Moon in my room - Toy

Uncle Milton's Moon in my Room is a remote controlled, illuminated moon that hangs on the wall of any room. It has a sensor to determine when it's dark, which then causes it to light up. The moon moves in 12 lunar phases, accurately representing the real phases of the moon. The moonscape is also an accurate representation of the real moon, and comes with an audio CD to give you a guided tour of the moon and space.


Pros & Cons

Pros:


•Can be used as a nightlight
•Not that expensive
•Very cool nightlight
•Displays accurate moon phases
•Lights up automatically

Cons:

•Uses a lot of battery power
•Doesn't track the moon real time
•No AC adapter - batteries only

More information

Features

Diameter: 10"
Weight: 2 pounds
Batteries: 4 AA and 2 AAA
Mounts to wall at 3 places
Includes: calendar with moon phase charts, CD with guided moon tour, remote

• Uncle Milton official site - http://www.unclemilton.com/

Sony Handycam HDR-HC9 - Camcoder

The Handycam HDR-HC9 is the upgrade to Sony's 2007 miniDV camcorder, the HC7. With this 2008 offering Sony provides minor improvements over the award winning HC7. The camera retains its barrel-shaped form factor that houses the Carl Zeiss lens with 10x optical zoom. HDV footage with a resolution of 1440x1080 is recorded onto the miniDV tapes, standard definition DV footage can also be captured through the menu settings. The HC9 retains the same touch-screen menu based interface and offers a host of manual controls from white balance and infinity focus, to peaking functionality and colored outlining.


Pros & Cons

Pros:


•HDV is a standard format that all video software recognizes
•Plenty of manual controls
•Good selection of outputs including USB2.0, Firewire, Component, HDMI
•Great video capture quality
•Internal, automatic lens cover
•Black design is better than silver
•Better quality compression for MiniDV over solid-state media formats

Cons:

•Still limited to proprietary Sony accessories


More information

Specs


- 10x optical zoom Carl Zeiss lens
- 3.2MP CMOS sensor
- up to 1080i video recording
- miniDV tapes for storage
- 2.7" LCD touch screen monitor, 211K pixels
- Internal lens cover mechanism
- Records video with x.v.Color (need a compatible TV to view)
- Data ports: USB2.0, Firewire
- Video ports: Component, S-Video, HDMI

Differences between HC7 and HC9

Body - the HC9 comes in a black color while the HC7 is silver.

Memory stick support - The HC9 supports a memory stick duo capacity of 8GB while the HC7 is limited to 4GB.

USB support - for transferring data the HC9 uses a USB2.0 interface which is significantly faster than the HC7's USB1.1 interface.

Everex gBook - Laptop

The Everex gBook VA1500V will be Everex's first full-sized laptop. Like their gPC and CloudBook the gBook runs gOS Linux and comes pre-loaded with open-source and free software tools, and has is marketed as an entry level budget laptop. It features a 1.5GHz VIA C7 -M Processor, 512MB DDR2 SDRAM, 60GB SATA HDD, DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive, 15.4” WXGA+ Widescreen Display, VIA Chrome9™ HC IGP and WLAN 802.11b/g.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

•Good gOS user interface
•Great price
•Decent specifications

Cons:

•Lacks RAM
•Poor video card

More information

Operating System: gOS V2 Rocket

Processor: 1.5GHz VIA C7-M Processor

Display: 15.4" WVGA+ TFT Widescreen (1440 x 900 native resolution)

Preinstalled and Linked Software: Mozilla FireFox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, MATH, DRAW)

Memory: 512MB DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (2GB Max)

Hard Disk Drive: 60GB, 5400RPM SATA-150

Hard Disk Drive: DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive

Graphic: VIA UniChrome9™ HC IGP with 64MB shared memory and DirectX 9 support

Audio: VIA VT1708A Vinyl High Definition Audio Codec with built-in speakers

WLAN: 802.11b/g

LAN: 10/100 Ethernet

I/O: (1) VGA port, (3) USB 2.0 ports, (1) RJ45 Ethernet port, (1) Headphone/Line Out jack, (1) Microphone/ Line In jack

Battery: 3-Cell (11.1/.V, 2200mAh), rechargeable, removable Lithium-Ion

Warranty & Support: 1 Year Limited Warranty with 24/7 Toll-Free Technical Support

