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SteelSeries launches new headset and keyboard

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PST

SteelSeries announced two products today, a headset and rather interesting looking keyboard. Both products are very much gamer-centric, with specialized features to make them of particular interest for the hard core LAN party player.

Let’s start with the headset; the SteelSeries 7H has 50mm drivers in passive noise canceling ear-cups, and keep out the background noise so you can get the drop on what direction that sniper is shooting at you from. The 7H also has the choice of leather or cloth ear cushions, based on your preference. When you’re done, the 7H can be broken down into 4 pieces so you can stuff it in your backpack without worrying about busting the thing up. SteelSeries puts retractable microphones in many of their headsets, and the 7H includes this feature in both the USB or standard version. The standard version is available for pre-order for $119.95. The USB version has it’s own 7.1 virtual surround and is also available for $149.99.


Next the 6Gv2. Don’t be fooled by the harmless sounding name, this is the real thing. The 6Gv2 is a mechanical keyboard with 18k gold plated switches, so it’s pretty much bulletproof. No fancy macro keys here, the 6Gv2 is designed to be smaller then the normal gaming keyboard setup. SteelSeries states that due to the way it’s designed, you should see a life expectancy of 10x more then a conventional keyboard. The 6Gv2 has the buffering system of the 7G, which allows you press pretty much every key on the keyboard at the same time without missing a beat. The 6Gv2 does have volume, mute, and limited audio controls, but it does lack the audio ports and USB ports on the 7G. The SteelSeries 6Gv2 is available for pre-order now for a quite reasonable $99.99.

PuppyArcade: A standalone, CD-based OS for playing old arcade game

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 04:51 AM PST


While I think the passion for building stand-up arcade games has waned recently, it’s nice to see that someone out there is still thinking of the children. PuppyArcade by Scott Jarvis is a CD-based arcade system that boots in any PC and allows you to access MAME ROMs on almost any disk. The game plays Amiga, Atari, Commodor, and even Doom ROMs and WADs and, as you’ll notice, even runs NES, PS1, and Gamecube ROMs, among others. It’s based on a barebones Linux install.

Plays Amiga (500, 1000, 2000), Atari (ST, 800, 800XL, 130XE, 5200), Amstrad (CPC, Plus, VEB), Arcades, Colecovision, Commodore (64, 128, VIC20, PET), GameBoys (GB, GBC, GBA), GameGear, Genesis/MegaDrive, MasterSystem, MS DOS, N64, NeoGeo, NeoGeo CD, NES/Famicom, PC Engine/TurboGrafix, PSX, ScummVM, SNES and ZX Spectrum (16k, 48k, 128k, +2, +2A, +3) & more!

You can download the emulator here. Warning: Some classic games are dumber than you remember (See: Golden Axe)

Sanyo’s electric bicycle charges battery on both flat ground and downhill slopes

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 04:40 AM PST

We have reported about electric bicycles multiple times in the past, but today Sanyo in Japan announced [press release in English] the “eneloop Hybrid Bicycle” whose battery riders can actively charge while pedaling on flat roads. Previous models, for example this one Sanyo released in 2008, mainly harness energy from braking when the bike goes downhill (“Loop Charge Mode”).

Dubbed Eco Charge Mode, Sanyo will use the new system in their next eneloop models, the CY-SPL226 (26-inch wheel diameter/pictured on top) and CY-SPL224 (24-inch wheel diameter). Riders can still charge the 25.2 V-7.6 Ah battery via the Loop Charge Mode, but now have more options to save energy for longer riding distances with the new system (Sanyo says the Eco Charge Mode increases the assisted travel distance by about 53%).

The two new models feature an assisted travel distance of up to 55km and even 68km when equipped with an extra battery. A full charge of the battery takes 280 minutes.

Sanyo plans to start selling the new e-bikes in Japan on April 28 (price: $1,800 each). The company unfortunately doesn’t say if the eneloop bikes will ever be sold outside Japan (where 350,000 bikes have been sold last year) as well.

OK Go’s amazing Rube Goldberg music video

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 04:38 AM PST

So you thought OK Go was a one trick pony, right? They did the old treadmill trick and we were all like “Wow! Amazing!” but take a look at this action. These guys basically recorded this in a single shot, arriving in their places with just as all sorts of crazy things happen.

