Tower
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NTT DoCoMo capitulates, tears down tower residents claim is sickening them
On one fateful day in December of 2005, Japan's NTT DoCoMo erected a tower -- the most sinister of towers, in fact -- in a Kawanishi bus station. Ever since, the dastardly cell station has been emitting blast after blast of electromagnetic radiation, allegedly causing a host of health problems for the area's residents: sleeplessness, headaches, high blood pressure, even cataracts and diabetes -- you name it. Happily, a coalition of concerned citizens filed a complaint against the carrier earlier this year, which has finally agreed to remove the evil structure and return the immediate vicinity to its pre-cellphone days (although it made a point of not admitting that the tower caused any health issues in the process). Personally, a lack of signal is likely to cause us high blood pressure just as much as tower radiation is, but perhaps that's just us.[Via textually.org]
Genesis 2 loudspeaker system isn't for the faint of heart
If you thought a 6.5-foot tall loudspeaker was a touch too much for your needs, we've all ideas the Genesis 2 system will also exemplify overkill in your mind. For those who don't mind pushing the envelope (and emptying their wallets in the process), the four-speaker G2.2 could be just what you're after. The system actually places the tweeters and midrange ribbon transducer in one 6.25-foot tall cabinet while the eight 8-inch ribbed-aluminum cone subwoofers reside in another tower of equal height. As a whole, it can handle up to 1,000-watts of pure solid state power, and considering the 720-pounds of heft this thing's packin', we highly doubt you'll be rearranging the foursome whimsically. For those champing at the bit to place their order, we certainly hope you've got copious quantities of cash to burn, as the G2.2 setup will run you a cool $63,000 in the traditional high gloss black motif.[Via Widescreen Review]
HP stuffing Penryn chips into xw8600 / xw6600 workstations
Although HP's beastly xw8600 / xw6600 machines don't yet have a definitive ship date, it's looking like the duo will indeed be sporting a couple of Intel's forthcoming Penryn chips. Judging by the specifications list on HP's website, each workstation can be equipped with two of many Xeon 5200 (dual-core) or Xeon 5400 (quad-core) processors ranging from 1.86GHz to 3.33GHz. Additionally, the xw6600 features up to 32GB of DDR2 RAM, an internal DVD burner, a number of PCI / PCIe slots, seven USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, audio in / out, gigabit Ethernet, your choice of NVIDIA Quadro / ATI FireGL graphics cards and a 650-watt power supply to boot. As for the xw8600, it steps things up by supporting as much as 128GB of DDR2 RAM, making room for a few more 3.5- / 5.25-inch drives and PCI cards, and throwing in a more robust PSU. Not surprisingly, there are no pricing details available at the moment, but if we were bent over a barrel and forced to guess when we'd know more, we'd shoot for November 12th.[Via Electronista]Read - HP's xw6600Read - HP's xw8600
China Mobile gives Huawei the nod to build cell tower on Mount Everest
China Mobile has awarded Huawei the contract to build a Solar Powered GSM base station on Mount Everest. Planted at 6,500 meters, the tower will supply network coverage for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay Team, mountaineers, and beautify a pretty drab landscape. Apparently the tower will be using satellite to communicate with the outside world, though with solar power driving it, we wonder how it'll do when an extended storm blows in. So if you happen to find yourself on Everest in the coming months, feel free to drop us a picture message featuring some high altitude shenanigans.
Sprint wants to dress up cell tower, town says no
As the number of wireless customers grows, carriers must add cell towers to fill in gaps in coverage and dead spots. More often that not, there's a heated debate between local residents and the wireless carrier regarding where to place the cell sites and how to make them as visually unobtrusive as possible. In the small town of Philomont, Virginia, residents have turned down Sprint's offer to build and disguise a local cell site as a 106-foot barn silo. The cell tower was described as "visually obscene" by one of the local residents, suggesting the company instead share a 100-foot flagpole already used by Verizon. Naturally, Sprint's not so keen on the idea, pouting and screaming that it doesn't like to share (actually, they had some excuse about not having access to the best spots on the flagpole because they're already in use) -- but any way you slice it, take note that rural Virginians value their silo-free skyline over extra bars of reception.
