Looking for an ultra high-end 1080p home cinema projector that you won’t want to hide in a cabinet? Well, Sim2 seems to own this category and the latest edition is now shipping and it looks great. I had the opportunity to check them out and see David Lynch in full HD from his home in California (I think). He loves the Sim2 and picked them out of a handful of other high-end projectors. The C3X 1080 is the smallest and most powerful full HD 3 chip projector available today. It certainly owes a lot to TI’s DLP DarkChip 4 that enables it to output such great video.
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Sure, we know that your cellphone won’t explode and kill you now, great. But what about that pesky, pesky radiation? While the jury’s still out on that one, you can look to snake-oil devices that at least make you think you’re doing something to mitigate their problems.
Take the PowerDome, an add-on to your cellphone that supposedly changes the radio frequency your cellphone emits to a lower, and thereby safer level.
It does not do this though. If it did, your cellphone wouldn’t work; the cell towers will be looking for it at a certain frequency, and if it’s not there, you don’t get signal. You might as well put your phone in the Black Hole.
But if you have some non-tech-savvy hypochondriac on your list, this is a perfect stocking stuffer.
Product Page [via Nerd Approved]
Without a doubt, the most famous video on the Internet this month is the legendary 2 girls 1 cup, something I strongly urge you not to google. What’s amazing, though, isn’t just that it exists or that it’s making the rounds it is, but rather the creation of a whole bevy of “reaction videos” on YouTube.
They’re what they sound like: videos of people watching 2 girls 1 cup for the first time ever. The reactions range from the humorous to the disgusting, and they’re all fantastic. This is one of the best trends to hit YouTube yet, and I certainly hope it continues. And don’t worry, most are safe for work, and as far as I can tell none actually have footage of the original video. Find your headphones, though.
2 girls 1 cup reaction videos [YouTube]
A big thank you to everybody for filling our tips at crunchgear dot com inbox with wonderful, unique, and newsworthy items. Here are five that we just couldn’t get to this week.
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Looks like Netflix subscribers get yet another feather to add to their caps. NBC has struck up a deal whereby flixers can watch episodes of some hit shows like “Heroes” the day after they’re aired on cable. You’ll be able to stream the new episodes, or get ones from earlier in the season on DVDs. Sounds sweet to me, mainly for those who haven’t taken the plunge and gotten a DVR. Interestingly, the guy at Reuters seems to have trouble with his space bar, unless “entertainmentmarketplace,” “timeseries,” and “ourtraditional” are hot new buzzwords I’m too out of the loop to have heard.
Netflix and NBC Universal Announce Online Deal for ‘Heroes’ and Other Popular Series [Reuters]
I know I’ve bitched and moaned about Leopard in the last few weeks, but I just can’t handle it anymore. I’m going to search for my Tiger disc and reinstall it over the weekend. Leopard has too many kinks and it’s not worth the headache. It pisses me off that Apple has screwed up so badly. I’d rather go back to XP then use this shit anymore. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Considering the fact that I’ve been worshipping OS X like it was some higher entity or something. Like I said, Tiger is great and I’ll be going back to it if I can find the install disc or I’ll be scouring the torrent sites for it. Do you have beef with Leopard? I’m sure you do. Here’s why I want it to die. A slow and painful death. Umm. No. I’d rather push it in front of a train if it were a physical being. I guess I could smash the DVD.
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What.cd?, one of the two main OiNK successors, is developing an entirely new set of site code, promising to be faster and more secure than the old TBsource. (TBsource is used by several private BitTorrent trackers and is among the least efficient and horrifying code to look at. So I’m told. I don’t speak programmer language.) It’s going by the name of Project Gazelle, which not only implies speed, but also the inability to outrun big cats. Technical jargon aside, all it means for you, the average BitTorrent user, is the What.cd? will run smoother than ever and smoother than any private tacker out there. Your download speeds, however, won’t increase.
In related news, it seems What.cd? just opened its door to more users. First three folks to email me at nicholas at crunchgear dot com get an invite.
What.cd To Launch New BitTorrent Tracker Script [Torrentfreak]
Unsatisfied with current air filtration methods, French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has created this excellent little thing that would look at home in Sleeper or The Jetsons. It’s called the “Bel-Air,” believe it or not, and it uses the natural processes of the plant inside the dome, roots and all, to filter out some nasty household pollutants like benzene and formaldehyde. I know I’ve been trying to get that formaldehyde odor out of my living room since that desiccated corpse came over four weeks ago, so this is just the ticket. But it’s not all French curves – it also has the backing of Harvard “scientist” David Edwards, who is fond of making intelligent statements with “Asiatic” and “Dyson” in them. They’re not expecting to produce them for another year at least, so I guess you’ll have to choke on trichloroethylene until then. Dang, those things do look cool, though.