Seriously: color me impressed.

via Giz

The Novac NV-CR001U digitizes music cassettes and LPs

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PST

It’s not the first device of its kind, but it’s pretty cheap and compact: Japan-based Novac announced [JP] the NV-CR001U today, a player for both LPs and cassettes that helps to digitize music stored on those media (almost) hassle-free.

All you need to do is to connect the device to your Windows XP/Vista/7 machine via USB 1.1 or 2.0, run a special piece of software and choose which cassette or LP you want to copy over to your PC. The music will be stored as MP3, WAV or WMA files with bit rates of 32/64/128/192 or 320kbps.

Sized at just 324 x 274 x 125mm, the NV-CR001U weighs 2.5kg. Novac is planning to sell the device in Japan starting Friday (price: $170). It’s Japan-only at this point, but you can ask import/export specialists like the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U to ship one to your country.

Mamiya announces DM40 DSLR, makes wallets bleed

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 01:00 AM PST

Mamiya announced their latest large sensor DSLR today, the DM40. Coming in at a memory card crushing 40 megapixel, the DM40 can capture images at up to 60 frames per minute, make it the fastest large sensor DSLR on the market. And one of the most expensive.

The DM40 is quite an impressive camera technically, but expect to pay for the privilege of shooting with it, as a sensor that large doesn’t come cheap. MSRP on this amazing piece of equipment is a jaw-dropping $21,990. For all the technical details, here’s the press release:

Mamiya today announced the addition of the new Mamiya DM40 to its lineup of professional large-sensor DSLRs. Featuring a resolution of 40 megapixels with a peak capture rate of .8 seconds per frame and a sustained capture rate of 60 frames per minute, the Mamiya DM40 is the industry's fastest large-sensor DSLR.

The heart of the DM40 system is the new “DF” camera-core technology, developed by Mamiya, featuring two user-selectable shutter systems: leaf or focal plane. In demanding daylight situations, photographers can use predictable high speed flash synchronization to fill-in or overpower even the brightest ambient light on one of three new leaf-shuttered lenses designed by Schneider-Kreuznach and manufactured by Mamiya. The lenses – available in focal lengths of 55mm, 80mm, and 110mm – deliver an effective maximum flash sync speed of up to 1/1600th of a second. For more conventional situations, photographers can choose any one of 15 other world-class Mamiya optics, from 28mm to 300mm APO, designed for use with the cameras' focal plane shutter system.

Also newly announced, the Mamiya DM40 Digital Back will be available for those customers who wish to obtain the latest in high-speed and resolution digital capture for their existing Mamiya or large format camera. Supported cameras include: Mamiya 645AFD series, 645DF, Mamiya RZ series (via optional adapter), Mamiya RB series
(via optional adapter), and 4×5 view cameras
(via optional adapter).

Specifications Highlights
CCD: 44 x 33mm, 40 Megapixel
Largest file size: 240 MB 16 bit TIFF
ISO: 80-800
Capture rate: 0.8 sec/frame
Digital imaging user interface: 6×7cm LCD touchscreen

Pricing and Availability
The Mamiya DM40 DSLR kit will be available in the U.S. at $21,990, including Mamiya 80mm f.2.8 D lens. The Mamiya DM40 Digital Back, also available in the U.S. at $19,990. Both are expected to be shipping in March, and include Capture One and Leaf Capture software.


Daily Crunch: House of Cards Edition

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST

Concept watch tells time with frikkin’ lasers

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 10:00 PM PST

One look at what this watch does will tell you that it’s just a concept, and will most likely never see the light of day (no pun intended). The Aurora Watch was designed by Jihun Yeom, and features a hollow face that makes it look like you lost part of your wristwatch, until you push a button and two lasers come out of the bezel to show you the time.

Now, despite the obvious problems like power consumption and the fact that a laser that’s visible in daylight will probably burn a hole in you, there’s the subject of cost. I really doubt that anyone who has the money to buy something like this would choose it over a Omega or Rolex. It’s a geek watch, but very few geek types will ever be able to afford it. I guess we’ll just consign it to the concept file and call it a day. Or figure out how to mount this on a shark.

