Saturday, July 19, 2008
Gadgets
Double-Amputee on Cheetah Blades Fails to Qualify For the Olympics
1:40PM Matt Hickey | Oscar Pistorius, double-amputee with carbon-fibre “cheetah” blades failed to qualify for the Olympics. He just missed the needed time in the 400 meter of 45.55 seconds, though it should be noted he posted a new personal best of 46.25. [New Scientist Tech, via Engadget] More »
Phones
Moto Sues Former Exec For Jumping Ship To Apple
1:30PM Matt Hickey | Motorola, upset that one of its former executives might be violating a no-compete clause in his contract, has sued him for going to work at Apple with the iPhone as an executive in sales. The contention isn’t just sour grapes, says Moto, but that the exec, Michael Fenger, has intimate knowledge of Motorola’s “trade secrets and customer relationships”. But let’s be clear here: The people who settled for a free RAZR are not the people waiting in like for the iPhone. We’ll see what happen. Non-compete suits are usually pretty cut and dry, but this one could get interesting, if not humourous. [Yahoo! News] More »
Hardware
Forty Years Of Intel: Interactive Timeline
12:30PM Matt Hickey | This week marks the 40th anniversary of Intel, the people who likely made the CPU in your computer. To mark the occasion, the people at PC Magazine have put together a pretty comprehensive timeline showing every major generation of Intel processor from the first one to the current Core 2 Quad and Atom series processors. We’ve all used them at some point in our lives, and I remember my first Intel processor was a Pentium II running at a blazing 233MHz. I loved that laptop. What was your first Intel processor? Or which was your favourite? [PC Mag] More »
Software
OSX Media Application CenterStage Merges With Plex
11:30AM Matt Hickey | CenterStage, the great Media Center-like UI for OSX, has merged with the Plex project, an alternative interface in hopes of creating a de facto product for any Mac user looking for more functionality that Apple TV currently affords. The application can play back many formats the Apple TV, and even iTunes, can’t, like XviD, AVI, Video_TS, and others, straight through your HDTV. It also has additional features like streaming Internet radio and built-in game emulators. The excellent Plex UI will mix with the what Centerstage already has built, the end result being a universal application for Mac-centric Media Centres that’s easy to use. Check out the new UI demo and screen shots after the jump. [CenterStage] More »
Games
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
10:00AM Jason Chen | Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is a Mario Kart-like 3D racer with Crash Bandicoot at the wheel instead of the chubby Brooklyn plumber. You unlock new characters as you collect items, but the controls are pretty much standard for iPhone racing games. The one thing we noticed is that the default calibration is off, leading Crash to always veer left at the neutral point even when we started up the game with the phone on a desk. This means we needed to tilt the phone slightly to the right to go straight. For US$9.99, we expect better. [iTunes Link and iPhone App Review Marathon] More »
Phones
NSFW: Hands-on With iRoticNet.com’s All You Can Eat iPhone Porn
9:00AM Jason Chen | Of all the talk of the iPhone 3G being THE new porn delivery device for on-the-go businessmen, there’s been very little evidence of that actually being the case. Until now. A new site called iRoticNET.com offers a US$9.95 subscription for absolutely unlimited porn direct from their site, featuring over 200 titles at launch next week on July 22. Our hands-on verdict? It’s wankalicious. More »
Games
Wii Homebrew Can Now Read Burned DVDs, Play PSP Games?
8:30AM John Mahoney | Couple of news tidbits from the shadowy Wii homebrew scene today. First is what is supposedly the first custom Wii firmware that its author, Waninkoko, claims will allow the Wii to read burned DVDs without any hardware modification. And from the “just for the hell of it” department is a separate announcement of a PSP emulator running successfully on the Wii–albeit at a blazingly unplayable four to eight frames per second. The PSP emulator smells a bit more of fish than the DVD-R enabling firmware, but neither have been tested officially. [Waninkoko, DCEmu via Slashdot] More »
Peripherals
Mercedes Benz Makes an iPhone Pouch…Wait What?
8:00AM Jason Chen | It’s Mercedes’ Swarovski Elements iPhone pouch from their GLK collection, which holds your iPhone the way that only a gaudy piece of leather can. Only 40 are going to be made (as of now), and will be raffled off in the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin to people who are rich enough to attend. More gaudiness after the jump. [eMercedes Benz] More »
Peripherals
Mobile Edge TSA Compliant Laptop Bags For Speedy Trips Through Security
7:40AM Sean Fallon | We have known for quite some time that the TSA would allow companies to develop “checkpoint friendly” laptop cases–and now the first products are beginning to roll out to the masses. The ScanFast collection from Mobile Edge is among these new releases, and their lineup features a backpack, briefcase, and a messenger bag that can allow security personnel to easily view its contents so you never have to remove your laptop. The products are expected to be released “in late summer” but pricing info has not been made public. [Mobile Edge]
Gadgets
