Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

The folks over at Nintendo/Touch Generations thought it would be a nice gesture to send a birthday gift to President Bush for his impending 60th birthday. The gift: A Nintendo DS Lite and what could possibly be the most appropriate gift ever, a copy of “Brain Age.”

In a recent interview with PSM magazine, Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, was quoted as saying: Generally speaking, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that disc based games are maybe US $59 on the high end to US $39 on the low end… If it becomes a bit higher than US $59, don’t ding me, but, again, I don’t expect it to be US $100.

The folks at GoNintendo are reporting that someone at Sports Illustrated Kids jumped the gun and published the Nintendo Wii’s launch date. The article also accurately reflects the PS3’s launch date of November 17th (which has been officially announced.)

Sonare Technologies is now offering Babble, a sound processing device that allows you to have conversations at your cubicle or other open office, while preventing others from hearing what you’re talking about. The system scrambles your voice and projects the scrambled version over speakers.

Now it’s way too early to know how this Hi-Def DVD format war will play out, but the early reviews are playing out in HD-DVD’s favor. Now clearly, quality and performance don’t mean a win by any means (remember VHS vs.

In case the Xbox 360 and forthcoming PS3 are too sophisticated for your delicate taste, here’s a chance for you to return to the kinder, gentler, pre-Atari 2600 days… For the low, low price of $19.95 (USD), the folks at ThinkGeek are offering a complete electronics kit that allows you to build your own table tennis video game console.

How would you like to project a movie from your cell-phone or carry a screen-free computer that can turn any wall into your monitor. Israel-based Explay (not with Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb) has plans to release a Matchbox-sized projector can create images from 7″ to 35″ in size using lasers.The

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.