[via Geekologie]

Let your geek flag fly with official Xmen TVs

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 10:00 PM PST

Word has come down that Marvel has licensed some of their characters to TV builder RTC23. No, I’ve never heard of them either, but apparently someone has since they are now producing the official “ultimate comic book fan” television.

The new TVs will be available in 22, 32, 42, and 55-inch versions, and feature custom splash screens and other cosmetic touches to remind you exactly how much of a geek you are. Pricing will run from $339 up to $1989 and the TVs are available directly from RTC23. Sign me up for the Wolverine version.

[via Gizmodo]

Atari and Cryptic anger the people who bought Star Trek Online at launch

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 08:30 PM PST

Remember Star Trek Online? Yeah, it come out waaaaay back on February 2nd of 2010. Well, it’s Cryptic’s game, but it’s published by Atari, and since there maybe hasn’t been the level of interest everyone was looking for, they are running a sale. It’s a pretty good deal too, since you get the game for $10 off (which isn’t so bad) and you an additional 60 days of free gameplay (which is the frustrating part). That’s a total of 90 days of free play, including the 30 days that come with the purchase of the game. That seems really unfair to the players who pre-ordered or bought the game when it first came out.

So the Star Trek Online forums are getting ugly, and subscribers are upset. Cryptic and Atari reacted by deleting the threads criticizing them for their actions, and then created a new sticky thread to consolidate all the comments. Needless to say, this decision has made the subscribers even more angry, and Cryptic and Atari have yet to make a decision about how they are going to resolve this issue. Now in the interest of disclosure, I’m currently playing STO. The game is very rough around the edges, and still feels like a beta despite the fact that it was formally released a mere month ago. It’s disturbing to me as a player to see a “fire sale” level promotion so soon, and it makes me fear for the future of the game. Hopefully Cryptic/Atari will realize that they are really burning bridges with the players and make a decision similar to what Blizzard did when World of Warcraft was released with so many problems.

The S-CUT cutting tool is a tool for serious cutting

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 08:03 PM PST


This is tool is either for emergency workers who need to quickly cut through fabric of injured victims or for the Dextor-types who need to cleanly cut through fabric of their victims. Actually, probably both. Check out the video demo after the jump. It’s like a letter opener for clothes.

[via medGadget]

Canon 5D mk II gets 24p video, improved audio in imminent update

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:51 PM PST


Good news for those of you shooting video on your 5D mk IIs — this month will bring the highly-anticipated 2.0.3 update, which improves a number of aspects of this already-excellent camera. A 24p mode has been added, thank god, which I know a ton of people were looking forward to — and 30p has been changed to 29.97 in order to be NTSC-compatible. Audio sampling has been bumped from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, which is nice, I guess. You can also manually control audio levels now.

Lastly, they’ve added a histogram to movie mode, which will be an immense help for shooters. This update comes as rumors of 5D mk IIIs are swirling, as well as stories of EF-mount camcorders. Who knows? At any rate, the 5D just became a lot more viable as a filmmaking tool, though I maintain that the image quality issues pose a real issue to any video pro.

New My Passport Studio from WD has built-in e-ink status display

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:45 PM PST


This new external HDD from Western Digital isn’t the first to incorporate a display, but I like the look and feel of these better. It uses e-ink to display whatever info you like to know, like free space, number of files, that sort of thing. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds pretty handy. I’ve got a couple drives lying around and I can’t ever remember whether I’ve recently filled them up with… you know, stuff.

The drives come in the usual 2.5″ varieties: 320GB, 500GB, and 640GB, for $150, $180, and $200 respectively. Technically that makes the biggest one the best deal, at 3.2GB per dollar compared with 2.13 for the small one. And they’ve got both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 ports. But hey, you didn’t come here to read numbers. You came so I could give you a link to awesome Canadian web comics!

Virgin Mobile USA To Kill Their Postpaid Service On May 25th

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:14 PM PST

According to a series of tips I just received from multiple trusted sources, Virgin Mobile USA is planning to shut down the post-paid chunk of their wireless services on May 25th, 2010.

