Infrared Micro Tanks You can have this for ?49.95 Tags: sat-nav, plasma, dap, gear (Read the full post about ‘Infrared Micro Tanks’…)

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 9:25AM So Pioneer’s cramming a 5.8-inch 800 x 480 screen into this AVIC-F500BT “portable” navigation device, and just got themselves some FCC approval for shipping it over to the States. In addition to that gargantuan screen, the F500 really excels at connectivity, with Bluetooth for hands-free calling, an optional traffic antenna, and some ND-BC2 add-on to hook the unit up to a rear view camera. You can also use it to control your ipod, but there’s an SD card slot if you want to handle those tunes with the F500. No word on price or availability, but this unit sells as the NavGate 500 over in Europe for a whopping 699 Euro — about $1100 US. (Read the full post about ‘Pioneer’s AVIC-F500BT GPS monstrosity slips through the FCC’…)

Guess folks in the UK will be able to receive an Intel Atom-powered Eee PC by the end of this June, if word from TechRadar is correct. In fact, Asus’ representative dropped a very strong hint that this new Atom release will occur right after Computex, and with the use of the Atom processor one ought to (in theory, at least) see a significant power saving which translates into superior battery life. News like this makes it all the harder for folks who want to purchase an Eee PC now, as they know that across the horizon lies something better, if only they wait for a few more months. (Read the full post about ‘Atom-powered Eee PC to Hit UK’…)

Yeterday, AMD reported that in the first quarter of 2008 they had $1.505 billion, with a net loss of $358 million or $0.59 per share. AMD’s operating loss was $264 million. Revenue was down 15% over last quarter, and up 22% from first quarter last year. AMD reported income of $1.77 billion last quarter, with a net loss of $1.772 billion. In first quarter 2007 AMD reported revenue of $1.233 billion with a net loss of $611 million.

How a company like AMD can continue to stay in business with continued losses like this is beyond me. I think it explains why many executives are jumping ship.

(Read the full post about ‘AMD reports Q1 results, more big losses’…)

LapWorks has decided that its Futura versatile laptop cooler will look much better if it comes in a plethora of colors, and have promptly gone about by announcing the Painted Futura. Apparently this idea came about after LapWorks issued a clarion call for new colors a few months’ back, letting users vote their favorites to enter production. Guess this is where democracy on the Web comes in, although what the majority wants might not necessarily be what you like. Strangely enough, Painted Futuras aren’t painted at all actually, but printed using industrial grade ink that hardens when exposed to UV light. All Painted Futuras are custom made per order, and you can always return it for a full refund within 14 days if you aren’t too happy with it. (Read the full post about ‘LapWorks Painted Futuras’…)

So you’ve been spending far too many late nights at the office than you should - and hence the number of pizza boxes that have piled up in the pantry, complete with crumbs all over your workspace. The Turbo USB Mini Vacuum makes short work of those crumbs even in the dark, as a bright LED light will illuminate the place meant to be cleaned. It retails for $12 a pop. Be careful who you give this to - you might just offend the recipient as he/she thinks of the “hidden” message behind this gift, if any. Tags: robots, electronic toys, video, tests (Read the full post about ‘Turbo USB Mini Vacuum’…)

Good news for 360 owners, bad news for PS3 owners. The original Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur is being ported by Namco Bandai to Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA).

The game is going to contain everything the original had including Arcade, Training and Survival modes. All the characters will be there as well as a new leaderboards system, but unfortunately, Namco hasn’t seen fit to include online multiplayer, which is surely a missed opportunity?

The other good news is it will all be presented in glorious HD, adding an extra sheen to one of the bext 3D fighting games out there and certainly one of the top Dreamcast titles.

Although no playstation Network version has been mentioned we may still see it in the future.

(Read the full post about ‘Microsoft gets an exclusive – Soul Calibur on XBLA’…)

Looks like Toshiba is upgrading their Qosimo and Dynabook laptops. So the Qosimo F40 now comes with a DVD multi option and features a Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU atop a GN965 Express chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and HDMI outs for €1352. Next on the list is the Dynabook AX (€922) now comes in a pink, white, or black casing, along with a Celeron 550 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, HDMI outs, and a Super Multi optical drive. The model has now been bumped to a Core 2 Duo T8100, plus 2GB of RAM, 200GB hard drive, and HDMI / Super Multi drive outputs for €1100. Last but not least is the 13.3-inch CX line features the same CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and everything else the other models have for only €1230. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba Updates Qosimo and Dynabook Models’…)

This video shows some of the video games from 1972 to 2007. Which games did you play? Which were your favorite? I LOVE that they included Adventure on the list. It was my favorite game on the Atari and I can still navigate those mazes, even the blind ones, by touch only. I am surprised that they didn’t include some of the handheld games that were popular in the early years like this football game from Mattel. I played this thing so much that the letters and arrows wore off. I remember handing it to my friend to play and she had never played it before and couldn’t figure it out because all the arrows were gone. This guy and Merlin were my video games that I could take with me. (Read the full post about ‘History of Video Games 1972-2007′…)

eMachines has rolled out a couple of new desktop PCs that aim to deliver the best bang for your buck, running on AMD processors as well as NVIDIA graphics. The $299.99 eMachines T3646 is an entry level computer that gets the most basic computing tasks done, while the $399.99 eMachines T5254 is tailored to handle multimedia applications as well. The former is powered by an AMD Sempron LE-1250 processor and features 1GB DDRW RAM, and a 160GB SATA II hard drive. As for the eMachines T5254, you get a beefier AMD Athlon Dual-Core processor, 2GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. Both of them will have a NVIDIA GeForce integrated graphics solution, a SuperMulti drive for you to burn all your downloaded torrents and a 15-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader. (Read the full post about ‘eMachines have new…er, Machines’…)