Saturday, April 19, 2008
Home
Onkyo HT-S5100 Home Theatre in a Box: 7.1 Surround and Acoustic Room Calibration For US$579
1:03PM Jason Chen | Onkyo’s best new entry level HTiB setup has a 7.1 surround is notable for having room correction tech. I’m pretty sure its rare to find a low end system that can adjust gain and delay on all channels to calibrate itself to a room’s acoustics. The receiver included is the DTS/Dolby capable HT-R560, with 3 HDMI inputs, 130 watts per channel, and is Sirius satellite ready. The set up also comes with an iPod dock and a 290-watt sub. Not bad for US$579 from a solid company like Onkyo. There are two lesser models: More »
Vehicles
Japanese Multi-Level Bicycle Parking
12:07PM Gizmodo US Edition | The Multi-level bicycle park at Tokyo’s Kasai Station might sound like a crazy overblown way to tidy up the streets, but the woeful lack of available parking spaces at most Japanese train stations is a real problem. In some places legal parks are impossible to find and private security guards are known for performing periodic sweeps where bicycles are tossed in the back of a truck and impounded. At 100 Yen (about $1) per day or 1,800 Yen (about $18) for a month, a multi-level parking spot is a lot cheaper than the impound fee. Here’s hoping that they proliferate. [Japan Probe] More »
Games
Car Engine Meets NES Controller
11:50AM Jason Chen | I’m confused, but happy to see this Civic’s Corolla’s engine block get a cover that looks like a NES controller. When this baby redlines, it sounds like me mashing buttons in bionic commando. Hello! Just build the turbo function INTO THE GAME. Prediction: The urge to punch down on running temperature A,B, and cross pad buttons during an oil change could lead to some pretty bad blistering. Recommendation: Sawzall the hood and give NESTER some breathing room! [Kotaku] More »
Hardware
AMD’s “Shanghai” Chips Revealed
11:37AM Jason Chen | The rat race continues: Shanghai will be 45nm, have up to 12 cores, include the long awaited Hypertransport 3.0 for socket-to-socket and southbridge communication, and can emulate quad channel memory. For more: [DailyTech] More »
Science
Six Cloned Labradors Enter the Korean Customs Service
10:55AM Gizmodo US Edition | Six cloned male golden Labradors named Toppy look set to be sniffing suitcases for the Korean Customs Service. The cloning method was developed by a team at Seoul National University led by Lee Byeong-chun, former lieutenant of disgraced scientist Woo-Suk Hwang, who was found to have fabricated research. Their father was chosen due to his exceptional drug sniffing abilities and good temperament. While still a ways off from sniffing out contraband, the six Toppies have already passed the first of round of genetic and behavioral testing and look set to continue the family tradition. As long as they can keep their noses out of passengers’ crotches, they should be fine. [Chosun via Far East Gizmos and The Niche] More »
Music
Allan Iverson Special Edition Zunes
10:49AM Jason Chen | Following up on the Joy Division Zune that hit recently, here’s an Allan Iverson edition Zune that comes with a pair of Reeboks. Only 60 will be made, highlighting the limited edition nature of this set. UPDATE: Person who submitted this story to Digg says: “Like people who buy Zune watch sports.” [Zune Insider] More »
Peripherals
OWC’s Triple-Interface Mercury-on-the-Go 500GB HDD
10:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | The Mercury-On-The-Go from OWC is a somewhat tempting three-way connectible 500GB portable HDD. Component-wise there are no surprises, under the hood is a 2.5″ 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 with an 8MB cache. With Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 you get three-way connectivity and bus power. More »
Gadgets
Build Your Own Keyport for 20 Bucks, Save US$280
9:30AM Matt Buchanan | You could pay US$300, send Keyport all of your keys and wait for months for your sweet keyfob and get nothing back, except for maybe your money. But then you’re still out a Keyport. Or, you could build your own for about US$20 and an hour of time your time, using a Leatherman Micra modded with a little elbow grease and key-grinding to hold all of your keys in a compact unit with flip-out action. And just think of how manly and awesome you’ll feel after messing around with real tools and sweating. Hit the link for a step-by-step. [EDC Forums via Toolmonger, Thanks Keith!] More »
Design
Button Remote: A Neat Controller On Your Shirt
9:22AM Jason Chen | I like this concept of a stylish remote control that clasps over the button on a piece of clothing. The idea doesn’t account for the rise of this little invention called the zipper. But it appeals to me for the subtlety of integration with clothing, and well, because I like to fiddle with buttons. Always have. [Yanko] More »
Games
