diamond

We've reviewed quite a few puzzle games, and in particular, the match-three games seem to be quite popular. In these games, players must match three items of the same color to clear them from the board and earn points. Diamond Drop 2 is a fun variation on this theme that we hadn't seen before. It takes the basic premise of match-three and adds a story featuring various kinds of anthropomorphic wildlife and an assortment of fun twists. We found it charming and fun.

Users should be aware that in order to play Diamond Drop 2, they must first … Read more

We hate reviewing puzzle games because we find them so addicting that we end up wasting entirely too much time playing them before we finally start writing. Even mediocre games, like Diamond Puzzle, are hard to quit. This rendition of the ubiquitous matching puzzle is pretty bare bones, but it still manages to be a lot of fun.

The program looks just like many others of this genre, with an opening menu that lets users select a new game or view the options. The gameplay itself consists of switching the positions of various colored jewels arranged in a grid; three … Read more

Siemens introduced the world this week to the first serial hybrid electric aircraft at the 2011 Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France.

The DA36 E-Star, a two-seater composite glider, was a partnership project among Siemens, aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft Industries, and aerospace giant EADS. The plane is based on Diamond Aircraft's HK36 Super Dimona.

Similar to General Motors' Chevy Volt drive train, the DA36 E-Star uses a serial hybrid electric drive train in which a main engine is powered alternately by a gasoline-powered generator and batteries.

A 70-kilowatt Siemens engine runs the aircraft's propeller. That engine is powered alternately between a small Wankel combustion engine made by Austro Engine that runs on gasoline and acts as a generator, and EADS batteries. Additional EADS batteries are used during takeoff and ascent.

While it's in early development, Siemens claims its drive train can be scaled up for use on a large passenger plane, and under further development hopes to create a drive train that can save 25 percent in fuel consumption.

Of course, even more so than with electric cars, battery weight is still an issue. The plane's range is limited by the number of batteries and the amount of fuel it can carry.… Read more

My iPad 2 is looking a little pale and shabby in comparison to the $1.2 million diamond-encrusted iPad from Camael Diamonds. The company calls it the world's most expensive iPad, and I'm not going to argue with that.

For do-it-yourselfers who want to bedazzle their own iPads, this only requires 1 kilo of 18 carat gold and 300 carats worth of perfect diamonds. Black diamonds grace the home button and Apple logo on the back. Just pop down to your local jeweler to pick up all the supplies you need.

Camael will happily customize your gazillion-dollar iPad with the gems of your choice. This is a smart way to go, as it would be horribly embarrassing to accidentally pick up someone else's look-alike diamond-slathered iPad at Starbucks.… Read more

The Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 is easily the best speaker I've heard for $350 per pair. Wharfedale started making loudspeakers in 1932, which makes it the second-oldest still-surviving speaker manufacturer in the world (Tannoy is the oldest). The entry-level Diamond Series speakers debuted some 49 years later; the Diamond 10.1 we're reviewing today is from the latest incarnation of the line.

Wharfedale not only designs and builds all of its own woofers and tweeters in-house, it also designs and manufactures nearly every part of its speakers, including the crossover networks' resistors and capacitors. Even the bolts that … Read more

I get it. Chicks are supposed to like diamonds. Diamonds make us fall in love and turn into cooing mushes of appreciation. If only they weren't so darn expensive and politically incorrect. Cheer up, gals! There is hope. Hercules is attempting to solve all of our problems with its new $40 XPS Diamond 2.0 USB Speakers.

These black beauties are "designed with female users in mind," but they could also become a big hit with the cross-dressing crowd. Each speaker is a slim 3.5 inches wide. That's way bigger than the rock on the ring that snooty lady in the next cubicle is sporting. She'll be full of envy when she sees your matching diamond speakers glinting in the fluorescent light.

The XPS Diamond speakers are powered through USB, have magnetic shielding to prevent interference, and come with a wired mini remote control for changing the volume. But who cares about the specs? Did you notice that they look like big diamonds?!… Read more

We assumed everyone knew that Apple's stock earphones give only slightly better sound quality than holding a speakerphone up to your ear, but nobody tipped off the buyers at the OC Concept Store, a new luxury boutique in New York selling diamond Apple headphone covers for $10,000.

Manufactured by a New York-based company called DEOS (Defining Expression of Sound), the DEOS-604-WB set polishes your low-end Apple buds with 604 diamonds that weigh 9.5 carats, or 1.9 grams of lavish excessiveness.

Someone tell those "ORGY OF THE RICH" protesters that we have their next target.… Read more

"Black Diamond Edition" sounds more like ski equipment than a car, but the Cadillac CTS-V Black Diamond Edition is one hot-looking automobile.

The CTS-V Black Diamond Edition is available in the CTS-V Sedan, Coupe, and Wagon models for about $4,850 over the CTS-V base price.

What sets the Black Diamond Edition apart is specialized tri-coat paint from California-based JDSU. A look of diamonds in the SpectraFlair pigment in the paint is created by using aluminum flakes encapsulated in a glass-like substance called magnesium fluoride, GM said.

The exterior of the Black Diamond Edition also includes satin graphite … Read more

Vibrating platform exercise machines claim to give you a workout without the work. The VibroGym Diamond VG Evolution does just that, giving you the feeling of exercising so hard that you throw up--without the exercise. In fact, all you have to do is look at the thing and you go straight to being sick in your mouth.

It's covered in thousands of our old nemesis, the Swarovski crystal. Fresh from assaulting the Olympus Pen E-P1 and a host of other gadgets, the Swarovski crystal has swarmed over the Diamond VG Evolution in an unspeakable nexus of utter pointlessness.

Read … Read more