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Incident Tech's gTar gets teased, remains largely silent (video)
What you see above is the gTar, an upcoming electronic musical instrument from Bay Area-based startup, Incident Technologies. It's got what appears to be an iPhone docked in the pick-guard and it looks pretty cool lit up in the teaser video after the break. Beyond that, there's not a ton of information about the thing available online, but we did some digging and have pieced together a pretty good idea about the thing. The device made an appearance at South by Southwest earlier this month, and bits and pieces have made their way into the web by way of startup site AngelList and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and, of course, YouTube. A posting on the former describes it as "a consumer electronics device that enables an interactive music entertainment experience to anyone without any kind of previous musical knowledge."From the looks of it, the thing is a little bit Guitar Apprentice and a little bit Tabber. Unlike the plasticky Guitar Apprentice, however, this device looks like a genuine guitar (strings and all), albeit one with a light up fretboard for Tabber-like educational purposes and a "docked mobile device." The guitar also makes it possible to share music socially, though it's not entirely clear whether this is accomplished via the docked smartphone or an external output like a PC, though given the company's connections to the developer community, we suspect that both will be options, be it through built-in functionality or available APIs. The gTar is also being positioned as a music creation device, rather than simply an educational tool (à la Tabber) or a simple overblown Guitar Hero-style controller.Check out a flashy, if rather uninformative teaser after the break.
Dell employees arrested for poor decision making skills
Round Rock police responded to multiple 911 calls of a suspicious man carrying two metallic objects inside a building at Dell's HQ campus. The "biker," dressed in all black and wearing a skull mask, was yelling at people to "go to the lobby," according to police reports. The ensuing panic resulted in the arrest of two Dell employees charged with interfering with public duties and deadly misconduct. Now get this: the incident was the result of a marketing stunt gone horribly wrong with the purpose of internally promoting a new product for the Dell Streak tablet "which can interface with Harley-Davidson motorcycles." Because really, leather-clad motorcyclists are constantly complaining about the lack of peripherals for their choppers.
Report: iPhone 4 burst into flames, faulty USB port blamed
The above picture is from from Boy Genius Report, who claim they received it from an AT&T Store employee dealing with a customer who said their iPhone 4 had spontaneously burst into flames. As you can see above, the adapter cable is completely melted, and the iPhone's stainless steel antenna band is charred. The customer said his hand was burned, and the adapter cord itself burned up, too. The AT&T store in question was apparently out of iPhones at the time, but otherwise it would have gladly exchanged the unit for a new one. Supposedly the problem was in the USB port on the computer the iPhone was attached to, so this is likely an isolated incident, not a problem with any standard hardware. But the devastation is pretty amazing -- there must have been quite a bit of power flowing off into that USB cable.
Girl unwraps iPod, finds heavy-handed social commentary instead
As the unfortunate trend continues, yet another kiddo has found their Christmas PMP replaced with something that's, well, not a PMP. In today's episode, we find a Washington, D.C. girl that unwrapped an iPod earlier this week and discovered that the only Apple product tucked within was the inner packaging. Instead, a clever note was stashed inside (presumably with a paperweight of some sort) that read: "Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple store." Oh, and just in case you really needed more than one guess as to where this thing came from, here's a hint: it was sold by the same retailer who passed on Wii demo units due to "safety" concerns.[Via TUAW]
$1.4 million IBM server falls off forklift, finger pointing ensues
Yeah, we've seen our fair share of pricey accidents, but this one is just brimming with ridiculousness. Reportedly, a mysterious IBM server that was headed to the US Patent and Trademark Office managed to fall off of a forklift managed by federal contractor T.R. Systems. The firm claims that the mishap occurred after the forklift "hit the raised surface at the entry door of the warehouse," but rather than taking the fall for the incident, it's seeking damages in excess of $1.4 million from IBM for Big Blue's shoddy packaging. Not surprisingly, IBM has stated that it will "defend itself vigorously" in the case, but there's no word on whether the traditional shipping cartons will be replaced with armored iterations in the future.
