OWN A PSP, BUT TIRED OF SQUINTING?
Sony's PlayStation Portable, better known as the PSP, is a high-powered gaming console and multimedia player that fits in your pocket. But what if you don't want to watch a movie or play a game on a small 4 1/2-inch-wide screen?
The peripherals manufacturer Nyko will now let you hook your PSP up to your television with its Play on TV Adaptor.
PHOTOS: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
To circumvent the lack of a video output on the PSP, the device clamps over the PSP screen and scans it like a video camera, sending the signal through standard cables to your TV.
Blowing up the tiny PSP screen to several times its original size does degrade the image. But the Play on TV does widen your PSP options.
If you have a movie in the PSP's UMD format, and the idea of holding the PSP in your lap for two hours to watch it doesn't appeal to you, the Play on TV offers a better way.
A HARD DRIVE IN YOUR POCKET THAT CAN UPDATE, ENCRYPT AND EVEN OFFER A REWARD
At first glance, Western Digital's Passport Pocket USB 2.0 is just another small external storage device. It is a bit bigger than many other USB drives, and it has a rotating connector so it can fit into tight or strangely angled slots. At about US$100 for 6 gigabytes, it handles lots of data at a low price.
But there are two crucial differences between the Passport Portable and its rivals. First, it's a hard drive, not flash memory. Western Digital is one of the oldest hard-disk manufacturers around, and like the other drive makers, it has learned how to miniaturize the drives while increasing capacity.
The other major feature of the drive is the bundled WD Sync software, which synchronizes specified files from your PC or Mac and keeps changes up to date while it is running. It even encrypts the files automatically, a good safety feature in case you lose the drive. A nice little wrinkle is that you can record your contact details and an offer of a reward for returning the drive. This will be the only data that is readable without the password.
IMPROVE COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR FEET
While the marriage of iPods and shoes might seem strange to some, die-hard runners and fans of Get Smart will be happy to know that their iPod Nano music player can now do more than just pump out the tunes: it can also talk to your Nikes.
The Nike+iPod, a partnership between Nike and Apple, consists of an attachment for the Nano and a sensor that fits into specially designed Nike shoes, sold separately.
The sensor wirelessly transmits speed and stride length to the Nano attachment, which plugs into the bottom of the player. Using special software, the Nano then becomes a training partner, providing time, distance and speed information on its color screen or via voice prompts piped through the headphones.
Once home, the Nike+iPod can connect to your PC or Mac and upload data about your run.
The kit, available online for US$30, works best with the Nike+line of shoes, which cost about US$100. The shoes have a small hole in the instep that cushions the sensor. The sensor itself weighs less than 28g, so you won't notice it during your wind sprints.
A PC WITH AN UNEARTHLY LOOK AND THE SPECS TO MATCH
The Alienware Area-51 7500 is the kind of computer that kicks sand in the face of wimpier PCs. Based on Intel's latest processor and motherboard — code-named Conroe for those who are keeping track — the 7500 has a processor speed of about 3 gigahertz, which means you'll be able to play blindingly fast games of Solitaire.
Hard-core gamers and rocket scientists will also be well served by the 7500's high-powered innards. The Conroe chip, formally known as the Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition, consists of two processors running in parallel for increased performance. The PC supports a dual graphics card setup in which each nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX card handles half of the full screen.
For the average computer user, the 7500 would be overkill, but this machine isn't for the average computer user, as the US$5,000 price tag indicates. The stylized case and glowing water-cooling system might also offer hints.
This computer, which takes up to 4 gigabytes of RAM, can be custom-ordered at www.alienware.com. While there is no stock configuration, Alienware, which is now owned by Dell, offers two 150-gigabyte hard drives and a high-speed DVD burner. Flying saucer and death ray are apparently extra.
FLEXIBLE SPEAKERS HELP BEND SOUND
If your laptop's little speakers aren't pumping out enough volume for your taste, you can literally bend the sound to your will (and ear) with the B-Flex Hi-Fi USB Speaker from JLab Audio.
The compact 2-watt stereo speaker system plugs into the computer's USB port and is connected to a flexible cable that lets you easily adjust the angle and direction of the audio output for music, presentations, DVD movies and other situations where you need bigger sound.
The B-Flex speaker works with most Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems, both laptops and desktops, and is available at www.jlabaudio.com. The speaker has a frequency range of 200 hertz to 20,000 hertz and produces its sound with two 36m paper cone drivers.
Available in black or white, the B-Flex speaker requires no electrical cords or batteries and runs right off the power from the USB port. It measures about 17cm by 8cm, including the cable, and weighs in at 79g.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would