Miss Bimbo Freaking Out The Powers That Be
Another day, another game furore. This time though it’s not about splitting heads open with an axe but becoming the best bimbo you can be, girlfriend.
The online game is a virtual fashion world that allows those that register – mostly young girls – the chance to create their own highly customised character, starting off with a bimbo in underwear.
OK, you might think it’s a bit tame for all the stink it’s raising but players are allowed to use boob jobs, facelifts and diet pills to customise their bimbos. Since the people that play it are mainly 9-16-year olds, you can see why there’s a bit of gasping going on.
In France there were 1.2 million virtual bimbos last year and already around 200,000 in the UK. You might think the French would be blasé about it all but there has been an massive outcry, mirrored by some groups in the UK and even as far away as New Zealand.
Is it any worse than boy’s games that encourage shooting, killing and blowing stuff up? You tell me.-Martin Lynch
Retro Rockin’ With Fatman’s iTube 452
We’re fans of Fatman’s valve-based iTube docks here at Gizmodo and now there’s another one coming for those that don’t mind splashing out that little bit extra on their audio kit.
Sitting between the great iTube dock and the iTube Mothership is the new iTube 452, described as a “fully integrated push-pull amplifier featuring no less than 9 valves and four line input stages to offer 40 watts per channel of supreme audio performanceâ€. Here’s the full specs:
Source Inputs: 4
Max Output Power: 45W x 2 (Self Bias)
Frequency Response: 20-20KHz (±1.0dB)
Distortion: ? 1%
Signal to Noise Ratio: ? 86dB
Input Sensitivity: 210m V
Input Impedance: 100K ohm
Output Impedance: 4 ohm/8 ohm
Size (LxWxH): 420mm x 265mm x 154mm
Weight: 23.00KGs
Tubes used: 6L6G x 4,12AX7 x 5
Like many decent valve-based systems, the sound from the iTube 452 should be warm and full and, as long as you have around £1,500 next month, it can be yours. It comes with an iTube dock thrown in.-Martin Lynch
[Fatman]
Fishing Watch Promises To Put The Little Fishy On The Little Dishy
‘You should have seen the one that got away’ is a classic fisherman’s excuse for failing as a hunter/gatherer but, technology is now at hand that says it can help even the most hopeless wannabes catch more than a cold.
And it’s a wrist watch. This is the Men’s Ultimate Fishing Rubber Strap Watch, from leading outdoors magazine Field & Stream, designed to tell you just when those critters will be ready to take the bait.
It boasts moon movements, tidal changes, latitude and longitude settings and pretty much all you need to know about when your local waters will be teeming with hook-loving fishies on any given day.
According to the promoters, some uber-fisherman called Jimmy Houston thought it was a load of old toss until he tried it by setting his location and being told that the bass would start nipping at 11.30. They arrived a minute early at 11.29, greedy buggers.
It costs around £30 here. If that doesn’t work, dynamite.-Martin Lynch
Blu-ray Hacked Again: Let The Ripping Begin
The makers of AnyDVD, the greatest DVD ripping software utility, have announced that they’ve cracked the Blu-ray copyright protection system, BD+. This is the second time that Slysoft has overcome the system and they say it will allow people to copy or rip Blu-ray movies in the same way they do DVDs or HD DVDs.
Early reports claim that it doesn’t work seamlessly yet on all BD+ protected discs but it has managed to work on many of those out there – especially those from 20th Century Fox which is the first studio to commit fully BD+. Most of the other studios still use AACS protection on their discs which AnyDVD has already overcome. Now, it’s only a matter of time until Blu-ray movies fall prey to mass piracy too.
There has been no comment yet from the Blu-ray Disc Association but there’s bound to be some quaking in the boots going on. Here’s the feature list and fixes for AnyDVD 6.4.0.0:
* New (Blu-ray): Removes the BD+ protection from Blu-ray discs! (for increased compatibility with titles released by Twentieth Century Fox)
* New (Blu-ray): Added option to enable / disable BD+ removal
* New (DVD): AnyDVD ripper no longer uses the Windows filesystem, it has now its own UDF parser / reader. Discs which cannot be read by Windows can now be copied with the AnyDVD ripper
* Fix (Blu-ray): Black display with some BD discs, e.g., “Layer Cake”, second release, “The Fugitive”, “Wild Things” (all Region B)
* Fix (DVD): Small bug fix in “repairing defective disc structure” function of AnyDVD ripper
* Fix (DVD): Problems with some Arccos protected titles, e.g. “The Grudge”, R1, US
* Some minor fixes and improvements
* Updated languages
Obviously, while backing up a movie you already own is perfectly legal, ripping a movie from a disc you’ve rented, borrowed, ‘forgotten’ to return to a friend, or stolen, is illegal. Just say no.-Martin Lynch
PS3 Gets BD Live Support & More
The PS3 is inching closer to becoming the ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ heart of the living room with its forthcoming firmware update.
The v2.20 firmware update at the end of the month will eclipse the recent – and disappointing – v 1.17 update by adding support for the eagerly awaited BD Live, the advanced playback technology used on newer Blu-ray movie discs.
The update supports the latest Blu-ray Disc (BD) Profile 2.0, which includes BD Live, allowing users watching a Blu-ray movie to check the Net for related downloadable content, trailers, ringtones and movie-based games. Only newer, standalone Blu-ray players have this while owners of older Blu-ray players are, well, pretty much screwed.
