Hashemi Media News

Digital Camera Binoculars From Thanko Are Perfect For "Ornithologists"

2010-06-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

I think we've just stumbled across the answer to that age-old question, "what to buy the man who has everything." Thanko's digital camera binoculars!It's essentially an 8MP camera integrated into a set of binoculars, with two different digital zooms: 4x for the camera, and 8x for the binoculars. It may not be the first camera-binoculars, but for the price the 8MP image sensor is the best in its range. There's even a pop-up 1.5-inch TFT LCD screen, SD/MMC card slot and USB port. Video resolution is a measly 320 x 240 at 30fps, but considering this is a FRICKIN' CAMERA-ON-A-BINOCULAR I don't think we're too worried.

F-18 Coming Out of Hyperspace

2010-06-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets of the Royal Australian Air Force have teleporting powers. That, or the Australians have discovered a way to magically create combat jets out of vapor.

Click to see the high definition image above.

Or maybe they are just vapor trails forming on the aircraft's wings, as the RAAF pilots maneuver at low altitude.

The Spyder III, the World's Most Powerful Portable Laser, Is a Real Life Lightsaber

2010-06-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Built with the blue-laser diode of a dismantled Casio Green Slim projector, the $200 Spyder III is the world's most powerful portable laser. It can permanently blind you and set your skin—or anything else, really—on fire almost instantly.

"With greater power comes the need for greater responsibility." That's actually what Wicked Lasers, the mad geniuses behind the Spyder III, wrote to us in an email describing this terrifying piece of technology. They wanted to make one thing very clear: this is not merely a laser pointer, and it's certainly not a toy. What it is, really, is a weapon.

The diodes in Casio's new mercury-free Green Slim projectors apparently allow for unprecedentedly powerful portable lasers, and Wicked Lasers has gleefully harvested them for the 1 Watt Spyder III. Comparing it to the $2000 Sonar, the company's reigning portable laser powerhouse, Wicked Lasers explains that the blue Spyder III laser is 2000 times brighter to the human eye, and, at $200, 1/10th the price.

Wicked Lasers is throwing in a free pair of safety glasses with the purchase of a Spyder III, which might make wielding one marginally safer, but just writing this post has left me terrified enough to stay as far away from these things as possible. For a few weeks, anyway, until our review unit gets here.

Just Chillin' In My Gigantic Packing Tape Spider Web

2010-06-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

What's the coolest thing you can do with 117,000 feet of packing tape? If you said anything besides building a humongous, self-supporting spider web inside a historic Viennese stock exchange, then you are oh so very wrong. Let's explore!

I have never been more envious of Fast Company, who was on-site when this awesome project was constructed:

There are a lot of situations in which being a fly on the wall would be cool, but at the DMY Berlin Design Fair (also home of that funky smoke machine), being a fly caught in the spider's web is even cooler.

June 2, 1954: Airplane Takes Off, Lands Vertically

2010-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

1954: A Convair XFY-1 Pogo aircraft makes a vertical takeoff and landing. It's a milestone in the checkered history of VTOL aircraft.

Using designs captured from the Germans, the Navy and the newly formed Air Force crafted two design studies in 1947 for creating a fixed-wing vertical-takeoff-and-landing, or VTOL, aircraft. The goal of the project was to build a fighter that could protect convoys but not require a large landing area.

Lockheed and Convair both won contracts in May 1951 to build prototypes of the aircraft, which resembled squat fighter planes standing on their tails. That earned the nickname (or epithet?) "Tail Sitter."

The prototype point-defense interceptor didn't need a runway, but that was about the only thing in its favor. It used huge counter-rotating propellors on its nose to lift off like a helicopter - a very heavy helicopter.

After liftoff, it simply turned its nose horizontal and flew like, well a clumsy prop plane with big propellers. Landing was a matter of reversing the process and shizzing back into its helicopter mode to set down on its ample tail assembly.

The Navy gave Convair the only engine rated for vertical takeoffs and landings, allowing its aircraft - the XFY-1 Pogo - to actually make several vertical ascents and multiple transitions to horizontal flight. Did we say clumsy? This bird was a bear to fly.

The Air Force's version, the Lockheed XFV-1, used a less-powerful engine and never made a vertical takeoff. it was eventually fitted with conventional landing gear and made 32 horizontal flights.

Despite a lot of media hoopla, the VTOL had a very short moment in the sun. The Pentagon cast its lot instead with fast horizontal jets and powerful helicopters. Subsequent military experience with tilt-rotor aircraft has been less than happy.

The Gates of Hell Just Opened In Guatemala

2010-06-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

"This can't be real" was my first thought. Then I checked the source: The Guatemalan government. This sinkhole appeared last sunday in a street intersection of Ciudad de Guatemala. Just looking at the photo gives me vertigo.

Click on the images to see the high resolution version.

A sinkhole is a natural depression caused by the removal of underground soil by water. Usually, it happens when the substrate is formed by limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds or any other rock that is easily eroded by water streams. The process could be slow, but sometimes the land just cracks open without notice. In this case, it happened suddenly, swallowing an entire house. The cause: Massive underground water torrents created by tropical storm Agatha."This can't be real" was my first thought. Then I checked the source: The Guatemalan government. This sinkhole appeared last sunday in a street intersection of Ciudad de Guatemala. Just looking at the photo gives me vertigo.

Click on the images to see the high resolution version.

A sinkhole is a natural depression caused by the removal of underground soil by water. Usually, it happens when the substrate is formed by limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds or any other rock that is easily eroded by water streams. The process could be slow, but sometimes the land just cracks open without notice. In this case, it happened suddenly, swallowing an entire house. The cause: Massive underground water torrents created by tropical storm Agatha. Judging by the picture above, it seems like at least the last part is true.

This Is How You Lift a Sunken Warship Out of the Sea

2010-05-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

With huge chains and honking cranes, that's how. Example: This Republic of Korea Navy's corvette—half of it, actually—floating over the sea's surface. And before you cry "PHOTOSHOP!", check out the scene from a distance.

