Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360

How many of you are stoaked about the Grand Theft Auto IV release next month. While I’m sure that there are plenty of you that just don’t get into the GTA games, this is easily one of the most-anticipated titles of the year. In celebration, Microsoft has cooked up a special limited edition Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360.

On the inside these systems are Xbox 360 Elites, however, for once it isn’t what’s on the inside that counts. If you manage to get your hands on one of these awesome consoles you’ll be treated to custom GTA box art on the sides, along with a cool looking faceplate. It also comes with a slew of accessories such as a wireless controller with keyboard, headset, remote and more. My favorite part is that all of the accessories are housed in a cool briefcase.


So how do you get your hands one one of these sweet 360’s? We’re not exactly sure. It’s a limited run of 500, so you can bet it won’t be easy to acquire one. We’ll let you know if we get more info on it. [complex]

Cybernet ZPC computer

These things aren’t exactly new hack, but last time I read about them they had mediocre hardware inside. Now they are pushing quad-core processors, X3100 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and slim-line optical drives.

They can even be expanded via the Mini PCI and PCI-e slots. There is a card reader on the front of the keyboard, a touch-pad built in, and obviously there is a keyboard. There are, of course, lower end configurations with less RAM, a Core 2 Duo instead of a Core 2 Quad.

Those lower end combos start at $629 and give you everything except for Speakers and a Monitor. The cheapest Core 2 Quad system is $924, not counting warranty or software options, the hardware only maxes out at $1666 and that’s with no OS. [gizmonews]

Onda VX767 4.3-inch PMP

his player has a 4.3-inch, 16:9, 480×272 resolution screen on it. It has a 400MHz processor, and some pretty amazing other features.

File support is pretty broad with the following formats supported: RM, RVB, FLV, AVI, MOV, ASF, MP4, WMV, 3GP, MPG, MP3, WMA, APE, and FLAC. There is a TV out port and you can stuff up to a 32GB microSD card inside the little bugger.

There will be games, LRC lyrics support, picture browsing, text reader, voice recording, FM Radio, and a battery life of 40 hours for music or 10 hours for video. On thing this player has going for it that the Touch does not is Flash support. Overall its not a bad device, other than the fact that you have to buy your own storage space for the device, sadly there is no word on price or availability, but I wouldn’t expect it to hit stateside any time soon. [imp3]

Flash for ipod Touch

Well, they may not have quite said it like that, but, they did say that they’ve taken a look at the iPhone SDK and they believe that they can use just the SDK to get Flash on the iPhone. Sure they’d much rather work directly with Apple on this matter and make sure Flash gets fully integrated, but they’ve more or less said that one way or the other, Flash will be built for the iPhone.

Now, since Steve and his fiends control the pearly gates of entrance into the iPhone Developer Program, and the distribution of Apps, if Apple is dead set on Flash not reaching the iPhone, then it may still not make it to the iPhone. Just because Adobe comes up with a version of Flash for the iPhone doesn’t mean it will be added to the iPhone App Store.

I hope that Apple at the very least allows them to peddle their wares in the App Store, optimally Apple will cave and finally start working with Adobe, and it will be a great partnership, but maybe not. However with all the other apps that will be coming out for the iPhone one might wonder if anyone will care about Flash support for the iPhone. I think part of the thing with Apple not wanting Flash on the iPhone is the sheer amount of data that is transferred by Flash applications, I mean on WiFi networks that’s fine, but over EDGE it would either be too slow to be enjoyable or would majorly irk ATT.[apple-touch] [macrumors]

Helio+Opera

Thanks to the community surrounding Helio and their Ocean smartphone the push for the Opera Mini browser has made it official. This is great news for lots of people, Ocean owners, Helio, and Opera.

Why is this good news for Opera? Well it’s the first mobile device to officially support the Opera browser, and it’s a hell of a device to test it out on. You get the usual bookmark synchronization, Speed Dial for frequented sites, and a Personal Bar, as well as support for Java.

