Filed under: Gaming

Wall mounted video games are totally de rigeur these days, so it's a shame that the only way to get your hands on anything other than Pong, is to get your hands dirty and put it together yourself. In the case of the Picture Frame Tetris, it took nine guys several hours of work to put together 240 LED buttons into one huge array. So, what're all the buttons for? Well, if you press a button to the left or right of the currently falling brick, then it'll move in that direction. Similarly, you touch the top row of buttons to rotate the brick, and the bottom row to drop it instantaneously. (To us and our Gameboy damaged hands, it sounds like a lot of work to play as well as build.) If you want to get your hands digits on the Picture Frame Tetris, you'll have to check it out at the Maker Faire at San Mateo Fairgrounds in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alternatively, you could plunk down $1500 for a 16x16 board of interactive LED buttons, which would give you more than enough LEDs for a Tetris, but without the extras needed to play Tetris on your wall. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to enjoy the construction as much as the game in order to motivate yourself to make one.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The I Got Clocked clocks may be too late for Mother’s Day 2007, but there will be a Mother’s Day 2008 (in about a year). Taking the novelty clock to the next level, IGC offers photo-customized clocks that use the subjects’ arms as minute and hour…hands. Yes, your son, daughter, wife, mother or even pet could become your permanent time slave/companion for prices starting at $50.

Not only are their models guaranteed to run completely silently—they warranted for ten years. So long after your son hits puberty, daughter is knocked up, wife leaves you, mom becomes roommate again and pet develops rabies from daughter, you will have your precious clocks to remind you of all the good times. – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via coolest gadgets]

Filed under: Cellphones

Your latest "anything iPhone related happens" post is here, this time with the news that AT&T has given away an iPhone to a member of the public, coupled with a recent statement that Apple is wrestling with the decision of whether to allow 3rd parties to develop iPhone apps. It's rather odd that the first iPhone to make it into the hands of a mere mortal didn't cost its new owner a single cent, but in a video taken at the commencement ceremony at West Texas A&M University, the CEO of AT&T Stan Sigman gave away an iPhone to one Dr. O'Brien. (At least, that's what the very crackly movie of the speech shot on a Treo appears to indicate.) The statement about the 3rd party iPhone software comes from a similarly authoritative voice -- Steve Jobs -- and through a clearer medium -- a phone-in of a recent Apple shareholders meeting. Jobs said that the company "is wrestling with" the decision to allow external developers to create their own software for the iPhone. Our wish is for Apple to open up the iPhone, or at least compromise and allow developers to create their own widgets. In the phone industry, standing still (which is effectively what Apple would be doing with a closed iPhone) is not an option: or, maybe it is. Hmm, we seem to have missed the smackdown.

Read -- AT&T's Stan Sigman gifts iPhone
Read -- 3rd party iPhone apps?

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Don't look now, but the FCC approved the Palm Treo 755p smartphone on Friday. Calling it a smarter phone that delivers email, the web and rich media capabilities at broadband-like speeds, the Treo 755p features built-in viewers for Word,...

We were impressed by the radio controlled Steam Turbine Tank even before we learned that turbines were far more difficult to work with than steam piston engines. But knowing that the project was a real pain in the butt for the inventor only makes our 5-minute infatuation all the more sweet.

Powered by a Jensen miniature steam engine (you've seen them in before your yuppie catalogue of choice), the Steam Turbine Tank can run for 15 minutes at very low speeds but with surprisingly high levels of log-climbing torque. There's a video after the jump that will make your ears bleed because of this engine. But without at least partial deafness, you really aren't getting the full experience.

– Mark Wilson

Project Page [via Make]

Here's an entrant from the Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge. He's a dentist with an Idea: a machine that cleans your teeth called the ClearSmile. It works by pumping cleansing solution around your teeth for those times when mouthwash just won't do. Even with as awkwardly as this gadget looks to operate, we have to respect that he's developing the (detergent?) tablets with an accredited university.

Notice his Freudian slip of "Scrubbing Bubbles"—so young, so much potential, so sued before never turning a profit. – Mark Wilson with video by Richard Blakeley

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables

Racing RC cars was definitely one of our favorite things to do when we were mere gadget-obsessed tykes (at least until we turned 16), and soon disabled kids will be able to join in on the fun, thanks to English outfit Dream Technology. The two-person pit crew's Dream-Racer uses a baseball cap with four integrated motion sensors that controls a modified Nikko RC car. Instead of the conventional pistol-trigger controller, you simply tilt your head in the appropriate direction to operate the vehicle. The company developed the tech in response to a request from a charity group that later found the £159 ($315) toy helped disabled children improve their cognitive skills and play independently (gee, ya think?). That's terrific, but we don't see any reason to limit sales to just disabled kids when this thing is ready to ship later this summer -- what kid wouldn't want to pretend they have a mind-link with their car?

