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Sure, it may not look like much from this picture, but just drop a CD onto this magical Tasting Table—sorry, it’s Japanese and they like their non-sequiturs—and it will bring up the track list. Then you can move the glowing track list over the table and you and your friends can “taste” the music. For…
Now this is what I’m talking about. NHJ has created a really fugly 5GB player with Bluetooth headphones standard. Sure, the headphones look like a prosthetic device and the unit itself looks like a 1980s pager. At least they’re trying. Why, I ask you, don’t more manufacturers add Bluetooth? It doesn’t cost much more, it…
You all know about our affinity for IBM clicky keyboards. Well, there’s one man who has an even bigger affinity—nay, obsession—with these noisy beasts. Well, here’s a buyer’s guide to purchasing sebum-encrusted, used IBM keyboards as well as a field guide to the different types (Type M13 with the little nubbin, Type M5-1 with a…
Samsung Korea is introducing some nice functionality into their Yepp line of audio players in the future: integrated WiFi. For some strange reason, however, the press shot you see there says “Video.” So, it may also stream video, which would be quite pimp. In fact, according to the article, users can “even create personal broadcasts…
In what is one of the coolest things to come out of Singapore since caning, researchers at the Singapore National University are developing a “real life” version of Pac-Man incorporating GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and augmented reality. 3D graphics are superimposed on real-life sidewalks and such so that you actually feel like you’re playing Pac-Man. There…
The Canadians sure get a kick out of torturing car thieves. They’ve posted some excellent videos of jackers caught in the act. They swear, smoke cigarettes, and then ask dogs not to chew them. Many of them quickly find and lose religion and all of them are quickly overpowered by cops who put knee to…
Gawker Ninja Nick Denton sent us a heads-up from PC Connection about a $1,399 LG-sourced OEM plasma that supports not-HD 1024 x 768 resolution but apparently down-samples HD content. Looks like the maker 3G Technology, is trying to dump a load of good quality, if slightly outdated, plasmas. Intern Liam gives us his take over…
Playing old school games like Ms. Pac-man or Space Invaders is harder than it sounds with a 45 button joystick, I have been writing code all day trying to get the throttle, foot controls, eject button, and even the toaster oven to work with my emulator. Luckily Speedlink has released a simple joystick for those…
While it would be cooler if this company called themselves RawkDirekt and didn’t use a generic OEM laptop casing, the Xtreme 64’s mobo is pretty hot—dual-core AMD 64 X2 or FX55 support with a Mobility Radeon X800XT GPU. It’s actually interesting to watch how laptops get all the goodies like dual-core before a lot of…
Olympus, typically associated with digital cameras and terrible Super Bowl advertisements, seems to be branching out. They have unveiled a prototype of a head mount display which is reportedly “designed to be worn at all times.” Besides socks, I know of nothing that can comfortably be worn at all times — but this unit supposedly…
American minicomponent systems are so boring. Sure, they may have more computer-oriented stuff like USB speaker support and MP3 playback, but do they even compare to bizarre Japanese features such as “Alpha Sound” that uses post-processing to make audio more relaxing? How about LCDs with 5 backlights that are all different colors? Well, JVC’s new…
CVS is now carrying the Pure Digital 20 minute video camera which includes a 1.4-inch LCD and weighs about 5 ounces. The business model is pretty simple—rent one for $30, shoot the bris, and come back with the camera. CVS’ photo lab technicians, who, thanks to digital photography, have been sipping Nyquil and reading the…
Several sources are reporting that iTunes Japan is set to launch in August. Most of them can be traced back to an article in today’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, stating that the participants include Columbia Music Entertainment, Avex Group Holdings, Toshiba EMI, and other major Japanese record companies. To no one’s surprise, Sony Music Entertainment has…
There’s a new Zaurus in the house, the “SL-C3100.” Certainly not a gigantic update to the still-not-in-the-USA SL-C3000; they seem to have added some Flash ROM (not that you’d really need it with an integrated 4GB hard drive) and some stuff for people learning English. With Sony’s Clie line in the grave, however, the Zaurus…
If you have had trouble getting your cat to drop his or her friends off at the pool rather than the sand box, CityKitty may be the solution for you. Consisting of a series of rings that are removed from a mock toilet seat as your cat grows used to the idea, the CityKitty provides…
So Vodafone gets a specially designed 3G UMTS cellie with 1.3 megapixel camera, 1.8-inch LCD, and a hot, slim form factor that looks more like a digicam than a phone. What do we get here? A creepy clamshell from Motoronokiasung? A candy bar that plays MIDI ringtones? Can’t we go protest somewhere? The V600i is…
WWDC 2005 is now in full swing, and though we’re getting the big stuff, MacRumors has a nice roundup of things you’d probably never hear about unless you attended the keynote. Of interest is how Jobs called podcasting “the hottest thing going in radio,” and showed off some podcast-related features in iTunes 4.9. Not only…
Our buddy Hearsay Man pointed out this interesting partnership. Here’s the gist: XM will offer XM/Audible branded players/receivers, Audible will offer XM content on their site, and XM will carry an Audible audiobooks channel. I do enjoy a tasty bit of spoken word and audiobook content, so this partnership makes me shed a tear of…
We were all wigging out over booth babes and Intel/Apple matings and didn’t pay much attention to the little stuff last week. Artimi has created a UWB PCI board. Not many specs, but it’s nice to see someone moving on this. The Inquirer informs us: Artimi’s thing is made in 0.18 micron SiGE BiCMOS. It…
Flash drives are pretty boring, but we’ll throw Memina a bone today. Memina, a Samsung offshoot, has created the 2GB Pocket Rocket, an 18 MBps flash drive that is 2x faster than most optical drives. The Pocket Rcoket has a “no-lose” swivel cap—whoa!— and uses Samsung SLC silicon. A 4GB at 30MBps version is also…