Fiddy Cents chromed-out Lamborghini Murcielago
How-to re-wire an arcade joystick for the Xbox 360
NVIDA's PureVideo with H.264 hardware acceleration
 NVIDIA's PureVideo H.264 hardware acceleration has officially been announced. Why bog down your CPU with mundane video decoding tasks when your GPU can do it for you! PureVideo hardware decoding supports all of the standard MPEG-4 flavors such as H.264, VC-1, WMV and also supports the "soon-to-be-legacy" MPEG-2 compression as well. NVIDIA's PureVideo technology will show up in both desktop and notebook products: the GeForce 6- and 7-series will sport the new technology, as well as the nForce 6150 series of GPUs. Note that this should cover you in a PC solution for either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD since all of the usual suspects codecs are supported. Read more..!
Will Wright narrates SPORE gameplay video
Here's Will Wright's SPORE presentation from last year's GDC, titled " The Future of Content", is now available on Google video. Will Wright narrates the entire 36 minute video, discussing things like mating, Care Bears, and the finer points of procedural synthesis, so watch it already! Read more..!
White Lake gold and diamond USB thumbdrive
 The White Lake gold and diamond USB stick is a 14k or 18k gold storage device, available with or without diamonds, designed by Dutch goldsmith Erwin de Vroome. No word on storage capacities here, it sells for $3500 and is also available in 18K gold or without diamonds. Read more..!
Lulu Guinness Button Baby Bag
 Lulu Guinness' Button Baby Bag is certainly not your typical baby bag. Decorated with a shopping addict's every desire, the lavender striped design adds some depth to the print. Made of canvas and nylon, it features a top zipper closure, interior pockets for the necessities, and there is also a back zippered pocket. In addition to the shoulder strap shown, there is also a detachable shoulder strap. The Button Baby Bag has more than enough space to fit your belongings and those of the little one. Bag dimensions: 14.5" x 11.5" x 6". Price: $156.95. Read more..!
Buti Multicolored Buckled Tote
 Buti's Multicolored Buckeled Tote's brightly colored print is by Catalan surrealist artist, Miro. Made of Italian leather, the interior is lined with yellow suede, and features two interior pockets. The turquoise leather double handle and leather strap with silver metal closure, compliments the various color tones shown. The matching apple shaped key holder is a fun detail. A stylish and unique handbag for the Spring and Summer. Bag dimensions: 10.24" W x 7.09" H x 4.33" D. Price: $443. Read more..!
Seiko CPC TR-006 Bluetooth watch puts your phone on your wrist
 Check out Seiko's CPC TR-006, a Bluetooth watch that communicates with your cellphone. Currently just a prototype, the watch can receive text messages from your phone, capture Caller ID data so you know who's calling, and adjust ringtones. Pair it with a Bluetooth headset, stick your phone in your bag, and you've got a complete hands-free interface that still gives you access to your phone's main functions. Read more..!
 The game Starfighter is a replica of the movie The Last Starfighter arcade that's fun and free. These guys have also given us a replica (mostly) of the game Jeff Bridges plays in his arcade in Tron, Space Paranoids! Read more..!
Origami refolded: here's what's known
 Origami will indeed be a "Mobile PC running Windows XP," XP Tablet PC Edition. And the actual device will look more like the basic black box that Microsoft showed off at WinHEC. According to IDG News Service, Microsoft has not designed any new hardware for the Origami project, and instead the hardware announcement is to be unleashed by Intel and Samsung. Remember, Intel is set to unveil their UMPC platform on the 7th at the start of the Intel Developer Forum, presumably setting the stage for actual product announcement on the 9th. So for all the teasers, Origami is unfolding into an XP Tablet PC edition UMPC handtop computer manufactured by Samsung. Read more..!
Apple files for patent on wide laptop touchpad
 Someone came across this patent application Apple filed for a wide trackpad for laptops. Not exactly sure how this would work (most of the surface occupied by the pad also happens to be prime real estate for our hands when we're using a laptop.) Read more..!
StationRipper: Rip songs from Internet radio
 It's a piece of cake to record streaming audio from the web and save it to your hard drive, but to rip Internet radio into individual tracks with full tags is even better. That's what Windows app StationRipper does, which is surprising that, after two years in existence, it still hasn't been shutdown by the RIAA. Anyhow, it has a laundry list of great features: The basic (free) version of StreamRipper lets you rip two streams at once and intregrates with iTunes. The versions you pay for add a bunch of features you may or may not want, like ripping up to 600 streams at once (bandwidth and processor notwithstanding) and filtering tracks by length. Read more..!
ilovebees is back -- or is it?
 The infamous viral marketing campaign has resurfaced. However, it's doubtful that this new site will reveal any information pertaining to Halo 3 or for that matter, any upcoming Bungie title. "ilovebees2" features a black screen with lines of random letters, numbers, and symbols. There's also a timer that is counting down to the end of March—or, the beginning of April (also known as April Fool's Day)—and a 12-second audio loop that sorta sounds like a subway train. Most striking is an image that's partially carved out of by the lines of gibberish. IGN draws an interesting comparison between this image and one used to publicize Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In addition, the ilovebees2 link has been tagged with the word "nonexistence" (a synonym for "oblivion").