Now, it is currently only available for the Ocean, however, word from our friends at Helio is that this is just the start of a long relationship so future devices, and likely more of their current devices, are more and more likely to be receiving Opera Mini updates soon. Our friends at Helio weren’t kind enough to hook us up with any details of a possible new handset any time soon or anything like that, but I’m patient, so I can wait for now. [phonemag]

UCCTOP XENO

You don’t need a van to transport this video editing software, just a large laptop case. That’s what it is, is a laptop on a whole lot of video editing crack.

We don’t have a lot of specs, but it has 4 channels of video input, 6 channels of audio input, 6-channel audio mixing and selected video switching. There is real-time insertion of subtitles and/or company logo during a live broadcast and you can convert video files to WMV for internet broadcasting.

You can control external devices such as the pan, tilt, and zoom of a camera or the controls for video or DVD players. VOD files are automatically stored in the media server and registered on a VOD list, there is Movie Maker software that will allow you to edit filmed videos with switching effects, images, and sounds and you can do real-time file transmission in an encoded format for live broadcasting.

The hardware on this thing must be amazing, and god knows how much hard drive storage there is. I bet the battery life is abysmal though, I don’t know where you can get one or how much they cost, but they look nice, and they are apparently made in Korea. [akihabaranews]

USB WPM Speedometer

If you type a lot during the day, and you like using metrics to track your own personal progress so you can better yourself, this thing might come in handy. Not only does it track the number of words per minute you type (up to 260), but it also tracks your daily word count as a total.

Personally, I think it would be interesting to see how fast I type now compared to when I was in keyboarding class. Furthermore, I am really curious how many words I type each day, I assure you its got to be in the quadruple digits.

There is a second gauge which has an unknown purpose and then the third circle looks to be occupied by a fan or something of that nature. In case you didn’t know, the highest recorded WPM is 212 on a Dvorak keyboard, so you are going to need some practice if you have ambitions of hitting that 260 mark. You only need do three things to use this WPM-ometer, the first is to pay the $39 it costs, the second, connect it via USB to your computer, and the last part is install the included software so it can track everything for you. [technabob]

Everex gPC mini

It has a 1.86GHz Intel dual core mobile processor (its model number is T2130 which signifies a new Core 2 Duo chip, but it could be the older Pentium D chips). It also has a half gig of RAM, 120GB HDD, a DVD Burner, gigabit Ethernet and more.

There is a DVI out port, S-Video (so you could turn your TV into a computer), USB and a 4-in-1 card reader. It measures in at 42×226x172 millimeters and will cost you a mere $499.

Its supposedly going to be landing on NewEgg on March 1st for those that want a Linux PC that they can stuff behind their TV. Personally, I’d rather have the Mac Mini, some of which have gone on sale as refurbished units for less than the cost of this gPC Mini. [14u]

LG unveils 10,000:1 monitor

crunchgear

Mylo Widgets

Sony has finally created a site where they’ll be releasing widgets for the Mylo personal communicator. They started with 5 on the site for now, and they’ll be adding more, but the exciting part is that if you are feeling generous you can create your own and post them on the site too.

Its more like a community effort, Sony will only release a few every so often to keep things going, but they are really depending on the community of Mylo COM-2 users to really get the ball rolling. Right now they have a world clock, calculator, calendar, and a couple others up, more as they come in from users like you.

Sadly though, they are only available for COM-2 owners, they won’t work on the COM-1. So, go get you some widgets, or start developing, click the via link to get to the Mylo Labs. [sony]

New Walkman MP3 players From Sony

They have Bluetooth, noise cancellation, a healthy-sized screen, and a 33 hour battery life at the bottom, 36 at the top. For video you get the 320×240 LCD display that can play video at up to 30 frames per second for up to 10 hours, or at the least 9.5 hours.

They have FM tuners built in and varying size screens from 1.8” all the way up to 2.4-inches. As I mentioned, some of the players have Bluetooth built in which can be used to connect to a Bluetooth stereo, headset, you name it as long as it works with the A2DP profile.

They work with all the common media formats including MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM, JPEG, AVC, and MPEG-4. the pricing ranges greatly with the bottom of the line missing some of these nicer features and only having 4GB of storage for $150, all the way up to a 16GB model with everything running $320, there are a total of 7 new players in all and they all look amazing. [sony]

Lego mp3

You can now replace your boring normal iPod with this Lego Brick MP3 player from Homade.

