mystery
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BMW teaser unveils enigmatic do-it-all device
BMW's fairly well known for its nifty in-car implementation of technology, and although certain aspects have received their fair share of criticism, the firm has something brewing that could cause quite a stir -- of course, that would require us to actually know what it is. A snazzy flash website unveils a sleek, continually morphing device that touts the ability to play MP3s, DVDs and CDs, has USB and Bluetooth connectivity options, can recognize voice commands, and has a 65,000 color LCD to boot; but in the end, we're still left to wonder how it relates to the company's vehicles (if at all). Sure, we've seen BMW-branded watches and the like, but it's not exactly usual to see an automaker producing multifaceted consumer electronics, and while it may end up just another technological aspect of a car, it looks like something you just might tote around. Thankfully, we shouldn't have to wait too awfully long until the veil is removed, as it should get official in just a few weeks, but until then, be sure to click on through for a few more glamor shots.[Via Autoblog]
Less cool Hotel Dusk box
Reader KLind is looking forward to Hotel Dusk just as much as we are, and after we sighed over the Japanese boxart for the graphical adventure, KLind tipped us off to the box floating around various online retail outlets. We've used the image before ourselves, but hoped it was just a placeholder. Tragically, it looks like this is the real deal for the English language version. It may not be as slick and sinister as the Japanese version, but at least it shows off the look of the game. Still, we're sad.But we'll play it anyway.[Thanks, KLind!]
Totaka's song: The search is on
A seventeen-note theme that has been hidden in Nintendo games for over a decade is finding new life as internet sleuths track down new instances in old games. Totaka's song is most easily accessible from the title screen of the SNES' Mario Paint, but the quirky ditty has appeared in over a dozen games featuring the work of Nintendo sound designer Kazumi Totaka.Interesting trivia, but not too relevant to today's gamers until a few months ago, when Powet.tv compiled a video of the song's known occurrences and put out the call to gamers everywhere to track it down in other games. Within a month, video confirmation for instances in Pikmin 2 and Wario Land for the Virtual Boy had been obtained, and earlier this week Powet posted a video of the song in Luigi's Mansion.MobyGames lists 24 games Totaka has worked on, including the recently released Wii Sports, and it's a decent bet that his song is buried somewhere in most if not all of them. And so the call goes out to Nintendo fans across the land. Let's harness the awesome collaborative power of the internet to solve a mystery that has been plaguing humanity for, er... well... not exactly plaguing but... oh, let's just figure it out, OK?[Via Digg]
Another Hubert?
Sharp-eyed TUAW reader GPessia spotted a curious puzzle piece on the Midnight Apps ChaChing page. The icon links to a PDF file, which contains the puzzle piece shown here. The name of the PDF file is %72%65%61%6C%6D%61%63%73%6F%66%74%77%61%72%65.pdf, which translates to realmacsoftware in Hex Ascii. I popped over to http://www.realmacsoftware.com, the makers of RapidWeaver, but did not find another puzzle piece. Are we dealing with another Hubert situation? What's the deal with the puzzle? Let us know in the comments if you have any insights.False alarm TUAWers. It looks like this was part of a recent MacHeist puzzle. Thanks to Lucas Cantor for the clarification.
Thomson's mysterious Black Diamond PMP goes public
Think your black iPod nano attracted fingerprints and got scratched too easily? Keeping the same sleek black / blue glow motif showcased on Thomson's PMP2008, the mysterious new Black Diamond PMP (a.k.a. the EH308) should truly wear your touch on its enclosure. While the flashy homepage doesn't give us a completely satisfactory look at the unit itself, we do know that it'll pack 8GB of internal capacity, rock a 1.8-inch OLED screen, and feature "tactile controls." Furthermore, it'll come with a rechargeable Li-ion cell rated for 15 hours, USB 2.0 connectivity, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, and the ability to display photos as well as play back audio (formats unspecified) and video (WMV / MPEG4). Curiously, Thomson also boasts about its ability to "manage podcast and web audio formats," as well as confirming its compatibility with "secure downloadable music formats" such as WMA-DRM. Expect this dark device to hit store shelves any day now, and at around $300, it's just a tad cheaper than that other Black Diamond floating around out there.
New adventure game coming for DS
Sinking Island, an adventure game coming to a PC near you come February, is to be available on a DS near you soon, as well. A mystery/adventure title from White Birds, Sinking Island is the first in what is to be a series of games starring a middle-aged PI named Jack Norm. The premise of Sinking Island actually has Jack traversing an island sinking from the massive weight of a hotel built upon it.Pre-production on the game has begun, however White Birds did not comment on a release date for the DS version of the game.[Via Go Nintendo]
StoryZOT
MacZOT is back with more ambiguity in the form of a special edition triple-Xtreme MysteryZOT they're calling StoryZOT. Three mustery developers talk about their pasts, how they came to write software, and their philosophies on various issues. One application out of each of the developer's software offerings will be included in the StoryZOT bundle, valued at around 70 bucks, but selling for only $6. Until now, no one, not even the over 1000 people who have already shelled out the cash for the package, knew what they were getting. I however, using my stealth, cunning, and l33t hax0r skillz, have been able to pry from an inside source the fact that one of the apps in the bundle will be KIT from Reinvented Software.
Wii's mystery flap exposed. Not so mysterious.
Sorry to disappoint, but it doesn't look like the Nintendo Wii is harboring any holographic projection or other such outlandish features speculated by the fanboy community to reside in the Wii's front flap. Nope, according to Reggie Fils-Aime there's an SD card slot there. He did reveal that there would be other memory mediums, but that's about all he's spilling so far. With the top of the console dominated by GameCube connectivity, and the back as boring as ever, rumor mongers were banking on that front flap for some hot functionality to put those Sony and Microsoft types in their place once and for all. They're now running out of surface space on the minuscule console to place their "mystery feature," or "biggest secret" as it is known to some, but we're sure they'll think of something. Meanwhile, the less interested among us will know soon enough what surprises Nintendo has planned for the Wii -- if any.[Via Joystiq]
Update doesn't fix trouble, unless you're in China
If you're wondering why you were asked to perform a seeming pointless update the last time you connected to Live, Major Nelson has an explanation:There are no new features in this update. There is one, small fix that improves character recognition for those users that are using the localized Chinese language version of the dashboard on their Xbox 360. (Yes, you need to take the update even if you don't use the Chinese language version of the dash keyboard.) Silly me for thinking it might fix some of the Spring update issues people are complaining about. Wouldn't it make sense to provide a brief explanation with the update itself? You know, for the people who spend their time playing games instead of reading blogs.
HDTV Listings for May 10, 2006
What we're watching: More new Alias / Lost / Invasion, although the biggest mystery may be how Miami got blown out by the Nets the other night. We'll see if they can repeat tonight at 8 p.m. on TNT. Fans of The Bedford Diaries can look forward to a two-hour season finale tonight while on Discovery they have Ice Cube's (wrong O'Shea) Big Adventure.Also could someone do me a favor, Starz schedule indicates their only high definition programming will be Hidalgo, and that they will be airing The Bourne Supremacy in prime time in standard definition. I honestly can't believe thats true, but it's what the schedule says. Since I won't be home to watch it myself, can someone flip over and tell us what sort of 480i miscegenation is going on here?Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