Today's tallest video: Japanese DS puzzler
Tsunde Tsumi Kiss was recently released in Japan and is available through your favorite not-yet-shut-down importer. We're not sure if we'll place an overseas order, but if any of our crack TGS team of reporters finds a cheap copy, we'd happily accept the puzzler.Loosely similar to Egg Mania (look it up, puzzle fans), Tsunde Tsumi Kiss requires gamers to build a tower. Tangram-like shapes are balanced with the DS touch screen. Players win when the tower reaches the designated height, and the rabbit-bird creature hops to the top.See the video after the break.
Lenovo 3000 J200 and J205: major Olympics fans
Following up on its Olympics-themed laptops, Lenovo has just announced a new series of desktops which will sport a tiny, barely visible Olympics logo in support of the upcoming Bejing games. The 3000-series J200 and J205 desktops both look the same on the outside (drab, gigantic, PC-ish), but pack ever-so-slight differences on the inside. The J200 is an Intel Celeron based model, with 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and an integrated graphics chipset, while the J205 will feature an AMD CPU and... nope, that's all. The Olympic-lovers will be on sale in August for $399 and $449, respectively.
Alienware P2 barebones on offer
In an unusual move for a company known to cram cases full of bleeding-edge components for hardware overachievers, Alienware is offering their wildly popular (and expensive) P2 ATX case barebones style. What will the $399 price tag get you? A black or silver case, "Astral Blue" lighting, a 700-watt power-supply, and... not much else. Hey, with the money you have left you can load this bad-boy up with a 486 and 64MB of RAM.
Designer dreams big with uber-green Twirling Tower
While the architectural playground that is Dubai isn't running low on innovative buildings, David Fisher is hoping to add yet another skyscraper to the mix with his self-sufficient and energy generating Twirling Tower. The 68-story "combination hotel, apartment, and office" would sport floors that each rotate 360-degrees in the span of about 90 minutes, creating a "constantly changing architectural form." His claims begin to elicit suspicion, however, when a promotional video (seen after the break) for the building claims that it can snag enough wind to not only power the building itself, but to energize ten other similar buildings just like it. Of course, we aren't taking that too seriously considering that he actually mentions that supplying electricity to the floors would be "similar to how a moving train captures power by staying in constant contact with a power source, like an overheard wire or third rail." Nevertheless, Mr. Fisher sure seems determined to get this thing up in the sky, but as with most big dreams in Dubai, moving beyond the drawing board is where things get tough. [Via Inhabitat]
Dubai Burj al-Taqa skyscraper to generate all its own energy
A skyscraper in Dubai is being designed so that it generates all of its energy through renewable means such as wind turbines and solar panels. On top of the tower will be a 200 foot turbine that harnesses the power of the wind, and an array of solar panels on the roof and a series of islands that stretches over 161,459 square feet. The tower will also feature a massive solar shield to protect it from the sun, and vacuum glazed glass that will reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the extreme temperatures (up to 50 degrees C / 122 degrees F), presumably meaning less reliance on traditional air conditioning. Talking of air conditioning, the main system for cooling the air inside the tower uses a convection system which pulls in cold air at the ground level, and sucks it up out of the top of the tower. The air conditioning will use seawater, and underground cooling units lower the temperature inside to 18 degrees C / 64.4 degrees F. This building may be a technological beacon for environmentally friendly skyscrapers, but as a commenter on metaefficient points out, new building designs don't do much to solve the inefficiency of older buildings in cities. Although that doesn't mean we can't imagine what it'd be like to work and live in a sea of glass and metal without feeling slightly bad about it.[Via Metaefficient]
Spanish solar tower could eventually power an entire city
Just last month we witnessed a gigantic skyscraper / solar tower hybrid that generates a whopping 390-kilowatts of energy, but even that looks like child's play compared to the 40-story solar power plant that resides in Spain. The expansive system consists of a towering concrete building, a field of 600 (and growing) sun-tracking mirrors that are each 120-square meters in size, and a receiver that converts concentrated solar energy from the heliostats into steam that eventually drives the turbines. Currently, only one field of mirrors is up and running, but even that produces enough power to energize 6,000 homes, and the creators are hoping to see the entire population of Seville (600,000 folks) taken care of solely from sunlight. So if you're eager to see what's likely the greenest solar power plant currently operating, be sure to slip on some shades, tag the read link, and peep the video.[Via Wired]