It’s not an official Lego product, but you’ll be hard pushed to tell the difference between this and a standard Lego brick.

Look closely and you’ll notice that all the bumps have a function for example play, rewind, pause etc.

And each player also has a rechargeable battery, but you’ll have to provide your own storage, which is via microSD card.

If you want one, they retail for $46. [homeloo]

Creative with four new webcams

Creative has released a total of 4 new Webcams all of which are Plug n Play capable, have integrated microphones, and as far as webcams go, look pretty attractive. The most interesting is the Creative Live! Cam Notebook Ultra which claims the ability to take up to 5MP still images.

It can do video at up to 1.3MP resolutions, it also has an 80 degree wide-angle lens. For some of the included software features it has facial tracking built in.

It has a PowerGrip for clipping to the lid of your notebook and it has a 240 degree swivel motion. With the package you also get a free stereo headset for chatting in Skype, MSN, Yahoo, Windows Live, or just about any other messaging service. It’s a fairly amazing webcam, especially for a notebook, and if you want one, you’ll pay for it at around $120 to buy one. [creative]

Sumo’s laptop bag

If you’re worried about your laptop sleeve not keeping your precious laptop protected, you might need a slightly more tough laptop sleeve. Well why not have one that is from a line called Sumo? I’m not really sure what a Sumo wrestler has to do with my laptop, but hey, it seems like a sturdy case.

The line offers several different colors, one of which being pink, although I’ve never seen a Sumo wrestler associated with anything pink. The sleeves are padded corduroy and feature a quilted design.

The front has a Velcro closure and a padded liner. The sleeves can fit either a 12”, 13”, 15” or 17” laptop and come in black, green, red, orange and pink. The colors do vary some depending on which size you pick.techdigest

Transcend StoreJet 25

The new Transcend StoreJet 25 mobile external drive is not any different than nowadays convenient mobile grade storage. It’s bus-powered, USB 2.0 compatible, intelligent back-up sofware with one touch of a button - all packed in compact storage measured at 0.45 pound, 134mm by 80.8mm by 18.8mm mobile case.

What Transcend has improved with the StoreJet 25 is the use of extra-rugged silicone case that claimed to comply with US military drop-test standards. The shockproof external case has an advance two-stage anti-shock technology to keep you data safe from physical abuse. The StoreJet 25 is compatible with Windows 2000/xp/Vista, Mac OS 0.9 and late, and Lunix Kernael 2.4.2 or later. Storage capacity is available in 160Gb and 250GB model at $135 and 196 each. [digitimes]

Waveboat

‘They say money doesn’t buy happiness. That phrase should end with “just kidding”.’ For those of you who recognize that quote, you have an idea where this is going, but lets start with the $8000 price tag for this Jet Ski accessory.

Sure, you’ll never have to choose between a boat and a Waverunner again as the latter can now become the former, I am sure that makes some of you really happy. However, if you have a jet ski other than the Yamaha Waverunner, you are currently SOL unless you hack one of these up to make it fit, but there are talks of this boat attachment being made for other models if it catches on.

What are the upsides of using a jet ski as a boat you might ask, first, you can bring more of your friends/drinking buddies with you, second you can use it for angling (fishing for those not in the know), and third, it looks badass. Lastly, I bet the steering is impeccable, just don’t forget you need to hit the gas to turn too “we’re sorry your uncle hit the pier”.

Microsoft's Skydrive

Microsoft launched the final gold version of its Windows Live SkyDrive consumer storage service on February 21.

Windows Live SkyDrive — which has been known by a variety of names, including LiveDrive and Windows Live Folders (but not FolderShare, which is something else entirely) — is a Microsoft-hosted storage service where users can save files, photos and other information.

The latest version of the service, announced today, now offers 5 GB of free storage and is available in 38 countries.

