Let Doraemon control all your remotes

Those uninitiated in the world of anime might not be familiar with Doraemon, a robotic manga cat from the future that's known for its infinite Inspector Gadget-like supply of gizmos.

One of the Japanese character's many tools, Tokyomango says, is an air gun that could fire a fake bullet simply by the voice command of "Bang!"

Epoch has taken that concept and turned it into a real-life device, a voice-activated control that can take over the functions of regular remotes with built-in IR signals already programmed into it. The result, if all works correctly, is a Doraemon "pistol" that can be worn on your finger and can control the functions of up to four devices with just a "bang" or two.

It even comes with its very own Doraemon, which will take care of it when you're done. All of which sounds infinitely more fun than those tired old Phasers and Lightsabers.

Via Crave CNET

A bright idea to compete with Ambilight TVs

Sometimes--just sometimes--we have a thought that isn't so crazy after all. When we first heard of Philips' "Ambilight" TVs, for example, we wondered whether it was worth paying a premium for the feature--and whether it would be possible to develop something similar as a separate product.

Lo and behold, someone else had the same thought. A company called Illuminaire offers an LED system that claims to provide similar backlighting (which supposedly reduces eye strain) in a variety of colors that can change continually or even strobe, according to Tech Digest. Perfect for the first time you watch Saturday Night Fever on Blu-ray.

There's one area, however, where we suspect Philips will always have an advantage. Actually, make that 2,200 of them.

Via Crave CNET

US porn studio and HD-DVD camp in divorce row

It's one blow after another for the Toshiba-lead HD-DVD consortium. This time round, it's California-based Digital Playground Inc. turning its back on the red camp. A recent statement released by the pornographic movie studio indicated a possible Blu-ray switch by end 2008. This was revealed in an interview between the company founder and a German Website Heise online during the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008.

Among the reasons cited were the Warner coup and higher Digital Playground Blu-ray title sales volume against their equivalent HD-DVD offerings. The latter was said to be attributed to PlayStation 3 gaming console's success, though it's still facing resistance from Sony on distributing pornography on Blu-ray, understandably with Walt Disney Pictures onboard. It has since worked around this issue by collaborating with independent Blu-ray disc manufacturers.

Via I4U News | Photo credit: Digital Playground Inc.

Marantz's £3,000 A/V pre-power

Whether you are a self-proclaimed audiophile or a critical music lover with golden ears, the CES-announced Marantz AVC8003 A/V preamplifier/processor (top) and MM8003 power amplifier (bottom) are two heavyweights definitely worth checking out.

Built like a tank, the THX-certified AVC8003 exhibits all the attributes of a fine musical machine. For starters, there are balanced (think heavy-duty, industrial quality) outputs for all eight audio channels and a noise-resistant copper-plated chassis. It also decodes studio-grade Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sounds as well as upscales video up to 1080p via dual HDMI 1.3 outputs. In addition, there's inbuilt networking capability for streaming HD audio and video files through your home network.

Pairing the above is the MM8003 eight-channel power amplifier, a 1,200W mammoth featuring a massive toroidal transformer and hand-picked electronics components housed within a similar copper chassis. With eight channels of 150W audio power under the hood, you will have a wide range of speaker setup options available. You can choose to bi-amplify your front left/right channel, opt for a four surround loudspeakers configuration or even drive a suite of eight passive loudspeakers and subwoofer.

According to Pocket-lint, the combination will retail for £3,000 (US$5,860) and will be available from the first half of the year.

Via Engadget | Photo credit: Engadget

Swedx now wants sound to be wooden, too

If Swedx had its way, media rooms in homes around the world might someday end up looking like fossilized forests.

The Swedish company was one of the first to produce TVs with wooden frames, long before the au naturel trend took hold among LG and other industry leaders, having expanded its lumbered ways from mice and keyboards. Now it's setting its sylvan sights on speakers as well for a completely wooded home entertainment apparatus.

The 5.1 surround-sound system complements its high-definition LCD TVs, which come with screens ranging from 17 to 46 inches, according to BornRich. Topping it all off is a stand made of beech or sapele wood. Let's just hope they don't try their hand at massage chairs too.

Via CNET Crave | Photo credit: Swedx

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