Guitar Hero 3 goes on sale, gets unboxed, melts countless faces

Oh sure, GH2 players making the jump to 3 won't feel like any less like any less of a nerd trying to ape the genuinely cool (that is, if you actually still think The Scorpions are cool), but now your guitar is collapsible and, if you're lucky, wireless.

-By the way, if you're planning on picking yours up at your local Wally world, buyer beware: they're selling GH3 with the old school guitars from GH2.

We're not sure if this is going on elsewhere, but you should definitely keep an eye out.

Yep, Guitar Hero 3 is officially on sale and everyone and their tattoed mother's picked up a copy (along with the new axes that accompany it).

Video after the break.

Rock on, Bill, Ted.

Golden Crystal's KI-T12 PMP apes Nokia's 7260

 

Interestingly enough, this isn't even the first time we've seen a gizmo take a note from Nokia's 7260, but this particular copycat simply handles DMV, MP3, MPX and WMA formats, features a wee 1.5-inch color display and includes a built-in FM tuner to boot.

Golden Crystal Technology's KI-T12 didn't quite make the cut for the infamous keepin' it real fake list, but even though it's not a straight-up rip, there's no denying the similitude.

Per usual, you'll have to send in an inquiry to find out how much these things run, but honestly, why would you want to do that?

Furthermore, you'll find six equalizer presets, your own electronic pet game (Tamagotchi, reincarnated!) and a text viewer.

 

 

Best Buy's Insignia Kix: please make it stop

 

We were positively floored by the unadulterated horror of last year's NS-DVxG DAP from Best Buy's in-house Insignia brand, and now here comes the Insignia Kix to provide a low-cost, 1-inch screened entry to Insignia's shoddy lineup.

Look out Apple, Microsoft, SanDisk and anyone else who actually gives a damn about DAP design, features and quality: Best Buy still has a horse in this race.

The player supports MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible, sports an FM tuner, runs for 30 hours on a lithium-ion battery, and stores 1GB of your tunes for $60.

We suppose we can't rag on 'em for building a USB mass storage device, but that's about as positive as we're going to get for this one.

 

 

Guitar Hero III's wireless guitar battery pack costs you more moolah

 

For all the innovation that the "new-gen" of consoles have brought us, there's one thing that will apparently never change: ridiculously over-priced accessories. Giving the wireless Guitar Hero III controller a feature it should have had from the get go is the $19.99 single recharge kit, which removes the need to use and dispose of single-use batteries. This continues on from the precedent that Microsoft set with its wireless controller, which only comes bundled with a case to stick a couple of AA batteries inside. You can grudgingly pick up this necessary but over-priced accessory on October 31st from Red Octane's store.

White PS2 with Singstar hitting store shelves

 

The venerable PlayStation 2 just turned seven years old, and getting all dressed up for the occasion -- that hot Ceramic White slim PS2 Singstar bundle we saw a while back should be hitting stores this weekend, with availability everywhere by November 4, according to Sony's PlayStation Blog.

The $150 bundle includes Singstar Pop, a matching white DualShock 2, and two microphones -- just the thing to spice up those holiday parties.

 

 

 

Kinwei KW-P4 PMP: no buttons, no labels

Format support for the 2GB player is the usual mix of the standard and obscure, with MP3 and WMA audio support bracketed by "MTV" and "AWV" video formats, and you're also getting an FM tuner, ebook reader, and games built in.

In a sharp departure from the usual DIGITAL SOUND PROCESSING label overload, the KW-P4 instead features a virtually unmarked touchpad below its 2.4-inch screen.

We've seen some dramatically pared down interfaces on portable media devices before, but this PMP from China's Kinwei takes minimalism to a whole new level.

Of course, it's not at all clear how to actually use this thing, but at least it's calming, no?

 

 

Envision's 20-inch G2016wa LCD display

Envision certainly cranks out a lot of cheapo displays, but the company's latest 20-incher, the G2016wa brings quite a bit to the table for $240. The 1680 x 1050 display features a 5ms response time, 3000:1 contrast ratio, VGA and DVI with HDCP inputs, and built-in stereo speakers. Unlike Envision's previous Best Buy-only arrangement, this bad boy should be popping up all over starting right now, so those of you still rocking those grubby CRTs have no excuses left.

 

[Via Electronista]

 

Nintendo DS gets 1seg tuner, too -- watch out PSP

Maybe you know the deal with 1seg, but in case you don't, it's Japan's new(ish) native-brewed broadcast digital TV service technology that devices like the PSP -- and now the Nintendo DS -- are rocking. Granted, we can't help but thinking the way this cartridge is going to jut out the back of one's DS is hardly elegant compared to Sony's much more densely designed solution, but the Japanese obsession obsession with the DS knows no bounds, so godspeed, 'Tendo. This dongle will sell for ¥6800 (about $60 USD) when it goes on sale in Japan on November 20th.

 

[Via Engadget Japanese and Akihabara News]

Apple and Sony, like peas in an iPod

Funny huh? We knew something was a tad too familiar with those Sony DSC-T2 Cyber-shot cameras announced yesterday. Now, Engadget Japanese reveals why. Those pictures are official, un-doctored press shots from both Apple and Sony. The former (and we mean former) comes courtesy of archive.org since it's been supplanted by Apple's new nano. Of course, Apple's no saint in these matters either. Flattery at its finest, eh? Sony, like.no.other.

