If you’re one of those people who never surf, but like to wear surfing clothing for some reason, I’d like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the La Brea Massive limited edition Zunes. Stussy, Union and Undftd represent the La Brea Massive stores, the most prominent retailers on La Brea Ave.
Each retailer will receive two limited edition Zune kits to auction off. The kits include on logo-toting Zune with a staff picked playlist, Shure E5c headphones, JBL On Tour portable speakers and a Zero Halliburton case. The reserve price started at $350, but will surely fetch big bucks from some rich kid. The Auction started on the 28th and runs until the 13th.
The Japanese are using the DS Lite for all sorts of stuff. Case in point, museum-goers at Japan’s Nation Western Fine Arts Museum can now borrow a DS Lite from the front desk. The portable comes loaded with all sorts of museum guide information that displays automatically when one enters a particular gallery. Users can sort through information using the unit’s touchscreen and even select favorite art for printing.
I could see this being quite useful in bigger museums that get many international tourists. The museums can simply load foreign language cartridges and then users don’t need to follow their tours with a translation device in hand. Just a thought anyway.
Roomba/Skooba people, iRobot, has released the first public photo of a new project in development, code-named Sentinel. It’s a networked technology that lets one user simultaneously control and coordinate multiple semi-autonomous robots via a touchscreen Tablet PC. The U.S. Army’s Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) program scraped together the money for the project, which includes intelligent navigation so your robots can head to a preset destination independently.
Sentinel’s capability will allow warfighters and first responders to use teams of iRobot PackBot robots to conduct surveillance and mapping, therefore rendering dangerous areas safe without ever setting foot in a hostile environment.
All I can say is, “Finally!” This looks pretty sweet, and as soon as I get my hands on a few million dollars, my robot army and I will rule the earth! Or at the very least my apartment! Then you’ll all be sorry. Or at the very least my cat will be!
The PlayStation 3 will require a total 380 watts of power to run, which is more than eight times the power required by PlayStation 2 (45 watts) and more than twice the power demands of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (160 watts). This is one power hungry machine. If you play the PS3 for an hour a day for a year, it will cost you around $20 (thanks Gizmodo).
Microsoft is taking action (or trying to at least) against Xbox 360 users who have firmware hacks on their consoles to run game backups. If your console is modded, Microsoft will simply ban your gamertag from Xbox Live. The problem is, Microsoft is starting to hit the wrong people for an unknown reason. Here’s a post from the Xbox forums from Furydog, whose account was banned for no reason:
I have two Xbox 360’s and since Friday October 13, 2006 I have not been able to connect with my two 360’s. According to MS customer support my status codes indicate that I have MODDED 360’s, which I don’t. I have contacted several different people and I only one person (GreenJohnny) has responded to me but he was not able to assist me. Although, he did confirm that the status codes I received indicate that my systems Mac addresses are banned because their supposedly MODDED.
Xbox Live Support responded telling the gamer that it’s investigating the issue and apologized for the inconvenience. Nothing else has come out of Xbox Support, so hopefully you won’t get banned for no apparent reason. There’s more information about how Microsoft is tracking gamers and banning them, check it out at the link below.
Oh yes! Today’s the day that Mac fans everywhere can watch their favorite episodes of Deal or No Deal wherever they go with the SlingPlayer beta for OS X. The beta came a bit earlier than we were expecting, but the final release should be sometime in Q4 2006. Whether it’s on the john, on a boat, in the rain, in Kazakhstan, or even underwater, as long as you have an internet connection, your Mac can stream Howie’s bald head for your enjoyment.
Three viewing modes give you flexibility in your viewing style:
SlingBar™ – docks SlingPlayer on either the right or left of the desktop, allowing you to watch your television and work with other applications simultaneously
Resizable Window – move it around the desktop just like any other application, making it small or large
Full Screen – for a real break watch your shows as big as your screen can get
It’s still just a public beta, so expect some kinks that still haven’t been worked out. Nevertheless, Sling owners who are also Mac owners should be happy.
