Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

I just went through the challenging process of trying to get rid of a bunch of old monitors, computers and parts for my company. Now, the week after I completed this task, Dell has announced that they will be offering free recycling of any Dell-branded product, ensuring that the hazardous materials are properly disposed of and recycled where possible.

Early adopters of Samsung’s Blu-Ray players are reporting that the picture quality on the Samsung BD-P1000 is better through component then through HDMI. It’s bad enough having to pay $1,000, but to have better quality from the analog output than the digital seems like a serious step backwards.

For those of you who still have a stack of 33 vinyl ablums sitting around, but no longer have a turntable, I bring you Vinyl Killer…. Japanese company Razy-Works is selling this pint-sized VW bus that contains a needle, amplifier and speaker.

I guess that Sony and Honda’s Dancing robots weren’t enough proof that designing humanoid robots was a waste of time and money…. Toyota has now developed a Trumpet playing robot. The world is saved!

2K Games and 3D Realms announced today that the long-awaited FPS, Prey, has gone gold for the Xbox 360 on PC. This game has been in various forms of production for many years now, and was looking very good when it was shown at E3.

For those of you who really want to be sucked around their house in a giant Jetsons’ inspired vacuum tube elevator, your dream has come true. The folks at Daytona Elevator have developed a pneumatic tube elevator that works on the same principal as the one in the famous 60’s cartoon.

Take it for what it’s worth, but Best Buy has listed Halo 3 as being released on November 16, 2006 for the Xbox 360. I’ll believe it when I see it. Read More [via Kotaku]

Now I’ve heard everything. In the interest of beefing up the legitimacy of the league, Major League Gaming (MLG) has signed a team of Halo 2 players to a $1 million dollar contract. The 4-player team “Final Boss” only lost one game during their torunament play last year.

Industrial designer Marc Newsome has created the uniquely-styled Signeo SN-A800 MP3 player. It’s just 6.5mm (0.26″) thick and available in three colors: Black, 1970s Blue, or 1970s Yellow. The device also has an onboard FM tuner and can record from FM to MP3.

ThinkGeek is offering this really awesome LED clock. When turned off, looks like a solid block of wood. When turned on, the display illuminates behind a very thin wood veneer. Dimensions are 7″(w) X 4″(h) X 3.5″(d) and it retails for $149.99.

The Sharp ASV Premium LCD display panel has a size of 37 inch, 1920×1080 pixel resolution and a brightness of 500cd/m2. The highest contrast ratio reported prior to this was 100,000:1 reached by a SED TV developed by Canon and Toshiba.

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the spiky fella, Sega has announced the release of four Sonic the Hedgehog titles this year: Sonic The Hedgehog Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 (Late ’06) A New Sonic Adventure (title TBD) Nintendo Wii (Early ’07) Sonic Rivals Sony PSP (Fall ’06) Special Edition of Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis Gameboy Advance (Nov ’06) According to Sega: “Fans will be treated throughout the year to special 15th anniversary events, culminating with the release of three original Sonic adventures shipping later this year, as well as the original Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis for the Game Boy Advance.

Microsoft’s annual European Xbox event (X06) was announced today, and will take place from September 27th to 28th in Barcelona, Spain (Microsoft, I’ll be happy to come and report from there if you invite me!) It’s pretty common for significant announcements to come out of these events as it’s the last major event prior to the busy holiday season.

Ambient Devices, known for their unique radio-data information tools, such as the Ambient Dashboard, have announced the upcoming release of their new Ambient Umbrella. The LED lighted handle of the umbrella pulses at different frequencies to indicate the forecast weather conditions in your area (based on real-time data from AccuWeather.com).

Toshiba just announced the first combination HD DVD burner/hard disk recorder. The recorder has a massive 1-terabyte drive, allowing for up to 130 hours of high-definition recording, with the ability to archive up to 230 minutes of high def content to a single HD DVD disc.

Samsung has unveiled three new phones, the X820 (6.9mm thick), the D830 (9.9mm thick) and the D900 (12.9mm thick). The X820 is a one-piece design, while the D830 is a clamshell, and the D900 is a slider.