Gadgets Blog News

You guys might not know this about me, but I’m a huge Rock Band fanatic. I’ve met a lot of the gang at Harmonix and even rocked out in their Star Chamber. Trust me when I say you won’t find a place that’s more fun to hang out than there. Needless to say, my friends and I spend a lot of time rocking out. I’ve bought a mic stand, a drum throne and my own pair of drumsticks, but that’s really the extent of my extra hardware purchases for the game. Since you can’t currently buy standalone instruments, there aren’t a lot of extras to buy (aside from more songs). That’s going to change in the future, as GameStop has let slip a new kit that will add some effects to your show. (Read the full post about ‘Fog machine and light show coming to Rock Band later this year’…)

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If you have money to burn, you might be interested in purchasing this project, which is sure to excite and whelm all who behold it size and/or shadow (as Mel Brooks used to say). The larger-than-life Gundam robot is expected to stand 60 feet tall and the unbelievable price tag doesn’t even include the cost of labor or the necessary infrastructure! You can forget about flying this technological wonder or even taking it for a ride. The most you can hope for is a simple promenade with your new 43-ton robot.  And even that could present problems, as a simple walk is sure to result in the destruction of the ground surface beneath its enormous and very heavy feet. (Look on the bright side. (Read the full post about ‘The Gundam Giant Robot: Yours For A Mere $725 Million’…)

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Posted Jan 13th 2008 4:38PM by Chris ZieglerFiled under: Cellphones, Portable Video A fancy mirror contraption not quite what you had in mind for video conferencing on your iPhone? Fret not, friends; Ecamm Network is back at it, this time devising a way to stream video from the camera — at 30fps, no less — to the Mac of your choice over WiFi. Even better, the clever cats hooked it up with Bonjour, so the Mac just sorta sees it as a camera without any configuration needed. The possibilities are pretty endless (or limited, depending on your point of view), but we suppose it’s nice for iPhone owners to instantly have a free, remote cam for iChatting, if nothing else. (Read the full post about ‘iPhoneCam streams video from your iPhone over WiFi’…)

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Posted Jan 13th 2008 5:41PM by Ryan Block Yep, we know there are a ton of you who want us to liveblog our keynotes in reverse chronological order (i.e. latest updates at the top, earliest updates at the bottom), and not how we normally do it, where you read from top to bottom like everything else. So we’re putting it to the vote — do you want our updates in order, top to bottom, as usual? Or would you prefer them close to the top of the keynote page? (We’ll probably go back later and reorder everything for the latecomers, if so.) Let us know, we aim to please.Oh, and don’t forget, Steve’s Macworld 2008 keynote goes down here. (Read the full post about ‘Poll: How do you want us to write the Jobsnote? Top to bottom, or vice versa?’…)

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When we sleep in our nice comfy beds we are often sharing them with around 2 million tiny friends, the dust mite. Not only do we share our bed with these ugly pests but they also use it as their own personal toilet, nice! Ewbank have introduced a solution to this bacterial infestation, the Raycop Vacuum Thing. The Raycop functions like a conventional hand held vacuum cleaner, however it has a couple of extra tricks up it’s sleeve. Firstly it vibrates which helps knock the pesky mites (and droppings) from your mattress, these are then sucked in the vacuum. Whilst this is going on your bed is being cleansed with a UV-C sterilising lamp which is said to kill 99.9% of bacteria. (Read the full post about ‘Exterminate Dust Mites with Raycop’…)

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Posted Jan 13th 2008 1:18PM by Evan BlassFiled under: Laptops Proving once again that he’s still got love for the home team, Nick Negroponte has announced the impending launch of OLPC America, a division of the organization with its own director and chairman that will bring low-cost laptops to US students. According to an IDG interview with Negroponte, distributing the XO stateside has always been in the plans, arguing that “to have the United States be the only country that’s not in the OLPC agenda would be kind of ridiculous.” Besides helping out kids at home, NickNeg anticipates that a domestic deployment will accelerate the project to critical mass in terms of adoption, software, and developer support. (Read the full post about ‘OLPC America will bring XO to the US’…)

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It would seem that the search for thrills, cheap and otherwise, knows no bounds.  The world of extreme sports, also known as adventure sports or lifestyle sports, is growing at an incredible rate of speed. In this sports arena, Europe has exceeded America, as 2011 becomes the promised time when London will partake in the world’s first artificial outdoor surfing experience (in between tea, crumpets and various other proper English activities). Venture Xtreme is more than just a multi-sport, shopping and leisure complex on an unprecedented scale; it provides a lifestyle that has the unique ability to combine sports participation with spectator attraction.  It is reported that this artificial surfing machine will feature 6-foot swells, which will, upon command, break gloriously upon the Thames in a magical place called Silvertown Quay. (Read the full post about ‘Venture Xtreme: The First Outdoor Artificial Surfing Machine’…)

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Posted Jan 13th 2008 11:53AM by Darren MurphFiled under: HouseholdIt’s not like we haven’t heard of a higher power invading one’s home before, but apparently, a proposal set to be considered at month’s end could allow the state of California to “require that residents install remotely monitored temperature controls in their homes next year.” The Programmable Communication Thermostat (PCT) would feature a “non-removable” FM receiver which could be controlled by Big Brother in “times of emergency” to drop load in order for “utilities to meet their supplies [when] the integrity of the grid is being jeopardized.” Of course, we are hearing that adjustments would only be made ±4 degrees, but we aren’t so keen on one thing leading to another, if you catch our drift.[Via Digg, image courtesy of Drexel, thanks yoshi]Tags: consumer electronics, mobiles, laptops, lcd, home cinema, wireless, hdtv, gadgetry, toys, gps (Read the full post about ‘Home thermostats: Big Brother’s next target?’…)

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I’ve been a Mac user for a very long time. Well, I guess I can’t say that I am anymore, as I haven’t bought a new one in several years, and most of my work is done on a PC. I’m still a loyal Apple fan at heart, so I tend to follow the news waiting for that one announcement that’s going to make me finally take the plunge and buy a new one. While I’m not sure that this is the one, I’m very excited about the possibilities that the upcoming Macworld Expo have to offer. The biggest one is the Air. There are a lot of rumors going around, but we do know that the banners hanging up for the show say “There is something in the air.”To me this cries out WiMAX, but others seem to think that it could be a new MacBook, named the Air. (Read the full post about ‘Macworld – There’s something in the air’…)

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Posted Jan 13th 2008 2:20PM by Evan BlassFiled under: Gaming, Peripherals As if playing Rock Band wasn’t one of the greatest group gaming experiences to come around in years, it appears that a new accessory is set to amp up the fun even more by bringing an “interactive light and smoke stage show” to your already thrashing performances. Apparently you can already pre-order this so-called Rock Band Stage Kit from GameStop for 100 bucks, although they’ve since pulled the box image from the product page, so you’ll have to rely on the screencap above to see what you’re paying all that money for. (Read the full post about ‘Rock Band Stage Kit with lights, smoke leaked by GameStop’…)

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