Thought Controlled Gaming
August 14, 2008
Students have come up with an unpleasant sounding method of reading brainwaves to control computer games. It may not sound that pleasant but if they were looking for testers we’d still volunteer. The headband shines near infrared light into the skull and then measures the return of light and several other factors concerning the brain.
The reading emitted from this system could obviously have greater and more realistic uses than thought controlled gaming (really?) such as employing its use in medicine and other sciences.
Drexel, the developers, have in fact used their very own developed thought control game that runs using this technology. The Lazybrains game features a character called Morby that must use the power of his brain to get himself home.
The purpose of the Lazybrains game is to teach people with ADHD how to concentrate effectively. The brain scanning technique was initially developed to monitor patients while they were under anaesthetic to ensure that everything was still going to plan.
Drexel constantly creates products that combine play with development in some form and have developed items like the Planet Diggums which will be released to schools in the Philadelphia area later this year.
Radiopaque Rp5 – A Unique Personal Audio Device
August 14, 2008
Radiopaq is an online music catalogue that boasts a substantial portfolio of well categorised digital music. As a slight change in direction they have also announced that they will be launching what looks to be an innovative piece of portable audio equipment. The Radiopaq Rp5 connects wirelessly to the Radiopaq directory and enables the user to search by title, artist, or genre to find music they want to listen to.
Once you have chosen a track it is then streamed directly through the Rp5 without the need to be anywhere near your PC. Radiopaq claims this is a first and is throwing in some other features just to be on the safe side.
The information button works a little like the identically named button on your satellite and provides a whole range of information regarding the music you’re listening to.
Radiopaq also claims that the connection is almost live with very little lag between the device and accessing the directory. This is quite a boast and would represent a unique method of having access to and listening to any kind of music you wish to hear. The DAB and Internet radio are also joined by USB connectivity and a reasonable £250 price tag when it is released in shops some time next month.
MadWorld On Wii Now Guaranteed Chart Success
August 14, 2008
And so we turn to the lobbyists again to help build the expectation and further increase the appeal of a game that is being billed as the most violent game ever made. So despite the fact that it clearly doesn’t need any help in being an appealing game, MadWorld is getting that little extra help in promoting it that only the lobbyists can truly award to a game. Look at the entire Grand Theft Auto series – the more unpopular it gets with the lobbyists, the more the rest of the world want to play it.
The game is all black and white except for the bright red blood spills – and there’s going to be a lot of them as you can run around cutting people up with a chainsaw and impale them on a healthy assortment of items. We grant you, it’s probably not the ideal game for 8 year old Wii players but that’s what the age classifications are for.
There will almost be some extra pressure on the game because lobbyists will undoubtedly cite the use of the Wiimote as putting children one step closer to the actual physical maiming and murdering of people.
Lenovo P960 – The Stalker’s Phone
August 13, 2008
The Lenovo P960 is quickly becoming a mobile phone destined to be used by a whole bunch of weirdos. As well as offering that all essential mobile phone component – biometric fingerprint scanning, it will also have an automatic record function that records any phone calls from a particular number. I’m sure it will have genuine uses, and may make the ideal mobile phone for parents that are loathed to otherwise let their children have one.
The problem with that theory is that the design is a little blande, although not entirely unpleasant in all honesty. It leaves a huge question mark as to who exactly the finger print security and automated call recording is geared at.
There’s very few mobile phones that currently use fingerprint scanning security, although the technology does exist. Laptops are featuring biometric scanning more and more regularly to mixed reviews. The VIP Record feature, as Lenovo describes it, is certainly unique and most definitely handy… to somebody… probably.
The press release doesn’t give much more information and certainly no pricing details so if you’re interested then please let us know why, and keep your eyes peeled for more news.
60GB Xbox 360 Available Friday
August 13, 2008
The new 60GB version of the Xbox 360 and the price reduction for the Core (Arcade) version of the machine that has no hard drive will hit shops this Friday in the UK. The releases have been highly anticipated and, as expected, the price of the Premium package including the upgraded 60GB hard drive (rather than the 20GB drive you currently get) will remain the same at £200 although a couple of websites are offering it cheaper at £180.
The Arcade Xbox 360 package does not include any hard drive and instead offers a next to useless 256MB memory card. To go online and use Xbox Live you need to have the hard drive and the memory card really won’t hold that much. However, this bare bones version will be reduced in price to £160.
There has been no updates and altered pricing plan for the Elite, which features a 120GB hard drive but costs a mighty £250, which is a lot extra for the few benefits you receive (although we wouldn’t suggest using gloss, you could always try some home brew modding to give your 360 the appeaance of being Elite.)
