CrunchGear

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• DSi LL: Nintendo confirms, shows new big-screen DSi
• Daily Crunch: Science Fair Edition
• Astak lauches the Mole social networking webcam
• Video: How wood chips or tires are converted into Ethanol fuel
• DIY: CD-ROM for your Toyota Camry
• Toshiba announces new 14.6 megapixel back lit sensor
• Whatever happened to the Klingons, anyway
• Crunchdeals: Logitech Harmony 670 Remote
• Microsoft Store PC’s won’t have bloatware
• Unboxing: The Verizon Droid by Motorola
• Interesting: chart of broadband speed, penetration, and price
• $6500 “Labyrinth Aquarium”: awesome, difficult to clean
• This is the end, my only friend (for MSN Direct wireless data service)
• MLB 09 The Show predicts a Phillies win in 7 games (take that, Yankees!)
• LG shows off their new 15-inch transparent AMOLED monitor
• Vizio outs 19-, 23-inch LED-backlit LCDs
• Quo vadis, Forza Motorsport 3?
• The Bearable Lightness of Droid: How the iPhone aesthetic has finally hit the majors
• Shirt features playable guitar, flames
• JVC drops the ball, releases a $200 BD Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player

DSi LL: Nintendo confirms, shows new big-screen DSi Posted: 29 Oct 2009 01:58 AM PDT So the rumors about Nintendo releasing a new DSi with a bigger screen (we reported Monday and Tuesday) were true. Big N officially announced a new DSi in Tokyo today, the so-called DSi LL [JP]. It has a 4.2-inch screen, will be released on November 21 in Japan and is priced at $220. Buyers will initially be able to choose between brown, red and white versions. You’ll get two pens with the handheld. One is thicker and 129.33mm long, the thinner model is 96mm long. There’ll also be three DSiWare games pre-installed (two brain-training games and a dictionary). The DSi that’s currently on the market has a 3.25-inch screen (the DS Lite only had a 3-inch screen). Nintendo says the DSi LL is especially designed for a better Internet surfing experience. It’s 21.2mm thin, but it’s thicker than the current DSi (18.9mm) and way heavier (314g vs. 214g). At least Nintendo boosted battery life from 2.5 to 3 hours. Nintendo Japan’s web site is in Japanese (obviously), but this page visualizes the difference in screen size between the “old” DSi and the LL (just hover your mouse across the screen). Nintendo has yet to announce international sales plans.

Daily Crunch: Science Fair Edition Posted: 29 Oct 2009 12:00 AM PDT Unboxing: The Verizon Droid by Motorola $6500 "Labyrinth Aquarium": awesome, difficult to clean The Bearable Lightness of Droid: How the iPhone aesthetic has finally hit the majors Shirt features playable guitar, flames Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Giant squid robot Ikabo (video) MyCE Sees Room For Another Social Network For Consumer Electronics Fans

Astak lauches the Mole social networking webcam Posted: 28 Oct 2009 11:30 PM PDT Designed to work without a dedicated PC, the new Astak Mole was announced today. The Mole is a wireless webcam that can upload video directly to such sites as YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. It can also record directly to an SD card in the camera. I’m curious however, exactly who will be using this product, and for what. It can be controlled remotely (even pan and tilt) via a web interface, has 15 LEDs for night time recording, and a two way microphone so the person being filmed can have a conversation with the viewer. The internet feed to the camera comes via either an ethernet port, or an internal wifi card. Recording quality is pretty standard, with the high quality mode set at 640×480. The camera can also be set to a motion sensitivity mode, and capture movement as it happens, and record it for later. The obvious usage is for home or small business security, this sounds like something that Biggs would be into given his quest for a home monitoring solution. The website suggests that it would also make a good baby monitor, which certainly sounds reasonable. The Mole cam will ship early this November for $299. [via Electronista]

Video: How wood chips or tires are converted into Ethanol fuel Posted: 28 Oct 2009 11:05 PM PDT Ethanol fuel was always a mystery to me. Really, I never took the time to learn about it until I watched this 3:31 video that shows how a Pennsylvania company, Coskata, converts anything that contains carbon into fuel. Yeah, it’s an infomercial for GM, but it always quickly explains the whole waste to fuel conversion process and so it might be worth your time.

