Three Crazy Gadgets From Craziestgadgets.com
By Cole | May 7, 2008
Craziestgadgets.com had become one of my favorite websites. They list strange and off-beats items that would make any nerd jump for joy. I thought it would be neat to take a look at three of the gadgets they have listed on the site. These are in no particular order and are not necessarily my top three that are listed on the site. They are just threethat I think are worth mentioning.
Nerdy take on the traditional Russian Nesting Dolls. From the indivisible bit all the way up to a terabyte. You can buy your own set here for around $35.
Sometimes you just suddenly need running shoes when you are out on the street and all of the stores are closed. UK company Onitsuka Tiger has installed the first shoe vending machine in London. It holds 24 pairs of shoes in six different sizes.
You know what is better than a bug zapper? A talking bug zapper, particularly one that saves “hilarious” phrases every time a bug meets its maker. Phrases include “That’s gonna leave a mark” and “Goodbye, cruel world.” You can buy your own here for about $25. Small price to pay for minutes worth of enjoyment followed by countless hours worth of annoyance.
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Hong Kong Leads the Way in Broadband TV
By Cole | May 6, 2008
From The Economist,
NEARLY a third of Hong Kong’s households watch television via the internet, according to a new report from Telecommunications Management group, a consultancy. Because internet protocol television (IPTV) uses the same technology as that which links computer networks, smaller countries with high broadband penetration tend to have more subscribers. As well as plain old programmes, viewers can also enjoy other services such as on-demand video. So far, Europe accounts for over half of the world’s subscribers.
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11 Signs You’re No Longer a Hardcore Gamer
By Cole | May 2, 2008
These are from techradar.com, and sadly, every single one of these apply to me. Click the link for the full explanations. Here is the list:
11. You prefer playing against the computer
10. You only play when your significant other is out
9. You believe that winning isn’t everything
8. It’s been days, not hours since you last switched on your console
7. You’re the oldest person trading in games at GameStation
6. You like your Xbox 360 and your PS3 equally
5. You fondly remember a ‘golden age’ of gaming
4. You avoid playing on the Wii because it’s too much effort
3. Your FPS experience consists of spawn, run, die… spawn, run, die… spawn…
2. You find the idea of videogames based on board games perfectly acceptable
1. You’ve pre-ordered GTA IV but don’t mind if it doesn’t turn up on launch day
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Grand Theft Auto Stabbing Actually Had Nothing To Do With GTA IV
By Cole | April 30, 2008
Remember the gossip game in school? It is the one where the first person whispers “Bill is wearing brown shoes” to a second person, the second whispers it to a third, the third whispers it to a fourth, and so on. Eventually, the twentieth person says what he heard, which is something to the effect of “Bill and Susan were making out under the monkey bars.” Well, the same thing happens in so-called respectable journalism.
Here is the original story from the BBC.
Teenager serious after stabbing
A 19-year-old is in a serious condition after he was stabbed in broad daylight in a town centre in south London.The victim was stabbed on Tuesday morning in Croydon, near the town’s Whitgift Shopping Centre, and taken to hospital by air ambulance.
In a separate incident, a 15-year-old boy was shot in Streatham, south-west London on Monday evening. His injuries are described as not life-threatening.
No arrests have been made in connection with either incident.
The 19-year-old was stabbed shortly after 0930 BST on Tuesday.
Police described his attacker as a mixed-race man, about 5ft 11in tall, with a scar on the right side of his face.
No doubt, this is a very sad story. However, this story was reported on April 29, 2008, which just so happens to be the launch day of Grand Theft Auto IV. British publication The Mail decided to jazz things up a bit. Below is an excerpt from their story.
Man stabbed queueing for midnight launch of ultra-violent video game Grand Theft Auto IV
The launch of the ultra-violent Grand Theft Auto IV video game descended into real-life horror when a man was stabbed repeatedly in a queue of fans waiting to buy it.Shoppers thought they were witnessing a promotional stunt for the launch when the blood-soaked victim staggered among them.
They realised the attack was genuine only when police arrived.
It took place outside the Gamestation store in Croydon, South London, one of 40 stores which opened at midnight to sell the new game.
Not wanting to be outdone, The Press Association, which is a British news service similar to the Associated Press and Reuters, published this story.
Police hunt video game attacker
Police are hunting a hooded man who stabbed a passer-by as he waited to buy a new edition of a notoriously violent computer game.
Up to 100 people witnessed the knife attack as they queued ahead of the midnight release of Grand Theft Auto IV on Monday.
The 23-year-old victim was attacked as he passed the queue outside Gamestation, in George Street, Croydon, at about 11pm.
