Watch ads, get a subsidized phone bill

While Google has been making a big push to release a ad-supported mobile phone, so far it hasn't happened, and now appears that some other companies are getting their own programs launched to market quicker.

In Australia, a company called ComTel is now introducing a cellphone package that is fairly cheap -- because it is subsidized by advertising. Anyone interested in signing up will have to fill out a survey (which classifies potential products that they might be interested in buying) and then, over the course of their plan, "a combination of SMS and MMS ads" and email are sent to the consumer's personal email address (or possibly, a spam collecting fake email account setup for this purpose.)

One example of the difference (cited by the The Sydney Morning Herald) in the price of the plans is that where a non-ad phone plan might be $29 a month, the ad-supported plan would be $10.

ComTel expects that this option will be mostly appreciated by teens, who generally have less spare cash than adults, but like chatting on the phone just as much as anyone else.

This type of plan isn't a first -- last year, a British company called Blyk offered a similar program, and claimed that over a 100,000 people signed up.

Texting and Web browsing just got easier

The Wireless Keypad, as they're calling it on the official PlayStation.Blog, is a shiny new toy for gamers who have too many friends and like to browse the internet with their PlayStation 3.

According to the blog, the Wireless Keypad will have many features, including a mode that turns the main key area into a touch pad.  Like a laptop computer, you simply slide your finger over it to control the cursor, tapping to enter (or "click" as with a mouse), and two shortcut buttons on the Keypad will "enable users to jump directly to the XMB’s 'Friends' icon and the 'Message Box' during gameplay."

The Keypad snaps on top of the SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller like so:

By comparison, the Xbox 360 keypad is attached to the bottom of its controller:

The PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad also acts as a Bluetooth device, meaning it can connect to any Bluetooth enabled device with Keyboard functionality, such as a smart phone.  To charge the Wireless Keypad, users just plug it into the console's with a USB cable.

It is currently scheduled to launch in late November.

High performance mouse brings higher DPI and custom settings

The gaming mouse market is a flexible one, if someone debuts with a mouse that isn't 4000dpi using laser technology and producing a 1000Hz polling rate then it probably offers something else worth mentioning otherwise it'll never make it shelves and find itself fighting around in a tiny niche area.

The Avatar is the latest venture by the company packing an ambidextrous design for players of either hand which is a nice perk these days, the read on the mouse is 2600dpi at peak using optical reading via LED and pulls in 5.8 megapixels a second for the processing speed. Not a bad show at all from the company. I think the overall look of it from the shots seems to prove it to be a decent entry into the market, 7 programmable keys can help quite a bit in gaming but one only knows how well all 7 of those work in practice as our prior reviews have shown that some buttons are a bit pointless or end up in the way in practice.

The company talks about the usual features which are always nice, adjustable DPI rates, programmable buttons for more control including some Macro settings which can be attributed to individual profiles for the mouse. with the Avatar coming in around $59.99 it's not that bad of a deal for someone that feels maybe the 3200, 4000dpi rates might be just a tad bit overkill for them and would prefer the ergonomics they can feel out of the Avatar over all else.

For me the Avatar doesn't look that bad as an entry, the base itself is a bit of an attention grabber as it extends out just a bit where the current G9 I have drops off the face of the earth quite abruptly on either hand grip.

The Fender Stratocaster of PS2/PS3 controllers

Know a Guitar Hero freak, or a Rock Band guru? Or do you yourself dream (or have nightmares) of nailing that solo in Free Bird, on expert? You might be interested in this new faux-guitar controller coming from gaming peripheral company Peak Products.

The 'Starpex' is a fairly big step up from the standard plastic guitars that most of us are familiar with. The Starpex is as large as a regular guitar, and the body, neck and headstock are made out of actual, straight-from-a-tree, sections of wood. The Starpex is compatible with PS2/PS3 versions of Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

In addition to the look of the thing, there are a couple of new features introduced with the Starpex. There is a "Speed Star Power / Overdrive Button" that allows players to get quickly get their Star Power / Overdrive game on.

