While Spore looks faintly silly to us, apparently many people disagree. GameRankings reviewed 9 articles in sites like GameSpot and IGN and determined that the average rating for Spore was 86% & so sales should be good. go figure..

In stores tomorrow.

Epson has lifted the curtain on three new LCD projectors at the CEDIA expo that support 1080p resolution for all your high definition needs. The three projectors would be the PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, PowerLite Pro Cinema 7100 and Pro Cinema 7500 UB. The flagship Pro Cinema 7500 UB is Epson’s pride and joy, featuring the following :-

75,000:1 dynamic contrast ratioC2Fine software and FineFrame technology12-bit 3LCD driver 2.35 or 2.4 aspect ratio viewing

The remaining two projectors are less capable, although that doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough for the average home. The Pro Cinema 7100 comes with a 18,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 1,800 lumens of brightness and a Day and Night mode. As for the PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, that model boasts a 18,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a Dynamic Iris system and a 200W lamp. All three models will feature a trio of HDMI 1.3a inputs, S-Video, composite and VGA connectivity. You can pick up the PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, Pro Cinema 7100 and 7500 UB for $1,999, $3,000 and $4,500, respectively.

Add a comment | From: Epson Has Trio Of LCD Projectors | Visit Ubergizmo

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Coasters are usually the farthest thing from gadgetry you can get, however, these coasters feature a pixelated quality that no geek could pass up.  It comes in one big book that includes fifty sheets, so you can decide to have an overly long coaster if it suits you.  You can also break off the average one square.  Once you have chosen your length, you can then pop out the individual squares to customize your coaster.  You could of course go for the classic Space Invaders or you could just pop out a few random squares to give the coaster a little more character.

The squares are all completely random as far as their color shades go, so no two will look exactly alike.  They’re also made of a resilient paper fiber that is supposed to be able to last through condensation from your drink as well as the occasional clumsiness that results in a spill of your morning coffee.    The coasters come in two different colors, blue and a pretty pink.  Sadly these are coming from a Taiwan retailer, so this isn’t going to be available for those of us in the States or in the UK just yet.  It is being sold for 260 Taiwan dollars or about $8.

Source: Technabob
[ Pixel drink coasters allow you to customize each one copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Epson has lifted the curtain on three new LCD projectors at the CEDIA expo that support 1080p resolution for all your high definition needs. The three projectors would be the PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, PowerLite Pro Cinema 7100 and Pro Cinema 7500 UB. The flagship Pro Cinema 7500 UB is Epson's pride and joy, featuring the following :-

• 75,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
• C2Fine software and FineFrame technology
• 12-bit 3LCD driver
• 2.35 or 2.4 aspect ratio viewing

Add a comment | From: Epson Has Trio Of LCD Projectors | Visit Ubergizmo

In 1985, RDI Video Systems released the Halcyon, a home video game console with a built-in laser disc player. Besides that, its main claim to fame was its patented voice recognition system, where all input would be handled by speaking into an attached microphone.

"Innovative", but only two video games were released before RDI went belly-up. And as this early demonstration shows, its easy to understand why: the average user had to eye-roll their way through three or four minutes worth of labored, electronically monotone pillow talk before the Halcyon would even let you play a damn game.

I love this clip. From the stuttery, uncomfortable RDI Spokesman's insistence that the Halcyon is just like 2001's HAL-9000 (a computer system mostly known for licking an extraterrestrial Monolith and going on a mass-murder rampage) to the shimmer of grease on all the veteran broadcast men, it's a masterpiece of unintentional humor. You could slap it up on BBC's Look Around You site completely unchanged and everyone would assume it was a masterful parody.

Every time you pine for the retro-future of decades past, keep in mind this little exchange, as The Computer Chronicles host tries to get the Halcyon to accept his voice command.

Broadcaster: Sorry, HAL.

HAL: HUH?

Broadcaster: One.

HAL: WUT?

Broadcaster (emphatically): ONE.

HAL: SPEAK CON-SIS-TENT-LY, STU-ART.

This is the future we all were promised!

Sure, that's cool, but you're probably wondering what's up with that crazy escape pod shell at the head of the chair. Well, that's kind of what it is: It's a music-playing enclosure that will cycle through three different mood lighting programs, and sync up with your MP3 player to boot. On its website, OSIM says the shell was inspired by butterfly cocoons.

