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Posts Tagged ‘blue’

Around 1976, when I was a very young lad, I somehow convinced my parents to spring for a home version of the most cutting edge consumer video game available at the time – Pong. I fondly remember sitting in the living room and playing that game for tens of hours. My parents actually thought it was fun, too. And so did the neighbors, who all stopped by to try it out. Pong was a genuinely new and totally fun social thing. And it sure beat playing Monopoly.

Video games have evolved, but I’ve never quite had that Pong moment again. Until yesterday, that is, when I visited Microsoft and had a chance to try out Project Natal, an add-on device for Xbox that lets users control games by simply moving their body. Just like real life.

I assumed Natal would be a lot like the Wii, which uses motion sensors in handheld devices to control gameplay. But the experience is totally different. Natal allows for extremely nuanced movements, even determining via algorithms what you are doing with body parts the camera can’t see (like when your hands go behind your back). And for anyone who’s accidentally and painfully hit a wall or a window playing a strenuous game of Wii Tennis: Natal avoids this problem by keeping you in a zone where your movements are tracked. You just naturally gravitate to the center of the room after movements.

The game I and others were playing was called Ricochet. You see your the back of your blue avatar on the screen (similar to first person shooters) You hit red balls against a group of targets in front of a wall. You can hit the balls, which bounce back towards you after hitting the wall, with your hands or any other body part. Headers, kicks, knees, whatever. You get points for speed and accuracy. You can see a video of Ricochet here.

Ricochet is a lot like Pong actually. Not much to it.

But it was so damn fun.

After I played a game and others took their turn I looked around. Everyone was smiling, and laughing, just like the neighbors back in 1976 while watch Pong. And the Microsoft employees were carefully watching us smiling. They looked like they’d seen that reaction before. Forbes Quentin Hardy, sitting next to me, drew the analogy to Pong (and then wrote about it). I wholeheartedly agree. There’s something very special about Natal that goes way beyond what Nintendo did with the Wii. I can’t wait to get my hands on one later this year.

The 2010 Ford Taurus SHO is quite possibly the geekest car to ever wear the blue oval. It’s packed with nearly every technology option that Ford has available.

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Video hands-on: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO

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If only this comic turned out to be true about Steve Job’s announcement tomorrow

The new 2010 Volkswagen GTI is a stylish and versatile piece of machinery.

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Test Drive: 2010 Volkswagen GTI

I just came across this story in the neighborhood newspaper. I can’t find it anywhere online

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Great, Seattle middle-schoolers are making shanks now

As the number of apps in the App Store rapidly approaches 100,000, the fact that growth is still accelerating is pretty staggering. It’s not hard to see why when app development houses are pumping out dozens of apps in short order. But at that volume, most of those apps aren’t going to be very good. Big in Japan, a respected mobile app development house, has a plan to up the ante in terms of both quality and output.

The company has set a goal to release 100 apps before the end of 2010 for the iPhone. How are they going to do this? By pulling together a bunch of developers from around the U.S. to make an app development power house. Currently, the team has assembled 25 developers and 25 user interface guys to work towards the goal. The team members mix and match, pairing up to do one app at a time. When they complete that one, it’s on to the next one, with a new set of partners.

The concept is actually much more straightforward than pulling new app ideas out of the blue and making them. The reason Big in Japan decided to do this was because they were being approached by so many brands and companies to help them build iPhone apps, that there was no way Big in Japan could keep up with the demand the way the team was previously structured. So now, when a new app request comes in, Big in Japan looks it over, decides if they think its a good fit for their large team to do, and then pass it along to the app developers.

And it’s a good deal for the developers because they are all working together towards a common goal: Money. The way the model works is that this pool of developers collectively own half of the company (which is a sub-division of Big in Japan). As such, they get half of the revenue from the company to split up between them. So the better each of them do, the better they all do. And it’s based on a country club model, Big in Japan co-founder Alexander Muse tells us. Basically, these developers buy their seat, but if they decide they want to move on, they can sell it to someone else.

Muse expects that 25 apps will be launched this quarter from the project. And he hopes to continue that pace through the end of 2010. Realistically, he admit that maybe only 80 or so apps will actually be available when all is said and done in the App Store. He, like everyone else, realizes that it can be tricky to get apps approved at times by Apple, and he suspects that some developers will get fed up and simply stop working on those apps. Still, 80 apps in a year from one house would be very impressive.