Google has been touting (quietly) its Shared Storage program (a k a GDrive) as the alternative to SkyDrive. Google was offering 6 GB of storage for $20 a year back in August 2007; not sure if Google has changed its plan since then. [computerworld] [skydrive team]

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Announced

If you ever wondered why there are barely any Aerosmith tracks in the last few Guitar Hero games, it’s because Activision has huge plans for the band. They’ve announced that their next Guitar Hero series is going to star the hit rock band headed by the extremely large mouthed Steven Tyler, and will be called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith!

Here’s what Steven Tyler had to say:
"Any band that can go from 'Don't Want to Miss A Thing' (Aerosmith's #1 smash hit) the ass-kicking 'Sweet Emotion' to the cheekiness of 'Love in an Elevator,' to the classic ballad 'Dream On' shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a b*tch, but then it goes and has puppies."

“Not only is songwriting a b*tch, but then it goes and has puppies...”? WTF? I guess we can forgive Steven Tyler for that lame attempt at humor, since he's given us so many great tracks. Expect the game sometime in June 2008.

If you think about it, there have been barely any Metallica songs in the GH games too. I hope and pray this means there's a Guitar Hero: Metallica in the pipeline too; now that would seriously own!

The TV Easel

The numbers of TV’s in the normal family home is sometimes greater than the actual number of people who live there. With ever changing décor styles it can be inconvenient to hang them on the wall or choose furniture which will go with your décor. The TV Easel is an easier way to give you more options.

As part of the Greenhouse Young Designers showcase which as held last week at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, this design by Alex Bjurström from Sweden, the TV Easel was unveiled. The TV Easel is on a rolling base which makes it easy to put in position and can accommodate a TV between 32 to 47 “.

The concept at the moment is for Panasonic, but I think that this design will take off very well. [inventorspot]

Pirate Bed

Every child loves playing Pirates, so why not theme their bedroom - it may even get them to bed earlier! This gorgeous Pirate Bed is a dead ringer for The Black Pearl from Pirates of The Caribbean.

The bed not only looks great, but can hide away all your child’s mess in the storage box at the bottom of the bed.
The designers of this bed have gone all-out to ensure they create a detailed, authentic pirate bed and they’ve succeeded! With a treasure chest and treasure map thrown in for good measure, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s worth every penny of it’s $3,000 asking price! [loftusdesigns]

Sms pen

Damn I love this one, at the moment you get your pen and write stuff on paper, and then you either keep the paper or fax it on to someone else. Well now you can think about the D:Scribe email and SMS text pen design concept.

It is a great pen for integrating SMS text and emails, the design is from Reuben Png and basically is on the same wavelength as a Bluetooth pen.

The D:Scribe email and SMS text pen will track down everything as you write, and then all you need to do is circle the person’s name and the text or email is sent digitally via a Bluetooth phone.

The pen allows you to access everything you have written down later because it is all stored in the pens memory; the message status will appear on the pens OLED screen. [yankodesign]

Google Android SDK for download

If your into your Android SDK then you should know by now that Google has released a brand new Android SDK for developer’s to play with, if not then you know now.

You can download the new version of Android SDK on Google here ; this update includes new apps, tightened-up functionality and a new skin among other things. [helloandroid]

Pod Dock+Projection Clock+Radio

This iPod dock has speakers and controls for playing music from your iPod, but it also has an integrated alarm clock, and a projector for projecting the time onto a wall or ceiling of your choice. There is also a thermometer and AM/FM radio built in.

It has 2.5” speakers inside and you can set it up to wake you up to music from your iPod if you wish. It’s small enough to fit on a nightstand with dimensions of 5.5×11x4.5 inches.

It comes with a multi-function remote and has a thermometer as well a display for humidity all on a blue backlit LCD display. Best of all, it appears to work with the iPod Touch, which is great since there aren’t many devices that do, if you want one, it will cost you $149.95. [geekalerts]

Vespa XP

This Vespa is bright red, has a Louis Vuitton seat, a custom spare tire (that doesn’t look like it could actually work on the Vespa) and an LCD touchscreen Windows XP computer. It also won the award for “Best Modern Vespa” at the Amerivespa contest.

It has the speakers, cooling vents on the side, and all the usual software all built in. I definitely wouldn’t recommend leaving this Vespa in the rain.

