The Demo Site

This is the second piece of government or state-related literature that in the past few days has equated Internet access with access to clean water and electricity. (The first was that French court ruling.) That Digital Britain report that I’ve been mentioning for the past few weeks finally came out today. The big headline: Yes, the Internet is Really Important Now. I suggest you at least read the executive summary [PDF]; that’s what it’s there for.

There’s really not much to add to what’s already been written by Gordon Brown, the prime minister there (for now!), in the Times. There’s a bit of the ol’ "Britain was once great, she shall be great once again, thanks to the Internet," so be on the lookout for that.

Credit to the Government there, though, for undertaking the effort.

You can find the full report here.

Flickr

The summer time in Tokyo is unbearable due to the heat and humidity me and millions of other people living in this city suffer from between June and September. If you’re a man and have to wear a suit, it’s even worse. Last summer, Japan finally got the deodorant suits which made things a little easier. This year, we get suits with built-in ice packs.

The suits have been announced [JP, PDF] by Japanese fashion company Haruyama as the world’s first of their kind. Marketed as the “New Ice Suit”, buyers get special cooling gel packs for their money. Just put them into the inner pocket near the underarms and you will feel cooler immediately.

As a result, you will sweat and stink less. When you get to the office, just put the cooling gel packs in a fridge and you are ready for the way home later. The graphic above shows just how effective the system is. This is genius.

The only drawback is that the New Ice Suit is Japan-only. Over here, it costs $520 and is offered in 277 stores country-wide.

The Pirate Bay announced a few months ago the creation of IPREDator, a VPN service to be used, I guess, to pirate content a little more stealthily. Well, the service is now in beta. Closed beta, I might add.

And while a VPN is a VPN is a VPN, IPREDator is supposedly safer in that there’s no log file to be found. No one is keeping track of who connected to the server and when, making it slightly more difficult for the policía to track you down.

Seems like IPREDator could be useful in Iran right now, right?

via The Register

Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University have revealed in the journal Nature Chemistry that they’ve created a “magnetic superatom”, or “a stable cluster of atoms that can mimic different elements of the periodic table”. The poor Periodic Table of the Elements barely gets any respect as it is from the kids today (quick: do you know your Noble Gases, or the atomic weight of Nobilium?), now it has to compete with fancypants super atoms!

This new superatom is made of one vanadium and eight cesium atoms, and it “acts like a tiny magnet that can mimic a single manganese atom in magnetic strength while preferentially allowing electrons of specific spin orientation to flow through the surrounding shell of cesium atoms”. What good is this new superatom? According to Shiv N. Khanna, Ph.D., professor in the VCU Department of Physics:

A combination such as the one we have created here can lead to significant developments in the area of "molecular electronics," a field where researchers study electric currents through small molecules. These molecular devices are expected to help make non-volatile data storage, denser integrated devices, higher data processing and other benefits.

The researchers are also exploring non-conductive magnetic superatoms by combining gold and manganese.

Via Spintronics Info.

Let’s talk hypothetically for a moment. Let’s say you’re the average American (or wherever you’re from), going to school or working for The Man. Let’s say that you occasionally download an MP3 or FLAC from wherever you get such things. Now, do you have $150,000 to give to the RIAA for every song you’ve downloaded? I sure as heck don’t! (I’d need a government bailout, lol!) More importantly, why is $150,000 an appropriate amount to ask for, as Sony seems to suggest? If I can buy a song off iTunes for $1.30, how is it that "finding" that same song could cost me $150,000?

There’s another one of the RIAA vs. Some Guy court cases going on right now, and the defense attorney asked Sony’s lawyers to put a number on per-infringement damages. Sony wouldn’t, instead saying that, under the law, damages can range from $750-$150,000.

Now, I’m not a doctor, not even in the Dr. Nick sense, but on what planet does Some Guy downloading a song, or an album, or 100 albums, equate to $150,000 in damages? It just seems so ridiculous to me.

Even more to the point, is anyone else a little tired of the RIAA? Like, even reading about it, and its wacky exploits, its insane monetary demands, just doesn’t have the same punch as it did in 2004. The Internet could use a new boogeyman.

