Duracell unveils PowerPix disposable NiOx digicam battery
 Duracell is rolling out the PowerPix, a new disposable AA and AAA battery based on a Nickel Oxy Hydroxide formulation. According to the company, the NiOx-based PowerPix provides "significantly longer-lasting battery performance" for digital cameras. Unfortunately, the batteries are planned to hit the market later this month to see how well these really perform compared to alkalines, the company says alkalines often lead to "frustrating results" for digicam users. Read more..!
 Volvo has decided to give the people what they want in releasing material on its new 2007 S80 sedan ahead of its scheduled debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month. This video highlights some of the styling cues that makes a Volvo a Volvo, the most prominent of which is the Swedish company's trademark "drop-should" belt-line that runs the length of the vehicle. The sheetmetal of the new S80 appears much more carved than inflated like the model it's replacing, and news of a 4.4L V8 mean it will finally be able to compete in a segment that for some time has demanded more power than the previous S80 could offer. Caution direct link. Read more..!
 The Freeciv open-source development group have taken on the job of recreating the game play experience of this classic title. The result is extremely similar to the original Microprose game, while not pretending to be a completely faithful recreation. Civilization players should feel right at home in Freeciv, and be able to have fun immediately. Read more..!
ClamWin Antivirus Glue for Firefox
 ClamWin Antivirus Glue is a simple extension for Firefox that does just one thing: It automatically scans every file you download for viruses. As the name implies, the "glue" uses ClamWin Antivirus, a free, open source Windows antivirus product, and in order to have the extension installed you'll need to install ClamWin as well. Read more..!
Rose Manolo Blahnik Shoes
 Forget long-stemmed roses, how about these roses for Valentine's Day. These black satin Manolo Blahnik shoes have three pink enamel roses along the T-strap. The shoe is a 3.5" heel and has an adjustable ankle strap and a matching rosy interior. At $815 they are pricier than the long-stemmed dozen but will last a lot longer. Read more..!
 This Plissee laptop bag is made of 100% wool with aluminum handles. It's just one of the unique designs from Mary Ann Williams, whose designs will make you look at wool in a whole new way. Her Sconcigli pillows are covered with pasta-like wool twists. The bag sells for $360 and can be ordered in a variety of sizes and colors. Read more..!
ChatFu: Cartoonify your IM chats
 ChatFu "cartoonifies" any IM conversation that you paste into it, by which I mean it'll turn it into a comic strip. Characters for each side of the conversation are chosen at random and the text has a pasted-in feel, it's an amusing little distraction and a fun way to immortalize those delirious early-morning chats. Read more..!
PSP getting maps of Japan
 If you live in Japan and want to use your PSP as a navigational aid, Sony is making it a little easier with a UMD-based mapping program that the company plans to release in April. The software is similar to most PC-based mapping programs, and allows users to store annotations on Memory Sticks and share info via WiFi. No word on whether Sony plans US or European versions. Read more..!
Crysis revealed as Far Cry 2
 The spiritual successor to Far Cry has been revealed and its called Crysis. The game is not the sequel to Far Cry - it's based on a new franchise which the developers, CryTek, are creating in conjunction with its new publisher, EA. One presumes that Ubisoft still owns the rights to Far Cry - but now that Crytek has split from Ubi, it has to create something new. The game will be developed using the next-generation engine which we last showed you a couple of months ago. This supports DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 - which will be possibly the first game to do so. "Our focus has always been on innovating gameplay and technology, and bringing new experiences to gamers through our original intellectual properties," says Cevat Yerli, CEO & President of Crytek. "Crysis will be a showcase for that commitment and will offer gamers from all over the world the next step in FPS gaming."
The press release says that "Shooter fans will face a new kind of gameplay challenge requiring adaptive tactics and customisation of weapons and armour in dynamic, hostile environments as mankind struggles to survive in the face of a horrific alien invasion."Read more..!
Plantronics DSP-500 USB headset
LCoS Shootout at ExtremeTech
 The latest rear projection display technology to take the market by storm is LCoS or Liquid Crystal on Silicon. Mitsubishi was one of the first major brands to release an LCoS TV that was relatively problem free, but their 82" Alpha had an MSRP of $22,000. ExtremeTech's LCoS shootout could not have come at a better time. With the even further decline of CRT RPTVs, consumers are looking for a technology that can provide the same contrast as CRTs but with a much higher refresh rate. Head over to ExtremeTech for a great review as well as a great explanation of LCoS technology. Read more..!
