Gadgets Base

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 15th 2008 at 1:06AM
For those of you continuing to have Grand Theft Auto IV lockups on your PS3 even after the May 7th Rockstar patch… tough noogies. The latest 2.35 firmware won’t specifically help. Sony says that the “minor update” will “improve stability of some PS3 titles” — then clarifies that GTA IV is not part of the vagary. Nevertheless, Sony does say that they “have a identified a solution that should resolve the issue.” So buck up Niko and get on the horn with Sony, God knows the police won’t help.

[Via Joystiq, thanks Warren and Luis C.]

Read — GTA IV freezing / not loading help
Read — 2.35 firmware

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Filed under: Gaming

Pirates beware – angels are out to get you.

Following New York’s lead and the urging of the MPAA and the RIAA, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has declared that piracy “substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses and its visitors.”

The five-member Board of Supervisors of the City of Angels likened piracy to other troublesome activities and as such, preserves the right to secure a property for up to a year for violating ordinance 13.90.010. The ordinance also empowers local authorities to bring a civil action to “temporarily restrain, preliminarily enjoin, and/or permanently enjoin the person or persons intentionally conducting, or knowingly maintaining or permitting the public nuisance from further conducting, maintaining, or permitting such a public nuisance.”

The authority to declare a property that has been allowed to become a center of drugs, gangs, prostitution, and gambling as a ‘public nuisance’ has long been in the purview of local governments in the United States and California. 

The LA County Board is adding a new category to the list: music and video piracy.  Aside from having their properties closed, owners who deliberately sanction such activities can also be fined $1,000 for each counterfeited work produced on the property. 

Via [Wired]

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 14th 2008 at 1:01PM It’s far from the first to turn a standard issue Mac laptop into entirely different, but Munk Bogballe has gone a bit further than most with its new Workstation laptop, which turns an otherwise modest MacBook into a full-fledged slab of excess. That includes an anodized aluminum surface, European aniline leather on the underside, and even a specially designed leather bag (which costs a hefty $640 on its own if you want a second one). As for the hardware itself, you get a standard 2.4GHz MacBook under that shiny exterior, right down to the MagSafe adapter, although it is at least topped off with 4GB of RAM and it apparently comes with Windows XP pre-installed for your convenience. If that sounds like the laptop you wish Apple had made, you can get your order in now for £3,500 (or just over $6,700), which also generously includes a donation of one OLPC XO laptop to make you feel a bit better about your ridiculous purchase.

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Filed under: Laptops

by Donald Melanson, posted May 14th 2008 at 1:58PM 3M has been touting its mini-projectors for some time now (along with many others), but it looks like they’re now finally a bit closer to landing in an actual product, with Samsung reportedly set to begin offering them later this year. What’s not clear, unfortunately, is whether the projectors will actually be built into the cellphones (and if so, which ones), or simply offered as an attachment of some sort, but either way you can apparently expect to pay between $200 and $400 for the chance to spread a bit of visual pollution.

[Via Unwired View]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 14th 2008 at 10:46AM
Fujitsu’s long-running and questionably-named Handy Drive line of external drives got a bump today with the Handy Drive 400. As you may imagine, the 400 packs 400GB of storage on a 4200rpm platter and connects via USB 2.0. The entire, sleek case measures just 82 x 141.5 x 22mm and weighs in at 230g. It’s available in Japan — US release and pricing surely to come.

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Filed under: Storage

This is great for those sleepers who hit the alarm clock over and over again. You know what I am talking, the people that are running around throwing their clothes on trying to get to work on time because they have over slept. They didn’t have time to really brush their hair or their clothes looked like they have been through the wringer a few times too many. You have seen one, you have been one, or you still are one. These are the people that need to have this creative invention.

Chasing your alarm clock around will definitely get your blood flowing early in the morning. No more worry about over-sleeping and not making it your meeting on time. This little guy will not turn off until you find it. You can not just lay there and hope that it will turn off on its own like some other alarm clocks.

In our previous article on this little gadget, we talked about where this thing originated. This other article on this invention shows an older look of the Clocky, but it now has a nice pretty and stylish chrome finish to it.

Gimme!