I’ve been going through the items I’ve seen and bought this year and thought I’d share a few things that would make me particularly happy this Father’s Day. To that end, I’ve collected a mish-mash of items that might make dad smile a bit more readily than a tie and cologne set from Donald Trump’s fashion collection.

Canon G10

I had to send this camera back but I’m honestly thinking of buying it new. It’s a great, heavy duty shooter with plenty of manual chops and a huge rear LCD. It takes shots at 14-megapixels and costs $485. It’s a bit much - I always recommend getting a DSLR like the Rebel if you’re at all into shooting - but it’s a good mid-point camera with great portability.

Product Page


EnviroCycle Composter

It’s odd that I brought a composter into this round-up but Dad’s love gardening, at least the part that involves worms and dirt. I’ve been composting for years but I used to just dig a hole and drop eggshells into it. Now I have a huge, unsightly and stinky worm world that blends in perfectly with the riot of pumpkin vines that are growing up around the old compost pile. At $138 it’s better than a hole in the ground.

Product Page

Debaufre Aircraft-8 Chronograph

Love it or hate it, Debaufre is doing some interesting things in low-priced chronographs. The Aircraft-8 is the first watch I’ve seen from them that actually looks new and fresh and at $740 for a calendar chrono movement, Swiss ETA, no less, it’s quite nice. Worth a second look.

Product Page

Tissot Sea Touch

If Dad needs a more rugged watch, get him the Tissot Sea Touch. An impressive update to the T-Touch line this monster comes in orange and black and has a rotating bezel, compass, chronograph, thermometer, second time zone, and a diving logbook. All of the functions are available just by touching the screen. I’ve seen it for about $1,000.

Product Page

32 GB iPod Touch

I know this is a little bit old but it’s still a great product and a great way to introduce pop to the magic of MP3s and video downloading. Stock it up with some tunes and and some good movies and maybe add the iFitness application so he can take it to the gym. It starts at $229.

Product Page

Amazon Kindle

If Dad likes to read, get him a Kindle. Seriously. It’s a great device, it saves space, and he can download books anywhere and at any time. It’s a great device and the smaller version is delightfully portable. $359.

Product Page

Pioneer XMp3 Radio

If you haven’t tried satellite radio and drive a lot, you owe it to yourself to add this to your Father’s Day shopping cart - if only for yourself. The XMp3 is a portable XM radion that supports up to 100 hours of recording and can record five stations at a time, meaning you can listen to the game on one channel and still grab your favorite shows - Bob Dylan? Howard Stern? - on other channels. They’re selling the radio with a car kit for $149. Installation is dead simple and the satellite subscription costs $164 a year.

Product Page

Next TuesdayToday the Dev Team will post - but not release - a demo of yellowsn0w running under iPhone 3.0 firmware. NB - This is not a carrier unlock for the iPhone 3G S but for the 3.0 firmware that will appear on Tuesday.

UPDATE - Sorry. Weird day today. Fixed the date. This should also work for the first gen.

On Tuesday evening (just before the big Apple release) we'll do a live demo of the yellowsn0w carrier unlock working on official 3.0 firmware. The actual link for the feed will be twittered by @MuscleNerd and also placed here when the feed starts. The demo should answer everything you need to know about the new yellowsn0w. But it's good news for iPhone 3G unlockers everywhere.

Meanwhile, we're in the middle of testing our PwnageTool and QuickPwn tools, which will work with iTunes 8.2. The jailbreak of course continues to work on 3.0 for all devices it ever worked on, thanks due the Pwnage 2.0 technique released last summer. Our tools will be released no sooner than the Apple release (just in case!).

via Giz

There isn’t a spot in the country that has been harder hit by the financial meltdown than Flint, MI. Forbes recently labeled Flint as the city that has the longest road to recovery too. It’s bad in the birthplace of General Motors and the financial climate is bad there right now - really bad. I know this first hand. That’s where I live.

But the city might soon lead the nation with the country’s first biogas plant. This plant will be built with the help of Swedish Biogas International and eventually help fuel the city’s municipal vehicle fleet, which in turn should save the city millions of dollars. That is, if the plant ever gets built.