Certainly the Croydon Guardian had to top any other publication about a story in their own town. Below is an excerpt from their article, with the title “Grand Theft Slaughter.”
Grand Theft Stabbing
A man was stabbed in the town centre of Croydon last night at the opening of the new controversial video game Grand Theft Auto 4.Queues of people waiting outside Gamestation in George Street at around 10.50pm saw the 25-year-old man staggering around covered in blood as they waited to get their hands on the latest copy of the game.
He was carrying a knife, which was also reportedly covered in blood.
Wow, we have people standing in line so desensitized to violence that they are ignoring a rapidly-aging blood-soaked man and only care about getting GTA IV so that they can get their next violence fix. However, in the reader comments of the Croydon Guardian, someone leaves the following comment.
“I’d just like to clarify, that the incident and the four “blokes” involved had no connections with the people who were in the queue for Grand Theft Auto 4, nor did they have any intentions of purchasing the game. It just happened in the same place.”
“I was in the queue and saw the events unfold, but once again it seems instead of looking at the root of the problem it’s much more conveniant to blame the games that we play.”
The stabbing had absolutely nothing to to do with GTA IV, as evidenced not only by the eyewitness account but also by the radical change in the story. The original article does not even mention the game while the Croydon Guardian article practically blames GTA IV for the stabbing. Gamers knew all along that this was the case. The insatiable desire for the media to have more attention-grabbing headlines combined with the general public’s ever-present need for something to fear has once again cast a bad light on video games and gamers. Gamers are currently a very easy target, mostly because games are a newer form of art, and the majority of people who run newspapers/tv stations/etc. do not play games. The gaming public needs to educate the general public. Perhaps this is a good start.
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Rock Band Wii Skips Out on Downloadable Content
By Cole | April 29, 2008
The Wii version of Rock Band, with its sleek white drums and wireless guitar, will release this June. The Wii version will even feature five additional songs that were not included on the other consoles - “Roxanne” by The Police, “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis, “Roam” by The B-52s, “My Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects, and “Rockaway Beach” by The Ramones. While these songs are not included off the shelf for the Xbox 360 or PS3, they are available as downloadable content.
Sounds great, but this is where the Wii version drops the ball on one of the major benefits to the other consoles’ versions of Rock Band. Rock Band Wii will not offer downloadable content. A Harmonix representative confirmed to Shacknews that
“The Wii edition of Rock Band will not include online multiplayer or support for downloadable content.”
1Up is also confirming this
“It’s a major bummer that the Wii version of Rock Band will not have online play or downloadable content. We can live without online play, but the lack of downloadable tunes is a big blow to Wii owners, especially when Harmonix releases three new songs every week for the other versions.”
Yes, it’s true, not only will you not be able to download new songs to your Wii, your best friend 1423-2344-5355 and you will not be able to play online.
Rock Band has had a steady flow of downloadable content since it first launched for Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact, those two versions have combined for over 6,000,000 downloads. Averaging somewhere between $1.50 to $2.00 per song, Rock Band has made a killing off of these downloads.
Why will the Wii not offer downloads and online play? Laser Sharks has been unable to find an explanation for this. It appears this is simply a case of Nintendo’s Friend Code strategy.
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Brain-Controlled Video Game Headset
By Cole | April 28, 2008
The Wiimote has nothing on this controller.
An engineering firm called Emotiv has developed a neruo-headset which interprets neuron interactions in the brain. The headset uses a technology known as non-invasive Electroencephalography (EEG) to sense electrical impulses from the brain. Electroencephalography has been used in medical practices for almost 100 years but has only come to be used to explore brain computer interfaces since the 1970s.
According to Tan Le, president of US/Austrailian firm Emotiv,
“It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer. It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively.”
“Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we’ve created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically.”
The headset controller will be used to create a more realistic interaction between gamers and the games. The Headset can sense over 30 different types of emotions, actions, and expressions such as excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axis).
Le stated,
“This is the first headset that doesn’t require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp,” she said. “It also doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars.”
“The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games. If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous.”
The Wiimote has nothing on this.
Emotiv is working with IBM to develop the technology for uses in “strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds.” The headset features a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer. It is expected to ship later this year and cost $299.
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Wiimote Power Glove
By Cole | April 28, 2008
The Wiimote is arguably the best accessory every created for a Nintendo console. The Power Glove is one of the worst, second only to R.O.B. (Virtual Boy does not count as an accessory). The Power Glove, although it is certainly the coolest Nintendo accessory, sucked because it was basically only a controller glued to a glove and did none of the things that you envisioned when you saw an ad in Nintendo Power or watched The Wizard.
