Gizmodo: Phantom

Phantom Air Supply, For Superheroes Who Only Save Themselves

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:30:00 EST

It's brilliant, a five-minute tank of air complete with retractable mouthpiece. You wear it on your chest like a badge of heroism—or superheroism—but it's sad, really. How many people can you save? [Yanko via DVice]

Phantom Lapboard Review

Mark Wilson — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:40:00 EST

The Phantom Lapboard is one of those fabled legends of the gadget world, a keyboard and mouse that you can use comfortably on a couch—in the making since 2004.

Phantom was kind enough to send us the first final production unit off of the line—preorder shipments should be fulfilled starting Feb 20th. It's unfair to judge any product with higher standards only because of funding and manufacturing delays—even if the Phantom Lapboard is the Duke Nukem Forever of the keyboard world. But despite these delays and issues, there's still no clone or ripoff to compare it to.

Phantom's pitch is a wireless, ambidextrous keyboard that can be used via lap for a home theater PC with a full-sized mouse. The keyboard itself pivots vertically, lifting the keys from the platform on your lap to make room for a mouse, while simultaneously spinning 360 degrees horizontally so that it works for righties and lefties.

In use, the lapboard functions as promised. It synced instantly to both my PS3 and Mac through a 2.4GHz USB dongle (though, I should mention, I had left mouse button recognition issues on the PS3). The keyboard locks after a gentle tilt, and you can actually spin it round and round indefinitely...which can be addictive.
Typing, however, is a bit more problematic than I expected. It's certainly possible, and the keys are clicky and responsive. But the keyboard tilts a bit too much for my taste (a full 22 degrees) and I found myself typing with one hand uncomfortably higher than the other. I wish there were two tilt settings—one that would just fit your mouse hand under it, and one with a little more clearance. That said, a few hours of hands-on gaming would probably put you more at ease with the design.

To tilt the keyboard back down, you push in on a semi-awkward rubber latch.
The mouse has a subtler style than you'd expect to see with a hardcore PC peripheral, with a one-piece plastic top creating two buttons with perfect resistance. (There's also a clicking scroll wheel.) It's rated at some insane DPI—it felt accurate enough—but there's one downfall to gamers. The board for the mouse is just too slippery. At the slightest angle on your lap, the mouse will literally slide off. I'm actually tempted to sand the plastic or add new pads to the mouse because this very small (overlooked?) detail makes the lapboard far less pleasant to use.
I find the Phantom Lapboard's $130 asking price a bit steep—but if it cost less than $100 it would be a strong recommendation. Using the mouse can feel a bit like walking on ice and the keyboard tilts a lot, but given that there are few competitors that can offer a full keyboard/mouse that fit comfortably in your lap, I'm glad to see the still-fresh idea finally come to market. [Phantom]

Phantom Lapboard Shipping By The End of The Year, Promise!

Elaine Chow — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:30:00 EST

Remember the Phantom Lapboard? Yeah, it's been so long that we've heard any news of it (despite them telling us that it was finally released), that most people have plumb purged it from their memory. According to Phantom Entertainment's recently updated blog though, the lapboard still exists and it's coming by the end of the year – for real this time! The Phantom Entertainment folks have paid for their first shipment of manufactured lapboards, and they'll be posting a delivery time frame soon. Good luck trying to generate buzz on your four-year-old almost-product, guys! [Phantom Entertainment]

Giant Freezer Can Hold Fighter Jets, Megatron

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:40:00 EDT

At two million square feet, this is one of the biggest freezers in the world, capable of holding entire combat airplanes and putting them under extreme conditions. Zoom inside and you will see the effects of putting an F-4 Phantom fighter jet under the snow and freezing rain test, which simulates this kind of weather at 40,000 feet.

Developed with the help of Boeing and located at the aerospace test center in Seosan, South Korea, the state-of-the-art $52 million dollar secret facility has been designed to put these aircraft to the limit.

Too bad they only have old F-4s and F-15s to test it with. [Daily Mail—Thanks Alejandro!]

The Phantom Lapboard Is Finally Out

Mark Wilson — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:43:00 EDT

We weren't sure that this day would ever come. Even when we spoke with John Landino (Phantom Development Consultant) at CES, he wasn't sure the day would ever come. Today, I got an email from him.

