/. reports that PC gaming is on the comeback trail... as if.
helloooooooooo? PC gaming was never on the decline, but apparently, Gamestop is going to use the kiosk approach that videogaming consoles use to sell their games for computer games. about damn time too.

now I can understand why Starcraft: Ghost has had so many delays - cool features that will be totally worth the wait!
MULTIPLAYER ZERG!!!!
from Joystiq

This is a really great idea!
Props to San Diego Public Services Dept. for doing this!!! They put solar-cell equipped carports over their parking lot. This not only saves the dept. money, but it keeps the cars cooler so they don't have to blast the AC when they get in.
from Treehugger

believe it or not, this is a subwoofer. "How is that as subwoofer?" you ask. well, apparently, the fan-like fins move the air in a room similar to the way a conventional subwoofer moves the air in it's cabinet. oh, and apparently, you should only do this in a room you don't actually live in, because the frequencies emitted may apparently cause your head to EXPLODE!
from Gadgetizer

in the category of "what will they think of next":
New RTS in which you command Santa's elves in preparation for the Big Day (that Big Day being Christmas of course)

The game is a real-time strategy title that has you managing an army of elves, upgrading homes, factories and workshops. The downside is that you never get to mobilize your diminutive forces against an evil legion of Grinch or Burgermeisters.

from Kotaku

Final Fantasy III DS deets!! I can't wait for this game on the DS. FF3 is a classic, along with FF7, and FFX, and umm... well, can you tell that i'm a FF fan? some people say that I cried when Aeris died, but I swear, it was a really really dusty room!

check out this REAL pumpkin case mod somebody did. lots of work for only 2-3 days use, tops!
from kotaku

Games set to come out this week!
Star Wars Battlefront II!!

Did you know that there is a PSP bus? I sure didn't. Sony didn't mail me nuthin. Apparently, they forgot to tell the Japanese gamers they were trying to attract as well....

It's October 28th! Do you have your costume picked out yet? If not, let me suggest going as Alan Greenspan, going as Yoda!
"The short term interest rate rising will be!"

NICE!
the DoJ has approved Verizon's takeover of MCI. no more will fiber succumb to the seductions of the dark side.
FIOS, take me away!!!!

Joystiq has det's on Flatulent Evil: Silent but Deadly...
what's that, you say?
It's Resident Evil: Deadly Silence? hmm...

well, ok, i'll believe you this time.

ooo.... NEC has released a new LCD monitor that is backlight by new-fangled LED's that are 12x brighter than normal LED's.

This apparently will allow for higher color rendering/quality. It can be yours for only $6600.

from Engadget

for all you simpsons fans out there, here is a list of neologisms (new words) that were coined on the show! I personally really like Cheese-eating Surrender Monkeys.
from Yahoo! Picks

bwahahahaha!!!
another really funny link.

a WoW player dressed his character as a garden gnome and traveled to different places in Azeroth and screen-captured them.

from Kotaku

LOL!
this is great!
Top 10 things to shout out while watching "Doom" the Movie.

why are people surprised by this? Apparently, MS Word will autocorrect the spelling of XBox to Xbox - an indication that it is "in the dictionary" - but doesn't autocorrect Gamecube or Playstation.
from Joystiq

if you have nintendogs - I am not ashamed to say that I do! - then go to Gamestop this weekend for free in-game items! check it out!

PS3 set for a Spring 2006 launch in the US???
according to 1up, a Japanese blogger CoolGamer is saying exactly that.

In the past months, the Japanese blog CoolGamer has been a dependable source of early information regarding the Japanese game market. Not once has their news turned out to be a false lead, so that's why it was pretty important today when the site updated with a small notice saying "PS3 price set below 40000 Yen," which is about $400 at current exchange rates.
In the update, the blogger writes, "In the latest Famitsu, a very important person mentioned that the PS3 price would not be over 40000yen". This information correlates to a previous comment from a Sony rep a few months back, who mentioned the same price. With any luck this will turn out to be the case, and Japan will see the PS3 in the spring of 2006 for slightly under $400.
One thing to note though is that the PS2 was also released in Japan for a bit under 40000 yen, but when it came to the U.S. it was sold for a hundred dollars less at $299. It's not out of the question that same sort of pricing scheme will be employed this time as well.

This story isn't confirmed, but a Nigerian cafe' owner was apparently arrested for kicking a scammer out of his cafe'. Read more here....

