New Sony OLED VR Goggles deliver a 750 inch screen!

Everyone likes big TVs right? You walk into stores and gaze longingly at the huge 60 inch plasma sitting there in all its hi-def glory.

But now Sony is upping the ante. How about a 750 inch screen? Which occupies less space than your PS3?

Introducing the "Personal 3D Viewer HMZ-T1," a head mounted goggle display that can project both 2D and 3D. The goggles consist of two 0.7-inch OLED screens (one per eye) with a resolution of 1024x720, which will appear as though you're watching a 750 inch screen. It can also support 5.1 surround sound, and has 2 HDMI ports for game consoles, Blu-Ray players, etc.

So you'll basically have a cinema style experience in one small, sweet package. But... you'll be paying for it. The goggles will be released in Japan (typically) on November 11, retailing for $780. Ouch.

To be honest, I'm still tempted. Imagine playing Modern Warfare 3 online with a cinema style display and surround sound. Awesome. Expensive. But awesome.

via Dvice

Inkling!

I figure you've all probably seen this by now - it was announced 2 days ago after all - but it's just so damn cool that I have to blog about it here too.

Wacom, designers of tablets long before Steve Jobs made them cool, have announced a new device - the Inkling.

The Inkling is a device you clip onto the top of any sheet of paper, and, with a special pen, records everything you draw on the paper. It apparently records 1024 levels of pressure, so even the line thickness recorded will change depending on how hard you press on the paper. You can then export the image as any number of different file types, even a vector, and edit it in Illustrator or Photoshop.
Here's a video to make it a bit clearer:

According to Wacom, it's designed primarily for concept art and sketches, instead of 'finished product' kind of thing. It will be released here mid October, and will retail for $219.

I still don't really know how it works - there are a couple of questions that aren't addressed in the video - but it's awesome.

via Gizmodo

A Girls Best... Planet?

The biggest diamond in the 'verse just got a whole lot bigger - think planet-sized.

Australian astronomers have discovered a planet they think is made of diamond.
And we're stuck on a planet of mud, water, and lava. *sigh*

It could be as large as 5 times as large as the diameter of Earth, and is currently orbiting a dead, spinning star, known as a pulsar, 4000 light-years away.
CSIRO astronomer Michael Keith said the planet was likely to be very hot and glowing white.
"It would probably look very pretty," he said.

It was found by an international team led by Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University in Melbourne, and its density made it likely it comprise mostly of carbon atoms, crushed together in a crystalline structure "very similar to diamond."

The pulsar, and the diamond planet have been designated PSR J1719-1438 - a pretty boring name for a planet made of diamonds.
I think Diamondia sounds good. 

via SMH

Are Nintendo redesigning the 3DS? Already?

Recently, Sony announced they were releasing a redesigned PSP, making it the 5th reiteration of that device.

Nintendo, apparently deciding that they were going to get a head start on the rereleasing biz with their still-new 3DS, are now rumoured to be working on an entirely new 3DS model that "radically tones down" the handhelds 3D.
Despite the fact that you can... completely turn the 3D off on the current model?

According to French website, 01Net,  not only this, but Nintendo are also planning a detachable second analogue stick for the current 3DS that will retail at about $US10.

While this sounds pretty crazy, according to website Eurogamer, 01Net did apparently break both the Wii U and PSVita's specs accurately before they were confirmed, so it may have some truth in it.

Also, today Bloomberg reported that Nintendo is holding a pre-Tokyo Game Show event on September 13. They used the 2005 TGS keynote to unveil the Wii Remote, so there could be a pattern here.

So is this the reason for the 3DSs' recent price cut? Is Nintendo trying to clear out excess old stock to make way for this new device? One thing is for sure, if Nintendo do rerelease the 3DS, there are going to be some seriously annoyed current 3DS owners about. Particularly as Nintendo only released it about 5 months ago.

via 01Net via Eurogamer

This Portal fan-made movie is Awesome.

When you think of a fan-made movie, you think of something done with a home video camera, cheesy lines, and Keanu Reeves-style acting.
But this fan-made Portal movie is none of those. It's awesome.
It was created by Dan Trachtenberg, a filmmaker and video podcast host from Los Angeles, who has also directed a number of ads for companies like Nike, Lexus, and Coca-Cola.

While video game inspired movies are generally something you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, if they could do something like this - I'd be hyped for a Portal one.

via dantrachtenberg.com, and YouTube.

iPad 3 to Appear in Early 2012?