My only question is which cost more, the Vespa or the touchscreen LCD PC? I must admit, the flashy spare tire on the back and the LV seat material give it that extra flair to make this thing the most Hood Rich scooter too. [gizmowatch]

iNo Trivia

It’s a trivia game, you put your iPod in and push it down and it will randomly select and play a song on your iPod, you draw a card and the card tells you what you have to guess correctly and then you hit play, it starts playing. Then you hit the buzzer thing, the first one to do so has their color LED light up on the top, you give your guess, then you pop up the iPod to see if you were right or not.

Then you push it back down, and do the same thing all over again. The categories are the usual song title, band name, album name, stuff like that, it would certainly prompt you to either play against people with totally dissimilar musical tastes, or broaden your music collection for the sake of fairness.

One upside of the device is that it can also double as an iPod speaker. I met the people that make this wonderful gadget at MacWorld, and I chose not to report on it because its pretty much limited to 5G iPods and the new iPod Classics, it wont work with the Touch, iPhone, or Shuffle, but might work with the Nano. If you want one, they are sold at Target and you can get them for $80, except the white one (there is also black and pink) is on sale for $49.79 right now. [chipchick]

Acer Eee and CloudBook competitor

Not much is known about the mysterious competitor from Acer, but we know they ordered 1 million of them from contract manufacturer Wistron. On top of that we know that they will have 7 or 9 inch screens and will cost about $470.

They will be targeted to compete with the Asus Eee PC and the Everex CloudBook in both specs and price. A slightly larger screen would be kind of nice, maybe some more flash storage or an actual hard drive wouldn’t be an entirely bad idea either.

It will probably run some version of Linux as well, it would be nice if they could be the first to just put plain old Ubuntu on it instead of trying to modify or make it better, it’s the most popular distro of Linux for a reason; it’s already really easy to use. Even RedHat or Fedora would be better than the remade distros that have been shipping with these laptops. [zdnet]

Miidio Speakers

Miidio have released three new speakers and they are the UFO, Keg and Little Piggy, they are all ultra compact and are able to plug in and play music from any device which has the standard 3.5 mm audio headphone socket, which means that they will be compatible with your MP3, iPod or laptop.

The Miidio Keg will cost £79.99, the UFO which comes in metal, red & black. [pocket-lint]

iRiver X20

It has 8GB of flash storage and a 22 hour battery life. There is also a microSD card slot for memory expansion.

It has a 2.2 inch screen which is good for watching videos on. But, its not touchscreen, in fact it doesn’t have a single new technology in it except flash memory.

I mean this thing goes so far back its still using the click wheel interface. It does appear to be fairly cheap though retailing for a mere $130. [t3]

NAVIsurfer II

The idea of having an in-car computer just seems a fantastic idea at first, but then is that while the vehicle is moving or standing still. The NAVIsurfer II would be a better-fixed solution than having a laptop sitting around, but if the driver used it or even a passenger while the car is moving…there could be accidents.

The NAVIsurfer II is the first single DIN in-car PC, that means it can replace the OEM stereo unit in just about any car. Other features include the ability to retract fully into the body of the unit, 7″ motorized touchscreen with adjustable viewing angle and swivel, 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, supports Windows XP and Linux (not supplied), 40/120 GB hard drive and 256/512 MB of RAM.

If you install the correct software you can convert this in-car computer to a gaming console, TV, back-up camera monitor, GPS navigation, media server and much more. [NAVIsurfer II]

Sony Bluetooth speaker

I have no idea how well this spherical Bluetooth speaker sounds, but it is by far way better looking than any other Bluetooth speaker I’ve seen, and these things were pretty popular on the CES show floor. Usually Bluetooth speakers are bland, competing on the fronts of thinness, battery power, and then overall sound seemingly the 3rd most important feature.

If you don’t have an A2DP enabled device, there is also a 3.5mm input jack to plug in just about any audio device. This ball also has a built in rechargeable battery so you can leave it plugged in at home or disconnect and take it with you when you go to play ball or to the beach.

No word on price, but its coming out sometime this half of the year. I’ve been looking to get a Bluetooth speaker for on the go use sometime soon, maybe this will be the one if it sounds half as good as it looks.