[Via MedLaunches]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Say hello to the latest P-series smartphone from Sony Ericsson. The new Sony Ericsson P1 is claimed to be the most feature-rich phone yet, and at 25% the size of a P990, it's easy in the pocket too. The...

There’s a highly dugg story floating around the Internet about a 1000GB, or 1TB, Hitachi Blu-ray burner that was just announced in Australia. While there is no reason to question the Smarthouse News article’s validity, it was a little light on the clarity.

A 1000GB Blu-ray disc is a technical impossibility because the strict standards of format production will always limit the laser and 25GB/layer storage. A double-sided 8-layer could presumable get you somewhere around 400GB, but it’s still short.

So what is this $2000 mystery 1TB Blu-ray burner? It’s the new 1TB Hitachi hard drive with a burner attached—all in happy home theater form. That’s our bet, at least. And this new announcement still could be pretty cool. – Mark Wilson

1000GB Blu-ray Burner Announced By Hitachi [via digg]

Filed under: Gaming

There’s no question that the PS3 version of the Folding@home project has been an unbridled technological success, not to mention a public relations boost for Sony. Folding@home on the PS3 has more than doubled the overall computational power of the distributed supercomputer in terms of raw Teraflops, and given PS3 owners the chance to increase the warmth and fuzziness factor that comes from aiding medical research. Peter Moore of Microsoft has gone on record by saying that the Xbox 360 could also join the project, although he made sure to include a jibe at Microsoft’s primary competitor by mentioning the 360’s much larger install base, and quoting Xbox 360 processor’s “equal power to the PS3.” He even went so far as to cast doubt regarding the value of the 250,000 currently registered PS3’s on the program, saying that “we’ll continue to look at this and see whether there’s real value.” We’re forced to ask: how is this kind of attitude in aid of the project? By reducing something as noble as the Folding@home project to a PR battle, Moore’s indication sounds bitter and petty. He might as well have said, “ok, we’ll fight disease, but only ’cause the Xbox 360 is better than the PS3.” The irony is, it probably isn’t.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Handsets, ATT-Cingular, Apple

Your latest “anything iPhone related happens” post is here, this time with the news that AT&T has given away an iPhone to a member of the public, coupled with a recent statement that Apple is wrestling with the decision of whether to allow 3rd parties to develop iPhone apps. It’s rather odd that the first iPhone to make it into the hands of a mere mortal didn’t cost its new owner a single cent, but in a video taken at the commencement ceremony at West Texas A&M University, the CEO of AT&T Stan Sigman gave away an iPhone to one Dr. O’Brien. (At least, that’s what the very crackly movie of the speech shot on a Treo appears to indicate.) The statement about the 3rd party iPhone software comes from a similarly authoritative voice — Steve Jobs — and through a clearer medium — a phone-in of a recent Apple shareholders meeting. Jobs said that the company “is wrestling with” the decision to allow external developers to create their own software for the iPhone. Our wish is for Apple to open up the iPhone, or at least compromise and allow developers to create their own widgets. In the phone industry, standing still (which is effectively what Apple would be doing with a closed iPhone) is not an option: or, maybe it is. Hmm, we seem to have missed the smackdown.

Read — AT&T’s Stan Sigman gifts iPhone
Read — 3rd party iPhone apps?

 

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Filed under: Laptops

While Acer did make a quick stop to confirm that this Gemstone brouhaha was indeed becoming a reality, the firm has apparently gotten around to fleshing out the rest of its healthy Santa Rosa lineup. On the consumer side of things, the the Aspire 5720 touts a 15.4-inch CrystalBrite display, integrated CrystalEye webcam, Dolby Digital Live audio, and a choice of ATI graphics cards. The 7720 steps it up by packing more powerful Core 2 Duo processors, a 17-inch widescreen display, an ATI graphics card with up to 512MB of RAM, webcam, and an optional DVB-T tuner, while the 9920 takes things to the extreme with a 20-inch screen, NVIDIA's DX10-capable GeForce 8600M-GT, and an HD DVD drive to boot. Meanwhile, the TravelMates are also seeing updates, as the 6592 packs a Core 2 Duo CPU, 802.11a/b/g/n, dual-layer DVD burner or HD DVD drive, ATI's Mobility Radeon X2300-HD graphics, and a 15- or 15.4-inch display. The 6492 loses an inch of screen space, steps down to integrated X3100 graphics, but sports up to 8.5-hours of battery life with a secondary cell installed in the media bay, and the 6292 wraps things up with a 12.1-inch display, WiFi, ezDock II compatibility, and a lightweight design. No word just yet on pricing or availability, but at least you've got a smattering of choices on the Acer horizon to decide upon.