Will the Starpex improve your Guitar Hero scores? Maybe. Will you look and feel much cooler playing Guitar Hero with the Starpex? Probably.

It'll be selling for $180 at Circuit City in late August. You can check out some more details over here. 

Japan only for now

Japanese gamers, or those willing to import can soon consider an alternate solution to charging their Wiimote(s): Sanyo's Contactless Charger Set for Wii Remote Control.

For the product, a custom battery back based on the company's eneloop technology (a low self-discharge NiMH battery which charges on contact) was developed. Here, an electromagnetic induction system is used for charging the batteries, even through the silicon jackets some use.

Charging once (just under four hours) gets you about six hours, and up to four remotes can be subsequently charged. Nintendo says retainment of the charge is much longer than that of the average NiMH battery, meaning more juice in the long run; about 90 percent of its charge is preserved after six months, 85 after a year, and 70 after two years.

However, there are a few hang-ups that might warrant the Nyko Wii Charge Station (three times cheaper for two controllers, two-thirds for four) a smarter purchase, licensed or not. Firstly, the recharge times are pretty long, and remotes can not all be charged at once (meaning charging overnight is your only sane option, really). Second, it's unclear whether or not the station could accomodate the Wiimote once the WiiMotion Plus is connected. The final issue is its region-specific availability; as stated previously, it's only set for Japan at the moment, though you'll be able to purchase it from GeekStuff4U.com exclusively starting August 25.

Will Nintendo bring this over to retail outlets in North America and Europe? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, the question is, should they?

Agreement secured

SplitFish AG, the "world's premiere designer of PlayStation 3 first-person-shooter (FPS) console controllers" announced today a deal with Living Picture AG which will effectively see the devices (pictures at bottom) distributed worldwide. Living Picture, then, will provide the required financial and other sales resources in order to increase production capacity.

Called the "FragFX", the controller currently has a backlog of orders in Europe and North America.

"The rapid growth of SPLITFISH has made it necessary to increase our management personel and build on our sales infrastructure," says SPLITFISH CEO, Francisco Shipperheijn. "LIVING PICTURE is a perfect fit to bridge this gap and SPLITFISH will benefit from LP's experience in distribution channels, logistics and methods of stringent quality control."

This doesn't seem to be old piece of junk either - according to the press release anyway, it's received rave reviews from media and consumers alike.

The FragFX is a patent- pending two-piece combination motion stick and mouse, that provides gamers with pinpoint accuracy and unmatched control in action games, The FragFX controller received one of the highest review scores (9.1) to date from IGN Gear who called the FragFX "the best controller we have tested on the PS3". SplitFish game team members later substantiated the FragFX superior performance abilities by gaining the #1 spot in the global leaderboards of the popular Playstation 3 game "Call of Duty 4".

Doesn't say when it'll be released, but presumably as soon as they can get shipping.

Rising, rising..

Video game accessories for May were up more than 30% over the same time last year, according to NDP research. 2007 brought sales to a still fairly impressive $621 million, but with the statistics so far this year, if we extrapolate, sales look to be increasing to about $807 million. Not too shabby.

So naturally, peripheral developers have even more incentive now to keep in on the action:

“For gamers, accessories are the bells and whistles that enhance the fun and quality of playing video games,” stated Tom LaVoie, President of Red Lion Interactive, the nation’s 'leading wholesaler of video game accessories'. “And for retailers and distributors the margins, especially from third party manufacturers, are higher than most other product segments.”

“Accessories generate significant revenues for retailers and provide consumers with substantial benefits as well. Video game peripherals play a powerful role in the $18 billion dollar game industry and can benefit everyone throughout the supply chain.”

Let's just hope it's more useful stuff than garbage, eh?

Penguin unlimited shows off their new DS game protective pouch

You ever get tired of trying to take a whole bunch of DS games with you when you go on a trip and you tend to drop and lose them? Penguin Unlimited decided to have their go at coming up with a simple solution: a game pouch. Running at $14.99 USD and coming in multiple colors, this carrying case could prove handy for a gamer on the go.