Intel launches 45nm processor
 There's full details over at EETimes, but the short version is that this is the first demonstration of the next-next-generation of chip fabrication. Intel is just beginning to move its processors to a 65nm process. The new Extreme Edition 955 chip and the Yonah mobile dual core parts are 65nm. The process means that chips can be smaller, more complex, and generate less heat. By eventually transitioning to 45nm, Intel will get more of the same. The end of 2007 will see the introduction of the first mass market 45nm chips. In the meantime, we're looking at Conroe as the next-generation desktop chip, produced on the 65nm process. The new 45nm processor boasts a 30% reduction in power, 20% increase in switching speed and allows for double the transistor count in the same space. The process includes low-k dialectrics, like ATI's latest graphics parts. Read more..!
STALKER could be dead in the wilderness
 The report comes from Gamemag.ru and is translated by GameGuruMania. The article is worth a read, but the basic gist is that THQ appears to be extremely annoyed by the constant delays on the project and is going for a radical overhaul of the development team in a bid to get this out the door. "Another source claims that at the end of November THQ made a decision to stop financing the development and to conduct a thorough revision to gain control over the development process. 'We don't care what shape the game will ship in anymore,' - said one of the THQ bosses to an IGN journalist, - 'The game must ship in 2006.'"
There is also the prospect that THQ may sever ties with the devlopers, GSC, and hand the title over to another development team to finish.
"Some of the developers revealed that a few months ago THQ seeked a studio ready to finish STALKER. One of the GSC programmers said that this is very unlikely: 'The code is mostly not documented, they wouldn't understand a thing there.'"
Read more..!
Use your PSP as a universal remote
 A cool homebrew app called PSP Universal Remote lets you use your PSP as a universal remote for many, many TVs and other devices. To use it you'll need PSP firmware 1.50, once you get it set up you can choose your target device from a menu and let loose your remote control shenanigans, that's what i'll call him next time i see him, shenanigans. PSP Universal Remote is a little feature-thin at the moment, but undeniably cool. Read more..!
NextEngine scans 3D on the cheap
 SolidWork's NextEngine $2,500 USB 3D Desktop Scanner, features multiple optics arrays and dual three megapixel CMOS sensors and some laser triangulation technology for capturing models of objects, which rotate on a platter out in front. Read more..!
TechCrunch looks at 13 online storage providers
 TechCrunch wrote up a great review of 13 online storage companies. These are the top of the heap in Web 2.0 storage offerings. Found are many unique features found in most of these services, like never having to download a local copy of a file to read and write it, OmniDrive. AllMyData is a true p2p solution. Read more..!
Asterisk, the open source PBX
 NerdVittles has posted a complete, step-by-step how-to on installing and configuring Asterisk for the newbie. Asterisk is a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) in software. It runs on Linux, BSD, and OS X and provides a wealth of phone options for your home or small business. Essentially a PBX is a private telephone switch, so making a digital version within *NIX allows you to completely control what happens to phone calls as they come in. Asterisk, being open source, has a ton of cool modules for use, for free. Asterisk can handle "normal" calls, but it is particularly tuned to VoIP, and handles a wide variety of codecs. I like the features a small business would need, such as hold music, unlimited conference rooms, and a great voicemail system. Read more..!
Combi's "Roanju Auto Swing" maglev baby rocker
 Combi's new maglev-powered "Roanju Auto Swing" for babies has benefits with nearly silent swinging operation as well as seven pre-loaded tunes, plus an ergonomic design on the deluxe model. Apparently a light push is all it takes to get the Roanju swinging for fifteen minutes, costs $580 for the standard and over $600 for the deluxe. Read more..!
CMOTech CCU-550 puts EV-DO on a USB key
 Finally, there's a convenient way to connect to EV-DO networks with a laptop that doesn't have a PCMCIA slot (like 12-inch Powerbooks). The CCU-550 from Korean manufacturer CMOTech looks like a basic USB flash drive, but is actually an EV-DO modem with maximum throughput of 2.4Mbps. Unfortunately, you'll need to live in Korea to use it unless you import one to the US and get your service provider to allow it. Read more..!
 Free-for-personal-use FTP client SmartFTP hit version 2.0 a couple weeks back and the new version has a number of nice features. The biggest update in this release is its completely re-worked UI, which features docking panes and tabbed local and remote directory browsers. The new version can be downloaded at the SmartFTP web site. Read more..!