DIY: CD-ROM for your Toyota Camry Posted: 28 Oct 2009 10:30 PM PDT One CD-ROM drive: $18.99 Some wire and electrical tape: $2.50 Installing a CD-ROM drive to use as a CD player in your car: priceless. Ok, so it’s DIY, but maybe not a DIY you’d really want to do. This little project is certainly a choice, but if you are so inclined and find you have the need, but not the budget, you can probably whip this one up yourself. I’m not sure how well this would work though, there’s not much buffering on a drive like this so the slightest bump will probably cause your CD to skip. You’ll also need a IDE drive, since the power connections are different for a SATA. For more of these, shall we say, creative projects, click on over to “There I fixed it“.

Toshiba announces new 14.6 megapixel back lit sensor Posted: 28 Oct 2009 10:00 PM PDT Toshiba just announced their latest advancement in CMOS technology, the BSI (back-side illumination) sensor. The BSI sensor is designed to improve high ISO (or low light) photography by decreasing the amount of noise that appears on images taken under these conditions. This is one of the first major innovations in digital photography that we’ve seen in quite some time, and the potential is enormous. At this point of course, we don’t have any information about when we’ll see this tech in cameras or how much it will cost, but the press release does go in depth about how exactly the technology helps with the hgh ISO problem. From the press release: TOKYO, Japan., October 27, 2009 – Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today announced the launch of a new CMOS image sensor that will bring 14.6 million pixels to digital still cameras and to mobile phones supporting video imaging. The sensor, the latest addition to Toshiba's "Dynastron™" line-up, is also the company's first to integrate the enhanced sensitivity offered by back-side illumination technology (BSI). Sampling of the new sensor will begin in December and mass production will follow from the third quarter of 2010 (July–September). BSI brings new levels of responsiveness to CMOS imaging. Lenses are deployed on the rear of the sensor on the silicon substrate, not on the front, where wiring limits light absorption. This positioning boosts light sensitivity and absorption by 40% compared to existing Toshiba products, and allows formation of finer image pixels. Toshiba has made full use of the advantages of BSI to realize image pixels with a pitch of 1.4 microns, and to pack 14.6 million of them into a 1/2.3-inch sensor that meets the high level imaging and processing requirement, and that will also bring a new level of image quality to mobile phones. Toshiba will use the new sensor to promote its full-scale entry to digital camera market, and will continue to develop BSI products as a mainstream technology. The new sensor will be mass produced at Toshiba's Oita Operations, on industry leading 300mm wafer lines deploying 65nm process technology. Initial production will be at a volume of 500,000 sensors a month. CMOS image sensors are a focus product of Toshiba's System LSI business. Until now, their main application has been in mobile phones, where Toshiba could leverage its high density integration and low power consumption technologies. With the introduction of BSI CMOS sensors, Toshiba will reinforce the sensor business by expanding application to include digital cameras. [via Photorumors]

Whatever happened to the Klingons, anyway Posted: 28 Oct 2009 08:45 PM PDT There was one race conspicuously missing from the J.J. Abrams Star Trek film: the Klingons. They were filmed, but the scene with them questioning Nero was cut for whatever reason. The good news is, in this day and age deleted scenes rarely stay deleted for long. Case in point, SpikeTV just revealed a deleted scene where we do get to see the Klingons, and they ain’t happy with Nero. This is of course a marketing ploy, since there’s a special edition coming out on two DVD’s and Blu-ray this November 17th. [via Movieweb]

Crunchdeals: Logitech Harmony 670 Remote Posted: 28 Oct 2009 07:45 PM PDT Everyone knows that we here at CrunchGear love Logitech’s Harmory remotes. Normally though, they are really expensive and perhaps out of the reach of the casual buyer. Good news though, Tiger Direct has one hell of a deal on the 670, a IR remote designed to work with pretty much everything out there. You’ve got to admit, $39.95 is a pretty good deal. The remote is refurbished, so be aware, however Logitech does warranty the remote for 90 days parts and labor, so you should be pretty safe. Plus, buying one non-refurbished will set you back about $100. You’d be buying it through Ebay, and shipping is free to the continental US. Here’s a list from Logitech of what devices are supported by the H670. [via Dealnews]