It's the Cheonan, a South Korean Pohang-class corvette that broke in two on March 26. According to an international investigation, the cause was a torpedo fired from a North Korean Yeono class miniature submarine, killing 46 crew members. A few weeks later, on April 15, the South Korean Navy recovered the stern part from the bottom of the sea using a giant floating crane. On April 24, the bow was recovered.

Conquer Your Fear of Creepy Crawlies With Augmented Reality

2010-05-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

A lot of augmented reality applications we've seen thus far have seemed a little, well, excessive. But if AR can put me at peace with spiders, snakes, cockroaches, and the rest? That's a feat deserving of a Nobel Prize.

In a study described in an upcoming edition of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, six female participants, all of whom were totally freaked out by cockroaches in real life, were outfitted with AR helmets and bombarded with simulated cockroaches. They were all still totally freaked out, just like they would be if confronted with the real things. That's as far as the study got.

But it's an important first step in applying augmented reality to exposure therapy, a technique by which individuals overcome phobias through exposure to the objects they fear. Similar techniques have been used for years to treat returning soldiers' Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with virtual reality video games, and this study only shows that in some less extreme cases simulated stimuli can induce fear just like the real thing. But if AR exposure therapy proves to be effective, it could help countless individuals work past their everyday hang-ups: heights, enclosed spaces, subways, rats, dogs, bugs, and the rest. Maybe I'll finally be able to leave my apartment.

Medal of Honor 2010

2010-05-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

NASA Finds Outer Space 65 Feet Underwater

2010-05-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

NASA may not be sending anyone to the moon or Mars in the near future, but they've discovered the next best thing: an undersea laboratory three miles off of Key Largo. It's how astronauts do Space Camp.

The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations—its friends call it Neemo—has been around for nearly a decade. This past Monday marked the kickoff of its 14th mission, sending six aquanauts down to the underwater Aquarius lab:

During their two weeks in the laboratory, the aquanauts will go on simulated spacewalks, operate a crane and perform other tasks of the sort astronauts would face in setting up a habitat on another planet. "The primary objectives are based on engineering and testing and operations design for planetary exploration," said William Todd, the project manager for the Neemo 14 mission.

Other particulars that authenticate the experience: the buoyancy of diving suits can be adjusted to reflect the one-sixth gravity of the moon of the three-eighths gravity of Mars. Communications are lagged twenty minutes, as they would be on a real Mars mission.

So why is this important now? Because the future of manned space flight is in serious political jeopardy. Because today the Senate Committee on on Commerce, Science, and Technology will hold hearings on that future. And because despite all of that uncertainty, whatever happens, it's important to know that we're prepared for whatever space exploration throws at us.

LG 3DTVs and Xbox 360s Sold Together In South Korea For 3D Gaming

2010-05-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to LG's Flickr, we now know that 3D gaming on the Xbox 360 is possible—with LG 3DTVs, at least. The details are sketchy due to the translation, but it appears they'll be sold together in South Korea. The Flickr account, after translation, says that LG and Microsoft Korea have entered a "strategic partnership" to bundle the Xbox 360 and LG's LX9500 (which will come in 47 and 55-inch sizes when it goes on sale this May/June) 3DTV model together. In South Korea, more than 1,000 stores will apparently launch 3D gaming areas showing LG 3DTVs and Xbox 360 gaming, with the initiative being rolled out to Asia Pacific regions. No word on whether the western world will see any love from LG and Xbox 360, sadly.

The European Suborbital Shuttle

2010-05-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Following the trail of SpaceShipTwo, Dassault has been working on a new suborbital civilian spacecraft. Not to be confused with the Future High Altitude High speed Transport 20XX, the new aircraft could be a 11-ton vehicle derived from their VEHRA satellite launcher. VEHRA and VSH—the name of the new civilian vehicle—are both air launched, and "based on the X-38 experimental lifting body from NASA, for which Dassault Aviation had defined the shape." While VEHRA will have heavy versions capable of putting a 7-ton payload in low orbit, VSH is only designed to bring tourists into the edge of space, flying at Mach 3.5. If you don't have the money for this kind of trip, don't worry. It looks like you have plenty of time to save those purple rupees, as the aircraft is still in the first stages of development.

This Boat Is Perfect for Vacation, Living, or Weather Apocalypse

2010-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

According to the designer, the solar-powered Arkki is the kind of boat you would like to have in case the ice caps melt. He's wrong. It's the kind of boat I would like to have right now. Apparently designed by Cylons, the trimaran's surface is covered with multilayered solar panels, which power the ship and can bring her up to 8 knots. The hull is made of concrete and reinforced with plastic fibers. What I like most about Arkki is that it is designed to be a house. And a very large one at that: It has 1647 feet of interior space and a 1076-foot exterior wood deck. It's not as big as the WHY, but it looks much better. So good, in fact, that Sean Connery would like to use it if he were playing Noah in a movie.

Submarine-Powerboat Hybrid Soon To Be On Sale For $3.5 Million

2010-04-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Not even James Bond would scoff at the beautiful Hyper-Sub. After all, how could he not want to step foot onto a $3.5 million submersible powerboat? We've been teased for quite a while with whispers of this craft designed by Marion HSPD, but now the powerboat-submarine hybrid will finally be heading to the production line.

Real Flying Nazi Soldiers With Jet Packs

2010-04-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

here's probably only one thing more terrifying than Nazi soldiers: Nazi soldiers with jet packs—and Nazi UFOs piloted by nefarious hamsters. The difference is that, while the UFOs never existed, the Nazi jet pack did: Behold, the Himmelstürmer. The Himmelstürmer—or Skystormer—used a pulse jet engine, like the one that powered the Fieseler Fi 103 flying bomb. The Fi 103 was the official name of the the infamous V-1 Buzz Bomb , which terrorized England for a while, until the RAF pilots learnt to shoot it down over the Channel... and the Nazis introduced the V-2 ballistic missile, invented by Saturn V rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. The Himmelstürmer was designed for one purpose: To make Nazi soldiers in their engineering corps to jump over natural enemy defenses, like minefields, barbed wire, rivers, or any other large obstacle. It had two components. The main pulse engine—on the back—pushed up and forward. A second pulse engine on the front pushed only up. The engineer throttled the back engine to make him jump over greater or shorter distances. It consumed very little fuel, never ran hot, and didn't require special clothing because it wasn't designed to run for long period of times. All while achieving 180 feet jumps at an altitude of 50 feet. Impressive. Fortunately, like all their secret super-weapons, it arrived late in the war. While no photos of the Himmelstürmer remain—the image above is a recreation—Bell Aerosystems got the devices at the end of the war, but changed its design thinking they could turn every soldier into Superman, instead of just super-jumpers. Their version, however, wasn't reliable enough for real action, and was canned after a few years.

