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The stories of Final Fantasy XIII, according to TGS press kit
How helpful are TGS press kits? Well, let us know. Here's word-for-word what we're told about the stories of FFXIII and Versus. (Let us know if you see any similarities.) Final Fantasy XIII:Experience stunning graphics and immersive controls as you delve into the tale of a world where crystals steer the course of human destiny. Final Fantasy Versus XIII:In a kingdom where the order of sword and sorcery reigns, conflict erupts over the last remaining crystal. Experience gravity-defying, action-packed battles in a modern setting.
Pentax K-m DSLR gets smothered in Swarovski crystals
No, you can't order a Pentax K-m with live view, but you can end up with one littered in Swarovski crystals. Over at Photokina, this gem (ahem) was proudly on display, reportedly aimed at dames in the crowd with a thing for fashion and technology. A company representative wouldn't disclose pricing, through she did say any prospective buyers could phone up Pentax to talk cheddar.[Via Pocket-lint]
10,000 diamond-clad Nokia N95 borders on gaudy
To be fair, Continental Mobiles' diamond-encrusted Nokia N95 is a real bargain at £10,000 ($19,813) when compared to Amosu's £12,000 alternative, but seriously, real richies should be holding off for the evolutionary N96, anyway. For those with enough cash to care, this particular handset / status symbol packs a Sterling silver front-panel stacked with "4.42ct of brilliant-cut, VS1 quality, color G-H, naturally mined diamonds." If you're craving one, you'd better get your order in now, as it takes the British craftspeople crazy enough to sell these things three full weeks to whip one up.[Via Pocket-lint]
Crystals hold promise of affordable solar energy, may have been purchased on eBay
We have no real way of verifying whether or not these so-calls crystals were purchased alongside some bizarre time machine on eBay, but we'll take this guy's word for it and assume not for the time being. Reportedly, University of Queensland professor Max Lu has teamed up with researchers in order to grow "the world's first titanium oxide single crystals with large amounts of reactive surfaces." Put simply, these very crystals can "absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity." It's said that Lu has been working on the project for some 15 years, and even now, he doesn't expect the creation to be commercially viable for another decade. Aside from morphing into fairies and making dreams come true, the things could also be used to "purify air and water." Pair this up with an invisibility cloak and we'll really be in business.[Thanks, Brendan]
Conceptual Crystal LED wristwatch is all kinds of gorgeous
For as many patently awful watch designs as we see, this here device has given us a newfound appreciation for timepieces. Yes, the Ilya Yakovlev-designed Real Crystal LED Watch is merely a concept at the moment, but creating such a device with crystals and LEDs is entirely plausible. If ripped into the realm of reality (pretty please?), wearers would be allowed to "increase the luminosity and change colors to suit [their] mood." We're just going to hope the question isn't if we'll see this one day, but when.
Hello Kitty gets Swarovski-studded again on the NEC LaVie G laptop
When you really love Hello Kitty, it's safe to say that one of anything featuring her image is never enough. If you know what we mean, you may want to check into the latest high-end entry in the canon: the NEC LaVie G Hello Kitty edition -- a follow-up to this Summer's LaVie -- once again featuring images of the ubiquitous cat studded in breathtaking Swarovski crystals. Underneath the glitz you'll find a 15.4-inch WXGA display, an AMD Turion CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, plus a DVD+RW and a handful of USB ports which will allow you to plug in your Hello Kitty flash drives and the like. Right now this sweet puppy kitty is only available in Japan, and will run you around ¥210,000 ($1,840) -- but we don't think that will stop you.
