You know if a given country, in this case Japan, is over-saturated with gadgets when you see stuff like this: A remote-controlled tissue box [JP]. I mean who doesn’t know the trouble you go through when you want to wipe your nose and that damn tissue box is like 3 feet away again?
But here’s some help. The so-called Running Tissue Box has a maximum range of 8m for the radio signal. It’s sized at 250×65×123mm and is available in white, red and black. → Read More
I actually like this idea. Kohjinsha recently showed off its dual-display 10-inch netbook, which runs Windows 7 atop an AMD Athlon NeoMV-40 CPU at 1.6GHz. The machine can be used as a netbook with a standard 10-inch display (it’s a swivel, screen) or a second 10-inch display can be slid out from behind the first to be used together for double the desktop real estate. → Read More
If your pockets are just beggin’ to be filled with an HTC Hero, your options thus far (assuming you’re in the US) have been limited. You could get one through Sprint or wait for Verizon’s Hero-esque Droid Eris – but either of those options means you’re on a modified, round-bodied Hero rather than the angled, chin-tastic Hero that nearly 70% of our readers prefer. You could import one of the original bodied Heros from the UK – but then you wouldn’t be able to get 3G on any US Carrier. If you wanted US 3G and an original Hero, you were out of luck – until now. → Read More
Following its meeting with developers yesterday, Facebook announced some changes it will be making to its homepage. As expected, one of the biggest changes is an attempt to fight application spam.
Notifications from apps that you sign up for are being curtailed so that you can opt to only see those notifications that your friends explicitly send to you. That should get rid of all those random updates about Joey sending some virtual bananas as a gift to someone else you don’t care about. Facebook will also allow users to specify which applications may contact them via email and for what purposes, much like when you register for any Website and they ask you if they can send you marketing newsletters. → Read More
Jeezum crow! This guy has made a fully functional (kind of) Proton Pack from Ghostbusters including a trap, ecto goggles, and some coveralls. He added a few lights controlled by an Arduino board.
The best part? He added lasers to the blasters. Now he just needs to remember not to cross the beams and that your halloween party can be a promotional expense so you should invite clients instead of friends. → Read More
Reader Anthony Le sent in his entry for the costume contest and I just had to share it with you guys. It’s an amazing replica of the Iron Man XD suit made of plastic and rivets. Anthony even goes to his local Children’s Hospital in it to cheer up the kids. Anthony is a truly geek who inspires awe. I based the build from this picture from comic-con. The Costume is 100% home made, the build took approximately 2 weeks and 5 days. I’m a very busy person as well! Over 700+ rivets and rivet washer used. All items on the costume are 100% made from scratch. I’ve lso taken this costume to the children’s hospital to give them a sense of joy to know that a hero has come to wishes them a happy Halloween. → Read More
The first phone in what will eventually become a line of Droid phones only became a reality yesterday morning, and its sibling is already in tow.
We already know a bit about the HTC-made Droid Eris, such as its $99 price tag and that it’s likely to be spec’d almost identically to the Hero. We’re suckers for the minute details though, and PhoneArena just uncovered a doc which confirms a couple new ones. → Read More
If you long for the ability to watch high definition TV on a seven-inch screen that’s resolution is a mere 480×234 but you also want to have the option to watch standard definition DVD’s as well, then here’s your next purchase.
According to Hammacher Schlemmer, this is “The First Portable HDTV And DVD Player.” → Read More
Bad news, you guys. If you were thinking of dropping $120 on TomTom’s iPhone car kit and then another $100 on TomTom’s navigation app for use with your first-generation iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, it now looks like you’d to run into some compatibility issues.
AppleInsider is reporting “that although the Car Kit dock is compatible with all iPhone models, the TomTom application will only work with the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G – even with the dock connected to a first-generation iPhone or iPod touch.” → Read More
You’ve heard of Borderlands, right? It’s one of the new FPSs out there but forget about the rest, you must play this game. I just started yesterday after beating Prototype (another killer game) and I have to say I’m hooked. So far I’m getting the vibe that the game is kind of like a cross between a western-themed FPS and a RPG with a simple, but robust character development. (I’m playing as Mordecai, the sniper) Anyway, just watch the trailer above and then get the game. It’s on Steam or your favorite torrent site. Oh, and it has a Co-Op mode. Everyone loves Co-Op. → Read More
The rumors were correct. Nintendo was planning a larger screen DSi. Fair enough. So now you’re probably wondering just how big of a difference a 4.2-inch screen is over a 3.25-inch screen. Well, Nintendo is fielding that question with a little interactive page, which trys to up-sell the new, large screen model over the original one. Seeing is believing, after all. → Read More
Ever since Twitter announced it is working on a new Lists feature a month ago, users and developers have been awaiting its broad rollout. Over the past few weeks, Twitter has been expanding the number of people in the Lists beta, but now it appears that a full rollout is under way.
