Gadgets

World records for video games

Wondering how your score on your favorite video game ranks worldwide? Here are rankings--based on gaming platform--of the highest scores according to online scoreboard Twin Galaxies, which also keeps a list of player rankings, gaming statistics and championship tournaments.

The most comprehensive lists seem to be the arcade versions of video games, with the skimpier rankings of games on newer consoles such the Xbox or Playstation, so get your scores up there. You'll have to comply with the verification methods, but you'll at least have your name up until someone knocks you off.

There are even pinball … Read more

Look, Ma, no training wheels!

Does your tyke have bike anxiety? Purdue University's industrial design program may have just the thing for you.

It's called Shift, a prototype that just took first place in the 9th International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan. Arguably, the vehicle could be called a tricycle, since it has three wheels, but that doesn't seem to have been a problem for the competition's judges. And the two rear wheels are only inches apart, so the tripod effect is kept to a minimum. Certainly, the Shift doesn't have the wheel span of your average bicycle with training … Read more

Camera phone saves man from deadly spider

If you happen to come across giant spiders in your kitchen every now and then, you might want to pay attention to this one. A British chef bitten by the world's deadliest arachnid was saved after snapping a photo of it with his camera phone.

According to a story in the Times Online, Matthew Stevens was bitten twice on the hand by a Brazilian Wandering Spider as he cleaned behind the freezer of his pub. The creature, not generally associated with life in England, is believed to have arrived as a stowaway in a box of bananas.

Before the … Read more

Phone to users: Get your butt in gear!

Need extra encouragement logging that last mile on your morning run? You might be interested in Nokia's 5140i camera phone, introduced by the company on Tuesday.

Among other sporty features, the dust- and splash-resistant phone for active-minded gabbers includes Nokia's Fitness Coach application, which the company describes as an always-on personal training partner. (No word yet on its stringency level: "You call that a bicep curl? My arthritic 90-year-old mother can do better than that!"). The triband phone also enables planning and recording of activities, as well as sharing of training data via SMS. And it … Read more

Comcast adds TNT to HD channel lineup

As crisp and sharp as high definition television broadcasts can be, if the programming isn't shot in high definition, the picture isn't going to be great as it could be. This is proving to be one of the major stumbling blocks in the transition to digital television--consumers get their fancy new HDTV sets home but find there aren't very many shows in HD, so they don't get that clear picture that they saw in the store. (As it turns out, many consumers don't seem to notice, but for those who do it can be frustrating.) … Read more

Dell's handheld plans include cell phone, hard drive

Looks like Dell's Axim handheld line will be seeing some major changes and additions this year, including a hard drive-based device and a cell phone.

Enthusiast site Brighthand has gotten hold of Dell's handheld road map--a timeline of products in development--through the end of 2006. And while full details such as pricing and availability dates weren't included, we're left with a sense of where the handheld industry is going. A Dell representative declined to comment on what she called "rumor and speculation."

We've also heard about the hard drive-based device, but only … Read more

Canon sued over carbon TVs

Nano-Proprietary has filed a suit against Canon in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas, alleging that the surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) televisions that Canon plans to release violates a licensing agreement signed between the Japanese giant and Nano-Proprietary in 1999.

In these TVs, an array of carbon nanotubes, or similar structures, fire electrons at a screen to create images. The TVs are supposed to be brighter, crisper and thinner than conventional TVs.

Canon and Toshiba formed a joint venture to produce SED panels in 2004 and both plan to come out with these … Read more

Unified next-gen DVD format in the works

Entertainment companies are urging electronics makers to put an end to a brewing battle to establish a next-generation DVD standard--and apparently Toshiba and Sony are listening.

Executives from both companies have been tipping their hands regarding talks about a "unified" format to solve the problem of incompatibility between their two next-generation DVD technologies--HD DVD and Blu-ray. Toshiba and Sony have become mouthpieces for the industry groups they belong to promoting the two formats. Both sides have been open to a single format, but neither has wanted to cede ground to the other. Negotiations are now turning to unification, … Read more

TiVo principal engineer resigned

Arthur van Hoff, principal engineer at TiVo, resigned in late February, he confirmed Wednesday. His resume posted to his Web site indicated he left the digital video recorder company this year. He joined TiVo in 2004, after TiVo acquired his start-up Strangeberry. Technology developed at Strangeberry has become the basis for TiVo's Home Media Engine, an open platform to allow developers to build Java applications for Series2 DVRs.

At TiVo, he was the lead architect for the TiVoToGo feature--allowing subscribers to transfer recorded shows on their DVRs to PCs--and the HME project.

Van Hoff said he still believes in … Read more