This plant was officially announced last September when the King of Sweden visited Flint and spoke at a Kettering University. He spoke of how biogas helped his country become fuel independent and can put Flint back on track. The King, Michigan’s Governor Granholm, Flint’s mayor, the US Ambassador to Sweden and others then ceremonially broke ground.

The facility will be designed to take the human waste and convert it into biogas. This biogas would then be used to heat the facility. If an addition $4-million can be raised once the first part of the plant is completed, an addition will be built to produce biomethane which will fuel city buses and other vehicles.

The city has a large budget problem right now and it’s expected to get worse when GM attempts to renegotiate taxes on its five remaining facilities within the city. This plant should take some burden off of the city.

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But construction on the $8 to $10-million plant hasn’t started. The waste treatment facility where it is suppose to go hasn’t been touched. Supposedly construction on the facility sometime in August. The plan laid out by Swedish Biogas International still includes to have the plant up and running by the end of the year making it the first of its kind in the United States. And Flint could use something positive to dwell on for a change even if it is shit gas.

The rumor that Microsoft would be shipping a bumped-up Xbox 360 console with Natal integrated in 2010 has turned out to be false according to director of product management, Aaron Greenberg.

Greenberg told Eurogamer the following:

“I think part of the excitement about this announcement is that in many ways we are delivering a next generation experience this generation. With that said, I can confirm that Natal will run on Xbox 360 so no new console investment will be necessary.”

And then a second “senior Microsoft source” was apparently also quoted as saying, “Don’t believe nonsense on the internet is all I’ll say. We’ll do the right thing for Natal.” So the next time you see nonsense on the internet, do not — I repeat, do NOT — believe it. That is all.

All of the heavy lifting for Natal is done inside the camera add-on itself, which would bypass the need for a more powerful console. So don’t list that console on eBay just yet. It’s still got plenty of life left in it.

Microsoft sources play down reports of new Xbox in 2010 News [Eurogamer via PC World]

Honk if you like spending time with your family! Not too many honks, eh? Maybe that’s because you spend all of your time online, on Twitter, on 4Chan, on PerezHilton, on YouTube! There’s a new report coming out of USC that says that Internet use has increased, and the amount of time spent with one’s family has decreased. Is there a direct correlation? Maybe not, but it’s worth exploring for a minute.

Last year, 28 percent of Americans said they spent less time with their family than in the previous year. In 2006, that number was 11 percent.

At the same time, the number of hours people spend online has increased. Connecting the dots, perhaps somewhat carelessly, we conclude that the Internet is to blame for destroying the American family.

But is it? Just look at CrunchGear’s editor, Mr. John Biggs, whose only fault is that he cares too much about his fellow man. Now here’s a man who spends something like 12+ hours a day, and yet has a healthy family life. A loving wife, two healthy kids, a Nintendo Wii, the whole nine yards. Does his Internet use preclude him from having a normal family, from spending time with the wife and kids? No. Mr. Biggs may be slightly out of shape, but his family life is A-OK.

Flickr

Let’s not dwell on this for too long, since it’s largely a non-issue. President Obama, speaking to the American Medical Association (mostly about health care, such as it is), listed "video games" as a potential bad guy… for your health. You know, sitting on a couch all day long trying to rack up Achievements.

Here’s what the president said:

The second step that we can all agree on is to invest more in preventive care so that we can avoid illness and disease in the first place. That starts with each of us taking more responsibility for our health and the health of our children. It means quitting smoking, going in for that mammogram or colon cancer screening. It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside.

As I see it, there’s nothing too controversial about that statement. Kids should exercise, right? (Unless you’re a paranoid parent, afraid to let the kids play outside because there’s Unknown Unknowns out there.)

Score one for the Wii, then.

via Kotaku

In case you thought the cockroach key chain holder I wrote about earlier this year was disgusting, think again. Because today I give you a remote-controlled flying plastic cockroach [JP]. Just like the keychain holder, the thing is the brainchild of a twisted Japanese mind but available also for all people outside Japan.