More info from the manufacturer

Price: $59.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Gizmo of the Day, Miscellaneous, Tools, DIY, Home, Office

by Paul Miller, posted May 14th 2008 at 8:36AM
We’ve seen this attempted a few times before, but it’s hard to imagine OCZ’s entry into build-it-yourself laptops will be any more successful. The new OCZ DIY Gaming Notebook is a 7 pound 15.4-inch backbreaker, which comes standard with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video card, Intel PM965 northbridge, SATA support for hard drives, 8x dual-layer DVD burner, four USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard and a fingerprint leader. The problem is that the “optional components” are WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 and a TV tuner, with only the last of those being truly optional on a regular enthusiast laptop. It’s nice of OCZ to provide documentation and a warranty for those who really want to get under the hood of a modern laptop, but we’re guessing most gamers these days would give up a bit of a customization for a straight-up well priced performer. No word on price or availability.

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

I had a chance to see the Speed Racer movie last weekend, and if you haven’t seen it yet, let me give you my one sentence review: “Even though this film is full of nothing but unbelievable special-effects, action, and characters, it must not be missed.”

Yes, nothing will help you tap into your inner child like the Speed Racer movie. If you really want to delve deep into your inner child, get some of the new Speed Racer Lego sets.

The new sets include the cars from the movie, plus the drivers. These Lego sets include: Speed Racer and Snake Oiler (set 8158), Racer X and Taejo Togokahn (set 8159), Cruncher Block and Racer X (set 8160), as well as the Grand Prix Race (set 8161) which has the Mach 6, Gray Chost, and Cannonball Taylor’s GRX car along with eight minifigures.

Not included with any set are the incredibly curvaceous race tracks that they used in the movie. This is not surprising, considering how square most Legos are. I was actually surprised that Lego was able to do the round bumpers of the Mach 5 quite well.

The Speed Racer Lego sets are all available now at varying prices. Sets 8158 and 8159 are about $19.99, set 8160 is for $39.99, and the Grand Prix Set 8161 is for $59.99.

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From the dawn of intellectual thought, man has been contemplating the idea of independent flight, soaring through the clouds, nothing between us and the earth’s surface. What if us humans had wings?

No doubt, airplanes were a huge step towards the independent flight of man, but in order to fly a plane, you have to be a licensed pilot, and who has the time and patience for all of that mess? A Swiss man named Yves Rossy has unveiled his personal flyer, a jet-powered set of wings which allows humans to act as airplanes, even performing plane stunts such as the figure eight.

48-year-old Rossy sprang into the air at 7,500-feet, jumping from the inside of a Pilatus Porter aircraft, with nothing but a pair of eight-feed wide wings standing between himself and the unforgiving Earth below. As Rossy’s free fall slowly evolved into a steady glide, four jet-turbines were ignited, accelerating the man to speeds of 186 miles per hour, or “about 65 miles per hour faster than the typical falling skydiver.”

“I still haven’t used the full potential,” Rossy told reporters, exclaiming his hope to one day use the wings for a fly through the Grand Canyon. He explains how there is almost no stress caused to the body while using the wings, how it’s almost like “riding a motorbike.” Though he still must wear a heat-resistant suit to protect him from the heat of the jet-engines, with the air temperature also assisting in cooling him down.

Rossy and his sponsors have poured about $285,000 and countless hours of labor into producing the personal flyer, and he won’t comment on how much the device might be if it were marketed to the public. Though one thing is for sure, thrill-seekers everywhere just got a glimpse of the future. Something to really look forward too.

Project Page via Yahoo News 

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Lingerie can be used for a variety of tasks. It can improve a woman’s confidence in her body. It can spice things up in the bedroom. But one thing which lingerie isn’t particularly known for is promoting environmental awareness. At least, not yet.

The eco-friendly Solar Power Bra integrates a whole lot of green into one complete sexy package. Aptly colored with a green shade, the Solar Power Bra features a waist-mounted solar panel which powers a small, chest-mounted electronic billboard, or pretty much any other gadget you feel like modding onto the bra.

Not to be outdone in other eco-friendly categories, the bra even offers a pair of reusable drinking cups (no pun intended), which not only offers a way for the wearer to reduce the amount of aluminum cans and plastic bottles they use, but also adds to the woman’s (or man’s, if you’re into that sort of thing) bust size. These reusable containers can be hidden away in a special pocket on the bra’s cups.

The overall goal of the Solar Power Bra is to ignite a flame under environmental thought. If women were to actually wear such a contraption, you might have a few more scientists showing a new found interest in eco-friendly technology. Or at least some very happy eco-activists.

I mean, wouldn’t you take a sudden interest if your lady-friend were to strut into your room wearing something like this? I know I would. Now, if only I can convince my girlfriend to wear one of these. For strictly scientific reasons, of course.

Press Release (translated from Japanese) via Pink Tentacle

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