HD-DVD blowout sales

Yo! How's US$9.99 for a Hollywood blockbuster mastered in crystal-clear HD visuals and high-resolution surround sound? If you are transiting Dublin, California, check out the local Best Buy stores and get to stock up on some dirt-cheap HD-DVDs. Though it seems outright insane to bet your chips on a defunct technology, this is an absolute no-brainer for existing HD-DVD player owners. It sucks that my fellow enthusiasts over in the US are cashing in on these fire sales, while the Blu supporters are hopelessly dreaming about the next US Amazon buy-one-get-one-free promotion. Reality check, dudes! These promotions are probably gone for good now that the (HD-DVD) competition has been axed. Time to pay good money for your Blu-ray fix!

However, if you're one of those HD-DVD advocates stuck in Asia, not all is lost. Some Singapore video libraries are clearing their supplies at no less than 50 percent discount. Grab them while stocks last, because that's the last you're going to see of those HD-DVD titles. The clock is ticking.

Via tgdaily | Photo credit: tgdaily

Top 10 obsolete ports

I can still remember my first laptop. It was a Toshiba Pentium II model bought back in 1999. At that time, PS/2, serial and parallel ports were a must-have. There was a lonely USB port in the rear hidden by a sliding cover. For the life of me, I had no idea what it was supposed to be for, and I assumed it was an additional heat vent to be used when the machine was going full blast.

Fast forward to today when the USB port is king and any machine which dares to include only one (with the exception of UMPCs) will be ridiculed no end (MacBook Air, are you listening?). With eSATA just over the horizon and wireless USB on its way to unseat its wired brother, CNET UK took a step back in time to remember the ones which had served us well so many years ago.

Via Crave UK

S$9,999 for a film camera?

If you have just too much dough to blow, why not consider getting a customized Leica M rangefinder? The creme de la creme of all cameras, it was revered by photojournalists for its stealthy and unobtrusive characteristics. Renowned street photographer Henri Cartier Bresson stood by his, even when the world was swamped by digital cameras.

Now, for a hefty price starting from S$7,650 (US$5,625), you can build your own camera from Leica. On its Web site, there is a page which will bring you through nine different configuration options. You start off with choosing which camera body you want the unit to be based on, and the rest of the options let you decide the color, type of rewind crank, engraving (if any) and even the material covering the unit. Note that certain options come at a price and these will add on to the cost. After placing your orders, a technician from the German company will assemble together some 1,300 parts.

I tinkered around with the options, and there you have it. A manual, film-based camera that cost S$9,999 (US$7,352.21). Mind you, this is just for the camera body. An additional lens from Leica would burn another hole in my already threadbare wallet.

Now excuse me while I join the queue to buy lottery tickets.

This robot babysits your kids while you shop

While having a robot babysitter to keep watch on the kids may not sound reassuring to most parents, a department store in Japan apparently thinks otherwise.

Japanese retailer Aeon Co. has recently introduced a robot in one of its Fukuoka outlets to help entertain the kids while the parents shop at the store. Measuring 1.4m tall and dressed in a bright yellow-and-white outfit, the babysitter bot can identify each kid through the special badge he or she wears, and even conduct simple conversations with the tykes. Designed by robot-maker Tmsuk, it comes with a projector in one eye and a camera in the other.

Aeon and Tmsuk did not announce any plans to introduce more robot babysitters in other stores, but revealed that the technology will be developed for other applications such as a shopping guide robot to help customers navigate through the store.

Via Physorg
Photo credit: Engadget

Samsung's GPS phones priced right

Samsung is a big brand with a focus on mid- to high-end mobile phones. So when it announced the SGH-i780 and SGH-i550W GPS-enabled devices, we didn't think much about the prices, expecting it to be comparable to others from big brands like HTC and Nokia. That's why it came as a surprise to hear that these two will be priced at S$828 and S$738, respectively--incredible prices for their feature set. What's more, the company has bundled quite a few items with them, so you won't be getting just a bare handset and charger combo in the box. More details after the jump.
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