The cockroach is produced by Japanese toymaker Taiyo [JP] and apparently has been around for a while, but I discovered it just today. Charge it for 30 minutes and you can play with it for 5 minutes.

The cockroach comes with a charger and a remote-control. If you live outside Japan, get it at Rinkya (they also sell a remote-controlled plastic rat, in case you’re interested.). The Japan Trend Shop is also offering the cockroach ($68+shipping).

Via Rinkya

Our own Bryce found this funny commercial from 1991 featuring none other than Paul “The Animal” Rudd, star of stage and screen. How many of us wouldn’t have killed to be able to play Super Nintendo in the jail set from Red Dawn while wearing a fashionable blazer? Exactly.

Someone has FINALLY answered the age-old question: Is it possible to build an Acer Aspire One netbook into an old Super Nintendo and have optical discs load through an old Super Mario World cartridge? The answer is yes. Let’s call it the Snespire One, shall we?

The full instructions can be found on AsoBiTech.com — the main ingredients are a Super Nintendo console (in this case, the UK version), an Acer Aspire One A150 netbook, and skillz (with a Z, which are more advanced than standard skills with an S).

For good measure, there’s even one of those fancy Mac keyboards. If you’re like 99% of the people out there who have no hope of every building one of these successfully, it’ll apparently be auctioned on eBay in the near future. Very nice work, no?

Rob over at Boing Boing Gadgets came up with the “Snespire One” name. I met him in Vegas during CES. He is nice. Good, firm handshake.

[AsoBiTech.com via BBG]

We are loving the Viliv X70 with it’s built-in 3G modem, but it’s little brother - the S5 - wants some love too. The 5-inch UMPC will soon be available from Dynamism with 3G and more SSD options. These extras do come at a higher price though.

• 32GB SSD - $649
• 32GB SSD with 3G - $799
• 128GB SSD with 3G - $1299

The importer still doesn’t have solid delivery dates for these model, but hopefully they will come soon.

So I’m at the Hotel on Rivington in Manhattan at the Olympus press conference and we’re getting the first hands on with the Olympus E-P1 in North America. Dana Wollman from Laptop was kind enough to be my hand model so these aren’t my hands on the Olympus, but I am shooting with one. I’ve included two test images shot at ISO 200 and ISO 6400 shot with the 14-42mm lens. Oh, I forgot to mention that Olympus has done away with the XD format and gone with SD. Yay!

You can download the JPEG for the ISO 200 image here and the ISO 6400 image here.

The Boynq Pad2Go Retractable Mouse Pad has just been deeply discounted at Radio Shack. It’s now $3.99, down from $19.99.

The Pad2Go is billed as “the ideal travel mousepad that can be stored in any type of luggage.” Know what other type of mousepad can be easily stored in luggage? Any regular mousepad.

It probably doesn’t help that the product shot shows a somewhat crinkled mousing surface. Because there’s nothing better than sliding your mouse over across a tiny, lumpy windowshade.

boynq® Pad2Go™ Retractable Mouse Pad [RadioShack via dealnews]

Logitech’s Bluetooth mouse lineup has been somewhat non-exsistant lately, but the M555b takes care of that. This mouse seems like your standard two-button mouse but the wheel features the hyper-fast scolling that some love in the MX Revolution line. Plus the mouse features laser tracking and a low-battery indicator for the AA power source.

Expect this $59 mouse to be available in a couple of weeks from Logitech. But if you don’t mind having a Dell-branded unit, you can pick one up right now and get it tomorrow.

Not content to let others do the heavy lifting, Pure Digital, now part of Cisco, has added Flip Channels to their popular - and surprisingly useful - FlipShare software. The software is pre-installed on every Flip devices (we have the HD) and the Channels are yet another way to upload and share your videos in the interwebs.

