Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Sorry Mario, but your Wii Wheel just got lapped, backed over and left in the dust. Heck, even the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel looks toyish propped up next to this. Then again, neither of the previously mentioned accessories will put a $349.99 hole in your bank account, but did you really anticipate anything else from an officially licensed Porsche product? According to Fanatec, it took the firm seven years to acquire the license, and it required that the wheel be “the best out there.” We can’t judge the quality from here, but we have the ability to tell you it supports wireless USB technology and boasts a trio of force feedback motors, a 6+1 speed H-pattern gear shifter, cordless pedals, an automotive grade leather covering, a key-shaped 1GB flash drive for storing settings and compatibility with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Personal computers of (almost) all ages. Look at it this way: it’s still probably cheaper than two tanks of premium.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, HD DVD

There’s simply no question that the beauty of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (above) can only truly be appreciated after a winding drive down from Kailua Kona (or Hilo, for those who love the rain), but for folks without weeks on end to spare waiting to see lava flow from some of those majestic creations, a forthcoming film should give you the next best look. Volcanographer Mick Kalber has assembled an hour-long movie entitled Kilauea’s Flow to Waikupanaha, and while we’d generally brush something like this off, a recent writeup about it most definitely caught our eye. We thought we had already seen HD DVD’s last hurrah back in March, but if KHNL-8 is to be believed, the forthcoming flick will be available on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Granted, there’s no release date mentioned, but given that red has been decomposing for months now, we’re tempted to believe someone was simply misinformed.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed under: Tesla Motors, European Union

We know that the Tesla Roadster is headed to Europe. Part of getting ready for the European market means doing a little bit of promotion, and so Tesla Motors presented the Roadster at the Top Marques Monaco event this past weekend. Tesla’s vice president of sales, marketing, and service, Darryl Siry, has posted a few pictures of the event, including one of Mr. U2 himself - Bono - having a seat in the show car. Siry says that he’ll be posting a more detailed description of how some of Tesla’s first European customers and “potential future customers” reacted to seeing the car in the metal, but for now he just wanted to share the pics. I wonder how Monaco’s hydrogen-loving Prince Albert II feels about all of this.

[Source: Tesla]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Laptops

One of the most surprising things about the launch of an ultra-portable laptop dubbed “Air” by Apple wasn’t its thinness but the lack of an embedded WWAN radio. No more, at least if you’re not intimidated by smoldering solder and warranty violations. Jordan Bunnell has posted a step-by-step of his success at integrating a Verizon USB727 Aircard into the MacBook Air chassis thanks to the MBA’s previously unused USB controllers discovered on the system board. While the EVDO signal (and speed) has appreciably degraded from its externally attached origins, Jordan is still pulling 1,400 to 1,700kbps downloads and 380kbps uploads — something which might be improved with antenna tweaks. Regardless, those speeds are significantly faster than the 0kbps stock MBA owners experience.

[Thanks, Tom]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Attention wet people: Sealife has released the DC800 Underwater Digital Camera. This modular unit — it drops into a waterproof case or will operate as an out-of-water point-and-shoot — includes an 8-megapixel camera with 2.7-inch display, wide-angle lens, SD/SDHC card support, and 4x optical zoom. So what makes this camera diver-friendly? Its menus and modes are designed for sub-surface snappers with five underwater modes to deal with the various water bodies’ muck, grime, and color. The DC800 will function at 200 feet, weighs about 17 ounces and will set you back $549. Sure, you could get another point-and-shoot and waterproof case, but prepare to suffer the ridicule of your diver friends.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Robots

We’ve seen a couple armed defense bots make the scene now — the US military even has a couple deployed in Iraq — but the promo video for the $600,000 Guardium bots recently commissioned by Israel isn’t exactly a fearsome demonstration of next-gen force. Not only do the rendered old-school CRT displays offer warnings like INTRUDER NONCOMPLIANT, all the bot seems to be able to do is sneeze out of a cloud of white smoke. Terrifying. Maybe these things play better at defense contractor conventions, but something tells us that an actual angry dog might be a little more effective. Check the whole video below.

[Via Danger Room]

Continue reading Israel’s Guardium warbots probably not as lame as their promo video

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Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Windows Mobile, E-TEN

It wasn’t too long ago that Acer was finalizing paperwork to acquire E-Ten, and now that it’s moving on, we’re hearing that the company should be launching its very first (aw, how cute) smartphone in around eight to ten months. According to the firm’s president, it’s aiming to introduce the handset “near the end of this year or early next year,” and it will indeed “be Microsoft-based.” Gianfranco Lanci also suggested that smartphones could represent up to 10-percent of the company’s revenue within the next few years. Notably, the outfit is apparently planning to move its phones via mobile network operators, and while it typically takes six to nine months to sweet speak a carrier into marketing a new smartphone, it hopes to use its “existing relationships with telecommunications companies to speed up such sales.” Sadly, we’re not given any clues about what carriers it’s aiming for, but it won’t be too awfully long before we’re sure to find out.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Transportation

We already know that Toyota has an eye to the future with the Prius, likely switching up the batteries and adding a plug-in option, but now we’ve got a little more news on what shape the next generation fuel-saver will take. According to Auto Observer, the new model (said to be showing up at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show) will sport a larger, 1.8 liter engine, a ten percent increase in fuel efficiency, and will undergo a fairly noticible redesign (though we doubt it will end up looking like the concept car above). Pundits say the new Prius will be larger, may be available in a wagon version, and there are suspicions that Toyota will grow the brand and include a compact version of the hybrid as well. One thing’s for sure: with an increase in production of 60 percent for the next iteration, the eco-friendly car is sticking around.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

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Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Gaming

It doesn’t look like Activision and Harmonix are ever going to make nice and implement broad hardware compatibility for Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers, but if you’ve got a sizable investment in PS2 gear, The Ant Commandos’ new converter might let you ignore all the nastiness and keep rockin’ anyway. TAC’s Universal PS2-to-PS3 Converter is compatible with PS3 Rock Band and PS2 / PS3 GHIII, and it works with basically each PS2 axe you can think of, wired and wireless. Not bad for just $20, but c’mon, guys, let’s just make this stuff work for real, alright?

Popularity: 2% [?]