Dimensions: 14.06" x 10.67 x 1.02-1.54" (W x D x H)

Weight: 5.3 pounds

MSRP: $399

Release Date: not announced

Sony Alpha DSLR-A350 - Digital Cameras

The Sony Alpha DSLR-A350, along with the DSLR-A300 are Sony's latest announced Digital SLR cameras. These models are essentially upgrades to the Alpha DSLR-A200 release in the fall of 2007. Both the 350 and 300 two distinct new features: 1) Live View mode for the LCD viewfinder, and 2) an articulating LCD screen. Also, the A350 offers a significant increase in its resolution, increasing to 14.2 megapixels, up from 10.2 megapixels in the A200. The A350 offers further penetration by Sony into the DSLR market, since the introduction of its first DSLR camera in the Alpha line, the Alpha DSLR-A100 release in the summer of 2006.


Pros & Cons

Pros:


•Features live view LCD viewfinder with dedicated sensor
•Competitively priced
•Extremely high resolution sensor @ 14.2 megapixels
•Unique articulating LCD screen

Cons:

Nothing at the Moment

More information

Features


- 14.2-megapixel Super HAD CCD
- new Live View mode with secondary image sensor for the LCD
- swiveling, articulating LCD screen
- continuous burst mode: 2 fps
- memory: compact flash media
- ISO Sensitivity: 100 to 3,200
- super SteadyShot in-camera image stabilization offers from 2.5 to 3.5 stops of compensation
- Bionz Image Processor
- Dynamic Range Optimizer: Normal DRO improves detail using standard gamma curves for fast shot-to-shot response time. Advanced DRO adjusts dynamic range area-by-area.
- Anti-Dust Technology
- Auto Pop-Up Flash
- Eye-Start Autofocus System
- 9-Point Center Cross AF Sensor
- 40-segment honeycomb metering system
- Scene Selection Modes: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Sunset and Night - Portrait/Night View situations
- Creative Style Settings
- 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD Screen
- Index and Slide Show Display
- High-Resolution Thumbnails for PhotoTV HD Viewing
- Function Guide Display

Live View

Sony's implementation of live view places a second, low-resolution, dedicated image sensor to be used by the LCD viewfinder. The rationale behind Live View is to improve the response time of the digital viewfinder, so that it mimics the behavior of an optical viewfinder. The low-resolution sensor introduces less lag between the actual image and the image rendered to the LCD by requiring less processing time by the camera's internal circuitry. There is a mirror inside the pentamirror arrangement that reflects the image to the secondary live view sensor.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Video Games

The third entry in the popular Smash Bros. series, and the first to come to the Nintendo Wii. There are four ways to play the game, using the Wii-mote and nunchuck, using the Wii-mote(turned on its side), using the classic controller, and using the Gamecube controller. The graphics have been improved taking advantage of the added horsepower the Wii offers. There are new items, including the Gooey Bomb, which sticks to anything it touches and explodes after a short time. There is also the Cracker Launcher, which rapidly fires firecrackers into the air, the Golden Hammer, which is an upraged regular hammer that is faster, does mroe damage, and allows the user to float over open air, and the Banana Peel, which shockingly enough trips up foes when thrown on the ground. New stages will also be included, as well as updated looks for old favorites.


Pros & Cons

Pros:

•Many new characters added to the series
•Ability to create your own stages
•Lots of new items and stages
•Numerous customization options
•Supports Wi-Fi play
•Can play with Wiimote, Gamecube, or Classic controller, and fully customizable
•Fluid game play at 60 fps
•Fantastic in-game soundtrack

Cons:

•Subspace Emissary story mode is somewhat repetitive
•No online leaderboard or statistic tracking
•Long 20 sec. load at the beginning of the game


More information

Playable characters


New characters are also being added. Zero Suit Samus, Wario, Pit (Kid Icarus), Meta Knight (Kirby), Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid), Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog), and Ike (Fire Emblem). Solid Snake is the first non-Nintendo character that has been invited to fight in the Smash Bros. arena, opening up the possibility that more non-Nintendo characters will be announced. But don't worry, many fighters from previous Smash Bros. games will be returning for another round.