Videos sent to your channel can be viewed at FlipShare.com or using the FlipShare iPhone app, also available today. The software also supports DVD authoring and standard sharing with YouTube and MySpace. I sent a video to myself using the service, a real cinematic magnum opus. You cannot formally embed videos sent to channels - you can embed them on the sly using the actual HTML or grabbing to a site like Posterous - but obviously you can embed videos sent to YouTube.

via flipshare.com

The rest of the software is surprisingly snappy. I rarely use the built-in software that comes with most cameras but this seems like a quick and easy way to share video anywhere. It is Mac and PC compatible (there are two versions right on the Flip’s Flash memory) and it has a clean, easy to understand interface. In fact, adding a video to your channel is as easy as dragging it to the sidebar.

Overall it’s an impressive addition to an already interesting product. You can upgrad your current Flip hardware and software here and the iPhone app is available in the iTunes store.

Latest FlipShare™ software makes it simple to share video publicly, privately, or with groups

June 16, 2009 – San Francisco, CA

Taking video sharing to a new level, the makers of Flip Video today announced the latest version of its onboard FlipShare software that makes sharing personal video easier than ever before. FlipShare now gives users the ability to publish personal video channels online with Flip Channels™, in addition to easy uploading to popular sites like MySpace™ and YouTube™, and one-click private video emailing capabilities.

The innovative new Flip Channels feature enables users to easily share their favorite Flip content with groups of people they designate. Once created, their personal Flip Channels can be instantly viewed online at FlipShare.com or on an iPhone by using the new FlipShare iPhone application, also announced today.

"Flip Video changed the way people use video by making it simple to capture and fun to share," said Jonathan Kaplan, senior vice president and general manager of the Consumer Business Group at Cisco, which recently acquired Pure Digital Technologies, makers of Flip Video products. "Our latest FlipShare software, with the new Flip Channels feature, takes video sharing to the next level by making it incredibly easy to share video with a friend, a group, or with the world."

With FlipShare's new Flip Channels feature, consumers now have a simple way to share their favorite Flip content – both video and snapshots – with many different groups such as friends, family, classmates or teams. Once a user creates a Flip Channel, it can be viewed online at FlipShare.com or on an iPhone using the breakthrough FlipShare application for the iPhone. This new application gives FlipShare users, as well as their friends and family, instant access to their favorite Flip Video content from anywhere.

These latest software innovations build upon the success of the wildly popular Flip Video camcorder line. Since its launch in 2007, more than 2 million Flip Video camcorders have been sold and millions of videos have been shared using FlipShare software. Flip Video models are ranked as the number one and number two top-selling camcorders in the U.S. for the first quarter 2009, as ranked by leading market research firm The NPD Group.

The new version of FlipShare software will begin shipping as the onboard software for all Flip Video camcorders as of June 16, 2009. The software can also be downloaded for free by visiting www.theflip.com. The FlipShare for iPhone application is available for free in the iPhone App Store.

FlipShare Software Features:

• Preloaded software to save, organize, and edit videos with ease
• Works on any PC or Mac
• Email videos and video greeting cards
• Upload videos instantly to YouTube and MySpace
• Capture HD snapshots from videos using enhanced freeze-frame capabilities and share them along with videos
• Create Flip Channels to share content privately with groups of friends or family or to access your own content on the web
• Watch videos on-the-go at flipshare.com
• Create custom movies with your own music
• Enjoy your videos in full-screen play mode
• Order DVDs and have them shipped anywhere in the world

FlipShare Application for iPhone Features:

• View your favorite FlipShare videos and snapshots on your iPhone
• Access Flip Channels instantly from anywhere
• Watch Flip Channels from friends and family
• Download for free at the iPhone App Store

About Pure Digital Technologies, Inc.

Pure Digital Technologies was acquired by Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) in May of 2009 and operates as part of Cisco's Consumer Business Group. Its revolutionary Flip Video camcorders changed the way people capture and share video by making it simple, accessible and fun for anyone. Flip Video camcorders are pre-loaded with FlipShare software to enable easy organizing, editing, and seamless uploading to YouTubeTM, MySpaceTM Video and other video sharing sites. Flip Video products are currently available in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. More information about Flip Video products can be found atwww.TheFlip.com.

If you’ve been holding out for a convertible touchscreen tablet netbook, your wait may soon be over. Asus has put the Eee PC T91 up on its US website. Still no exact pricing or availability info yet, unfortunately, although it’ll apparently be available to retailers sometime this week.