Morpho Towers: ferrofluid sculptures that groove to the music
There's just something irresistible about random objects that get down to surrounding beats, and the Morpho Towers: Two Standing Spirals installation is quite the eye-catcher indeed. The pair of ferrofluid sculptures were deigned to stand in a platter of ferrofluid and move "synthetically to music," which translates into a magnetic field being generated by sound and creating autonomous art. Subsequently, the towers react by attracting "spikes of ferrofluid" from the bottom-up, which can mold itself and transform into a variety of stunning shapes. The spikes themselves are designed to "rotate around the edge of the spiral cone, becoming large or small depending on the strength of the magnetic field," and by utilizing time series metadata ingrained in the music, the designers can create (and control) more dramatic scenes on the towers' sides. So if you're interested in what a magnetic Christmas tree might look like, be sure to take a peek after the jump for the artwork in motion.[Via SciFiTech]
The leaning tower of Sega
Thanks to Joystiq reader CrankSling for sending in this bit of retro goodness -- a Sega Genesis converted into a precarious teetering tower of plastic and silicon by a series of ill-advised add-ons. We can't imagine what would possess someone to actually construct this mostrosity except a deep desire to make a Genesis look like a vacuum cleaner. Anyone out there have a more ridiculously decked out system? Send in a picture and achieve internet immortality (for, like, 15 seconds).
Gamecube for Wii credit, and tomorrow's chaos
Perhaps some of you are reading this article via your smartphone, waiting in bitter cold weather because you're sick and tired of not having a precious Nintendo Wii. We understand. Tomorrow's deluge of Wii's, which should be occurring at many nation-wide outlets (Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City all seem to be proper candidates), may make many people quite happy. It may make many people really, really pissed off.While you might be willing to spend whatever it takes, we have a bit of thrifty advice. First off, EB Games is taking your soon-to-be-completely-worthless Gamecube as fifty dollars of trade-in credit for a Wii. Normally, they only give twenty-five. While EBG and Gamestop have not been officially confirmed as having units available for tomorrow, it's worth a phone call (why would they advertise such a deal if it were impossible to use?). Also, it seems Tower Records is having a massive sale, with 25% off of pretty much everything, including games. Pick 'em up cheap! And good luck, troopers.[Thanks, Dave and Vincent!]
Tower Records offering 25% off games
Tower Records is offering a 25% online discount on all video games (including Xbox 360) until January 22nd, even new releases! We looked up games like Gears of War and Lost Planet and they're discounted to a reasonable $44.99. Thought, the free shipping offer does not apply in conjunction with the 25% discount, so you'll have to shell out an extra $3 for shipping. Go ahead, take a gander and see what deals you can find.[Thanks, Jayson]
The fanciest way to store your UMDs
This is one of the more interesting peripherals I've seen for the PSP. It's a UMD tower that stores 15 of your PSP's discs. Sure, that might sound a little uninteresting, but I didn't mention its one key feature: it lights up, illuminating your discs. It reminds me of that nice blue glow that the Nintendo Wii has when you insert a disc into it. While I'll just keep my games in their cases, this might be nice for someone that wants to have a really fancy way of showing off their PSP pride. This unit retails for only $10.[Via PSP World]
Samsung's Core 2 Duo-powered BZ60 desktop
With Intel formally rolling out its Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors today, we were expecting to see more new machines with these chips besides the Gateways we brought you earlier, and our friends over at Samsung did not disappoint. The Korean manufacturer has just announced a new desktop known as the BZ60, which rocks the 1.86GHz E6300 variety of Core 2 Duo, and also throws down nVIDIA GeForce 6200 graphics, 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM, and a capacious 320GB SATA2 hard drive. As far as pricing and availability goes, well, we have no clue about the former, and the latter is rather inconsequential considering that this model will probably never make it stateside. Stay tuned, because new dual-core models -- ones that you will be able to purchase -- should be coming at a fast and furious pace in the coming hours and days...
