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Virtual Boy TV spotted on eBay for $50,000

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:00:59 +0000

For the low, low price of $50,000 you can have your very own Nintendo Virtual Boy TV. Originally used by developers to output their games on a TV (for testing purposes!), you can re-live all the fun you had playing Mario Tennis at Toys R Us, but at home, and on TV!

Apparently this is a tremendously rare item, but there are several things that might keep you away. For one, it only outputs on PAL TVs, so you’d have to have access to one of those in order to play. Even then, it only works the standard AV cables, that is, not the fancy RGB cables.

The $50,000 price tag is also a sort of “best guess,” with the actual value of the item totally unknown. Maybe there’s some money mark out there who wants it so bad that he’s willing to pay one million dollars for it?

Oh, I don’t think any games are included, either. I mean, I see photos of the games in use, but I’m not sure that they’re included.

Why am I writing so much about this?

via Tiny Cartridge

Japanese government believes in future full of mind-reading devices

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:40:33 +0000

Mind-reading devices are nothing really new, but Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) apparently sees a huge potential for that market in the near future. The MIC will join forces with selected private tech companies to develop and commercialize robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled through thought. The project kicks off this fiscal year and is supposed to end by 2020.

The MIC says Japan should use its strength in fields such as brain science and IT to come up with TVs that could be operated without using fingers or cell phones that could send out emails via thought alone, for example. Other potential applications include a car navigation system that automatically displays the nearest restaurants when the driver thinks of having a meal or robots that can come to the rescue when elderly or disabled people are in trouble.

The MIC says it eyes working together with companies such as Toyota, Honda (see picture above) or Hitachi (all of which are experienced in developing brain interface technologies). Partners from the academic sector include Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Osaka University, and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International.

CrunchGear meetup this Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:30:57 +0000

So a funny thing happened to me the other day. I ran a little contest to give away the Time is Money calculator and clock. A guy named Tim won the TIM clock, which was pretty funny. I asked Tim for his mailing address, and he lives in lovely Lexington, KY. Funnily enough, I’m heading there this weekend to visit a friend! So I offered to personally deliver the TIM clock to Tim. And then I thought, hey, let’s make it a meetup!

Thursday, March 29 I’ll be getting into town around 8, I hope, and I’ll need time to freshen up after the long drive. So let’s all plan to meet at Pazzo’s around 9 PM. They’re only open until 11, so you don’t have to worry about me keeping you out too late.

Leave a comment if you plan on coming, so we can have a rough idea of head-count.

The iPad POS system, coming soon to a restaurant near you

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:16:48 +0000

A company called Lecere is working on an iPad Point-of-Sale system (POS != what you think). The system is compatible with the iPad and the iPod Touch and allows restaurants to add portable POS systems for under $2,000.

Me, I’d worry about gankage and breakage, but it’s definitely something you’ll soon see in popular restaurants all over the world very soon.

via TUAW

The iPad POS system, coming soon to a restaurant near you

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:16:48 +0000

Me, I’d worry about gankage and breakage, but it’s definitely something you’ll soon see in popular restaurants all over the world very soon.

via TUAW

Pioneer outs four “Works with iPhone” certified speaker docks

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:11:53 +0000

iPod speaker docks are still big business and Pioneer just announced four solid high-end contenders. Whether you’re looking for an audio-specific model or a feature-packed system, one of these models will likely fit the bill — as long as you can pony up the cash for the high admission cost.

The $449 XW-NAS3/-K is aimed at those that are looking for high fidelity sound first, and extras like wireless streaming and video output second. The system was built around a double isolated frame that’s said to improve overall bass response and significantly decrease cabinet resonance. One look at it and you know it’s solid. The system can also output video from the iDevice over component and composite video along with stream media via Bluetooth with a $99 adapter. April release

The XW-NAC1-K and XW-NAC3-K are slightly different. While they both probably still sound great, they feature more gizmos for $349 and $449, respectively. Both have dual docking ports and the ability to mix audio between both iDevices for a sort of DJ mode Pioneer has dubbed Double Shuffle. The higher end XW-NAC3-K even plays nicely with a LAN with an integrated DLNA 1.5 server that can server up media to a connected display. These models also don’t need anything else to stream content over Bluetooth. The adapter is built right in. Both should hit this June.

Then there’s the XW-NAV1K-K. This guy is a bit different and focuses on consumer convergence more than anything specific. It features a dock, FM radio, CD/DVD upscaling player, and CD to USB ripping ability that allows users to rip CDs to connected flash drives. Expect this guy in June for $299.

Pioneer outs four “Works with iPhone” certified speaker docks

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:11:53 +0000

The Archos 5 Internet Tablet gets access to Android Market’s paid apps

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:00:30 +0000

The Archos 5 Internet Tablet just got a bit cooler. It finally has access to paid apps from the Android Market thanks to the latest firmware. This solves one of the biggest gripes we’ve heard about the small Android tablets. Previsously users could only download the free Android apps, not the preimum apps that cost something. This is actually a significant move in the Android tablet market, a trend we hope is followed by others.

For some reason most Android tablets do not have access to the full Android Market. Some do not have access at all, instead preloaded with a bunch of apps right from the factory. But part of Android’s appeal is the open system and many tablets aren’t conveying the openness. Hopefully we’ll see more tablets outing firmware that opens up the Android Market to users. Then we’ll be able to have a valid conversation about the iPad vs Android tablets. [Archos Fans via liliputing]

Review: Energizer Recharge Smart Charger

othertech — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:57:43 +0000

The last time I paid attention to rechargeable batteries was probably back in the early 1990s. We had this huge recharging tech that allowed you to recharge all sorts of batteries – none of which we owned – so we were limited to recharging the D cells we had and used in, as I recall, some kind of remote controlled boat.

Anyway, Energizer has brought the battery charger into the 21st century by adding an LCD display that shows current charge level and, get this, hours left until a full charge.

There’s not much to say here. You can charge AA and AAA batteries – not at the same time – and the $19.99 kit includes four AA batteries, which is nice.