Kansas City LAN Party

Not that it’s been that long since we heard from Becker or anything, but it’s never too early for yet another numerically named navigation unit, right? Available now in the UK, the Becker Traffic Assist 7827 sports a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 resolution touchscreen, 400MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, a SiRFstarIII GPS chipset, integrated TMC receiver for traffic avoidance, an SD expansion slot and USB connectivity. Additionally, you’ll find a rechargeable battery good for around five hours, a 2GB SD card with maps for 37 European countries, a headphone jack and a multimedia player that handles photos and MP3s. All things considered, we suppose it’s not priced too outrageously at £249.95 ($497), but if you’re still unsure if it’s worth the coin, may we point out the elusive “mood light” feature to push you over the edge.

[Via NaviGadget]

After waiting for what seems like ages, we can imagine just how excited one would be to finally receive that beautiful brown shipping container with their very own Pleo tucked within. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective) for one particular German, an unspecified retailer sent out what appears to be a prototype dino, complete with a pieced together box that once held a fax machine. Interestingly, it seems the lucky recipient is rather perturbed by the incident, but being the optimistic crew that we are, we’d actually hang on to this thing for bragging rights or discover its true value courtesy of eBay. Hit the read link for a few more shots.

[Thanks, Jared C.]

We already knew Nintendo’s DS was quite the popular handheld, and while the PSP recently overtook it in Japanese hardware sales, the most recent numbers show that the Big N’s famed DS has actually rocketed above the mighty PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales (in Japan). Notably, the numbers do combine DS and DS Lite units, but there’s no mention of how the systems stack up worldwide. Nevertheless, the feat is a fairly impressive one when you consider how much longer the PS2 has been available compared to the DS, and unless Sony somehow lightens the PS2 load even further and starts bundling them in with cereals, we doubt it will reclaim the top spot anytime soon.

[Via DSFanboy, thanks J]

We already saw the Amilo Xi 2550 from Fujitsu-Siemens, but if you thought that was the only mobile Penryn-based lappie you’d see prior to January 6th, you’ve got another a few more things coming. Spotted over at Notebook Italia, we’ve got five new Acer Aspires (2920, 4920, 5920, 7720 and 9920), a pair of new Acer Travelmates (6492 and 6592G), a couple of Fujitsu-Siemens (the aforementioned Amilo Pi Amilo Xi 2550 and the 2428) and four new Sony VAIOs (FZ31, SZ71, CR31 and AR61) — all of which will be housing that Penryn goodness when they launch. As you can imagine, there’s far too many specs between the 13 new machines to cover in this space, but feel free to tag the links below for all the details on each.

Read - Fujitsu-Siemens
Read - Acer Aspires
Read - Acer Travelmates
Read - Sony VAIOs

A totally ingenious robotics researcher named Sylvain Calinon has created what might be the perfect storm of art and science — a robot that can recognize and then draw portraits of human subjects. The bot, named HOAP-3, is able to distinguish a human face, take a still frame of that image, and then create a drawing by (robotic) hand based on what it sees. The demonstration is a part of designer Calinon’s research into creating robots which can learn through imitation, or in scenarios where they must react to humans. Unfortunately for us fleshpiles, it’s only a matter of time before this thing starts doing hilarious caricatures accentuating our worst features. Watch the robot work in the amazing video after the break, and check the read link for a lot more information on the HOAP-3 project.

[Via technabob]

Just over a month ago, we got word that Pentax could be readying a pair of new DSLRs, and now it seems that we’ve been blessed with a plethora of shots of the K200D. ‘Course, we suppose they could be doctored, but we just don’t believe someone would spend that much time working up Pentax fakes, ya know? Regardless, feel free to hit the read link and check out what’s probably the outfit’s next shooter — or some mighty fine ’shops, worst case scenario.

[Via Photography Bay]

Right on cue, the Venturer SHD7001 HD DVD player has gone on sale via QVC UK, and while all the specs look exactly as we predicted they would, the price is a hair lower than we expected. Pegged at £169.92 ($338) — or available for two easy payments of £84.96 — this 1080i player comes packaged with Troy and Hulk, an HDMI cable and eligibility for five other free flicks. Notably, this is QVC’s “Special Value” of the day, so there’s a good chance that the price will increase after the unit’s first 24 hours on sale, but at least those interested in a cheap HD DVD player (and located across the pond) can snap it up now and save a few pounds over the alternatives.

[Via RegHardware]

This one’s been around the block for a bit, but it’s just now managed to sneak up on us. The VidaBox vPad comes from the same firm offering up those swank CableCARD-equipped HTPCs, and this home controller shares that very same pizazz. The 10.4-inch tablet rocks a 1,024 x 768 resolution panel, integrated 802.11b WiFi, a built-in speaker and a rechargeable Li-ion good for around 2.5 hours. As expected, this unit enables owners to control multi-room audio, climate zones, security cameras, garage doors and WiFi-enabled toasters, we presume. ‘Course, you’ll need Mirage software for VidaBox control or your own home automation hardware to really take advantage of the vPad, and unfortunately, we’ve no pricing / release details to share just yet.

[Thanks, JoeyChina]

We already learned that some 28-percent of US households were rocking at least one HDTV back in March, but now the Consumer Electronics Association has come forward with new figures showing that over half of American abodes are home to a digital television. According to revamped CEA projections, around 32 million DTV units will ship out next year, with 79-percent of those being HD sets. ‘Course, the downside of this is that a good chunk of America still isn’t prepared for the DTV cutover in 2009, but thanks to all the advertising that will likely be taking place over the next year and change, we’d say they’ve got plenty of time to get on board.

Ah, eBay. Home to some of the rarest, most incredible devices known (and previously unknown) to man. On the docket today is a stupendously rare, unreleased development controller for use with the SNES CD dev kit. Yep, a unreleased controller for an unreleased system — pretty much a collector’s dream. Unfortunately, the controller alone won’t do you very much good beyond hooking you up with unbelievable bragging rights, but unless you’ve got $2,999.99 (at least) to blow, the above picture is close as you’ll get to this treasure.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]