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Medea Vodka (and its radical programmable LED bottle) now ready to party
It may not be your birthday, but it's most definitely the weekend. And if you're looking to have a "good time," there's hardly a better place to look than your local ABC store. We mean... whatever place you can find that sells Medea. Put simply, this vodka maker has decided to wrap its spirits inside of bottles that boast programmable LED displays, and while the company has been kicking the tires for a small while now, we'll have you know that these things are now available for purchase ($39.99 a pop) over the world wide web. Programming information is down there at the source link, and if you've been searching for the perfect complement to your LED rims, look no further. Man, if only Brennan Huff and Dale Doback would've had access to this while shooting their first and only music video...
Origin PC's Big O desktop: half gaming PC, half Xbox 360, all muscle
Oh, sure -- we've seen an Xbox 360 enclosure stuffed with x86 innards, but we can't say we've ever seen anything quite like this. Gaming upstart Origin PC has just shattered every preconceived notion about its potential with the Big O, an appropriately titled luxury machine that combines a liquid-cooled gaming PC with a liquid-cooled Xbox 360 Slim. In one box. A pair of base configurations are available (though customizations are limitless), with both of 'em rigged up to run the PC and Xbox concurrently. In other words, these bad boys can actually crunch SETI@home data while you explore the vastness of Halo: Reach. The $7,669 build includes an overclocked 4.0GHz Core i7-930 CPU, Rampage III Extreme mobo, twin NVIDIA GTX480 graphics cards, 6GB of Corsair memory, a 1,500 watt power support, 12x Pioneer Blu-ray burner, two 50GB OCZ SSDs wired up as a boot drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, a liquid-cooled Xbox 360 and bragging rights the size of Texas Alaska. For those still unsatisfied, there's a $16,999 version that's frankly too lust-worthy to spell out here (but is in the gallery below). Hit the source link if you're feeling ambitious, but don't blame us for blowing your kid's college fund in one fell swoop. %Gallery-101543%
Phantom camera captures flamethrower vs. fire extinguisher in ultra slo-mo (video)
Korn's "Freak on a Leash," Smashing Pumpkin's "Tonight, Tonight" and Michael / Janet Jackson's "Scream" come to mind when thinking of stunning music videos of the past score, but we're guessing that a 3:19 clip from the good people in Dancing Pigeons will be joining that fray. The music video for "Ritalin" was shot entirely on a Vision Research Phantom and Canon EOS 7D, with the former handling the slow motion work. Which, of course, is the star of the show. You may not think 199 seconds of flamethrower vs. fire extinguisher would be entertaining, but you'd be wrong. Hop on past the break and mash play, but be sure to position a drip rag beneath your chin beforehand.
Visualized: Boeing's CST-100 gets you and six friends to space... for cheap!
It's not expected to make its first jaunt to outer space before 2014, but Boeing's "low-cost" Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) will allow up to seven Earthlings to travel up to 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The best part? Once you spend up to seven months docked at the International Space Station, you'll rely on "the aid of parachutes [as you head] to an airbag-cushioned landing on dry ground." Something tells us the crew of Jackass will be all over this in just a few years.
Nonstop gaming world record has been shattered, victors sleep right through their parade
Prior to this past weekend, the world record for nonstop gaming stood at 40 hours. As of today, you'll need to rock 'n roll for 51 hours in a row if you'd like to claim this crown. A half dozen lunatics managed to game for 50 straight hours over the weekend in Rotterdam, playing Red Dead Redemption on Sony's PlayStation 3 until their eyes gave way. Of note, they utilized the TwistDock in order to keep their controllers juiced the entire time, and they walked away with €1,000 for their trouble. Last we heard, though, they're all in hibernation for the foreseeable future. Plenty of Dutch celebration awaits you in the video.
Camera-equipped digital billboards scan humans in Tokyo, serve up tailored ads
Marketing managers, you best take a seat. This right here is your future, like it or not. According to a new report from one Earth's most mesmerizing cities, digital advertising billboards are being trialled in Japan that are not only equipped with cameras, but with an ability to scan passers-by for gender and age group. Once that data is collected, the billboard then flashes an advertisement that best fits the type of human walking by. So, anyone care to guess which ad gets shown when the 6PM central station train lets out?
Nintendo CEO: battle with Sony is over, Apple is the 'enemy of the future'
Backing away from a previous position, are we Nintendo? Just a month after Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime claimed that the iPhone OS (you know, that operating system used on the iPod touch, iPhone family and the iPad) wasn't a "viable profit platform for game development," along comes the company's president to say that, in fact, Apple is the primary "enemy of the future." That's according to Times Online, who says that the Big N's CEO (Satoru Iwata) feels that the battle with Sony is a "victory already won," and who clearly believes that the next wave of gaming won't be of the traditional sit-on-your-coach-and-slam-buttons variety. 'Course, the PSP never has been able to hang with the DS family, but even the Wii has a ways to go before it catches the mighty PlayStation 2 in terms of global sales. Going forward, the company is purportedly looking to revive the element of "surprise" in Nintendo products, but it might be best served by simply catching up to the competition and supporting this wild concept known as "HD gaming" over "HDMI."
