the VAIO business group at Sony, “The W Series lets you quickly look something up online whether searching for a recipe in the kitchen or relaxing on your recliner - there’s no need to trudge upstairs to your office. And it’s sturdy enough for the kids to use, making it perfect for every member of the family.”
Features of the W Series include a high-resolution, 1366 x 768, LED backlit 10.1″ ultra-wide display, an isolated keyboard with springy and responsive keys, integrated webcam and microphone, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth connectivity, a touchpad and mouse keys to make you feel more at home, and is ENERGY STAR 5.0 compliant as well as EPEAT Gold registered to denote Sony’s effort in helping keep its products green and clean. Prices of this Windows XP Home-powered netbook start from $500 upwards.
Thanko does release some useful stuff from time to time, and this time around they want to surpass their previous efforts of a silent keyboard with a new and improved version in the form of the Silent Keyboard EX. This model will emit a mere 44.5 dB even with the fastest typist in the world’s fingers gliding all over it to compose a document through the night, ensuring that whenever you burn the midnight oil, your other half won’t be disturbed at all. Heck, one’s snores would be much louder instead! This is definitely something worth looking into if you’re one who has odd working hours.
A-DATA has come up with its latest 64GB XPG Xupreme flash drive that boasts to be the first flash drive in the market that will be compatible with the yet-unreleased Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit). It comes covered with an elegant dark grey aluminum color, offering a high-performance USB flash drive that has been packaged into an unassuming yet stylish design as part of the XPG product line. It is capable of supporting up to 30MB/s (200X) read speed. Apart from that, it has also been certified for Windows Vista and is Windows ReadyBoost compatible, giving Vista users another reason to smile about.
Razer’s latest device was not named after another poisonous snake, presumably because it is not a mouse. Nevertheless, the company remains true to its roots to develop hardware for the gaming community, and the Razer Moray+ is the latest to hit the deck. Specially designed for gamers and other folk who listens to music and values mobility in their choice of an audio companion, the Moray+ includes a microphone alongside adapters to be used with your Sony PSP 2000/3000 and the Nintendo DS Lite/DSi. Apart from that, a thicker cable enhances durability while doing away with entanglement, where extended bass, passive noise isolation and interchangeable ear-buds were retained from its predecessor.
Once in a while comes a vehicle that will stop traffic, and most of the times these comprise of some hot-blooded supercar from a respected marquee. Well, how about this strange looking Bike-Car from Italy that looks as though it was conjured from the very same mind that thought up of the fictional Frankenstein? Clearly the designer was confused enough that he could not make up his mind as to design a motorbike or a car, ending up with this weird amalgamation. Hopefully there will be a detached version of this in the future, letting the bike disconnect from the car segment whenever one is faced with a traffic jam. Of course, you’d best put in enough coins for the “car” in the parking meter unless you want to be greeted by a parking ticket when you return.
Sony’s back with a new DVD recorder in the form of the VRD-MC6 - the next generation multi-function DVDirect DVD recorder which is touted to transfer both high-definition and standard-definition home videos and digital photos to DVD discs without the need for a computer acting as a middleman. What makes the new VRD-MC6 model so special? While we’re going to look at it in further detail right after the jump, let me share with you an open secret - the device comes with a 2.7″ color LCD display that is handy for previewing video files, and you can also use it to check out up to half a dozen digital photos simultaneously. In addition, the wonders of modern technology and miniaturization has made it nearly 60% smaller compared to its predecessor.
According to Shige Nakayama, manager of the DVDirect business at Sony, “Many customers still have their old home movies on tapes and are looking for an easy solution to archive their personal digital imaging content on DVD discs. With the larger built-in LCD color screen in a smaller body, the new DVDirect model makes it easier for customers to transfer the content to DVD discs for archiving, enjoying and sharing with family and friends.” The VRD-MC6 is able to transfer AVCHD quality videos to DVD discs in their native 1080i HD resolution when hooked directly to a Sony hard drive or Memory Stick media-based Handycam camcorder - surely you didn’t expect anything less than that from Sony! AVCHD quality DVDs can also be played back on compatible Blu-ray Disc devices, and these will include other players, computer optical drives and PS3 consoles.
Other features include the ability to transfer standard-definition home videos to DVD discs, Digital Video (i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE-1394) connectivity, Composite Video inputs, and USB support. DVDs recorded this way can be played in most consumer DVD players without any problem. Alternatively, you can use the VRD-MC6 to record digital photos to a DVD as a slideshow directly , as it supports Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo media, SD/SDHC and xD-picture card media formats. Expect to pick up the DVDirect VRD-MC6 for approximately $229 this September.
