For those of you who are most concerned with how you're going to fit all these next-generation consoles into your house, here's a pair of nifty charts showing the relatives sizes of Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, compared to their current counterparts.
The Wii ranks in as the smallest of the lot, with a bare 14 centimeters in width (just two centimeters wider than a CD/DVD), less than 20cm long, and only 3.5cm high. The heavyweight of the group is, somewhat to my surprise, the PS3, which comes in at an impressive 9.8cm high, 27.4cm long, and an astounding 32.5cm wide, beating out by a hair's breadth in every dimension, the previous champion, the original Xbox.
Good to know that $600 is going towards something substantial.
[via Joystiq]
Paul Kallender, of our sister site Digital World Tokyo, took a ride with a fuel cell powered laptop for the BBC (because they asked nicely). Toshiba is aiming to have a commercial version of the product out in 2007, though there are still some battles to be fought over size, weight and noise. A 100 milliliter cartridge of methanol ought to power a computer for 10 hours, though, claims Toshiba, and the devices should only get smaller and lighter.
They've spent much of the past few months shrinking down components, and designing safeguards for the cartridge so that it will not break or leak.
Which could be bad, in case you were wondering.
[via Digital World Tokyo]
Ever been stuck on the road with a dying iPod and no power adapters? Sad, yes. Perhaps even tragic. If you're traveling and need just a little bit of an extra boost, but don't want to spend too much cash on external battery packs that may only work with just one of your many devices, you might want to consider building your own.
Instructables is providing full details on how to roll your own USB battery charger. The project, named MintyBoost, draws power from standard AA batteries cleverly concealed inside an Altoid container (from whence the name comes). Though it does require some know-how, including soldering, it promises to be accessible to those who've never dabbled in DIY before.
The resulting battery pack can provide an additional full charge to a video iPod, and several hours of charge to iPod shuffles and minis. For the technically inclined, this may be a perfect solution.
[via Lifehacker]
This will long be remembered as a great day for the technological empire. It has seen the launch of the DS Lite, and it will now see the launch of the Motorola Q on Verizon's network (we'll let you figure out which of the people or items pictured at right is the Motorola version). We mentioned the Q last week, where we discussed both its benefits and drawbacks.
The Q is now available from Verizon for $199, if you're eligible for your "New Every Two" credit (where you get $100 credit towards a new phone after two years of service, with a new two year contract), or you sign up for a new 2 year plan. If you just want a 1 year contract, you'll have to pay the mortal price of $350.
Don't forget that the Q's smartphone features are really only useful when coupled with one of Verizon's data plans, which run at least $80 a month in addition to the monthly voice service charge. I think I'll be sticking with my E815 for now, but someday. Someday.
[via Engadget]
Word tore across the net like wildfire this morning that some Target and Wal-Mart stores had broken the street date on the Nintendo DS Lite, which was not supposed to be released until June 11th. A moderator at the Cheap Ass Gamer site found a cache of the Lites at his local Target, and a number of other readers have reported the appearance of the shiny white handheld at Targets and Wal-Marts around the land.
So Gadgetboxers, if you're looking to score one of the svelte new Lites, better check out your Wal-Marts and Targets before they run out. I'm tempted to speed over and get one myself, though I'm holding back to prevent jealousy on the part of my original Nintendo DS.
[via Kotaku]
I just got a Bluetooth phone fairly recently, the Motorola E815. In fact, just this morning, I was writing about it over on Mac User. One of the gizmos I'd played about with was the built-in HandsFree system in my dad's Acura TL, which is very cool. Once you pair your phone with the car, incoming phone calls will play through the stereo speakers, muting the radio or CD player. You can also make calls with a voice command system. Very nifty.
For those of us plebes who drive something a little simpler (my Honda Accord, for example), there's Hammacher Schlemmer's Rearview Mirror Wireless Bluetooth Speakerphone. In addition to the the speakerphone, the caller ID appears in LEDs on your mirror. It also includes a wireless earpiece, should you have passengers and wish to keep the other end of your conversations private.
The $139.95 asking price must have seemed pretty attractive, because they're sold out for the moment. Unfortunate, because I seriously want one. Guess I'll have to go back yelling at other drivers to entertain myself.
[via Gearlog]
Can't afford that 65" Plasma TV, but want to have the bigscreen experience this summer? Well, for just $1,000 (far less than the price of that Panasonic), you can have your very own inflatable home theater setup. It has a eight foot wide and seven foot high screen, which makes it marginally closer to a standard 4:3 aspect ratio than a widescreen, and two weatherized outdoor speakers.
Unfortunately, you'll need to bring your own projector and DVD player to the party, which ups the pricetag a little bit, but come on; it's inflatable. Also, come to think of it, most projectors don't work very well in bright light, so daytime viewing (as pictured) is probably right out—but never mind that, it's inflatable! It includes an air pump, and claims to inflate in just four minutes. Could be perfect for all those summer movies; just remember to invite your neighbors, lest they call the cops on you.
[via SCI FI Tech]
We've mentioned Microsoft's Xbox video camera before; the news we'd gotten at E3 suggested that it wouldn't see the light of day until the holiday season, but we're now getting news that it should arrive for both North America and Europe on September 19th. The Xbox Live Vision camera, as it has been officially deemed, lets gamers send photo messages, add a picture to their gamertag, and chat via Xbox Live. In addition, it will be supported in some of the online games in the Xbox Live Arcade, like Uno and Texas Hold 'Em Poker. The camera's internals are being constructed by a company called GestureTek, and no pricetag has been dropped yet.
Man, there's nothing better than seeing the look on your opponent's face when you deal that devastating Wild Draw Four in their direction. Expect some serious tears of agony.
[via Joystiq]