Metal Gear Solid:Collection for the PS2

Don’t set that PS2 aside just yet. Even though the console has been out since I was in high school, people are still pumping out new titles. It would be great if the PS3 still had decent backwards compatibility, but I digress. The next big release to look forward to is actually a collection of old games. The first three Metal Gear Solid games to be precise.

The release of these games is no doubt a move to build up excitement about the impending release of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the PS3. If you haven’t played one or all of these games, you can bet that it’ll be well worth the money. After all, it’s been labeled as one of the most successful games series of all time (even if it was Konami’s VP of Marketing that labeled it such).

We’re not actually sure when the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection will be hitting store shelves. However, we do know that it’ll set you back $29.99, which isn’t bad for what you get. [gamepro]

Mirror LCD

If you’ve been wrongfully accused of a car accident, didn’t you wish to have a video footage to prove your innocence? Here’s one for thought, Brickhouse Security has a unique mobile DVR that built in a car rearview mirror. It’s using a Sony 1/3” CCD sensor and capable to capture video resolution of NTSC 510X 492 or PAL 500X582 in wide angle and low light condition.

The recording is automated with engine activity, including date stamp, time and stored directly to SD memory card. The mirror also has a built in 2.5” LCD screen to provide instant playback of recorded audio video footage. The cost is $449 from brickhousesecurity.com. Here’s the footage of Brickhouse’s mirror recorder in action.

It records accident too

Microsoft wireless laser mice

They are the Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and 7000. There really isn’t much new here, they have some custom buttons for Windows Vista and one of them is meant for on the go use, the other for stationary desktop use.

The 6000 is the one made for use on the go, it is a full sized mouse, but has the snap-in transceiver like that of smaller portable mice. The 7000 has a vertical recharge stand and is clearly meant for the desktop.

They both have some pretty amazing battery efficiency and they both have MS’s HD laser tech as well as the wireless tech on the 2.4GHz band for distances up to 30 feet. The extra buttons are for Flip 3D, Magnifier, and tilt wheel. These mice will be available in March for $50 and $70 respective to their numbers, or you can pre-order them now. [gearlog ]

Halo Xbox laptop

When I leave town for a few days, my DS is always there to keep me entertianed. However, there are times where I wouldn’t mind having my 360 along for the ride. I’ve packed it up and taken it with me a couple of times, but it’s really not that fun. The man to turn to for your portable Xbox 360 needs is Ben Heck. This isn’t the first portable based on the 360, however, he’s updated his design for the the Elite version of the console.

If I had half the modding skill that this guy does, I’d be content. He’s managed to pack the entire Xbox 360 Elite into this awesome Halo-themed 17-inch notebook. This thing is packed to the brim with everything you’re going to need including WiFi and an Xbox Live camera.

While I’d love to have something like this in my possession, I couldn’t imagine the amount of money one would have to pay for a custom build like that. Looks like I’d better hone my soldering skills and fire up the old Dremel if I’m going to get one.

Kameleon Remote Control

This is a remote which suits all of your needs, with this 8 in 1 device you can control your TV, DVD, satellite, audio, CD, VCR, and cable. There is also a 5 in 1 version available.

This is the ultimate accessory for any couch potato, as a lot of viewing time can be lost when searching down the back of the sofa for the right one!

The other great thing about this is when you are using the remote for your TV, the relevant buttons are highlighted so you know which ones to choose, so hopefully even I would be able to use one!!

To read all of the technical bits about this product go to [firefox]

The Gold RC1

Lantic Systems are known for their high end integrated entertainment systems. They’ve now designed a pure gold remote control! It is likely to be the world’s most expensive remote control as it cost in excess of $55,000.

The remote control, called Gold RC1, was first shown at the METS 2007 Exhibition. It can offer the user control over TV, video, DVD, music, CD, internet, E-mail, CCTV, burglary alarm, lights, curtains, air-conditioning and surveillance of navigation systems! I should hope so at that price!

Amazingly, there have already been orders for the gold remote control, and they are already start shipping in December. [earthtime]

Hello Kitty Red digital camera

As we know the Japanese love their Hello Kitty.