It can be a pretty harsh blow moving on from being a full and able bodied person to a quadriplegics for some due to an accident or other circumstances, but then again there is always the resilient human spirit that is inherent in each and every one of us to make the best of all situations. Well, those who are in wheelchairs need not despair, as there is a new tongue controller that was specially designed to give quadriplegics the ability to operate external devices like wheelchairs and computers. Recently, results from a clinical trial that involved testing the capabilities of the interface for the severely handicapped have been presented at the annual meeting of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), proving that the tongue controller is intuitive and precise enough to be used by patients within a short period of time.
How does this system work? Well, a tiny magnet as small as the size of a grain of rice, can be attached to the participant’s tongue with tissue adhesive. Any movement of this magnetic tracer can be detected by a bunch of magnetic field sensors mounted on wireless headphones worn by the subject. These sensor output signals were then wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer that surprise, surprise, was placed on the wheelchair at all times. After processing the signals to determine the relative motion of the magnet with respect to the array of sensors in real-time, it will be translated to movement of the wheelchair, making it an ideal substitute for a joystick function.
The tongue was used to operate the system since it is directly connected to the brain via a cranial nerve which more or less escapes damage even in severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases, unlike our hands and feet that are normally the first to go. Patients need to train the computer beforehand so that they can get used to the movement regiment, but thankfully the learning curve isn’t steep in any way.
Over on CG-UK we’ve scored an interview with a couple of senior people in Sony’s TV division with a slight twist â€" you get to ask the questions!
The interview is with Sony Europe so obviously any questions about product range or marketing will be limited to that region, but the technology is universal so if you’ve got a question about Sony TV/Blu-ray products or technology now’s your chance to ask.
We will be submitting the questions to Sony next Monday so you’ve got the rest of this week to think about it. To see who’s taking part in the interview and find out how to submit your questions, head over to the post on CG-UK.
It seems with back to school creeping closer and closer, more companies are releasing new sets of speakers to go with students as they had into college. Just like several of the others that have been seen, these come in everything from black to the brightly colored. They also feature colors that match your iPod Nano. These keep things pretty small and minimal, so they could easily be tucked back at the corner of your desk or dresser. That makes them a nice addition for students stuck in a dorm this coming semester.
It appears that they are all out of black, but they do have pink, purple, silver, red and blue. It will not only play your iPod, but you can connect any other audio devices you have.  The device is battery operated and requires 4 AA batteries. They don’t mention if it can be plugged in, but one would hope it would come with that option. You can purchase it online for $24.99.
When Canon isn’t making a virtual reality dinosaur exhibit, they have other things to do, like making printers. In fact, they have made three new printers.
The PIXMA MP560 has duplex printing, photo correction, and Wi-Fi. There is also a USB port for printing directly from external storage. For example, it can do 4 by 6 inch prints in grayscale at a rate of 9.2 images a minute and 6 images per minute in color.
The MP490 (pictured) has a 1.8-inch LCD screen and memory card slots. It is also good for printing photos, and has Auto Photo Fix II software built directly into it. It can deliver 4800 x 1200 maximum color dpi, as well as very fine monochromatic prints as well.
The last is the SELPHY CP790 Compact Photo Printer that can hold the paper and ink cassettes, as well as the AC adapter, cable, and optional battery pack. It is made for printing photos on the go, and has built-in creative options like frames, calendars, and other things for that personal touch. It comes with a 3-inch LCD screen to maximize on photo viewing.
All three models of these Canon printers should be available later this month. The MP560 will run about $150, the MP490 is about $100, and the CP790 runs about $180.
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The fast-food industry gets a lot of flack these days. I feel sorry for them. It’s not easy to take the criticism from those who say that fast food is bad for you. These are the same people who probably eat it. 
This next device may or may not be real, but it really should be. Some of you may have been at sporting events that had people shoot T-shirts into the crowd, but how would you like to be the one doing the shooting? 
See the two gigantic yellow arms, with claws? Those are robot grapples, each with the power to lift 50 tons, and spin at 70 kilometers per hour (12 revolutions per minute). 
A-DATA has come up with its latest 64GB XPG Xupreme flash drive that boasts to be the first flash drive in the market that will be compatible with the yet-unreleased Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit). It comes covered with an elegant dark grey aluminum color, offering a high-performance USB flash drive that has been packaged into an unassuming yet stylish design as part of the XPG product line. It is capable of supporting up to 30MB/s (200X) read speed. Apart from that, it has also been certified for Windows Vista and is Windows ReadyBoost compatible, giving Vista users another reason to smile about. 
Once in a while comes a vehicle that will stop traffic, and most of the times these comprise of some hot-blooded supercar from a respected marquee. Well, how about this strange looking Bike-Car from Italy that looks as though it was conjured from the very same mind that thought up of the fictional Frankenstein? Clearly the designer was confused enough that he could not make up his mind as to design a motorbike or a car, ending up with this weird amalgamation. Hopefully there will be a detached version of this in the future, letting the bike disconnect from the car segment whenever one is faced with a traffic jam. Of course, you’d best put in enough coins for the “car” in the parking meter unless you want to be greeted by a parking ticket when you return.
When Canon isn’t making