If you’re thinking of jazzing up your room with a little bit of disco light, the Laser Cosmos could play the role rather comfortably.

Imagine lying in your room, and having the ceiling whipped away to reveal the vast outreaches of the cosmos whirling overhead, complete with misty blue nebulae (which you can turn on and off!) and the occasional shooting star. Fully adjustable and requiring no set up, this super powerful space projector scatters a random panoply of sparkling green stars that will fill any room from the tiniest bedroom to the largest warehouse with a crystal clear animated star display. What’s so clever about this (apart from everything of course) is that it seems so three-dimensional, the varying brightness of different stars makes some seem close and others to come from distant galaxies.

This is made possible via green laser and holographic technology, resulting in a bright and clear has never been available before. If you want to be mesmerized, then you’ll just have to fork out £149.00 for the Laser Cosmos. More features are available after the jump.

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Filed under: New Releases

We’re glad you’ve taken the time out from your busy Warhawk schedule to check out what’s new on the PS3 this week. In short: there’s nothing. Keep playing Warhawk and Lair for another week or so and before you know it Heavenly Sword and DiRT will be readily available. Here’s the full release list for this week:

US Games

• No new releases

EU Games

• No new releases

Asian Games

• Yamasa Digi World SP Pachislot Sengoku Musou

Like we said; just keep on playing with Warhawk and Lair and, after this week, the big games will start to come thick and fast.

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Filed under: Computers

College is an awfully expensive time, leaving most graduating students completely broke or, more likely, buried under reams of college loan books. For those who don’t find a job immediately after graduation, things get worse as loan payments quickly come due.

At least students who banked with Hong Kong-based HSBC could always count on the bank’s free overdraft protection on checking accounts — that is, until the bank recently announced that the program was slated for termination.

Fortunately, we no longer live in a time when “writing a letter” is your only recourse in a situation such as this. When students learned of HSBC’s plans, they massed together on Facebook in an interesting sort of virtual protest — a protest that led to the bank axing the interest fees and keeping the program in place.

This is reminiscent of the trashing Wal-Mart recently took when it created its own Facebook group. However the negative feedback there was directed toward the company’s overall business practices, something Wal-Mart is unlikely to change based on a few thousand posts on a Web site (since it’s those very practices that have enabled it to stay profitable). The HSBC protest, on the other hand, was more focused on that single issue of interest on overdrafts, organized by the National Union of Students (NUS). The group set up a group on Facebook to keep in touch with students and organize the protest. NUS Vice President Wes Streeting indicated that it was Facebook that enabled them to get the program re-instated, saying: “There can be no doubt that using Facebook made the world of difference to our campaign.”

It just goes to show that today’s youth is, after all, still willing to stand up for something they believe in … so long as it doesn’t require they actually stand up.

From BBC News

Related Links:

• Wal-Mart Trashed on Facebook
• Monster.com Hacked, User Info Compromised
• Wal-Mart Woos College Kids with Facebook

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Unless that special woman in your life is a huge fan of crazy vintage records, I suggest you not buy here this for Christmas (or any other occasion):

In fact, I’d suggest you not buy her anything that appears antique or has a picture of a woman (other than her) on it. Add to that: don’t buy her anything from a magazine, anything that she can wear, jewelry, soap, or makeup … unless she specifically asked for it. Even if she did ask for it, augment your gift with some flowers, because unless she put it on layaway chances are you’ll mess up.

Pic via Dark Roasted Blend

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Filed under: Law, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT)

Bill Gates still is not out of the picture with the world’s largest software company that he co-founded, Microsoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT). In fact, Gates’ name is all over a new patent by the company that deals with how to track online web browsers who click on ads and tie them to later, verified online purchases. This is not exactly a new concept in the world of e-commerce, but the striking involvement of Gates in many of Microsoft’s recent patent applications is. Was Gates really this involved in a day-to-day basis? Remember, his title was “Chief Software Architect” — which tells me that conceptual designs involving software was in his daily grasp of responsibilities.

One of the software giant’s most recent patent applications deals with an online advertising system that uses ‘points’ to track the correlation between clicking on ads while web browsing with actual purchases. Now, many Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) AdWords customers (and Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) ad customers) already do this. When you click on that Google ad, a cookie places itself on your PC and if you complete a transaction based on that click, Google knows it. This is known as “conversion rate” in the marketing world. It’s interesting to see Microsoft’s spin on this tracking concept with one of the software company’s most recent patent applications.

But Microsoft’s goal here is to curb and hopefully prevent click fraud, which continues to dog almost every online advertiser since it may (or may not) be easy to fraudulently manipulate. So, from all viewpoints, Gates having his name attached to this recent patent application says he had a hand in the concept, but to what extent is unknown. The concept, which was developed in May of last year, was actually before Gates turned the reigns over to Ray Ozzie, his hand-picked replacement. Does Gates’ involvement here signify that internet advertising is a core area within Microsoft’s business strategy? Yes, and the company has not been shy about saying that either in the past 18 months as Google’s meteoric rise has happened. I’m not sure this patent will be Gate’s curtain call, but Ole’ Softie needs an advertising hat trick now more than ever.

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Filed under: Gaming

Those looking to be a little more selective in the Nintendo DS-related media they transfer to and from their PC will soon have a new option from GameTech, which is set to release the above hardware/software combo in Japan on August 31st. While there unfortunately doesn’t appear to be much more info than what you see on the box, the system seems to be straightforward enough, consisting a USB stick-sized device that’ll accommodate your DS cart and some software (Windows only) that’ll help you backup and manage your save game files. Of course, we’re sure there’s plenty of folks that’ll find more uses for the thing than just save games, although it doesn’t seem like GameTech’s willing to help you in that department.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Trailer Trash, The Weinstein Co.

At the beginning of the month, we brought you the ultra-wordy poster for The Hunting Party. No, it isn’t some flick about rifles and the hunt for gamey meat, but instead, the hunt for notorious bad guys. Aside from having tons of words, the poster actually answered its own question, which is both weird and funny. They asked: “How can they find the World’s most wanted war criminal when they C.I.A. can’t?” This is followed by some journalistic style: “[by actually looking].” The poster — it’s alright, but it isn’t half as cool as the trailer that is now out.

The film stars, get this — Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg as a few risk-loving journalists and a cameraman who decide to find the top war criminal in Bosnia. (I’d go see it just for the cast alone!) The trailer is all about the irresistibility of danger, mixed in with some good, old-fashioned American cover-ups and humor. This is the first time in eons that I’ve been intrigued by Gere in a role, and I love seeing him with Howard, who usually picks great movies and Eisenberg, who is just plain awesome. While it doesn’t seem to really tread new ground, Hunting looks pretty entertaining and fun — and it’s based on an Esquire article called What I Did on my Summer Vacation by Scott Anderson. What’s even better — you don’t have to wait too long to check it out. The film comes out September 7.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Features

We wanted to get down and dirty with LG’s other touchscreen phone — the KU990 (AKA the Viewty) — a 5.1-megapixel cameraphone that also does Flash, but the company’s staff would barely even let us get close. It’s true: the German showgirls and Japanese press handlers were less than forthcoming with the goods, but after a round of strong drinks and some serious sweet talking, we got to demo some of the phone’s functions — though there appeared to be a lot more lurking beneath the surface. Check the gallery for some “hands-on” action, and feel free to write letters suggesting LG’s people to lighten up.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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After giving us a hilarious Pepsi ad, the newly discovered combo of SRK and John will be seen on the silver screen for yet another acclaimed director – Rajkumar Hirani’s next film. And believe it or not there is more to the already great combination. The film is based on the famous book “Five Point […]

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