We long wondered just how it would be possible to play Guitar Hero on the DS in the upcoming Guitar Hero: On Tour. There was this big attachment thing and this pick thing and this "will people really play this in public?" thing. Now a new video explains the process in excruciatingly cheesy detail. Looking at the hardware this closely, I'm betting that the stylus (pick) is going to induce a lot more whining than the fret buttons. What do you think? [Kotaku]

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Yesterday's report that Intel's highly anticipated Centrino 2 chipset was being delayed by issues with the integrated graphics and a wireless certification boo-boo was right on the money. Intel confirmed it today, with a soft launch July 14 of the Centrino 2 sets using discrete graphics and their new mobile processors, followed by a full rollout of the whole shebang in August. [PCMag]

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Asus's ROG XG, the "world's first VGA and multimedia docking station" for notebooks has just been revealed in full. The "Republic of Gamer" XG comes bundled with a EN8600GT/HTDP/256M graphics card, has a built-in express card interface, Dolby sound technology which can simulate 5.1 sound through two speakers, and a four-port USB hub. And still looks neat: it's even earned an honourable mention in this years Red Dot design awards. More info in the press release.

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While TiVo's offered Amazon Unbox downloads for some time, apparently TiVo isn't opposed to playing the field. The company just signed another video on demand partner, Cinemanow, to bring in Disney content. Their library is tiny with only 1,500... Read More »

From a technical standpoint, what's going on here isn't all the mind-blowing. A group of German students are using the Wii Balance Board (from Wii Fit) as an input to navigate Google Earth. But what is notable is that the board was programmed to allow users to surf Earth ala unconventionally transparent marketing ploy super heroes. Unfortunately, the turning sensation more closely resembles FPS strafing. But Man must first walk before he can surf—and surf before he can surf the cosmos.

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A team at Caltech is working on a MEMS-based robot probe that will be able to slowly creep electrodes into your brain to connect up to specific neurons. Creepy indeed, but with potential uses for advanced control of prosthetic limbs, Luke Skywalker-style. But the idea has greater potential for "state-of-the-art experimental techniques for electrophysiology." according to team-leader Michael Wolf. And that's just got me picturing the neural probes of The Matrix.

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Yesterday I was talking with a contact in one of the European carriers that will be selling the iPhone 3G in June. I'm really getting sick of people claiming that they got leaked images while it is painfully obvious that they are fake. Yesterday, a white version appeared and gullible people still believed it may be true, even while it is obvious that it is the same third-party case we saw in black not so long ago. So I asked: "really, do you guys have the iPhone 3G?"

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Northrop Grumman is working on a new classified bomber prototype for the Air Force, at an estimated cost—according to their financial statements—of US$2 billion. Apparently, the first version will require human/clone/Cylon pilots, with a high-endurance unmanned model possibly following after that. According to military industry magazine DTI, there is a high probability that the New Generation Bomber—concept above—will be following the success of the X-47B unmanned bomber aircraft.

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Samsung has presented their L870 Symbian-based smartphone at the S60 Summit 2008, which has started today in Barcelona. Some blogs are speculating that it includes Apple's Safari, even while neither Samsung's own press release, nor Apple or Nokia or anyone at the S60 organisation have said it is actually the Apple Safari running on Symbian 9.3. Update: Intomobile confirms that it's the latest S60s WebKit-based browser, as expected. In fact, Nokia is using the summit to push the latest version of their S60 web browser and services.

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You know that so-called "biggest drawing in the World" made by pin-point DHL mailings of a GPS tracker? Well, all you doubting commenters were right: it's a complete and utter fake. While artist Erik Nordenankar was allowed into a DHL warehouse, that's about it as far as any real mail is concerned. A note on his website says "This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time." So, no GPS tracker, no DHL pin-point global mailing. Just one big steaming pile of fakeness. [Gadget Lab]

According to an invitation from Chairman Jonney Shih, Asus will present their EeePC 1000 at Computex 2008, the classic IT fair to kick off in Taipei next week, starting on June 3. The 10-inch EeePC 1000 will appear alongside the newly-redesigned 9-inch EeePC 901.

