Hello Kitty iPod speaker: Part two

Little sister to the dock we mentioned at the tail end of 2006, the New Year has heralded a new speaker to crucify… erm, cute-ify (is there such a word?) the iPod. Besides the endearing pink tones and the cartoon graffiti, this sweet innocent honey comes with a mini figurine to remind us of its feline pedigree. What an absolute darling. Yuck.

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Nintendo's new flab buster

American Mickey DeLorenzo has refuted the common "no pain, no gain" notion by being the first video gamer to combine gaming with a weight loss routine. It all started out as an experiment with his fiancee, slugging it out virtually on a Wii Sports boxing game, thanks to Nintendo Wii's innovative motion-sensitive controllers.

The breath-gasping, sweat-inducing session eventually evolved into a daily 30-minute affair. This saw his weight plummeting just after a mere 21 hours of gameplay, shedding an impressive 4kg without the assistance of dieting and slimming pills. The beaming DeLorenzo has since chronicled his progress on his blog, together with charts and photos of his achievements.

The man has more than what he bargained for, receiving a job offer from a fitness Web site and making headlines online. Like American Idol reject William Hung, the entrepreneur has been quick to capitalize on his new-found fame, registering the Internet address WiiWorkout.net which links currently to his blog.

Just in case you are wondering, Nintendo has yet to contact DeLorenzo for product endorsement or any business proposition, though he reckons a workout game is probably in the pipeline from the Japanese manufacturer.

So what are you waiting for, all you diet fanatics?

Meizu Music Card: That thin slice

The Music Card is slim to the point of emaciation. At 39 x 81 x 7mm, it's certainly skinny enough to join the anorexic nano crew. Technical details are not firm yet but the player will be making its debut in China by end February. From what little we've heard, the Music Card will feature WMA Lossless support and come in two colors: Black or white. Compare them.

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Is Vista tone deaf?

According to a report by the Creative ALchemy Project, the upcoming Windows Vista lacks support for surround sound or EAX audio on many PC games.

The reason bring that Microsoft has removed the hardware abstraction layer (HAL)--which is responsible for allowing software to interact directly with the audio device--in Vista. Applications like movie playback using DirectSound3D will be unable to produce surround sound or use advanced hardware audio features. In its place, Vista will be using a new audio protocol, OpenAL, which is present only in applications written specifically for the next-generation DirectX 10 hardware.

So where does this leave us? If you really must watch DVDs immersed in soundtracks, you might have to shell out for Dolby-enabled versions of playback applications. For gamers who swear by the current crop of Direct X 9 titles, they will have to purchase Creative's high-end X-Fi sound card, which uses Creative's proprietary ALchemy software to speak in OpenAL code.

Finger Drum Mousepad

This begs for a semi-autobiographical title: My Life as a Finger Drum Mousepad. Proving that nothing is sacred in the third-party arena, this one attempts to drum up interest in the ubiquitous mousepad by doubling it as an electronic drumpad. Probably for when the occasional urge strikes you to get sync(opat)ed with yon concrete jungle life. All that's missing are cannibal cooking pots. Surprisingly, this packs a number of creative options, with up to eight percussion sounds you can generate with some finger tapping, and the ability to record up to 30 more of your own rhythms. There're even separate volume and tempo controls to twiddle with. But unless you've a serious case of twitchy fingers or plan to annoy your cubicle mates considerably, stick to mouse clicks which could be less hazardous to your person.

Get up close

Price: US$39.95
Availability: At Hammacher Schlemmer
Device: Mousepad
Specs: Requires four AAA batteries, 9 x 8 x 2.5 inches, 0.5lb

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