There are endless of items available featuring the cutesy cat and the latest of which is the Hello Kitty Red digital camera.

It’s a Japanese camera, but now available to order online worldwide.

This camera’s features include a five megapixel sensor, LCD screen on the rear, 32MB of storage, built-in flash and an SD card slot for adding capacity.

And there is even a Hello Kitty SD card available to buy separately.

You can get this digital camera. [g4u]

Wireless Laser Media

This 8-button wireless laser mouse from Filand doubles as a remote control with a range of up to 8 meter and is suitable for presentations and media.

The Laser technology registers more surface detail, enabling you to use the mouse on more surfaces than a standard optical or wheel mouse.

The mouse comes complete with
Receiver, 2 x AA Battery, Driver CD and User Manual

You can get find out more about this mouse here and it could be yours for Rs 1600. [gizfever]

4-port USB 2.0 Hub

I have a couple of USB hard drives and one of them has a long USB lead that is very annoying, its good to see that this gadget “The Whirl 4-port USB 2.0 hub” has thought about that problem.

This clever USB hub has a 60cm retractable wire that winds up and keeps the lead nice and tidy, other features include self-powered, transfer speed up to 480 Mbps and support for Windows 2000, ME, XP and Mac OS 8.6+.

What’s better is the price of just $12 from USB Geek.

Its a keyboard

Reminiscent of your notebook, these keyboards, presumable designed for desktop use, are wireless keyboards with touch-pads built in. I don’t know how many of you are a fan of your laptop’s touch-pad navigation methods, but I am assuming the percentage is low.

However, if you have a home theater PC or if you are giving a presentation from a desktop computer, this is probably a more preferable solution than having the carry around a mouse and a keyboard. Also, you can use this keyboard/mouse combo without having to have a flat surface as you can hold it in one arm and use the other hand to operate it if necessary.

Also, if you are using an HTPC, this would look a lot better on your lap than a keyboard carefully (or not) balanced on one leg and the mouse balanced on the other. You can also get the same keyboard in a wired version for whatever reason you’d want to do that, but no price or availability on either keyboard, however there are some sort of oriental characters on the keyboard, so I wouldn’t expect it to be available stateside just yet.

Mustek dv300t

This thing is a video camera to the same extent a decent cell phone with video camera capability is. The camera is VGA quality when doing video, and apparently has some sort of image stabilization for when its taking stills at a measly 3.1
megapixels.

Really the only thing this camera is missing is a one-touch “upload to YouTube” button as that is the crowd it is clearly aimed at. It only bests the Flip brand of cameras by the fact that it has a viewfinder 2” LCD screen, and a few other useful additional features.

It comes with 64MB of memory integrated, but it also has an SD card slot for expansion. The other functions it can perform is that it can be an e-book reader, an MP3 player, and can do voice recording, I only count 5 functions, camera, camcorder, MP3, e-book, voice recording, unless they are counting picture viewing/video playback as a separate one. Did I mention it looks like a cell phone too? Anyways, no price or availability info right now, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t save your money to buy a better phone to do all of this stuff.

Inflatable Mouse

The Jelly Click mouse concept could make it easy for business travelers to carry around a full-size mouse without taking up a whole lot of space. The device itself is fairly simple: a small flexible board carries all of the circuitry while the body is composed of plastic that can be blown up manually.

When not in use, it can be folded into a compact size or slid between the screen and keyboard of your laptop when closed. It may be a little weird from a tactile perspective, but I can see this idea becoming a reality. Although smokers with weak lungs may have a problem with it

Skype on the PSP

Go get the update now! Firmware 3.90 offers up Skype, well, that’s the major addition from the update, I have no clue what else it does, but after you have Skype on your PSP you probably won’t care either.

The downsides are as follows, first, you have to have a PSP-2000, aka the PSP Slim. The second is that the little remote that came with that model PSP, yeah, you had better still have it, as its apparently necessary (probably where the microphone is).


Other than that you get the update, plug in the remote and headset, connect to WiFi, make sure there is space on your memory card for the Skype software, and then navigate to the Network menu and select Skype. From there you can either sign in, or create a new account if you don’t already have one, after you do that you just select someone from your contact list and call away.

