Archive for the 'Wireless' Category

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Lots of Wii News!

Published on Thursday, September 14, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Software, Technology, TV's and Wireless. Closed

Before I get to my other posts, there has been a lot of Wii information released today, and I don’t have the time to post about them all, so I’ll give you the lowdown:

USA TODAY have posted an article detailed the release information of the Wii, as well as the box that will be used (above). [link]
Games downloaded to the virtual console, will be tied to a user’s Wii account, so that in the event of something happening and all the games are lost, then they can all be re-downloaded for free. [link]
USB storage is initially limited to flash drives, and USB hard-drive support is not yet included, however they have not yet planned any USB hard drive compatibility yet. [link]
First-party Wii titles (ie, produced by Nintendo) will be region-free, however whether 3rd party games will be locked, is upto the manufacturer. It is not yet known though whether GameCube titles, which are region locked, will play in all Wiis, though they are supposedly fully compatible. [link]
The Wii will not be supporting DVD playback of films. Kerrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America’s vice president of marketing and corporate affairs confirmed with IGN today. The decision was made because it made the Wii cheaper, and that most people already have DVD players, so there is no need for the function. [link]
Wii Sports, which is bundled with the Wii, will include Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Bowling and Boxing. [link]

That about covers it! I told you there was a lot, I’ll bring you more news as it comes as European pricing has not yet been disclosed.

Nintendo’s Japanese Wii Conference

Published on Thursday, September 14, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. 2 Comments

nintendo japan wii conference

Today at Nintendo’s Japanese Wii Conference, they revealed the pricing and more details of the Japanese launch for the Nintendo Wii. Japan receive their Wii on December 2nd, which is less than a month after the US get it (November 19th). The price will be 25 000 yen, which includes tax. That is roughly £113 or $213 USD. Nintendo’s Japanese press release states that the following will be included with the Wii:

Wii Console
Wii Remote with strap
Nunchuck attachment
Wii AC adapter
Wii A/V cable
Wii Console Stand
Sensor bar
Sensor bar stand
2 AA batteries

Joystiq has some sources, and used Engadget’s Japanese translator to get most of the information. Photos are from Japanese blog Famitsu. European and US details have been revealed at separate conferences, I’ll post more details on that later.

The iTV – Apple’s Media Center

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, PC, Podcasting, Technology, TV's and Wireless. 4 Comments

This is the one product which hasn’t been released, as in it is not on Apple’s website. The name iTV is not official yet, so it is subject to change. I think that is good because iTV sounds a bit plain, and similiar to Elgato’s EyeTV line of products. So people could get confused. Down to the details:

It looks like a flatter Mac mini.
No power brick, but there is USB 2, Ethernet, 802.11 Wireless, HDMI, Component and RCA jacks as well as optical audio.
Controlled via the Apple remote.
Hooks up directly to your TV, set-top box or other input device.
An enhanced version of Front Row, with windows media centre style browsing. The right hand side has menu and the left has images.
“You can do movie trailers form Apple.com right from your couch. This is big screen over the internet, live as we watch. [demo]“
Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, and Photos
Coming Q1 of 2007
Works with Macs and PCs
$299

As Apple doesn’t have an official page, I’ll link you to Engadget’s live coverage of the “It’s Showtime!” event.
This certainly seems like a very interesting idea and because of the price point even more so. Now we just have to wait for it to come out, doh!
read more

The Wii’s sensor revealed, sort of!

Published on Saturday, July 1, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Nintendo are going on a travelling tour demo-ing the Wii in many countries and letting the public have a go at them. Their latest stop, was Spain where a Revogamers.net managed to snap lots of photos of the event and a few videos as well. You definitely need to take a look at the photos, as they show some closeups that very few people managed to take. The most interesting photo, which wasn’t covered at E3, was the sensor that Nintendo uses to detect the field where the Wii’s controller works. A comparison shot is shown above, however we don’t know how close the pen is to the sensor, so we can’t really grasp the size. But, assuming the pen is directly under the sensor, I think it does look quite nice, though it may not be very discrete with some TV sets.

DS Opera browser lacks flash, video, sound and PDF support!

Published on Thursday, June 29, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Noteworthy, Software, Technology and Wireless. 1 Comment

ds opera browser

A FAQ section on Nintendo’s Japanese website, states that the new Opera browser for the DS will not have support for flash, video, sound and PDF content. Users will be able to bookmark pages, but not save them (eg. for offline use). This may not compare to the PSP which does support flash – though I don’t think that supports PDF video or sound either – but users will be able to pan through the pages using the stylus, and easily enter website addresses using handwriting recognition. DS Lite owners will be happy to hear that Nintendo will release a browser cartridge that fits nicely into the DS Lite’s GBA slot so that you don’t need to worry about anything protruding out. Opera will also be able to store data entered into forms, such as login information and what not.
I think this will make the browsing on the DS quite nice, but I still don’t know whether it may be a pain to read stuff and do actualy browsing on it. On my PSP I still find it annoying to scroll across pages when reading articles. But I like the way you enter the address on the DS, as it is very tedious with the PSP, using a phone like keypad way of entering (takes too long — very annoying).