Big in Japan made a name for itself with its ShopSavvy application, which won the Android Developer Challenge last year. ShopSavvy still has yet to launch for the iPhone, but Muse recently wrote that it will be launching very soon.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

We have another early entry into the wonderful world of leaked Black Friday ads with Sears opening at 4:00 AM on Friday morning and offering a pretty enticing list of door busters (available until noon) and other sale items to satisfy the rabid consumer in everyone. Products include the following (door busters are marked with an asterisk): Digital Cameras Canon 980IS 12.1MP Digital Camera – $279.99 Canon Powershot SD780 IS 12.1MP Digital Camera – $179.99 Canon Rebelx XS Digital SLR Camera & Canon EF 75-300MM Telephoto Zoom Lens – $669.98 Disney Pix Micro Digital Cameras Designed For Just For Kids – $9.99 * Fuji J29 10MP 3X Zoom 2.7″ LCD Digital Camera Bundle – $89.99 * GE A1250 Digital Camera #0387779 – $69.99 * Hi Pro Camera Kits #0354381/80 – 50% Off * Jazz T20 4X Digtal Zoom 1.5″ LCD Camcorder #0339539/39540 – $19.99 * Jazz T55 Camcorder #0339538 – $49.99 * Kodak CD80 10.2MP, #x Zoom Digital Camera 2.4″ LCD 2GB Card And Case – $79.99 * Kodak M1063 10.3MP Digital Camera – $89.99 Nikon Coolpix 12MP Digital Camera – $149.99 Nikon COOLPIX L20 Digital Camera – $99.99 * Olmpus FE-4000 12MP Digital Camera – $99.99 Samsung C10 SD 1200 Digital Zoom 10X Optical Zoom 2.7″ LCD Camcorder – $149.99 * Samsung Compact Full HD Camcorder – $399.99 Samsung SL40 12.2MP Digital Camera – $79.99 Sony 4GB Camcorder – $249.99 Sony 60GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder – $299.99 Sony Cyber-Shot 10.1MP Digital Camera – $99.99 Sony Cyper-Shot 10.1MP Digital Camera – $249.99 Digital Media Cards Sandisk 2GB SD Card – $5.99 SanDisk 4GB Memory Cards Or Flash Drive – $8.99 * Sandisk 8GB SDHC Card – $14.99 Sony 2GB Memory Stick PRO Due – $12.99 DVD Players Curtis DVD Player AR – $17.99 * GPX 8″ Portabe DVD Player PD808BU – $79.99 GPX DVD/CD Boom Box 7″ LCD Display #5710084/BD707B – $99.99 * Magnavox DVD Player With VCR #5757168/DV225MG9 AR – $49.99 * Samsung Blu-ray Disc Player BD-P1600-A – $149.99 Sony Blu-ray Disc Player BDPS360 – $149.99 Sony DVD Player DVP-SR200P – $34.99 Sylvania 7″ Portable DVD Player #5757149/SDVD7015-BLUE AR – $49.99 * Electronics AT&T DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone System w/4 Handsets – $59.99 Coby 7″ Digital Photo Frame – $29.99 * Coby 8″ Digital Frame – $49.99 iHome Portable iPod/MP3 Speaker System – $9.99 Karaoke CP398 – $29.99 Kodak 7″ Digital Frame – $49.99 Pandigital 10″ Digital Photo Frame – $69.99 * Sony E10 Ear Buds Headphones – $4.99 Sony Wireless Headphones – $29.99 GPS Systems Garmin Nuvi 205 GPS – $89.99 * Magellan RoadMate 1220 GPS – $89.99 Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS – $119.99 * TomTom One 130 GPS – $79.99 TomTom XL325S – $99.99 Home Theater Panasonic Blu-Ray Home Theater System #5798529/SC-BT200 – $399.99 * RCA 5.1 Channel 250 Watt Home Theater System RTD317 – $99.99 Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt Single Disc DVD Home Theater System #5798659/HT-Z320 – $197.99 * Samsung Blu-ray Home Theater System HT-BD1250 – $397.99 Sony Bravia 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt Integrated Home Theater System DAV-HDX589 – $329.99 MP3 Players GPX 4GB MP3/4 Player – $32.99 iH4 iHome Alarm Clock For iPod #5792408/18 – $29.99 * Mach Speed MP3 Player #5782229 – $24.99 * RCA 1GB