...Serving a daily dose of fresh gadget goodness since 2002!
Wow!gadgets.com is your first stop for the latest news on all the latest gadgets, gizmos, games, boys toys and new technology launching around the globe - hot off the press from the world's leading online publishers, blogs and gadget retailers. ...If it's there out, it's in here!
The Latest Gadget News from...
in Gaming...
Nintendo continues to dominate console market Data released from Gfk Charttrack has revealed that Nintendo is still well ahead of its competitors in terms of sales of the current generation consoles. In fact, the DS on its own has sold almost as many units as the Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP put together. It's not all bad news for Nintendo's rivals however. In 2009 the Xbox 360 is the biggest selling console - selling 700,000 units. The DS and Wii have both sold more in the last 12-month period though - 2.7million and 2.3million respectively compared to 1.7million for the Xbox 360. The total sales are as follows: Nintendo DS: 9.1million Nintendo Wii: 5.4million Microsoft Xbox 360: 3.9million Sony PlayStation Portable: 3.3million Sony PlayStation 3: 2.2million The figures will be of concern for Sony. They'll be hoping that the upcoming PSP Go and the rumoured PS3 slim consoles will help them get back on track in a market that, only a few years ago, they dominated. (via Gamezine)
Is it O2 that's rubbish or is it the iPhone? When I wrote my piece yesterday on O2 snapping up all the smartphones, it was initially from the point of view of pricing and monopoly. With both the Pre and the iPhone exclusively on board it rather limits the consumer's options in terms of getting the very best smartphones they can at a reasonable market price. Of course, the flip side of this is that O2 spends money on these exclusive deals that they could be investing to improve the quality of their network. Judging by the comments most of you agree. So, I had a further nose around the web and there's plenty of pages dedicated to O2 hatred, not least of all O2 sucks by Rob Follis who's so frustrated with the number of calls his iPhone drops and the terrible signal black spots, even in our capital city, that he's invited others to share their grievances. The funny thing is, that if you look over to the States you'll see a fair amount of similar literature on the matter with their exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T. Now, there's a few theories as to what might be going on here. Well, two. It's either the reception in the iPhone that sucks or it's the networks that carry them. Theory 1 For Theory 1, you can look to a host of articles written after the launch of the iPhone 3G or, more specifically, to the Infineon UMTS transceiver inside the handset. It's been described as an immature chipset, which doesn't sound good, not that I'm entirely sure what that means; erratic mood swings and arguments with the other components? Locking itself in its room and listening to loud music? The point is that there's certainly some evidence suggesting it may be a bit duff. One idea is that Apple themselves have set the chip to demand a higher strength 3G signal for it to function. Either way, it's suspect and, in fact, all this O2 and AT&T abuse is to do with the iPhone itself and not the networks. However... Theory 2 ...wouldn't you have expected Apple to have sorted something like that out? Certainly by the dawn of the 3GS? I've been using one for a few weeks now and I've noticed my quality of service drop through the floor, and it's not just me. My girlfriend switched to O2 onto one of the SIM only tariffs. It's an excellent deal. There's more minutes than you can stuff into your arm pit and enough texts to keep my thumbs busy with replies all day. But what they also seems to have added to our daily communications is a whole bunch of dropped calls, whether I'm using the iPhone or my usual Vodafone networked handset. In fact, if you go back to Rob's blog, there's a nice, succinct post on this one with a photo of a well-known, rock solid phone - the old Nokia 6210 - showing precisely no signal in NW3 5BL, London - a location that the O2 coverage checker describes as "High", the top ranking. Now, obviously, this on its own doesn't mean an awful lot. Most networks have all sorts of issues in all kinds of places but, anecdotally, O2 are the ones I seem to hear about the most. The trouble is that most of the evidence we are going to get is just that - anecdotal. So, if that's the way we're having to play it, let's at least gather as much of it as possible. Here's what I'd like you all to do: Activity 1 - Poll Vote. Which do you think it is. Activity 2 - Out Your Network Shout us your network and any black spot problems you've had so we can get a better picture of how good the mobile service providers' coverage really is. Rattle off those comments!