The T91 features an 8.9-inch swiveling touchscreen at what I’d assume to be a 1024×600 resolution, Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, GPS, and even a built-in TV tuner. Looks like storage options are SSD-only with capacities of up to 16GB, which can be expanded via a secondary 16GB add-on card. It also looks like a 3G connection comes standard along with 802.11n wireless.

ASUS also claims up to five hour battery life, all in a body that weighs just over two pounds. Again, no official word on pricing or availability yet although the T91 is already available in the UK for £449 (about $740). That’s not to say it would cost $740 here, though. I’d guess it’d cost closer to between $500 and $600. We’ll hopefully find out more sometime this week.

Eee PC T91 [ASUS via SlashGear]

Amazon has a one-day deal on the Creative Labs Vado HD camcorder. Normally selling for around $215, it’s on sale for just $130 with free shipping.

The camcorder features 8GB of built-in memory, flip-out USB connector, 2-inch LCD, and includes an HDMI cable for hooking it up to your TV. Video is captured at up to 1280×720 resolution in the H.264 AVI format.

Very Flip-like in simplicity but without the high price tag.

Creative Labs Vado HD [Amazon]

Well, it’s here: The Olympus E-P1 Micro Four Thirds digital camera. The E-P1, or digital pen, packs in almost all the E-620’s magic into an absolute tiny and gorgeous body. A body that throws-back to the the late 50’s when Olympus launched the first Pen camera. Just like back then, pro photographers and amateurs alike are instantly falling in love with this shooter. Except for one small detail.

We are a little disappointed with the price, but the specs aren’t anything to joke about. Most of the rumored yesterday’s leaked info turned out to be true. The E-P1 comes in with a 12.3MP Live MOS sensor that’s equipped with a new processing unit called, TruPic V. Plus, it’s capable of 100-6400 ISO, 720p & 480p video recording, an HDMI-out, and a 3-inch screen. Not to bad for a tiny camera that measures in at just 4.7- x 2.7- x 1.4-inches, eh?

The small size does come with a price. The body will run $749 and $799 with a 14-42mm (3x) zoom lens. The kit with a 17mm pancake lens and viewfinder will cost $899. There will be a an electronic flash (FL-14) in same retro-digs available too for $199. It seems somewhat high, but remember that this tiny package holds a full DSLR sensor and the ability to swap lens. It’s still thousands less than the similar Leica M8.2 anyway. Expect the camera this July.

Photography Blog and the official product page have some full resolution samples up. DPReview also has a preview which, among other things, runs down the history of the Olympus Pen series.

We came, we saw, we played.

Sega

Alpha Protocol: We first saw AP at last year's E3 and things are looking quite good for Sega's upcoming "modern-day spy RPG". It's currently in Alpha and is scheduled for a late Fall launch on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It plays like a shooter with sprinklings of RPG thrown in to mix it up.

To recap: the main protagonist is Michael Thorton and he's still out to save the world. As Thorton you can upgrade weapons in the "black market" like you would in Dead Space. Mini games are also in effect throughout the game and they're akin to the mini games you might find in BioShock. There will be roughly 25 hours and the last mission has various endings depending on which path you choose to take. A "Fury" mode slows down the gameplay that allows Thorton to close in on enemies for hand to hand combat.

Aliens vs Predator: Rebellion makes a comeback on this upcoming Sega title that revisits and improves on their first AVP title that came out in 1999. AVP takes place 30 years after Aliens 3. Behind closed doors I saw a bit of the Marine campaign mode while E3 attendees checked out Predator campaign (or was it Alien?). To be honest it looked like any other FPS, but with Aliens and Predators hunting down your Marine ass. In other words, I liked it. There are three separate campaign modes that let you experience the thrill of the hunt from each side, but they all follow the same narrative story. Rebellion confirmed that AVP will have online multiplayer but failed to divulge any other details during the private demo. It's set for an early simultaneous 2010 launch for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The Conduit: Without a doubt, the best FPS for the Wii with amazing graphics that would have you think you're on an Xbox 360 or PS3. Online multiplayer is fantastic and the weapons in the game are badass. What sets the title apart from other Wii FPS titles is the amount of in-game control you have over controller settings. You can tweak the settings to make them as precise as you want. Just like you would on a PC. But the comparisons end there. It's a start, though. And a damn good one at that.