Flexible displays created by stretching crystals
As researchers continue to forge ahead in their quest to create commercially viable flexible displays, a new team from Canada has apparently unearthed a breakthrough of sorts. Reportedly, the crew has been able to conjure up a full-color display which boasts pixels made from photonic crystals, and by "bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it," the colors of the pixels change. According to André Arsenault of the University of Toronto, the newfangled devices "can be viewed just as well in bright sunlight as in indoor light," and if all goes as planned, we could be seeing a whole lot more of these promising units "in as little as two years" when the startup Opalux looks to fit these bendable creations into billboards, handheld gadgetry, and anything else it deems fit.[Image courtesy of MSNBC, thanks Alan]
FFCC: The Crystal Bearers trailer finally revealed [update 1]
After weeks of teasing us with screen captures from its Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers trailer, Square Enix made the 55-second video public early this morning. Though a third of it is taken up by an animated, spinning crystal, the movie still manages to pack in plenty of airship shots, city scenes, and even a tender, tearful moment with the RPG's blonde-haired protagonist. Jump past the post break for the clip and some skydiving action.[Update 1: We mixed up our Ring of Fates with our Crystal Bearers, citing this trailer as belonging to The Ring Bearers. How embarassing.]
Philips and Swarovski offer up crystal-clad USB drives
It's not like we haven't seen ritzy USB drives before, but we can't say we expected the relatively conservative Philips to join forces with a top name in the glitz industry and kick out a couple of very superfluous devices. Partnering with Swarovski, the duo is loosing the Active Crystals collection of 1GB USB drives (and sparklin' headphones, too) onto the fashion-conscience set, and aside from sporting a variety of crystal-clad exteriors, they're pretty vanilla everywhere else. Of course, we can't imagine these straying too far from the velvet bag you'll surely tote it around in, and using this out in the mad, mad world probably isn't advisable, but you can still make the lady friend in your life joyous by handing her one of these yet-not-priced luxuries come August.[Via ShinyShiny]
Medion SIM 2060 laptop iced out with 300 crystals
We're not really sure why anyone needs a crystal-encrusted LED belt buckle, nor an iced-out Xbox, but Medion clearly thinks that a sparkly (with 300 Swarovski crystals) laptop is the best way to attract female users, despite our skepticism. Looking beyond the exterior, the SIM 2060 laptop packs a 1.73GHz Core Duo chip, a 12.1-inch screen, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 100GB hard drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, a SD/MMC/Memory Stick card reader, an ExpressCard 54 slot, and a dual-layer DVD burner -- all of that will set you back £1,000 ($1,900). Not a bad deal considering that a fridge with 7,000 such crystals went for 10 times that price.[Via Reg Hardware]
Gorenje Eye-Catchers: Get an iced out fridge for 10,000
Clearly there's one niche market that the über-rich must have been clamoring for to the appliance manufacturers of the world: how to combine a fridge with obscene amounts of shinyness? Fear not, Gorenje UK, the British division of a company from <strike>the former Yugoslavia</strike> Slovenia, has developed an extremely limited line of refrigerators (known appropriately as "The Eye-Catchers") lined with rows upon rows of Swarovski crystals (7,000 to be precise). Act now kids, because Gorenje is only making 10 of these, and they retail for £10,000 (nearly $19,000). For that price, the combined 331 L (87.4 gallons) capacity fridge-freezer also comes with a radio receiver, a "cookery book" (we assume that's a cookbook), voice messages and a voice alarm. You can catch a glimpse of one of these on the company's website, and at Harrods in London. This fridge too rich for you? Don't worry, there's a budget model priced at only £1400 -- but it only comes with 3500 crystals, so really, what's the point of that? More photos on the flip side. [Via Pocket Lint]
MobiBlu squared: crystalized 1500i and new pics of Cube 2
Given MobiBlu's efforts to convince consumers that the company's tiny 1500i audio player can be worn as jewelry, it seems only fitting that someone has taken them literally, and produced a customized version of the player encrusted with shiny crystals. The DAH 1500i Crystal is a 2GB version of the player, and is available in the UK for £169 ($307). Of course, if you care more about music than about showing off your zirconium collection, you'd probably prefer to skip this one and wait for MobiBlu's upcoming Cube 2, which DAPreview reports will boast a 0.67-inch, 64x48 JPEG-capable OLED display (though we tend to think actually checking out pics on such a small screen probably isn't the best idea), SRS WOW HD, FM tuner and some sort of docking station. Still no word on pricing, availability and whether MobiBlu will try to convince 1500i owners to pick up a Cube 2 so they'll have a set to use as earrings.Read - 1500i CrystalRead - Cube 2, official page (via DAPreview)
