Let’s take Call of Duty 4 for example. When do you know a video game is extremely popular? When they release something like that… My favorite part is where the solo pistol comes in.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4IFUak_U0[/youtube]

This must be the ultimate gadget for those operating underwaters. We’re looking at the UT-1 Ultra Trencher, the biggest subsea robot that is being used to install oil/gas pipes and probably telecommunication cables. Built by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) for £10 million and with the dimensions of a medium condo (7.8 x 7.8 x 5.6 meters) the robot is able to move with a 2 to 3 knots speed and can trench pipelines with 1 meter in diameter.

“Weighting 50 tonnes and the size of a small house, it is designed to bury largediameter oil and gas pipelines laid on the ocean floor. It does this by ‘flying’ down up to a mile deep below the surface using powerful propellers. It then lands over the pipeline and deploys a pair of ‘jet swords’ either side of the pipe which inject high pressure water to ‘fluidise’ the surface. Burying the pipelines protects them from fishing, shipwrecks and natural currents. This enables oil and gas to be safely transported from the offshore fields to land to provide secure energy supplies.”

For more detailed specs here’s the PDF file.

Source

The new HP dv3000 has been announced for Asia. It’s a redesigned version of the dv2000 they’ve released 2 years ago and since it’s cool to have a 13.3-inch display this is what you get. It has pretty interesting specs with a 2.5GHz T9300 Penryn Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, GeForce Go 8400M graphics that outputs HDMI or a 160GB hard drive. Of course there are others like a VGA webcam, a dual layer burner and a combo USB / eSATA port.

The price is $1,399, the date is May and the continent is Asia. Too bad for the rest of us.

Cnet-Asia

What is it about these sheiks that they always get the biggest houses, the most expensive and the fastest cars, not to mention women they get. It looks like the first airline to allow in-flight calls coming from passenger mobile phones is the Dubai-based Emirates. The first call was permitted on an Airbus A340 heading to Casablanca.

So far using your own cellphone on a plane was prohibited because it could have interfered with the plane’s electronics, but the Emirates have built a system to prevent such problems. By the end of the year the company promises to allow you to use data services on your mobile phone or sending text messages.

From what I’ve heard in-flight calls may not be allowed during night flights, but this is something the crew decides. Passengers will also be requested to keep their phones on “silent” mode while cruising and that’s obviously a good thing.

Source (photo by cicadajet)

The popular mini-notebook from Asus will get some competition. Taiwan’s Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has presented its plans to built a low-cost computer with 3G support. That means the Asus Eee PC will have a tempting rival.

Besides the 3G support that enables Internet access via HSDPA and HSUPA (High Speed Downlink/Uplink Packet Access) technologies, the ECS models will feature Wi-Fi support, 56Kbps modem and Bluetooth wireless. Moreover the ECS computers will run on Intel’s Atom microprocessor paired with an Intel 945 GSE chipset. The hardware configuration includes either a regular HDD or a SSD (solid state drive) and up to 2GB of DRAM. ECS users will have the option to choose between the 8.2″ screen or the 10.2″, respectively.

The notebooks will run Microsoft Windows XP or a Linux OS. No price or availability details were revealed, but ECS has got at least a fan in my person.

via InfoWorld

I agree with ecologists and energy preserving, so I want to make you aware about sun’s free energy that is out there. Thus, I want to greet the manufacturers of the eMotion Solar PMP.

This gadget has a built-in solar battery charger so you won’t run out of juice. Its storage can upset some people because it has only 1GB internal memory and support only 2GB SD card. I think its performances can’t meet the market’s needs. The EM-SOL1GIG PMP supports MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, ADPCM, AMR music files, AVI and MPEG4 video files and also JPEG, BMP, GIF for viewing photos.

Its screen of 320 x 240 pixels can offer a decent gaming experience for old school boys. Furthermore the device features an e-book reader and USB 2.0. The package includes a charger adapter for other electronic devices such as mobiles, cameras, music players. Protect the environment and go for it!

Buy it here for $159.

via Popgadget

High Tech Computer (HTC) has just named its Android-based mobile. Called “Dream”, the phone would be the first one that runs Google’s software. Nevertheless, a rumor about a Samsung devices was stated in the news. Samsung also develops an Android-based mobile because they are part of Open Handset Alliance too.

A 5-inch long and 3-inch wide Dream will sport a large touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard that will slide underneath the screen. HTC tries to deliver a phone perfect for emailing and web surfing. The Internet navigational keys are placed just below the screen. Also I can tell you that we should expect the Dream by the end of the year. There is no information about multimedia capabilities, storage or network compatibility.

The Open Handset Alliance’s project - the Android - will become the alternative to Windows Mobile and Linux Mobile. Thus many major mobile manufacturers will migrate for the new powerful mobile software.

via Yahoo News

This is something I wasn’t expecting but now that I found it, I think it’s a very smart marketing move. This is the new Lenovo ThinkPad X300 ad that wants to redefine the idea of “thin”. It’s obviously a way of kicking the MacBook Air in the balls when they say “The no compromise, ultraportable, 13.3″ widescreen notebook with an optiona integrated DVD drive and 3 USB ports, starting at just 2.9 lb. Everything else is hot air”.

These words are definitely going to start the fight somehow. Looking forward to Apple’s reply.

via Engadget

I’ve just heard that the all mighty phone, the iPhone, is going to get itself a specially built Flash player. Yes, Adobe will release it just for the iPhone, despite Apple’s concerns that the technology is not to be developed for mobile phones.

Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe said in a press conference today “we believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone. [..] We have evaluated [the software developer tools] and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves.”

Can you argue the guy? I don’t think it’s going to be a hit, but bring it on and let us test it a lil bit. Rumors say Apple will probably provide Adobe with the framework they need to do a Safari plugin. But remember the part where I said, they don’t want a Flash Player on their iPhone? The other solution for Adobe is to build it just like Quicktime, as a stand alone player.

via Gizmodo

Ladies and gents the winners of the 700 MHz Spectrum auction have been announced and the big winners are Verizon and AT&T. Verizon managed to get most of the C Block, leaving Google to bite the dust, but rumors say the big G never wanted it and participated just to see the reserve price met and the open access rules followed. The other big winner was AT&T that manage to score a big portion of the B Block.

via Engadget