Lotus' U.S. operations rebounding in fine style
 The Elise, one of the finest-handling cars on offer anywhere (at any price), has drawn new buyers into Lotus' fold with a surprisingly accessible $43,000 M.S.R.P. In the spring, the Elise will get a dealer-mate in the Exige, which stickers at $50,990. It is fair to say that Lotus' rebirth in America has put other boutique automakers on notice. Read more..!
Swissbit bumps their knives to 2GB
 Included is the usual scissors, knife, nail file, and screw driver on the rubyRED and retroALOX versions, while the rubyRED version also adds a ballpoint pen and a LED light for extra cred. You can even pop out the drive part for flying, since the TSA isn't so hot on knives these days. Read more..!
 Build a machine that has: * Good desktop performance * Long life through upgradability * Cost close to $1,000 The SilverStone LC17 is the base, $140. Added a multi-card reader and USB port, $9. Chose an Antec's NeoHE 430 430W high efficiency power supply to power the system, $86. M0b0 is the Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard Intel's 955X north bridge sporting an 800 or 1066 MHz front side bus with the LGA 775 socket meaning you can upgrade to a dual-core Extreme Edition CPU once the price drops. The south bridge is Intel's ICH7R which provides 8-channel sound through the board's analog connectors and also through the digital coax and optical connectors. Up to 8GB of DDR2 memory in 667MHz dual-channel slots, and features 2 PATA, 4 SATA, and 4 SATAII connectors with built in RAID controllers for all. The board also has headers for 2 1394a and 1 1394b port & 8 USB ports, $183. Pr0c is a Intel Pentium 4 630 at 3.0GHz, $171. 2 x 1GB DDR2 Mushkin 2GB dual channel kit, $200. Optical drive is a OEM Sony DVD burner, $40. Hard drive is a Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB SATAII, $100. The Leadtek WinFast PX6200 TC for graphics card. We don't use our desktops for gaming so we went really cheap, $59. The final component added was the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE dual-tuner card. The card has MPEG2 hardware encoders built-in so there will be almost no load on the CPU when recording. Hauppauge cards also have good support for Linux, $138. The total for the base system is $1126. Run MythTV on top of a Gentoo Linux, by following the MythTV install instructions on the wiki. Also set aside some partitions to try Windows XP MCE and OSx86.
Case
Multi-card reader
Power Supply
M0B0
Pr0c
RAM
DVD-Burner
 
Hard Drive
VidCard
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 The Opera browser for Java-enabled phones is now out, and available at the Opera Mini page. It's free, although you'll obviously be charged for the bandwidth to download it, and comes in two flavors: Low and High memory. The high memory version just includes more options, with a better text and image rendering system on board. One nice feature of Opera Mini: pages are optimized before being sent to your phone, which not only loads pages faster, but will cost you less when browsing because pages won't require as much data to send. Read more..!
 This Capricieuse Wedge from Louis Vuitton has a four inch wedge for added height without being perched upon a tiny stiletto. The sandal uses the classic Louis quatrefoil shape in a leather cutout design with gold links and metal studs. The sandal also has the same design stitched on the sole. The shoe is also available in white and sells for $640. Read more..!
Pentax's waterproof Optio WPi
 Steve's Digicams got ahold of Pentax's Optio WPi waterproof shooter and they seem to like the unit. Most notable is it's waterproof, which allow for around 30 minutes of hanging with the fishes at up to 5 feet underwater. The WPi does add one of those all important megapixels, bringing the count to six, but the 3x optical zoom and 2.0-inch LCD screen, the reviewer noted that the LCD worked well indoors and out, and the zoom was smooth and low on distortion. Overall the camera gets a thumbs up, especially for its $300 price. Read more..!
A lucrative new DS feature
 Just a funny fan's interpretation of a true reality. Read more..!
FireBug: AJAX debugging for Firefox
 Here's one for the Web 2.0 developers: FireBug. It's an extension for Firefox to aid in debugging JavaScript/DHTML/AJAX web apps. In the words of its developer Joe Hewitt, it's "like a combination of the Javascript Console, DOM Inspector, and a command line Javascript interpreter." Looks like a great tool for the discriminating developer. Read more..!