According to sources of The Wall Street Journal, the next oversized iPhon- I mean, iPad, is set to make an appearance in early 2012.

The next iPad is set to have a 2048 x 1536 high resolution screen - compared with the measly 1024 x 768 in the iPad 2 - and will be packed into a sweet, and damn expensive 9.7 inch slab of smooth brushed metal coolness. Although that said, if you recall, the iPad 2 was rumoured to have a 2048 x 1536 resolution as well, so you may not want to get your hopes up.

Apple has, as usual, declined to comment.

via WSJ

IBM Creates Computer Chip that Mimics the Human Brain - the Origins of Skynet

Because we apparently haven't learnt anything from the numerous movies in which robots learn to think for themselves and take over the world, IBM has created a computer chip that is said to mimic the human brain.

Computers that mimic the human brain's cognition, perception, and action abilities are a lot closer than you think after IBM unveiled the first generation of chips that will power them on Wednesday.

IBM developed the chips with a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the goal of which, according to IBM, is:

"to create a system that not only analyzes complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once but also dynamically rewires itself as it interacts with its environment--all while rivaling the brain's compact size and low-power usage."

While IBM haven't completely crossed over to the dark side and used biological elements in the chips, they do have digital silicon circuits "inspired by neurobiology to make up what is referred to as a 'neurosynaptic core' with integrated memory (replicated synapses), computation (replicated neurons), and communication (replicated axons)."

So far, the company has used the chips to demonstrate basic applications such as pattern recognition, machine vision, classification, navigation, and associative memory.

The chips, and new computers that will follow aren't designed to replace existing computers, but will instead supplement them. In the same way that Tim Tams and Tea go together quite nicely.




via cnet

New Doctor Who Clips! And is Arthur Darvill Coming Back for Season 7...?

I know I'm not the only one hanging out for August the 27th.

In the meantime, here are some clips from the first episode of the second half of season 6 to whet your appetite - or if your appetite is already whetted, possibly drive you insane with the wait.

 

So what's up with that right? Killer robot jellyfish? The Doctor wearing a trench coat like the 10ths? Rory getting one up on Amy in their witty repartee?

And in other news, when asked if Rory will be making an appearance in next years Season 7, he had this to say:

"I will be coming back at some point… There is an involvement in some way."

Which to me, makes it sound like he's not coming back as a regular. And the fangirls wept.

via i09

A New Terry Pratchett Book this October!

I don't know about you guys, but I love Terry Pratchett. He's one of the few readers who actually made me lol. And yes, I said lol, not laugh-out-loud. But it's ok, cause it's the internet. Right? Right?

Anyway, his new book is called Snuff! and is centered around His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Blackboard Monitor, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes. To give him his full title.

The blurb from the book reads:

"According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse. And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe, but many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder. He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and occasionally out of his mind, but not out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment. They say that in the end all sins are forgiven. But not quite all..."

I'm looking forward to this. It'll be published on the 13th of October, and is the 39th Discworld novel.

via Wikipedia, and Terry Pratchett

This Carpet is Tearing Apart the Space-Time Continuum

Carpet is... carpet. It's nothing special, despite recent carpet advertisements in which models apparently wear it instead of clothes. Although I thought it was an actual fashion show, given my pathetic knowledge of fashion. At the end of the ad, I was like, whoa, that was carpet?! I couldn't tell.

My lack of fashion-sense aside, this is not normal carpet. It looks as though someone began to think about dividing by zero when they were making it. Or there are holes in the very fabric of time and space, and someone thought they'd try and hide them by putting a carpet over the top.

This carpet was snapped at a local game store, where the Redditor avoided being sucked into the resultant black hole just long enough to take a photo.
His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Although that's just cause I don't know where he lives. Probably in America somewhere.

via Gizmodo

Amoebas' are the New Zombies - Second US Victim Claimed

So it turns out its not just zombies that eat your brains - amoebas' do too. Except they actually exist.

Christian Strickland, a 9 year-old from Virginia, contracted the infection after visiting a fishing camp. He died of meningitus on August 5. This week, the health department confirmed that the deadly amoeba - "Naegleria fowleri" - was to blame.

"Usually found in warm, stagnant water in freshwater lakes, ponds, and rivers, the parasite "enters the nasal passages ... and migrates to the olfactory nerves, eventually invading the brain," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It almost always causes meningitis. Symptoms include fever, nausea, stiff neck and a frontal headache.