That's right Mark; we have sold a product:) and booked a dollar...what is the world coming to?

It's good to see the $129 Phantom Lapboard finally released, a tale that started back in 2004 finally finished—expect the sky to fill with winged pigs shortly. [Phantom]

Phantom Lapboard Reviewed (Verdict: Holy Bees They've Shipped It And It's Only Half Bad)

Jason Chen — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Will Smith over at Maximum PC just reviewed the Phantom Lapboard—that keyboard from the Phantom console guys which we first held for ourselves back at E3 2004. Surprise! They think the keyboard "rocks". Their official position is that the pivoting scheme is comfortable and works great for righties and lefties. The only problem is their mouse. It sucks. Not only does it have signal dropouts, the left click button is "wimpy". Probably not worth your $130 until they can work out the mousing problems. [Maximum PC]

Phantom Lapboard Keyboard (It's Coming) (Maybe)

Mark Wilson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:36:38 EST

We got our hands on a final build of the promising lap-ready Phantom Lapboard Keyboard at CES, and what can we say? It appeared every bit as wireless and ambidextrous as we thought. But this is the aptly named Phantom Keyboard we're talking about—the keyboard that Alienware wanted but couldn't secure—the keyboard we've been looking at since 2004. We talked to the Phantom Development Consultant John Landino and he shed some light on the delays.

In a discussion of surprising frankness, Landino admitted that the company took far longer than anticipated to finalize the product. From problems with internal electronics (like syncing) to problems with the tactile aspects (an underrated aspect in a good keyboard), "it was a lot more work than we had thought," Landino explained. He added that his company's light funding securing less than ideal mass manufacturers didn't help speed things along, either.

At the moment, they're just waiting for purchase orders so they can put the keyboard into production—another product, we're guessing, of financial shortages. Here's hoping it all works out, because we need a decent solution for playing PS3's Unreal Tournament 3 from our couch.

Your TV Sucks (Power, Even When It's Not Running)

Charlie White — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:20:50 EST

That TV set of yours still sips power even when it's turned off, to the point that phantom power use can add 10% to your electricity bill. In fact, the average US household consumes about 50 watts of standby power per hour. There's a lot of talk about Energy Star ratings for electronic devices, but plasma and LCD TVs are still sucking up energy when they're doing nothing, and that's why Get with Green tested 50" plasma and 37" LCD displays to see which ones are the hungriest in standby mode. Of the 50" plasma displays, it looks like the 1080p Panasonic TH-50PZ700U (pictured above) is one of the greenest in standby. Let's take a look at the list:

50" Plasma TVs
(Manufacturer/Model/Standby/On/Mode)
Panasonic TH-50PX75U 0.2W 499W 720p $1999.95
Panasonic TH-50PZ700U 0.2W 695W 1080p $2999.95
Panasonic TH-50PX77U 0.2W 499W 720p $2099.95
Panasonic TH-50PZ750U 0.2W 705W 1080p $3499.95
Hewlett-Packard PL5072N 0.4W 460W 720p $1799.99
Philips 50PDFP5332D/37 0.67W 480W 720p $1599.99
LG 50PC5DC 0.74W 418W — $1599.95
Sanyo DP50747 0.85W 460W 720p $1294.00
LG 50PB4DA 1W 420W — $1999.95

37" LCD TVs
Hewlett-Packard LT3700 0.3W 220W

Hewlett-Packard LC3772N 0.3W 220W

LG LB5DF-UC 0.3W 170W

LG 37 LB4DS-UA 0.4W 165W

LG 37 LC7D-UB 0.5W 177W

Philips 37PFL5332D/37 0.75W 190W

Philips 37PFL7332D/37 0.75W 200W

Sharp LC37GP1U 0.9W 165W

Samsung LN-T3732H 0.9W 180W

Sharp LC37D62U 0.9W 198W

Sharp LCC3742U 0.95W 185W

Sharp LC37D43U 0.95W 185W

Sharp LC37D42U 0.95W 185W

[Getting With Green] (Thanks, Kevin!)

