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I always love those building block toy sets such as the Erector, K’nex, and the Almighty Lego. The only problem is that these sets are incompatible with each other. However, the Uberstix, a new construction kit toy, is designed to connect to all of the aforementioned building toy brands, even the Zoobs (although I never heard of that one).

The basic Uberstix building set contains about 450 pieces that allow the player to build cool things such as a ray gun, sailboat, and other models. There is a separate kit available for the ultra cool Uberpult, which allows you to fling things. As you can see, all sorts of construction toys are used in the making of these models, even non-construction toy materials such as spoons and even bottled water bottles under the ships.

The Uberstix Building Set basic kit is priced at $39.99, and includes 450 UberStix pieces. The Uberpult kit is available at a lower price for $19.99 and has 181 pieces. If you are looking for a challenge, you can also buy the Uberstix Architectural Series Set, a 1600-piece building kit that allows you to build a five foot tall skyscraper.

Now, if Uberstix was compatible with Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs, then everyone would be happy.

Source

While we have heard the rumors, it now looks like it will soon be official. During a recent conference call, the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings announced that because Blu-ray discs cost more money to purchase, that they need to charge a higher rental rate for them. He also went on to state that “consumers are used to paying more for high-definition.”

Personally I think consumers are used to paying more to own high-definition, I am not so sure how eager they will be to pay more to rent it. Currently Netflix has a small amount of subscribers who choose Blu-ray over standard DVD’s and with a price increase it seems that small percentage will remain small.

While the statements from Hastings seemed pretty clear that the price increase was going to happen, there has not been any official statement as to just how much the increase will be. As for when it will take effect, customers can expect to see it “later this year.”

Via [Crave]

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For just $2.99 per month, Alltell Wireless and Ontela are going to let you carelessly take pictures of anything you deem appropriate with your camera phone and they will save it automatically for you. They are going to do this by collaborating for a new software application that automatically saves all the photos you take to your PC, email, and online photo albums. You wouldn’t need to press anything other than the camera shutter release button, which is very very convenient to say the least. Ontela CEO Dan Shapiro had this to say about their new service:

“You just take the pictures and as if by magic, they appear on your computer in your ‘My Pictures’ folder. This is the end of the ‘photo graveyard,’ where people take pictures and then leave them on the phone until they’re deleted. Instead, we’ve given a new life to these memories by saving them to the places users care about most.”

Camera phone aficionados are surely going to save a lot of time and precious memories from this. Now how about something that automatically deletes my unwanted photos? Has anybody ever thought of that yet?

Via [I4U News]

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Planning on building that new gaming rig? Here’s some good news. Putting pressure on rival chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel has surprisingly halved the prices on its Core 2 Quad Q6700 (from $530 to $266) and Quad-Core Xeon X3230 (from $530 to $266). Overall, fourteen processors experienced a price cut, ranging from 12% to 50% off. Other CPUs with slashed prices include the Core 2 Quad Q6600 (from $266 to $244), Core 2 Duo E6850 (from $266 to $183), Dual-Core Xeon 3085 (from $366 to $188), Celeron 560 (from $134 to $107) and more. All prices reflect 1,000 unit shipments. The reason for the discounted prices is Intel’s transition from their 65nm to 45nm process. All of the chips on sale are based off of the old 65nm technology. AMD announced its plans to begin shipping their 45nm chips in fourth quarter 2008, which puts them one year behind Intel, who began selling their 45nm CPUs back in November 2007.

Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc. noted:

“Intel blankets the market from high end to low end, with multiple choices at almost every price point—each competitive with AMD on either performance or price or both. They’re making sure they have a compelling price and/or performance value proposition in every segment where they compete with AMD. In short, it isn’t getting any easier to compete with Intel.”

Read [Computerworld]

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by Paul Miller, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 3:33PM
Alright peoples, how many Eee PC knockoffs do we really need? Is 10 enough? How about 100? There seems to be no end in sight, and here comes the relatively unknown 3K Computers to give it a whirl. We’d say the first mistake is the 7-inch screen, gotsa stay ahead of the curve. Pair that with the 400MHz processor and a $400 pricetag and we haven’t the slightest idea why we’d go in for this little Linux-based boringbook. Oh, wait… nope, we got nothing.

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Filed under: Laptops

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 4:37PM It’s far from the only strength-boosting exoskeleton out there, but Honda’s so-called “walking assist device” is one of the few that you can actually take for a test spin — if you happen to be attending the Barrier Free 2008 trade show in Osaka, Japan next week, that is. Apparently employing some of the same technology developed by Honda for its ASIMO robot, the walking assistant is able to obtain information from hip angle sensors to help keep its wearer upright, with the device’s motors also able to increase the wearer’s natural stride. That, Honda says, should make the device ideal for the elderly or those with weakened leg muscles, although we’re sure they could find at least a few other buyers if it ever actually hits the market at a reasonable price.