Alfa 159 Sportwagon unveiled
 This beautiful station wagon will debut alongside the Alfa Romeo Spider at the Geneva Auto Show in March, and is based on the 159 sedan. The Sportwagon is elegantly repackaged with six powerplant options, 3 gasoline and 3 diesel, capped by Alfa's 260 hp, 3.2-liter 24-valve V6. A six-speed manual is standard, with a six-speed automatic optional on some models. Alfa's "Q4" four-wheel drive system is available with the 3.2-liter engine.
Read more..!
Free tools for optimizing the Windows registry
 The windows registry--can't live with it, can't delete it. There are ways, though, to slim it down, give it a little polish, and give your system a little boost. Most of those ways are distressingly un-free, but Email Battles has a nice post about a trio of free tools that, in concert, will get the job done. First you use CCleaner to scrape out all the accumulated crap. Then you use RegSeeker to nuke the really hard-to-find junk. Finally, you use RegDefrag to physically defrag your registry to make it work faster. All three tools are free and together they'll make your registry feel like new. Read more..!
 With all the DS vs. DS Lite size comparisons, here's one for the competition. Read more..!
 One dozen red roses on Valentine's Day is a traditional gift but how about 100 roses! This new offering from Luxury Roses crams 100 long-stemmed red roses from Ecuador into an extra-large aluminum champagne cooler. The gift includes a mini box of truffles. The package as shown here sells for $349. Read more..!
Teach kids music with Hyperscore
 Made in the MIT Media Lab, Hyperscore uses a visual approach to creating songs. You create little riffs, called "motives" in separate windows, then blend those together in a larger composition window. What's brilliant (and here's that MIT magic): the app can build good harmonies, progressions, and other auditory delights into those basic compositions. Hyperscore will be bundled with MIT's $100 laptop. Another twist involves using Hyperscore to create ringtones. To promote the software, and music in general, WIRED has the story of the MIT Ringtone Competition. Not content to pitch Hyperscore to 10 year-olds, MIT has an entire site, H-Lounge, dedicated to older users. Classic quote from the Edge regarding this emerging form of music entertainment: "Ringtones are a legitimate branch of pop music..."Read more..!
Goobuntu: coming soon to a desktop near you?
 The Register is reporting that Google has confirmed it's working on Goobuntu, its own version of Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is a popular distribution of Linux which aims for user-friendliness, but Google is mum on what Goobuntu's purpose is. It could be they're readying in an end-user Windows replacement, or Goobuntu might be intended for internal use only. According to Ars Technica, Google spokeswoman Sonya Borälv says that "[w]e use Ubuntu internally but have no plans to distribute it outside of the company."Read more..!
Linux on the DS: Now with Wi-Fi support
 The clever guys working on the DSLinux project have spent quite a bit of time with Nintendo's premier handheld device, reason being: "You can use DSLinux as a filemanager, edit and save text files with vi, play simple text-based games, and play mp3 files." Most recently, PepsiMan (one of the project members) revealed on his blog that rudimentary Wi-Fi support has been added to DSLinux, thus opening the door for wireless networking and web browsing sometime in the future. Read more..!
 ImageBot, is a super-handy extension for Firefox that lets you batch upload images to ImageShack or Photobucket. It's pretty slick and is easy to use--just drag-and-drop images onto it. It also keeps a searchable list of images you've uploaded in the past for quick access and has a cool template function that makes it easy to get HTML or forum codes (or any other format you want) for a single image or a whole bunch. ImageBot seems to have a little trouble with really big images (and error messages can be frustratingly vague), but uploading them a few at a time seems to help. Read more..!
Sights and sounds of retro Famicom keychains
 For the price of $13.50 you can get a keychain featuring cool, retro blocky graphic coupled with a miniature Famicom controller that makes character-relevant sound effects, like this one from Ice Climber (wav). Read more..!
 Fastr is a Flickr-based multiplayer game in which you face off against strangers in real time to guess the common tag for a series of images that are displayed. The faster you guess the tag, the more points you get. Each round lasts for five minutes, with 8 or 10 sets of photos to identify each round. It's fast-paced and addictive fun that requires only wit and a modern web browser and is free. Read more..!
 WhyReboot is a free little app that tells you what file operations are pending for the next reboot, i.e. what that urgent reboot is really going to accomplish. To better help you guess whether a reboot is really necessary right now, or if you can just wait until you're done working on the computer. Read more..!
Another look at innovative indie games
 Clive Thompson at Wired News has taken a look at innovative indie games and has picked a few titles to call to our attention. It's nice to see some great games highlighted, like new card games and gravity simulators or retro mash-ups and interactive love stories and free! Read more..!
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-Lytir1
