Gears of War 2 looks like a compelling enough reason to buy an X360. This is about the glossiest shoot ‘em up I have ever seen, the video gives you a good look at what looks to be a fairly easy level of the game. The video takes you on a gory roller-coaster ride through one of the games levels and is certainly worth checking out if you are in the console market. GeOW2 (not to be confused with God of War 2) will be dropping this November and will be exclusive to the X360. Video after the jump. (more…)

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While there is still a long way to go before we have fully-fledged robot helpers, this video provides an interesting demonstration of learning robots. The cooking robot, a creation of Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at EPFL, is taught to prepare a ham and cheese omelet and makes use of a Wii-mote as a control interface. It is a work in progress, but very, very interesting. It is quite a long video but well worth the time that it takes to watch. [EPFL via Bot Junkie]

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It appears that several mid-sized VoIP companies are failing to realize their potential and being edged out of the market. One of the biggest of these companies is Jangl, a VoIP business that began by offering anonymized online calling and then moved on to the development of click-to-call VoIP widgets for social networking sites. Despite having done moderately well in these areas, the venture capitalists backing the business aren t interested in continuing their support. Talks of acquisitions came to a standstill this week and major players in the organization resigned. It appears that many of them are going to be moving over to work at Jajah, a company that has done significantly well for itself in the VoIP industry over the last year or so. It is unclear what will be happening with Jangl at this time but it seems safe to say that it s not a name we ll be hearing much of anymore.
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Simulator fans are a strange lot. They don’t usually take to the simple joys of regular digital entertainment. Many of them like a level of realism that most normal folks find tedious, but they are out there and they are just as tech-obsessed as the rest of us, if not more. Today, we are going to take a look at eight of the coolest simulators on the planet. Most normal folks don’t have the budget to afford these systems or the time or knowledge to build them, but they can be enjoyed temporarily, if you don’t mind paying for the privilege.

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LAS VEGAS, USA (AVING Special Report on ‘2008 NATIONAL HARDWARE SHOW’) — Stewart Hammer demonstrated its Stewart hammer with an 8 to 1 nail pulling leverage at the 2008 National Hardware Show, May 6 ~8, in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS, USA (AVING Special Report on ‘2008 NATIONAL HARDWARE SHOW’) — FLO n STOP presented its wireless remote controlled water security system at the 2008 National Hardware Show, May 6 ~8, in Las Vegas.

Users just need to touch the ‘off’ button placed by an entry door when leaving home, and water pressure to all plumbing fixtures will be shut off. Upon returning, push the ‘on’ button, and all water will be restored. The FLO n STOP is designed for both single homes and can be programmed for multi-family and condominiums with over 250 units in a building.

LAS VEGAS, USA (AVING Special Report on ‘2008 NATIONAL HARDWARE SHOW’) — PF WaterWorks showcased PermaFlow drain management system at the 2008 National Hardware Show, May 6 ~8, in Las Vegas.

It features a durable ABS plastic, transparent color which enables both the owner and the plumber to quickly troubleshoot the system. Also PermaFlow requires no chemicals to remove clogging debris while it can be cleaned with a built-in paddle.

LAS VEGAS, USA (AVING Special Report on ‘2008 NATIONAL HARDWARE SHOW’) — FLO n STOP presented its wireless remote controlled water security system at the 2008 National Hardware Show, May 6 ~8, in Las Vegas.

Users just need to touch the ‘off’ button placed by an entry door when leaving home, and water pressure to all plumbing fixtures will be shut off. Upon returning, push the ‘on’ button, and all water will be restored. The FLO n STOP is designed for both single homes and can be programmed for multi-family and condominiums with over 250 units in a building.

By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s an easy (albeit expensive) way to class up your board game night. Just throw away that old cardboard Clue game and replace it with this Premier Edition. The gameboard is a wood-paneled box that features nine sunken three-dimensional rooms complete with decorations and even miniature furniture. Unfortunately all of those miniature rooms are off-limits since they’re covered by a non-removable piece of tempered glass. Also, I suspect that Colonel Mustard has been replaced with Colonel Grey Poupon, and instead of killing people with weapons, the characters all commit various levels of corporate crime. Now that’s classy!

Clue Premier Edition is available from Restoration Hardware for $149.