Sport MP3 Player #5731060 – $13.99 * Televisions AOC 32″ Full HD LDC TV – $379.99 Audiovox Under Cabinet Kitchen 7″ LCD DVD Clock Radio – $179.99 Eviant 7″ Hand Held TV – $89.99 LG 55″ LCD HDTV 55LH40 – $1499.99 Panasonic 42″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775529/TC-P42S1 – $649.99 * Panasonic 54″ Plasma HDTV TC-P54G10 – $1499.99 Proscan 40″ Class LCD HDTV #5771379/40LC45Q – $539.99 * Samsung 22″ Class LCD HDTV #5772015/LN22B350 – $249.99 * Samsung 40″ Class 1080p LCD HDTV #5771409/LN40B500 – $599.99 * Samsung 40″ LED HDTV UN40B6000 – $1399.99 Samsung 42″ Plasma HDTV PN42B400 – $549.99 Samsung 46″ 1080P Class LCD HDTV #5771419/LN46B500 – $899.99 * Samsung 46″ Class LCD HDTV #5771079/LN46B650 – $1309.99 * Samsung 46″ LED HDTV UN46B6000 – $1599.99 Samsung 50″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775129/PN50B430 – $699.99 * Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV PN50B530 – $899.99 Samsung 55″ LED HDTV UN55B6000 – $2469.99 Sharp 19″ Class LCD HDTV #5772149/LC19SB27UT – $179.99 * Sony 32″ Class LCD HDTV #5771459/KDL-32L504 – $379.99 * Sony 40″ Class LCD HDTV #5771439/KDL40S504 – $664.99 * Sony 46″ Class LCD HDTV #5771449/KDL-46S504 – $854.99 * Sony 46″ LCD HDTV KDL46V5100 – $1239.99 Sony 52″ LCD HDTV KDL52V5100 – $1599.99 Toshiba 40″ 1080P Class LCD HDTV #5771438/40RV525U/R – $589.99 * VIZIO 32″ ECO HDTV VO320E – $349.99 Zenith 42″ Class Plasma HDTV #5775849/Z42PO2 – $499.99 * Video Games 2-Pack Wii or DS Games – $14.99 * 2-Pack Xbox-360 Games or PS3 Games – $24.99 * 3-Pack PS2 Games – $9.99 * Biggest Loser (Wii) – $29.99 Facebreak (Xbox 360) – $14.99 Guitar Hero World Tour For PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 – $49.99 * Halo ODST (Xbox 360) – $39.99 Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) – $39.99 Nerf Racing Wheel Wii – $9.99 Nintendo DS Games – $19.99 * Nintendo DS Games – $29.99 * Nintendo Wii w/Nerf Racing Wheel – $199.99 Playstation 3 120GB – $299.99 PS3 Blu-Ray Remote – $24.99 TNA Impact (PS3) – $14.99 Various Video Games – $14.99 or Under Xbox 360 Elite Bundle – $299.99 Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Card – $49.99 Check out the entire list and ad scan over at BlackFriday.info

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Sears Black Friday ad

Launching in beta today is MyCE , a community-driven network that aims to cross swords with the CNETs and GDGTs of this world when it comes to building places on the Web people gather to share news, reviews and knowledge about consumer electronics and gadgets. The site is a new venture from Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based RankOne Media .

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MyCE launches community-driven gadgets review and news site

Verizon just confirmed that the Moto Droid will arrive next week for $199 with a new, 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will need a voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month. See our full Droid coverage here and look for a full hands-on later today.

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Droid drops November 6 for $199 with contract

There was a rumor a few weeks ago that Olympus was going to launch another Micro Four Thirds camera before the end of the year dubbed the E-P2. This guy was suppose to have a rangefinder and hopefully be done up in the same retro fashion as the E-P1

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Olympus China confirms the E-P2 Micro Four Thirds camera