Gadgets Device

by Darren Murph, posted May 22nd 2008 at 8:47PMOkay, so we already went way-too-vague on you when asking which mouse ruled them all, but we’re hoping to narrow things up for you gamers out there with this one:”I spend a fair amount of time on my PC playing a variety of games. First-person shooters, RPGs, a little of everything. I’ve heard lots of people recommend a certain mouse as a great overall device, but I’m looking for one that caters to gamers. Which mousing device on the market today gives gamers an edge and comes with features that we actually care about?”If you’re reading this now, chances are you’ve managed to log off long enough to help this guy out. (Read the full post about ‘Ask Engadget: Which gaming mouse is superior?’…)

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Bystanders were puzzled by the spectacle of several dozen people waiting in line outside the iphone Apple store in Manhattan this morning. Geeks lining up 18 days early, in anticipation of the expected June 9 launch of the iPhone 2.0? Sorry, guess again. Most of the people in line were waiting for a chance to buy the last of the iPhone 1.0 inventory. An interesting detail: "For some reason the majority of people waiting in line were Asian," reports Jonathan Accarrino, who took the photo above. His theory: People were paying folks from Chinatown to buy iPhones on their behalf, in order to get around Apple’s per-customer limits. (Read the full post about ‘NYC iPhone Lineup Suggests Black Market Is Still Thriving’…)

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Just like how handbags and shoes are to women, so are USB ports to geeks - you can never have enough of them. I would say a USB hub is definitely one of those compulsory accessories one must have be it at home or at the office, but this one goes the extra mile by offering a couple of PS/2 ports for your connecting pleasure. Granted, I’m not sure who would want to go back to the world of PS/2 keyboards and mice, but you never know. The USB 3-Port Hub + 2 PS/2 Ports will retail for $14 a pop. (Read the full post about ‘USB 3-Port Hub + 2 PS/2 Ports’…)

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The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - WiMAX Edition, which we saw recently on the Whack, has just been approved by the FCC - so all you guys waiting for the device can finally look forward to finding it in the stores. Plenty of utilities have been carried over from the previous editions, including the Media Player which supports AAC, AMR, M4A, MP2, MP3, RA, WAV and WMA formats. The Nokia N810 also supports a variety of video formats including MP4, MPEG1, RealVideo and WMV9. For those of you who can’t get enough of their blog digests for the day, this one features a built-in Feed Reader - great for sitting on the pot and reading. Priced at US $455 and thereabouts, those who pre-ordered it should be getting it soon. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition Gets FCC Approved’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 22nd 2008 at 7:31PM Walking robots never cease to amaze, but “Flame” from TU Delft PhD student Daan Hobbelen is what we like to call a mega breakthrough. By mimicking the way that humans actually fall forward when walking, this robot comes insanely close to the real thing. Usually, walking robots are energy-hungry propositions, but this is the first that’s both efficient and stable. Inside Flame are seven motors and a balance “organ” loaded with stability algorithms. By measuring each step, the robot adjusts stance width, speed, and gait on the go. In the end, kids, we’re looking at the world’s most advanced and efficient walking robot. (Read the full post about ‘Flame is the world’s most advanced — and Dutch — walking robot’…)

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Lacoste will be turning 75 this year, and this famous sports brand aims to be around a whole lot more by revealing a future version of the game. As you can see from the image above, the player will be wearing a facemask that allows him to see the outline of a virtual tennis court, while tech-infused clothing and player equipment look really appealing although I’m not quite sure how all these will make the game more exciting. I suppose should tennis actually evolve to such gear in the future, it won’t be so plain and simple as what it looks like since there will probably be sponsors’ images and logos making an appearance all over the place. (Read the full post about ‘Lacoste takes Tennis to a New Level’…)

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The Berg Moov Kit is one great toy to purchase if you think that your child has engineering skills that needs to be awakened, as it not only allows you to build just one vehicle but four - a go-kart, scooter, carver and trike. There will be explicit instructions for all four designs, and if you’re imaginative enough, you might even conjure out other unthought-of designs for kids aged between 5 to 12. Chances are you’ll be curious to know how it feels like riding one of these, but do so at the risk of breaking this £189 kit. Tags: mobiles, mobile devices, speaker, lcd (Read the full post about ‘Berg Moov Kit’…)

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Tags: game, laptops, cameras, AAC

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Let’s see you wrap your brain around this thing. On May 15, display manufacturer Shinoda Plasma unveiled a prototype of its 1-millimeter thick, 125-inch plasma tube array. And yes, it’s flexible. The film-type display weighs only 7.9 pounds and offers a 960-by-360 resolution. Stop by the InfoComm 2008 conference in Las Vegas in June and you’ll be able to check one of these out. True, 960-by-360 pixels isn’t all that great by today’s standards; Shinoda Plasma mainly envisions this display to be used by advertisers. But you can imagine how convenient a super-thin display would be for people in Tokyo, who live in cramped-up apartments: After watching a movie, they could roll one of these babies up and tuck it in the corner — and they might even have room to do jumping jacks. (Read the full post about ‘Shinoda Plasma’s 1-Millimeter Thick Display: Thin Enough For You?’…)

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One thing about space age products is that some of them worked really well. Take the Hoover Constellation Vacuum, for example. The atomic age design pumped the air out of the vacuum at the bottom so that the vacuum floated on air around your house. Here is a diagram of the airflow of the current Hoover Constellation. The Hoover Constellation was introduced in 1952. Here is a commercial from the 1960’s: It was still floating in the 1970’s: In fact, it’s still floating now. They discontinued the Hoover Constellation, but have recently brought it back and you can own a brand new one today: Hoover S3341 Constellation Bagged Canister Vacuum Cleaner at Amazon.com Unlike the bagless monstrosities that have been the vacuum fad for the last decade, the Hoover Constellation still uses bags, so they are MUCH easier to empty (no more scraping dog hair out of the canister). (Read the full post about ‘The Hoover Constellation’…)

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