Shell Helix Ultra Transparent Car - The Making Of

2010-04-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

Who Wants A Watch Containing Volcanic Ash From Last Week's Icelandic Eruption?

2010-04-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

With you guessed it volcanic ash. Pretty fast, considering it only erupted last week.Romain Jerome's design looks burnt to the crisp, but if that's the style your wrist has been craving then be quick there's just one available. The price isn't listed as it's one of those cases where if you have to ask you really can't afford it—but considering there's still thousands of stranded people all across the world trying to fly home via Europe, you could probably trade them a loan of your speedboat for their far-classier Rolex.

Devon Tread 1 Watch Keeps Your Wrist Busy At All Times

2010-04-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Devon claims that their $15,000 Tread 1 watch, a motorized, belt-driven contraption, is "a big, bold sexy declaration of independence from the status quo." The status quo, in this case, being affordable, legible, sensible timepieces. But all those belts.If your sense of what defines a good watch is how many moving parts it has, and, better still, how many of those moving parts you can see at any given time, then the Devon Timepieces Tread 1 would be right at home on your wrist.All of the numbers are on independent belts, carefully interwoven, as the company says, to give "the illusion that the parts are floating." Floating there on your honking $15,000 watch, that is. The belts are driven by four tiny motors, all of which are coordinated by an on board microprocessor. Just for good measure, the window is made of a bulletproof polycarbonate.

Remote Control DSLR BeetleCam Goes On Ground-Level Photo Safari

2010-04-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Some wildlife photographers spend months immersed in muck to capture the perfect shot. The Burrard-Lucas brothers decided to let an RC car do the dirty work. Their BeetleCam came face-to-face with lions, elephants, and buffalo and captured these stunning shots:The BeetleCam is the ingenuous creation of Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas, two acclaimed UK wildlife photographers who wanted to get up close and personal with some of Africa's most dangerous animals (with a wide-angle lens, natch).They strapped a Canon EOS 400D on top of a four-wheel drive buggy and rigged up one controller to operate the entire contraption. The photographs, recovered only after the BeetleCam was "promptly mauled, and carried off into the bush" by a pride of lions, show the animals from a unique, "I'm-a-small-rodent-about-to-get-snacked-on" perspective.

The Page: An E-Ink Newspaper That Won't Smudge Your Fingers

2010-04-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sleek Audio's Aluminum and Carbon Fiber SA7 Headphones Will Last For Years

2010-04-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Buy these headphones, and they'll last your whole life. Or so Sleek Audio claims—but at $400, you'd hope they'd last longer than your last pair of Sennheisers at leastPictured above is the latest SA7 pair, which are made from military-grade solid aluminum and carbon fiber, with the two drivers both protected by shock-absorbent silicone which should most definitely survive your daily use—these babies can withstand 14,000 Gs, according to Sleek Audio.Audio quality is actually heightened by the aluminum design, with an extra octave of sound promised thanks to the extra space created by using the material. On sale soon, they'll be priced between $350 - $400, with the wireless option costing $100 extra

Bulletproof luxury submarine

2010-04-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Aspiring Bond villains take note: there's only one of these Nautilus VAS luxury submersibles on the market today, so if you don't act fast you risk losing out on a $2.7 million submersible joyride like few others.The VAS's "military grade" construction (which I'm assuming means "bulletproof," because life's more fun that way, but in full disclosure it could well not be) may leave it blimp-like in exterior appearance, but on the inside it's all class: a restroom, a minibar, video/music players, even full size stairs! It's perfect for you yacht owners who are starting to get the feeling that being above water is for plebes.The Nautilus VAS Mark III has room for five passengers and can travel up to six knots, and you can expect a total of up to four days underwater time without fear of drowning. It also features a Diver Lockout, meaning you can enter and exit at whim for a fully formed life under the sea.

Pilotless Navy Helicopter Busts Cocaine Deal During Trial Run

2010-04-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

The US Navy's unmanned "Fire Scout" helicopter was out minding its own business on a trial run, when its home base warship detected a suspicious speedboat on radar. That's when Robocopter kicked into high pursuit—filming the whole way.

The subsequent three-hour chase finally ended when the speedboat rendezvoused with a fishing boat, at which time a U.S. Coastguard Law Enforcement Detachment unit from the USS McInerney swarmed. What they found: 60 kilos of cocaine, with another 200 kilos of narcotics presumed jettisoned. Oh, and all sorts of bad guy drug traffickers.

The Ultimate La-Z-Boy

2010-04-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

You can have your plush periwinkle recliner with optional Big Gulp holder. I'm sticking with the Galatea Spa chair by designer Verenice Macedo. The reasons I like this chair are quite simple: it looks comfortable, it massages you and, most importantly, it's fitted with some badass 180-degree screen that looks multi-tasking friendly (and far more ergonomic than any tablet or laptop). Now if only the chair were any more attainable than the life of rest and relaxation. Like parking your prop plane on a sandbar for lunch, the Galatea Spa chair is little more than a fantasy.

Sensor Armor Transforms Pitchers Into Finely Honed Machines

2010-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

With any sport, the more exhausted you become, the more prone you are to injury. In baseball, this is especially a problem for pitchers. But a new shirt can track a pitcher's form in real time Designed by three engineering students from Northeastern University, their smart shirt is essentially Under Armor fitted with sensors and a grid of conductive thread. When connected to a PC (currently a hardwire connection, soon to be wireless), the shirt can data-log every pitch thrown in a game, allowing managers and coaches to analyze the effects of fatigue on form in real time while possibly better predicting when relief will need to step in. And with so many billions of dollars invested in the pro sports industry, it's not hard to imagine a time, quite soon, when every athlete will be monitored and optimized for performance during a game.