[Via Autoblog]

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Filed under: Wearables

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 10:25AM
Seagate claims it’s the first company to hit the magical “one billion drives shipped” mark, and doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon. The company was founded in 1979, with its first drive offering up 5MB of storage for a whopping $1,500. We’ve certainly come a long way in 29 years, and Seagate expects to ship its next billion drives in less than five years. Of course, with all this “cloud computing” talk we’d think drive sales have to slow down at some point, but there’s certainly no sign of our GB appetites abating just yet. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to download this 7GB MMO demo to a secondary hard drive.

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Filed under: Storage

Conde Nast Portfolio magazine reports that Activision’s CEO, Bobby Kotlick, has let slip that Guitar Hero IV will include additional instruments and vocals.

“It’s not just about guitars,” said Kotick. “We’ll include a lot of other instruments, vocals. It will help us expand internationally. It’s the first game we’ve had in which we can use local content and local bands.”

Posted in Gaming & Toys

Cyber crime often makes the news, but this time a “Cyber Village” was credited as the crime fighters. The cast of characters (other than the thief) were all members of the beyond.ca car enthusiast’s forum. You see, the car was stolen the old fashioned way but was recovered within 48 hours by cyber tracking. Even without a GPS tracker on board the crime was solved by people that shared a love both for cars and for the internet. Fortunately there were cyber friends available to answer Mr. Ironsides desperate plea.

The rare Nissan Skyline GT-R was stolen by a young man that surely believed that he would not get caught. Apparently he enjoyed the test drive so much that instead of returning the car to Mr. Ironside’s specialty dealership he took it home. Little did he know about the cyber hunt that was about to be unleashed.

The trail heated up when Mr. Lynch, a moderator from beyond.ca saw the elusive Skyline GT-R and remembered details of the post that included a New York Yankees baseball cap and some missing fingers of the driver. Right out of a “dumb criminal” file the driver raised his hand in a “rock out” sign and gave Mr. Lynch the perfect opportunity to snap a picture.

Since Mr. Ironside had already filed a police report it was easy for Mr. Lynch to convey information to them. By the next day, among multiple posts one appeared from Mr. Lynch, who is know as JAYMEZ on the forums;

“I FOUUUNNNDDDDD THEM =). And I have pictures Called the police and chased them, also talked to them.”

According to the police that photo was solid evidence. During the next 24 hours several forum members searched for the Skyline GT-R. Information posted by yet another forum member Allen Thompson, also known as Numi, set off a flurry of more posts by more members. A Google map pinpointed the residence and searches on Facebook provided a profile of the suspect. The following morning, after reading new posts throughout the night, Mr. Patel, another beyond.ca forum member know as Dj-Stylz decided to make an attempt to catch the car parked and sure enough he was able to find it. Even though he was on his way to work Mr. Patel informed the police and waited for them to arrive. In the meantime he had another forum friend posted the latest developments.

Mr. Ironside read the post and by 8:45 am he was on the scene. Police showed up shortly after and Mr. Ironside was reunited with his Nissan Skyline GT-R. A good wash, some minor paint repair and some new tires would return it to its pre-theft condition. This story makes me want to join a few more forums - I may need some caring cyber friends someday.

Read [New York Times] Read [beyond.ca]

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Samsung has launched its “Soul” mobile phone to the European market. To be released by major mobile phone operators in France, UK and Germany, the Soul boasts of powerful features making it worthy of being called Samsung’s flagship product for 2008.

The Soul’s got a 5-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, face detection technology, image stabilizer and Wide Dynamic Range. If you are into digital cameras, you’d know that these are features common to most point-and-shoot cameras available in the market today. But these digital imaging features are just teasers to what our dear European friends are going to get from the Samsung Soul.

The Soul’s main selling point is its 7.2mbps HSDPA data access for a fast 3.5G internet experience. In addition, the Soul also boasts of what it calls as a “magical touch interface.” Don’t worry, the phone doesn’t do a disappearing act when you are using it. The “magical touch interface” refers to the Soul’s touch navigation keypad that changes icons depending on the applications that you are currently using. For example, if you are listening to music, the main icons changes to something related to music.

With those innovative features plus the usual high-end mobile phone features of the Samsung Soul, don’t we all have a reason to envy our friends from Europe for getting the privilege of laying their hands on the sleek looking and stylish Samsung Soul phone ahead of us?

Via[Electronista] Via [Akihabara News]

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