How to Turn Your Body Into a Hairless Wonderland With Gadgets: Part 2

Jason Chen — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:01:14 EST

In our first hairless wonderland feature, we took a look at how you could rid your entire body of hair using three simple gadgets. The Mangroomer, the Flowbee and the Philips Bodygroom allow you to make sure your back, head and crotchular regions are free of any unslightly plumage. But what about the most important part of your body; the part that everyone looks at during a conversation (no, not your jiblets—and the Bodygroom has that covered)? Yes, we're talking about the face. And with the Braun Pulsonic or the Gillette Fusion Power Phantom, you can be sure your mug is as glossy as the top of Patrick Stewart's head.

These two razors—Braun's Pulsonic and Gillette's Phantom—are actually quite different. The Pulsonic comes from the top branch of the electric shaver tree, whereas the Phantom is a regular blade razor with a vibrating twist (the twist is that it vibrates).

As I said before, I am a surprisingly hairy man. I'm consistently hairy around all of my body, face included. With the Pulsonic, however, it takes a couple passes to get rid of all the hair, leaving no rough patches. The neck pivots nicely, and the 10,000 "micro-vibrations per minute" really feel like it's working. The razor itself is heavy and has a nifty e-ink-like readout on the bottom that tells you how much charge is left, as well as how dirty the razor is. The first is self explanatory, but here's what the second is for.

The razor docks into the cleaning station, which allows you to automatically clean the razor with the touch of a button. Jets of cleaning fluid squirts into the tip while the razor sporadically turns itself on and off in a symphony of hair, facial oil and alcohol-cleanser. After an hour of this, your battery should be charged and the head should be clean. You don't even have to remove the foils beforehand.

Louis covered the Pulsonic a bit before, but I'm actually a dry-shave electric razor guy myself (as opposed to his blade razor preference). And from my point of view, it's pretty much the best electric razor around, and can get fairly close to a plain razor if you give yourself some time to master it. If you're still looking for a very last minute gift this year, you can't go wrong with the Pulsonic. That is, if you're shopping for someone you care enough to spend $200 on. [Amazon]

On the other hand, if you're a blade razor kinda guy, there's the Fusion Power Phantom. It looks like a Mach 3, but instead of three blades it has five. Not only is it 166% bladier, it's also got a vibration function. One flip of the switch and the thing starts trembling. This might sound like a bad thing—blades + shaking + face usually ends up like the elevator scene in The Shining—but it seems like it helps.

Being from the electric razor world, I'm usually pretty clumsy with the safety razor type. However, this Phantom seems to be the best of both worlds, meaning that I didn't cut myself silly when shaving. The next time you're on the road looking for a razor, check out the Fusion Power and try out them vibrating blades. It's only $10, and works slightly better than a standard razor. [Amazon]

Phantom Lapboard Ships on Phantom Dates

Haroon Malik — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:10:00 EST

Phantom Entertainment has certainly got the name right; they provide an excellent source of entertainment based on phantom product releases. The most recent of such products is the long-time-coming Phantom Lapboard, which is apparently available for purchase now. The asking price is $130, and it ships on...wait a minute...when does it ship?

That's right, those comedians are promising a most excellent lapboard, which will allow you on sofa access to your PC, but they aren't giving a shipping date! If you really, really want a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse and a mobile mouse surface that looks good/exists, we say don't wait on this one. Most certainly do not cough up your hard earned cash till the sleighs are packed with the goodies. That penultimate sentence comprises part of Gizmodo's Christmas Advice for Chumps, there's no need to thank us. [Phantom Entertainment - Thanks, Donald. D]

Sneak Peek at CBS' High-Def Super Bowl Gear

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:36:17 EST

We know you'll be watching the Super Bowl in HD come February 4th, but ever wonder what it takes to bring you this colossal event in glorious high-def? Well, the folks at CBS wanna tell you as they've hired over 500 staffers, 47 HD cameras, and even went through the trouble of replacing the lights at Miami's Dolphin Stadium all in the name of high-def. But at the top of their tech list this year is a new super-slow motion camera called the Phantom V10 which has the ability to capture 2,000 frames per second. The camera, which is made by Vision Research, will be joined by six of Sony's latest super-slo-mo camera systems and an army of robotic, unmanned cameras. Enough gadgetry to make you a football fan—even if you're not. – Louis Ramirez

No Trick Plays [Broadcasting & Cable via AVS Forum]

Supplies! Phantom Lapboard Delayed 'Til 2007

Jason Chen — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:00:28 EST

Just when Phantom's managed to get a modicum of credibility back into their corner with the recent Lapboard news (even though the concept for the keyboard was all but firmed up even back in 2004), they go and blow it all like Charlie Sheen on $450 hookers. Yes, Phantom's just announced that they've found some suckers to manufacture their stuff, but they also say release is delayed until January 2007 for pre-order customers and March 2007 for wide release.

