Life Size Gears Of War Products Coming Soon

Branded products based on films are always at the back of the publisher’s mind and with recent video games outstripping their movie alternatives in terms of turnover and popularity, it’s little surprise to learn that TriForce Sales LLC has purchased the rights from Epic Games to produce life sized replicas of weaponry and armour from the award winning game.

Gears of War was heralded as being the greatest game of its time and it has remained one of the most popular games since its release in 2006. DC Comics has also announced that it will produce a Gears of War comic based on the characters in the game while Gears of War:The Pendulum Wars is a book based on the game due to be published by Del Rey Books.

So, you’ll be able to don your home made C.O.G. Armour and grab your replica assault rifle and head over to the TriForce website in order to pre-order Gears of War gear from the beginning of July. Designs are based on a personally sculpted set created by Sid Gerrand of Nightmare Armor Studios – an individual and company renowned for creating lifelike and popular replicas of similar equipment.

Email Flood Warnings From Fujitsu

Picture the scene – you log onto your computer and start checking emails. Having sifted through 23 offers of “male extension products”, numerous notifications of having won the Azerbaijan online lottery, and ignored the Nigerian doctors that would like your bank account details to forward you tens of millions of dollars, you find one email that really stands out.

“Flood Warning”

According to ZDNet, Fujitsu has been providing the Floodline Warnings Direct system for a few years now and alerts those services that need alerting when a flood is imminent. Not only has that contract been renewed but concerned individuals will be able to register by the end of the year for an online warning service whereby they receive email alert notification of impending doom. Read more

The Rise Of The Netbook

Those netbooks, eh? They seem to be cropping up just about everywhere. The Asus Eee PC has gone down a storm and a number of other netbooks have also emerged. Gizmodo’s Brian Lam met Michael Dell at the All Things Digital event last night where he saw the prototype of an as yet unnamed small form netbook.

Netbook is the term that has been given to small laptops designed to make connecting to the Internet a simple and more affordable option. These notebooks have ultra small form and limited options in order to minimize the size and weight of the device. By also using inexpensive chips, netbooks are also usually well within the budget laptop range. Read more

The World’s Smallest Projector - The Earth Trek 90-805R

Numerous blogs and related websites are talking about the Earth Trek 90-805R as being the smallest projector available. The fuss has been started primarily, it seems, because of the Pico projector boasting that it uses new technology to create even smaller projectors. However, where the Earth Trek wins out is in the fact that it is a standalone projector whereas the Pico is bedded into other items.

The Earth Trek will display images up to 22 inches in size from this remote control sized device. The only format it will play is MP4 so it is limited in this respect but it does have a number of connections so that you can stream content from mobile devices, external storage devices, and laptops.

Battery life is expected to be around 2 hours, so just long enough to watch most films, although you won’t be watching Titanic without having to re-charge the battery for a little while. Image quality won’t be great, in part because of the MP4 format dependency, but for a tiny projector it packs a more than reasonable punch.

19 New NTT Docomo Handsets

The Japanese aren’t exactly famed for doing things in small measures when it comes to technology. While the rest of the world waits with baited breath for the next release of the iPhone, the Japanese manufacturer NTT Docomo has announced 19 new handsets showcasing some incredible and ingenious features. They’re not exactly hanging around with release dates either.

The all-round 906i releases, of which there are 8 in total, include 1-seg mobile TV, improved GPS performance, 3G roaming, mobile credit card facilities, and voice to text translations in three languages. The first five of these handsets are due for release between 1st and 5th June with the remainder coming throughout the rest of the month.

The 706i series has 11 new entries. Again, all include 1-seg mobile TV but has some fantastic additions including the world’s slimmest 1-seg phone, a waterproof 1-seg phone, and a mobile phone that monitors your dietary and health condition. The release of the 706i series handsets is slightly more staggered from June to September but remarkable nonetheless.

The contrast in UK and Japanese releases is somewhat staggering. We wait anxiously for the probable (though not guaranteed) release of a single phone while the Japanese are being treated to 19 innovative new handsets.

New Nokia Maps Features

Nokia Maps has proven to be a successful addition to many of the more powerful handsets. The navigation software, in its latest incarnation as Nokia Maps 2.0, has recently been through the Beta testing stag already soliciting nearly quarter of a million downloads since its initial announcement in February of this year.

Nokia Maps 2.0 is now out of Beta and ready for general release to any compatible Nokia handset owner. New features make the software look pretty impressive, and it goes much further than being just a navigational tool including such things as interactive city tours, regional guides, and enhanced car and pedestrian navigation features. Read more

You’re A Selfish Bunch Of Surfers

According to a report by the BBC on research by Jakob Nielsen, the leading light in research into online habits, surfers have become selfish, impatient, and increasingly sceptical of advertising and promotions. We have essentially streamlined our surfing and information gathering processes and have learned to ignore the ploys that websites use to persuade us to linger longer on a website.

Approximately 75% of us achieve what we set out to do when we first open our browser, a figure which has increased from 60% in 1999. While this is partially down to better website and software design, it is largely because we are more understanding of the way the Internet in general, and websites work. As such we can quickly find the site we want, complete the desired action, and leave again.

Nielsen also stated that we still regularly fail to find what we are looking for using search engines, even using Google. He hypothesises that any site wanting to be more successful than Google simply has to make the search process a more successful one.

Search engines have become more sophisticated, more intelligent if you like, in the way that they collect and index data but it can still take several searches to find the actual information needed. As we continue to evolve into Internet gurus this is also likely to improve, though, because we will learn how to manipulate the search engine indexes to our own ends when conducting any search.

New Napster Offers 6 Million DRM Free Downloads

While there are obvious drawbacks to the iTunes service (DRM compatibility immediately springs to mind) the principle behind the music download service is a great one. That’s why it by far the most popular of all online download services in the US, but the latest incarnation of Napster is ringing in some major changes that are likely to shift some of the balance of power.

The new pay per song service runs at 79 per song, which many believe is still a little too high although realises reasonable savings against new releases. However, perhaps the biggest benefit of the new Napster is that it will not only include over 6 million tracks, but will also be DRM (Digital Rights Management) free.

Tracks can be downloaded to your PC, transferred to another PC or audio device (including the iPod) or burned to CD or other storage device. While the new service is a step away from the monthly subscription plan, those customers that have downloaded music using that plan, will still be supported and have access to their collection of music.

The move is likely to help Napster challenge for the throne of music download service kings, although Apple is bound to have something to say about that.

Will Nokia Ever Get N-Gage Right?

Last month saw Nokia making a second bid at releasing the N-Gage platform. The first attempt was a resounding failure, with the Nokia N-Gage handheld gaming device proving to be a failure. In a bid to make amends, Nokia’s latest attempt has seen them restructure N-Gage as a mobile service that can be used by any compatible device.

It has emerged, though, that the games can only be downloaded once and to one device. This may be a move to prevent pirating of software but it means that when gamers upgrade their mobile device they would need to purchase the game again for that new device. Understandably, gamers are disappointed. Read more

Curved LCD Displays, Thinnest Ever Display, And Improved Touch Screen Displays

Who can keep up with technology, eh? One minute, manufacturers are doing all they can to create the flattest form TV monitors imaginable, and then AUO come along and brag about their latest innovation – the curved LCD display on glass substrate. While e-paper displays don’t quite manage to get colours and image quality perfect, AUO claims that using new technology, they can do just that on glass substrate. Read more

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