The OSIM uSpace seems well equipped to help you getaway for a little while, though it also costs as much as a vacation at $6,000. (Just between me and you, I'm hoping a uNaming meme doesn't become the next iSore.)

OSIM, via Selfridges & Co

The Specifications:

• Connectivity: 2.4 GHz wireless (USB Adapter)
• Power: Two AA Batteries
• Sensor: 848nm Adjustable-dpi laser
• Special: DPI Controls & Stealth Thumb Button

The Buttons: - 5/5 stars
The best part of the MX 1100 is the large amount of buttons it features without becoming overwhelming for those who don’t plan on using anything past the essential ones. The mouse is a bit larger than an average sized mouse, but is quite comfortable to use and both the left & right click buttons provide great tactile feedback. A button below the scroll wheel allows switching between a “notched scroll” and a “frictionless scroll”. The standard “notches” setting lets you feel each bump while scrolling, whereas the “frictionless” setting allows flicking through pages rapidly. The scroll wheel supports 4-way scrolling, so leaning it to either side will allow scrolling in that direction. Pushing in the scroll wheel functions as a middle-click, which is great for opening links in new tabs. A plus and minus button at the top left of the mouse allows increasing or decreasing the DPI settings to adjust sensitivity. It’s quite neat to be able to change the sensitivity at anytime without having to dig through the Control Panel. Directly above the thumb rest are the forward and backward keys. Although well placed, they were a bit too soft to offer enough feedback in my opinion. The final neat feature is the “stealth thumb button”, located in the thumb rest, which has been configured by default to launch Vista’s 3D flip interface to switch between open windows. And as always, installing Logitech’s SetPoint drivers and software will allow customizing any button to do just about anything you would like it to do.

Accuracy and Transmission: - 5/5 stars
Despite being a wireless mouse, the device maintained a strong connection with the transmitter. There were no problems getting it to work from even over 20 feet away. The MX 1100 is also quite accurate, movements are almost flawless and the adjustable DPI doesn’t disappoint. Hard-core gamers will probably still complain about accuracy, but for most consumers this will end up being the most accurate mouse they have used. That doesn’t mean its bad for gaming, it was better than any of the mice I had and was excellent to use while playing a game of Counter-Strike.

Battery and Charging - 3/5
The way the mouse gets it’s juice is probably the only drawback. The Mouse runs of two AA batteries and Logitech claims it will last about nine months. The mouse automatically goes into a power-save mode, however Logitech still says by using the “on/off button, you save even more power.” There is a battery indicator on the mouse that lights up when turned on, but fades away after a couple of seconds. A re-chargeable version of this mouse is available, however it can only be purchased as a part of a Cordless Desktop Wave Pro keyboard-mouse bundle. Unfortunately we can’t test the mouse for nine-months, but from experience I can say that the lifespan could be much shorter or longer based of how many hours it gets used each day.

Conclusion:
Overall, the Logitech MX 1100 is a top-of-the-line mouse and is probably one of the best ones I have used to date. It is extremely comfortable, completely customizable, and just works. If you do happen to be a “lefty” (left-handed), you are out of luck. It would be quite difficult to use this mouse comfortably with a left hand. For a retail price of $79.99, while being available for as low as $65 online, it’s affordable and offers just about everything you could ask for. I only wish it was rechargeable, but despite that most owners will be truly satisfied by what Logitech’s MX 1100 has to offer.

Links: Logitech.com MX 1100
Buy: MX 1100 For $65 (no tax + free shipping via Amazon)

The tree loving folks at TreeHugger have literally taken the ScanGauge out for a spin in their Ford E150 van, driving it all the way from Philadelphia to Wisconsin and back. Here’s what they have to say about it.

ScanGauge makes the reality of mileage variation painfully obvious to even the least mechanically minded driver. Teens in the van were initially shocked that stepping on the gas after a stop light turns green, or on an uphill course of highway, leads to instantaneous mileage in the 3 to 5 range. Accelerating slowly…painfully slowly if you are a teen I would imagine…raises instantaneous mileage to the 8 to 10 range. This simple information feedback was a big attention getter. Hopefully, the doors to efficiency understanding were permanently opened. That said, a still more powerful feature of ScanGauge is the ability to average mileage by preceding hour(s), days, and weeks. Taking turns driving on our cross country trip, I were able to demonstrate at our rest stops, with hard numbers, who the most efficient drivers were and who the least efficient drivers were.

Well, now you have a device that lets you know exactly who’s the culprit with a lead leg, pressing the accelerator down most of the time.

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