Thirty-two infections of the parasite were reported in the U.S. between 2001 and 2010, CDC spokeswoman Christine Pearson told The Lookout, adding that infections are almost always deadly."

 The only consolation is that there hasn't been any incidents in Australia yet - although, there's enough out here to kill us already, that it'd probably be overkill.

via Yahoo News

Sony Releasing Another PSP

Because Sony evidently thought that 4 different models of PSP wasn't enough, they're releasing yet another model minus wi-fi for 99 Euro.
Named the 'PSP E-1000,' it will only retail in Europe, and doesn't have any wi-fi feature. Games can however be downloaded via pc with Media Go, or bought on the regular UMDs.
From Sony:

Value for money is the goal with this new model that will retail at just €99.99 (RRP), accompanied by an exciting range of PSP Essentials titles that will retail at only €9.99 (RRP) and will include Invizimals: The Lost Tribe, EyePet Adventures, FIFA 12 and many more.
While PSP E-1000 does not include Wi-Fi, it will still provides access to the full catalogue of PSP games either on UMD or from PlayStation Store via Media Go. The design is also slightly different, with a Charcoal Black finish – the same as on the slimmer PS3 model – to give more of a matte feel.

 No word yet on a release date, or whether releasing a new PSP model is a good idea with the official successor - the PS Vita - being released at the end of this year. But hey. Maybe they just wanted to beat Nintendo in the 'most-reiterations-of-the-same-console' competition.

via kotaku

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gets Release Date

Nintendo's latest Legend of Zelda title for the Wii finally gets a release date: November 20 in North America, and November 18 in Europe.

No word on Australia specifically, but its pretty safe to assume it'll be between those two.

Nintendo have described Skyward Sword as "a massive, multilayered world that takes players from dark dungeons to a diverse overworld to cloud cities in the sky, requiring a combination of puzzle-solving and swordplay to unlock all of its secrets. Link soars through the air on the wings of a majestic bird while exploring the game's sky area, providing players with unprecedented freedom of movement as they progress on their adventure. The quest lays the foundation for the events in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time."

It's pretty appropriate that it comes out this year, the 25th anniversary of the very first Legend of Zelda game, and it'll be the first LoZ that was designed purposely for the Wii - Twilight Princess having originally been developed for the Gamecube.

I don't own a Wii - but this is pretty much the only game that reeeally makes me wish I did.

via ign.com

If Blade Runner was set in Paris - Seriously Sweet Concept Art

Blade Runner is an awesome movie. So is The Matrix. In fact, lets just say all sci-fi movies are cool.
In that case, then this sci-fying of Paris is also pretty damn cool.
The art comes from a new French PS3/Xbox game called Adrift, from the French studio Dontnod. There's not much word on the game so far, but if a picture says a thousand words - well, then there are a lot of words on the game so far.

The synopsis, taken from Dotnod's website, seems pretty reminiscent of soon-to-be-released game Deus Ex: Human Revolution:

Neo-Paris 2084,
Augmented reality and memory manipulation have taken control of peoples' lives.
You can now digitize, buy, sell or trade your own personal memories. The last remainders of intimacy have been swept away, in what appears to be a simple extension of the development of social networks and geolocation at the beginning of the 21st century.
The "surveillance society" has been accepted by the citizens themselves, in exchange for a few technological benefits. It is a reality that no one even thinks of challenging anymore.
This memory-based economy gives an immense yet uncontrollable power to a handful of people…

 That said, it sounds pretty awesome. I'll sure be keeping an eye out for it.

via i09

20% of all Video Games at JB Hifi!

JB Hi Fi have just started a massive video game sale that will last to Sunday, taking 20% off every game in the whole store.

The sale does, unfortunately, exclude bundles and accessories, but that shouldn't stop you! Get in there!

Me? Oh, I'll be outside the front door looking mournfully at my depressingly light wallet. *sob*

But seriously. This looks awesome.

via JB Hi Fi

A Blog.

Oh good. A new blog. Another page on which someone pretends others care about their feelings, and mope about.
But no! Not this blog! There will be no feelings or moping here!
This will be a blog that will feature all the interesting/awesome/geeky curiosities and information I can scrounge from the interwebs! It will be updated on an infrequent basis, but let us assume that it will be updated at least once a week! More likely, daily.
Onwards!