Latest Gear Live Videos
Chute is Smart and Green
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Design, Handhelds,
Smartphones are expensive but more desirable all the time, so why not get one that is also eco-friendly? The Chute, created by Industrial Designer Michael Laut, works like any other phone but is made of bamboo, which is not only biodegradable, but lighter and stronger than plastic. It probably won’t dent or crack if you drop it and if a friendly panda comes strolling by and looks hungry, perhaps he/she would appreciate the green gift. Contact Michael Laut for price and availability.
Read More 
| Yanko Design
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Time for New Wallpaper?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Internet, PC / Laptop,
If you don’t have enough money for a decent gift, do something nice for the spouse/partner in your life. Send an electronic greeting card, clean her/his monitor and keyboard, toss a few rose petals on the desk, and grab some new wallpaper. There are many links to sites for you to explore and download to your desktop. We particularly admired this simple rabbit and Chinese Summer. Select from calendar art, Apple, Microsoft, and Firefox themes, cartoons, minimalist art, and illustrations.
Read More | Smashing Magazine
Remake Cubes Spell Creativity
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Smart Home, Misc. Tech,
The French company Remake Design has created light-up cubes that you can put together, modify, and rearrange to get your point across. Each module has a 10W Xenon bulb and can be screwed to the wall or attached to each other by magnets. They offer a set of four for $300.00 and you can do your own thing depending on your mood or business. Suggested designs vary from a simple hello, to a business name, to Pac-Man, if you can’t get past the game.
Read More | Remake Design
Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News, Downloadable Content, Internet, Microsoft, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360,
A research paper from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has been released that suggests that games with online support can be crucial to a game’s retail success. Not surprisingly, another way to boost sales is to create a quality game (defined as those with a 90+ score on Metacritic), with these well-reviewed titles outselling the average release well above 5-to-1.
While making good games typically means making good money, naturally, it is a bit surprising to see the report indicate that sales can be doubled by dropping in an online mode. With online games selling twice the number copies that offline titles do, it’s curious to note that over half of games released don’t offer even basic online support.
Click to continue reading Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
Read More | Ars Technica
Nokia Takes Another Stab at the N-Gage
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile,
Apparently Nokia is nothing if not persistent. This week Nokia plans to introduce a third cell phone to bear the name N-Gage and try yet again to gain some traction with its cell phone/game device hybrid. This time they spent some time with the design firm Ideo to research what consumers wanted in such a device and think they have it right this time. “The graphics problem has been removed. And phones today are always connected and you always carry them with you. Phones are now the perfect device for gaming,” says product manager Tomi Huttula.
Most curious perhaps is the decision to stick with the name N-Gage, which at this point carries some pretty negative baggage. The idea of a cell phone that plays half decent games isn’t particularly bad on the face of it but the Finland-based company learned the hard way in 2003 that gamers, who are likely to be the early adopters and initial market for such a device, won’t jump on board just because an idea has potential but lacks proper execution. There’s no reason to stick with the brand name when it has already failed twice.
Still, Nokia seems undaunted by past disappointments and is focusing this time around on the multiplayer features and streamlining the experience to be more attractive to casual gamers. Also Nokia isn’t focusing on a single model this time around but will offer N-Gage games on a few of its Series 60 smartphones, presumably as a trial run, before gradually expanding to all Series 60 models. The prices have yet to be announced, but more details should be available later in the week.
Read More | New York Times via Game | Life
Is BioShock a Perfect Game?
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360,
The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, BioShock has received more perfect 100 scores than even The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, 2K‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.
Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.
Click to continue reading Is BioShock a Perfect Game?
Bleeding Edge TV 177: Interview: Stacy Wolff, Director of Notebook Product Design at HP
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Design, Features, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video, Videocasts, Videos,
This episode was sponsored by Geek Squad’s Idea Festival. Submit your ideas for using technology to save the planet at ideafest.geeksquad.com.
At Gnomedex 7.0, we caught up with Stacy Wolff of HP. This is the man in charge of designing all those shiny (literally) new laptops we have been seeing come out of Hewlett-Packard. We talk to Stacy about product design in a day and age where fashion can be just as important as function - after all, Apple has turned computers into accessories. Stacy shows us the thought process behind a couple of new consumer-level and professional-level HP notebooks in this video.
Unboxing Live 012: Ergodex DX1 Input System
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, PC, Peripherals, Videocasts,
We show off the Ergodex DX1 Input System in this episode of Unboxing Live. If you haven’t seen it, it’s an insanely cool keyboard that allows you to move it’s individual keys all over it’s smooth surface, creating your own customized keyboard.
Let us know what you think, or what you want us to unbox next!
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