Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Gadgets

Homemade Optimus Prime Costume Doesn’t Quite Capture the Autobot’s Masterful Walk

9:43PM December 12, 2007 | Addy Dugdale

It’s long and a bit ponderous, but it’s worth it when you get to the end of sister site Jalopnik’s video of a guy struggling into a ten-foot tall Optimus Prime costume. Firstly, you get to see the bossman of the Autobots getting his gear on. A couple of minutes later, he’s ready to move—and move he does, wreaking terror to the suburban streets. Er, heavy night, Optimus? [Jalopnik] More »


Geek Out

W00t Wins Webster’s Word of the Year, Just Edges Out the Verb Facebook

8:53PM December 12, 2007 | Addy Dugdale

W00t, that expression of joy invented by gamers way back when Sonic and Tails were special friends, has been given the accolade of word of the year by Webster’s dictionary. The word, which beat the verb “to facebook” has an uncertain providence: while some people think it is an acronym for “We own the other team”, others believe it is a mere exhortation of joy, like “Yippee” or, as we say in my crib, “Huzzarahrah.” My reaction is after the jump. More »


Software

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Now Available, World Rejoices

6:59PM December 12, 2007 | Jesus Diaz

Looks like Vista Service Pack 1 is on its way to meet its target release date: the Release Candidate—which should be really close to final— is now available with tons of bug fixes and improvements for all of you brave people willing to risk your systems installing it. [Microsoft] More »


Software

Office 2007 SP1 Available For Download

6:49PM December 12, 2007 | Jason Chen

It’s no Vista Service Pack 1, but Microsoft’s got some bug fixes, improvements, and a new feature that automatically scans Wikipedia and plagiarises pastes in relevant info for your midterm paper. Get yours now wherever internetterwebs are sold. [Microsoft] More »


Gadgets

Extension Cord Extreme Concept: Would this Even Work?

12:35PM December 12, 2007 | Sean Fallon

Placing multiple outlets along the entire length of an extension cord seems like a good idea, but like the folks at Yanko Design, I wonder whether the concept would actually be feasible. Conventional wisdom suggests that there would be a problem distributing power to all of the gadgets that are plugged in —but that’s probably why I’m writing about gadgets, not designing them. At any rate, if the device were possible, a cord that would accommodate 3 prong plugs would be necessary. [Yanko Design] More »


Gadgets

Question of the Day: How Many PMPs Do You Own?

12:15PM December 12, 2007 | Jason Chen

We’ve been buying digital portable MP3 players since they only hold about one album (or read MP3s off burned CDs), but we’re flying high with our Zunes and iPods now. So here’s a question for you: how many PMPs do you own? List them all in the comments and say which ones you currently use. We’re loving our iPhones, iPods and Zunes, but we’re also rocking out to the Cowon Q5Ws for long road trips and aeroplane rides. More »


Gaming

Greenpeace Clash of the Consoles: Corny, Vaguely Informative and Pointless

12:00PM December 12, 2007 | Matt Buchanan

Never one to take a PR opportunity lying down, Greenpeace is fashioning the hooplah over its goose-eggs for Nintendo on its green company survey into even more media fodder. (And we’re covering it!) Its latest gamer attention-grabber is Clash of the Consoles, a site that ranks the big three on their greenness with hokey, popcorn-y copy (“Master Chief won’t be winning any green battles with lame recycling and big power use sucking down his energy score”) and pretty much rehashed info from the green company survey. But, they’ve got fun form letters for you to send your company of choice begging them to go green! More »


Gaming

Every Five Seconds, Nintendo Sells a DS

11:40AM December 12, 2007 | Matt Buchanan

Not content to let Sony ride high on the good news the PS3′s finally moving along at a pretty brisk pace, Nintendo came out with its own crowing announcement: Having sold more 6 million DSes this year through Nov. 30 in the US, it’s the top-selling system of the year, landing in greasy, undeserving hands at a rate of more than one every 5 seconds. And that’s not counting December. So, uh, who doesn’t have one yet? [Kotaku] More »


Gadgets

M++CARD Combines a Business Card With USB Storage

11:22AM December 12, 2007 | Sean Fallon

The benefits of combining USB storage with a business card are obvious. For one thing, it will get you noticed and make your card less dispensable. Second, it is a convenient and logical means to deliver important information to prospective employers and clients. Unfortunately, no one has truly succeeded in this endeavor (and simply printing your information on a thumb drive doesn’t count). At the very least, this concept piece from designer Abhinav Dapke offers something approaching a solution. More »


Gadgets

Sega and NeuroSky Working Together on Mind-Controlled Toys

10:50AM December 12, 2007 | Sean Fallon

Apparently a second coming of the Dreamcast was a little too much for Sega to handle, but getting into the mind-controlled toy business is right up their alley. According to a recent announcement, Sega will be teaming up with NeuroSky —a company that specialises in bio-sensor and signal processing systems, to develop toys that “take play to the next level” by allowing players to use brainwaves and other bio-signals as a means of control.

Unfortunately, neither company was in the mood to elaborate on the subject, so the exact nature of the device(s) are unknown. In the end, this tatic may backfire given the fact that the final product will most likely fall well short of what our imaginations can conjure up. Feel free to speculate…wildly. [Wired] More »