Moldable mouse

This mouse design is literally a hunk of clay covered in flexible polyurethane and a nylon fabric. The buttons are detachable and really only work by RF signals, and the scroll wheel is less of a wheel and more a touch/motion sensitive trackpad.

That means if you wanted to you could just stick the buttons on your desk and call it done, or on your forehead. But the really cool part is the clay mouse base I guess you could call it.

I mean, how badass would it be to have a mouse molded like a shifter, or a jet fighter joystick. Its just a design, so it might not ever be made, but it was designed by a company with the means to manufacture it, and they did win a Red Dot Design Award for it last year so the probability of it getting made is raised by that. [dvice]

Blu-ray For XBox360

If you’ve followed the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray format war, you may have noticed that people are declaring a victor. While HD DVD isn’t dead yet, it might as well be. This of course means PS3 owners everywhere have something to gloat about when talking to their Xbox 360-owning friends. For now at least.

Apparently Microsoft has seen this outcome as a possibility, and knowing that they don’t want to be left behind, they’ve been secretly talking to the Blu-ray camp for some time. While their talks aren’t exactly of adding a Blu-ray player to the 360 just yet, they are trying to partner with them to integrate a piece of software called HDi, which is a key part of HD DVD’s interactivity.

This certainly indicates the strong possibility of adding a Blu-ray accessory in the future, but until HD DVD rolls over and dies, I wouldn’t expect much of a change. Besides, Microsoft is more concerned with the fact that it plays regular DVDs, as that’s what most people are watching anyway. [xbox]

Matrox GXM Control Panel

In case you didn’t know, the TripleHead2Go and DualHead2Go are display adapters that multiply the number of monitors you can drive by taking a single video output from your computer and splitting it into 3 or 2 more displays respectively. With this new software utility Mac users can now make better use of these pieces of hardware, especially with the digital editions of these GXMs.

With OS X 10.4 or later and one of these two GXMs in the digital edition, and then this new Control Panel software Mac users can now get 1920×1200 on each of 2 displays or 1280×1024 on each of 3 displays. These displays can be mirrors, or copies, of the original display or can be used to extend your desktop across the extra monitors.


That means that with a laptop you could extend your desktop across 4 monitors or mirror it across 4 monitors, maybe for watching a movie or presentation. The software update is free, you just need a TripleHead2Go Digital Edition or a DualHead2Go Digital Edition in order for it to work. [matrox]

Pink computer

Maybe it’s the shade or hue of pink that it is, but I feel the gag reflex going to work every time I look at it. Get this, the url you go to, to buy one of these, pinkcomputer.co.uk, that’s hilarious to me.

Other than being obnoxiously pink, it also has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a DVD burner, 150GB HDD, and 6 USB ports. So, its nothing special, but its respectable and is a good start for the female geek that wants to get into computer building, since you could start by adding graphics, sound, and TV Tuner cards as well as some more hard drive space.

Good luck finding matching Pink peripherals and monitors and speakers, as I’d hope that any of those that are pink, are a better color of pink. You can get one for £409 or about $800. [ss]

Sony offers up new skins Vaio T series

Sony is bumping the processor speed for their T series Vaio’s from 1.06GHz to 1.2GHz. On top of that, from Sony Vaio Style Japan you’ll be able to get some new skins for your notebook.

A couple of the skins look fairly professional, kind of like nice wallpaper, while the other two offer some actual art for the back of your notebook. The extra 140MHz on the processor speed isn’t that big of a deal, but it might be noticeable when you try and multi-task on your notebook.

The new Vaio T series notebooks with these skins are selling for $1583 in Japan. Of course the regular colors will still be available as well. [akihabaranews]

Retro Room aquarium

Do your fish need a new home but you are looking for something different then this tank could be the one.

Usually, a fish tank has a small piece of plastic coral and some pebbles for decoration, so how about giving your goldfish a 70s-style makeover with the Retro Room aquarium.

This is a basic tank, but with the added interest of a vintage-style chair, TV, lava lamp and rug - everything your retro-inspired goldfish will ever need. [wishingfish]