With a setup similar to books of trading cards, there are four sleeves to insert DS game cards into, with six slots on each of sleeve. There is also a zipper to seal the pouch when you aren't using it, just so nothing falls out. That could also be used for the hard-core gamers that have more than 24 DS game cards to put in. Richard Huang, Penguin Unlimited's President had this to say about the case:

The 24X DS Game Card Collection Pouch is all about security and convenience. Now even the most active gamer can take DS games anywhere without having to worry about the games being damaged or destroyed.

The official site does mention that the case isn't made of real leather, so no animals were harmed. Plus, on the back of the package, a few funny "DO's and DON'T's" were mentioned, such as do not eat (showing a picture of a guy eating the case), do not burn (showing the case on fire), and do not step on (displaying a foot, hovering above the package on the ground).

Compatible with thousands of games

I think the goal of company GoLive2, the company behind the Wiimote-esque device Stix, is to make you as happy as the guy in the picture above is. Can a controller really procure such unbridled ecstacy? Only time will tell, when Stix is released this August.

Just to clarify, Stix are a "new line of wireless, motion-sensing gaming controllers for the PC and Internet." The controllers are said to support thousands of free Web-based games and Games for Windows titles. 

"Stix will completely change the way people experience online and PC gaming," said Brian Zheng, President, Plahut. "At purchase, Stix will be compatible with thousands of free online and retail games, and we're adding more games to that list daily. The fun is endless with Stix, and the wide-range of free, supported games makes this product perfect for every member of the family."

There will be two models at launch, the Stix 200 and the 400. The former is compatible with 2D games, the latter, 3D and 2D.

And if you're wondering what the heck 'Sphere' refers to in the photo, it's an online game portal being launched to coincide with the controllers that provides hundreds of free games to use them with.

What do you think, a cheap 'me too' peripheral, or something borrowed that will genuinely benefit PC gaming and redefine its future? I know how PC gamers protect their keyboard and mouse like the family jewels, so I'm thinking this is a tough sell for the older crowd.

A possible attachment to keep skaters from moving off the board might be on the way

Apparently, EA has been thinking about a solution to a problem that frequently occurs with the Wii Balance Board. To keep players from moving their feet off the correct position, a frame type attachment to give the Wii Balance Board a make-over might be shipped with the game. It is supposed to give the balance board more of a skateboard look and feel.

A common problem gamers have with peripherals that you stand on is moving their feet out of the correct position. They will glance at their feet to know how to make the proper adjustments to get set again, but while they are doing this they look away from the screen, which can be a problem. I've personally experienced this problem in games such as Dance Dance Revolution, and believe me, it isn't fun knowing you the amount of points you needed to win you could have acquired from the possible points that flew by when you were looking away.

Though not much is known about the specifics of what it will look like, it will hopefully be able to keep the feet positioned correctly without the player feeling uncomfortable at all.

A possible attachment to keep skaters from moving off the board might be on the way

Apparently, EA has been thinking about a solution to a problem that frequently occurs with the Wii Balance Board. To keep players from moving their feet off the correct position, a frame type attachment to give the Wii Balance Board a make-over might be shipped with the game. It is supposed to give the balance board more of a skateboard look and feel.

A common problem gamers have with peripherals that you stand on is moving their feet out of the correct position. They will glance at their feet to know how to make the proper adjustments to get set again, but while they are doing this they look away from the screen, which can be a problem. I've personally experienced this problem in games such as Dance Dance Revolution, and believe me, it isn't fun knowing you the amount of points you needed to win you could have acquired from the possible points that flew by when you were looking away.

Though not much is known about the specifics of what it will look like, it will hopefully be able to keep the feet positioned correctly without the player feeling uncomfortable at all.

Ripping off the Wiimote, with the Sixaxis, wasn't enough for them?

When the PlayStation 3 first came out, people complained about two things. The first was that the "Sixaxis" controller was lacking Dualshock, therefore no rumble, and the second was that the Sixaxis controller ripped off the Nintendo Wii's "wiimote" in the way that it was motion sensitive.