EVERYONE'S DOING IT

2010-04-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Portable PS3 Slim...But Only In Japan

2010-04-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

The PS3 Slim wasn't much lighter than the previous model, but that hasn't stopped crafty Japanese manufacturer Hori from cobbling together a portable PS3 Slim with a 720p LCD screen. It also plays Blu-rays, so if you look at it like a portable Blu-ray player as well, then it's far cheaper than buying a new laptop with Blu-ray support. On sale only in Japan at the end of May, it'll be $275.

Zombie mode on ipad

2010-04-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Featuring 2 incredible Zombie maps and a host of iPad-specific improvements, Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies for iPad brings one of the most successful iPhone games to the iPad and is a remarkable example of what can be done on the platform.

The Best 3DTV: Samsung UN55C7000 vs Panasonic TC-P50VT20

2010-03-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

There are just two 3DTVs on the market right now—a plasma from Panasonic and an LCD from Samsung. Luckily, that means it's really easy to spot which is the best.

The Method

We tested two HDTVs that use the new Full HD 3D standard: the $2900 Samsung UN55C7000 (a 55-inch LCD, on the left in the photo) and the $2500 Panasonic TC-P50VT20, a 50-inch plasma on the right. We tested them with the requisite 3D glasses and a Panasonic BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player playing both a 3D movie (Monsters Vs Aliens) and a disc of sample footage that came with the Blu-ray player.

The Glasses

Both displays require you to look like a dork by wearing a pair of 3D glasses. That's what produces the 3D effect: the glasses contain LCD shutters that turn on and off to show each eye a separate image 60 times a second. Without the glasses, you see a confusing mess of two images slightly offset. With them, you see the 3D effect, but this means that you need a pair for every person watching, and they cost $150 each.

The Samsung 3D glasses (left) are arguably less dorky looking, although they aren't going to win any design prizes. The Panasonic 3D glasses (on the right) are larger, heavier and somewhat more nose-ache-inducing; the weight sits right on the bridge of the nose and feels like you have a slight head cold. The Panasonic glasses are also more adjustable, coming with 3 different nose bridges and a neck strap. You can't adjust Samsung's glasses at all.

NASA Test Pilot Robert M. White Winging Towards Heaven at Mach 6

2010-03-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Retired Air Force major-general Robert M. White, the first human to break Mach 6 and the test pilot who took the X-15 into space, has died at 85.

Russian Cows Watch Samsung LED TV While You're Stuck With Your 32-Inch Coby

2010-03-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

One Russian farmer is testing the theory, with half his cows watching the Swiss Alps fields, and the other side of the shed being deprived of the LED-backlit LCD goodness. I hope for the farmer's sake that it actually works, as the cost of three Samsung LED 7000 series TVs must've set him back a fair bundle.

Firegard Robot Concept Slinks In and Saves in Fiery Situations

2010-03-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

the designer says this is actually a benevolent, firefighting automaton called Firegard that's meant to aid firemen in the field, not kill them. Much like the bomb-sniffing and disarming robots deployed in Iraq today, Firegard goes where humans can't, or shouldn't go. Like precarious, burning and unstable structures.Using its unique "wheels" and segmented body, the Fireguard can navigate uneven terrain with ease, hypothetically. A camera at the head records imagery and video, which can be used by firefighters in a command center to assess the situation and act accordingly. Again, just a concept for now, but I can easily see such a device scaring the bejesus out of rescue victims in some burning building from the future.

Like a Surgical Mask...But Even Creepier!

2010-03-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

By Icelandic designer Sruli Recht, Masked in Flight is a collection of updated surgical masks with the modern, swine-flu-conscious traveler in mind. Integrating features like replaceable N95 particle filters for safe breathing and light shields for easy resting, I can't argue with the practicality. But I'd guess that, if Recht's masks do keep you healthy, it's because they virtually guarantee* a perpetual, 50-foot personal quarantine.

the return of the commodore 64

2010-03-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Utilitarian clean lines, hefty chunkiness, and glorious beige. That's the Commodore 64 everybody loves, not the travesty at the beginning of this post. Or maybe it's just me who loves it, because I still remember playing Pitstop, Summer Games, Star Wars, and the impossible-to-finish Ghostbusters in my school's computer lab, in between BASIC programming lessons and multiple-choice tests.

Toilet+Sink Looks Beautiful, Even Though It's Filled With Grey Water

2010-03-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Combining a sink with a toilet in the interest of the environment isn't a new idea, but remember the disastrous result from last time? W+W is a new sink+toilet combo that could fit in any contemporary bathroom, and it's a real product. The premise is simple if you haven't heard it before: The "grey water" from sink-based activities like hand washing is captured, filtered (for bacteria and odor) and stored within the toilet cistern. Whenever you flush the toilet, this gently used water (that need not be completely pure) washes your worst offenses away. However, in W+W's case, all this eco style comes with a price. This toilet+sink runs over $4000 in the UK. For that much, one can plant a lot equally nice-looking trees or convince themselves to eat less fiber.

Nostromo watch

2010-03-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Nostromo was designed by Jean-François Ruchonnet for Cabestan, and he's introduced a new gear-shaft transmission and a form based on Ripley's original ride.The entire case is black PVD coated titanium, and its innards glow wildly in the dark without looking green during the day. It's also got a power reserve indicator (50 hours), three engraved rotary drums, and looks as cool as any watch I've seen in a long time. Only hiccup: it costs about $141,000.

Nvidia's 3DTV Play Brings 3D From PC to 3DTVs

2010-03-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Problem: Nvidia's GeForce GPU can display 3D, but in a different standard than the HDMI 1.4 plug that the upcoming crop of 3D TVs are going to use. Solution: Nvidia's 3DTV Play software, which reconciles the difference. If you already own Nvidia's 3D Vision kit, you're eligible to get 3DTV Play as a free upgrade. If you'd rather not bother, you can pick up 3DTV Play separately for $40. Since your 3DTV comes with stereoscopic glasses anyway, you may be better off with the standalone. It'll also support Blu-ray 3D in 1080p, 3D photos, or streaming 3D movie content. This kind of technology may seem a little premature—the sets that it's capable with are only just now beginning to trickle out—but it's going to be an uphill battle to get people to accept 3D on a large scale. The sooner even the smallest hesitations can be allayed, the better.