Bel-Air Filtration System Uses Plants to Purify Our Environs [Gizmodo]
Ok, so beyond poisoning us with lead-filled children’s toys, China is getting ready to blow our GPS satellites out of space. China is claiming that space above its country is its property, and is prepared to say “stay off my lawn” with star wars toys it’s currently developing.
The only way that we, as the last remaining superpower, can respond is with bad-ass X-Wing-style fighter rockets and a Top Gun-like training base where we sit in cockpits going “pew! pew!” at each other.
Ok, maybe not, but China is just nuts, aren’t they? Now let’s everybody panic.
Report: China targeting all ‘enemy space vehicles’ including GPS satellites [World Tribune]
Holy crap. Here’s an OQO for under $1100 after a $780 instant rebate. Hurry!
OQO Model 02 UMPC [TigerDirect.com] via GottaBeMobile.com
One of the last remaining reasons why some people don’t make the switch to the Mac from a Windows machine is that the have certain apps that aren’t available on the Mac. It’s a hard argument to win from the Mac perspective. Though there are usually alternative programs available, often better ones, some users are really into certain apps. It happens.
That being said, the argument may soon be moot. A use on a WINE mailing list has found tantalizing find in the latest version of OS X: hints towards the ability of the OS to handle Windows executables without running Windows. Oh, this is nifty.
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So I finally buckled and added NFL Network to my cable package because I had, had, had to see the game last night. I realized two things. First, the Dallas Cowboys can pretty much score at will. They’re fast becoming the New York Yankees of football. I don’t care for Tony Romo’s boyish charm or his ability to see everything in 360 degrees. Secondly, I realized that the only real reason I subscribe to Comcast cable is for watching football games. And it’s really only for football games on ESPN or NFL Network since I can get all the other games over the air. But football, in general, is the only thing I watch on TV that isn’t previously recorded or time shifted in some way. I could download almost anything else I regularly watch over the Internet somehow.
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This is what happens when we let you people loose on our BFF thing. For shame!
Blind Review Lolcatz!
RapidRepair has posted a full disassembly of the Kindle, complete with helpful tips for getting inside the case. Love it or hate it, it’s still cool to see e-ink in a working product and how they’ve managed to stuff a wireless radio, memory, and readable screen into such a light package.
Instructions
Over on BFF, user Jaxim has posted a really terrific piece for our Blind Review contest on what the Zune could use to make it even better. Not that it’s a dis on the Zune; Jaxim starts by saying that he’d still take one over an iPod Classic, but he makes several good points that the guys at Bear Creek might want to think about. It’s a great read, and not just a good entry in the contest, it’s also exactly the type of stuff we love to see on the sister blog.
Thanks, Jaxim, it’s good to have you as a BFF.
I don’t own one of the new Zunes that just came out this past month, but my friend allowed me to test his out pretty thoroughly and I was able to ask him what he didn’t like about it.
I must say I really enjoyed it. However there are a “few” things that I thought were lacking with the device. Despite these deficiencies I would still purchase it over an iPod classic. Read on…
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iPhone not holding a charge? Ninjas running down your battery at night? The kids at Gearlive did a great video of a full iPhone disassembly and battery replacement. Good stuff.
via GearLive
It seems Jeff Gerstmann, formerly of Gamespot, had a falling out with management over a review of Kane & Lynch and either was fired or left of his own accord. The game’s maker, Eidos, was upset by his unfair assessment of this holiday blockbuster featuring Dean Kane and Willie Lynch, two gun-toting country western singers who are out to fight the mob in downtown Toronto. The game is full of fiery crashes, huge cut-scenes, and a soundtrack by Shooter Jennings and Jack Johnson collaborating for the first time as a red-hot folk rock combo.
Will Kane and Lynch play the Grand Ole Opry? Will Kane learn to love again? Will Lynch get rid of that cold sore? Find out in Eidos’ Kane & Lynch, available now at Best Buy!
Anyway, big blow to impartiality in game reviews, good to see someone standing for objectivity in journalism, all that. Seriously. Buy the game. We get a commission.
Gamespot Editor Fired Over Kane & Lynch Review? [Kotaku]
Welcome to Bizarro World, people. In the land of the rising sun, the Wii is undisputed king. Well, the DS is really, but we’re talking consoles here. Apparently some kind of Star Trek-type time-space continuum warp has resulted in a distortion of reality, and 183,217 PS3s were sold during November, topping the 159,193 Wiis sold during the same month. Gentle reader, I am as shocked as you are. Shocked and appalled! Of course, inter-dimensional hijinks aside, the long-expected releases of such games as Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, and Need For Speed: Prostreet might have had something to do with it.
PS3 tops Wii in Japan for first time [Yahoo! News]
I’m not going to get into the details of this story, it’s best if you just click the link and read. Pay attention, because after the part where the 35-year old guy pretending to be a 20-year old guy convinces the college girl to have sex with the real person to get back the video tape of her doing college hockey players earlier, it gets weird.
Local man charged with blackmailing woman for sex [The Press Republican]
