Gadgets Base

I have no idea why you’ll want a cubicle in your home when I’m sure you’re dying to get out of its confines after work, but whatever — this cubicle doesn’t look half bad.

I’ve always had an eye for whacky Japanese inventions, and this doesn’t disappoint. Due to the limited space in Japanese apartments, something like this Trunk Station, which you can move around the house is ideal. You can even fold it and keep it on one side when not in use. If you don’t have an office in your house, something like this would be of great use, right? Well, if you can afford the 620+ price tag, then it is. Otherwise, I’m sure the dining table would have to continue to do as a desk until you can get something better.

via

Posted Mar 4th 2008 8:51PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment Lots of news on the VUDU front today, starting with the announcement that the grossly overpriced VUDU XL is finally shipping to all three people who forked out for one. Moving on to more important matters, the forthcoming v1.3 software — which is hitting barely a month after v1.2 was loosed — will open up the VUDU Vault. Put simply, this feature will “enable consumer to move owned titles from the VUDU hard drive to a secure area on VUDU servers to free up space for additional purchases.” As expected, the feature will only be available on “select titles,” but hey, we suppose we’ll take what we can get. Moving on, VUDU is also announcing the $39 IR receiver kit for both the original STB and the XL, which will “allow for the operation of the service using approved programmable remotes.” Lastly, v1.3 will bring about a numerically listed Most Watched overlay as well as improved searching for TV episodes. No word on when the update will start being pushed out, but we’d guess it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Logitech has shown-off a new headset at CeBIT, the ClearChat PC Wireless headset. It combines a comfortable looking stereo headset with 2.4GHz technology which will let you stray up to 30-feet away from your computer. It also looks to provide an audio rich experience that keeps interference at a minimum.

The headset works with both PC’s and Mac’s, and is compatible with Skype, Windows Live, Yahoo, Google Talk and AIM. It is expected to have a May release in the U.S. and Europe and should retail for $99.99.

Via [Business Wire]

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Its never a nice post when its related to someone passing away, but sometimes its nice to celebrate a little bit of what that person may have accomplished. In this instance the “father of the role-playing game” Gary Gygax who was the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons has passed away.

For some of the younger readers around here, D&D was originally founded 1974 and is the game that started the role-playing phenomenon, it was also one of the best selling games of all time. Its sad to see someone like this pass away, it is being reported that he had been suffering for several years from various health issues and passed away in the comfort of his own home.

A sad day indeed, I will admit D&D was a huge source of entertainment when I was younger, well that and another role-playing game called Star Frontiers. Yes, I was always a geek at heart.

Via [Boing Boing] Via [Wikipedia]

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At CeBIT 2008, Navigon has announced a few new GPS models to add to their North American GPS lineup. The first of the few that they announced was the 2100 Max. One of the main things the Navigon touts about their 2100 Max is the widescreen display, but other than that, it’s basically your average GPS, coming with all the features you would expect a GPS to come with.

“Navigon is building on the same product strategy that drove our success last year. We are committed to providing GPS systems with features that are relevant to the navigation experience,” said Andreas Hecht, Navigon’s President for the Americas. “We believe we’ve raised the bar with a competitively priced, feature-packed GPS device.”

Basically, the 2100 Max comes with a 4.3-inch touch screen, text-to-speech capabilities and offers “Reality View” like many other Navigon GPS units. Reality View makes the pictures on screen a little bit more life like. Additionally, it offers another service called “Direct Help” which is a safety feature to help you know your current location and the fastest ways to get to hospitals and such. This new service, I think, is really helpful and all GPS units should offer a similar service. The last service/feature that the 2100 Max comes with is something called “Fresh Maps”, which is an optional add-on. For an additional $79, you will get a subscription that will give you 12 map updates over a 3 year period. So, whenever there are new maps or something is updated, it will automatically update the device to show these new maps. Furthermore, it comes with Lane Asssitant, Route Planning, and speed warnings. No word on pricing as of yet.

Via [GPS Review]

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Posted Mar 4th 2008 2:25PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Transportation Tesla Motors sure has been doing a lot of explaining about its all-electric Tesla Roadster since it first announced it way back when, and it’s now aiming to clear up what it says is another common misconception about the car: that it’s a converted Lotus Elise. According to Tesla’s Darryl Siry, the total number of shared parts between the cars is actually “under 7%,” and that “if you were to try to convert an Elise to a Tesla and started throwing away parts that aren’t carried over what you would basically be left with a windshield, dashboard (complete with airbags!), front wishbones and a removable soft top.” He does admit, however, that the remaining pieces (particularly the dashboard and steering wheel) are so noticeable that they give drivers the impression of an Elise, as we’ve seen in some of the road tests of the vehicle. If you’re still not convinced, you can find Siry’s full, lengthy explanation at the read link below.

Posted Mar 4th 2008 5:02PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Desktops, GamingGet ready to burn through your allowance, kids, as AMD is getting set to loose its Catalyst 8.3 drivers for all to indulge in. What does the download net you, exactly? Why, CrossFireX support, of course. Starting today, users can link up any combination of RV670- and R680-based products — that includes the Radeon HD 3850, Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon HD 3870 X2 — in order to acquire triple- and quad-GPU performance within Windows Vista. Additionally, the drivers also introduce ATI Hybrid Graphics support in Vista, which was boasted about already when the firm unveiled its upcoming 780G chipset. Check out the read link for the full list of changes, and keep an eye on the firm’s support page for v8.3 to surface any moment now.