 

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Eighties Flashback: Make a MIXA Tape

Sometimes I miss the eighties: big hair, Cyndi Lauper, Rainbow Brite, Jem...That's why I'm thankful for the MIXA Tape: a USB cassette tape that brings me back to those cheesy times. Oh yeah, and it lets me store up to 1 GB of data. What's neat about the MIXA Tape is that each one is customizable. Choose a black or white cassette tape; design the sleeve by uploading photos from your computer, Flickr, or use the pre-made ones; give it a name; make the label; and buy it for £19.99 ($40 USD)! Now that's truly outrageous!

 

[via Everything USB]

Griffin Starts Shipping Evolve Speakers

Remember those Griffin Evolve speakers we previewed, back in May? The damned things have been mocking me at every tradeshow I've been to since. Starting today, they'll begin mocking me from store shelves. I'm still waiting for the official PC Magazine review, due out soon, but every time I see the things, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be $350 poorer in the near future.

 

The Evolve ships with a base that serves as both an iPod dock and a charging station for the unit's two speakers. Once charged, the speakers can be detached from the unit and will work wirelessly up to 100 feet, through walls. They should get up to ten hours on a single charge.

 

Additional speakers can be purchased and piggy-backed onto the system, though I think the two it comes with will be more than enough to fill my tiny Queens apartment.

Haiku Review: Mondo Mint Digital Music Station

Minty-fresh sound is
transmitted wirelessly...
but not usefully.

 

--Tim Gideon

Acoustic Research ARWH1 headset looks familiar for being a world's first

Oh, Qualcomm, how soon you forget. Just a few months after the Lubix UBHS-PH2 Bluetooth headset became the world's first device to ship with Qualcomm's MEMS display tech, the big Q is at CTIA touting the Acoustic Research ARWH1 headset as the first device with such a display to hit the market -- even though it's just a rebrand of the exact same Lubix headset. Sneaky! Expect to see the AR version in stores this November for $99.

Pepper Computer: "we're not dead"

Pepper Computer, manufacturer of the original Pepper Pads and developer of the Pepper Linux OS, has admittedly seen better days. After months of silence from the firm's executives led forum members to write the company off as dead, CEO Len Kawell has finally responded to users' pleas and posted a summary of Pepper's current state of affairs -- but not before we left a message at headquarters stating our intentions to write up a deathwatch piece this week. According to Kawell, both the OS and Pepper Pad 3 -- which is manufactured and supported by Hanbit -- are still alive and well, though poor sales of Pepper-powered OEM devices have meant declining revenue for the company -- resulting in what sounds like considerable downsizing. At this point, without the money to pay developers, Pepper is looking to either sell its distro or open source it, although even the latter route requires resources that seem to be in very short supply right now. If you're looking to contribute to the project in some way, make sure to chime in by clicking on the Read link; you can help them out and help save us from having to pen yet another teary corporate obituary at the same time.

 

[Thanks, moorashj]

Ask an Analyst: Gaming Lags on LCD TVs?

This question for Robert Heron, PC Magazine's HDTV lead analyst, comes from executive editor Jeremy Kaplan.

 

Robert, have you heard about any delays in LCD TVs? My friend's brother in law just bought a giant LCD, and he's complaining about the reaction time when gaming via his PS2. Just wondering if there was something obvious that he's got set wrong or connected wrong, or some known issue that you had heard about. Here's the IM thread that spawned this question:

 

[10:21] So he just scored a 52" HDTV. Yea, it was nice to watch. :)
[10:25] He said that with his PS2, however, it seems less responsive than it was with his old conventional TV, like there's a delay between pressing buttons and action. Since the PS2 has analog connections, perhaps some delay in the TV itself?
[10:25] Ever hear anything like that?
[10:26] What type of connection? RCA?
[10:26] I assume so -- your options with a PS2 are usually RCA or S-video.
[10:27] I believe that switching between inputs is generally a bit slower, since even if you're not using the HDMI, DVI, and other ports, the system still tries to detect a signal on 'em.
[10:29] It's not signal detection -- it's when he's actually playing that everything seems delayed.
[10:29] And I'm wondering if it's a known phenomenon, like a slow A/D conversion + upsampling to fit the big screen.

 

Robert's answer after the jump.

NEC works up LCD with switchable viewing angles

source : engadget

 

If Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me pretty much sums up your life, NEC apparently understands your pain paranoia. In an effort to help out, the firm has developed an LCD "that can switch between wide and narrow viewing angles without impairing image quality." This ability enables viewers to narrow the 140-degree viewing angle down to 30-degrees so that any plans to sneak a peek at what you're glancing at are immediately subverted. Furthermore, NEC's technology is said to differ from other alternatives by "not causing image quality to deteriorate," as it relies on a function of the rear plate (as opposed to the panel's front plate) to handle the switcheroo. If everything stays on track, expect these units to hit the market sometime next year in everything from ATMs to laptops.

 

[Image courtesy of NEC]