Mario
Link
Kirby
Pikachu
Fox
Samus
Zelda
Bowser
Fox
Donkey Kong
Yoshi
Zero Suit Samus *
Wario *
Pit *
Meta Knight *
Solid Snake *
Ike *
Pokemon Trainer *
Sonic *
Diddy Kong *
Lucas *
King Dedede *
Pikmin and Olimar*
Lucario*
Jigglypuff
Ness

* indicates new to Smash Bros. See the full "Dojo" on smashbros.com


New Elements to the game

New elements to the game are the final smash, assist trophies and online. The final smash is a super devastating move which can only be performed once and only after obtaining a smash ball. Each final smash is character specific. Assist trophies are like Poke Balls except that instead of Pokemon you get a random video game character that assists you in battle. Online multiplayer will be a welcome feature to the series.

Trailer




• Official Smash Bros. website - http://www.smashbros.com/

gOS - Operating System - Free

gOS is an freely distributed operating system based off of the Ubuntu distribution and Enlightenment window manager. Most notably, it comes pre-installed on the affordable Everex series of PCs. It is marketed as an alternative O/S that includes a minimal amount of installed desktop software, relying heavily on online web applications like GMail, and Google docs for productivity. gOS does come with open-source pre-installed software packages like GIMP and OpenOffice. gOS can be downloaded for free, and fits compactly on under 2GB of disk space.

Microsoft's rivalry with Google heated up considerably this past year when rumors surfaced that Google might release its own operating system to compete with Windows. Has Google finally jumped into the fray with its own OS?

Unfortunately, no; gOS is not a "Google OS" nor is it affiliated with Google (though Desktop Linux has reported that Google has seen gOS and approved inclusion of the Google toolbar with the operating system).

gOS is developed by Good OS LLC out of Los Angeles. It's based on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and runs the Enlightenment E17 interface instead of KDE or Gnome. Despite not being created by Google, the focus of gOS is Google's online applications such as GMail, Google News, Google Maps, Google Calendar, YouTube, etc. It's a neat concept for a Linux distribution, but how practical is it?

Pros & Cons

Pros:

•Can be downloaded for free
•Slick, customizable interface reminiscent of OS X
•Includes productivity software like GIMP and OpenOffice
•Helps keep PC costs down

Cons:

•Additional applications need to be downloaded via Synaptic package manager
•No recycle bin
•Minimize, maximize, close buttons are at the top-left of the window
•Downloadable version can't play DVDs or mp3s without additional library installation and configuration.

More information

Versions History

gOS 1.0.1 was launched in November, 2007 and was featured in the Everex gPC. At CES 2008, on January 7th, 2008 the current version (v2.0) debuted and is known as gOS Rocket.

Download the gOS 2.0 beta here - http://thinkgos.com/downloads.php


• gOS official site - http://thinkgos.com/

Apple iPod Nano

According to Apple the iPod Nano is the most successful portable music player in history. Up until now the device lacked many of the features found in its bigger sibling. The new generation of iPod Nanos remain smaller, thinner but now include video playback and photo viewing features. To accommodate the new display intensive features the form factor of the Nano is substantially different. Known on the street as the "phatpod" the new Nano is wider and stubbier with dimensions coming in at a boxy 2.75 inches high and 2.06 inches wide. The thickness is reduced to a depth of 0.26 inches, or 6.5mm.


Pros & Cons

Pros:


•Now plays video with a high quality screen
•Ridiculously thin
•Good capacity and features for the price
•Cover flow is awesome
•Feels just right in your hand.

Cons:

•Battery still not user replaceable.
•The backside is very easily scratched.
•Some units have a crooked screen (~2mm slant)
•The "manual" is a joke
•More expensive than competitors with similar features
•Cover flow is choppy due to less powerful processor
•Chubby form factor looks lame


Competing products

Apple iPod Nano is ranked 5th. See the top picks in MP3 Players

100%prefer Apple iPod Touch
60% prefer Creative Zen
50% prefer SanDisk Sansa View
50% prefer Archos 405
40% prefer Microsoft Zune 8
25% prefer Slacker Portable Player
25% prefer Cowon iAudio 7
20% prefer iriver clix gen 2

More information

The Nano's screen at 320x240 is the same resolution as the fifth generation iPod Video and the iPod Classic. At a screen size of 2.0" Apple states that the Nano's pixel density is the highest in the world. All iPod compatible videos and photos are viewable on the Nano and are accessed with the new "Enhanced" user interface. Apple has upgraded the interface to make full use of the extra screen real estate. Now there is more information and graphics displayed when browsing through the music, photo, and video library. The unique Cover Flow navigation system where you "flip" between albums is also a new addition.