Nintendo should combine the best accessory with the coolest accessory to form the Wii Power Glove. Unfortunately, Nintendo isn’t always known for doing the obvious things. However, that didn’t stop one Nintendo fan from creating this awesome Wiimote Power Glove.
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Pirate Bay Calling Itself Liberty Bay After GTA IV Leaked
By Cole | April 26, 2008
A pirated copy of Grand Theft Auto IV was leaked to the internet by a group called iCON earlier this week. Initially, just the iCON leaked just the PAL version but now the NTSC version is available as well. The previous entry to the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas, was also leaked early on the internet. However, the early leak certainly did not harm game sales - San Andreas has sold over 21.5 million copies.
iCON also issued a strong warning against playing the game on Xbox Live before its official release, as that would basically put a large bullseye for Microsoft on any console modders. iCON is also encouraging people who download the pirated copy to purchase the full game once it is released saying that “R* deserves it.”
It would be surprising if the Swedes that run thepiratebay.org were to suddenly start apologizing or feeling shame for running one of the largest torrent sites on the internet. However, they it is a bit surprising to see that they have changed their main page logo to say “Liberty City” to correspond with the recent leak of Grand Theft Auto IV.
The Pirate Bay frequently changes their main page image, but it is unexpected to see such a timely logo change. Traffic is still light on the torrents, most like due to a requirement to mod an Xbox 360 to be able to play it. Remember kids, stealing is bad!
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Microsoft’s Xbox Division Posts $89 million profit in Q3
By Cole | April 25, 2008
Microsoft announced in its 10-Q report that its Entertainment and Devices Division, home to the Xbox, turned an $89 million dollar profit during the fiscal quarter (Q3) ending March 31. During the same quarter one year ago, the division lost $746 million. The division had total sales of $1.58 billion in the third quarter, an increase in 68% from the a year ago. Microsoft EDD division has also experienced revenue growth over the past 9 months, up 34% to 6.58 $billion.
Microsoft is attributing most of the gains to the success of the Xbox 360, claiming that it sold 1.3 millions units in Q3, 7.5 million units in the past nine months, and 19 million overall.
Microsoft stated in the report that,
“During the three months ended March 31, 2008, Xbox platform and PC game revenue increased $418 million or 85% primarily as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, Xbox 360 video game sales, and Xbox Live revenue,” the company said. “Xbox platform and PC game revenue increased $1.4 billion or 42% during the nine months ended March 31, 2008, as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, Xbox Live revenue, and Xbox 360 accessory sales.”
The upcoming release of GTA IV from Rockstar Games will no doubt help boost Xbox 360 sales as well. Overall in Q3, Microsoft reported revenues of $14.45 billion and operating income of $4.41 billion.
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NES on a Single Chip
By Cole | April 22, 2008
A Frenchman going by the name kotomi has released a sweet mod for a Nintendo Entertainment System.
Kotomi has used a NES-on-a-chip clone chip to pack an entire NES inside a Super Mario Brothers cartridge. The system is complete with a power switch, reset button, two controller ports, slot for cartridges, power jack, and A/V hookups.
Technology has advanced a longs ways when an entire console can fit within single one of its cartridges. With today’s NES-on-a-chip clones, expect to see more of these types of hacks in the near future.
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Super Smash Brothers: Brawl March NPD Data
By Cole | April 22, 2008
Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers franchise has been wildly successful since its launch on the Nintendo 64. The original Nintendo 64 game sold approximately 2.5 million copies. Super Smash Brothers Melee, the Gamecube successor, broke previous expectations garnering higher scores from game critics and selling just short of 4 million copies.
The latest entry to the Super Smash Brothers franchise certainly holds up well compared to its predecessors. Super Smash Brothers: Brawl has already sold 2.7 million copies. In the first month since its release, Brawl has outsold the entire run of the Nintendo 64 Version and sold over 70% of the units of the Smash Brothers game sold on Gamecube.
Below is the NPD data comparing each version’s sales.
Overall, Nintendo has had a great March. The video game powerhouse has the top selling game for the month of March with Super Smash Brothers. Nintendo also had the two bestselling consoles worldwide - the Wii and the DS, which each sold about 700,000 units.
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What’s Update: Flexible Displays
By Cole | April 21, 2008
There is always that piece of technology that grabs your attention when it is first announced. It is usually something so amazing that you pass the time before it is released by envisioning all of the ways that it will change your life. You make a promise to yourself that you will buy one as soon as it is available, which should be sometime next year, right? Then you wait, wait, and wait a little more. Eventually you forget about the amazing little piece of tech heaven. After all, it has been about five years and besides, the next piece of revolutionary tech has already been announced.
