Gadget Access

by Donald Melanson, posted May 9th 2008 at 2:08PM Modder extraordinaire Ben Heckendorn could easily be resting on his laurels by now but, thankfully for us, he continues to churn out console mods and accessories like nobody’s business, and his latest creation easily meets the high standard he’s set for himself. Designed for the Games for Health conference, this one continues his line of one-handed controllers, with the pedals in this case replacing the strum and whammy bar from a standard Guitar Hero controller, letting you use a single hand for the chords. As you can see, everything is also obviously done with Ben Heck’s usual fit and finish, and even a bit of clever salvaging, with an Atari Jaguar controller cable used with one of the pedals — Ben just hopes that “doesn’t jinx anything.”

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Filed under: Gaming

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 9th 2008 at 3:03PMEdward Keith Stoddard Jr. really likes his playstation 3. So much, in fact, that if you were to touch his PS3, he may just kill you. Such was the fate of his neighbor, Douglas F. Abrams, who Stoddard believed had taken his console. During an argument over the missing system, police say Stoddard shot Abrams, fatally wounding him. When cops showed up on the scene, Stoddard surrendered and was taken to Land O’Lakes jail (no, really) in Dade County, Florida. It’s okay to love your console, people — just don’t get jealous if it drops by the neighbor’s house for some tea.

[Via PS3Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming

by Darren Murph, posted May 9th 2008 at 1:12PM
So, we hear you’re edging ever closer to pulling the trigger on a shiny new XPS 420, huh? Lucky you, as it looks like Dell just opened up your options. While the only processor choices on the XPS 630 are the E8500 and the absurdly expensive QX6850 (it’s an $850 addition), the XPS 420 now has a half dozen CPUs to pick from. Most notably, users can now get their rig equipped with a Core 2 Quad Q9300 / Q9450, both of which provide much more oomph than the baseline chips while not forcing you to refinance your home and pick the QX9650. So, when can the aforesaid 630 expect similar selections?

[Thanks, Evan]

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Filed under: Desktops

Customers in Florida will now have access to information about traffic incidents, traffic updates and detours as Verizon Wireless has made its VZ Navigator Version 4 service available. The VZ Navigator is a location-based service (LBS) application utilizing GPS technology and real-time information feeds from government traffic monitoring groups.

With VZ Navigator, customers will have access to traffic integration information which updates them of traffic routes based on the analysis of both historical and real-time traffic information. This allows customers to know which traffic routes are affected by traffic lights, heavy traffic situation and activities in school zones. VZ Navigator also gives out information on location of gas stations closest to customers location and even includes gas pricing. So customers can plan in advance whether to stop by the nearest one or skip it and stop by the next station. Of course, like some GPS navigation services, VZ Navigator also provides turn-by-turn directions on how to get to the nearest identified gas station.

Aside from navigation information, VZ Navigator also allows customers to search for local information on local movies and other events in specific locations. This includes information on ratings for movies, concerts, plays, sporting events and other social events. And to provide customers with enhanced navigation, VZ Navigator also displays maps in a 3D view. Customers will find it easy to visualize locations with the 3D maps which are displayed in an angle that simulates how a driver normally sees the direction through a car windshield. Finally, VZ Navigator also provides weather conditions and forecasts based on the location of a customer’s phone without the need to manually input your location.

VZ Navigator is available now for a monthly subscription fee of $9.99, and is available in 75 cities nationwide, in addition to Florida.

Read [Business Wire] Product [Verizon]

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by Ryan Block, posted May 9th 2008 at 1:36PM
Since about 20,000 people — the overwhelming majority of voters in yesterday’s poll — apparently want to see me in pain trying to get in shape with Wii Fit, it looks like it’s time to suck it up and do this thing. Although I’d like to start by disclaiming that I’ve never really worked out with any regularity, I’m not exactly known for my physical coordination, and in school I always came pretty close to flunking PE — so really, I’m kind of Nintendo’s ideal customer.

Methodology

• I’ll be working with Wii Fit out about 20 game-minutes a day, 7 days a week.
• My program will consist of five minutes each of routines and games from the four fitness categories: strength training, aerobics, yoga, and balance games.
• As a control, I won’t be dramatically changing up my eating habits. I’m already a reasonably healthy eater, so any physical changes will be more easily attributable to the Wii Fit regimen.
• I have about a week of travel scheduled this month, so for whatever days I miss on Wii Fit I’ll be extending the trial.
• I’ll chart my changes in weight, BMI, coordination, etc. and thoughts on the experience in a weekly update for the next five weeks.

