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Super-Skinny AOC V17 17-Inch HD Monitor Has Equally Diminutive Price Tag
Posted by John Mahoney at 11:47 PM on September 17, 2008
Can't vouch for general build or image quality on this AOC 17-inch panel, but the 12mm-thin housing is a great look for $US200. The V17 has a resolution of 1440 x 900 with a contrast ratio of 5,000:1 and a 10ms response time. Good deal for a cheap desktop display that can also double as a bedroom HD monitor. AOC says end of 2008 for availability. [Slash Gear]
HP's Wireless Comfort keyboard and mouse combo has a number of other things going for it, apart from being wireless: the mouse has an ergonomic design, four-way tilt wheel and programmable buttons, and the keyboard's got a cushioned wrist-rest, a rotary selector control and 31 programmable function keys. Including a dedicated CTRL-ALT-DEL. Ohoho yes...everyone's favourite Windows uncrash key combo has its own button. Is HP saying Windows is unreliable? Kinda. Available now for $US80. [
Creative, not sure what to do next with sound cards, has decided to toss its wireless, sound enhancing X-Fi technology into the batter. Their newly announced an $US80 X-Fi sound card for notebooks allowing wireless audio streaming to up to four Creative wireless receivers for distances of 100 feet (30 metres). It's not necessarily a bad idea, but we'd prefer a simpler device, like a Wi-Fi speaker, for universal audio streaming. Oh, and each receiver will cost 
Weeeeird. According to The Inquirer, Google is set to acquire video game company Valve at any moment now. It might seem like an odd match at first, search engines not having much to do with The Orange Box, but Google may be interested not in Valve's games but in Valve's game distribution platform, Steam. Steam is the most veteran digital download service on the block, and acquiring the tech could further enable Google to take over the world/galaxy. Also, rumour has it that Valve has developed a rich stockpile of badass digital weaponry, like laser machine guns and WMDs and stuff. [
Universal chargers/cable organizers are 
Iomega, maker of 
It's been a while since we talked about 
We've shown you 
For homemakers who always wanted a Roomba but thought it too uncute, iRobot and Sanrio have partnered up to create a Hello Kitty-branded version of their robotic vacuum cleaner. So now not only does everybody's favourite expressionless cat 
Scientists have found a way to create powdered methane, making it much easier to store the elusive silent-but-deadly gas. By mixing the methane in a blender with water and silica, roughly one liter of the fuel can be stored in about six grams of powder. Though the powder form still needs to be held under light pressure and cooler temperatures (roughly -94ĚŠ F), it makes methane much easier to trap and transfer. Good news, considering certain estimates say that worldwide methane deposits contain more energy than coal, oil and other fossil fuels combined.
Easily the 
Canon's updated its high-end G series with the new PowerShot G10 model, one of the best lines out there for that murky area between point-and-shoot convenience and DSLR image quality. The new G10 comes with Canon's new DIGIC 4 image processor, a 28mm wide-angle image stabilized lens, 5x optical zoom, 14.7 megapixels and a 3 inch LCD screen. And don't worry, they kept RAW mode. It'll be available in October for $US500, and if it's really as good as the 
Want ultra-zoom? Canon's new SX10 IS, the latest in its SX-series, gives you a whopping 20x optical zoom lens, as well as a 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD screen and a MovieSnap mode for capturing hi-res still images while shooting video. The 10 megapixel camera also boasts the new DIGIC 4 image processor, optical image stabilisation, and 24 shooting modes. You can get yours in late October for $US400.
In case all you're looking for is a competent point-and-shoot, Canon's got you covered with its new additions to its Digital ELPH PowerShots. The $US400 PowerShot SD990 IS features 14.7 megapixel resolution, 3.7x optical zoom, a quick shot mode for extra fast shutter speed, and three colors--including a commemorative red hue to celebrate the manufacture of its 100 millionth PowerShot camera. For $US100 less, there's the PowerShot SD880, which boasts 10 megapixels of resolution, a 4x wide-angle optical zoom lens and comes in either gold and brown or black and silver. Both are scheduled for an October release.
