So you’re raring to go all out with a racing game on the Nintendo Wii, but have gone broke after purchasing Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii. What are you to do with your Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board? Here’s a way you can set them up to work together - just make sure you have a PC to begin with, load the right applications and turn it into a stunning steering wheel.
Tags: home theater, robots, laptops, DVD
by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 6:30PM Not to crack open a can of worms or anything, but we’re honestly curious to see what the legions of Area-51 m15x / m17x owners would change about their machines. When launched, both rigs were fawned over for their top-notch specifications, but the m15x hasn’t seen the warmest of receptions from its owners. As you well know, the 17-inch sibling just now started landing on doorsteps everywhere, and we’re genuinely hoping that it doesn’t present those same cracking issues as found on the aforesaid m15x. Beyond defects, we also want to hear what you’d change about a flawless m15x / m17x. Whittle down the weight? Change up the style? Swap out a few components? (Read the full post about ‘How would you change Alienware’s Area-51 m15x / m17x laptops?’…)
by Ryan Block, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 2:12PMLooks like that sale at Amazon’s turned into a full blown price cut — Dash has officially lowered the price on the Dash Express from $400 to $300 (not including service, of course). Of course, this can be interpreted one of two ways: they’re selling so well that economies of scale have kicked in, and everyone saves money buying the GPS — or, the fresh-faced company’s sole product isn’t doing very well in the marketplace, leading to this second price drop so far. We’re hope it’s not the latter though, we’re definitely stoked to see where else Dash can take us.Update: Dash let us know that sales are meeting expectations, and they’re capitalizing on the big uptick in new buyers during the last $300 price promotion. (Read the full post about ‘Dash Express now officially $300′…)
by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 11:54AM Technologic Systems’ TS-7800 ARM9 single-board computer already had quite a bit going for it with its promised 2-second Debian boot times, but the company’s now gone and let loose a new firmware upgrade that cuts that down to under a second — 0.69 seconds, to be exact. As you might expect, that time is helped considerably by being able to boot the OS (Debian Sarge, specifically) off of the board’s 512MB of NAND flash, and in that 0.69 seconds you will only get a linux shell prompt and access to the Busybox file system but, still, it is an OS booted in 0.69 seconds. Read PermalinkEmail this27 CommentsFiled under: DesktopsTags: electronic toys, DVD, speaker, gadget (Read the full post about ‘ARM9 board gets firmware upgrade for 0.69-second Debian boot-ups’…)
Golf nuts will definitely find the Shadow Caddy something worth considering for their next purchase. This is a remote controlled golf caddy, carrying your clubs with you as you traverse across all 18 holes. You will be able to set the Shadow Caddy in two modes - “Follow Me” and “Park”, which I think are pretty self-explanatory. The Shadow Caddy is smart enough not to collide into objects by reading the landscape around, in addition to help from its integrated anti-collision detectors. Of course, this technology is not perfect, so should the Shadow Caddy bump into an object, it will stop in its tracks immediately. Tags: tech, Hi-fi, robots, gaming (Read the full post about ‘Shadow Caddy’…)
Chances are the iPod (and now possibly iPhone) would be pretty popular devices to bring along with you while you engage in a form of vigorous exercise (swimming doesn’t count unless you’re rocking to a waterproof case and earphones), but that can result in the earbuds falling out. A minor irritant, but still irritating nonetheless. The BudFits from Innovelis solves this problem as described. Constructed of soft, flexible rubber, BudFits snap onto Apple earbuds and then wrap over the top of the ear. In doing so, they ensure iPod and iphone earbuds will not fall out and also maximize user comfort by eliminating the need to wedge earbuds into the ear canal to keep the earbuds in place. (Read the full post about ‘Innovelis releases BudFits’…)
Canadians can now rejoice, well maybe that is a little bit much, but they can now get business listing information by calling 1-800-GOOG-411. The free information service has been available in the US for some time now, and while it is still listed as experimental for those in Canada it does still offer the same features, which include the ability to find and be connected with a local business. When GOOG-411 is called from Canada users will be promoted for their “city and province.” As of this posting the GOOG-411 service is still just in English, so any French speaking Canadians may have to wait a little longer, however Google has been “working hard to make it disponible en Français dans un proche avenir.” Google has also “incorporated some Canadianisms such as “eh,” “Traw-na,” “Cal-gry,” and, of course, “aboot.” into the service, which should hopefully take any such accents into consideration. (Read the full post about ‘GOOG-411 goes to Canada’…)
The unnamed mini-desktop from Dell has been given a name - the Studio Hybrid. Engadget has an exclusive leaked image, and we can tell that it comes with a color wrap-around Plexiglas shell. Other than that, since there is no way to check out the innards, it is still unconfirmed whether the Studio Hybrid is powered by an Intel Atom or Core 2 chipset. What we do know is, this system will feature video support for HDMI video out as well as 4GB RAM and Wi-Fi connectivity. There is no concrete pricing details out yet, but some numbers bandied around range from $500 to $700 as it is released before the year is over.
Tags: home theater, consumer electronics, laptops, gprs
Samsung Instinct To call the Samsung Instinct an iPhone knockoff would be an understatement of grotesque proportions. Seriously: Even the packaging looks like it came straight outta Cupertino. With its buttonless face and black monolithic look, the all-touchscreen Instinct is immediately familiar: It’s virtually the same weight and size as the iPhone, only about two-tenths of an inch narrower. Most of the expected specs for any 2008 handset are here: 3G, GPS, 2-megapixel camera (with video recording), and full email and web browsing features. But the Instinct doesn’t stop there; it tries to stake a claim on new ground by adding features its arch rival (even the upcoming version) skips: Haptic feedback buzzes below your fingertip when you work the touchscreen, and voice control lets you do certain tasks sans typing. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Samsung Instinct Gives the iPhone a Real Run For its Money’…)
Size still matters when it comes to buying a flat-screen TV during a recession. And instead of using economic stimulus checks to buy new HDTV’s, consumers are spending that money to pay off the energy bills generated by their current home entertainment systems. Those are just two of the findings released during the recent DisplaySearch TV Supply Chain Conference in San Diego. (DisplaySearch is the part of the NPD family of retail and consumer research groups that focuses on the flat panel display industry.) The big headline, however, is that those displays continue to sell even though most of those surveyed at the conference agree that we’re in a recession. (Read the full post about ‘LCD, plasma TV sales still hot as economy cools off’…)