As of yesterday, Twitter employee Nik Kallen reported that “25% of all users have Lists.” And then he Tweeted: “We’re releasing lists to even more people. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Twitter.”
Judging from the what we are hearing from tapped-in Twitter developers, the buzz on Twitter itself, and our tip box, a full rollout is under way and is expected to be completed either today or tomorrow. (Remember, this is Twitter, so there are no guarantees). → Read More
I’m currently blogging from a boat, rented by Belgian social network operator Netlog to host about a hundred of their closest business partners for a presentation about their freshly redesigned website and a roadmap of what’s in store for the future.
In their presentation, co-founders Toon Coppens and Lorenz Bogaert introduced something other than the newly revamped site. The company has also been developing a separately branded social gaming platform called Gatcha! which was talked about publicly for the first time today. → Read More
Games, both online and on mobile devices, draw such an intense following that often there are fan communities and forums created entirely around a single game. PlayHaven is hoping to empower developers with the tools to create their own online and in-game (for the iPhone only for now) fan communities for free.
PlayHaven has created shell communities around 15,000 games on Apple’s app store, so most developers can automatically claim their community. If their community hasn’t been pre-created, developers can also create their own communities. The transition between online communities and in-game communities are fairly seamless, says Raymond Lau, co-founder and CEO of PlayHaven. → Read More
We just wrote about PlaySpan’s recent study showing positive growth in the exchange and e-commerce of virtual goods exchange. PlaySpan powers micro-payments across over 1,000 video games and virtual worlds and has virtual goods storefronts on Facebook, MySpace, within games and on its standalone site. Today, PlaySpan is announcing a fairly significant deal with Nickelodeon to power payment services for virtual goods and microtransactions for the Nickelodeon Kids and Family Virtual Worlds Group.
PlaySpan’s technology and services will power Nickelodeon’s virtual worlds’ currency, called NeoCash, across multiple payment providers including credit cards and prepaid cards. Through PlaySpan’s subsidiary PayByCash, Nickelodeon will offer users over 80 global payment methods.
This is a big move for PlaySpan, considering Nickelodeon’s vast reach and popular games, including virtual world NeoPets, which has a user base of 45 million gamers. PlaySpan recently acquired micro-transaction app developer Spare Change, which powered micropayments across 700 social networking apps on Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. Earlier this year, PlaySpan also made deal to power micropayments on hi5. → Read More
Amazon is launching “PayPhrase” a simple way to verify your account to speed up purchasing – a great move ahead of the holiday season when even more people than ever will be shopping online.
It’s simple stuff. You set up a unique phrase like “Axe Murderer” or “Car Lover” or “Honey I shrunk the kids” and tie it to a 4-digit PIN. This is linked to your Amazon account which, of course, is pre-loaded with your credit card and shipping address.
I do have to wonder what was so hard about entering an email address and password, but clearly Amazon’s psychological research unit thought “Fluffy Bunnies”, or some such, was going to be easier for the average Jane or Joe to remember. → Read More
We’ve been saying for a while that ‘local’ is going to be one of those ‘next big things’, and the win by Red Beacon at TechCrunch 50 has been something of a clarion call for this. Now a new study from TMP Directional Marketing has come out with some interesting data to back this up.
The study shows that the web generally, but in particular mobile and social network search, are increasingly factors fueling growth in the overall search market. This grew to 21.9 billion total US searches in June 2009, a year-on-year increase of 31%. → Read More
So the rumors about Nintendo releasing a new DSi with a bigger screen (we reported Monday and Tuesday) were true. Big N officially announced a new DSi in Tokyo today, the so-called DSi LL [JP]. It has a 4.2-inch screen, will be released on November 21 in Japan and is priced at $220. Buyers will initially be able to choose between brown, red and white versions. → Read More
Today, Netlog – the ‘European MySpace’ as they’re often referred to – is hosting a Partner Day at and around their global headquarters in Ghent, Belgium. The most important thing the company will be sharing is a look at their redesigned website, which has been in the works for about a year and is today being rolled out to a number of key countries. I got an exclusive preview of the revamped website from co-founder Toon Coppens, so here’s an impression of what it will look like and where they’re going with the social network.
Netlog currently sees about 250 million visits from 56 million unique visitors on a monthly basis and is handling half a million new sign-ups every week. Its main target has historically been young people (65% of its user base is between 14 and 24 years old) and with the redesign the company is clearly catering to that particular demographic, making the homepage much more visual and far less cluttered. You can see some screenshots of the impending new version below, along with a screen capture of the ‘old’ homepage. → Read More