The RFID's are coming! The RFID's are coming! Well, coming in 2006 to a passport near you.
Apparently, they've worked out the security issues that accompany RFID technology. But I won't hold my breath, as someone shortly after the release of the first RFID passport will indubitably announce on /. that they cracked it.

so, why is it that after i posted about the crazy profits that petroleum companies are making this quarter, i receive a visit from a certain special visitor?

oooo.... Nikon D200.
looks like it's meant to compete against the Canon 5D.
choices, choices, choices.
from Engadget

NICE!

Ford GT roadster, apparently to be shown at SEMA!

from Autoblog

So I've heard that the petroleum companies are gouging their customers. I refuse to believe it. Companies that are essentially monopolies [umm... cable TV providers?!?!] gouging their customers?!?!? No, it couldn't happen. Not in a democracy with checks and balances like the US. Even though we allow lobbying, unlike the EU and Japan, there's no way that our congressman can get corrupted by the gifts of big corporations, could they? I mean, they're public servants... they have a higher calling, no?

Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing Wild World Hands-on at Kotaku!!

this is awesome!!!
rubik's cube art!!!

been trying to get your gaming jones on, but the man's [or your wallet has] been holding you back? get to Toys'R Us or amazon for a buy 2 get 1 free deal!

EDIT: the website for this machine is online

Holy CRAP!!!! This is the newest Skyline GT-R! The lines are simple, but beautiful!!!

C'mon powerball!!! More pics at the link.

you remember that drink, Crystal Light? well, forget about it, actually, cause it has nothing to do with this technology...
there are these things called "quantum dots" and apparently

by adding nanocrystals to a polyurethane mix and using it to coat an LED, the scientists were able to create a sort of super-LED, capable of emitting as much light as a standard 60-watt light bulb.

from Engadget

this is too cute.... crocheted yoda ears for the baby...

PS3 for $600???
ouch....

Citing an unnamed Sony source, German game site Gamefront is reporting that the Playstation 3 will be selling for $600 to $650 a pop. Extra job indeed.

from Kotaku

LOL, this is too funny. These are fake covers that you can put on a book. The assortment is hilarious.
from Strange New Products

from Reuters:

About freekin time, but knowing congress and freekin lobbyists, this date will be pushed back yet again....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday set an April 7, 2009, deadline for television stations to switch entirely to digital broadcasts, the latest effort to provide certainty to the transition that will free airwaves for wireless companies and emergency responders.

Our pillows are dangerous for our health by ZDNet's Roland Piquepaille -- Researchers at the University of Manchester have studied the fungal contamination of our pillows for the first time in seventy years and discovered that they were hot beds of fungal spores, with some species able to cause diseases and even death.

Woah, this might change the face of crime as we know it. of course, for the benefit of the community! This technology detects the sound of a gunshot and calls for aid accordingly. It also can pinpoint the shooter's location within 10 feet.

It involves placing a series of sensors 1,500 feet apart, then linking them with surveillance cameras throughout the city. The sensors go on existing structures, such as buildings and telephone poles.
The ShotSpotter system is only triggered by gunfire and it can discern the type of weapon (rifle, shotgun or handgun) being used. The software in the sensors also commands the surveillance cameras to rotate and focus on the spot where the shot was fired.
The sensors are so sophisticated that they can trace the path and direction of drive-by shootings.

What if you had a power unit that generated substantial electrical energy with no fuel? What if it were so rugged that you could parachute it out of an airplane? What if it were so easy to set up that two people could have it running in just a few hours?
Now there is such a device - built by a small Virginia start-up - and the
federal government has taken notice.
SkyBuilt Power Inc. has begun building electricity-generating units fueled mostly by solar and wind energy. The units, which use a battery backup system when the sun is down and the wind is calm, are designed to run for years with little maintenance.

You, yes you, can play Dance Dance Revolution on your TI graphing calculator! So now, instead of just blowing away hellspawn on your TI, you can try to match beats with the best of them!
*not responsible for damage to your calculator if you try to step on the cursor keys*

Flash-drive laptop technology is on the way from Intel!!! This technology uses NAND memory technology made ubiquitous by the iPod.

The secret behind the Robson nonvolatile cache technology is NAND flash memory. Instead of booting from the hard drive, a laptop using Robson would turn to standard NAND flash memory instead. The difference saves time and battery power, according to Intel.

Samsung gets the SMACK laid down on 'em!!!

Some majorly bad news for Samsung: the company, along with its US subsidiary Samsung Semiconductor, has agreed to pay a massive $300 million fine after being charged with price fixing by the Justice Department. Turns out that over the course of several years the company, along with several other flash memory chip suppliers, had conspired to fix the prices and gouge PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, Apple, IBM, and Gateway.P.S. - Note that this is actually a totally different case than the one they’re potentially facing in South Korea over the memory modules they supplied Apple for use in the iPod nano, but proof of bad behavior like this probably isn’t going to dissuade the Korean FTC from launching their investigation.