From time to time, you think back about the tech that might have been. Maybe it is closer to consumer release than you think. Maybe someone pulled an electric car and killed it. Maybe it is still in the works, but still has a decade or more worth of development before it can be released. It would be great to find out what’s up with this apparent vaporware. Laser Sharks is introducing its latest semi regular feature to its somewhat less than semi regular blog. The first topic - flexible displays.
What’s Update: Flexible Displays
The Vision
Flexible displays first hit future tech news circuits in 1996, where they were touted primarily for their ability to bring large screens to devices, such as cell phones, that don’t lend themselves well larger screens. The plan was to include displays that could simply roll up into the cell phone or PDA body that when fully extend could display resolutions similar to a desktop computer monitor. The dream of a roll up screen on a cell phone certainly has not died, but many current futurist have shifted their attention to miniature projectors as the way to bring larger screens to hand held devices.
While some flexible display experts focus on benefits to portable electronics, others focus more on the expressive side of things. ComputerWorld.com’s Robert Mitchell wrote in an article about flexible displays that “some displays may be embedded on a shirt sleeve or curve around a watchband.” Flexible displays have been considered for everything ranging from maps to wallpaper.
Followers of flexible display technology may still envision large roll up displays to give your cell phone a large screen or shirts that look like they belong in the Tubbytronic Superdome, the near term future most certainly hold a more utilitarian purpose - lightweight, ultra thin displays for mobile computing.
The Reality
Although flexible displays are currently nowhere near the dreams of the late 1990s, flexible display technology is starting pop up in a surprising number of places. Flexible displays are closely technologically tied to e-paper. E-paper was first developed in the 1970s, but has recently made its way into consumer electronics such as the Amazon Kindle and the Motorola M3 phone.
The Amazon Kindle
E-paper is advantageous among other reasons for its extremely low power consumption. It can even hold its displayed images when the power is off. If it is made with the right plastic substrate, it can be flexible.
Another piece of technology that is closely-intertwined with flexible displays that is currently available in the consumer marketplace is the OLED. OLEDs, or organic light emitting diodes, can be printed on flexible plastic substrates enable the display to bend. OLEDs, like e-paper, also use very little power, which would be critical in using large displays for small portable electronics. Although the screen is not flexible, Sony has commercially released the XEL-1, an OLED based display that is only 3 mm thick.
Sony’s 3mm XEL-1 OLED TV
Although Kindle and the XEL-1 feature technology that is closely tied to flexible displays, neither one of these devices are actually flexible. What is actually available today in flexible displays? Well, most of what is available are just tech demos and concepts. Nothing is actually available in the marketplace. However, there are some pretty impressive tech demos out there. For instance, Sony has developed the 2 inch full-color flexible display shown in the picture below.
Sure, it’s razor thin, but does it have the comfort of three razors?
Here is a video of the flexible display in action.
Here is a neat piece of tech that appears to be a flexible e-paper device
The Driving Force
The primary driving force behind flexible displays is to solve the need of humans to interface with electronics that are undergoing continuous miniaturization. Until the robots take over, humans will need ways of accessing and inputing data into our gadgets.
The secondary push for flexible displays is the desire to place computers in objects that they previously did not belong. This could be shirts, golf clubs, or watches. This is your Casio C-801 to the nth degree.
The Obstacles
The market for flexible displays is very hard to judge and some companies may not want to risk big money researching a new product that already has competitors based on an established technology (mini projectors). Flexible displays are very expensive to manufacture compared to current generation displays because new materials and processes have to be developed. Cost of manufacturing is certain to go down with time, however, the real challenge is figuring out how to best used flexible displays to interface humans with their devices
The Outlook
Flexible displays will almost certainly become a reality, but the time frame is debatable. Initially, expect to see more devices such as the Amazon Kindle or Sony XEL-1 OLED TV which do not have flexible displays, but feature related technologies. Also, a new generation of portable laptops and tablets should emerge with ultra-lightweight screens. Within the next five years, expect to see flexible displays that are at used in curved displays, but are held firm in static positions. Also around that time, expect displays in small objects, such as watches, that have traditionally been too small for computer monitor style screens. It will be ten years or more before wearable displays or frameless flexible display based e-paper is introduced.
The Final Word
Flexible displays will be here for the long term, but will be used more often in making rigid, small, and ultralight displays rather than allowing you to play your favorite Simpsons episode on your curtains or to sell dynamic ads on the back of your shirt.
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