However they released a Dualshock 3 recently, so at least that problem was fixed. Now Sony is working on another controller for the PS3, with the ability to "break apart" into two separate units. Each part will contain an accelerometer for motion-sensitive functions. The Wiimote, along with the Nunchuk, also makes up two controllers. They don't combine together though, so Sony are showing some originality there.

Sony are hoping to rope in audiences like the Nintendo Wii did, with games that are more family friendly. With the release of High Definition Blu-Ray games, the release of Home later this year and the steady improvement of the Playstation Network, Sony Computer Entertainment are hoping to hold the "best all-round home entertainment unit on the market."

The Sixaxis that was originally released with the PS3 had very limited motion-sensitivity and Sony is hoping to improve upon it.

No images have been released of this creation as of yet, let's just hope that we won't get a black Wiimote with the Playstation symbols on it.

Nintendo VS. Nyko Technologies Inc.

Nintendo co. have now sued Nyko Technologies Inc over a knock-off of the Wii Console's "Nunchuk."

This is the first time Kyoto Nintendo has sued over a Wii accessory. Nyko sells a wireless Kama Nunchuk, which works with the Nintendo Wii system, and Nintendo claims that this copies its patented designs and infringes its trademarks for the Nunchuk name and packaging.

"The Nyko product wholly appropriates the novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the color and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller,'' Nintendo said in the federal court complaint, filed June 10 in Seattle.

The Nunchuk is used as an analog stick to control your character within a game, and can also be shaken, for games like Boxing.

"We have not knowingly violated anyone's intellectual property and we're still examining this,'' Nyko spokesman C.C. Swiney said today in a telephone interview.

Nyko also makes other accessories for the Wii, including charging stations and carrying cases. All of these accessories can be bought from a GameSpot store.

"While Nintendo supports the creation of innovative games and products used with our game systems, we cannot allow third parties to infringe our intellectual property rights,'' Denise Kaigler, a vice president with Nintendo of America, said in a statement.

Nintendo, has U.S. offices in Redmond, Washington, and they accuse Nyko of infringing both its design patents and trademarks. Nintendo is seeking a court order that would force Nyko to stop selling the wireless controller, along with cash compensation.

The case is Nintendo of America Inc. v. Nyko Technologies Inc., U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington.

From now until June 20th

Don't try to tell me games are evil, man! Online Chinese retailer RenChi is sure doing a lot of good, helping out with the victims of that earthquake in China you've probably heard about on commercial news networks (at five million affected, it's no small deal, but I'll leave that to those networks to provide you with the details, if you're so inclined).

The company pledges to donate 10% of its profits from now until June 20th to the Hong Kong World Vision Sichuan Earthquake Relief (this is carried out by World Vision, of course). There are a ton of purchase options as well, so don't think it's credit card exclusive or something.

The site says they chose WV because "they have pledged to allocate 100% of donations for the relief work." As is my understanding, they've always been one of the best charities out there, giving away one of the highest percentages of their donations to the actual causes.

"Act now. Get something for your loved one and help these children and families at the same time.

Every order helps. Your order counts! Shop on renchi.com now!

You can also help by spreading this news, posting this link on other boards or on your facebook or myspace profile.  thank you for your help in advance!"

It's nice to see when commerce bolsters actually really positive effects, so props to RenChi for caring. They seem like a really good company too; the site reads: "we are professional and serious about keeping customers happy." How nice.

nYko is ready to ship its charging station for Xbox360 controllers!

nYko really seems to know what accessories and peripherals gamers want. Just recently they released an Energy Pak for the Wii's Balance Board to prevent gamers from having to replace batteries over and over. This time, it is something similar, yet still excellent. Xbox 360 controllers will eventually have their batteries run out of juice, or you'll have to use a USB charger in order to have your wireless controller up and running again. A charge base will not only recharge the controllers for you, but it also looks pretty cool having the controller docked onto it, almost like a display.

Microsoft has already created an Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit for basically the same purpose. But, with that charging station you must take the battery pack off the controller, and then slide it into the slot, and once fully charged, take it out and slide it back into the controller. With this new charge base from nYko, you won't have to mess with taking the battery pack off the back of the controller and putting it back on later.