This just goes to show that anything can be made out of legos. This is a functioning lego camera! It has all the features necessary like film advance, film counter... pretty creativet!

BOSTON - Gregg Miller has designed some new balls for dogs, but these won't be used while playing fetch. Miller has just received an Ig Nobel Prize for his invention - prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs. It all started 10 years ago with an experiment on an unwitting Rottweiler named Max, and has turned into a booming mail-order business. Miller has sold over 150,000 of his 'Neuticles,' which come in different sizes, shapes, weights and degrees of firmness. According to the Neuticles website, the silicone implants allow a pet "to retain his natural look" and "self esteem." Miller is very honored to be given the Ig Nobel Prize, which rewards the humorous, creative and odd side of science.

Are you practicing 24/7 in order to attain your dream of playing in the NBA? Well, this is the ball for you... this ball glows in the dark, so you can continue practicing your J's well after the sun goes down.

Ever been at the turning point of a basketball game and had to call it because the sun went down? Now you can finish that game and play well into the night with the Firefly light up basketball. This official size basketball adds the technology of a red LED light internally so you can play all night long and not
loose your ball.

*glow in the dark rim not included.

ok, this seals it. i'm definitely gonna join the revolution

The latest Nintendo Revolution rumor to hit the web is a doozie… “Nintendo may be aiming for a $99 launch price.” Yeah, it’s a dirty rumor, but could it be done? Doing so would put the Revolution in a league of its own, practically excusing it from the next-gen battle—it simply wouldn’t be competing with the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 if it were wearing a $99 price tag.

Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 Released
I wonder if the holes have been patched?
Get it now, and let me know!!! =)

Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD is soon to become a threesome.
China has thrown it's hat into the ring in the next-gen DVD bout, and it's about to get even uglier.

Personal Crash Alarm

Now's the time to buy TI stock!!!
US chip-maker Texas Instruments has plans for a cellphone or PDA that will sense if you've been in a car accident and will automagically call for help.
"An accelerometer built into the device detects any violent shock and compares the acceleration profile of the event with a library of others. This allows the device to distinguish between a safe event, such as the device being dropped, and a genuine road accident.
If the detected profile looks serious, the device will automatically dial an emergency service number, such as 911, and transmit a recorded message. A device with built-in GPS could also transmit its location.
In addition, the device could bleep before transmitting its message. So if the sensor has been triggered accidentally and the owner is not hurt, the call could quickly be cancelled. In the future, devices could also sense heat, smoke and water to warn that the owner is in other kinds of trouble, says Texas Instruments."

from the Inquirer:

"MIGHTY CHAEBOL Samsung has lifted its revenues for consumer chips by 84.2 per cent in just the space of a year.
According to a report from market research firm iSuppli, Samsung's revenue rose to $2.1 billion in 2004, up from $1.1 billion in the year before.
And that catapulted it from 10th place in 2003 to number four in 2004.
That, said the iSuppli analysts, meant Samsung Electronics is now in the same league as the Japanese powerhouses Toshiba, Sony and Matsushita.
The rise and rise of Samsung is due to supplying memory chips to the consumer electronics semiconductor segment, said iSuppli. It held a "commanding lead" in sales of chips for MP3 players, and also made gains in grabbing market share for digital TVs, set top boxes, and still cameras."

GO Samsung! GO Samsung! It's yo birfday! It's yo birfday!

The 2006 Civic Hybrid pricing has been released!!!
The 2006 Civic Hybrid goes on sale Oct. 19th with a sticker of $21,850. EPA rates the fuel efficiency at 50/50, but we all know how accurate the EPA is. On a hybrid, knock about 20% off the efficiency to get it's real rating. still, 40 mpg real-world isn't something to turn your nose up at.

If you're ever in the market for a Pro-sumer/Entry level professional dSLR, try the Canon EOS 20d. I didn't get the 18-55mm lens though. From what I read about it, the 17-85mm lens was the better buy, even though it's f/4-5.6.

new AIM beta client. seems to be like Google Talk/Yahoo! Messenger with the VoIP option, but it includes a bunch of profile data. hmm... AOL better be securing their servers....

My wife and I just got a new video camera... the Panasonic PV-GS65. We haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I hear that the 3 CCD's make the colors pop!
-edit
when i say "try it out" i don't mean like pamela and tommy lee.... ;-)

New Blog, first post.
Stardate 0510.06
trying something new, as xanga seems a bit tired. The intent of this blog will be to post new technology, odd technology, random fantasy football bits, gaming particulars, and other things that pop onto the horizon.