During the last Presidential debate, John McCain delivered this line about his opponent with withering contempt:
[Obama]voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $US3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.
I’m already tired of hearing these guys talk, but that caught my ear. A $US3 million projector? What does that even look like? Gearlog did some digging and found out that the appropriation was requested by the planetarium to replace an awesome (but obsolete) 40-year old Zeiss Mark VI star projector with a newer model (pictured above).
Taiwanese blog Apple.Pro has put out a couple more pictures that could be related to the upcoming Macbook Pro. We’re not sure if they’re real or not, but there are enough photos out there to at least mostly rule out Photoshop. While the new pictures resemble case images we saw earlier, it looks to be designed for a smaller laptop and lacks their speaker grills.
Kingston has dropped a 32GB version of its DataTraveler USB drive, which could be a worthy addition to your gizmo collection if you own a netbook with limited storage (say, like the EeePC). The pocket-sized dongle measures at 7.8 x 2.3 x 1.2 cm and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. The estimated retail price is $US139, but you can get one off Newegg for $US80 right now—that’s roughly $US2.22 per GB. [Newegg]
Everybody knows that no real bachelor pad is complete without a pool table, but if you want f@$#ing awesome bachelor pad status, you gotta have it rise from the floor James Bond-style. This ridiculous mod uses a side-sliding trap door in the floor and a hydraulic lift to make a pool table appear where there was none before. Wooooweee, is that your pool cue or are you just happy to see me? [Ballerhouse -Thanks A.J.!]
Sony has dropped a brand-new feature on its PS3 console that will let you buy Premium themes–specialised themes that contain high-quality graphics, customised buttons, and (sometimes) special sounds. Since they cost real money, PS3 users will have an option to preview the images before deciding to drop the cash. The company plans on releasing 6 to 10 premium themes every month, which will run the gamut from anime-styled to NCAA-franchised content. It’s pretty, but is it worth your penny? [Playstation Blog via Kotaku]
Japanese engineers who were tired of sweaty nutsacks quickly draining batteries revealed a prototype of a thermoelectric device that could create electricity using heat produced from laptops, which means more renewable energy and less time being plugged into a wall.
Nintendo’s DSi will be loaded with more RAM than the DS Lite, according to Opera CEO Jon von Tezchner. In an interview with TechTree, the man responsible for web surfing on Nintendo’s handheld said that Opera would be sure to use the memory boost “efficiently.” That’s great and all, but what does this mean for games?
There’s only one week left until the Blu-Ray release of the worst sequel ever (at least in terms of how it took my childhood and ripped out its heart Kali Ma-style), Indiana Jones and The Goddamn X-Files, and retailers have decided to go with an equally frustrating promotion gimmick. Indy-enthusiasts will have to choose between five different exclusive retail packages—getting every single piece of movie paraphernalia will be like a treasure hunt… with mediocre cinema attached!
At long last, Sling Media’s powerful, media extending/streaming/projecting SlingCatcher is available for purchase, at retailers like Best Buy and Fry’s, as well as from Sling directly (the product page isn’t quite live yet, but should be later today). For those unfamiliar, the SlingCatcher takes a sling stream, multimedia files, or your computer desktop and plays it back on whatever television it’s connected to. It can be yours for $US300 if you go here. [SlingCatcher on Giz]
I never understood watching cricket on your mobile phone. Other sports, sure, but not cricket. When 3 had the Ashes a couple of years ago, I tried streaming the first test match. Even with the phone plugged in, it drained the battery. that and I kept hearing what was happening from the office radio at least 15 seconds before I saw it on the mobile’s tiny screen.
But maybe things have improved, now that Telstra’s streaming the upcoming Indian tour to their NextG network. The tour, which starts today and runs until November 9, will cost $9.95 a month or $3.95 a day.
Not my thing, but if you’re a cricket fan, and a NextG customer, hit the BigPond button to get started.
[Telstra]
