Hey Jason, Can’t sleep, so I’ll tell you a story. Returning back to Japan from HK, my father crashed his fine aluminium Italian automobile into the rear end of a Mini Cooper while rushing me to the airport.
Check out JVC’s Sound Garden concept: it’s come leaping forth like a delighted lamb from the creative spring that is Tokyo’s Design Week, and just like a newborn lamb finding its legs, it sure looks funny. An attempt at blending eco-friendliness with interesting design, it’s a full hi-fi speaker system with bass-reflex ports and the whole deal, alongside little pot-like areas to insert plants. And it’s all made of “eco-plastic,” designed so you can connect together several of the elements to make a whole hive-like sculpture of audio and greenery. Did I point out it’s weirdness? Oh I did. Thank goodness it’s just a concept. [AVWatch]
California’s Prop 8, which would strip gay couples of the right to marry in the state, is polling about even right now. Apple has decided to throw their weight behind shooting the measure down, but facetious iPhone enthusiast Stephen Colbert is having none of it. An impassioned speech and patented “Wag of the Finger” wasn’t satisfying enough, so Mr. Colbert dealt with his iPhone in the way that so many copy and pasters, Bluetooth accessorisers and could-be MMSers have come close to: with a hammer. [Comedy Central]
Traditional sound machines tend to use white noise or repetitive nature sounds to compete with the cacophony of the outside, but that only works to a certain extent. Ecotones, by Silicon Valley start up ASTI, is hoping to one-up them by actually being able to adapt to the user’s environment. You can choose from 12 different SoundStories–including settings, I bet, like ocean or rainforest–that play at 18-bit quality, better than standard CDs. Audio backgrounds react to cues in the listening space and combine them with hundreds of “natural” sounds to make a soundscape that’s supposedly a lot more relaxing. It’s available through Hammacher Schlemmer for $US299. Wow, anything for a good night’s rest, I guess? [Hammacher]
Those of you who use Gchat through Gmail can now send text messages to mobile phones. The function is experimental, so you have to go to the Labs tab inside of Gmail’s settings (or click on that little green flask icon) to turn it on. Your messages will appear as a 406 number–once you’ve sent a text through gmail, that’ll be your specific number. AIM’s had this feature for a while, so it’s not surprising that Google would implement it as well. Text your friends! See how it goes! [Webmonkey]
As expected, Microsoft’s controversial anti-piracy programs have raised a big fuss in China, where a good amount of companies are probably using not-so-legal versions of Windows on all their work computers. One Beijing lawyer made a submission to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, suggesting a $US1 billion fine for what he called “illegal measures to deal with [piracy] .” The government said it was looking into it.
Panasonic’s new DMC-G1 camera is supposed to be like a compact with SLR-like interchangeable lenses. Sounds good, right? the problem is that even though it’s smaller, and doesn’t include a full DSLR’s functionality, it costs just as much as a full-blown DSLR.
For the single lens kit, expect to pay $1,649 for a single lens kit or $2199 for a twin lens kit. And because it uses the new Micro Four Thirds lens system, you’ll either have to buy new lenses or, if you happen to own full-sized four thirds lenses, purchase an additional adapter.
The camera will hit shelves in mid-November for anybody looking for a mini-kind-of DSLR for the same price. Full info is below.
Nobody knows exactly what Bill Gates is doing with his new company, bgC3, but rumours are floating around that the Big PC Man himself is shelling out big dinero for his new digs. For his private office, he is supposedly spending over $US2.5 million on high-end furniture. That’s not even including the $US75,000 coffee bar. I thought excessive spending was going out of style, but hey, if you have $US2.5 million lying around to spend on your personal office, I know a few struggling bloggers out there, cough, who wouldn’t mind a nicer couch… [TMZ]
Nintendo’s marketing strategy seems to be a it… strange. They seem to be completely ignoring, you know, gamers, and going for a generation of older, non-gaming people. I mean, I know the Wii is fun for all ages, but who knows how much cash must have changed hands for radio station 2UE to actually change their name to 2U-Wii for three weeks. It’s not just a gimmick either – their website has been overrun with the new 2U-Wii logo and the radio DJs are presented as Miis pretty much everywhere except for photos online.
The worst part is that they’re actually giving away $20K worth of Nintendo gear. Even though the Wii gets older people to play games, do they ever pull it out once the initial enjoyment of Wii Sports has worn off? No. Of course, neither do most of us, I guess, so my argument seems to have a glaring hole in it.
Oh well, carry on Nintendo. Can’t wait until you decide to fork over craploads of cash to CBS in the US to create half a dozen episodes of DSi: Miami, where victims are bludgeoned to death with Wiimotes…
[2U-Wii]
The U.S. is injecting a good $US1.25 million into a new “virtual training ground” for American diplomats who plan on working in China called “The Second China Project.” It’s a pretend city in Linden Lab’s Second Life that purportedly will help almost-expatriots get used to the environment in the world’s most populous nation. While some of the training activities sound useful (for instance, what to give as a gift, how to seat guests), as someone who’s lived in this country for years, I can tell you there are things that diplomats should get ready for that the virtual world doesn’t even seem to touch on.