Microsoft Store PC’s won’t have bloatware Posted: 28 Oct 2009 07:15 PM PDT In an ironic twist, it’s coming to light that computers purchased from the Microsoft retail stores will not contain the ‘trialware’ that was typically included in new PC’s. This answers one of the criticisms that Apple users typically had about new PC’s. This has been confirmed by both employees and witnesses. Microsoft has stated that the machines sold in their stores will be considered to be part of their signature line, and therefore will not include any unnecessary third party software. They will come preloaded with the optional Windows Live Essentials pack, Bing 3D Maps, Security Essentials, and the Zune client. Previously, the only PC manufacturer that has promised ‘craplet’ free systems has been Toshiba, however Sony and Dell have made such configurations available as an option. [via electronista]

Unboxing: The Verizon Droid by Motorola Posted: 28 Oct 2009 07:07 PM PDT Our own John Biggs already gave the Verizon Droid a quick hands-on earlier today – but in the endless rush of things, he didn’t get a chance to walk it through a proper unboxing ceremony. Somewhat magically (albeit a bit later than we would have hoped), a Droid also happened to show up on my doorstep this morning, so I went ahead and captured the whole undressing for all to see. Enjoy! Check out the video at MobileCrunch >>

Interesting: chart of broadband speed, penetration, and price Posted: 28 Oct 2009 06:30 PM PDT Just an interesting visualization of the broadband situation out there. Statistics get a bad rap, probably because they’re always in spreadsheet form when they should be in an infographic. Click away for the full-size version. Uhhhh, Japan for the win. [via Reddit]

$6500 “Labyrinth Aquarium”: awesome, difficult to clean Posted: 28 Oct 2009 06:00 PM PDT I’ve always felt bad for fish. Not just in that they’re fish, but that all those in captivity (and many in the wild) just spend all day swimming in circles. Take that great video of the enormous aquarium in Okinawa — there’s a freaking whale shark in there, used to cruising the ocean; now, even in the second-biggest aqua-enclosure in the world, it’s essentially doing laps. If only they had made a gigantic labyrinth aquarium like this one, the whale shark and its weird-looking friends might actually have somewhere to go. Its little compartments and passageways are more suited to tetras and goldfish than whale sharks (alas), but it’s still an awfully cool little thing. Technically, the fish would have more places to go in a big cube of the same measurements, but that’s mostly open water, and I think we have all seen how much fish like to lick the sides of their enclosures. Unfortunately, at $6500 it’s rather a luxury — not that you wouldn’t guess that, since it’s sold at a shop called “Opulent Items.” Add to that the cost of retaining a full time aquarium-scrubber, since the thing would be unbelievably hard to keep clean, and the cost really starts to skyrocket. I guess the question is whether your fish are worth it? I wish mine were. [via 7gadgets, I New Idea, and Unpluggd]

This is the end, my only friend (for MSN Direct wireless data service) Posted: 28 Oct 2009 05:30 PM PDT It’s the end of an era. MSN Direct has announced that their wireless data service will be shut off on January 1st, 2012. The service supplies a data feed to wristwatches, GPS units, and other portable devices. MSN Direct was a great idea that never really took off. The service gave you the ability to see real-time traffic reports, news and weather updates, and in come cases, meeting reminders. There were a series of devices that used it, but in the end they were prohibitively expensive, and have been replaced by smartphones and the like anyway. So it’s not a huge surprise that MSN Direct has blamed reduced demand for their decision to shut the service down. Honestly, there’s not much reason to panic at this point (if you were thinking about it), as MSN has given people using the service two years worth of warning that the end is nigh. But of course, there will be those few holdouts who will fight it right up to the end. Or, they could just go buy a Droid phone, and be done with it now. [via Mediabistro]