Current stats
Height: 6-feet
Weight: 174.5 pounds
Frame: small-to-medium
BMI according to Wii Fit: 23.65 (upper cusp of normal)
Wii Fit “Body age”: 36

Wii Fit goal (you have to set a goal for yourself)
Target weight: 169.5 pounds
Target BMI: 22.96
Target date: 6/12

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

This ClickFree product is one of the first of its kind. The best part about it is that you do not have to do anything but plug it in to your computer. This gizmo will start to back up files all on its own. No more time wasted on installing programs that take too much time. This product can store information from five different computers which is great for families and small businesses. This back up hard drive is great for people who do not get along well with computers because there is no mess or fuss to get it to work.

Gimme!

Price: $123.88
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Computers, Gizmo of the Day

If you’ve been monitoring news in another language like I’ve been doing this morning, you might have also noticed that the homepage of Google’s Translation service has undergone a bit of a makeover. And if you mess around with it a little you’ll find a few new features that haven’t even been announced by Google yet.

In addition to the thirteen languages that Google Translate already supports, it now offers translations for eleven new languages, which are Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Swedish. So now you can translate text and web pages in 25 languages, plus there’s a cool new feature that lets you translate something even if you don’t know the language of origin. It’s called Detect Language, and lets you translate text and web pages without asking you for the original language you are trying to translate from. It’s a godsend for people like me who don’t know their Simplified Chinese from the Traditional, and I’m sure a lot of other people are going to like this new feature as well.

On top of that, Google Translate now shows a four part tab on top of the page with links to other features, including Translated Search, Dictionary, and Tools, which all lead to new pages offering equally helpful translating services to Google Translate users. Most of these are still in Beta, but you can try it out for yourself to get a feel of what lies ahead for Google Translate. And you know Google, even when they say something is in Beta, it’s pretty much good to go in itself and just needs some extra furnishing. Just give it a try and see how it goes.

Product [Google Translate]

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If you’re an extremely rich fan who loves collecting movie paraphernalia, then the clue of original Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson will definitely leave you drooling. What will it be this time? Batman’s suit? The Joker’s make up kit? No, it is the actual Batmobile! Blocking up a mere 54 miles on its odometer, this mean looking machine is powered by a 5.7L Chevy engine, although it hasn’t been fired up for five years. Best get a full mechanical report before picking up this $500,000 puppy. Is there anything you can’t find on eBay these days?

Update: Apparently the listing has been taken down. Anyone knows why?

Source: Luxury Launches

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We were pleasantly surprised to learn that you can now get PC Magazine for free. Yup, that’s a full year of PC Mag (normally somewhere around $25/yr) courtesy of Netline Corp. Netline runs Tradepub and if you check out our GfG-branded Tradepub, you’ll find hundreds of other magazines that you can get for free.

What’s the catch? No catch for you, except you do have to fill out a little survey type info up front. The magazines make money because they get advertising, and advertisers are happy because folks (like you) are reading the zines and seeing their ads. Works out. After all, no one charges you to watch the ads you see in places like on TV, prior to movies, billboards, or sides of buses!

Subscribe to a freebie mag.

Posted in Miscellaneous

As you know, Coolest gadgets has several categories for its subject matter. Even though I flagged this article under “DIY Gadgets” and “Gaming Gadgets”, I should have categorized it as “I just couldn’t resist reporting on this”.

I’m sure you can see why from the photo. For young inventor Kyle Downes (not the person in the photo) has actually perfected shrink-ray technology, and has reversed the process to create a giant NES controller.

Just kidding. Mr. Downes may be smart, but he’s not that smart. He has fashioned a cool coffee table that is shaped like an old-school NES controller. I’m sure we would all have to agree that the boy’s got skills.

Not only does the coffee table look like an NES, you can play it like an NES. That’s right, feel free to plug in Super Mario Brothers or Battletoads and have a big-button frenzy.

Downes hasn’t exactly mass-manufactured his creation for consumer purchases, but he has left instructions on his blog if you want to try your hand at building an NES Coffee Table yourself.

Perhaps the next step is creating a coffee table that is shaped like a giant Wiimote. However, if you wanted to use that for your games, then you’re going to have to find another place to set your drinks.

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