EA

NHL10: I'm not a hockey buff or fan, but EA had a compelling demo to make me want to play their upcoming hockey title, NHL 10. I especially enjoyed the first person fighting. If you're getting whooped on your screen gradually gets darker and darker to indicate that you're about to lose the fight. If your star player gets hassled then the team's tough guys come in to protect him. On the board play was also improved and lets players protect the puck like you would in real life. You can kick the puck away; pin an opponent to the glass and AI even comes over to help out. The fans also bang on the glass to replicate a real life hockey game. EA stated that passing was also improved from past releases with a full control passing scheme that lets you control speed and accuracy. The default setting is a hybrid control scheme between full control and assisted control. There have been over 200 improvements that include the ability to shoot from your knees and leg kicks to fake a shot.

FIFA 10: You might not believe it but the US ranks second behind the UK in sales for the FIFA franchise. The FIFA teamed scoured the forums to find out what gamers wanted improvements on for FIFA 10 and the 70 percent of the work went into improving the game based on those criticisms and critiques. Manager Mode features 50 new improvements, but the biggest improvement has to be the 360 degrees of dribbling. You can push the ball anywhere, make small lateral touches, and make minute directional changes. There's also a bit more contact when going for the ball so it feels authentic!

Dragon Age Origins: Set to launch on October 20th of this year. I'm not big into RPGs like this, but making video game characters do the humpty hump intrigues me. During my private demo, the BioWare devs bedded loner, sorceress, hottie Morrigan pissing off a fine red-headed Irish lass by the name of Leliana. If it's from BioWare it has to be good, right?

Dante’s Inferno: Video game adaptation of the Divine Comedy (duh). Your goal is to save Beatrice. Your weapons include Death's scythe and a cross that Beatrice once gave us a gift. As you can imagine, each level is one of the nine Circles of Hell and you begin in Limbo with unbaptized children terrorizing you among other beastly creatures. Graphics were stunning and at 60fps, gameplay is quite smooth. Dante collects souls as currency in the game and has the ability to absolve or punish characters that pop up throughout the game. Reload times in between deaths is amazingly quick. Fun fact: protestors were on hand at the EA booth handing out flyers to get the game banned.

Mass Effect 2: Is Shepherd dead? Well, BioWare made it clear that ME was a trilogy, so you should be able to figure that one out assuming you survived the first game. If you did then you can import your ME game into ME2. So make sure you survive ME2 so you can import it into ME3. Weapon effects, like head shots have been improved and there are now 90 weapons classes to choose from. An "interrupt" option has been implemented in the real time dialogue system that pops up in the bottom left corner of the screen. What I saw during my demo was a confrontation between Shepherd and a mercenary (or something, I don't remember what he was) that resulted in Shepherd pushing him through a window that he was leaning up against. In this scenario, the player has the option of acting on the "interrupt" whether he/she/it chooses to do so.

So the question remains whether or not Shepherd is dead. BioWare debuted a short cinematic trailer with the Normandy going down and Shepherd trying to save a crewmember. In the process, the ship gets hit one more time and Shepherd is seen floating off into space with very little oxygen. BioWare promises numerous endings based on the team you pick, so you best be picking a strong one.

Lucas Arts

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Three new features were revealed last week at E3 and that includes a new class, cover system and multiplayer dialogue, but I won't go into the latter since it's a bit dry and you can probably figure out what happens.

New class: Han Solo-like character that's a gunrunner for the Republic. Weapons at his disposal include flash bang grenades, pistol, and nut kicking moves, literally.

Cover system: For the first time in an MMO, TOR has a cover system that works much like cover systems you'll find in console FPS games. However, there are multiple points in one section, behind a boulder for instance, that give players better coverage or a better shot on enemies.