MLB 09 The Show predicts a Phillies win in 7 games (take that, Yankees!) Posted: 28 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT Yes~! I’m rooting for the Phillies over the Yankees this World Season because I’m a Mets fan, and I’d sooner root for Team Mars in an Earth vs. Mars Loser Leaves The Galaxy Match than root for the Yankees. Hopefully MLB 09 The Show’s prediction pans out, because it has Philadelphia beating The Bronx Bums in seven games. Or you can subscribe to the Ron Bennington school of thought and just tell everyone to shut up about the Phillies lest God hear our joy and happiness and cause the team to lose. (Yes, God is most concerned with a baseball game happening on a small stretch of land in North America.) Sony is in full hype mode, knowing that this is the last few days that anyone will buy the game, so they’ve even put together a video highlight package, viewable right up there. In other sports news, my condolences to all the Real Madrid fans out there. If you want, I can ask the manager at the local Pizza Hut if he wants to take Manuel Pelligrini’s place on the hot seat. He can’t a worse job :-)

LG shows off their new 15-inch transparent AMOLED monitor Posted: 28 Oct 2009 04:30 PM PDT LG showed off their newest project at the FPD-International 2009 show in Japan recently, a 15-inch transparent display. Are we seeing the future of TV and computer monitors? Who knows, but it’s interesting to see nonetheless. Of course, it’s still a prototype, and we have no idea when we’ll see it in retail, how much it will cost, or anything specific. We do know that it uses AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) technology, but that’s about it. Other companies, like Philips, are also checking out this technology, and it was even rumored that Apple was going to create a device utilizing a transparent display. Nothing has really come to market yet (though the Zune HD screen has been getting good reviews), but we’ll keep you informed when and if something does. [via OLED Display]

Vizio outs 19-, 23-inch LED-backlit LCDs Posted: 28 Oct 2009 04:00 PM PDT Vizio has two new LCDs set to hit Best Buy shelves just in time for the depressing holiday season. Yippie. These two boys use LED backlighting to light the LCD screens and to be honest, they’re not to shabby in the specs department. The 23-inch is a 1080p model with 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 300 nits of brightness. The 19-inch however is a 720p model but it too sports the same contrast ratoi and brightness spec. Plus the screens have a USB port and SD card slot for photo viewing along with light sensors to automagicly adjust the brightness. Interested? The 19-inch VM190XVT and 23-inch VM230XVT carry MSRPs of $349 and $399, respectively. [via crave]

Quo vadis, Forza Motorsport 3? Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:30 PM PDT How much you enjoy Forza Motorsport 3 entirely depends on the time you have to invest in it. If you’re able to put in the man-hours you’ll find a racing sim that’s a deep as you want it to be, and just as rewarding. If you’re only able to play a few minutes here and there, well, it’s not really the same thing. The game presents itself as a driving simulator, but one that won’t punish you for not knowing the difference between a carburetor and a CD changer. And, incidentally, you’ll be changing the game disc as soon as you turn it on, for the game’s developer’s, Turn 10, couldn’t fit it all on just one; an optional content install prompts as soon as the game loads. You’ll need approximately 2GB of free space on your hard drive to get the entire FM3 experience. From there a cheery British announcer guides you through the game—it’s as if you’re playing Top Gear. The standard modes are there, but it’s career mode that shows the game in its best light. You’re granted a low-level car—something that you yourself may well own in real life—then race from event to event, earning credits and plaudits from other car manufacturers along the way. The credits are used to buy upgrades, while after the occasional successful race you’ll get a message along the lines of: "Fiat thinks you’re a good driver, so they’re giving you this brand new car for free!" Lather, rinse, repeat. You’ll go from Class Z clunker to Class A holy-cow-this-is-fast as you plug along in career mode, which will take some time. Better skip out on Heroes this week if you want to make the most of this game. The game looks good, yes, but I’m hesitant to call it the best-looking racing game I’ve ever played: that title belongs to Racer Driver: Grid. (Note: I never bought Dirt 2 because rally racing doesn’t appeal to me.) I don’t know, things just look too shiny to me. The best way I can describe it is, remember the first few FIFA games for the PS3/360, and how "shiny" the player models looked? I get the same feeling here. Not that we’re graphics whores ’round these parts, but I’d be remiss to not mention how the game looks. To make another comparison to Race Driver: Grid, I do feel that the menus in the game, and just the way the game is presented, is less interesting than Codemasters’ hit. In Grid, menus fly by and spin in circles, you can see people walking about your garage while selecting a new paint scheme, your earned credits fill up in dramatic fashion, slowing down as you approach an upgrade point… It just seems more "next-gen," more "hmm, now this is different" than FM3, which is very much "well, this isn’t anything special." So is the game good? Yes, of course; I dare you not to enjoy it. You will, however, have a much better time if you can sit there for several hours rather than treating it as a quick "hey let me kill 10 minutes" fix. That’s it.