Creative goes wild! with Bluetooth speakers for a wide range of budgets
Creative has a message for all you docking speakers out there: your days are numbered. The company's just announced additions to its line of Bluetooth speakers, which it hopes will "usher in a new era in pure music listening," according to VP (and avowed enemy of cables and docks) Joseph Liow. In addition to the ZiiSound D5 ($290), a one-piece system and recent Red Dot design award winner, and the Inspire S2 ($145) 2.1 speaker system, budget-minded consumers can get their hands on the D200 for $110 (essentially ZiiSound D5's cheaper sibling) or the D100 ($65), which is being billed as a "wireless boombox" due to its ability to be powered by either mains or four AA batteries. All but the D100 support the apt-X high performance stereo Bluetooth codec, and all have aux audio input. (You can't expect us to do away with wires that quickly, can you?) ZiiSound D5 and Inspire S2 Wireless are currently available in Singapore, while the D200 and D100 will be available there in July. PR after the break.
Toughbook plummets from helicopter, narrowly misses future Toughbook user
So, check it. You're out and about with mum and dad on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, eager to get whatever's on the grill into your own grille. You're pondering the origin of wildflowers, the middle name of America's 18th president and how humanity functioned prior to the invention of Mighty Putty. You're only ten years old, but your young eyes have lived to see a lot... so much, in fact, that you're semi-seriously considering penning your own novella. Bang. Three inches to your left lies a mildly deformed swivel-screen laptop, and all you can think about is the gush of air that's still rustling your fauxhawk. Turns out, a medical helicopter departing St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota forgot to bring their Panasonic Toughbook onboard before heading out, and if fate were feeling just a bit more cruel, that shock-mounted hard drive may have left you out for the count. But as it stands, you've got a fairly stupendous show-and-tell to deliver in class this week, and who knows -- maybe that DIMM will work in your Nickelodeon Edition Mini 10.
Confused pig face mobile phone has paw print buttons, Winnie the Pooh sticker
Oh China, how we love the gadgets you produce. Particularly those of the homegrown variety. We can't say we spotted this pig face mobile during our recent jaunt through the gadget sectors of Hong Kong, but boy, do we wish we had. In one of the most extreme cases of product confusion ever, it looks as if we've got a clamshell phone with the face of a pig, a 0.3 megapixel camera, light-up eyes, a smattering of misplaced Walt Disney logos, paw print send / end buttons and rear speakers, and a random Winnie the Pooh sticker on the rear -- you know, to really cap things off. We're guessing this is some failed attempt to generate yet another KIRF Disney phone, but seriously, a glowing pig? Hello Kitty is not pleased. [Thanks, Chris]
Big Brother-equipped straight jacket further proves you're crazy
While the Virtual Hallucinating goggles and Brain Machine can certainly give you a taste of the erratic, a new behavioral-pattern monitor at the University of California, San Diego will reportedly be used to "study the behavior of patients with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia." The LifeShirt, "a computerized vest that continuously monitors the patient's movements," sports integrated sensors to monitor hyperactive and repetitive movements and record data on "respiration, heart rate, and other physiological measures." Notably, the padded room wearers are presumably crammed into sports a ceiling-mounted webcam that films their exploratory behavior in order to better analyze movement patterns associated with certain disorders. Eventually, of course, researchers are hoping that data collected from the sensor-laden straight jacket could be used to create new drugs to help combat the behavioral abnormalities, but for all of our sakes, let's hope this thing doesn't fall into the wrong hands.[Via MedGadget, photo courtesy of TechnologyReview]
Animal Crossing is 'Shenmue without the plot'
If you've been tethered to Nintendo consoles for the last eight years, then you might have missed Sega's epic Shenmue. Nominally, it was a game about taking revenge on the man who killed the protagonist's father. In play it was more about walking around town chatting with people.Sound like anything you know? It did to Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh, as well, and his feature on GameCareerGuide is an excellently in-depth discussion of the open-ended, generally optional gameplay found in both games. It'll make you appreciate Animal Crossing more than you already do. And since we're probably not going to get another chance to mention Shenmue on DS Fanboy, we'd like to suggest that anyone looking for a neat adventure game/RPG would do well to pick up a Dreamcast and a copy of the game. It's not everyone's favorite, but we couldn't have loved it more.[Via GameSetWatch]
WiebeTech's Mouse Jiggler USB stick prevents sleep
We've certainly seen crafty methods of keeping humans from dozing off when alertness matters most, but WiebeTech's latest actually does a number on your exhausted computer by refusing to let those power savings settings kick in. The admittedly clever Mouse Jiggler rocks a diminutive USB design, and once plugged into your Mac or PC, it takes over your motionless cursor and shakes it all across the screen, effectively denying the machine its heartfelt wish to fall asleep when idle. Of course, this may not do the average user a whole lot of good, but for those locked-down corporate workstations that frustrate IT heads on end by dozing off just before a download / installation is complete, here's your hero. Notably, the Mouse Jiggler comes in "Fast" and "Slow" flavors to suit your cursor-dementing needs, and each can be snapped up right now for $29.95.[Via MetaFilter]