ATI Radeon HD4870 X2 – The World’s Quickest
August 13, 2008
It’s quickly becoming the week of graphics card news, with AMD announcing the launch of the fastest graphics card ever made that is seriously hardcore and not really for the average online BBC iPlayer watcher. The ATI Radeon HD4870 X2 and the name unashamedly eludes to is the combination of 2 Radeon HD4870 graphics cards and has a staggering 2GB of dedicated memory.
Fortunately, ATI hasn’t just relied on the pot of super glue or Bostik to stick them together either. An advanced cross-GPU connection means that you actually gain more benefit from using the Radeon HD4870 X2 than you would from running two of its parent cards simultaneously.
2GB of dedicated memory is an absolute mass, and is more memory than a lot of PCs have (although not the kind of PC that is likely to feature a graphics card like this). The end result of this graphics card pimping is that it will easily work on ridiculously high resolutions.
Already available in the shops you should expect to pay at least £350 so you need to be really serious about graphics, gaming, and multimedia and you also need to have a huge HD monitor to truly benefit.
60 Million Apple App Downloads
August 12, 2008
Apple is already boasting a staggering 60 million downloads from the Apple App Store, only a month or so after it was first opened to us public types. While many of these downloads have been of free software and applications, Steve Jobs is also bragging a substantial revenue from the new service showing that iPhone owners clearly want more applications and are willing to pay the pounds to get them.
Equivalent to half a million pounds a day, the service has already made about £15m in sales for the commercial applications available. No matter how you look at it, and whatever your opinions on the product or products in question, that’s one hell of a lot of sales for such an immature service (in terms of its age, not appeal).
The Apple App Store enables iPhone users to buy applications that can be run on the iPhone. The new service was released last month and can be used by owners of either of the iPhone models. This just goes to show the increased willingness we have to spend money and convert our mobile phones into multifunctional portable devices.
The Wind Up Universal Remote Control
August 12, 2008
Perhaps we’re going just a little too far with the wind up, alternative energy gadgets – the likelihood of me actually using the wind up universal remote is not that huge to be honest. Having to crank up the dial every time you want to flick channel does kind of detract from the whole convenient, labour saving ethos of the TV remote control.
Fortunately, things are rarely as bleak as they first appear and it’s alleged that the wind up universal remote will run for about a week after thirty rotations. The rotations are done through the use of the old school microwave dial set up and presumably you can give it more than a week’s juice if you like.
As it’s a univeral remote, you have to bear in mind that this figure may be based on the pensioner that only has a television and only changes channels between Coronation St and Eastenders. For those that intend to use the same remote for TV, DVD, games console, speakers, and satellite TV, the wrist powered requirements may be a little more intense.
£20 will buy you an ecologically friendly, renewable power based wind up universal remote and will go some way to help build your wrist muscles in the process.
SensoSolutions SensoGlove
August 12, 2008
We thought we’d covered just about every type of deranged golf gadget conceivable right through to the automatic ball placer that puts your golf balls on your tee for you to save all the strenuous bending over and the like. The SensoSolutions SensoGlove offers to measure and analyse the grip you have on your club (sadly not on reality) and just how well you’re doing.
The SensoGlove creators appreciate that grip is everything when it comes to hitting the perfect shot. Poor grip means poor connection and can impact your swing, but the SensoGlove will analyse your current grip and give you feedback on how close you are to achieving optimum grip conditions.
The glove features sound effects and a graphical LCD display to let you know just how badly you’re doing but I suspect the chances of altering your grip mid swing because of the quick beep isn’t really that achievable.
The SensoGlove can be purchased online and will cost you just under £50. It’s sweat proof and weather proof design ensures that it will stand the many tests it will have to face in order to be considered golf course friendly and ensures you don’t fry your hand while playing in the rain, which is a bonus with any gadget.
New Philips Portable Media Players Coming Soon
August 11, 2008
There’s a big assortment of choices when it comes to Portable Media Players. It seems that electronics manufacturers see them as being as trendy and modern as many consumers do and no discerning home entertainment manufacturer would dare to claim they can compete if they don’t have at least one range of PMPs.
Philips are ensuring that they’ve got their contenders in by, despite already having a very popular and positive selection of such devices, have announced they will be releasing more and that they will look better and offer a sleeker form than their counterparts.
One of the seven new devices they plan to launch over the space of this year, the DCP951 has an iPod Dock that expands from the device when required. The dock is completely retractable so once you’ve docked your pod you can close everything back up again ensuring that no harm comes to your beloved little Apple.
Many of the range will offer unique features. Another device planned for release includes an SD slot and can be used as a digital photo frame rather than a PMP, if you really want to spend all that money and then waste it with photos. The devices will cost anywhere from £120 up to £200 depending on the model and features.
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