 The S Chair by Tom Dixon is simplicity itself. As we've seen before in Dixon's designs, he reduces furniture to its essential components. The chair which was designed by Dixon for Cappellini in 1991 and is available in black and white pony leather or in wicker and marsh straw version and other fabrics. The chair has a metal frame and sells for $1297. Read more..!
Tales of the Tempest (DS) official site update
 New information on Namco's Tales of the Tempest (DS) have emerged, including character profiles, storyline, and new screens. From the article: "The Tales of the Tempest official site recently received an update. Whereas before, the site for Namco's DS entry in the Tales series merely had a logo and a description of the game's main character, it has now been updated with descriptions of a new character, the storyline, the game's theme song, and multiple screenshots."Namco is staying mum on a release date, only citing "2006" as a launch. Read more..!
Dior Gourmette Lip Gloss Bracelet
 Inspired by the Dior Gourmette line of jewelry, the chain bracelet has a Dior nameplate that hides a Dior Addict Ultra Gloss formula duo in either Urban Chic or Street Charm. It will sell for $42 and can be found on several eBay sites worldwide. Read more..!
3's WePay rewards users for taking calls
 Ok, so here's the gimmick: you sign up for pay-as-you-go-service with 3 (a British carrier), and they pay you out airtime credits for getting calls or texts from your mates. Called WePay, apparently a five minute call will net you credits enough for two texts or an MMS (or a bit of mobile TV); 100 minutes of calling or 50 texts will pay you out £6 in credits. Read more..!
Jens of Sweden MP-500: audio, video, bling
 The formerly bankrupt company Jens of Sweden has managed to come up with the MP-500, a sleek player in a familiar form factor "nano format", that includes audio, video, FM, voice recorder, and built-in speakers, with a fairly reasonable price of $242 for the 2GB version (a 1GB version is $189). Read more..!
Michael Leung's "Hardwood USB" flash drives
 Michael Leung's line of mostly-prototype drives feature simple, classy designs that you'd be proud to shove into your USB port. Among his several designs (a USB ruler drive whose length represents its storage capacity, a stone-shaped portable hard drive) is one that actually made it to production, the so-called "Hardwood USB." Available in different wood casings with a leather string attached, these drives offer new school functionality in an old school, woody designs. Read more..!
 Yep, another hunt-and-click Flash puzzler, in Shift you guide a little blue creature by clicking on things in his environment, with no clear goal except to get to the next level. Read more..!
Vaughn Outdoor CZiP Gloves
 The Vaughn Outdoor CZiP gloves have a zip over the knuckles so that you can wiggle your fingers and hand out will still having the glove hanging off your wrist. The gloves are available in sizes small through extra-large and are insulated to keep you warm during a day outdoors. The gloves sell for $59.99 to $159.99. Read more..!
High-end audio meets wall mounted speakers
 6moons audio has a new review of the Anthony Gallo Acoustics Reference speakers. Anthony Gallo is best known for their unique tweeters. Born in 1987, the cylindrical diaphragm transducer (CDT) is a radical approach that produces amazing sounds. These new speakers utilize this tweeter, but unlike many other speakers, these boys are made to hang on the walls. They may be too radical for a lot of people but they have the same color scheme as many Sony Vega displays. The speakers cost $1,199 each and should be available in high-end audio stores soon. Read more..!
KavaScript: New language features for JavaScript
 KavaScript is a project that claims to "breathe new life into JavaScript by extending it with syntax and features inspired by expressive, dynamic languages like Ruby and Perl." It adds interesting features like string interpolation, new string and array literals, closures, macros, and file includes. Read more..!
EverQuest II vs. WoW - one gamer's experience
 Check out Peter Gracar's evaluations of EverQuest II and World of Warcraft over at Rage3D. He spent some considerable time, about three straight weeks and 480 hours of gameplay to be exact, and has attempted to present an unbiased look at both bestselling titles. Gracar compared both games using a variety of categories such as newbie friendliness, interface, graphics, combat mechanics, and regular vs. hardcore content. He also highlights each game's key differences, including WoW's PvP abilities and the advantages of EverQuest II's crafting and guild formations. In the end, Gracar concludes you can't go wrong with either game, given how successfully Sony and Blizzard have accomplished what they set out to do. Instead, he suggests you carefully think about what's important to you in a game prior to beginning your MMO experience. Wacking rabbits or mining gold? Read more..!
