LaCie has just dropped new on its 2big family of professional RAID drives which comprises of the 2big Dual, 2big Triple and the 2big Network. Storage capacities range anywhere from 1TB to 2TB and are differentiated by their advanced features and unique interfaces. All three were designed by Neil Poulton and boast a refreshing natural cooling, heat sink metal design with a thermoregulated progressive smart fan for long-lasting reliability and whisper quiet operation. The 2big family could be touted as a complete RAID solution, capable of being configured individually for performance or safety. Both the LaCie 2Big Network and Triple are tipped to ship this month, whereas the 2Big Dual will only ship in October. Prices start from $399 upwards.

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Filed under: Food Oddities, Real Kitchens

Last night I was sitting around with some friends, having just finished a terrific dinner, when we stumbled upon the subject of our quirky pantry staples. Those things that you always have to have on hand that are a little out of the ordinary, in case you have a particular craving that must be sated. My friend Fran and her husband always have soba noodles in their cupboards. My parents always have honey toasted wheat germ in the fridge. I don’t feel comfortable without a bottle of fish sauce, a vast backup supply of pepper corns and at least three different kinds of mustard.

What are those things that you need to have in your kitchen in order to feel comfortable and well-stocked?

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Filed under: Multimedia, News

No, we don’t mean the graphics are 3D. We mean the game displays in 3D. Just like all those early 90’s rides at Disneyland. If you think this is a really crazy idea, you may be right. Rumors abound that movie theaters are going to adopt new 3D technology over the next decade to “enhance” our movie experiences and attempt to justify raising ticket prices again, but this Ridge Racer 7 remix into the third dimension is particularly interesting.

This idea takes the console version of the title, tosses it back into arcades and displays it on a special television that requires you to wear special 3D shades to have the images pop out at you — no, they aren’t cardboard green and red glasses, rather, a single shade that should be less embarrassing. To outsiders, the screen will simply look a little blurry. It’s a neat idea, but we aren’t sure if it will catch on outside of a select few arcades in Tokyo.

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Filed under: Gaming, Transportation

If the Wii has taught us anything, it’s that competitive games don’t have to be played from the comfort of a couch. Germany’s Daum Electronics, a company that makes an exercise bike with a difference — the Ergo Bike Premium 8i — has certainly realized this. Its Ergo Bike is kitted up with a screen, camera, speakers and microphones, and the array of usual sensors: its most important asset, however, is an internet connection. This enables riders from different countries and continents to race (and sweat) with each other, or team up together to beat a simulated race. It’s kind of an expensive hobby though, riding in at $3,500 a unit. Another firm called Expresso Fitness has a bike with an entirely unique 3D environment (pictured), and an entirely higher price tag no doubt.

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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: Computers

External hard drives — those boxes that connect to your PC and store all your excess music, video, and other files — are usually ugly, or, at best, boring-looking. And though these babies seem boring as devices go in our iPhone-obsessed world, they serve an important purpose.

Increasingly, they’re also as much a part of the furniture as our computers are. So it’s about time that the manufacturers of these devices started investing in a little design. Seagate last year launched a series of sleek and fashion-forward FreeAgent external drives, for example. We applaud these design initiatives, but we’re a little perplexed with LaCie’s latest external drive, which is a bit garish. The 500-gigabyte (GB) device is gold-plated, or at least coated with a golden substance that contains a “small percentage of gold metal content,” and delivers a shape that looks like molten gold — assuming molten gold ever took the shape of a box with some waves on top.

It’s shape and color were created by Ora-Ïto, a consumer-focused French designer whose work seems to focus on things like artsy-shaped perfume bottles and the aluminum Heineken bottle. His work here on the $189 drive is a little less organic and a bit more de trop, as the French say, but it at least delivers where it counts. Bottom line? This is a designer peripheral thing holds a 500-gigabyte hard disk and stays cool enough to not require a noisy fan.

So, while your drive may look awfully loud, at least it won’t sound loud.

From Engadget

Related Links:

• How to Double Your Old iPod’s Storage Capacity
• Google Offers 250 Gigs of Storage for $500
• Wal-Mart Sells $300 Earth-Friendly PC

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, New Releases, New Line, Theatrical Reviews

A scene near the beginning of Shoot ‘Em Up features Clive Owen’s character trying to find a way to kill as many people in the room as possible — so he shoots a can of oil, which pools heavily on the concrete floor, then leaps into the pool of oil and sliiiiides across the room, gunning down bad guys all the way. The scene is representative of Shoot ‘Em Up as a whole: improbable things, even dumb things occur, but the movie just glides along, moving quickly and almost effortlessly, going for the next target and the next, while keeping you occupied for 90 minutes. Writer-director Michael Davis has delivered the smartest stupid movie I’ve seen this year.

One thing you cannot deny about Shoot ‘Em Up is that it lives up to its title. Watching this movie feels more like you’re watching a beautifully rendered videogame played by a master. Owen stars as the enigmatic Mr. Smith, who is sitting at a bus stop when he notices a pregnant woman being pursued by a disreputable character or two. He reluctantly interferes, and ultimately finds himself saddled with a newborn baby that the nasty Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti) is determined to kill. He tries to persuade a lactating hooker (Monica Bellucci) to help care for the baby while he finds a safe place for them all, but Hertz is ruthless.

Continue reading Review: Shoot ‘Em Up

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Filed under: Cellphones

In the wake of yesterday’s news that the open source community had come up with its own free iPhone unlocking software, iUnlock, we began to get a slew of emails coming from customers of iPhoneSIMfree’s largest distributor, Aussie iPhone Unlock. The email AIU sent to its customer list stated that IPSF had become unresponsive in fulfilling new orders for unlock licenses, and outlined the company’s intention to instead donate the money from incoming orders to the iPhone Dev Team (itself a highly sketchy move, to say the least). Today we caught up with iPhoneSIMfree who let us know that they have not ceased fulfilling orders, and will continue to do business as usual in selling their unlock solution to new customers.

Of course, now that a free solution is available we’ve all begun to play the waiting game in seeing whether Apple will re-lock all these newly unlocked iPhones with its next update, due out this month. We tried to get a firmer answer out of IPSF as to whether or not they’ll unlock a customer’s phone a second time should Apple re-lock in a future update; unfortunately there just isn’t a final answer since it’s still only hypothetical that Apple will re-lock unlocked iPhones. But IPSF did state that if re-engineering the next iPhone unlock isn’t too difficult, they do intend to offer re-unlocks to current customers at no additional charge.

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

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