Dell cops to XPS 700 delays
Apparently consumers who ordered Dell's XPS 700 gaming PC have not yet received their machines in the mail, and in the face of increasing complaints, the company has finally come clean on the issue. According to Dell's new one2one blog, the Pentium D- and Pentium Extreme-powered versions of the tower have indeed been delayed, though no specific reason is given -- all that's being said is that inadequate processor inventory is not to blame. While Dell isn't currently providing customers with a solid ship date, folks who ordered their 700 prior to July 18th will receive either a free upgrade to a Core 2 Duo CPU or a gift card for some unknown amount as a bribe to keep them from canceling their orders big thanks for being so patient. If you already have one of these desktops on order, expect to receive a call from Dell customer service in the coming days outlining your options and presumably apologizing for keeping you waiting. And if you haven't already ordered one, well, maybe you can get a good deal on an XPS 600 Renegade on eBay.
Chicago signing for Uematsu, Aki, & Roth tonight
Are you in Chicago tonight for the big PLAY! concert tomorrow, but weren't willing to shell out $125 for the VIP meet-and-greet at the event? Well, you might be in luck (even if you're not attending), as a few famous folks from the concert will be on hand to sign autographs in Chicago proper for free tonight.From 7 to 9 PM (presumably Central time) at the Tower Records store on 2301 N. Clark St., Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, bilingual songstress Angela Aki (who wrote and sang the theme song for FFXII), and Principal Conductor and Music Director of PLAY! Arnie Roth will be signing autographs to promote the world-tour premiere of 'PLAY! A Video Game Symphony' and the CD for More Friends - Music from FINAL FANTASY.While this blogger is sadly occupied with prior engagements tonight, gamers in the area are more than welcome to mob that Tower Records and cause the store's employees much consternation and bewilderment. If you don't have any imported CDs to sign, however, don't fret: the store's web site claims to have "some awesome Japanese imports available for you to purchase and have autographed at the event." Not only that, Angela Aki will be performing live as well. Score! Anybody wanna tell us how this evening turns out when it's all sung and done?[Via The Daily Northwestern; image culled from Angela Aki's blog, Nobuo Uematsu's Squenix profile, and Arnie Roth's 2005 interview with IGN]See also: Official page for Tower Clark Street (with details on the signing) Ticketmaster site for the PLAY! concert debut tomorrow Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
Cellphone towers beat radar at detecting rain, say researchers
Proving once again that wireless technology isn't all bad, researchers from the University of Tel Aviv have determined that cellphone towers are as good as, if not better than, traditional meteorological techniques at measuring rainfall patterns. The team took data already documented by the carriers about each tower's signal strength over time and compared it to information that had been collected by radar and rain gauges, and found that not only did the towers accurately detect the electromagnetic disturbances inherent to storms, but that the degree of change in signal strength was directly proportional to actual rainfall. While widespread utilization of this data could probably have an immediate effect on forecasting if combined with current methodology, the researchers have an even more ambitious goal of detecting signal variations from the end-user -- that is, on consumers' handsets -- for aggregation into even more precise and localized reports once weather-related changes can be teased out from among the many other signal strength variants.[Via Slashdot]