Black DS Lite in the nude

Published on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. 4 Comments

An employee of a UK games shop has managed to sneak out a black DS Lite and take a few snaps of the thing, which he promptly let Joystiq know of. He has preferred to remain only under the name of Spudstercool, probably because the shop would have his ass! The shop was also nnamed as not to arouse any suspicion at all. I bet it was either GAME, or Gamestation, as they are the most popular and specialised games shops here in the UK.
So what can I say about the Lite. Well it looks good, and I like the fact that the outside is a really shiny black, but the inside is a more subtle yet elegant matt black. The screen also looks amazingly bright, and now I’m wondering whether I shoud get one or not. I certainly like the white as well, but I want one which is not the most popular one; as I like to be different, just ’cause!

Japanese Airline offering in-flight DS Lites

Published on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Thanks to Joystiq for the image

JAL, Japan Airlines, is offering a in-flight DS Lite campaign during their international flights between June 1st and August 31st 2006. Granted this is only for First Class and Executive passengers but it is still a rather cool idea. So all you need to do is check whether your flight has this service during those dates and then ask the flight attendent for one, nicely though! Interestingly under the Terms and Conditions, one of the points states that the DS Lites have been specially manufactured without WiFi, so you can’t even test out the gameplay with your angry neighbour. I think there have been a few reports of people’s laptops being hacked on flights using WiFi (so it’s not that dangerous), but I guess they don’t even want to risk it. Some other funny T&C’s include;

“The Civil Aviation Law prohibits the use of these consoles during takeoff and landing. Flight attendants will collect distributed Nintendo DS Lite consoles and earphones during takeoff and landing.” – Good luck trying to get it out of a kid’s (or adult’s) hands, they’ll be like ‘I’m so close to the end, can you just wait a minute’
“The number of consoles on each plane is limited, and one may not be available upon request. The service is also limited to one console per passenger. We ask for your understanding in this matter.” – Because we can all use three DS Lites at once can’t we. Trying to beat ourselves through the non-existant WiFi.

DS Lite Street Date Broken in some US Stores!

Published on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

There were a few very surprised CheapAssGamer‘s, who walked into their local Target or Wal-Mart to dsicover that they were selling DS Lites! Yes, they were actually letting people buy them. Now we don’t know whether they got the release date wrong, or Nintendo has pulled a fast one on us; but it sure got a lot of people exciting. Now many people all over the US have reported that they have been able to buy one straight from the shelf. One lucky Joystiq reader wrote:

That was some excitment when I woke up to find this post. I called every Walmart in the Minneapolis, MN area, and they either had them and wouldn’t sell them, or they just had no clue what I was talking about. Then I called all of the Targets, and the Crystal, MN Target was a winner. It was a older women who must have thought nothing of street dates and just put them alongside the Phat DS’s. Lucky me, I took the morning rush hour drive and picked one up. There were about 15 more in the display case. Anyway, if you live in Minnesota and want one, go to Crystal.

Those lucky Americans! We in the UK have to wait until June 29 for the DS Lite as well as pay extra for it. But if you have an old DS, GAME are running an offer so that if you trade in your old DS they’ll give you a shiny new Lite for £59.99. A good offer for those tired of the old DS, and wanting a break from the size of it. A Joystiq reader decided to set up a Frappr map for those who want to log which stores have DS Lite’s and which don’t so you can quickly grab yours.

Nightmare Packaging Story

Published on Monday, May 29, 2006 in Microsoft, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

This is one story that will make your feet rumble, seriously it isn’t for the faint hearted!

The stubborn plastic casing around the Microsoft Xbox 360 faceplate seemed to laugh first at the kitchen scissors and then the steak knife that tried to penetrate it. When 14-year-old Daniel Mroue’s attempt to open the thing with a long, serrated bagel knife failed, his parents became concerned.

Mroue’s father, George, took over with a pair of box-cutters, which did the trick. But George Mroue also ended up with a wad of bandages shoring up the damage after slicing his palm open on a sharpened piece of plastic.

“It was ridiculous,” groused George Mroue of the February incident. “There was nothing anywhere telling us how to open the (darn) thing. I don’t understand why they make it so goddamn hard to open these things.”

That’s an increasingly common question these days. From Psyclone electronics cables encased in impenetrable layers of thick plastic to DigiPower camera batteries coated with packaging several times the size of the item itself, the hardest part of buying electronics these days is opening the products when you get them home. In many cases, it makes solving Halo 2 seem like a kindergarten project.

This article from Wired explains a whole lot with fiddly packaging. I too have had such problems. For example, on Christmas day when I opened up my 360, Santa kindly left me a wireless USB adapter for the 360. It was so hard to open that I cut my hand with my pen knife (I was too lazy and excited to get a proper scissor) and sliced the manual of the adapter. You can see the manual in the image at the top. Some of today’s packaging so so fiddly and hard to open that they do pose a risk to people. Especially on Christmas when people are hyped up and excited. I may actually refuse to buy such things in the future unless it is really necessary because I know that I will spend half my time trying to open the damn thing!

MacBook Disassembly Guide

Published on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 in Apple, Shorts, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Over at iFixit (previously called PBFixit) have now expanded their guides, which offer detailed images and notes to take apart various Macs, to include the MacBook. Lots of info on how to take it apart, and on how to replace individual components such as the logic board, the RAM, Optical drive and more.