IGN also points to several hidden phrases scattered throughout the page, including, "Hello?Is this message getting through?please help its dark and I cannot find a way out they are coming." And if you click the timer, you'll jump to a page with the words "nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void," followed by "FOUR OH FOUR PAGE." Since Oblivion is now set for release on March 20 and the ilovebees2 timer doesn't expire until April 1, it's hard to believe that Bethseda, 2K Games, or Microsoft has commissioned the site.
Read more..!
NetOffice - free content management system
 NetOffice is another CMS, and OpenSourceCMS rates it at a 4.32, which is pretty good. It's got some great features for working in groups, like Gantt charts, full support for the iCal format(so Sunbird can import), and the usual panoply of checkpoint and people tracking stuff. The only problem is, some people on the forums have been asking if the project is dead, and there's not really a definitive answer. Still, it looks like a promising project, and possibly useful if you're needing a groupware-oriented CMS. Read more..!
Apple's DVD Player HD ready?
 Connected a MacBook Pro and explore the preferences you'll noticed: HD settings. We haven't been given reason to believe that the new MacIntel's are HDCP ready or if they will support Blu-Ray anytime soon, but it appears that the software is ready when they are. Read more..!
Rapsody DMB combines DivX player with DMB receiver
 The Rapsody (sic) DMB from Korea's Dacos Technology is billed as the first DMB-enabled DivX player, essentially a very small DivX-based DVR for DMB broadcasts. It also supports most popular audio formats, and has a "virtual DVD" mode, which we assume means you can rip your DVDs to it for later playback. All it needs is a display, and it could compete with some of the DMB-based PMPs that are already turning up in Korea. Read more..!
Spam Cube screens spam and viruses before they make it to your box
 Spam Cube hopes bring the hurt on spam, viruses (email ones at least), and phishing with a new box that stands between you and your broadband modem, flagging or deleting email messages before they get to your Mac or PC's mail program. Spam protection is free, but for the "Security OnDemand" services you'll have to fork over $52 a year. The Spam Cube goes for $150, comes in many colors, and should be available in a month or so. Read more..!
New prosthetic foot gives user a natural gait
 One of the trickiest prosthetic devices to design, in terms of correlation to an actual human body part, has been the foot, which traditionally has relied on a three-axis system that allows for movement on rough terrain but gives the wearer an unnatural gait. Well researchers at Stuttgart, Germany's Fraunhofer Technology Development Group claim to have overcome this drawback with a prosthetic foot that mimics the minute inward rolling of a real foot from heel-to-ball that occurs mostly unconsciously during each step we take. Even more impressively the foot designed by Dr. Urs Schneider and his team is completely mechanical and devoid of expensive electronics. Users who have tested the foot in clinical trials report less pain in other body parts as a result of its corrective properties, and Dr. Schneider says that "hardly anyone notices that the person is wearing an artificial limb."Read more..!
Gamepark announces redesigned XGP and surprise XGP Mini
 Gamepark has released photos of two upcoming models that may be geared towards the commercial market -- into slightly different packages. First is the redesigned XGP (Extreme Game Player) handheld, which ditches the swivel screen design, for a more traditional Game Gear / Lynx / Nomad-type form factor, while one-upping the GP2X in screen size (4-inches vs. 3.5), the addition of a DMB TV receiver, and a little standard known as WiFi. The real surprise, though, was the XGP Mini, an obvious homage to the Game Boy Micro, which like the GP2X and XGP, sports an SD slot and 64MB NAND memory, but 32MB less RAM than the 64MB found in its brethren. Although release dates are unknown for either model, the XGP will supposedly retail for around $300, while the XGP Mini will cost $150.
Read more..!
NEC's "KotoHana" LED flower knows how you feel
 Dreams do come true, because NEC is going to be presenting their KotoHana (the talking flower) at CeBit. It's pretty hard to tell what's going on here, but there seems to be a "Sensibility Technology" that recognizes the user's feelings, and then tells the flower over a wireless connection. The system works over the internet, so that even from far away the flower's LEDs can light up to reflect your true feelings to that special someone. Read more..!
Man builds 60-foot tower to nab some wireless broadband
 Seems like a certain small-town Canadian man has a serious demand for internet access -- and has built a 60-foot tower and 14,000 pounds of cement. After suffering with a 56k connection for long enough, he was excited to hear of a new wireless ISP in his area, but couldn't establish a line of sight due to a nearby church that stood in the way. But not one to give up so easily, our Canadian protagonist proceeded to erect a 60-foot tower in his yard, complete with a 6-foot deep concrete anchor! Read more..!
BigDog robot to carry gear for troops
 BigDog is a gasoline-powered, gyro-stabilized, 2.3-foot tall, can carry loads of up to 120 pounds. BigDog is being developed by defense contractors Boston Dynamics, and will run along at 3.3 miles per hour. Read more..!
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-Lytir1
