Archive for January 8th, 2008
Filed under: Computers, Switched Video, CES 2008  WowWee’s Rovio is on the move. Check our video of this Wi-Fi-enabled robotic webcam. It streams audio in addition to video and gives users remote control from any Web-connected gadget, such as a computer or even a cell phone. Whether you want to know what’s shaking with the fam when you’re away or simply solve the mystery of which dog has been peeing on the carpet, you need look no further than Rovio for help. Look for a Fall debut on store shelves for $299 a pop.
Related Links:
Filed under: Audio/Video, Portable Audio, CES 2008
As with everything in life, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that we’ve found some headphones that will keep you, your hearing and your social life safe when using them. We stumbled across The Air Drives Interactive Earphones in the sea of gadgetry and tricky tech publicists at this year’s CES in Las Vegas. To be honest, at first we were just humoring the friendly Air Drives fella peddling his product, but when we slipped them on and pressed play we were instantly sold. The unique earphones went on Bluetooth style, with the speakers basically hovering outside the ears. When the jolly man played the music, the strangest thing happened: We felt like the music was being piped in from a PA system rather than being blasted inside our head, as with most earphones. Then, the Air Drives rep started talking, and we could hear both him and the music easily and clearly! It turns out that wearing these earphones doesn’t mean you have to miss the phone ringing or risk getting flattened by cars you couldn’t hear while out jogging to some music. Even more importantly, never again will you have to do that extra loud and obnoxious “Huh?!” thing when people talk to you. Also, taking advantage of the Air Drive innovation’s InAir Technology (We’d explain, but it’s not bedtime yet.) allows you to listen to music any way you wish without offering your ears as sacrifice to the gods. In fact, the headphones are so safe, they exceed the House Ear Institute and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) standards for all day listening and have earned a hearty endorsement from the International Association for the Hearing Challenged (IAHC). Now for the bad news… The days of living in your own music world while the soundtrack to your life haughtily mutes the people around you just may be over. Sorry, but no more convenient excuses about not being able to hear the annoying request by your spouse, mother or father. But hey, it just might be worth it. You decide, but make sure you check out the gallery below for shots of the Air Drives in action first. %Gallery-12929% Related Links:
Filed under: Audio/Video, iPod, iPhone, Portable Audio, CES 2008 
But then he asked Dr. Dre and Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine to come up, as they had a little surprise. They presented us with a set of new headphones called “Beats”. These powered isolation (meaning they drown out outside noise) skull cans were designed according to Dre’s notoriously stringent quality standards, and Monster is claiming unprecedented sound performance (we’ll let you know more about that soon as we have an appointment for a hands-on with the Beats). The headphones also look pretty nice, so we fully expect them to become street bling in no time. They are even iPhone compatible, a feature we assume will become a default feature for headphones and earphones this year. %Gallery-12935% Related Links:
Filed under: CES 2008  We’re a society obsessed with information. We’re constantly connected through instant messaging, e-mail, text messaging, Blackberries, we even have Internet access on our cell phones. As great as all these things are at making sure we have a world of knowledge at our fingertips 24/7, they still require us to turn on our devices and find the information we seek. Its never just there … waiting for us. Sometimes, we just want the score without turning on the TV, getting on the computer, or flipping open our cell phone. A new generation of electronics is putting information at your disposal any time, all the time. One of the pioneers of this category of device is Ambient Devices, a company that was created to bring technologies developed at MIT’s Media Lab to the masses. At CES, Ambient Devices showed off its new Ambient Baseball Scorecast device. The Scorecast pulls in scores, standings, and schedules over a proprietary network (no Internet or cell access required). Just pop in 4 AA batteries (which should last an entire season according to Ambient) and it will pull in scores immediately. No subscription fee, no Wi-Fi, nothing. And the Scorecast is always up to date. Updates are pushed out to the devices every half inning, so you can check in throughout the night without turning on the TV or walking away from a meal on the stove. The Ambient Baseball Scorecast will be landing in retail outlets across the country in April for $124.99 Related links:
Filed under: News  We know exactly what you’ve been thinking everytime you load up Unreal Tournament III - “I wish I could see more of my character’s back“. Well help is at hand. One of the first mods to be released by the UTIII mod community is a third-person camera mutator. This allows you to play the game as if it was a third person shooter, similar to Uncharted. The over-the-shoulder viewpoint gives the game a very different feel and comes with a few aesthetic restrictions. Firstly, bulky character models such as the Krall can obscure your view, so it’s best to stick with something a little more svelt. The fact that you never see your weapon means that you also need to pay close attention to the shape of the crosshair, or you could end up blowing yourself up with a rocket launcher you picked up without noticing. Other than these very small obstacles, this mod is excellent. Be sure to grab it at your earliest convenience. If you stumble across any other great PS3 UTIII mods, we’d love to know. Just shoot us an email at Jem [at] Joystiq.com [Via Digg] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Filed under: Previews, Videos and Screenshots, PlayStation Network From Crackle: LittleBigPlanet at CES
We all know homebrew gaming is coming to the PS3, most notably through Media Molecule’s own LittleBigPlanet. We’ve come to learn the game is slated for a September release for now, but what else is new with the game? We’ve got some cute information for you to digest. Unless, of course, you don’t like fluff. The emotions for your characters, called Sackboys (Sackpeople if you want to be PC about it), are controlled with the D-pad and seem to have a wider array than previously noted. Facial contortions indicate the style of body gestures your character will do. Kind of neat. You can move into and out of the background now — no more left-to-right only limitations. You can leave little items in the levels, too, like a leaf texture or something, to add to your personal inventory. The currency in the game was once Sponge, but now called Fluff — it looks like marshmallows in a variety of colors. How about creating your own levels? It’s pretty tough to imagine something when you’re greeted by a giant white screen. No worries — the game will come with several pre-rendered levels like a desert scene that will give you a better place to start. Parental controls and a user-created level rating system to control R-rated content is in the works. When we hear more, we’ll let you know, but it’s shaping up to be something special. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Filed under: Videos and Screenshots, PlayStation Network It’s been a long time since we last heard from SOE about their upcoming PS3/PC MMO action game, The Agency. There’s a lot of potential in this online initiative. Watch the SOE presentation from the CES show in Las Vegas, and tell us what you think. It appears the game isn’t delivering on every level, but the concept has us excited. [Via NeoGAF] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Filed under: News
Don’t consider this a promise from Sony. Hirai said in his speech at CES “That (profitability) is not a definite commitment, but that is what I would like to try to shoot for.” While we’d love to see the black beast get ink in its natural colors instead of red (accountants, that one was for you), we’ll have to wait to see how the strong 2008 lineup influences people’s desire to buy the PS3. We think they’ll want one. We already have one, but we still want to buy another one just because the lineup is that good. [via CVG] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
08
01
|
The Monster Cable press session at the Consumer Electronics Showcase started out bizarre enough: head monster Noel Lee cruised up on his Segway scooter, talked to the audience about HDMI and cables and all things monster.