Ac130 Spooky gun ship

2010-03-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Inflatable Bike Case Protects Your Wheels When Traveling

2010-03-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

A niche market, yes, but when you reach a certain age and the idea of going on a cycling-and-camping holiday in a foreign country appeals, you've got to consider how to transport your bike over. I've always thought just hiring a bike in the chosen country would work out cheaper, but some people have spent too much time—and money—pimping their bikes to optimum levels and would rather walk than ride a hire bike. So! Onto the inflatable Helium case, from Biknd. For starters, you'll need to remove the bike's wheels, seat, pedals and handlebar, so it all fits into the bike pack. It's made from flexible nylon and polyester, with a Cordura nylon crank and chain-stay cover. Then comes the novel part, and the reason Biknd named the case the Helium. Connect a foot pump, and pumping it a few hundred times will inject enough air into it that it'll inflate the bag—protecting the bike from bumps in the luggage hold of a plane. Wheels make it easy to drive through airports, bearing in mind the deflated case alone weighs 9.5kgs. It's $600—so you've got to be a real bike enthusiast to outlay that kind of moolah on transporting your cherished wheels about

Nexus Scooter Carry-On: The Most Fun Way to Get Arrested In an Airport

2010-03-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

For every time you've brought a scooter to the airport and wished it fit into the overhead compartment, I give you the Nexus: a battery-powered scooter that folds into a luggage-sized case. The TSA will love this. Nexus is a concept designed by Francisco Lupin, and if it were either for a) sale or b) not guaranteed to get me arrested, I'd own one already. Its two electric engines run on four 12V batteries, and can achieve speeds of up to 15 km/h. It'll last two hours on one charge, though if you make it two minutes before being tackled by bored security personnel you deserve some kind of special award.

Convert Your Nation Into Star-Shaped Islands And Save It From Sinking

2010-03-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Maldives, a small nation consisting of 1,200 islands is gradually disappearing as sea levels rise. In an attempt to save the place, their government has signed off on the development of several "floating facilities" like this one. Dutch Docklands/Dutch Watervalley, makers of many floating homes, are the starry-eyed folks working with the Maldives government on this project and they intend on creating tiered—and yes, star-shaped—mini-cities which won't be bothered by rising sea levels.

Sony's Mythical PSPad a Combination of the iPad and PlayStation

2010-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony's gearing up to take on Apple this year, with the long-awaited PSP Phone and a netbook/eBook reader/PSP hybrid to fight the iPad. And just in the nick of time for our Sony tough love fest,We Miss Sony! There aren't extensive details available yet—including any info about pricing and specs—but we can expect to see the both the PSP phone and the PSPad sometime this year. The Sony Ericsson PSP phone, in particular, has been in the works since at least 2007 , but has met with various delays since then. As for the multifunction iPad competitor, it's not clear exactly what form that will take. Both devices, though, will leverage the media platform Sonys launching later this month. The Sony Online Service a temporary name—is going to provide similar media content as iTunes, but will supplement its offerings with its extensive (and exclusive) catalog of PlayStation games. Mostly older games are expected to be available on the mobile devices.The project is apparently being speared by Kunimasa Suzuki, who has an oversight role in both Sony's Vaio and PlayStation businesses.

Google Wants to Eat Everything and Us All

2010-03-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

This Google Monster was created by Asaf Hanuka for an article about groups protesting Google's plan to scan every book. I think it's the way many thinks about its insatiable hunger, including myself. Well, actually, I see it like this:

Skinput, the Touch-Interface For Your Skin, Brings a Whole Nother Meaning to Touch Typing

2010-03-03T13:33:00.001-08:00

Cool Leaf Flat Input Devices Don't Need No Stinkin' Key Tops

2010-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Cool Leaf is an input system that's perfectly flat, and wonderfully mirrored. A Japanese company called Minebea pioneered it, and they're demonstrating it with a keyboard, calculator, and remote control that are complete key top-free. The immediately apparent benefit—other than the crazy-futuristic look— is that the devices would be easy to clean: no keys for dust or crumbs to get stuck behind or under.

The reflective surface looks great.

Aurora Watch Trades Its Face For LASERS

2010-03-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Aurora Watch has no interest in traditional minute and second hands. It doesn't even have a dial to speak of. Yep, you're just going to have to settle for good old fashioned touch activated laser hands.

Robots Making Your Food

2010-02-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

This sushi-making robot, along with the Okonomiyaki robot and the omelet robot, aren't new, but they are featured in this NYT story about chef robots to get you up to speed on machine-prepared cuisine.

100 mph nitro rc car

2010-02-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Don't Hookah and Drive

2010-02-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Just a friendly reminder not to hookah and drive this weekend. Not because you'll get in an accident. Because it looks suggestive.

Who does that?

Sound Scrape Concept Projects Images To Match The Music Being Played

2010-02-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

iTunes visualizations are nice to look at, but this Sound Scape concept looks a treat with the inbuilt LED projector beaming visuals out to match the music being played. It's all based on nature, so if you're playing 50 Cent don't expect images of guns to be projected. Instead, the concept renders show fluffy clouds and relaxing pools of water. A stone-like controller can change tracks or volume—or at least would do, if it was actually a real product. Sadly this concept is as real as the cerulean clouds it projects.

I want it.

Astronauts Turn International Space Station Into TIE Fighter

2010-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

Your Future Morning View Will Make You Vomit

2010-02-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Current augmented reality : Computers recognizing your surroundings and overlaying useful information over the real world. Future advertising-driven augmented reality according to Keiichi Matsudafor: A mind blowing view that will make everyone of us puke. Even his simulation makes me dizzy. The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it.

