Hardware Beyond the Hype
Ben Heckendorn is flippin’ insane — this latest hack proves it. The well-known retro video game hacker (who brought us the Portable PlayStation 2 and the Phoenix 2600 handheld) is now showing off an Atari 800 Laptop.
One of the things that really impresses us about Ben’s hardware hacks is, not only are they functional, but they’re gorgeous works of techie folk art as well. Dig that groovy woodgrain finish.
[Via Engadget]
The popular Joy of Tech online comic strip has its way with MAKE magazine.
Just in time for the holidays comes this lovely new fashion accessory for every apocalyptic paranoid on your gift list. It’s a Micro Bomb Detector, a serious little key fob thingy that’ll alert you to the presence of an RDD (Radiological Dispersal Device), a.k.a. a “dirty bomb.” Pair one of these little stocking stuffers with an avian flu nano-mask and you’ll clearly be telling your loved ones: “There are plenty of gadgets like these to keep us safe during the coming dark ages.”
You’ve likely been hearing the rumors floating around that the Circuit City chain was going to be offering Xbox 360s for sale on Friday, Nov 18 (instead of the actual on-sale date of the 21st). The official word is that the City will take your MONEY on the 18th (at circuitcity.com only), you’ll still have to wait until the 22nd to get the actual box (if you pay for overnight shipping).
[Via Joystiq]
At Game Show & Trade 2005, in Seoul, Sony Korea was showing off the Contents Viewer, new software that allows you to view comic books and ebooks on the PSP, via the Memory Stick. You will also be able to listen to music while you read, thanks to a new “multi-task function.” No word yet on supported media formats.
[Via UberGizmo]
If you just can’t wait to peer inside of the Xbox 360, you can at least get a whiff of hardware to come by perusing the Instruction Manual that ships with the console. Available here via Kotaku.
This is a joke, right? Some sort of Korean April Fools? Apparently not. Telecoms Korea is showing this image of “Albert Hubo,” a borged Albert Einstein, on their website. According to the description: “Albert Hubo is a humanoid robot that has the face of Albert Einstein, as if he is alive with robot body. It walks, expresses various emotions, looks into the eyes of people, and talks with them.” Although the images shown on the site are concept drawings, the company claims “Albert” will be demo’d at next week’s APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference.
And this is not the only wacky-looking bot TK plans to roll out — see also “T-Rot,” the bartending bot that looks like a Parcheesi piece, and “Kibo,” a monster-size LEGO figure that eats small children for fuel (okay, we made up that last bit).
[Via I4U]
I’ve heard a lot of trash talk about the quality of the video offerings on iTunes — fine for the iPod screen, crappy for the TV monitor. But Cory Bergman of Lost Remote says it ain’t all that bad. He got the iPod AV cable and watched an episode of Lost on his 27″ TV via his iPod. He says the quality is comparable to the Basic Quality setting on TiVo. As Cory says, he’s not likely to be watching too much TV programming via iPod-to-TV, but it’s cool to be able to watch video podcasts on the bigger screen. It also would be suitable for taking shows over to a friend’s house or on the road.
Now you can watch the traffic up ahead without having to actually watch the traffic up ahead. Traffic Vizzion is a service that uses the GPS/Bluetooth capabilities of your mobile phone to find and feed you video from local highway traffic cams. The service cost $5/month and is currently available in 20 major metros. “Hey, look, that’s a Matrix exactly like mine about to be hit head-on by an out-of-control ZipCar.”