Alienware Area 51 Gaming Laptop

The latest Alienware laptop is, as you might imagine if you know of Alienware, a mighty powerful beast that is designed specifically with hardcore gamers in mind. The Area 51 laptop is heavy in various departments weighing more than 5kg and costing nearly £1,500 for a bog standard edition but you do get some hefty power for your pound.

As seems to be the trend when knocking one of these up lately, it’s based around the Core 2 Extreme processor from Intel and it utilises two of the most powerful Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX graphics cards – because realistically, of course, one is just never enough if there’s even the slightest possibility that you can stuff two of them in there.

High definition features include an HDMI output, 1200p resolution support, and a built in TV tuner but no Blu Ray drive built in bizarrely. Options are pretty limited, enabling you to choose up to 4GB of RAM and up to a 640GB hard drive (with capacity for 1.5TB). For the beefy model you shouldn’t expect to be carrying much change home from £2,000 but this really is one serious piece of gaming kit.

The design is actually quite mundane for gaming gear, usually they’re all bright colours and neon lights, but the Area 51 clearly doesn’t think it needs to brag too much.

Hide Your Flash Drive In Your Watch

Flash drives just keep getting smaller in dimension while growing in stature and storage capacity. In fact many of them are no bigger than the actual USB plug, and if they do get any smaller then you’re going to need specialist tools to remove them from your PC, never mind attempting to find them again once you’ve secreted them about your person (we don’t need details).

This 4GB flash drive is concealed in the back of a fairly inconspicuous looking watch. Not only does that mean you could carry round government secrets without fear of having them stolen, but you won’t be able to leave those all important records on the bus either. As is the trend, the flash drive really is tiny measuring in at 1.5 x 0.5 x 0.25 inches so you may need tweezers to get it back out of your computer.

If they ever become popular, of course, then everybody will know what you’re hiding in the back of your watch, but for now they are available online and cost little more than £20 to £30. That includes the drive and watch, in case you were wondering. You’ll need your own government files to add to it.

The Mouse Is Soon To Be Extinct

Research company Gartner has declared the days of the computer mouse are firmly numbered, to be replaced by other more intelligent input devices and the proof is already in evidence. Far from being a distant dream, Gartner believes that motion sensing and even emotion sensing devices will replace the humble computer mouse within just three to five years.

Motion sensing has already been popularised and introduced to the mainstream by the likes of the Nintendo Wii, while the iPhone and iPod Touch have done their part to unleash touch screen devices on the world. But apparently, these and devices like them are only the very tip of the iceberg and many similar devices will follow suit.

Certain applications of the desktop computer are likely to ensure that the mouse remains in relatively common use but certainly for entertainment and gaming, the likelihood is that it will largely be replaced by other, more complex devices.

The mouse turns the ripe old age of 40 later this year and, if Gartner could be correct, it could soon be drawing its pension although Logitech and other mouse manufacturers may have something to say about it.

More Sensitive Wiimote Coming Soon

And so the E3 wheels keep turning. Through the space of the day today, we learned plenty of stuff that we already knew – the Wii is the most popular next gen console and that’s because of innovation. Apparently, though, even Nintendo staff were a tad surprised at just how successful the Wii has proven since its release, easily outselling both the Microsoft Xbox360 and the Sony PS3.

Sales figures have an almost unbelievably high 200,000 units every week since its release and when you consider that virtually as soon as any major new software or hardware is released, it becomes unavailable, it’s hardly surprising that the Wii continues to outsell its rivals.

What is odd, though, is that when the Wii was released the Nintendo press office took great pains to point out that it wasn’t being released to compete with so called next generation consoles and yet, now that their success has become evident, Nintendo are happy to bill it as being the most successful of the next generation consoles – quite a turnaround, but who can blame them?

A new plug in for the Wiimote, called the Wii Motionplus, was the big news of the day. It is said to greatly improve the responsiveness of the existing unit and pick up on even the slightest movemenet of hand, arm, and wrist. Wii Sports Resort was also unveiled as being the first game that will work with the remote.

Cleans, Hoovers, And Tidies Up Without Nagging – Time For A Part Ex?

OK, so it might look a bit like one of the giant cigarettes from the quit smoking adverts, but I’m reliably informed that the Care-O-Bot 3 will amply replace most housewives (erm…). By using billions of sensors (probably) it can find its way around the kitchen, taking the necessary items out of the cupboards and either placing them where needed or taking them to the person that needs them.

In reality, work on the prototype robot has largely been concerned with the mechanics of moving the robot, how to teach it where to find stuff, how to prevent running into people, and writing the three laws of robotics into its tiny little robotic brain so it doesn’t attempt to take over the world. And, thankfully, it was a success.