This makes me dizzy but its really amazing.

iDrift Gaming Peripheral Concept For The iPad Will Be A Reality Soon, I'm Sure

2010-02-02T10:25:00.001-08:00

The iPad's not even on sale yet, but that hasn't stopped designer Michael Greenberg from imagining a gaming peripheral for it. Like the wheels built for the Wiimote, the iDrift could help aid in turning sharp corners when gaming.

Mu Space Music Player Transforms Into a Bed

2010-02-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

the Mu Space music player is a bed box. Its body carries a soft bed inside, doubling as an audio pillow thanks to its rotating speakers. You just have to open it, unfold the bed, turn the speakers inside, and get to sleep listening to slumbering songs. Simple.

We All Drink From The Yellow Submarine (Tea Infuser)

2010-01-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is awesome. I want to drink a tea now.

South Korea Plans Giant Eco Dome

2010-01-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

The Ecorium Project, South Korea's planned nature reserve, is a stunner. The 33,000 sq. meter park includes a wetland reserve, a wild plant area. The structure will comprise a series of connected domes, each of which contains its own greenhouse. Sponsored by the National Ecological Institute of South Korea and designed by Samoo, the Ecorium Project is going to be as much an educational center as it is a preserve. It'll also be energy-efficient itself, with each greenhouse being capable of detecting external climate conditions and making the appropriate adjustments inside. The exterior will be made of metal panels, low-iron and low-e double glazing, wood and plexiglass.

This place looks really cool.

Toilet of tomorrow

2010-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

The Home Core Integrated Toilet, a concept by Dang Jingwei, fits a pedestal sink and a toilet into one, eco-friendly unit with a dangerous-looking swivel. When you wash your hands or brush your teeth in the sink, the system can retain this "gray water" for the toilet. Apparently, your butt excretions are not as picky as your mouth—who woulda thunk—so mixing some toothpaste with what is already wretched waste is no big deal.

This toilet has a crazy look. But it sounds awesome.

NASA Low Noise, Electric VTOL Personal Air Vehicle

2010-01-20T13:16:00.000-08:00

this is really cool. In the future people will fly with this not there cars.
electric-powered, super-quiet personal VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft! NASA is preparing to oblige you. The space agency's Puffin aircraft design will be officially unveiled tomorrow, showing just how far personal, electrically propelled flight could change the ways we live and get around.The Puffin is something of a personal V-22 Osprey, complete with vertical-takeoff and landing capability. But rather than tilting the rotors forward for horizontal flight, the whole craft cockpit and all pitches forward, meaning the pilot flies from a prone position. During takeoff and landing the tail splits into four legs that serve as landing gear, and flaps on the wings deploy to keep the aircraft stable as it lifts and descends. As far as specs are concerned the Puffin is no slouch. Its 12-feet height and 13.5-feet wingspan mean it's big, but of manageable stature. In theory it can cruise at 150 miles per hour and sprint at more like 300 miles per hour. Since the craft is electrically propelled it doesn't need air intake, so thinning air is not a limitation, meaning it can reach — again, in theory — 30,000 feet before limitations on battery power force it to descend (clearly the pilot would need a pressurized cabin or oxygen tanks at that altitude, but we're just talking raw physical capability here).

Four Robots, Four Different Ways To Climb Walls

2010-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

robots that walk on wall. This is awesome.

Personal soundtracks on a new Nokia Phone N900

2010-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

You can listen to your MP3, .wma, .aac, .m4a, and .wav files. It has a 5 mega pixel camera. It also stores meta data. It can store up to 32GB of memory. It has an on screen keyboard or a slide out keyboard. I think this phone is pretty cool. It also has a lot of cool features. It also has a good camera and I can listen to my music on it.

Longest hair in the world

2010-01-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

This man is from china and he broke the record of longest hair.

Bugatti Veyron

2010-01-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

awesome car but a really bad driver.

Report: No matter the carrier, U.S. 3G service is nothing to shout about

2009-12-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

AT&T is the favorite whipping boy for spotty 3G coverage, but according to a new survey, there's plenty of blame to go around when it comes to slow or non-existent 3G service in the States.MocoNews has the details on the survey, which found that the average 3G download speed in seven major U.S. cities—San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, and New York—was just 245Kbps, a figure that's "closer to dial-up" than blistering bullet train of broadband that the big carriers promise in those slick TV commercials. The fastest download speed recorded: 645Kbps, still well short of the average speed you'll get out of a so-so broadband cable connection.

MAG Premiere Gameplay Trailer

2009-12-07T13:33:00.001-08:00

JBL Creature Speakers

2009-12-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

original JBL Creature speakers were released seven years ago, Apple's designs have (d)evolved into metal bricks. But that doesn't top JBL from selling the sci-fi-inspired Creature III exclusively through Apple channels. The original Creature speakers are recaptured in the $130 Creature IIIs, though the latest edition features a more compact subwoofer than Creatures of yore. Does the design hold up all these years later? You tell us.

Tech gifts for the geek with everything

2009-12-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini- A nifty speaker and iPod/iPhone dock that's a sort-of miniaturized version of B&W's beautiful full-size Zeppelin. Never mind that it doesn't actually look like a zeppelin at all... it's still a very cool gadget. $400

LoSafe Disaster-Proof Hard Drive- Your external backup drive does you no good if your house burns down. IoSafe drives are fireproof and waterproof and start at $149, not much more than a standard external hard drive.

Moshi Voice Control Alarm Clock- A travel clock with a twist: You set the time and alarm via voice... and you can even snooze it by command instead of pushing a button. Just $20, it makes a great stocking stuffer.

Jabra Stone- A strange and unique Bluetooth headset, the latest Jabra sinks into a smooth pebble-like device for charging and storage. A conversation piece, to say the least. $120

Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements8- $100 gets you slimmed-down and simplified versions of these industry-standard photo- and video-editing applications. Get your friends and family off of Windows Movie Maker and Paint and into something legit.