2K

BioShock 2: OMG!!! Multiplayer on the Xbox 360 for BioShock 2 is the new hotness. The demo I saw took place at the Kashmir Restaurant and pitted six players against one another in a deathmatch. Weapons, thus far, aren't anything new and include a pistol, shotgun and three elemental plasmids (Winter Blast, Incinerate and Electro Bolt). I just started playing through BioShock again and I kind of like the fact that it's a single player shooter. It's my hope that 2K reveals a multitude of multiplayer exclusive weapons. But playing as a Big Daddy is pretty damn cool in and of itself. Just be sure to find the suit before anyone else.

WB

Scribblenauts: A quirky DS game that makes you think outside the box. It's simple, really. You have one simple task each level and that is to obtain a Starite. How you obtain it is up to you. For example, one level might have a Starite dangling from the ceiling so you have to figure out what objects you might need to get it. Type or scribble "ladder" or "lasso" and you just might have yourself a Starite. You can use anything you can think of to get the object of your desire. It's a simple game, but probably one of the biggest titles to come to the Nintendo handheld this year.

Capcom

Lost Planet 2: More or less the same thing we saw in the first LP. I didn’t notice anything different, but that’s not to say it wasn’t fun to play. I also didn’t play for very long.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles: I can’t really say anything negative about the Darkside Chronicles. It’s a Resident Evil title and it’s good, but any other FPS besides The Conduit is pretty meh at this point.

Fuel cell technology is evolving at a rapid speed, it seems. In March, for example, Toshiba revealed plans to mass-produce portable fuel cells charging notebooks and phones. Now NGK Insulators, a company based in Nagoya, Japan, announced [JP] that it has developed the world’s most energy-efficient solid oxide fuel cell.

Fuel cells of this kind usually max out at energy efficiency rates of 55-60%, but NGK’s product is offering 63%. It’s able to continuously generate 700 watts at 800°C.

The new fuel cell is currently just a prototype, but NGK expects a commercial version by 2012 or 2013. The company says it will first target businesses, for example malls or convenience stores, possibly followed by a version for homes.

Video Review: Hillcrest Labs Loop Pointer
StudioDesk from BlueLounge might be my new dream desk
Bweedly beep de beep beep! Super Mario played on a theremin
Japanese robotics company unveils autonomous mini vehicle
Review: JBL Roxy reference 430 & 250 headphones

Attention Zunatics: regularly scheduled maintenance on all things Zune begins tonight.

Don’t freak out if you can’t access the marketplace from midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow. The Social will be there for you on Wednesday.

The amateur videographers among CrunchGear’s readership (hello!) know that even with the high-tech video tools we have available to us today, lighting can often be an issue. Pros take lighting very seriously, a fact Christian Bale does not appreciate. And when it comes to your crude YouTube-based dorm sitcom, the commenters will savage your poor lighting more than your bad writing. But if you get this budget 70-LED array, your climactic llama confrontation scene will be bathed in cold white light and every drop of spittle will be illuminated.

It even has its own built-in battery which you can charge with a wall charger or USB, and should fit right into your camera’s hot shoe. Great for interviews at things like CES, especially if they put you in the green room where there is almost no light at all, Sony, and you could have given us two minutes to set up, come on!

Of course, there’s more to lighting than just blasting the subject with a big white light. You’ll start getting into filters and gels, using the built-in reflectors to achieve a more glancing light, and so on. It’s a slippery slope from amateur to prosumer, so let Brando give you a push. $60 is less than a buck per LED.

Take your Star Trek fandom to the next level with these custom made Star Trek PEZ…USB drives. You know you want them. Your two friends would be so jealous. 2GB drive for only $25.

Etsy via 7gadgets

Although I’m not too much of a fan of the watch’s face, the great telephone cord band is great. The touchtone phone key bangle makes is a nice touch. $65 is a little much to pay unless it seems perfect for yourself or someone you know, but the idea is great. It’s also easy to do yourself with a little know-how and a dollar phone from Goodwill.

Get your own over at Uncommon Goods, where they’ve got other retro-remix accoutrements for sale as well. It’s easy to resist them when they’re just there as a picture, but if I were in a brick-and-mortar with all this stuff, I’d probably bankrupt myself.

[via Geeksugar]