Majesco to release The Wild West
"This town isn't big enough for two screens ..." No, that doesn't work. We'll have to find another Old West cliche. Oh, oh, we got it: "There's a new stylus in town." Yes, that one works nicely.Majesco announced today that they're releasing Happy Happening's The Wild West this summer at the budget price of $19.99. We don't have any screens, but the press release describes shootouts using the touch screen, two animal characters with separate storylines, and, of course, a spate of minigames.We quite like the idea of DS quick-drawing, but we aren't sure about the animal characters. We're just going to assume that by "animal" they mean "unbelievably rugged Wild West dude."[Via GoNintendo]
Will it blend? If it's an iPod, you betcha
Considering the recent console launches, we've seen plenty of bizarre episodes of folks demolishing their precious goods just to get a few laughs, a bit of hate mail, and their 15 minutes of fame. But ole Tom Dickson over at WillItBlend.com added a touch of kitchen know-how to his rendition by squaring up various items with the oh-so-sharp blades of a Blendtec blender. Needless to say, the iPod didn't stand much of a chance, as it was thoroughly devoured in a matter of seconds, turning a once useful DAP into nothing more than shrapnel and dust. While we're fairly certain this isn't what Apple had in mind when it patented a blended display / interface, maybe all those metallic chunks wouldn't be too bad mixed in with your choice of fruity goodness -- click on for the delectable vid.[Via digg]
Zelda goodies in Animal Crossing
Much to the surprise of, well, just about every person we come in contact with on a regular basis, we still play Animal Crossing: Wild World. Perhaps we aren't alone though, because word on the street is that Nintendo is issuing out another free goody to celebrate the launch of some game called Zelda on the Wii. We're going to be keeping a close watch on this situation due to our continued support for the game and love of all things free.For those who would like to join us, the time to log into Wi-Fi Connect is during the week of November 17th through the 24th. Upon connecting, players will receive the rare gift enclosed in a letter, which will be patiently awaiting them in their mailbox outside of the house. It's totally legit information, originating from the 210th volume of Nintendo Power magazine.[Thanks to all that sent this in!]
New Virtual Console games on the horizon [update 1]
Yes, the U.S. Virtual Console launch line-up is a bit ... anemic. We know, it hurts. However, one has to consider why it doesn't really matter: 1) We'll all be too busy playing Twilight Princess to bother with the Virtual Console immediately, and 2) Nintendo has promised ten new Virtual Console releases per month. That's quite a bit, especially looking at how often Xbox Live Arcade is updated, but the question then becomes: what's on the horizon?Well, thanks to the ESRB, we've got a clue. The ESRB requires that games be rated before release, which obviously means that companies need to send in their product quite a bit in advance. Since they publish their ratings, we've managed to score a list of eight potentials, and quite an eight they are (all rated E for Everyone): Duck Hunt Hogan's Alley Kid Icarus Kirby's Adventure PilotWings Pro Wrestling Punch-Out Wild Gunman Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and Punch-Out? Holy hell. The Virtual Console is awesome.[via Joystiq][Thanks, Zeke!][Update 1: Legal issues?]
Beware who visits your town
While the atmosphere and gameplay in Animal Crossing: Wild World is universally accepted as being family-friendly, sometimes people just need their dirty fix. So they teach their inhabitants language most foul and let them loose, out into the wild, for other, unsuspecting Wi-Fi users to welcome them into their town with open arms. Such an instance happened to one of our readers. John was minding his business, likely paying off his mob debt to Tom Nook by fishing or digging for fossils, when he was asked if he would enjoy a mysterious feline visitor in his town. A mystery junkie by nature, John decided he would allow it. Sure enough, the "mysterious" actually meant "disgustingly foul-mouthed." Check after the break for the snapshot of what the cat said.
Nintendo celebrates Star Fox in Animal Crossing
K-Man, whom you may remember from a previous Animal Crossing update, recently wrote in to us documenting his latest free gift from Nintendo. The fact that Nintendo would keep giving away free gifts in the game to keep players active in the game as well as one of its players constantly maintaining their town just reiterates how awesome a game this is. The latest gift given our by Nintendo is none other than an Arwing. The letter from Nintendo reads:"Dear K-man,Star Fox Command stats are live! We were going to give you Slippy, but take this instead!"Congrats on the free gift K-Man and all you other readers out there should make sure you let us know how your town is doing. We're always watching, always listening...[Additional thanks to Reeve, who tipped us off, yet failed to include pictures.]
AC: Wild World passes 3 million mark in Japan
There's a reason why keep continuing our coverage of all things Animal Crossing. Partly due to the game's immense variety of activities available and also in part to the wonderful Wi-Fi aspects, it's no surprise that Animal Crossing: Wild World has sold 3 million units in Japan. In case you are unaware, only 19 other games have done this previously, dating back as far as the original Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom. Are you keeping at it in Animal Crossing? Reeled in all the fish, caught all the bugs, and dug up all the fossils?[Via N-Sider]