Read - Acer TravelMate lineup
Read - Acer Aspire lineup

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Robots

Although we can't deny that having a household humanoid that chases away intruders would be a welcome member to most families, a team of individuals more focused on actual "complex relationships" have developed a series of bots that can learn and express emotions via lights. GlowBots are wee wheeled creatures that "develop attractive patterns that are affected both by user interaction and communication between the robots," meaning that the days of expensive animal training in order to have a pet around are nearly through. The technology within is based on an open experimental robot platform, dubbed e-Puck, and the actual robots utilize "eight IR proximity sensors, a camera, a trio of microphones, three-axis accelerometer, a speaker, two stepper motors, Bluetooth interface, a number of LEDs, a PIC micro controller, and a 12-step-mode selector" to confess their love. The creators will apparently be showing off their heartwarming invention at this year's SIGGRAPH conference, but until these suckas come sheathed in some sort of faux fur and fully equipped with bad breath, we're afraid Fido will retain control of the dog house for now.

[Via PastaAndVinegar]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio

While we recently saw just how important listening to your DAP could eventually become when trying to shuffle through menus and playlists, a team of researchers at Swansea and Glasgow Universities are hoping to throw GPS into the mix while we're at it. Essentially, DAP / PMP owners would be able to program a destination into their handheld, and if headed in the right direction, music would be delivered in a perfect stereo split. Heading off course, however, would shift the volume to one ear or the other, providing auditory cues of which way to turn in order to get back on track. Moreover, customized POI preferences could be programmed in so that users could be given an "aural nudge" when passing by something that the device knew would pique his / her interest. Hey, we're down with anything that allows us to focus more on our surroundings and less on that pesky display, but this stuff should probably come with some sort of disclaimer before being loosed on the GPS-obeying UK crowd (we kid, we kid -- sort of).

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Keeping its promise to have the EZ201 Small Wonder on store shelves this Spring, RCA has just announced that its flash-based camcorder is available now at Circuit City locations. As expected, this 5.25-ounce video recorder sports a ho hum enclosure, no optical zoom, 512MB of internal memory, a 1.5-inch LCD, MemoryManager software, and a SD expansion slot as well. The device is also compatible with Box.net's online storage / sharing service, touts an EZ Grab feature that allows users to easily snag still shots from live action footage, and can function for two solid hours on a pair of AA cells. Best of all, however, is the price that CC is currently charging for this budget-minded device, as the $119.99 asking price is a full $10 less than we had previously seen, and you'll even get a 1GB SD card thrown in gratis.

[Via Physorg]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

It's fairly obvious that using the Wii to keep yourself slim and trim is bound to put a smile on your SO's face, but a curious banner at a presumed church used Nintendo's console (and its token font, too) to hint at answers to a successful marriage. Of course, a couple interested in spending countless hours of quality time gaming away with each other are indeed more likely to find common ground, but for the uber-competitive type, gaming together could lead to more quibbles than friendly laughs. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be surprising that a religious institution would tap into mainstream culture in order to garner attention to its offerings, and hey, if you've got to go to counseling for only taking "Mii" into consideration, you may as well get your game on while you're at it.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

What with the OLPC project and Intel planning to make cheap computing for the masses, we've got to wonder what the world was playing at up until now. As the horribly termed "emerging markets" start to emerge, Red Hat is getting into the low cost computing game with the "Red Hat Global Desktop," a low requirement operating system and software package which was announced at the Red Hat Summit in San Diego. The system will include a range of productivity applications, management systems that work on a scale of 10 to 10,000, plus what the Red Hat guys call a "modern user experience": fingers crossed that means no command lines. The Global Desktop is part of Red Hat's involvement with the One Laptop Per Child project, but it'll also be supported on Intel's range of lower specification and cost computer line; if your wish is to replace Microsoft's little OS.

[Via The Inquirer]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets

One of the oldest and most successful tricks in the book could be finally meeting its match, as the infamous "bag drop" seen in countless silver screen suspense flicks is now the focal point of the European Union's latest investment in intelligent cameras. The EU has partnered with ten other companies and research institutes to fund the $3.11 million ISCAPS (Integrated Surveillance of Crowded Areas for Public Security) project, which does a fair job in and of itself explaining the duties. While the Brits are wading through gobs of surveillance issues in their own land, this attempt to utilize smart camera systems to pick up "abandoned bags, erratic movements, loitering, or suspicious vehicle movements" could cause quite a bit of fuss right next door. The crew has purportedly done extensive interviewing with security experts to program in what could be classified as dodgy behavior in a bustling locale, but the ultimate decision to approach someone of their motives would still be left up to a human (at least for the time being). Looks like your plans to pull off a Thomas Crown Affair of your own just got spoiled, eh?