You see, there once was a little wireless carrier called Helio. Bringing over all kinds of crazy sliding what-nots from South Korea, they tried their damnedest to offer the coolest cell phones on the block. They also bled money like a busted spigot, burning $710 million before they were ready to call it quits. In June of 2008, Virgin Mobile (who then offered solely pre-paid wireless) came along and snatched up Helio for $39 million in stock, primarily to serve as a foundation for their then non-existent postpaid service.

A great plan, until Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile just a year later, primarily for their pre-paid service.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Condé Nast betting the farm on tablet PCs

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PST

It’s good to see at least one print media outlet start to get it. Conde Nast announced recently that Wired isn’t going to be the only one of their properties showing up on tablets; GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Glamour will be there as well.

It really is a good move for the publisher. Assuming that they can continue to build on the history built off of the iPhone apps, (GQ has sold 22,000 copies on the iPhone at $3 each) this could be the model that publishers like Conde Nast need to save their businesses. CN has been working hard on a tablet version of Wired, and it looks good. It’ll be interesting to see if they can leverage the development time that they spent on Wired into a format that works for the other publications as well.

Facebook app for Zune HD is live – get thee to the Zune-appery

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 06:44 PM PST


The Facebook app all of us Zune HD lovers have been waiting for has arrived! It looks pretty solid, but due to a hilarious sequence of errors, I can’t update my Zune software to allow the app to be installed. Seriously, Microsoft, I want to recommend Zune stuff to everyone, but you make it so difficult for me. You can see what it looks like in these screenshots, at any rate. More in the gallery below.

Damn, can anyone get this thing working? I keep getting a network error. Come on!

Even more cheap Android tablet computers

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 06:30 PM PST

Today seems to be the day of cheap Android tablets, and while I doubt we’ll ever see any of these in the U.S. they are worth mentioning. These particular tablets are produced in China by HiVision, a company not exactly known around the world. That could change however, because these little (7-inch) tablets look to be selling for around $100 each.

Now for the specs: they are running Android of course, and have an 800×480 7 inch touch screen. The processor is a Samsung 800MHz ARM11, and it has 2GB of storage, along with 256mb of RAM for processing needs. Wifi is standard, however you can also add GPS and other USB peripherals. Battery life is estimated at around 6 hours.

The HiVision tablet was spotted it the wild by JKKMobile, and the video comes from them, so enjoy.

[via Liliputing]

DIY Russian style: wooden USB drive

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 05:30 PM PST


Here’s a rather unique DIY project for you: a russian builder created a USB key design using a block of wood, a switch, and a fan. Why do you need a fan for a USB key you ask? Well, I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is the glowing LED lights inside the glowing logo need cooling? Honestly, no clue.

Needless to say, this is not exactly something that you’re going to find for sale anywhere anytime soon. Not that you’d want to buy one. Or couldn’t just build one yourself, if you were so inclined. Make sure you add a fan that sounds like a vacuum cleaner if you do build one though. Oh, and “in Mother Russia, USB stick builds you!”

[via Reddit]

Shavers, git-fiddles and synths, oh my

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PST

Good old Bill Ruppert sent us the video of his latest creation, a complete homage to “Welcome to the Machine” using only EHX pedals and an electric shaver. Crazy stuff.

From the EHX post:

In this episode we explore how to produce synthesizer sounds and effects from the classic Pink Floyd recording "Welcome To The Machine." The original recording from the 1975 album "Wish You Were Here" used an EMS VCS 3, ARP String Ensemble and Mini-Moog synthesizers.

"It's very much a made-up-in-the-studio thing which was all built up from a basic throbbing made on a VCS 3, with a one repeat echo used so that each 'boom' is followed by an echo repeat to give the throb. With a number like that, you don't start off with a regular concept of group structure or anything, and there's no backing track either. Really it is just a studio proposition where we're using tape for its own ends—a form of collage using sound."
-David Gilmour, 1975, WYWH Songbook

A 14 minute film showing the telecommunications wonders of the 1962 World’s Fair

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PST

I don’t know if you’re ready to see the future of phone communication. Call forwarding, call waiting, pagers, and *gasp* touch-tone phones. It’s a lot to handle, but the kind ladies of the 1962 World Fair Bell System pavilion will gently guide you through the complicated technology.


This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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