We ran across this earlier today and couldn’t stop laughing.  Apparently Chuck Norris had his own video game and kicked some major A$$ on the Atari 2600.  Check out the screens.
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Gizmodo is reporting that Lego has started shipping the new Mindstorms NXT. I’m sure next week cool robotic Lego creations will be popping up all over the web. The Lego Mindstorm NXT set is the most advanced Lego robotics set ever and includes an all-new NXT Intelligent Brick with 32-bit microprocessor, 3 Interactive Servo motors, a sound sensor, an ultrasonic visual sensor, an improved touch sensor, and an improved light sensor. The set also includes 519 specially selected LEGO TECHNIC pieces, 4 input ports, 3 output ports and 7 6-wire cords Matrix display, Piezo speakers, It features USB 2.0 and Bluetooth connectivity.

Want to pimp out your ride?  Now you can ride down the street with messages and retro video game characters displayed on your bike wheels. This cool kit  called Spoke POV allows you to turns your bike wheel into a customized display.   60 LED lights and a circuit board are provided as well as open source software and a free schematic design. Here are the specifications…

* Can be used with road, mountain or BMX wheels!
* 30 LEDs on each side (22 for BMX) x 256 radial pixels
* Runs on 2-3 AA batteries for 10 hours or more
* Can run on rechargable NiMH AA’s
* Comes with high-brightness red LEDs, but can be upgraded with green, blue, amber, etc.
* Automatically shuts off after 3 minutes
* wxPython based software runs on any Linux or Windows PC with a parallel port
* Design is all through-hole parts, perfect for a first time kit builder.
* With one spoke, total persistence at 15mph. Two spokes, 10mph. Three spokes, 7mph.
* Great for safe riding at night, provides excellent side visibility.
* Playa-tested!

In the next two days Alienware will begin shipping systems equipped with the nVidia 7950 GX2 or as we like to put it, the Hummer of all graphics cards.  To refresh your memory the nVidia 7950 GX2 features 1GB of on board memory, 48 pixel pipelines, as well as 16 vertex shaders. The GX2 is powered by 2 7900 series GPU’s.  The Area-51 7500 and the Aurora 7500 which is pictured above will come equipped with this powerful monster standard, that’s right… standard.  The base price for the  Area-51 7500 is $1,679 and the Aurora 7500 is priced at $2,309. Via Gizmodo

The Toshiba Satellite M105 is a cheap solution if you want a portable Core Duo laptop.  For just $1,050 you get a 1.6 GHz Core Duo T2300 processor, 512 RAM, a decent size 1280 X 800 14.1 inch wide screen screen, 100GB HDD and a DVD+R DL drive.  The Satellite M105 weighs in at just 5.2 pounds and has a battery life of 3 hours and 38 minutes.  The downside is the laptop only has on board graphics so it isn’t suitable for hardcore gamers.  You can read the full review over at PC Mag.  Via Engadget

The first hands-on review of the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray DVD player has been posted over at themanroom.com. They conclude.. "For costing twice as much as the HD-A1, Samsung’s BD-P1000 isn’t anywhere near twice the machine. The sooner dual-layer discs are introduced with improved video quality and a studio puts out a title on both formats concurrently, the sooner we’ll be able to properly compare and draw more informed conclusions. Right now it’s just too early to declare one format rules them all." It looks like we are going to have to wait until later this year for a better comparison. Via Fosfor

Bumptop is a desktop interface that utilizes 3d graphics and real world physics to create a completely unique and more natural feeling desktop experience. Although Bumptop is still under development and hasn’t been released yet, a video that shows off the interface can be seen below.
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We decided to start posting more gadgets and electronics on the site and when we ran across this home theater system we were impressed. The Philips HTS9800 Home Theater System is an impressively stylish home theater system offers HDMI connectivity as well as 6.1 Dolby Digital Ex surround sound and the best part is its semi-wireless, which reduces the number of cables going across your living room. The HTS9800 retails for around $900 and while its not the cheapest solution for a home theater, it is definitely one of the most stylish.

Citizen has just released a new smart watch that is compatible with MSN.  Using the watch you are able to enter a pin and retrieve messages through MSN, as well as Office Outlook and weather data. The Smart Watch 2006 comes in a variety of different styles and has a faster download rate as well as twice the storage of previous models.  Check it out over at MSN Direct

Maybe pandas aren’t going to go extinct after all.  This giant robotic panda seems to be able to waltz around and do what every other panda does, shake hands and hug humans.  Although its proportions are a bit off, and its neck looks a bit stiff, the giant robot panda is some step forward in the robotic world, even if we haven’t quite figured out what step that is.  More pictures below..
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