Okay, so $6,000 may be a lot of loot to pay for a pair of night vision goggles, but Tenebraex's specs are the first to let you see in color. The goggles can see down to quarter-moon night levels. For anything lower than that, users can switch to the standard monochromatic green vision. The company is hoping to sell these to the U.S. Pentagon. All we need now is a low-priced consumer version for some night-time paint-balling fun. – Louis Ramirez
Seeing Colors in the Night [Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends via Uber Gizmo]
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Are you stuck in a 1996 timewarp? Perhaps you have kiddie issues. Fear not, for Bandai and Playphones have gotten together and come up with the Tamagotchi prepaid cellphone. Like all the best ideas, it is a simple concept...
Your phone rings. Blah. When your conversation is finished, hatch your virtual pet. Take another call. Smother your pet with love. Take another call. See Petski there? Well, keep smothering. Make a call. Smother away, dearie. Ring Ring! Stroke Stroke. Yadda Yadda. Stroke. My, we are popular since we got our pastel kooky clamshell.
Pet needs to pee. But you need to talk to Glorinda and Shaznay about that new boy in fifth grade. This conversation is not over. But your interest in the pet is. Phone goes again. Pet is thirsty. Give a fuck. Pet dies. Decide that your mobile is ugly. Go to Mom, pester her and whine until she gives in, rolls her eyes and buys you an iPhone. – Ad Dugdale
Tamagotchi Virtual Pets Coming To Pre-Paid Phones [PC World]
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Attention, dorkbots. If you would like to upgrade your fleshy hardware with some robotics, some researchers at the University of Bristol are working on a shoulder-mounted camera that moves when your head moves. It can also be controlled using hand gestures, allowing you to check out girls on the street on the sly while reading your newspaper.
The best part, of course, is how awesome it makes you look having a camera mounted on your shoulder. Nothing says "socially adjusted" like having electronics mounted on your body, trust me. –Adam Frucci
New Scientist Tecg [via UberGizmo]
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After taking a good kicking ever since delaying the launch of the PS3 over here for four months, Sony execs will be popping the champers and hitting the town tonight, after the PS3 smashed UK console sales records. According to Chart Track, UK shoppers snapped up 165,000 PS3s in just two days. That leaves about 55,000 still up for grabs from the UK’s 220,000 unit allotment. It also shows that the absence of High Streets cluttered with fanatics in sleeping bags is no measure of a console’s popularity.
PS3 sales were only bettered by sales of Sony’s own handheld system, the PSP, which racked up 185,000 unit sales back in 2005. The Xbox 360 managed 71,000 in its opening weekend and the Wii topped out at 105,000 – although to be fair, both were suffering launch shortages. Chart Track said that the PS3 launched with 22 games from 7 different publishers while the PSP had 24 games available from 11 different publishers when it was released in September 2005. A no-doubt relieved Phil Harrison, Sony’s World Wide Studios head said, in a podcast:
“In the UK 165,000 units were sold through to consumers in the first 48 hours, and that is over £100 million worth of business going through UK retail tills in PS3 hardware, software and peripherals. This not only makes it the most successful games hardware launch, we think it is the most successful consumer launch of a product in the UK.”
Let’s see how long it takes to eat up ground on the Xbox 360.-Martin Lynch
news technology games PS3 PS2 sony xbox
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OK, it’s all true. The Xbox Elite in it’s ‘Good Guys Wear Black’ outfit has been confirmed by Microsoft and everything you read here on Gizmodo and elsewhere prior to this has come true, like a Fairy Godmother's wish.
It features an in-built HDMI port, a much needed 120GB hard disk drive, black headset, black wireless controller and more, importantly, a range of bundled cables designed to embarrass Sony. Top of the list is the bundled HDMI cable which Sony has taken some flak for not bundling with the overpriced PS3. Instead, Sony wants an extra £18 for it’s ‘official cable’. Microsoft is also throwing in component and composite cables, as well.
The new system goes on sale in the US from April 29 for $480 – just $80 more than the existing high-end model. Microsoft will also be offering the 120GB hard drive as a standalone peripheral for the rest of the Xbox 360 users who have needed a bigger HDD for some time. Asking $180 for it though seems a bit steep.
No UK availability or prices yet but I’ll keep you posted. Full details of what you get with Xbox Elite after the jump.-Martin Lynch
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For the past two weeks I have being waking up to the cheerful sound of birds chirping, followed by Stephen Fry intoning perfect vowels and ego-boosting messages. And it’s been great fun. No, he’s not a house guest but his voice has been staying for a fortnight now, and it’s a welcome thing, indeed. Housed in the Voco Clock, Stephen Fry doing his amusing Jeeves the Butler routine has been my alarm call each day. So much more civilised and, less traumatic, than BEEP-BEEP-BEEP….
The clock arrived well packaged and once the battery was in, there really was nothing else to do but to set the alarm, which required the simplest flicking of a switch. Of course, I spent the next 5 minutes cheating, setting and re-setting the alarm hand to hear the next message. There are 50 messages in all that rotate automatically and there’s even a relaxing 90-second countdown to help you nod off in the evenings.
The audio quality is surprisingly good, with each perfectly enunciated message from Jeeves preceded by some cute birds singing a dawn chorus and a little, polite ‘ahem’. The messages are amusing and nearly always leave me with a little smile, as much to do with Fry’s tone and delivery, as with the messages themselves.
For instance we have:
“I am delighted you have survived another night. May I add my own congratulations to the roar of the world’s approval? Thank you, sir.”
OR
“I’m afraid the staff has absconded sir. And it is my day off. I trust it will not be onerous for you to make your own exquisitely sliced toast and perfectly made breakfast.”
The clock costs just under £30 including P&P and it’s worth every penny. For yourself, or as a gift, everyone who's been around has been impressed by this novelty.
The Voco Clock is possibly the only clock I don’t hate. In fact, I’m rather smitten with the blighter. Find out more here. -Martin Lynch
news technology gadgets clock home shopping geek
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