Chopard Happy Valentine Watch
 The watch is done in white gold and is based on the Happy Diamonds collection that features free-floating diamonds. The Valentine watch has a heart set with rubies and a mobile diamond. There is a pink mother-of-pearl dial and a red crocodile strap. There is also a “Happy Spirit” heart-watch in 18ct yellow gold with a pink mother-of-pearl dial. mobile diamond and pink crocodile strap pictured here. Read more..!
Identify songs by tapping
 The Song Tapper is a web service that will identify songs based on the rhythm you tap out with your spacebar. Useful when you can't quite remember what that song was. Read more..!
 Microsoft Research has release an app called Group Shot which "helps you create a perfect group photo out of a series of group photos." It basically allows you to take the best parts of several successive photos of a group and easily stitch them into one "perfect" shot. Group Shot also helps you remove unwanted objects from the background of your photo. It sounds excellent if you have a few ex's in the crowd, and is a free download from Microsoft. Read more..!
 The Orbino Cambio case for the video iPod is made of leather that is stitched by hand with waxed thread. The case features Orbino's spring-loaded combination belt clip and desk stand in polish palladium metal and a precious metal scroll wheel frame mounted with microscrews. The case has a cut-out for the charger and sells for $65. Read more..!
New movies for Splinter Cell: Essentials
 GameSpot has released two gameplay movies and a developer interview. Read more..!
Asus MyPal A636 GPS-equipped PDA
 Asus' entry into the GPS-PDA market, also includes Bluetooth, WiFi and a 3.5-inch display. Pocketnow took the A636 for a spin, and found that it's a solid performer with great battery life (over 8 hours with GPS on), good Bluetooth support and decent mounting hardware for car use. The included Destinator PN software, can get sluggish with larger maps. However, there are workarounds, and as the reviewer points out, an upgrade should be available shortly, and will be supplied to customers by Asus. The A636 is available now for $599.99, including a 256MB SD card. Read more..!
Axbo alarm clock wakes you when you're ready
 The aXbo, is a sleek alarm clock that communicates wirelessly with a wristband that basically keeps track of your movements throughout the night, gauging how deeply you're sleeping by how much you're thrashing. You set a window during which it can wake you, and it waits for the right moment within that space. Costs €200 ($241). Read more..!
NJ elementary schools implement iris-scanning building access
 While attending one of three innovative elementary schools in New Jersey, the Freehold Borough School District, won't necessarily make our little angels shoo-ins for the Ivy League, we'll sure feel better during the day knowing that they're being protected by the schools' new 242-point-comparison iris-scanning doors. Using a $369,000 federal grant, the district hired Eyemetrics Identity Solutions to implement hardware by LG and HP and software by IrisAccess and Newton Security that together form a system which only allows building access to so-called white-listed individuals. Each student is allowed to green-light four people, which puts a cap on the number of folks that have access to a given building. Read more..!
How to undervolt your laptop for longer, cooler performance
 NordicHardware has an article where Fredrik Andersson steps you through the process of undervolting your laptop. Although as Andresson points out, the terminology is not an accurate reflection of the adjustment being performed, undervolting refers to stepping down the voltage that your CPU requires by several fractions of a volt. The end result of the tweaks that NH guides you through is up to ten minutes more running time and several degrees less heat dispersion, all without effecting the notebook's performance. Read more..!
Starbucks asks: coffee, tea or MP3
 Starbucks, already sells CDs in most of its stores, and has experimented with CD-burning kiosks, but plans to set up what the company calls "device fill-up" terminals in its stores are planned to be implemented. The company says it is in discussions with several companies about developing the service. While it's too early to speculate about whose software or DRM the service will use, it's worth noting that the Starbucks CD-burning kiosks are powered by HP hardware and Microsoft software, and the two companies have also collaborated on wireless services in the past. Read more..!
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-Lytir1