The charge base itself is shaped so you can slide two controllers into their snug little slots. What is being recharged? There are two NiMH rechargeable batteries that will provide up to 25 hours of play time each when they are fully charged. An LED light on the front lets you know the charges status also, which should prevent having the charging not take place by showing the user if they slid the controller in the slot far enough. It plugs into a standard outlet, so you won't have to look around the house for a USB port to charge them. As an added bonus, the colors of the charge base match that of the controllers and Xbox360 console. It is expected to start at $34.99 USD.

"Nyko has identified a need among Xbox 360 owners looking for a more convenient way to store and charge their controllers, said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "The Charge Base 360 eliminates the use of wasteful and expensive disposable batteries and keeps your controllers charged while you store them, so that they are ready to go for an extended gaming session every time you pick them up."

nYko pops out a new rechargeable energy pak for the Wii Balance Board.

The Wii Balance Board that comes bundled with Wii Fit runs on batteries, like pretty much all wireless peripherals. nYko has produced rechargeable docking stations for wireless controllers on the Wii already. So why not go ahead and be the first to come out with a rechargeable energy pak for the Wii Balance Board?

"Nyko has led the way for innovative and convenient charging solutions across all current-generation platforms”, said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. “It is a natural direction for Nyko to offer a rechargeable battery solution for the Wii Balance Board in a fashion that allows the user to recharge and play simultaneously.

The energy pak looks pretty simple: a small, square-ish adaptor with an AC port that can easily be removed and re-inserted without hassle.

With the energy pak, you won't have to be interrupted during gameplay to replace the batteries, which is quite a nuisance in the modern world of gaming. The energy pak has up to twenty hours of play time when it is fully charged. Plus, you can have it charging while playing so you can play for an eternity if you would like. It is placed on the bottom of the board, and you can easily detach the plug without having to turn the board over. The energy pak will start at $19.99 USD.

Is Intel trying to gain an unfair advantage?

Sometimes history seems to repeat itself. Charlie at the Inq has posted an article about the funny business surrounding the USB 3.0 standard - and how it may adversely impact companies other than Intel.

Back in the mists of time, USB 1.0 adoption was stunted by the war between the OHCI and UHCI camps that arose and developed its own specification when Intel did not make its specification for USB 1.0 publically available. This mess was resolved when the USB 1.1 standard was ratified - and this time it was vendor neutral.

Fast forward to 2008, and history seems to be repeating itself.

Intel has been the driving force behind USB 3.0 - peripheral manufacturers can get the specifications now, however processor and chipset manufacturers will have apparently have to wait for six months before they can get them, giving Intel a six month head start making chipsets and motherboards. In this day and age, a six month lead is priceless.

Argh.

Like Charlie, I wish Intel would stop these games - otherwise we will have a USB 3.1 in a year or so. Bletch.

Mysterious announcement gets clarity, first entry level mouse comes to market.

Razer has been behind a lot of moves in the gaming industry, coming at gamers with a 4000DPI laser mouse, pursuing IR tech for new avenues of accuracy and response. Now they're taking all these developments and bringing them down to the entry level gamers, the Razer Salmosa comes in at the level of the G3 / MX518 in the $39.99 mark and carries many of the technology traits found in presently successful Razer products.

Here's a brief rundown.

• 1800dpi Razer Precision 3G infrared sensor
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
• Mechanical dpi / polling rate switches
• On-The-Fly Sensitivity adjustment
• Always-On mode
• Ultra-large non-slip buttons
• 16-bit ultra-wide data path
• 60-120 inches per second
• Three independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons
• Ambidextrous design
• Scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions
• Zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet
• Seven-foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord

The mouse will be coming to the marketplace around Q3 of 2008. Given the features available it's safe to say that this mouse in many ways works along the same lines as the Deathadder, the key difference of course is the removal of the side click buttons and the non-ergonomic design for righties. Personally I think it looks pretty nice but given my experience from everything else I think I would have appreciated them including the extra side buttons on each side as it helped me work with the G3 a bit more.