Similar to the bigger iPods custom games are supported on the Nano. Three different games are bundled with the device stored in the memory, with more games available for purchase from the iTunes store.

Despite the new form factor the Nano retains the same data connection port making it compatible with all current iPod accessories. Furthermore a new arm band will be released for runners to use with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. Apple rates the battery life for the Nano at 24 hours for audio playback, and 5 hours for video.

iPod Nano Versions

4GB version comes in only one color: silver.
8GB version comes in five different colors: black, red, silver, blue, and green.


• iPod Nano technical specifications - http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html

• iPod Nano official home page - http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/

Microsoft Windows XP - Operating System

Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The letters "XP" stand for eXPerience. It was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort during its development. Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture. Windows XP was first released on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst. It is succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on November 8, 2006, and worldwide to the general public on January 30, 2007.

Cons:

•No Microsoft support for the mainstream after April 14 2009

More information

The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which has additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users and business clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run the ink-aware Tablet PC platform. Two separate 64-bit versions of Windows XP were also released, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64.

Windows XP is known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows. It presents a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. New software management capabilities were introduced to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer-oriented 9x versions of Windows. It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat software piracy, a restriction that did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates. Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its default user interface.

Windows XP had been in development since early 1999, when Microsoft started working on Windows Neptune, an operating system intended to be the "Home Edition" equivalent to Windows 2000 Professional. It was eventually merged into the Whistler project, which later became Windows XP.

RIM Blackberry 8800 - Mobile Phone

RIM has released its latest in the Blackberry family, the Blackberry 8800. Improving on the Pearl, the 8800 features a full QWERTY keyboard, a 320x240 screen, and is slightly thinner. Rounding out the features include the trackball navigation system, GPS /w maps, multimedia, expandable microSD, and voice activated dialing (VAD). All of this is bundled along with the features you've come to expect from a Blackberry: browser, text-messaging, and, of course, mobile phone services.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

•Excellent GPS system.
•Larger screen than the Pearl
•Long battery life.
•Great messaging (Blackberry's core competency)
•Push-to-talk feature

Cons:

•No WiFi or 3G network support
•No camera
•Fairly large and can be awkward to hold

External links

• Blackberry 8800 freeware - http://www.blackberrysoftware.us/blackberry_8800.freeware

• Blackberry 8800 official site - http://www.blackberry8800.com/


• RIM Blackberry 8800 promo video - http://www.blackberry8800.com/video.jsp

Nokia N95

The Nokia N95 is Nokia's flagship smartphone in their Nseries, and is a direct competitor to the Apple iPhone. According to Nokia, the N95 is "an all-in-one multimedia computer." It features an non-QWERTY alphanumeric keypad and belongs to the same family as the QWERTY version Nokia N800. The Nokia N95 runs on a Symbian S60 3rd Edition O/S that includes a web browser, email client, multimedia capabilities (photo/video/music), and GPS mapping. It features a 2.6" or 2.8" display (depending on version), integrated GPS, and a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss digital camera. It is packaged in a slick slider design, with the numeric keys sliding out from one end and the multimedia controls from the other. Originally released in Europe and Asia, as of early March 2008 it is now for sale in the United States and Canada online or from Nokia's flagship stores.


Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Integrated GPS and mapping
•High quality 5 mpx camera for photos and 30 fps video
•Wi-Fi connectivity
•Great multimedia capabilities
•Decent talk-time battery life (~8 hrs)
•Supports 3G networks as of Aug. 2007

Cons:

•Expensive
•Poor standby battery life (~1 day before requiring charge)
•Lackluster alphanumeric keypad (non-QWERTY)
•Extremely slow GUI
•Poor memory management
•No support for 3G networks

Competing products

Nokia N95 is ranked 3rd. See the top picks in Cell Phones

Apple iPhone
HTC Touch
HTC TyTN II
Samsung Ultra Smart F700
RIM Blackberry 8800
LG Voyager