[ Clue Premier Edition ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

An analyst with In-Stat has released information about a problem that most people are already aware of the difficulty of getting 3G coverage for mobile broadband inside of many homes. The analyst confirms that macro-level solutions are not the way to go in solving this problem and says that companies instead need to look at developing base stations that can boost indoor coverage. We re already seeing that take place with the development of femtocell technology. What s interesting about this article is that it also points out the benefits of microcell and picocell technology. These two technologies are used today to boost Wi-Fi in small areas (such as sporting events) and play a key role in the development of femtocell technology.
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BitTorrent tracker TorrentSpy was punished with one of the largest fines in copyright infringement history ($111 million) after a lengthy battle with the MPAA last year. TorrentSpy s lawyer wants people to know that the business is bankrupt (after closing shop in March) and won t actually be paying the fine. The reason he considers this important is he wants other businesses in this position to realize that the MPAA may flaunt this as a win but that it s not necessarily so cut-and-dry. In addition to the fact that the MPAA won t be getting any money from TorrentSpy, it s notable that the fine was imposed only after TorrentSpy refused to turn over documents to the court and not as the result of what was actually found to be copyright infringement. This means that the case shouldn t be considered precedent for other torrent sites that are battling the big guys. A case that could set precedent is the case against ISOhunt which is currently pending; the operator of the site says that the TorrentSpy decision has caused him some concerns about his chances in court but that he s not about to give up the fight.
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Whenever the FCC does anything controversial related to media ownership, they are quick to announce that their intention is to further three main goals: competition, diversity and localism. That third goal could cause some serious problems for local television networks if the FCC moves forward with a series of proposals that are intended to further that goal.

A proposal of primary concern is one which would require local broadcasters to move their studios to the city in which they are licensed. This was an FCC rule twenty years ago after which it was changed due to changes in transportation and technology that make it unnecessary to keep the buildings within a certain geographic area. However, the FCC seeks to return to that old rule in the interest of promoting localism and many stations fear that the cost to relocate would be too high. For example, ABC spent $100 million to move its KABC Los Angeles station to Orange County and believes that a move back to L.A. would cost millions more.

Combined with the cost of the forced migration from analog to digital viewing, television stations fear that they can t afford to continue to compete with cable and satellite TV. Apparently one way not to try to raise that money is for TV stations to make their content available on the Internet; a new study shows that is going to cost the stations $66 billion in revenue and suggests that it’s a mistake for stations to go that route.
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Students taking a class at MIT this year have been working on developing different applications for Google s Android. Using little-to-no funding, they managed to create a series of seven apps that have the potential to be of interest to the wireless market (or so it would seem considering that representatives from Google, Sprint, Verizon and HTC all showed up at the class presentations to find out what was going on). One of the applications, Locale, was a Top 50 winner in the Android project competition; it s a dynamic settings manager that lets you program the phone to forward calls, go silent or show different screens at specific times throughout the day. Other applications included social networking and geo-location apps as well as an application that lets you control your car from your phone.
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There was a bill supported by RIAA that was put forth towards the end of last year in the House of Representatives which would have effectively required colleges to play copyright police in order to insure that there was no illegal filesharing happening on their campuses. That bill has been held up as lawmakers debate the details of what would and wouldn t be required by the bill (as well as what the consequences would be for schools failing to comply). In the meantime, RIAA now appears to be pushing for similar legislation at the state level in multiple areas of the nation. The first such bill has just passed in Tennessee.

Tennessee officials involved with overseeing the state s colleges say that they were careful to review the bill to make sure that it was more amenable to colleges than the version originally drafted for consideration. Of course, their primary concern was money; it s expensive to monitor the piracy activities of an entire campus. RIAA claims that pushing for state laws is a last resort as they would rather work directly with colleges but a similar bill is being considered by the state of Illinois and it appears that discussions have taken place in California about the issue.
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If you have a monstrous collection of VHS tapes that you would like to digitize before disposal, the Ion VCR2PC is one way of accomplishing the task. Basically, the VCR2PC is a video player with a USB out. You plug it into your computer and hit play and wait, wait and then wait some more for the video to finish playing. Isn’t it so much easier with digital media? While I phased out VHS from my collection long ago, there are plenty of people that can’t stand the thought of parting with all of their monstrous collections of tapes, something like this ought to help them make the job easier (though if you have 20,000 of them you might want to call some minions into action).

Price: $250 [VCR2PC via Red Ferret]

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