PETA talks God of War goat
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) posted in their blog today about the Sony goat incident from the weekend. With quite a bit of temperance for PETA, they apparently got the memo of the aftermath, and didn't make an official public statement (i.e. press release to the planet). Two points to PETA for knowing who Jack Thompson is and saying they've "always sided with the video game industry against the Jack Thompsons of this world who are out to make a name for themselves by blaming gamers for all of society's problems." Of course they close the post by saying, "Sony is evidently recalling the entire 80,000 print run of the PlayStation magazine in which this story featured, though it's frankly a bit late for the victim of the stunt at this stage." Come on, it's PETA, they gotta say that.Joystiq spoke with Daphna Nachminovitch, Director of Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information at PETA, and she told us that they received several dozen emails and phone calls about the incident over the weekend as the story broke. She says that the reason PETA didn't make a public statement is because the public was already well aware of the incident and clearly found it objectionable. Nachminovitch says, "It was something so frivolous and idiotic. I think they misread their audience because we've received a lot of statements and it doesn't look like the stunt was helpful to the audience they were trying to promote to for the game ... I know with Sony's reputation it was surprising to see something with this magnitude. Looking at the website [for the game] I don't see the connection. I don't understand how this would appeal to the people who would want this video game."Nachminovitch was glad to see that Sony made a statement so quickly and hopes that they don't do something like this again in the future. She also noticed that there were topless women at the party and jokes, "Shouldn't that have been enough? There's no need to display an animal like that for an audience when topless women are walking around, I'm sure the audience found that far more appealing."
Man returns phone to carrier... without leaving car
When we talk about phone use leading to traffic incidents, this is not typically what we mean. It seems a gentleman in Korea -- we'll simply call him "Kim," since that's the only name we have for him -- got just a little upset when his shiny new Samsung handset still wasn't working after sixteen calls and two in-store visits to carrier SK Telecom. What really set the dude off, though, was a SKT employee suggesting that the phone be replaced with a different model when the original was out of stock (what nerve!). Next thing you know, Kim's chilling outside SK Telecom headquarters, filled with rage -- and, oh yeah, a 4,000 pound Mercedes with "Delinquent SK" scrawled across it. Them's fightin' words, of course, and SKT tried to get him to skedaddle. The attempt backfired, though, when Kim skedaddled right through the building's revolving doors. Lesson to carriers: do everything in your power to replace your customers' defective phones after a maximum of fifteen support calls. Lesson to customers: if you aim for the glass instead of the door, you can probably make it into the building without as much damage to the front end.
Irate driver rams fellow motorist due to cellphone use
You should already know that the Grand Canyon State isn't exactly kosher with rampant tailgating, so actually ramming someone's vehicle due to a personal conflict you have with them isn't likely to get you a whole lot of mercy. Subsequently, a 58-year old male is facing jail time due to his inability to turn the other cheek when he drove up on another motorist who was casually yapping on their cellphone. Rather than simply signing to hang up or doing nothing at all, Mr. Asselin felt it was in both of their best interests if they had a verbal exchange whilst cruising down the avenue, and to make matters worse, the curiously enraged driver reportedly ran the talker into oncoming traffic where the cellphone-using victim narrowly escaped death. Notably, several witnessed deemed the whole event akin to something we'd see "in a movie," but unless you've got Transporter-like skills, we wouldn't recommend trying to reenact this in your home state, no matter your feelings on driving while connected.[Via Fark]
Indie incidents in the month of May
Partially as a rebuke to an earlier article on the subject of the sparsity of indie game releases and partially because they can, Gametunnel has posted an article featuring just over ten reviews of independent games released this month. The titles reviewed range from Lux, a Risk-type game that features several scenarios based on historical battles (if you're a Risk fan, drop everything and download this game immediately) to Eets, a "solid and original puzzle game."An fun little indie game that I discovered recently is Open Fire, a casual point-and-click shooter which was released a few days ago. What indie games have you discovered lately?[Thanks, Russell Carroll]