The Bearable Lightness of Droid: How the iPhone aesthetic has finally hit the majors Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:17 PM PDT One thing that that struck me when I first slid open the Motorola Droid is that the software must have been a non-shipping copy. Historically, when Verizon ships a phone, the stuff in the VCast Music Center, VCast Video, VCast Navigation, and VCast Electo Pet Shop – essentially bloatware that masquerades as value added software. Swiping through the Droid menus I found none of that. No widgets offering NFL sports scores, no Apps offering downloadable videos from Lady GaGa, just a clean, clear interface. I know most Android phones don’t ship with much extraneous software (MyTouch, for example) but for Verizon this is a real first. What does this mean? It means carriers are finally resisting the urge to bling out their phones like NASCAR racers. Without massive branding you get a cleaner experience and although I love the Hero’s Sense UI, the Droid in this pristine state shows us that carriers, and Verizon in particular, has grown up. None of this, please. Thank you. If you’ll recall, the first iPhone had little, if any, AT&T branding. It was a phone with a few apps – a calculator, a stock app – and that was it. All of the extraneous junk was taken out. This gives the buyer a sense that they are buying a standalone experience, not just another feature phone. The Android Market is front and center if you want to improve things, but Verizon clearly thinks this phone can stand on its own without polluting the deck with their dreck. Other phones that did this include the Sidekick, another popular phone. I think Droid is, interestingly enough, Motorola’s savior. Whether they meant to make it as clean and attractive as they did is unclear but I’m glad they took a stand against mobile bloatware.

Shirt features playable guitar, flames Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:00 PM PDT The future, ladies and gentlemen. ThinkGeek has invented a tee shirt with a built-in playable guitar that uses a magnetic pick and included miniature amp to belt out any and all major cords. There's a drum shirt, too, in case you're more into rhythm. So it’s up to you: a $30 tee shirt with a built-in guitar or this $95 tee shirt from J.Crew that looks like it was made by a glue-huffing toddler. Seems like a pretty easy choice. Here’s a video just in case you’re still not convinced: Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt [ThinkGeek]

JVC drops the ball, releases a $200 BD Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player Posted: 28 Oct 2009 02:30 PM PDT Last year I made a habit of calling out manufacturers that released Blu-ray players that didn’t have the latest Profile 2.0 spec. That was last year. But for some odd reason, JVC has introduced a brand new Blu-ray player that confirms to the old Profile 1.1 spec and therefore doesn’t have an Ethernet port or can playback any of the BD-Live features. Oh and this player has an MSRP of $200. Besides that little failure, the XV-BP11 seems like a fine player with HDMI x.v.Color/Deep Color, Dobly TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding. But that really doesn’t matter though. You can snag countless Profile 2.0 players for less than the starting price of the new JVC. Move along. JVC Announces Popularly-Priced Blu-ray Player New XV-BP11 player offers AVCHD file playback. WAYNE, NJ, October 28, 2009 – JVC today announced the availability of a new entry-level Blu-ray player. The new JVC XV-BP11 is a truly versatile high definition player, offering playback of high definition Blu-ray discs, plus playback of the AVCHD format, the high definition format widely used for HD camcorders, including the JVC HD Everio line. JVC XV-BP11 Features Playable Discs: BD-Rom, BD-R/RE, DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Audio CD, CD-R/RW Playable Formats: AVCHD, WMV, JPEG, MP3, WMA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital plus, Dolby True HD, DTS, DTS HD Master Audio/Essential Connections: o Video: HDMI V1.3, composite o Audio: Analog L/R, coaxial, HDMI V1.3 o USB Host (front panel) Convenience Features: Quick loading, cinema zoom (x16), parental lock, slim design The new JVC XV-BP11 Blu-ray player is available immediately for $199.95.

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