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Robots

While a number of recent space-based experiments have proven quite successful, it must not have been Ted nor Gadget's day. The daring duo that made up the MAST project was supposed to "test the survivability of a thin, braided tether in space," but due to a glitch in the restraint system that "kept Ted from pushing away hard enough to keep unreeling the tether from its spool," the once hopeful mission has come to an ill-fated close. Rather than reaching a full kilometer, the tether was only able to reach a few meters before coming to a stop, but the team at Tethers Unlimited aren't calling it quits just yet. They did admit to not knowing precisely what caused the costly mishap, but the crew also suggested that they'll try to use the small amount of data they did gather to analyze "how a short tether behaves in microgravity." Don't worry fellas, there's always next time.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

You have just a few more hours to score your very own Adult Swim Zune on eBay. Sure, it's basically a normal Zune with a logo and preloaded content, but there are only 500 in the world. 500!!!

Ironically, this limited edition Zune is currently fetching less than a new, regular $249 version. But there are still a few hours less at the time of this publication, so who knows? It could go for millions.

Adult Swim Zune [eBay]

Filed under: Gaming

Playing a portable console on a static PC may seem little backward, but the PSP homebrew community seems to have no qualms about creating two separate ways of getting their PSP games to play on their ‘puter. The first is a little more conventional in that it’s apparently the first working PSP emulator for the PC. So far the only proof is some screenshots of various commercial and non-commercial 2D PSP games, so if you want to be a doubting Thomas it’s your prerogative. The second option for PSP on PC action uses a piece of homebrew software called RemoteJoy and a simple USB cable, which apparently lets you see and remotely control your PSP through your computer. The evidence here is a lot more convincing, with a shaky YouTube video after the break showing keyboard control, completely synced screens, and daunting command lines. These latest examples just make us wonder what the PSP could be capable of if Sony stopped holding back, or — dare we say it? — started supporting its homebrew community. Then again, we can’t deny relishing the subversive element of the whole scene.

[Thanks, killfelix]

Read — First PSP emulator?
Read — PSP in a PC window video
Read — PSP in a PC window instructions

Continue reading PSP emulation and remote control on your PC

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The Keyless Locking Mailbox turns the tables on mail thieves. Instead of just opening your box to steal your precious Ed Mcmahon offers, mail terrorists will be thwarted by the necessity of entering a complicated PIN. (Meanwhile, the mailperson safely drops your mail down an impenetrable chute.) For $299, you’d better have a worthy identity to protect. Then again, there is nothing worse than checking my mailbox to find that, once again, someone has stolen my:

1. Copy of Readers Digest
2. Victoria’s Secret Catalog
3. Submarine that I ordered 3 months ago off the Trix box

Can I get an “amen”? – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via gearfuse]

Filed under: Cellphones

When he isn't designing clothing lines, contemplating how awesome it is that he's dating Jessica Simpson, and picking up Grammys -- oh, and writing / playing his own music -- John Mayer apparently moonlights as a gadget blogger. His latest entry on his blog has a very short hands-on with the new BlackBerry Curve, which consists of a photo of the front and back of the device, and a single photograph taken on the phone's 2 megapixel cam. (He even manages to throw in a pun and a lyrics reference into the 30 odd word description!) The only other tidbit that we can skim from the blog entry is the fact that advance units are out in the wild, and that our own Paul Miller (who is widely credited as the first to combine the arts of gadget blogging and writing songs) has some serious competition on his hands.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

I was interested in the Halo 3 preview event at Foreign Cinema this weekend. But when Noah went to the NY event hours earlier and came back with Halo 3 edition Zune photos, it increased my interest by a great amount. No biggie. Zune.

But when I got there, the new grey with blue doubleshot colorscheme was too nice to pass up, and that screen, well, I always had a thing for the Zune's big screen. So I felt I had to shoot something. Without proper videocam, what you have here is a test of the Sony Ericsson w880i's capabilities in relatively low light, and noisy conditions. It ain't no Cybershot. What you have here is the World's Shittiest Halo 3 Edition Zune. BTW, it was preloaded with photos of Master Chief.

There's still no word on whether these are a limited private run like the 1/500 Cartoon Network Zune, or a real run that citizens and Halo fanboys can buy. – Brian Lam

If we showed you every cool car we came across on RSS, our name would be Jalopnik. But the KTM X-Bow looks like a ride worthy of the new Transformers movie, if only the Autobots were smart enough to become cooler cars than Fords.

Borrowing the 220hp engine from Audi, the lightweight X-Bow launches 0-60mph in 3.9sec. Then, it only takes about 100ft for the X-Bow to brake to a halt. For a price just shy of $100,000, we’re comforted knowing that by the time we can never afford it, there will be a car that’s even more impressive.

– Mark Wilson

Product Page [via autocaruk]
Thanks Speed R!