Worth Mentioning Gadgets Released

Nintendo Wii

A little while back, Nintendo came out with the Wii, their newest console. It's been interesting. Nintendo came out with a lot of cool games. Although, the graphics are not exactly to die for, but the motion sensitive game controller makes it all worth it in the end. Also, there have been reports of people accidentally destroying their Wiimotes (that's what they call the controllers, i know it sounds crappy) and their televisions with Wii Sports Bowling. Apparently, because people claim that the Wiimote strap wasn't manufactured properly. I'll say that these people are just plain clumsy. Anyway, there are rumors of lawsuits because of this but I haven't heard of one that was confirmed yet. Other than this, the Wii is cool and affordable. Price: $250.

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Playstation 3

Another Japanese gadget that's worth mentioning is the Playstation 3. This one's by Sony. The PS3 is also a motion sensitive gaming console, but the controller design is the same as the Playstation 1 and 2. It takes advantage of Blu-ray technology, which has a capacity of 50GB storage. Graphics are nice it takes advantage of dual core technology as well. And unlike the XBox 360, the PS3 has 1GB worth of internal memory. Although the price tag can be a bit hefty, I'd say it could be worth it. Price: $699.

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Microsoft Zune

Bill Gates and his boys come out with the very first iPod killer worth mentioning, the Microsoft Zune. Unfortunately, it came out a little too late. Although, there are features that still can impress. It has 802.11g wireless capabilities for one. But honestly, I don't really need that feature. Plus, it doesn't look attractive at all. And, it's more than an inch thick. And hell if I buy a gadget that's more than an inch thick. But at the $240-$250 price range they pegged it at, the Microsoft Zune is a gadget that is worth mentioning. But I didn't say it was worth buying.

Blackberry Pearl

Here's one that Paris Hilton's gonna like. It's the Blackberry Pearl. And it is available right now from Cingular. It looks attractive enough. It's got a QWERTY formatted keypad. It's priced at $400 if you plan to buy the handset contract free. But if you sign up with Cingular, you can get this priceless gem for as low as $200. But as for me, I don't really need a QWERTY set up for a cellphone. I'd go for slim and sleek. Samsung X820 perhaps? Or I'll just wait for the new iPhone that Kevin Rose was talking about.

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The Unreal HD TV

The picture you see is not a picture of an HDTV. It's just a simple 20" LCD Monitor with a big ass resolution (1366 x 768). The reason it cannot be branded as an HDTV, is because you need a height of either 420, 720 or 1080 pixels in order to call it an HDTV. Obviously 768 pixels isn't part of the criteria. Akiba says that you can view movies with the 16:9 aspect ratio, but it cannot fit the whole screen.

It's priced at 74,800 yen, that's about $620. Even though it isn't exactly an HDTV, it would still make one hell of a kick ass monitor. I think this would still be a perfect Christmas gift. For me, that is.

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Sony Walkman - Nice Sound, Nice Battery

The Sony NW-E505 looks like a very fancy cigarette lighter, but it's actually a 512MB MP3 player with an integrated FM tuner. Although the device doesn't pack extras such as voice-recording ability, and Sony's SonicStage software still leaves a lot to be desired, it has one of the most attractive hardware designs we've seen. The sound quality is very good and the user interface is interesting, if not particularly intuitive. The most impressive feature, however, is the unbelievable battery life.

They took the words out of my mouth. I don't need to say any more. I'm still glad I got an iPod. If you're the type who wants to go into the details, you may check out the full review by clicking on the link below.

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The Real Panasonic ToughBook

A while back, the CF-51, was officially the first ToughBook as far as Panasonic was concerned. Unfortunately, a lot of criticisms from techinical writers everywhere dubbed it a "semi-toughbook". This time, Panasonic exherted some effort to make a real rugged laptop.

It's called the Panasonic Toughbook CF-29. They reinforced it with magnesium alloy, and the harddisk is protected by in foam cladding and secured inside an aluminium frame thus making it really, really shock proof. The only thing that I don't like about it is I can't afford one. It's my fault. I blew all my money on my Xbox 360.

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Intel Goes Bye Bye

Intel, world renowned computer chip manufacturer, is rumored to be dropping the Pentium name. A Japanese PC Watch article claims that the Pentium brand name will not be used for Merom and Conroe when they launch. Instead, Intel will apply the term "Intel Core" to the new architecture.

As far as I'm concerned, Intel doesn't need the Pentium name anymore. Intel's brand name is popular as it is. Ever since the day of the 386 Computers, Intel has prominently embedded their status in the computer chip market. I'm also kind of getting sick of the Pentium Series, too. It's about time for a change.

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Escient FireBall SE-D1 DVD Manager

There's nothing special about this DVD changer/manager except that you can store up to 400 DVDs and music CDs, stream internet radio, and browse the web. See? No biggie. Oh yeah, and it also comes with a fully-customizable user interface. The price you pay for something this ordinary, you might ask? One thousand big bucks.

Personally, I like it a lot. I imagine being able to stream music online when I'm sick of watching movies. I would definitely consider getting something like this since I have a lot of DVDs in my collection but I have no idea how to organize them. They're all scattered all over my living room. The only problem is, I'm not willing to dish out $1000 just for a DVD organizer. I think I'll be better off with one of them cheap ass DVD changers.

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