Author: Duncan Geere
Guitar Hero cupcakes are packed with star power
At the moment, I’ve got a bunch of chocolate cornflake clusters to serve my sugar habit, but when they run out I’ll definitely be making these. For best effect, arrange them on a cooling rack in the pattern of one of the solos in ‘Through the Fire and Flames‘.
In fact, if you laid out that entire song in cupcakes, I wonder how many people it would feed. Answers on a comment-shaped-postcard.
Domestic Scientist (via Crafty Crafty)
Related posts: Serious about Guitar Hero? So is Logitech | Guitar Hero makes music look easy – 2.5 million extra kids learning instruments thanks to video games
CES 2009: HP Mini 2140 netbook
Here’s HP’s netbook, the Mini 2140. It’s really rather nice, packing a good size keyboard, 10.1″ screen and 80GB SSD. Decent price, too – but I’ll let Zara reveal that one. Check out the video above to find out.
(via Shiny Shiny)
For more CES coverage than would fit on an 80GB SSD, click through to our index post.
Computer Aid isn't a big fan of smashing up hard drives, either
It would be an understatement to say that I wasn’t a big fan of Which?’s suggestion that you safeguard your personal data by hitting it with a big hammer, and it turns out that Computer Aid agrees. Computer Aid is a charity which refurbishes old and unwanted computer equipment for the third world.
Instead, the charity wants you to opt for safe, environmentally-friendly alternatives when disposing of IT equipment. They also recommend a data erasing program over total destruction, though it’s the paid-for Blancco.
Of course, what they really want you to do is give the old equipment to them, promising that any data you leave will be wiped clean before it’s reused. A much better solution than a claw hammer, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Related posts: Which? magazine’s solution to data privacy – a big hammer | Security watchdog the ICO is currently looking at 277 “data breaches” in the UK
FLASH GAME CHALLENGE: Topspinner
Last week’s special New Year’s Day edition of Flash Game Challenge was won by a last-minute entry from Bobbo, who smashed my pitiful effort with a time of 273 seconds. Although it was technically submitted a little late, the madness of CES meant I forgot to post a new challenge, so I’m allowing it. This time.
This week, we’ve got a corker for you. It’s essentially ragdoll cricket. Just wave your mouse around, and your avatar will wave his bat around. You’ll get it. I scored 114. Can you beat that? I bet you can. Post your score in the comments below.
Topspinner (via RPS)
Former challenges: Achievement Unlocked | Sock and Awe
YouTube Video of the Week: Insane Japanese Water Jetpack
Whoa – this is awesome. Supersize a simple bottle rocket, and strap it to a terrified-looking Japanese bloke. The most impressive thing? The science involved, neatly summarised by PopSci. In short, this bloke leaves the launchpad at over 200MPH, experiencing acceleration of approx 10gs! Don’t try this at home, kids.
PopSci (via Digg)
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Nine Inch Nails release 400GB of raw, unedited concert footage for fans to make their own DVD
If you’re a NIN fan, then you’ve just been handed a massive, if a little belated, Christmas present. Trent Reznor, known for his liberal approach to his intellectual property, has released 400GB of raw, unedited HD video footage shot at three recent shows in Victoria, Portland and Sacremento.
CES 2009: Thrustmaster T.16000M joystick
I’ve just had a quick look in the archives, and it’s been a long time since we covered an actual joystick product, as opposed to some sort of joystick-related piece of art or hackery. For the few of you who still use a joystick, then (flight sim enthusiasts?), here’s the Thrustmaster T.16000M.
It’s got some brand new tech, called H.E.A.R.T., which pretends to stand for “Hall Effect AccuRate Technology”. Some “Hall Effect” magnets sit on the stick, giving the sensors far more precision than most other joysticks. On each axis, there’s over 16,000 different values. That’s a little ridiculous, but might be worth buying if the person with the steadiest hands in the world is your Secret Santa next year, and is a big flight-sim enthusiast.
The T.16000M is ambidextrous, comes with 16 action buttons, and offers a wide hand rest and weighted base as additional features. It’ll be available in February and cost £50. That seems fairly cheap. Maybe I should give it a shot.
For more CES-related goodness, check out our index post.
HOW-TO: Tweak Chrome to get the newest features early
Odds-are, if you’re reading this, then you’re the sort of person who likes to call themselves an ‘early adopter’. It’s highly possible, then, that you might be using Google’s super-fast Chrome browser, and if you are, then you might be interested in finding out how to subscribe to Google’s ‘Beta’ channel for Chrome updates, or perhaps even the highly-unstable ‘Developer’ channel.
Basically, there are three channels – a ‘Stable’ one, for the general public. A ‘Beta’ one for interested parties, and a ‘Developer’ one, for those of you who like to be on the bleeding edge. It’s very easy to switch – just download a little program (found here) and click the appropriate box. You don’t even seem to need to restart the browser.
I’ve just subscribed to the ‘Beta’ channel. So far, it hasn’t crashed. Give it a try and let us know your experiences in the comments below.
Chrome Dev Channel (via Chromium)
Related posts: Happy Birthday, Google Chrome – 1.0 today | OPINION: Still searching for reasons to switch to Google Chrome
CES 2009: Casio compacts – Exilim EX-Z400, EX-Z270, EX-S12, EX-S5, EX-FS10 and EX-FC100
Gosh, what a long list of product names. No time for a long, gratuituous intro then, let’s jump straight into specs.
The big hitters are the EX-FS10 and EX-FC100. The former has a 9.1-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom. It’s 16.3mm thin, and has a 2.5″ LCD display. The latter is also 9.1 megapixel, and expands to a 5x zoom and 2.7″ touchscreen. It’s also got CMOS anti-shake.
Impressively, though, they can both capture at amazingly high speeds – 30 shots-per-second 6-megapixel still images, and movies at up to 1,000fps. That speed is going to good use, too – you can set it to take a burst, and automatically pick the least blurred, smiliest, eyes-open photo, or you can pick the best one yourself. It’ll also do 720p HD video. $350 (£231) for the EX-FS10, and $400 (£264) for the EX-FC100, both out in March in the US.
CES 2009: Palm's new Web OS in detail
Previously known as “Nova”, Palm has just rechristened and launched its new OS “Web OS”. It’s an amazingly dreary name for a concept that could reshape how we use our mobile mobiles. The bottom line is that Palm is bending head-over-heels to make their platform easy for developers – so easy that they reckon anyone who knows HTML, CSS and XML will be able to write an app.
The UI is very iPhone-like. You flick the display to scroll around, and there’s various gestures that you can use, too. Everything’s managed with a ‘cards’ metaphor, where you see a deck that can be rotated with a finger and shuffled. The biggest feature, though, is something called “Synergy”.
