Purple Chinese Space Potatoes: Yum? February 15, 2007

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Hungry and stupid? Sit down, my friend, as I have a dish that's perfect for you: Chinese purple space potatoes! Grown from seeds that were mutated when exposed to cosmic radiation while up in a Chinese spacecraft, these wacky spuds can't be any more dangerous than a bag of Doritos and a 2-litre bottle of Pepsi, but that isn't saying much.

Apparently these things are all the rage in Shanghai. I'll take your word on the flavor, thanks. –Adam Frucci

CNN [via The Raw Feed]

LG Flatron LCD: 3000:1 Contrast Ratio February 15, 2007

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , HDMI , LCD , PC , Peripherals , Portable Media , TV

lg monitor.jpg Here’s today’s latest ‘World’s best’ product: the Flatron L1982U 19in LCD. It has supposedly got the world’s highest contrast ratio of 3000:1 for an LCD computer display. It’s pretty slick looking with its piano-black finish and round, height-adjustable stand.

It boasts a 2ms response time, which is very good indeed, and should eliminate any ghosting you might find when watching sports or fast-moving parts in movies. An Auto Bright function lets the display adjust the brightness depending on the ambient light and it has a 170 degree viewing angle.

There is slide and tilt functionality and the monitor will correct whatever is on-screen automatically to suit the angle. The company said that the existing Red-Dot/IF Design award-winning models, LG L1900J and LG L1970HR, have also had their contrast boosted to 3000:1.

No price yet but you can be sure that those superior black levels will cost you.-Martin Lynch

Locca Access - Keyless Remote for Your Home February 15, 2007

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Isn't it about time that your house caught up to your car in terms of remote access options? The Locca Access remote key entry allows you to open your house's front door from up to 50 meters away—super convenient for those times when you are laden with shopping bags, when it's dark, when the weather is bad or when you're just too damn lazy to use your complicated keys.
 
You can even let guests into your house remotely from up to 20 interior meters away, so there's really no need to put on clothes or get up from that sofa to answer the door. The Locca Access works in conjunction with your existing locks, contains a 48 hours battery in case of power failure and comes with a manual key override, so it seems like they've got all your bases covered. Retails for £150.

Locca Access [Locca via UberGizmo]

Collection of Soviet Era Calculators February 15, 2007

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When they weren't busy hating freedom and plotting the destruction of sweet, sweet capitalism, the Soviets made some pretty decent hardware, calculators included. Granted, they're all from the same company—Electronika—but what else would you expect from a command economy? There's a few more choice shots after the jump.

Equalizer Laser Mouse For The Trigger-Happy February 15, 2007

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , Laptops , PC , Peripherals

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OCZ, the performance memory/PSU supplier, is entering the fiercely competitive area of gaming peripherals. It’s first offering is the Equalizer 2500 DPI Laser Mouse. Will it top the 22 gaming mice reviewed here though?

As the name implies, it’s a performance mouse with a top DPI setting of 2500. There are six DPI settings, ranging from 400 to 2500, and gamers can swap between then with a button click on-the-fly to find the best one. The LED-lit scroll wheel even changes colour to match a different setting so that you know it’s changed.

It sports what OCZ calls a “Triple Threat” button, that enables you to fire three times with a single click. This can also be used for opening regular ‘double-click’ files with a single click but then that would assume you’d buy this with real work in mind, which is just silly.

The Equalizer comes in a desktop or mobile models. Jump now for full specs.-Martin Lynch

What The Flux?! Car Scoops Design Award February 15, 2007

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK

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Meet the winner of the Fourth Peugeot Design Competition: the Flux. I covered the start of this competition and some of the funky entrants and past winners not too long ago. The flux took top honours though, and gave the contest its youngest ever winner in 20-year old Mihai Panaitescu, a Romanian design student studying in Turin. The designer said:

A relatively small car (350cm long by 165cm wide), it runs on a slim hydrogen power plant hidden in the back along with the tank mounted under the front bonnet. The hood and side body panels are made from plastic, polyurethane for the seats and aluminium for the mechanical parts. The main components such as the chassis and head protection are metal. Made up of simple body work (basic intersected volumes) the car is easily produced and accessible to everyone but most of all, it's fun to drive. Adding to this, the car is also a gaming hub thanks to the integrated Xbox 360.

A full scale model of the car will be built in time for the Frankfurt Motor Show, the designer will get €6,000 and the car will feature in an upcoming game for the Xbox 360.

That’s good, because there’s no chance – unfortunately – that this will ever make it into production. More pics after the jump. -Martin Lynch

Top February 14, 2007