Ashes Cricket 2009 - coming in August Cricket games are never all that great, let's be honest. Graham Gooch World Class Cricket on the Amiga was okay but the batsmen would run without prompting causing numerous, unnecessary, run-outs and many a smashed joystick. But if there was ever a games console designed for a cricket simulator then surely it's the Wii? Ashes Cricket 2009 by Codemasters will put that theory to the test when it is released next month. The gameplay has the potential to be excellent. Codemasters is promising various shot types when batting including drives, cuts and slogs - hopefully you'll also be able to reverse-sweep for six, KP stylee. When fielding, players will be able to polish the ball to affect its movement and bowlers will have to turn the remote during their action in order to swing the ball. The features of the game sound pretty impressive too - the top eight test playing nations will be there along with real kits and real names. So no Harry Flentoff or Rocky Punting. All formats of the game will be present including tests and 20/20 and they'll be played in 10 real stadiums with commentary by Jonathan Agnew, Shane Warne, Ian Botham, Ian Bishop and Tony Greig. No Bumble unfortunately. Pre-order it from Game on the Wii for £29.99. It's £37.99 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and £24.99 on the PC - although they don't sound as much fun as the Wii version.
Elonex introduces the eBook in partnership with Borders Elonex has teamed up with bookshop giant Borders to launch the eBook. Or the eBook 600EB to give it its full title. The partnership with Borders means that the eBook comes pre-loaded with 100 "all-time classics". Presumably Napper Goes For Goal is one of the classics included - it is the greatest story ever told. The Borders' e-book store has an additional 45,000 titles available to download. The eBook is only 9mm thick and weighs just 180g. It has a 6-inch e-ink screen which can display eight different font sizes. It also has an SD card slot which can support up to 4GB. Elonex sells an accessory pack for the eBook for £29 which has a 4GB card as well as a leather case. Alternatively just buy a 4GB SD card from Play.com for £6.49. Elonex states that, with a 4GB SD card in place, the eBook can hold 8,000 books. "With 8,000 books weighing the same as an elephant," they say. "How else are you going to fit 8,000 books in your suitcase?" Quite why you'd need 8,000 books on you is open to debate though. Surely only Holly from Red Dwarf and, perhaps, Will Self have read 8,000 books. Sorry if this post came off a little unenthusiastic, it's just that with every e-book release, the giant Kindle sized hole in the UK becomes even more apparent. The Elonex eBook will cost you £189.95 and will be available here very soon. (via T3)
Asteroids the movie - what HD was made for Asteroids is coming to a big screen near you. That's no lie. The classic Atari title, originally released 30 years ago, is being made into a movie. I'm expecting it to be quite intense viewing - plenty of complicated dialogue, elaborate plot twists and some Oscar-worthy performances from its cast. Or maybe it will stay faithful to the original game and will simply be two-hours of a triangle-based spaceship blowing up some square-ish looking asteroids with little or no plot at all. Maybe they could even shoot it in black and white for added authenticity. Universal has apparently signed up Matthew Lopez to write the script for the film which will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura. It sounds like a winner. No honestly. Although it will have a hard job dislodging Super Mario Bros as the best ever movie adaptation of a game. Bob Hoskins as Mario - genius. (via THR & @clashcityrocker) Get yourself in the mood for the movie with a quick blast on the original game:
Microsoft withdraws controversial vomit advert Microsoft has pulled an online advert from its dedicated Internet Explorer 8 website, Browser for the Better, after it sparked complaints from some viewers. In the advert a wife looks on her husband's laptop and vomits after seeing his browsing history. By the looks of it she had just finished off a bowl of custard. The husband then slips on her vomit whilst Dean Cain - yep, Superman Dean Cain - enters and explains how the whole situation could have been avoided with IE8's private browsing feature. Microsoft said the ad was supposed to be "tongue-in-cheek". They said: "While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it." You can, unsurprisingly, still watch the advert on YouTube. Enjoy:
