Gadzooki

Games and TV

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My last post featured a link to Consolevania. Very simply, this is a live-action show featuring a bunch of amusing Glaswegian ladies and gents talking about games and occasionally partaking in a comedy sketch. As in Glasgow, Scotland. There may be some of you out there who can’t make out what on Earth they are saying, but if you bear with it, you’ll find that silly sketches aside, they actually have some very informative things to say about the industry and games in general. The only complaint I have is that there is not enough episodes!

This brings me to the real issue, and one of the reasons why I like Consolevania so much. Frankly, there is simply no coverage of computer and video games on UK TV. This is an utterly nonsensical state of affairs. I can’t think of an industry as big that receives as little coverage on tv, and in fact no coverage at all aimed at what is meant to be the largest demographic (of which I in fact fit into) – males aged in their mid to late twenties.

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The Downscaling of the E3 Videogames Convention

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e3sign.GIF

As reported in Kotaku and BBC news, what used to be the extravaganza, the greatest show in interactive entertainment history is now no more – at least in the three day ‘mega-format’ show. That’s right – E3 is changing. If you ask me, this is really a backward step for the industry as a whole, for a good number of reasons.

Videogames generally get a bad press a large portion of the time. Whether it’s Hilary Clinton using them as a bandwagon for her campaign or the latest ‘Halo murder’ story, games quite literally get a thoroughly bad press. This is both unfair and unjust, and I think E3 goes some way to making games seem acceptable and exciting.

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Comics Craze

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Autobot.jpgWe’re seeing a resurgence of blog features about comic books and other animated and heroic adventures lately. For instance, ForeverGeek bloggers have recently been active in writing about comic book series, comic book characters, animated films, and live-action films based on comic book storylines and heroes. These range from works that are considered classics or even very recent releases.

Now isn’t this a welcome break from the gadget craze. Let’s talk about what the little kid in all of us has always been excited about.

Haven’t you noticed that most of the summer blockbuster movies we’ve had for the past half decade were based on comic-book heroes. Take Spiderman, for instance. The first installation was excellent enough to redefine the Spiderman franchise as a live-action feature. The sequel was even better. And now, the cinematic previews to the upcoming Spiderman 3 promise to far exceed the first two movies. Then there were the X-Men films, which breathed life into our favorite mutants with three movies to date (and hints of more coming up).

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SkullPhones: Earphones That Don’t Go In Your Ear

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bone conductionWe like new things. Tech is all about innovation. And this new sound gadget is very new….and old. A company called Morito is producing earphones that actually use your bone (the old part) to create the impression of sound. The headphones cause the bone in your skull to vibrate (sound is transmitted by wave vibration in the normal course of events anyway).

The cool thing about these earphones is that they don’t actually go inside your ear. Awesome innovation, eh? Easier to hear the outside world, while listening to music. No more sore ear from buds. No more ear-muff style phones. Instead of earphones we have skull phones.

By the way, The Raw Feed is wrong when they say that the earphones don’t actually produce sound. They do. They just do it by producing the sound vibrations in a different place: your skull. So really, there is no more illusion in the skullphones then there is in normal headphones. Both produce non-natural sources of vibration to give you the impression of sound.

News Release

Ultra Mosquito Trap Gadget

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Mosquito TrapHey, we’re not sure if it works, but it sure looks cool. And if you want to pay $499, you too can find out whether there are more than 3707 mosquito’s in your backyard on a summer night.

There’s no doubt that this contraption will impress your friends and create hours of funky conversation. But really, you’ve gotta be a gadget person to see the virtue in this thing. But if you’re married to one of those people who doesn’t like big contraptions sitting around the backyard (or basement for that matter), I doubt you’ll get away with it.

The Mega Catch Mosquito Trap works by using a dual-luring system to draw the mosquito in, and proceeds to suck them to their deaths (giving the squitos a taste of their own medicine).

HT:[UberGizmo]

Nike+iPod Pictures

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nikeplus_sensor.jpg

In what could be the first massive implementation of life integrated computing (LIC), Apple and Nike announced a sensory technology for the integration of an iPod and Nike footwear. This cool new gadget will allow information to travel from your Nike enabled shoes to your iPod. The data will be used by the iPod to provide exercise relevant feedback.

Below are a series of images documenting this potentially revolutionary innovation:

nikeplus_clothing1.jpg

In this final image, you see a series of iPod screen displays associated with the Nike+iPod linkage. Looks like you can configure and name various workout types, edit your workout playlists, monitor the progress of your workout and see details about your workout such as “total calories burned.”

In this second image, you see an example of the data that is available to the user after she completes her workout.

nikeplus_interface.jpg

In this first image, you see an example of the new line of sportingwear that Nike will be releasing to complement the Nike+iPod integration.

nikeplus_site.jpg

MP3 In Your Pillow?

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multi-color mp3 pillow For only $9.99 you can tell your friends that your pillow plays music. Falling asleep to music has never been easier, thanks to this nifty new product being offered by Linens N Things.

The Cozy Tunes Pillow has a standard headphone connector allowing you to hook your MP3 Pillow up to any standard audio device: an iPod, radio or even one of those white-noise/pleasant-sound generators that help you relax;-)

While this is definitely one of those cool conversation piece products, but Anything But iPod hints at one potential problem: cords and sleep mix about as well as bubble gum and sleep.

Blue MP3 Pillow

[En Espanol: GenertationMP3]

The Douchenator Water Balloon Launcher: I Want One!

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As a kid I obsessed about water balloon launchers. When I was in 7th grade I’d go down to the local sporting goods store and stare at the $15 launcher they had for sale, just wishing I had the cash to get it. So, I just couldn’t pass up mentioning this article I just found over at Digg.
Water Balloon Launcher

Talk about the ultra water balloon launcher! This sucker can send balloons flying at 140mph and over 500ft. And with this handy how-to guide for buying the parts and putting it together, even the non-geeck can build this gadget.

Car that gets 8000 miles to the gallon?

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Are you kidding me? This must be too good to be true. Right? Well, yes and no. Apparently the car is real and has been developed by a British citizen. But, if this report is accurate the car is only 2ft wide.

2ft wide? Did I read that right? What about us claustrophobes?

I guess everything good comes with compromises. Here are the specs on the car so far:

Three wheels
Up to 8000 miles per gallon
10ft long and 2 ft wide

Push a button, add 100 horses

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Talk about a kick ass gadget. BMW’s new M5 let’s you simply push a button to add 100 to the already powerful 400 horses. As you drive, you can choose between total system horsepower of either 400 or 500. Pretty impressive for a sedan.

BMW M5 Interior BMW M5 Exterior

According to Business 2.0 you can drive your M5 under one of over 279 configurations:

The M5’s suspension, gearing, traction, and horsepower can be configured in 279 different ways, a confusing cornucopia that forces the driver to choose between paddle, center stick, or automatic shifting, 400 or 500 horses, comfort or sport ride, and so on.