For the gamers out there, Player 1 has set up a list of their favorite gaming gadgets on display at the 2007 CES convention. Here is a great example, the Nyko PS3 Wireless Controller Charger:

For the full list, head on over to gadgetell.com.

Not all gadgets, inventions, and technological improvements can be great. The fine fellows over at Maxim have put together their five worth items the saw at the convention.

Here is an example:

Ambient Umbrella (Ambient Devices)

Ideal for: People who don’t trust the weatherman.

Holy-garbage, Batman! Here’s an umbrella that tells you it’s raining out. There’s a wireless data-radio embedded in the umbrella. You know, in case the drops of water falling down from the sky weren’t enough of a clue, the ‘brella’s handle glows blue to confirm that, yes, drops of water are falling from the sky. Best invention since “The Hamburger That Eats Itself.”
Damage: Another product still “in development.” You can stop now. Please.

Don’t Get Some: ambientdevices.com

For the full and complete list, check out the article here.

Mitsubishi Electric has completed construction of the world’s largest high-definition video screen at a horse track in Tokyo. The screen employs Mitsubishi’s Aurora Vision LED technology and measures 11.2 meters (37 feet) x 66.4 meters (218 feet), giving it a surface area of 744 square meters (8,000+ square feet), or the equivalent of 3 tennis courts. Mitsubishi manufactured the screen for the Japan Racing Association (JRA) at its Nagasaki factory in the town of Togitsu, Nagasaki prefecture. The screen was divided into 35 pieces for delivery to the Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo.

The bright, high-definition display is 3 times larger than what was previously installed at the horse track, and the screen’s three sections allow the audience to take in the action at other tracks. Total cost is reported to be 3.2 billion yen (US$28 million).

So this Japanese fella by the name of Masaaki Nagumo has created an 11-foot, 1-ton, air-gun-equipped mech. And it can be yours for the low price of 315,000 American Dollars.

Portable gizmos such as phones, handheld computers and mp3 players can easily get scuffed, dirty and sticky.

Bulky covers are one option, but Nokia in Finland has been experimenting with plastic casings coated with a diamond-like material made from coal. The material is more protective and grime resistant, as well as cheap and bio-degradable.

To make the material electric current is fed through coal graphite. This creates plasma, which is directed towards a plastic casing by high-voltage electrodes. The coal ions penetrate the surface and bond to form an amorphous, diamond-like coating less than 100 nanometres thick. The process works at room temperature, meaning even cheap plastics can be coated this way.

The coating is very tough, but also smooth to the touch. It is also conductive and therefore antistatic, so does not attract dirt easily. Furthermore, the surface reflects and diffracts light in a similar way to shiny metal. And, when the owner has grown tired of the gismo and binned it, the thin layer of coal will eventually degrade naturally.

from News Scientist Tech

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

T-Mobile is planning on banning “technobabble” from their sales pitches and training their customer service and sale staff to use easy-to-understand language rather than the tech-talk that has been common place.

Onecompare.com reports the following in regards to T-Mobile’s research:

T-Mobile have found that 57% of us are confused, frustrated and bored with technology jargon. Features are usually abbreviated, for example voice over internet protocol is known as VoIP. T-Mobile found that over 1/3 of Britons don’t know what VoIP is with 1 in 10 thinking it can improve visibility for the visually impaired! When it actually allows you to make discounted phone calls over the internet. 6% of people forget sales advice by the time they get home after purchasing their new mobile phone, and over 1/3 of people find instruction manuals too long and confusing.

The research carried out by T-Mobile and YouGov have found that a staggering 1/3 of us have no idea how our new mobile phone gadgets work after we have purchased them, despite instruction manuals and sales advice from staff. With easy to understand demonstrations and explanations of features T-Mobile are hoping to make mobile phones easier to understand for customers, and are calling on the mobile industry to join them in their campaign.

This is just an example of Natural Selection at work. If the weak can not adapt to a growing technological age, perhaps they should not be given such wonders. I admit thought, that this is a smart move on T-Mobile’s behalf. This is purely a business movie, with the bottom line to move product, even if it does take talking like some backwater dolt to do it. However, this can only lead to a nation of idiots suckered into buying more expensive equipment, and still unable to use even if they “know” how to use it, when all they really need is a portable device that makes a damn phone call!