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Sure, Bluetooth keyboards that help with text-entry to your mobile phone or PDA aren't new. But this one from I-O Data has three things going for it: it's petite, it doesn't fold with over-complicated mechanisms and it's very cute. Dare I say it's taken a few style pointers from a bigger, shinier Bluetooth cousin? Yes, I think I may. No info on pricing or availability. [Akihabaranews]

Instead of trekking across ice sheets and into dangerous areas to gather data on climate change, scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology are going to send robots in instead. Dubbed SnoMotes, the in-development robots are modified kids snowmobiles—chosen for their cheapness and resilience—packed with navigation gear and sensors, and able to work as a team without the need for remote control.

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Sony's sci-fi looking 6-foot glass speaker is turning into an actual product: the Sountina NSA-PF1—designed for larger rooms and halls—will give you a 50Hz to 20kHz frequency response, analogue and digital audio inputs, and a blue, amber or purple-lit 3-foot organic glass tweeter for just US$10,000. [AV Watch]

Just two days after touchdown, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander—photographed here by Mars Odyssey— is having problems with their UHF radio, which was used more than a hundred times before but now is refusing to work. Without it, you can't give orders to the spacecraft, but don't fret: fortunately they can use the orbiter to relay signals, as well as activating the secondary radio unit available on board. NASA said the problem was caused by a "transient event." What does that mean? They don't know for sure, and that means we can pick our own.

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Here's what Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer revealed about Windows 7 at All Things Digital a few minutes ago. The biggest "feature" is the touch and multi-touch integration, which takes many of its roots from Microsoft's Surface Table, and will be available as an interface options for other apps. Here's some more stuff they pulled out, which we captured in photos here.

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The first legit shots of Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, were just unveiled by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in person at the All Things D conference. It's the evolution of the surface table, using multitouch on the desktop. Looks like Tablet PC. I'm not impressed so far, but only because it doesn't move that far beyond the Surface Table demos we saw last year. More photos in a bit. [All Things D]

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UPDATE: Windows 7 photos and feature details here. Highlight videos, way easier to digest than my liveblog, are after the jump.

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We have seen long foosball tables, hi-fi foosball tables and even beautiful foosball tables before, but none can compare to the luxury and elegance that the Teckell Collection can provide. The tables come in a number of different versions, but they all feature a crystal frame with shiny aluminium players—potentially making them the most expensive foosball tables the world has ever seen.

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London's Olympic Stadium is going to be huge, providing seating for over 80,000 people. The problem is, after the games leave there won't be as many uses for a stadium of that size. The solution? Construct it out of flatpack materials like an Ikea bookshelf, then just take it down and move it elsewhere after the games.

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You remember that gun that electronically fires up to a million rounds a minute (theoretically) by Metal Storm? They're strapping them to iRobot's X700 to create a serious killing machine with the flexibility of firing anything from explosive rounds to "less-lethal" ones, making it suitable for urban assaults, "border patrol," "crowd control" or my personal favourite, defence against a zombie apocalypse. [Danger Room]

We have heard plenty of stories about tasers being harmful or even deadly, but could they also be healthy and heart-friendly? Possibly, given new evidence unearthed in the case of one 28 year old man who was tased after he hid from police in a lake for 40 minutes then tried to flee the ER when captured. Because of his stint in the lake and the drugs found in his system, the man's body temperature had dropped to 89 degrees and his heart fell into atrial fibrillation—a condition where the upper chambers of the heart quiver rather than beat.

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If you have purchased a bottle of purified water recently, you know that it can be crazy expensive to get a drink that doesn't taste like it was filtered through a bucket of pennies. Still, if you live in a rainy climate and you can't bear to drink out of the tap, this Filterbrella concept could be your ticket to clean, pure, freebie water one day. Using a canopy made out of compostable polylactic acid plastic blends, Filterbrella channels rainwater through activated carbon filter in the rod, straight to a bottle that can be removed and fitted with a cap. Sounds like a great idea, but I still prefer to waste my umbrella water in a juvenile manner. [Coroflot via The Design Blog]

The big hair and shoulder pads in this commercial are fine, but it's really the music riff (that's going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day) that makes this worth watching. Well, that, and it's just begging for some fan-recorded narration.

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