Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Logitech's Driving Force GT Wheel For Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Has Force Feedback, Shifter


Logitech's no stranger to racing wheels, but their latest PlayStation 3 wheel looks even fancier than its predecessors. There's a 900 degree lock-to-lock turn, which means you can maneuver it much like an actual wheel on your Toyota Corolla when sledding about the tracks of Nurburgring. There's also a horn, shifter, the standard PS3 controller buttons and measures 11-inches in diameter. Best of all, it's even backward compatible with Gran Turismo 3 and 4 on the PS2 so you won't have to wait until April for the PS3 GT5 Prologue.

Altec Lansing T612: The First iPhone-Friendly, GSM Buzz-Shielding Speaker Dock


The hook here is the iPhone-friendliness of the product. While testing the T612, GSM buzz never occurred once, making good on Altec Lansing's claim. The dock also mutes the music when a call comes through, so you can hear your ringer and pick up the call (the T612 doesn't have speakerphone, to be clear).

On the audio side of things, the T612 is powered by two 3-inch drivers and two 1 -inch tweeters. The dock sounds good enough if you only listen to pop songs at a moderate volume that don't go too crazy with highs or lows. When you start to venture outside the musical comfort of Celine Dion, heavy bass has a hollow sound, and if you turn it up too loud, everything gets really muddy. Of course, you can adjust the bass and treble to remedy this, but then the music loses some of its punch.

Also available is a wall mount, but you have to pay an extra $3 to have it shipped, and it doesn't look all that great. $199.99 seems a little steep for this dock (especially compared to Logitech's $150 Pure-Fi Anywhere ), but if you really need to dock your iPhone as a music solution, and you can't stand to deal with the interference (or putting your phone in flight mode), maybe this is for you.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Wal-Mart Goes Blu-ray Exclusive in June


Wal-Mart is going Blu-ray exclusive by June—they won't even stock older HD DVD stuff at that point. While Netflix and Best Buy pulling Blu were hard blows to HD DVD, when the world's largest public corporation won't stock your products, you're basically doomed. Wal-Mart is the avenue to the unwashed masses, and, as an emerging format, if you're not rolling on it, you've effectively fallen off the radar of millions of people. It's probable Toshiba already knew this, hence the rumors of it finally pulling the plug. If they weren't considering it before, it's gotta weigh heavy on them now

Everex Cloudbook Unboxed, Fondled, Declared Horrible So Far


Those of you excited about that cheap, small Everex Cloudbook Wal-mart laptop as an alternative to an Eee PC might be slightly disappointed. Laptopmag just unboxed theirs, and found many things wrong with it. The pointing device is above the keyboard on the right, but the left and right mouse keys are on the left side, also above the keyboard. What the? Update: They've got a mini-review up.

World's Largest Solar Farm Opens: A Billion Trees Probably Died to Build It


A solar farm has opened in Spain that consists of 120,000 solar panels over 100 hectares (247 acres). It also has a peak capacity of 20 megawatts and it can power up to 20,000 homes—making it the world's largest solar farm to date. The farm is expected to generate an estimated annual income of $28 million and reduce CO2 emissions by about 42,000 tons a year.

New Atomic Clock Will Be Accurate for 200 Million Years


Physicists at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics have developed a new atomic clock that is so accurate, it will not lose a second of time in more than 200 million years. That makes the old atomic clock record holder and its 80 million year accuracy rating look like something you would get out of a gumball machine. According to designer Jun Ye, the secret to making such an accurate clock is to speed up how fast it ticks. That way, any errors will be immediately recognized. This particular clock "ticks" 430 trillion times per second. That's a hell of a lot of ticks

It's Official: Toshiba Pulling the Plug on HD DVD

Both Japan's NHK and Reuters are reporting that Toshiba is going to finally pull the trigger on HD DVD, ending the format war after being punted by Wal-Mart (the country's biggest retailer), Best Buy and Netflix. The official announcement will come next week, though Reuters' source confirmed that "We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business." RIP HD DVD, you will always have a place on our mantle. At least until we buy a Blu-ray player. But really

Kaneda Motorbike is Not as Mighty as Jason Chen, Still Kicks-Ass


Check out this Kaneda-esque motorcycle. Sure, you're thinking it is great mod, but apparently it is a fully licensed machine that is completely road legal, (in Japan at least.) Due to the Japanese text of the home site, we aren't too sure of the exact details of the underlying motorbike, but just take a look at it. Not being allowed Choosing to not ride a motorcycle stings more each day. For an undisclosed sum, you could be the envy of the Gizmodo staff by purchasing the pictured vehicle from Neo Fukuoka, and we certainly would be immature if we made a joke based on the phonetics of the name Fukuoka. We shall refrain, but just so you know; syllable number one is a blast. Jump for another picture of the beast we wished we had between our legs.

Wonderful Toys Turn Your Kid Into Batman With Awesome Cape


I've wanted to be Batman since I was a little kid, but I've never had the billions required to hire Morgan Freeman to construct swollass para-military gear for me to wield an overwhelming advantage over ill-financed and poorly equipped common criminals. So, I'm going to have to settle for projecting my dreams onto my future offspring. Step one: Strap Mattel's Wayne Tech Mega Cape on him from the day he can walk. The wings spring out with a single touch, instantly readying him to fly down a staircase and into the ER. $40, June. Health insurance sold separately.

Lightening in Block Form Adds to Desk Clutter, Looks Amazing


Lichtenberg figures are fantastic; they perfectly display branching electric charges that occur within, or on the surface of, certain insulating materials. Sure, that may sound like a whole load of boring, but check the image above to see why you are wrong—they look amazing. Popsci is hosting a video that shows you how to make your very own with some office supplies, a metal point and some shag carpeting. Our wallets are far too bruised after Valentine's Day to actually buy a Lichtenberg figure, but as they look so cool, we'll give this a try. We totally understand that this sounds like a project your third grade science teacher may have tried to get you to pull off, but it's cool if you aren't forced to do it for homework—hurrah! Hit the link for the video, and be sure to let us know how you get on.