Those looking for a budget mouse with modern tech should keep an eye out for the Salmosa, it should be an interesting release when it hits in Q3, hopefully we'll see it on our bench to pit it against their other 1800DPI IR mouse the Deathadder.

Lock up your files with the tamper-resistant IronKey.

Secret plans for world domination can be a burden: not only do they take a long while to draft up and revise, but they also are a hassle to keep from prying eyes.

But if you need to keep your secrets secret, this new storage method may be for you: its called the IronKey, and it brings a new level of security to thumb drives. Currently seeing active duty in Afghanistan and possibly elsewhere, the IronKey almost looks like your everyday metal-encased USB thumb drive, but there is much more than meets the eye.

For starters, the IronKey has a hardware encryption chip. Passwords are locked up safe in a hardware based password manager, that is generated with a military-grade 256-bit AES block cypher, using randomly generated keys from a SHA-256 hash function designed by the National Security Agency. Data is further treated to a double layer of 128-bit AES hardware encryption. I'm no cryptologist, but this, I assure you, is a whole lot of encryption. Furthermore, if 10 wrong passwords are ever used with the IronKey, the thumb drive's encryption chip self-destructs. How about that? 

This nifty water-proof thumb drive has protection from physical hacking attempts as well. The drive is filled with an epoxy, so if it is opened up, it is likely to epoxy-ify itself into data oblivion. The memory chips are also electron-shielded, so even if you had, say, a scanning electron microscope, you wouldn't have much luck getting at your sensitive data. The IronKey also has a built-in, encryption-secured Firefox web browser that uses a VPN tunnel to route communications through a Secure Sessions Service proxy that anonymizes your Internet surfing, that protects -- and onces again encrypts -- your activities.

So if you were putting off making those world domination plans because of insecure thumb drives, now you have no excuse. The IronKey is available through ThinkGeek, and is between $78.99 and $148.99 (depending on the capacity of the drive.) However, this product is only available to North Americans, due to export restrictions.

Sony's Blu-ray is in better shape than ever to take the home video market, but DVD is still around too

With Sony scoring victory after victory on the optical disc format front with Blu-ray, word on the street concerning rival format HD-DVD has not kind over the past few days. One of the primary developer of HD-DVD technologies, Toshiba, tried to quell fears over its disc format earlier this week, but it appears to be of little use. Today Toshiba itself has confirmed that it is officially pulling the plug on HD-DVD business and development, at least for movies. Toshiba intends to support its allies who are still aboard the HD-DVD ship including Paramount and Microsoft.  Former HD-DVD backer Universal Studios meanwhile will be turning to Blu-ray.

The HD-DVD format entered the consumer market just a few months before Sony's competing Blu-ray standard did back in early 2006; according to Toshiba, it had sold approximately 1 million dedicated HD-DVD players as of January 2008. Close to 400 movie titles have been distributed on HD-DVD thus far in North America alone. However, Sony gained major traction with Blu-ray over the past few weeks, and struck gold when Warner Bros. confirmed it would back Sony's format exclusively starting this May. The hits just kept coming with major retailers like Wal-mart and Best Buy opting to decrease support for HD-DVD titles, if not dropping it altogether.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

"It was a heartbreaking decision, but we considered the impact of continuing the business on our earnings, the next-generation DVD market and consumers."

Since 2005, Microsoft backed Toshiba in HD-DVD development. Just one example of the fruits of their partnership can be seen in the support for HD-DVD (versus Blu-ray) on Microsoft's Xbox 360 console through an external peripheral player. Microsoft would make clear that it did not intend to make a fuss over next-gen optical disc formats for its video game console business, though the company claims its HD-DVD player would be one of the best-selling accessories for the Xbox 360.

Perhaps Microsoft already had the inside scoop on Toshiba's plans for scapping HD-DVD, as the software/console giant began slashing prices on Xbox 360 HD-DVD players earlier this month. Nevertheless the company remains adamant that the Xbox 360's future planning will not be greatly affected by Toshiba's announcement. Indeed, despite support for HD-DVD the Xbox 360 never used the format for its actual game software.