More information

Features

- form factor: two-way slider
- 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens
- O/S: Symbian OS v9.2, S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1
- Screen: TFT Matrix, diagonal 2.6" or 2.8", 16 million colours, 240x320 pixels
- CPU: 2 x Texas Instruments OMAP 2420 @ 332 MHz
- RAM: 64 MB or 128 MB (depends on version)
- Flash Memory: 128 MB or 8 GB
- USB 2.0
- Battery: BL-5F (950 mAh)
- Talk time: up to 160 min (WCDMA), up to 240 min (GSM)
- Standby time: up to 215 hours
- Europe: 2100 MHz, North America: 850/1900 MHz 3G
- WiFi enabled, 802.11 b/g


The 2.6-inch QVGA TFT screen can reproduce up to 16 million colors at a 320x240 pixel resolution. Video is recorded at an impressive 640 x 480 resolution at a 30 fps and can be displayed on your TV with its included TV-out cable. In terms of connectivity, the N95 features quad-band GSM, EDGE/GPRS data on its GSM bands, and high-speed HSDPA data on the UMTS band. It also support 802.11b/g WiFi connectivity for a much improved browsing experience over the much slower EDGE and GPRS. The tested talk-time battery life is a fairly impressive 8 hours, but according to CNET's standby battery test, you can expect to have to recharge after only a day.

Versions

- N95 - original version with 64 MB RAM and 128 MB Flash memory (European/Asia), March 2007
- N95 8GB (N95-2) - 128 MB RAM, 2.8" TFT, 8 GB Flash memory, black faceplate (Europe/Asia), August 29, 2007
- N95 NAM (N95-3) - North American (NAM) version of the N95 supporting 850/1900 MHz W-CDMA and 3G networks designed to support AT&T mobility, August 29, 2007
- N95 8GB NAM (N95-4) - the 8GB NAM version of the N95-2, January 7, 2008

Release Information

The Nokia N95 was first made available in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in March 2007 for around $700. It is now available for sale in the United States and Canada online from Nokia priced at $779 or at one of Nokia's flagship stores in New York, NY or Chicago, IL for $799 as of March 6th, 2008 (approximate date).

• Nokia N95 on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N95

• Nokia N95 freeware - http://www.symbiansoftware.us/nokia_n95.freeware

• Nokia N95 review by MobileBurn - http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=3283

• Nokia N95 review by CNET - http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/nokia-n95/4505-6452_7-32085029.html

• Nokia N95 manufacturer page - http://www.nseries.com/index.html#l=products,n95

Xbox - 360 - Games - Bionic Commando Rearmed

Bionic Commando Rearmed is a remake of the popular NES action-platformer video game originally released in 1988 by Capcom. Capcom has collaborated with Swedish game developer GRIN to create a re-stylized and next-gen version of the 2-D game to be released for the Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), PS3 (Playstation Network, and PC. No release date has yet been announced, however game trailer footage is now available for download on Xbox Live!

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Enhanced version of hugely popular NES title
•Fantastic next-gen graphics applied to a classic
•Local 2-player coop play
•Gameplay is true to the original game
•Inexpensive. $10 - 15

Cons:

• Xbox Live! version will be lower resolution not to exceed file size limit

More information

Upgrades to the NES version
- Significantly improved graphics, textures and sound
- 2-player co-operative play
- Online play and leaderboards
- Enhanced in-game firepower, weapons, and bionic arm action
- Unlock downloadable content for the upcoming 3-D Bionic Commando

Interesting Tidbits

- Bionic Commando Rearmed is a 2-D platformer prequel to the upcoming 3-D version of Bionic Commando due out later for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Windows.
- The Xbox Live! version will feature lower resolution graphics than the PS3 and PC versions because of the 150 MB download limitation of Live!

Xbox Live! Trailer



Pricing and Availability

Bionic Commando Rearmed with be released in May 2008 and is expected to retail for either $10 or $15 according to the official website. There is a user poll on the website asking what the game should sell for (ie. either $10 or $15). It's no surprise that the majority of voter favor the $10 list price. It will be available for download on Xbox Live!, Playstation Network, and the web for the PC.

http://bioniccommando.com/ - • Bionic Commando Official Site

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/846/846125p1.html - • Bionic Commando Rearmed IGN preview