Check out this new variation on the Rubiks Cube: instead of colours and symmetrical cubes, this beast has all-mirrored surfaces and a bizarre asymmetric rectangular block setup. As you twist it, the blocks poke out in different ways, and its these cues you’re supposed to use to solve the puzzle. Bloody hell it looks hard. Apparently it’s due for release in Japan soon for around $US20, but there’s no word yet on when it’ll bring its fun/screams of frustration/puzzle-induced headaches to the US. [Technabob]
Following on from yesterday’s announcement that Rock Band will be hitting Australian shelves on November 7 comes confirmed pricing from EA. So what is the cost of rocking out down under?
Well, the complete kit will set you back $250, which includes the game, guitar, drum kit and microphone. You can also get drum and game and mic and game kits.
Hit the jump for the full pricing rundown. And tell us – is it too little too late from EA, or are you still keen on a 12 month old game?
At Sony’s UCHI media event today, they unveiled the world premiere of their new Vaio TT series, the 1.3kg notebook with an integrated Blu-ray drive. But unfortunately for anybody who got excited by the rumoured leaks from the US overnight stating that the diminutive lappy would come with a 250GB SSD, the TT series come with a standard HDD:120GB for the VGN-TT15 and 160GB for the premium VGN-TT17.
The premium TT17 seen in the clip above incorporates a Blu-ray disc drive for both playback and burning, an 11.1-inch LCD screen, Intel Core 2 Duo processor (SU9400 at 1.4GHz) and 4GB DDR3 SDRAM. The TT15 only comes with a standard DVD drive, coupled with a slightly slower Intel Core 2 Duo processor (SU9300 at 1.2GHz), 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, but it does come in a selection of three colours: black, gold and red.
Aside from the fact that the TT17 has a built-in Blu-ray player, the most impressive feature on display was the inclusion of noise-cancelling headphones with both models:
Sigma’s new SD15 and DP2 cameras are incremental developments of the original SD14 and DP1 cameras, but without too much in the way of change. The SD15 and DP2 share the same 3-layer 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor as their predecessors, but have a new True (Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine) II image processor aboard for improved image quality and processing speed. The DP2 has a new flare-reducing 41mm-equivalent F2.8 lens, and has adjusted controls, while the SD15 has a larger 3-inch LCD…but these seem to be the main improvements. We’ll have to wait for more info from Sigma to see if the changes make a big difference or not, and for pricing and release dates. [DCWatch]
Lensbaby has just revamped its line of creative bendable “distorting” lenses at Photokina, and added a new type. This new Composer disposes with the bellows bend/focus system of earlier Lensbabies and has ball-and socket twisting with a focussing ring at the front to let you select the in-focus sweet-spot in your photos. It’s also got a new Optic Swap system which lets you swap out the lenses inside for different options: these include standard lenses and a Holga-alike plastic lens. The Lensbaby original is replaced by the similar Muse, with the new swap system, the Control Freak which replaces the Lensbaby3G has it too. Both Composer and Control Freak will cost $US270, while the Muse is $US150. Check out the press release below.
100GB CF cards…. holy moly that’s huge. Pretec’s saying it’s the world’s largest capacity CF, and I’m not going to argue. It’s a 233x speed card, capable of access rates at 35MB/s and it, along with its smaller sibling, is being shown at Photokina this week. Not satisfied with that though, Pretec’s also extending its range of ultra-fast cards (apparently the world’s fastest) with 333x speed and 50MB/s data rates in 32GB and 50GB capacities. The 333x 32GB and 233x 64GB are due to ship now, for $US630 and $US400, and the 233x 100GB and 333x 50GB by the end of the year. But Pretec’s being shy about pricing those, or indeed even showing a product pic. Press release below.
We’ve crossed the palm-sized threshold in the contest for the tiniest USB keyboard. Joel lusts for this one, and yet, Chen does not think such a device would be useful without a mobile phone connector — Why? Mobile Phones already have text entry and clearly, and the USB keyboard’s utility is all about its size. I can’t wait for these to get even smaller and I will be there watching when they collide with Smartphone-sized QWERTYs. I defend these fantasy gadgets difficulty of use by the fact that you’ll be able to keep a spare on your keychain one day. [Brando via BBG]
I love the new Microsoft ads, from Seinfeld to the I’m a PC montage, but I’m no expert. Vanity Fair asked 7 Advertising pros to comment on Microsoft’s campaign. They put answers in cute little old fashioned Windows error prompts. One thought: There are lots of CEOs here, but I’d prefer to see more creative director share their thoughts. [Vanity Fair]
The The NYTimes’s profile on HTC’s billionaire founder and CEO Cher Wang reveals some interesting facts about the company. The most fun being HTC’s R&D think tank is called Magic Labs where engineers have titles like Mechanical Wizard and Chief Innovation Wizard. They’ve also got a writer and jeweler among their 50 lucky staff, but probably no barbarians or clerics. The labs churn about 1000 ideas before they come up with a handful that make it to production, one of which was the UI in the HTC TouchFlo. With Android just about here, here’s hoping they do more than just wrap pretty around WM.
Well Gizmodians, one of this year’s most anticipated smartphones has finally hit Aussie shores. Months after we first caught a glimpse of the smartphone, HTC showed off their brand spanking new HTC Touch Pro to a bunch of curious tech journos today. And the verdict: it’s surprisingly impressive.
In the flesh, the Pro looks a hell of a lot like its little brother, the Touch Diamond. In fact with its TouchFlo 3D interface, 3.2 megapixel camera, direct printing capabilities, internet access and a whole bunch of other fancy stuff, you can’t help but ask: why did HTC even bother releasing the Diamond?
The answer to that question lies in the phone’s profile.