Creepy Crawly Kits - £12.95 Ever wanted to watch the remarkable sight of nature unfolding before your eyes? Maybe you’re just a little bit obsessed with bugs? You’ll be stroking your antennae with delight at these perfectly formed insect habitats that let you raise your own butterflies and stick insects! click here for more information
The Kitchen Sink - £12.95 A pop-up kitchen sink you can carry into the wilderness of forest and festival alike? This must be progress! Just add water to make any campground a more congenial and clean place to be around, thanks to a revolutionary collapsing design that stays upright as you scrub those blackened fireside saucepans… click here for more information
Tengu - from £19.95 Pointless, maybe; daft, definitely; mesmerising beyond belief? You betcha! Tengu is the USB-friendly face-pulling companion that lip-syncs along to the music, speech and sounds it 'hears'. Ideal for gizmo fans with a tad too much time on their hands. click here for more information
Asado Grill Instant BBQ Stand - £9.95 Throwaway barbecues are great – but practical and stylish they ain’t. Arm yourself with an Asado and your charcoal woes are over: it’s a neat nest for the tin BBQ tray that looks as good as a well-cooked banger tastes. click here for more information
Beerdolier - £14.95 Too many beers, and not enough hands – it’s the age-old problem. Luckily we can come to rescue with the Beerdolier: an awesome solution to carrying six beers at once in super-chilly neoprene sleeves that insulate your bevvies against the searing heat of sun and barbecue alike… click here for more information
Design Your Own Fragrance Kit - £24.95 Unleash your inner Coco with this ingenious kit that lets you design and create your very own high quality fragrances. A fantastic gift for any woman who adores gorgeously unique perfumes, it makes perfect scents. Seductive or invigorating? You decide. (Pretentious ad campaign not included). click here for more information
Survival Bracelets - £21.95 Tough time call for tough accessories, and they don’t come harder than this: a bracelet concealing yards of ultra-reliable parachute cord that unravels when you need it most and meets a million and one uses – if you know that many knots, that is… click here for more information
USB Turntable - from £69.95 The greatest thing to happen to music since Smashy and Nicey hung up their headphones, these idiot-proof USB turntables allow you to transfer your vinyl collection directly on to your computer. click here for more information
Pet's Eye View Camera - £39.95
Does your Fido go AWOL? Does ol’ Patch get up to much while you’re at work? Buy this brilliant pet cam and you’ll be going on a journey every day just like your pooch does: lampposts, cats and sofas are all faithfully put down in photo format. click here for more information
We haven't heard a solitary peep out of IXI Mobile in a hot minute, even though its Ogo line -- once a member of Cingular's lineup -- had found some niche popularity among teens and the deaf community. We'd even thought they'd gone into R&D hibernation, actually, but apparently not -- they're innovating. They're innovating so much, in fact, that they've innovated themselves right out of the landscape clamshell form factor that made the Ogo famous. This Inventec-sourced CC-10 we just spotted in the FCC looks more Centro than Ogo, though all of the original's features -- notably strong IM and social networking support -- carry on through to the new model. At any rate, we can say that IXI doesn't intend to break back into the North American market -- at least not with this exact unit, anyway -- since GSM 1900 and Bluetooth are the only features it bothered testing.
It's been nearly a month since the launch of Palm's newest handset, the Pre. Since then, we here at Engadget have heard some vague and hard to substantiate claims of hardware failures -- cracked screens, a little broken plastic here and there -- but nothing on a large scale, so far as we can tell. We thought it was about time to turn it over to you the readers (the ones lucky enough to have a Pre, anyway), to tell us how the phone is holding up physically. Is it tough as nails or is it falling apart? Poll is after the break.
Get out your Bill Gates commemorative calendars folks, 'cause it looks like we now have a few more dates to mark off on the road to Windows 7 availability. While Microsoft still isn't saying anything official itself just yet, a number of different sources are reporting that the company has set July 10th as the date for the final gold build of Windows 7, while the big release to manufacturing date is apparently on track for July 13th. Of course, things could still change if there's a major bug or other problem encountered, but barring any disasters, that'll likely be the same build that finds its way onto your PC this fall.