Music and photo playlists created on the on the PS3 can now be copied to the PSP and support for larger DivX files is a welcome addition. See the other key changes below.
— “Resume play” will enable PS3 system to start playing a Blu-ray disc
and DVD at the point it was stopped, even if the disc had been
removed.(*1)
— “Audio Output Device” will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP
to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.
— PS3 system’s Internet browser will be enhanced: Video files directly
linked from a Web page will be able to be streamed, and the browser’s
view speed will be improved.
— DivX and WMV format videos that are larger than 2GB will be playable.
— “Mosquito Noise Reduction” will be added as an AV setting in the
control panel of the DVD/BD player for improved movie playback.(*2)
Now all we need is a PS3 that is a bit cheaper and another with a much bigger hard drive than the measly 40GB drive in there now.-Martin Lynch
Philips Upgrades WiFi Audio System With Net Radio
Philips has beefed up its Streamium family of wireless audio products with the addition of a new flagship, the WACS7500, which comprises the WAC7500 main unit and WAS7500 satellite units.
The replacement for the WACS7000 is 20mm thinner and finally adds Internet radio support via a wireless network. Philips has hooked up with BlueBeat, Live365 and Radioio, to offer users access to thousands on Net stations. CDs placed in the WAC7500 main unit are automatically ripped to the internal 80GB hard disk drive, while PC-based music can be streamed wirelessly or via Ethernet to the main unit and then to the satellite units placed around the home.
Up to five satellites can be used and each can playback different audio streams so that Gran doesn’t haven’t to endure Korn’s Greatest hits. Again.
Philips claims the audio performance has been improved through the use of a flat-panel speaker system, with new mid-range panels and dedicated tweeter panels for cleaner, more detailed sound. A single, larger down-firing subwoofer replaces the original side-mounted firing ports for tighter bass performance. The Streamium has also swapped out the old user interface for the SuperScroll system used in its MP3 players.
Like its predecessor it will not be cheap though, costing £700, with additional satellites costing £200 a pop. Ouch!
Philips hopes throwing in a free iPod/Philips GoGear docking station will help sweeten the pill.-Martin Lynch
Categories: Misc Tags: Ethernet, MP3, Mp3 Players, Satellite, Web Stuff, Wi-Fi, wireless network
Electronic Cigarette For Healthy Smokers
‘Healthy’ and ‘smoking’ are not usually two words you find in the same sentence unless of course they are in a sentence like: “You were healthy, you took up smoking and now you’re deadâ€.
This is the Gamucci electronic cigarette designed to help chronic smokers keep off the real killers by sucking on this. According to the makers it:
“Provide users a real smoking experience without the tobacco and tar found in real cigarettes. It looks like, feels like and tastes like a real cigarette, yet it isn’t, it is so much more. It is truly a healthier alternative.â€
It’s comprised of a cartridge, an atomisation chamber, a smart chip controller and built in lithium battery. The indicator glows like a real cigarette but it’s inside the atomisation chamber where all the good [?] stuff happens. Each cartridge contains 16mg of liquidised nicotine with tobacco-scent which is atomized to create a smoke-like vapour that gives lungers their nicotine kick in the manner they are used too.
It costs £50 here, comes with 5 cartridges [each lasting the equivalent of 20 cigarettes] but lacking the usual 4,000 or so other chemicals you get in your regular cigarette. Check out the YouTube video below.
Has anyone tried this yet? Is it a wonder smoking alternative or a load of old bollocks?-Martin Lynch
[The INQ]
smoking health gadget cigarette
UFO House Looking For A New Captain
I’m not sure how much you love your little green men but I expect it would have to be a whole lot to buy the UFO home. Looking like something a crackpot from the X-Files would be holing up in, this amazing structure is actually a fully functioning home.
It has 2,000sq-feet of living space spread across three floors, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent kitchen, living room and a large bar {Woo-Hoo!!]. Inside, it also sports some ‘futuristic’ controls [at least they were in the 70s] for controlling some of the electronic items.
And let’s not forget those stunning mountain and river views in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The house was built in 1970 after the first moon landing and is supported on six giant landing legs.
And the best bit, you get in and out via a stairwell that extends and retracts at the touch of a button. Right now the bid stands at just $100,000 (around £50,000) – a bargain – and it’s been on the market for 4 months.
C’mon Mulder & Scully, pool those FBI pay cheques. Another shot below.-Martin Lynch
[CityNews]
PS3 Outsells Xbox 360 – Again
Sony PS3 fanboys will be strutting around again this month after US sales figures just in showed that the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 in February.
This is the second month in a row that the PS3 has finally managed to get ahead of its key rival but Microsoft has put the sales lapse down to lingering product shortages. NPD Group said that the PS3 racked up unit sales of 280,841 for February compared to 360 sales of 255,000 – a 10% lead. Xbox 360 games held 5 of the Top 10 slots in software sales though, compared to one for the PS3.
Of course, the Wii continued to kick both of their butts with February sales of 432,000.
Even if Microsoft sorts out the availability issues, it might find it hard to regain the lead in the long term now that the high-def movie format war is over and Blu-ray is the winner.
After all, there are lot of gamers/movie buffs out there that held off on the PS3 partly because the HD war was unresolved. I know I did, at least until two weeks ago, when I finally added the PS3 to complete my console line-up. And yes, it’s great – and a whole lot quieter than my Xbox 360 Elite, which seems to think it’s a jet-fighter at take-off.
Like it as I do though, I will not be getting a PS3 tattoo. -Martin Lynch