So once again, we were all fools to believe that the company who strung investors along for years with a nonexistent console could possibly make an adjustable keyboard and mousepad—something any two-bit third-world company can crap out in a month and a half. – Jason Chen

Phantom Anticipates 'Major Retail' Deployment of Lapboard [Yahoo News via Tech Dirt via Crunchgear]

Phantom Lapboard to Haunt Alienware

Charlie White — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:16:47 EDT

The Phantom Lapboard keyboard and mouse keeps coming back to haunt us, and now it's received a shot in the arm from Alienware, vowing to ship the input devices with its Media Center PCs. We've seen the Phantom before, first offered as wireless input devices for a hybrid PC console gaming system nearly 3 years ago.

But still, this might be a good keyboard/mouse combo for those smart folks who are bypassing physical media such as Blu-ray, HD DVD and DVDs, putting a PC in their home theaters and watching their movies via video files. With the Phantom's 2.4GHz RF wireless capability, that noisy PC can be 32 feet away, no Bluetooth required.

A revealing video and some mildly caustic commentary, after the jump.

Too bad there's no backlighting for the keyboard—a must in home theaters with projectors—and unless your home theater has armless chairs, a Bluetooth mouse would suffice. Anyway, it looks cool. – Charlie White

Phantom Wireless Lapboard and Laser Mouse Hands On [Slash Gear]

Phantom Lapboard Gets a Price And a Date: $129 in November

Jason Chen — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:35:20 EDT

The Phantom Lapboard, the keyboard and mouse combination left over from the doomed Phantom console, finally has a price and a ship date. It's going to be $129.95 in November, but if you order now you can get $30 off.

The whole setup is wireless with a USB receiver which needs to go into your PC, Mac, or Media Center. The keyboard tilts up to 22-degrees to give your right hand more space to mouse around (go to hell lefty freaks!), and has volume and mute controls. At $99 it's actually not too shabby for a wireless keyboard to your Media Center machine. – Jason Chen

Update: "features a keyboard that rotates 360-degrees to accommodate left or right-handed users". You win again lefties.

Product Page [Phantom via Gadgets Fosfor]

Invisible Boomerang Reconnaissance Robot

Jason Chen — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 16:45:25 EDT

The defense industry is taking a page from the Batman School of War and making products with more of a boomerang shape. In this case, the Phantom Sentinel, an unmanned aerial vehicle that's not only shaped like a boomerang, but "is in constant motion" and "has a uniquely minimal cross section allowing it to 'slice' through even the most adverse weather conditions".

Great for both seeing what the local population is up to without being detected and a relaxing day at the park. – Jason Chen

'Invisibile' Boomerang 'Bot [Defensetech]

Phantom Console Truly Disappears

Jason Chen — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:10:34 EDT

Phantom, the "makers" of the Phantom Console, have removed all references to the never-released gaming system on their official site. The only items left under their products page are for the Phantom Lapboard, which is actually pretty cool, and the Phantom Game Service.

Can we finally put the Phantom Console to rest now? No more mentions on "Vaporware Top 10 Lists"? Yes, you know which site we're referring to. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Phantom via The Inquirer]

Infinium Labs is Hiring

johnb — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:33:38 EDT

Infinium Labs, makers of the Phantom game console as well as the Ninjor Handheld Gaming Module (compatible with the GBA, PSP, Gameboy DS, MAME, and that LCD game of Dungeons and Dragons with the bat), the Sparkle Kitten PMP for Babies, and the Chitin Gaming Hard Suit, a full body controller that melds with your nervous system for maximum gaming performances—NOTE: None of these products will ever be released—is hiring!

Who are they looking for? A PhD in human-computer interaction? A bio-designer to create a next gen console with scales and feathers? Nope. They're looking for a lawyer in Seattle. Maybe they want to take Japan to court and need someone within ICBM distance.

CORPORATE ATTORNEY************* [Craigslist - The stars make it better!]