Posts in PC & Peripherals
Total 2 pages : [1] 2
Drive a Nascar PC
Darius Chang | Nov 28, 2005
From watches to notebooks, its seems that sport car themes have been invading anything that can beep or blink. Nascar fanatics can now complete their shrine to the second highest-rated televised sport with a stock car-inspired PC.
Stocked with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor, ATI-integrated graphics card and a 160GB Seagate hard drive, Cisnet, a division of ZT Group, waved the checkered flag on the first Nascar-themed desktop.
Available only to the US market, the desktop was launched in October and can be purchased through CompUSA and Target.com. Besides the CPU and LCD monitor, all the included peripherals like the keyboard, speaker and mouse follow the checkered flag motif. Even the operating system is not forgotten, as custom Nascar-themed Windows Media Player and screensaver complete the racing experience. At a cost of US$799.98 (S$1354.49) after rebates, pit-stop services are available 24 hours everyday through a telephone technical support hotline.
But if fans are hoping to race virtually with Nascar 2005 on this system, they will probably not get past the starting line. Unlike its namesake, the Nascar PC has to depend on the poky and slow integrated graphics card to render animations. Gaming on this PC is about as fast and as enjoyable as watching a race with the safety car on the track.
Click here for larger image
LaCie Lego Bricks
Juniper Foo | Nov 24, 2005
Will the real Lego please stand up? LaCie's hard drives could easily have fooled us. Shaped like giant Legos and color-coded according to capacity, just be careful junior doesn't attempt to add it to his Lego collection and toast this rather expensive piece of hardware. The idea has its genesis from French designer Ora-Īto of Swatch fame who, probably with a non-geek's disdain for PC components, decided to liven up an otherwise dull, featureless box. Thank goodness, because what we have here are seriously fun hard drives that can be conveniently stacked for, erm, more storage space. Simply irresistible.
Click to see larger image
Via Gizmodo
Price: From US$99 to US$329.99 (mobile and desktop editions)
Availability: Pre-orders here, desktop bricks retail from December, mobile editions from January
Device: Hard drive
Basic specs: Desktop edition capacities from 160GB to 500GB, mobile edition from 40GB to 120GB, USB 2.0 or with FireWire, LaCie One Click Backup Software for PC/Mac, LaCie Silverlining and SilverKeeper drive management, advanced backup utilities for Macs
INX YouSD Card with built-in USB
Juniper Foo | Nov 22, 2005
It's taken a year since we reported on the exciting SD cards with built-in USB. And now Japanese-designed YouSD is on shelves here, distributed by 01 Computer System. While we'd have preferred the hinged version of SanDisk's SD Ultra II to YouSD's removable cap, we've no complaints as it's truly very convenient. The test sample that came via courier had a speedy USB 2.0 transfer rate, with an LED on the tiny card to indicate data transfer. Everything was as simple as plug-and-play. Convenience has a price, naturally. As a general idea of the premium you can expect: An INX 256MB Secure Digital SD Card will set you back about S$81 (US$48) to S$30 (US$17.65) for a normal stick.
See the YouSD card upclose | slotted in as an SD media | slotted in via USB | packaging
Waterproof SD cards are also available. See packaging | in action
Price: From S$50 (US$29.40) for 256MB to 1GB capacities
Availability: Singapore retailers like Popular Bookstores, Harvey Norman, Boon & Co, Standard Photo outlets and East Gear
Device: Flash memory
Basic specs: N.A.
Ferrari-inspired LCD
Darius Chang | Nov 17, 2005
With only 1,000 units made for each model, Acer Japan will be releasing the limited-edition F-19 and F-20 Ferrari LCD in late November, though the exact details are not confirmed yet. Like the Acer Ferrari notebook, this monitor uses the trademark black-and-red theme for the sports car look.
The F-19 has a 19-inch display while the F-20's is a 20-inch. Connectivity options are common to both, which include the standard VGA port, DVI, component and S-video inputs. Equipped with built-in speakers, don't expect to carry this to your LAN party as the duo weigh a hefty 7.1kg and 6.8kg, respectively.
Honey, I blew a hundred grand on a virtual property
Darius Chang | Nov 15, 2005
According to CNN, Jon Jacobs from Miami purchased a space station for only US$100,000 (S$170,605). But before you think this is some sort of scam (think star-naming companies), the property in question exists only in the virtual game, Project
Entropia. Actually, since you at least get a paper "certificate" after naming a star, some may think that Jocabs
was not really playing with all his marbles when signing the deal.
Despite the seemingly inane investment choice, we can't really fault his line of thinking. With potential epidemics, natural disasters and bombings appearing in the news on a daily basis, putting money in a place which is essentially immune from physical damage could be the wave of the future. Jocabs intends to convert the space station into a resort populated with interesting dinosaur-like monsters. To further enhance the safari-like atmosphere, visitors are given the license to kill and keep the carcasses for profit. Jacobs estimates that his virtual resort should generate a real income of around US$20,000 monthly.
But this is not exactly revolutionary. Non-gold standard-based currency depends on society's perceived value in order to function as an unit of exchange. This unique form of virtual investment relies on the perception of value by other players in this imaginary world to make real profit. Hopefully, this erasing of the boundaries between reality and fantasy doesn't cross over to first person shooters. Otherwise, funeral homes will be making a tidy profit after every major gaming event.
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