If the announcement that Toshiba had put in for membership with the Blu-ray Disc Association wasn’t enough evidence that they had completely switched teams, here is further proof. The company has announced their first standa-alone Blu-ray player for the US, dubbed the BDX2000.
It’s a decently-priced player, coming in with a list price of $250 (expect retail to be a little less). There’s really not much to note, as it seems to be your regular run-of-the-mill player. 1080p, BD-Live and BonusView just to note the major features. Look for this on shelves sometime this November.
E3 is already feeling like a distant memory, however, there were some things that I just couldn’t talk about right after the show. Well now that Mad Catz is shipping their Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster guitar for the Xbox 360, I thought it would be a good time to mention that I did get a little hands-on time with that very thing.
As you might have noted by the name, this this is a real Fender Strat. I don’t mean that Mad Catz bought a bunch of them and then modded them with electronic parts. Rather, they worked together with Fender to create the perfect guitar controller. Once they worked out how to build the guitar, Fender built each and every one of these in their factory. You seriously aren’t going to find a more authentic guitar controller anywhere.
I love my iPhone, and some days it feels like it can really do just about anything. That is, until I get a cool little text message from AT&T telling me that someone has sent me a picture message. I then have to open up Safari, copy and paste a code and password (it was barely even possible to do without a desktop in the days before the 3.0 firmware). All of this so I can see a picture of someone laughing, along with a message saying “lets see your fancy iPhone open this!” True story, someone with a crappy little free camera phone sent it to me. They just love the fact that their phone can do something my fancy-pants iPhone can’t. Well all of that is about to change.
Finally, AT&T has announced that the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be getting MMS on September 25th. A bit late from their projected “late summer” release of the feature I think, but I’ll still gladly take it just the same. So, who wants to take bets that AT&T has massive network outages on the 25th?
Thankfully this Summer was a pretty mild one when it comes to temperatures, where I live at least, but there were a few days where a device like this personal air conditioner would have been most appreciated. The Handycooler might look like nothing more than a high-tech fan, but it actually harnesses the power of evaporative cooling to keep you comfortable. Inside the unit there’s a sponge you simply dampen with a few ounces of water, and the air that’s drawn over that damp sponge by a fan is cooled by as much as 25 degrees Fahrenheit! Refreshing!
On a set of 4xAA batteries the Handycooler will run for about 5 hours, but it can also be plugged into a power outlet or a USB port for use at your desk. $39.99 from ThinkGeek.
There’s a definite charm to the glowing display on an old-school vacuum tube clock, and if you’ve ever been curious how they work, or how they go together, this Ice Tube Clock Kit let’s you build your own. It comes with everything you’ll need, including a glowing blue tube with 8 digits plus an alarm status indicator, and when assembled you’ll have all the functions you’d find in a traditional model like a snooze button, date functions and even a 2-week battery backup. The kit will set you back $70 from the Adafruit Industries website, but it appears they’re currently out of stock until September 22 at the earliest.
We like it when designers re-invent the wheel elegantly. In this case, someone’s re-invented the bookmark and actually made it more useful. The Bookmark II is a simple rubber band with an arrow on one side and a “Bookmark” tab on the other. The arrow allows you to point to the line you were last reading and the tab to open the book up to the appropriate page. It’s simple.
Unfortunately, we don’t know how to get a hold of one, though it’s allegedly made by Propaganda. We can’t find a reference to it on the site though. Hit the jump for another image. (Incidentally, we think they made an interesting choice of line on the picture above)
I’m impulsive, but heck… not this much. But when I saw the Buckyballs from Zoomdoggle, I made a purchase right away. Like, within 30 seconds. It’s a set of 216 small rare earth magnets that can be reconfigured in endless ways. It’s a toy. It’s crazy stupid and useless, kind of like a Hula Hoop or a Rubik’s Cube. But if you watch the video below, I bet you’ll want your own.
They’re $30 plus shipping, and free shipping if you buy two. Use promo code “GetBucked” for 10% off.
When it comes to passing gas, usually the thing people are most likely to argue about is the source. After all, most people don’t want to admit that they were the one who let it slip. Of course you do have the people that are rather proud of their gas, and will readily claim it. These people are more concerned about who is able to create the loudest and nastiest fart possible. A pair of computer engineering students at Cornell have crafted a device that can essentially measure a fart.
The two students used a sensitive hydrogen sulfide monitor, thermometer and a microphone to rate the quality of one’s flatulence. The results from these tools is combined, and the device beeps and announces the fart rating, from 1 to 9. If it’s a nine, a small fan kicks in to get the air flowing.
If you’ve ever wanted to see a frat guy crap themselves, stick one of these in their frat house. Over the course of a couple of days, they’ll all be competing to see who can rip the nastiest one. Being the competitive guys they are, they’ll look for ways to one-up each other. Someone’s going to eat one too many bean burritos, try to squeeze out a juicy fart only to end up dropping a deuce in their boxers.
It seems like not all that long ago, universal remotes were very plain gadgets that you’d pick up at you local store when you lost your TV remote. Then you’d get it home only to find that your specific model wasn’t listed in the back, so you had to manually program the stupid thing. Yes, I’ve bought several of them over the years, and hated each and every one. Thankfully these days companies like Logitech are making remotes that not only have a lot of extra features, but also are easy to setup.
This morning Logitech announced their latest universal remote, the Harmony 700. This remote can control up to 6 different living room devices, which should clear up some room on your coffee table. They have attempted to simplify the way you use the remote, with buttons like “Watch TV” and “Listen to Music.” The color LCD screen also makes many actions a lot easier. Your favorite TV channels will be stored on the screen, letting you simply press a button to be taken there.
In order to program the remote, you’ll only need to download the software on your computer, and enter the model numbers of the devices you want to control. No codes to enter on the remote. As for power, the Harmony 700 comes with a pair of rechargeable AA batteries. When they start to get low (or die) you can simply plug in the remote with the included power adapter. I have to say that this is the first remote I’ve seen that comes with a power cord, which is an interesting idea. If you have a lot of devices in your living room, and don’t mind dropping $150 on a remote, then this would very likely serve you well when it hits stores later this month.
Related Tags: Blu-ray, toshiba
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