By David Ponce

Royal Philips Electronics is Obsessed With Sound. Seriously. I know this because they’ve told me and they’ve shown me and now, six months after this episode started, I finally get it. I get their message. I get what they’re on about. The pieces of the puzzle have fallen in place.

And I like it.

Back in March, I told you’d I’d soon be talking about my trip to Amsterdam to check out the Metropole Orchestra. It took quite a while longer than expected, but here we are. In this article, I’d like you to come with me behind the scenes of a Philips production of a musical piece called I’m No Prototype. In the process you’ll be introduced to an awesome musical visualization technique they developed and you’ll also hear about an ambitious musical talent competition Philips is sponsoring.

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By Robert French

Air purifiers are often found in homes and offices as people become more concerned with air impurities. Most of them still use a source of energy but designers Mathieu Lehanneur and David Edwards had a more natural idea: why not use nature’s air purifiers to serve the same purpose in your home and office? Plants are best known for their ability to scrub toxins from the air and release pure, fresh oxygen. The Andrea air purifier combines nature and technology into one eco-looking and effective air-scrubbing product.

Andrea uses nearly any household plant you supply and takes advantage of its purifying properties to absorb and neutralize airborne toxins.  The powered fan pushes air over the plant’s leaves and through the roots of the plant and soil to increase the speed of the plant’s filtration process. According to Andrea’s designers, the device removes toxic gases from the air at a rate of over 1000% faster than plants alone without the technology.

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By Chris Scott Barr

Duke Nukem Forever has been the punching bag of the gaming world for the last decade or so. With roughly 14 years in development, it’s not hard to figure out why. Last week the game actually hit store shelves, which is something many of us thought would never actually happen. But after more than a dozen years of waiting, is the game really worth it?

It’s almost difficult to judge a game that has been in production for as long as this one. The main reason is that with so much hype, and simply knowing that there have been so many years poured into one game that it must be a masterpiece. You’ll have to head over to GamerFront to catch the full review, but if you’re expecting a perfect game, the Duke won’t be delivering. However, if you’re looking to blow up aliens in the most crude and vulgar game that you’ve seen in a long time, well you’re going to be in luck.

VIA [ GamerFront ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Last time I counted, there were roughly a million iPhone/iPod docks on the market. Okay, so perhaps that’s something of an exaggeration, but sometimes it really does feel like there are that many. With such a variety, how can one be sure to pick out the best for them? Well, Stem has released a new dock called TimeCommand that they think you should consider.

First Look

The TimeCommand is a black cylinder that is almost exactly the width of the iPad. As you guessed, there is a good reason for this. Not only does this dock support your iPods and iPhones, but it has been designed to accommodate the much larger iPad.

On the dock you will find seven buttons. The larges is your snooze button, which also acts as play/pause if you’re listening to tunes. There are also buttons for two alarms, a set of brightness/volume buttons, and my favorite, the light button. When you plug in the TimeCommand, you’ll find that it has an outlet. If you plug a light into the extra outlet, you can control it with the button on the dock. This can be rather handy when used with a bedside lamp. There is also a decent sized digital clock on the face, and a pair of speakers built around the sides of the dock.

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When you’re playing video games, you want to get sucked into the experience. Total immersion is the ultimate goal when you fire up your console or PC and start up your favorite game. There are many factors that go into the experience. Everything from gameplay, graphics, frame rate and audio all play their part in providing a good gaming experience. Naturally, this means that  you want to crank your speakers up so that you can hear every bullet fire and every shell hit the ground. But what if you have to worry about disturbing neighbors, roommates or family members? Naturally, you reach for your favorite headset.

Tritton has released their AX Pro headset, which promises to deliver excellent 5.1 surround sound from not only your PC, but your Xbox 360 and PS3 as well. Unlike most other headsets that use a standard stereo jack for input, Tritton has decided to take advantage of the optical ports found on most PCs and two of the three current-gen consoles. So will their cross-compatibility and true Dolby 5.1 sound stack up to the competition? Check out the full review over at GamerFront to find out.

[ Tritton AX Pro Review @ GamerFront ]

In an ideal world, I’d play all of my games while looking at a giant HDTV and surrounded by some sweet speakers with the volume cranked up. Unfortunately most of us don’t get to live such a dream. Instead we find ourselves trying to make the most of the small area that we have for out gaming needs. If you’re tight on space, but still want a great set of speakers to compliment your gaming experience, Antec wants you to give their SoundScience Rockus system a look.

This 2.1 speaker system does more than just crank out your sound effects and music with 150 Watts of power. With the push of a button, it can simulate 3D surround sound, letting you feel like you’re in the action, without messing with a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. Console gamers will be happy to see the inclusion of an optical input, as this means you can plug your 360 or PS3 directly into the speakers.

The SoundScience Rockus has a nice set of features, but the real question is whether they are enough to make this a “must buy” setup. Check out the full review over at GamerFront for all of the details.

[ Review – Antec SoundScience Rockus Speaker System @ GamerFront ]

There are a lot of things to consider when you’re looking for a computer case. Everything from the size, physical appearance, and even the amount of noise it puts off go into your decision. You might not think that last item is all that important, but there are plenty of situations where a noisy computer can be a nuisance. Sure, you can drown out loud fans with music, but you shouldn’t need to do that. Instead, you can get a silent case, such as the NZXT H2.

This chassis has more to offer than just sound-dampening foam to keep it quiet. Extra features such as USB 3.0 support and a a built-in hard drive dock make this one worth a second look. But do these features make this case stand out enough to make it a must-buy for your next PC? Check out the full review over at GamerFront to find out.

[ NZXT H2 Review @ GamerFront ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

When I first saw this mouse I wasn’t too impressed, compared to other gaming mice it was lacking the initial wow factor that draws you to it. The M3x offers an on the fly DPI adjustment, however you must pick between eight predetermined settings (no customizing here). The eight options are associated with a colored LED so you would have to memorize which color coincides with each  resolution. The DPI selection is on a cyclic system, in other words you have to cycle all the way through to get to a lower DPI. I found this irritating, and almost counter-productive.

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This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

Last we were lucky to receive the Sonar 5.1 Championship PC Gaming Headset from Cyber Snipa. I was fortunate to be able to take this headset to the past LAN War at Indiana University and really put it through the gauntlet so-to-speak. After a long tandem of hourly gaming, I’ve got the stats on this superior headset.

The Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 Championship headset is a bit unlike any other headset I’ve used. The design is really top-notch, and to be honest, it just looks really cool. It’s very comfortable on the top of your head, but you may run into problems if you have large ears like me. The ear pieces are comfortable, but smaller than they look. I first thought I could turn them, which would be cool, but they’re fixed and won’t slide.After a while, though, you don’t really notice the issue, so it’s not a big complication.

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