Livescribe Pulse Digital Pen- Perfect for your hyper-organized student, the Livescribe Pulse records audio, transfers handwritten notes to your PC, and even plays Hangman. $200

ICON Rogue Flashlight- A distinctive and bright LED flashlight, powered by a single AA battery. $40

TomTom GPS for iPhone- If your loved one already has an iPhone, there's no need to bother with a standalone GPS receiver. The TopTom app is the best iPhone GPS navigator that I've tried to date, with complete text-to-speech voice nav features. $100

Boggle- Because everybody loves Boggle. $19

Adults-only app store for Android open for business

2009-11-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Android phones are going to have apps only for adults such as show girls.

Apple wades into AT&T-Verizon feud

2009-11-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

The last week or so's been pretty rough for AT&T. First, its request for an injunction against Verizon Wireless and those "There's a map for that" ads was brushed aside by judge, and then it faced a wave of ridicule for its hastily produced "Let's compare" commercials starring a haggard-looking Luke Wilson.So perhaps it shouldn't come to a huge surprise that Apple has come to AT&T assistance with a series of new ads touting not just the iPhone itself, but also AT&T's network—and specifically, AT&T's ability to handle both voice calls and data at the same time. AllThingsDigital has both of the new ads(slated to run during "House," "The Daily Show," and "Dancing with the Stars," among other shows) embedded in this post, and both feature the familiar white background, friendly music, and a finger tapping away on the big iPhone interface. In one of the spots, the voiceover says: "Say you're on a call, and your friend wants to know..." (cue the friend) "...what time's the movie?" The finger taps up movie showtimes on the screen, and the voice returns: "You can tell him ... all without ever leaving the call." In another example from the second ad: "Say you're on a call with a client, and he asks..." (here's the client) "Did you get my e-mail?" The finger taps to open the message, and the voiceover says, "You can say, yep, got it right here." After a few more examples comes the capper: "Can your phone and your network do that?" Cue the Apple and AT&T logos. The new Apple ads come just days after AT&T's widely mocked commercials from last week, in which an unshaven Luke Wilson stood in front of a big orange comparison chart, giving points to AT&T its ability to let chatters "talk and surf at the same time" and having "access to over 100,000 apps," while Verizon only got credit for "name that starts with the letter 'V'." But while these latest Apple spots are certainly more polished than the Wilson ad (which, as I wrote last week, was at least a better idea on AT&T's part than its misguided lawsuit was), they still pale compared to Verizon's devastating "Map for that" ads, which feature twin U.S. 3G coverage maps: one practically bathed in red for Verizon, the other patchy blue for AT&T. And besides, while it's nice to be able to make calls and surf at the same time, it's not much use if your calls keep getting dropped.

Wal-Mart Black Friday deals hit the web

2009-11-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

Some of the consumer electronics highlights include:

> A 15.6-inch eMachines laptop with 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, AMD CPU, and Windows 7 for $198 -- a new low for notebook prices.

> A 42-inch Emerson 720p plasma TV for $448. A 50-inch Sanyo plasma will run you $598.

> A 46-inch Sony 1080p LCD TV for $798.

> Nintendo DS Lites for $98.

> Rock Band Special Edition (with all the instruments) for just $50.

> PlayStation 3 Slim with two games and a Blu-ray disc for $299.

> A 320GB Western Digital external hard drive for $49.

> A 10.1-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot camera with 3x optical zoom for $79. Or get a 12-megapixel Kodak for just $69.

> TomTom GPS units as cheap as $59.

Link your Ps3 to Facebook

2009-11-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

Now you can link your ps3 to you facebook account. it tells people what your playing and what trophies you got.

Christopher Null: The Working Guy * Blog * Bio * Email add to My Yahoo! rss Email Alerts Best Buy Black Friday deals leaked

2009-11-16T13:22:00.005-08:00

You already know about the $250 Acer Laptop that Best Buy is offering. Now the mammoth retailers additional Black Friday post-Thanksgiving discounts have been leaked online, with some pretty amazing deals to be had for the savvy tech bargain hunter.

According to copies of its circular ads now available, here's some of what you can expect come next Friday:

> A 50-inch Samsung plasma TV for $898.

> A 42-inch Samsung LCD TV for $548.

> A 15.5-inch Sony laptop With Windows 7, a Pentium CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 300GB hard drive for $400. Add an internal Blu-ray drive for another 80 bucks.

> An external 500GB Western Digital hard drive for $80.

> Canon's high-end T1i DSLR camera with lens for $700.

> Huge discounts on GPS units, as little as $90 for a Magellan SE 4.

> Samsung Instinct, Sony Ericsson W518a, Motorola Rival, LG Chocolate Touch, and BlackBerry Curve 8330 cell phones are all free with two years of service.

> Sony PS3 Slim with two games for $300.

> DVD movies will be available for as little as $4 each, with Blu-ray discs for $8 and up. A Sony Blu-ray player will hit $150, inching closer to that magic $99 price point.

MW2-AMAZING Knife Throw- Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-16T13:22:00.004-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cudCajMNRM0&feature=popt00us02

MW2-AMAZING Knife Throw- Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-16T13:22:00.003-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cudCajMNRM0

MW2-AMAZING Knife Throw- Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-16T13:22:00.002-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cudCajMNRM0&feature=popt00us02

MW2-AMAZING Knife Throw- Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-16T13:22:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cudCajMNRM0

Wireless "power mat" charging options on the rise

2009-11-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

Powermat was perhaps the first company to enter this space, and it's still going strong with a sleek charging pad and fairly good device support. Like all such mat-based charging systems, you can't just take any electronic device and drop it on the pad to get it charging. You have to add a sleeve or adapter of some sort to your phone or other device in order for it to be able to work with the plug-less charging system. Users generally leave this sleeve affixed permanently to their phones. In the case of the Powermat sleeve, it adds a bit of bulk to the handset, with a small square piece jutting out the back of the phone. Powermat is not alone: Duracell's new myGrid offers much the same type of charging solution, again with a sleeve setup that lets the base unit interface with the handset directly. A single mat can charge four products at once. There are even specialized charging systems available for specific devices, like Energizer's mat designed to wirelessly charge your Nintendo Wii controllers.

