Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Back in the day, LCD monitors were known for their flicker and image tearing issues as a result of abysmally slow response times. Decent quality gaming and television was a rarity on LCD screens. Well how times have changed… Hyundai has now shown off their new S90D 19-inch LCD TFT monitor which claims an astounding 1 millisecond seponse time.

Imation has developed these convenient USB flash drives which are integrated into a rubber wristband (think Lance Armstrong’s “Livestrong” bracelets). The memory bracelets are available in sizes from 32mb all the way up to 1gb of storage and 8 colors.

Ever wanted to annihilate your annoying office-mates? Tired of your boss giving you crap? Well you can now put an end to all that with the $54.99 USB-controlled desktop missile launcher. The rocket launcher fires soft foam missiles from a software-controlled platform that can rotate and tilt to aim at your target up to eight feet away.

After early assumptions that the 30GB Zune media player would run $299, it’s been reported that Microsoft’s “iPod killer” will actually launch at the surprisingly low price of $229.99. This surprise announcement certainly shakes things up, what with both the iPod 30GB and Creative Zen:M 30GB both just reduced to $249.

At this year’s CEDIA and IFA shows, Yamaha showed off updates to their single-box surround sound line known as “digital sound projectors.” The top-of-the-line YSP-1100 features 40 high/mid-range speakers and 2 woofers, along with 42 discrete amplifiers to position sound using beam-focusing technologies.

At just under $200, the iLuv i180WHT Video System allows you to record VGA quality (640×480) video directly into your iPod. Simply feed in your camcorder or other video source via Composite or S-Video and RCA inputs for audio.

In another blow to Sony’s floundering Blu-Ray format, Universal Pictures has announced that it will be dropping support for the disc format. For the forseaable future, the will solely release high definition discs in HD-DVD format.

Kotaku has revealed information from a reliable source that Microsoft will announce a November 22nd launch for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive accessory in Japan. Pricing is expected to be a Blu-Ray killing 19800 yen (appx.

Hot on the heels of Apple’s recent announcement to drop the price of it’s latest (5.5 generation) iPod 30gb model to $249, Creative Labs has just dropped the price on their Zen Vision:M 30gb model to $249 as well.

Need to slim down, but don’t have the time or patience for diet and exercise? Hewlett-Packard’s latest digital camera technology can help! HP’s new digital slimming technique cuts unwanted pounds in seconds using the old funhouse skinny mirror technique on your digital camera.

For those out there who’d prefer their home theater sound system heard and not seen, Audiovox’s AR Home Decor speaker enclosures might be just the ticket. The Home Decor collection provides a number of disguises for the Acoustic Research HD510 series of speakers.

After earlier rumors that Sony’s Playstation 3 might not have any 1080p gaming titles, it’s been confirmed that at least two upcoming titles will support the holy grail of high definition resolutions, with a full non-interlaced 1920×1080 picture.

TRITTON Technologies has just introduced their new AX360 headphones with Dolby 5.1 surround capability. The headphones have 4 speakers in each earmuff to create true surround sound, with certified Dolby Digital and Pro Logic playback. An external audio controller box contains the electronics for sound processing, and has ports for coax and fiber optic digital inputs.

The teensy classic Minox Leica M3 was first converted into a digital camera back in 2002 at a measly 1.3 megapixel resolution. Minox has just upgraded the camera to a much more admirable 5 megapixel resolution.

Samsung has unveiled this super-slick Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) portable television featuring a 4-inch widescreen LCD TFT display. The DMB-T450 will also feature built in MP3 playback, virtual surround sound, and USB connectivity (oddly it’s USB 1.1, though).

Throw out that old duct tape wallet! It’s time for the latest wallet for the