The Care-O-Bot 3 can easily navigate around a kitchen and other confined spaces, thanks to its omnidirectional wheely thing and is uses masses of sensors to plot a 3D virtual model of its current environment. This way, if somebody were stupid enough to walk in front of the robot, it would stop moving. Ahh, it cleans and its subservient – does life get any better?

Rubik’s Revolution - Infuriating And Fun

The Rubik’s Cube was an absolute phenomenon in the 80s and has remained one of the biggest sellers in the decades since. With the release of the latest and most updated version of the Rubik’s mind bending series of games, the Rubik’s Revo, it’s bound to cause more frustration and, what’s more, taking the stickers off and putting them back in order isn’t going to win you the prize this time.

It really is a revolution with digital games. Shaped like the original cube, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s just the same as the original and that the company are simply trying to cash in on the nostalgia vote.

Game modes include Light Speed, Rapid Recharge, Pattern Panic, Cube Catcher, Multiplayer Madness and Code Cracker. The cube lights up, plays sounds, and times you depending on which of the modes you choose to play. As with the original game, it will infuriate you and please you in equal measures.

Play it by yourself or team up to try and beat one another’s score, and at less than £15, the Rubik’s Revo looks like another blinding release that will keep us entertained for twenty years or more (perhaps not in one sitting, although…)

The Unique Shape Up Alarm Clock

Alarm clocks, for most of the reasonable people in the world, are badly designed. They go off, you momentarily wake up to hit snooze or disable it completely, and then fall back to sleep. Despite your best intentions when drifting into slumber it’s always the same. Two alarm clocks just means turning two off before you go back to sleep and putting the clock on the other side of the room means finding suitable projectiles first thing in the morning.

The Shape Up alarm clock not only helps you beat this potentially damaging habit, but it (sort of) helps you get fit too. Set the dumbbell shaped alarm clock as normal and go to sleep. When it wakes you in the morning, the only way to shut it up is to do 30 reps with it. Then, and only then, it will cease its early morning warbling.

By the time you’ve either a) done 30 reps or more likely b) tried to find another way to turn the damn thing off and then done 30 reps because it’s the only option available to you, we’re betting you’d be awake.

Console News From E3

Events like E3 are a bit of an odd mixed bunch really. For the most part they do little more than confirm the news that everybody pretty much already knew with the occasional bit of “ground breaking” news thrown in to whet our appetite. All talk this year has been regarding whether Microsoft will offer a Blu Ray player and whether Sony will change its stance on UK owners getting a bigger hard drive.

Well, official news confirms that Microsoft won’t be adding a Blu Ray player to its Xbox 360 console. Whether they’re spitting their dummy out of the pram having had to concede the battle over the next generation of high definition players or whether they really do want to concentrate their efforts on improving Xbox Live we’re not sure but there you have it.

Sony, on the other hand, announced that it will be scrapping the 40GB hard drive model of the PS3, which is the one that we in the UK have been stuck with since release. An 80GB model will take its place, which is good news, but that good news is softened somewhat by the announcement that it will differ to the US versions because it won’t support PS 2 games.

The Digital Golf Score Keeper

Sometimes that small scrap of paper and chewed pencile can just be too cumbersome when you need to keep score in golf. So, instead, swap them with a stylus and a digital score keeper that also tells you the time and the ambient temperature in a nifty pocket sized gadget that proves you can turn anything into gadgetry.

At less than £15, the digital score keeper is actually quite a bargain and the perfect gift for golfers that take their Sunday afternoon stroll just a little too seriously. Not only does it keep score for four players over 18 holes but it records everything on one screen so you don’t need to spend five minutes every hole before teeing off while you navigate your way around an obstinately challenging menu system.

What’s even better than that, and better even than the golf ball shaped buttons, is the fact that it stores the scores for use later. Once bragging rights have been won and confirmed by everybody you know then you can clear this week’s score and go again in seven day’s time. Don’t worry, if you lose, you can conveniently delete the scores too.

BT Announces The New Home Hub

The new Home Hub from BT offers a sleek new look, improved connectivity, increased range, and a number of other useful features to boot. Released on Friday, it will come free as part of some BT packages or will cost you just shy of £100 in the shops. Oh, we forgot to mention, that it doesn’t require an aerial which is jolly good.

The n standard wifi connector enables users to stream multimedia to computers and media players throughout the house and means that BT will be the only Broadband ISP in the country that offers this level of standard.

The design is a huge improvement on the previous functional and typically BT looks. The black concave design has no aerial protrusion and several lovely touch screen buttons in the top corner.

As well as WiFi there are also double the number of ethernet ports (that’s four, in case you don’t have the old one for comparison) and a USB2 port.

According to T3, BT also announced that the Vision package would now include Setanta Sports for free and that they will be releasing an overnight download service. This means you can pick a film and by morning it will have downloaded ready for you to watch at your leisure (although there’s probably a time limit).

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