Modern Warfare 2: Domination -AC130 New Killstreaks-

2009-11-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 Commentary - Commentary: Favela Map Flyby

2009-11-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

The Beatles finally go digital—on a USB stick, that is

2009-11-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

you can snap up official digital copies of the remastered Beatles catalog ... but only on a USB stick that sits in a big, green apple. the official Beatles store is offering a limited edition "Beatles Stereo USB," a 16GB USB stick that doubles as a removable stem in a big, green apple stamped with a "Beatles" logo. Set to go on sale Dec. 8 in the States, the USB stick will contain all 14 of the Beatles' newly remastered stereo albums, from "Please Please Me" to "Let it Be" and "Past Masters," along with the 13 "mini-documentaries" and digital versions of the original art, photos, and liner notes included in the CD box set.

25 kill streak in modern warfare2 nuck bomb

2009-11-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHJIzZ42wg

Modern Warfare 2 perks

2009-11-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

borderlands gameplay

2009-10-29T13:11:00.001-07:00

It's official: Netflix streaming coming to the PlayStation 3

2009-10-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

PS3 is going to have Netflix. its coming out next month. you can watch some movies immediately.

Modern Warfare 2 comic

2009-10-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Modern Warfare 2 guns

2009-10-22T14:42:00.001-07:00

New Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Gameplay on Highrise

2009-10-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Game Trailer)

2009-10-20T13:17:00.001-07:00

HP jump-starting Compaq brand with ultra-cheap machines

2009-10-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hewlett-Packard acquired the venerable computer company way back in 2002, but it's kept the name alive as a secondary brand ever since, mainly relegating Compaq to overseas markets and as second-tier PCs sold on the cheap at warehouse-style stores. Today the company is announcing the rollout of a line of ultra-inexpensive PCs, both laptops and desktops, with extreme budgets in mind.Compaq CQ61z (pictured), a 15.6-inch laptop with an AMD Sempron CPU, 2GB of RAM, DVD burner, 160GB hard drive, and discrete graphics. Running Windows 7 Home Premium, the machine costs a nearly unfathomable $399. That price point probably sounds familiar -- it's the usual cost for your average netbook, which in comparison offers a tiny screen, minimal hard drive, and an ultra-low-power Atom CPU. With the $400 laptop's arrival, Compaq wants potential buyers to ask: Why not jump up to a much larger and more capable system for exactly the same price? I'm having a hard time seeing any reason not to. Seriously, it even has a numeric keypad. The attractive Compaq Presario 4010f has similar specs (with a 250GB hard drive) and starts at just $309 after a $100 rebate.

Analysts: Slimmer, cheaper PS3 outsold both Wii, Xbox 360 in September

2009-10-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

According to Joystiq, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich believe that about 400,000 PS3s were sold last month, compared to 375,000 Wiis and 370,000 Xbox 360 consoles. Meanwhile, Kotaku quote gaming analyst Michael Pachter, who's predicting that the PS3 topped 410,000 consoles sold, versus 390,000 for the Wii and 350,000 for the Xbox 360 (which also got a recent price cut).
If the numbers hold up (and we'll find out next week, when the NPD Group releases its monthly tally), it'll mark the first time that the PlayStation 3 has been the monthly top-selling (non-portable) gaming console since the console's launch in November 2006.

Ballmer finally confesses: Vista sucks

2009-10-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

This week, who made some remarkably candid comments (for Microsoft, anyway) about the failures of Windows Vista and his hopes for the future. In new comments, Ballmer referred to the Vista debacle as having been an issue of "some uneven reception" because "we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility."

Did Apple lay an egg with iPhone firmware 3.1?

2009-10-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

The complaints about iPhone software 3.1, which added such features as Genius song mixes and App Store recommendations, have been piling up since its release early last month. The first thing that many iPhone users—myself included—was a huge hit on battery life. An 89-page thread on Apple's support pages is packed with users complaining about iPhone batteries that die after just a few hours of use, or lose big chunks of their charges while merely sitting in standby mode.

new modern warfare 2 campain trailer

2009-10-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Beta

2009-10-01T13:11:00.001-07:00

new vehicles in red alert3

2009-09-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Trailer: Red Alert 3: Uprising

2009-09-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

Game console price cuts cause sales explosion

2009-09-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

As holiday shopping season gets started, Sony is already celebrating. Its $100 price cut on the PlayStation 3 (and the flood of advertising that was launched along with it) has sent sales soaring, with unit sales up 300 percent in the three weeks prior to September 1. Sony's move has of course sent other console makers scrambling to react. The Xbox 360 Elite received a $100 price cut just days after Sony made its move, and now Nintendo is about to follow suit, cutting the price of the Wii for the first time by $50 to $199, beginning September 27.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Game Trailer)

2009-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

PS3 Games of Fall 2009

2009-09-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/102/1025864p1.html

Apple rises in "Best Global Brands" ranking

2009-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Apple has risen in rank on Interbrand's 2009 list of Best Global Brands. The company rises four spots to number 20, and is ahead of other electronics companies like Sony and Nintendo.

Coca-Cola, IBM, and Microsoft occupy the top three spots. Other top ten entries include McDonald’s, Google, Toyota, Disney, and Intel. There's remarkably little change in the top 10 compared to 2008. Some positions have shifted (most notably Google, hopping up to 7th place from 10th).

Interbrand bills itself as the world's largest brand consultancy. The company produces its Best Global Brands list annually, where it ranks what it considers to be the 100 best corporate brands in the world.

Interbrand’s method for determining global brand value combines financial analysis with and equation they call “Branded Earnings,” a figure of how much brand influences consumer demand at the point of purchase. The company also considers the brand's ability to secure ongoing customer demand and other factors to determine the brand’s ultimate rank.

Several criteria must be met in order for Interbrand to be consider a company for the Best Global Brands list. Publicly available financial data must be available, at least one-third of revenues need to come from outside its country of origin, and the company has to be a “market-facing brand.”

“Apple is the classic example of retaining focus through market cycles,” write Josh Feldmeth and Helen Isakovich in the report. The duo compared Apple favorably to The Gap, which they said has lost focus on the brand.

Apple’s board of directors includes Millard Drexler, whose previous work includes a stint as CEO of The Gap from 1995 until 2002.

Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer hands on

2009-09-16T12:59:00.000-07:00