A CG fan Matt tipped me off to his interesting new work set-up consisting of a phat Alienware Entertainment Center – surround sound out, digital video, and a little glowing alien head included – along with the Phantom Lapboard. Read More
Even though the slim silver PlayStation 2 has been out just about everywhere for a while, Sony didn’t release an “official” announcement for the limited edition system until earlier today. Sony stated,
Six years after its initial launch, the PlayStation 2 continues to enjoy nonstop success, outselling all other consoles. The introduction of this limited edition model is sure to be a hit this holiday season with die-hard PlayStation fans and new gamers alike
The new PlayStation 2 is on sale for $130, which isn’t too bad with Final Fantasy XII (coming out tomorrow), God of War 2 and some other good games coming out in the next year. Seeing how the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be pricey (compared to the PS2), the new silver PS2 would make for a good Christmas present to someone who doesn’t already have one.
The Nikkei Keizai Shimbun morning edition reported this morning that Sony will not hit its mark of 100,000 PlayStation 3 units in Japan. Component shortages have limited the release of the PlayStation 3 to 80,000 units, which will lead to 20,000 more disappointed Japanese gamers. Due to the shortage, many major retailers (as well as major online retailers) in Japan will no longer be taking pre-orders. You can bet that launch day for the PlayStation 3 is going to be absolutely insane in Japan.
I’m going out on a limb on this, but it also feels like Sony is going to announce that it will also miss its mark of 400,000 units in the U.S. If there’s a bigger shortage here, it’s going to make things even more crazy come launch week. I tried to make a pre-order at ToysRUs yesterday, and got there at 7 on Saturday night, and still missed the pre-order (ToysRUs only offered 6 PS3 preorders). People had been camping out since 4am Saturday morning! Hopefully that won’t be the case, and it won’t make things harder for anyone trying to get a PlayStation 3.
For everyone planning on purchasing a Nintendo Wii next month, it seems like there is more good news coming our way. There’s been a rumor floating around that Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime, told GameSpot,
There will be another big Wii revelation around launch time.
GamePro confirmed the rumor a few days ago, but no one has any idea what the Wii announcement will actually entail. Seeing as how Reggie stated that it would be a “big” revelation, it very well may be spec related. Or maybe it might be something small, like a microphone built into the Wiimote. There’s no date on when the announcement will come, but there is only a few weeks until launch.
Good news for Xbox 360 owners, the new dashboard update will be available tomorrow, October 31. There are a number of changes coming, a few good ones to point out are 1080p support over VGA and component cables, Xbox 360 HD DVD player support, support for video playback from CD and DVD data discs and you will be able to stream music, video and pictures from your Zune! Personally, the Zune’s compatibility with Xbox 360 is extremely exciting, especially if in the future we will be able to get content we’ve download on the 360 onto the Zune. Now, if Microsoft could find a way to get Geometry Wars onto the Zune… Also, no more “Your Friend Is Now Online” notifications while you’re watching DVDs. It’s about time, it really sucks watching a serious movie and having a notification popping up on the screen telling you “PooInMouth Is Now Online.” With that being said, hit the jump for the complete list of changes coming to your Xbox 360. Read More
Logitech is poised to soon release the diNovo Edge, the self-proclaimed “World’s Most Advanced Keyboard.” Our review unit just arrived and I fired off a few preliminary shots for your viewing pleasure.
Instructions Page [Amazon via 
Virgin Mobile Cyclops at Best Buy [product page] 
Japan to get Wii with DVD player [Games Industry via 
Roomba/Skooba people, iRobot, has released the first public photo of a new project in development, code-named Sentinel. It’s a networked technology that lets one user simultaneously control and coordinate multiple semi-autonomous robots via a touchscreen Tablet PC. The U.S. Army’s Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) program scraped together the money for the project, which includes intelligent navigation so your robots can head to a preset destination independently.
, which goes into your cigarette lighter. The body has an LCD and controls allowing you to easily lock into an FM radio station for casting your iPod’s content over your car’s stereo.
<p>So if you’re in the market for an FM transmitter for your new Nano, the iFreq’s new cradle will fit for sure. But even without the cradle it’ll work with any iPod that has a dock connector, so that’s fun. It sells for about $80.
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Sonnet Technologies iFreq [product page]
Kingston Technology ValueRAM [product page]
 and the verdict is good. Other than having a higher-than-average price, roughly $25 for a pair, the batteries are convenient and can really hold a charge, pumping out 563 consecutive shots on a Fujifilm FinePix S602Z with the LCD and flash going. It mentions that AAA and 9-volt versions are on the way, too.
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Moixa USBCell AA Batteries [Trusted Reviews]
