Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Games
Custom Mini ColecoVision Packs Lotsa Upgrades
11:45PM Mark Wilson | While the original ColecoVision console would be a fine addition to any gaming enthusiast’s home theatre setup, this custom Mini ColecoVision has eschewed nostalgia for modern technology, shrinking the console by 320 square cm in its new case all while making some really great hardware upgrades, too. More »
Online
Muxtape Getting Eaten By RIAA?
11:25PM Mark Wilson | We all know about Pandora’s troubles paying their ever-increasing rent to the RIAA Copyright Royalty Board, but now another one of our favourite internet music spots could be succumbing to corporate pressure as well. Muxtape, the site that allowed users to make 12-song playlists of their music and share them online has been (temporarily?) shut down. Their page is left with the simple message “Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.” And once again, the RIAA does its job to ensure that no one anywhere gets excited about music. [Muxtape via OhGizmo] More »
Phones
Leaked Pics Seem to be Upcoming Nokia N79 Mobile Phone
10:45PM Kit Eaton | Over at BoyGeniusReport there’s a bunch of images that seem to be leaked shots of an upcoming Nokia N-series mobile phone, the N79. It’s faintly similar to the N82, and supposedly has a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, and a 5-megapixel camera beneath with flash. BGR suggests we may learn more on Monday, from Nokia itself. There’s also a bunch of confusion over whether the pics are real, but they certainly seem it to me, complete with its strangely pinstriped rear shell. What do you think, guys: Real or no deal? UPDATE: It looks like are pics of a Chinese-made knockoff of the N79. Oh well. [BGR] More »
Cameras
Ricoh R10 Digital Compact Cam is Updated R8, Bigger Screen
9:16PM Kit Eaton | Ricoh’s previous-gen R8 digital cam only hit the streets back in February, and it’s now being replaced by the new R10. The R10 has a larger 3-inch screen, 7.1x optical zoom, and a 10-megapixel CCD sensor that can shoot at ISO80 to ISO1600. There’s also four-person face recognition, CCD-shift anti-shake compensation, a 1-cm macro mode and lots of “easy” presets that make the camera do automatic leveling of contrast and sharpness in the images it takes. It’s out in black, brown and silver September 5th in Japan at first for around US$450. [DCWatch] More »
Gadgets
Casio PCP-1200 Photo Printer Has 7-Inch Touchscreen, Keyboard for Some Reason
8:52PM Kit Eaton | This new photo-printer from Casio is one mixed-up gizmo: As well as standard photo-printing functions, it’s got a 7-inch touchscreen and a full keyboard. So is it a mini computer with printer aspirations, or a printer with computing aspirations? Hard to say, but it’s supposedly able to edit the photos you pop in from a memory card or mobile phone, and produce custom greetings cards, calendars and the like. And it comes with hundreds of built-in stamps and illustrations. You’d better be seriously into DIY greetings though: the PCP-1200 costs a whacking US$500 in Japan. [Far East Gizmos] More »
Cameras
Review: Pentax W60 Waterproof Camera Catching Whale Sharks
8:45PM Brian Lam | I had the perfect backdrop to review this Pentax W60 waterproof camera while vacationing in Hawaii last week. It’s 10mp, has a 5x zoom, and does HD level video, but the only reason to buy such a point and shoot is that it’s rated to 4 metres of underwater depth for two hours, and is the smallest waterproof camera of its kind. It would prove to be a fortuitous addition to my travel gear, catching some great shots of some of my first surf lessons and some rare aquatic life while other tourists fumbled with crappy disposable film cams. More »
Cameras
Digital Camera Forces You to Recycle By Witholding Your Photos
8:10PM Kit Eaton | The Eco Digi Mode camera is a 3-megapixel digital camera that you have to send in to get the images “developed”, and the lab sends you back a wallet of photos and the developed film CD of the photos. “Um… what?” you may be now thinking… but that’s exactly the design, even though it sounds like the disposable cameras of yesterdecade. The lab either wipes the cam and resells it, or breaks it down for parts—the 2.4-inch screen could go into a mobile phone, for example. They’re cheap, at around US$12 in Japan, and the waterproof version could be fun, and I can see the sense in forcing you to recycle, since it’s better than tossing a disused camera in the trash. But it’s so bizarre a concept it’s difficult to understand without a good long think. [FarEastGizmos] More »
Peripherals
Brando’s Mini Universal Battery Charger is Jawsome, USB-Powered
7:13PM Kit Eaton | Brando has a new universal battery charger available, working on the same jaw-grip/adjustable electric contacts principle as Thanko’s version before. This time though, the gizmo is designed to be portable and draw its power from a USB source and it’s got “high capability switch power supply with efficient transforming.” It’s even keyring mountable. So if you’re constantly charging up a variety of batteries for all your gear, and don’t fancy hauling all the power bricks around this might be an elegant solution. Can be yours now, for US$12. [Brando] More »
Phones
Nokia Pimps 8800 Mobile Phone With Carbon Arte Version
6:37PM Kit Eaton | Nokia’s just come up with a new entry in its Arte series of “jazzed up” mobile phones with the 8800 Carbon Arte. The old slider phone now has panels of carbon fibre in its front and rear faces, along with titanium and stainless steel. Internally it looks like the phone is pretty much unchanged, though now its storage has been bumped up to 4GB from 1GB. It remains a tri-band GSM phone, though, and Nokia expects it to hit the shops in Europe by the end of the year for around US$1,600. [Phone Arena] More »
Peripherals