While OLEDs are still a little too small to be used as full fledged television sets, there's at least one job where the high-resolution, vividly coloured screens function incomparably--as high end digital picture frames! Kodak's new ultra-thin 7.6-inch OLED Wireless panel boasts a 16:9 aspect ratio, 800x480 resolution, and a white to black contrast ratio of 30,000:1.
If you've ever lived with a roommate who seems to enjoy experimenting with mold in your communal fridge, you can probably appreciate this invention from Austrian design student Stefan Buchberger. The Flatshare Fridge, one of nine finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition, consists of up to four stackable modules on top of a base station. Each module can be further customised with add-ons like bottle openers or a whiteboard.
It's no surprise that a dude who lives in a city of 18 million people would appreciate the need to conserve space. Shanghai-based artist Danny Kuo created the StairCASE, a bookcase where the shelves slide out to become a stairwell. We've seen the 
At first you see buildings of tomorrow, set on bleak plots of land against bleak skies. But then you notice the coffee pots. And the bathroom scales. And the meat grinders, the electric razors, the cake tins, the cheese graters and, well, you tell me. This is not a Photoshop contest, these are actual sculptures wittily erected by artist David Trautrimas for an exhibit entitled Habitat Machines opening next week at Toronto's Le Gallery. There's another haunting image below, and a few more over at Dezeen. Now I gotta go hack open my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, to see if I can't just show the world Wilsonberg 2028. [
It wasn't supposed to happen—not yet at least—but it did: This past June, a judge in the Indian state of Maharashtra convicted a woman of killing her ex-fiance, citing as proof an EEG scan showing "experiential knowledge" of the crime. Many people do think there's something to this, that an EEG or MRI scan of the noggin can depict lies and truth if read correctly, but in the US it's agreed that this is experimental science at best, and snake-oil sales at worst.
Apple updated its Remote.app program, which lets you control iTunes via iPhone/iPod touch, adding the ability to create and maintain both normal and Genius playlists. 
Dennis Moore of OQO has just resigned as their CEO. It's rarely good news when your CEO resigns and says he found a better opportunity elsewhere, but we're hoping the startup continues to refine 
If you dream of a day that spinny, crashy hard drives are fully replaced by cool, quiet flash memory, then you probably know Samsung makes a lot of the chips, and that SanDisk sells a lot of them in stores. According to the WSJ, Samsung wants a piece of the retail action, because it announced it had offered to buy SanDisk for $US5.8 billion, potentially with the aim of absorbing and/or eliminating SanDisk's brand and distinct products altogether. Even though this was a seriously nice offer given SanDisk's crappy stock performance of late, the company told Samsung to eff off, calling it an "opportunistic attempt" to pick up SanDisk while it's down. Samsung says that SanDisk "continues to cling to unrealistic expectations." Tell me, why does this intended corporate marriage sound so much like my parents' divorce? [
It takes a lot for a coffee cup to impress me. Hell, if no cups were available I would probably have the barista pour coffee into my cupped hands. Still, it is hard not to be taken aback by the nerdy coolness of this zoom lens design. Unfortunately, the cup is only a concept at this point, and making one for yourself could prove to be an expensive little project. But I would be the first in line to buy one if someone produced a version at a reasonable price. [
Much like Master/Blaster, the Mad Max villain which consisted of a gigantic retarded guy with a smart little midget on its back, the Sharp Aquos BD-HDv22 combines the smart and the stupid in one bulky package. How so? Well, it's a combination of a Blu-ray player/recorder and a VHS player/recorder. No, not DVD, VHS. You know, just in case you want to convert your collection of movies taped off HBO from the early 90s you have in a box in your basement to Blu-ray. How much will this monstrosity cost you, what with its decades-spanning techs brutally crammed together? $US1,100, due to be released on October 20th. I'll take two! [