Voodoo Envy 133 unboxed on video, lookin’ good

Filed under: Laptops

Right, so Voodoo’s succulent Envy 133 looks a lot better in high-res images than in some highly compressed, artifact-laden YouTube clip, but that’s what your imagination is there for. For those still waiting for their freshly shipped machine to hit the doorstep, hop on past the break for an unboxing sure to make you even more impatient. Or just restrain yourself and experience it first-hand in a few days. Totally your call.

[Thanks, Bernt]

Continue reading Voodoo Envy 133 unboxed on video, lookin’ good

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AMD taking on Atom with Ultra-Value Client line

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Another week, another AMD leak about taking it directly to Intel’s minimalist Atom. No, not with Bobcat, but with the new Athlon Ultra-Value Client (UVC) series. AMD is targeting the 230 with its 2650e, a single-core 1.6 GHz chip, and the 330 with its 3250e dual-core 1.5 GHz processor. Both have 512KB of cache per-core, matching the competition, but are rated at 15- and 22-watts respectively, much higher than the Atom’s miserly 4-watts. It’s unclear if that rating is current for just the CPU or the matching 740 chipset as well, but given the fact that AMD’s Athlon 64 2000+ is already quite frugal we wouldn’t be surprised if it were for the package. There’s no mention of price, and right now these chips are just for desktop OEMs, but laptop versions are said to be in the works and could be quite popular amongst the netbook crowd — if they’re cheap enough. 1.2GHz of Turon can do wonders, and we’re hoping for even better from 1.6.

[Thanks, Luiz H]

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Futuristic Origami Desk Cut and Folded from a Single Sheet of Steel [Desk]

No doubt about it, this is one bad-ass-looking desk. But the 3Fold from Formtank is more than just a striking visual design—it is also impressive because it was cut and folded from a single sheet of steel using CAD/CAM technology. Formtank bills it as an excellent CEO desk, which is why it takes CEO money to buy one. Constructing your own version starts at around $7,000. [Formtank via Core77 via Boing Boing]

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Lego Star Wars Death Star Diorama Now Available—Rebel Alliance and Free Time Beware! [Lego]

We’ve seen the immense Lego Star Wars Death Star diorama big reveal, the Brickworld 2008 coverage, and the massive minifig-packed set being built in beautiful time-lapse video—and now it’s available for order! Just a quick recap: that’s 3,803 pieces, 24 minifigs, $400. Get saving or get ordering. Your inner Grand Moff Tarkin commands you! [Lego via Brothers Brick]

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App Store Blacklist: Podcaster Too iTunesy [App Store]

The latest casualty in Apple’s App Store blacklisting is Podcaster. A native app built according to exact SDK specifications, it goes beyond its creator’s web-bound streaming-only Podcaster.fm by letting you download and manage podcasts in a nice straightforward interface. Insidious, right? Apple thought so.

According to Podcaster’s blog, Apple at least explained why it booted Podcaster from the App Store: “Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.”

The funny thing to David Chartier at Ars—who broke the news—is that so many other approved apps duplicate Apple-made functions, like the calculator and the stopwatch.

The funny thing to me is that podcasting was a grassroots thing that Apple coopted only after it had blown up on the internet. This has nothing to do with playing back copyright-protected music—it’s just a manager for freely distributed internet content. What next, Apple bans other people from building software to access third-party web pages via the iPhone? Oh wait… that’s pretty much already happened.

If you still want to check out the Podcaster app, you can sign up here, and the developer will e-mail you back with instructions. They say it will be distributed ad hoc—so no jailbreak required—for a donation of $9.99, but if it gets popular, we don’t know how the ad-hoc distribution system would hold up. (I thought there was a limit of 100 for that, but maybe I’m wrong.) [Ars Technica]

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Lightning Review: Olinari Dog Tags Hold, Secure Your Flash Memory [Review]

The Gadget: Olinari USB Dog Tags, which hold various USB drives inside the magnetic-clasp locking necklace charm. These are the follow up of the undoubtedly overpriced original version, which somehow managed to both look better, feel better and have a lower price.

The Price: $175

The Verdict: This is super useful if you’re looking to carry a backup SD card with you to parties, hikes and anywhere where memory sticks could possibly fall out of your pocket from being jostled too much. The magnetic clasp is solid and won’t flip open unless directly yanked on, and the new options of chain (leather choker, especially) are more comfortable than the original. It’s perfect for an SD card or something around that size, but larger ones (CompactFlash for example) won’t be able to fit.

At a price of $175 it’s still slightly extravagant (about half as extravagant as the original version), but definitely makes a nice gift for that amateur photographer who’s always running out of storage or losing his cards. [Olinari]

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Filed under: Gaming, Robots

Not that we haven’t seen robotic Guitar Hero masters before, but Cyth Systems’ egotistically named Cythbot is just a full cut above the rest. Boasting some of the most advanced, high-dollar equipment known to mankind (okay, so maybe that’s a stretch, but just barely), the creation uses a highly sophisticated viewing method to determine which notes to hit, and it can even decide whether slamming the whammy bar is a good idea or not. Too bad you’ll be entirely too distracted by the introverted hosts to even notice how awesome this thing is, but the video’s in the read link if you care to try.

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Via [Engadget]

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Peugeot Concept Cars of Tomorrow Have Propellers, Joysticks [Future Cars]

If Gundam mated with Will Smith’s Audi in I, Robot, the offspring would resemble these futuristic concept cars from European brand Peugeot. The cars car-like vehicles were all entries in the 2008 Peugeot Design Contest. Designers were asked by organizers to create vehicles for that ambiguous but tantalizing “city of the future.” Areas of focus included environmental awareness, “social harmony,” interactive mobility and efficiency. As you can see in the “Blade” vehicle above, efficiency is improved with the wind turbine that designer Ying Hui Choo added to charge an on-board electric battery.

The 888, designed by Oskar Johansen, pivots at the center and reduces its size for “easier parking, maneuverability and increased visibility.”

Emre Yazici’s “EGO” has two wheels and is controlled Atari-style with a joystick. The windshield doubles as the door. [Telegraph]

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Ten Facts You Should Know About the LHC [Questions Questions]

Neatorama has put together a good list of 10 basic questions on the Large Hadron Collider. It doesn’t answer questions like “Why the heck can’t Michael Zeller quote Star Trek correctly?” but it solves others, from why is it called Large Hadron Collider to why is it underground. My favorite, however, is Why is the LHC like a Werewolf?

Both are affected by the Moon! Like tides in the ocean, the ground is also subject to lunar attraction. When the Moon is full, the Earth’s crust actually rises about 25 cm (9.8 in). This movement causes the circumference of the LHC to vary by (a whopping) 1 mm (out of 27 km, a factor of 0.000004%) but that’s enough so that physicists need to take it into account.

Woof! Head to their LHC basic primer, titled 10 Things About the Large Hadron Collider You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask. [Neatorama]

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Filed under: Gaming, Robots

Not that we haven’t seen robotic Guitar Hero masters before, but Cyth Systems’ egotistically named Cythbot is just a full cut above the rest. Boasting some of the most advanced, high-dollar equipment known to mankind (okay, so maybe that’s a stretch, but just barely), the creation uses a highly sophisticated viewing method to determine which notes to hit, and it can even decide whether slamming the whammy bar is a good idea or not. Too bad you’ll be entirely too distracted by the introverted hosts to even notice how awesome this thing is, but the video’s in the read link if you care to try.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [Engadget]

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