As for Toshiba itself, the company could still support HD-DVD outside of movies as both HD-DVD and Blu-ray also exist as (very expensive) data storage mediums for the home and business computing markets.

Hmmm...

Mobile phone gaming has steadily been increasing in popularity over the last few years. 

And now, if you really dig playing games on your phone, you can even get a controller specific for mobile phones. It's called the Zeemote JS1. Although judging from the familar-sounding name you may think it is a motion-sensor controller, it is not. It's just a wireless controller that you control with your thumb.

He can see a video of it in action over here. The Zeemote is currently compatible with Heli Strike, Pub Darts 180, Sonic the Hedgehog, PyroSonix, and a few other games.

Could this be the first time in gaming that a controller has been almost as big as the console / platform?

It is like a memory foam mattress, for your hand.

The Lite-On Technology company won a 2007 Red Dot Concept Award for something neat they made, called (appropriately) the Moldable Mouse.

Made out of a variety of clay and with a nylon and polyurethane cover, the Moldable Mouse is just that: moldable. You can re-shape the mouse to better fit your very own hand. No fancy tools necessary -- you can just squeeze and work the mouse into any shape you'd like. You could even make something else out of it, like a joystick for instance.

The mouse buttons and scroll wheel are actually stickers. The stickers have radio frequency identification technology in them so they can be moved around, on the mouse. The only part of the mouse that can not be reshaped is a thin plastic base that carries batteries, circuitry, and laser optics. 

Pretty neat. But the sad side of the story is that is only a concept right now -- so don't expect to see them in stores any time soon. Maybe winning the Red Dot Concept award will encourage Lite-On to bring this neat mouse into production.  

Connectors for the upcoming USB 3.0 standard were shown at CES

The Register has posted some photo's of the USB 3.0 connectors that were shown at CES in Las Vegas.

The new connectors are backward compatible with the current USB 2.0 / 1.1 connectors, but they add an extra set of signals for the new 4.7Gbps signaling - the new standard is almost ten times as fast as the old one.

The full specification is supposed to be completed by the end of June.

Move stuff with your brain

A company called Emotiv Systems is working on a releasing a sort of mind-reading hat that lets you play games.

It's not the first time someone has released a similar product, but Emotiv Systems hopes that the Project Epoc controller will be a big step up from previous efforts. The Epoc is a set of 12 sensors that measure the electrical activity in your brain (like a EEG), and then translates this input into signals that can be used to play games. The Epoc can also be used to just supplement regular game controls: in one example shown to the blog CrunchGear, a standard controller was used to move Harry around in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but the Epoc hat was used to trigger off spells and move around items using thoughts alone.

The Epoc can also be used to sense emotions. This could possibly be used in conjunction with social networking software, so you could be chatting with someone, and they could see your emotional response in addition to your words.

The science behind the Epoc came from researching induced schizophrenia in mice. Emotiv Systems hopes to get the product out in late 2008, with the help of a man named James Breen, who use to work for EA and Lucas Arts.

Emotiv System's website can be found right exactly here.

For those people who thought thin clients were dead... think again

Virtualization is here to stay, and it may just rescue the idea of thin client computing!

Pano Logic is betting that enough companies will go towards centralized application / virtual machine servers so that it will be able to sell its tiny (think about 1/4 the size of a Mac mini) thin client. Pano claims a 70% savings - $3,200 per desktop - over three years; and it is based on a "Pano Logic Chip" that reside inside the tiny cube providing up to 1600x1200 VGA graphics, USB keyboard and mouse support as well as a 10/100Mbps ethernet connection to the "server".

Basically, it is a tiny descendant of an X terminal.

Frankly, the idea has a certain ammount of merit for internet cafe's and casual business users - after all, what is simpler than restoring a VMWare image if the user (or worms) manage to corrupt the currently running one?

The savings would be even greater if Linux were used on the server side, as I am certain Micro$oft will insist on a full Vista license for each running VM.