Its Electronica

I visited NYC for the first time last November, and let’s face it - that city has everything. Well, almost everything. While New York state can lay claim to some stunning water scenery, the water in Manhattan has always been a little… flat. I mean, it just kind of lies there.

So why not bring waterfalls to New York? That’s what New York’s Public Art Fund thought, and that’s what they are about to do.

From July to October this year, you’ll be able to see man-made cascading water features in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and on the north shore of Governors Island. The specially-commissioned installations will be 90 to 120-feet tall, operate from 7 AM to 10 PM, seven days a week, and will be lit after sunset for an even more impressive effect. What’s more, the waterfalls have been designed to protect water quality and aquatic life and could apparently bring an extra $55 million into New York’s tourism economy (they certainly make me think about a return trip…)

Here’s what the waterfalls will look like when they are up and running:

Via Pretty In the City and NYC Waterfalls.

Disney Interactive Studios (DIS) has expanded its studios into China with the announcement the company have acquired developer Gamestar.

Gamestar may not be known to many as they have mainly done outsourcing work for other companies since they were set up in 2002. Still, they are a force to be reckoned with in China, being made up of over 90 staff in two studios and recognized as one of the top producers of high-end outsourcing. Many of the staff are senior ex-technical staff from Ubisoft Shanghai.

Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of DIS commented:

Gamestar will play an important role in our global growth plans, providing a high quality talent pool for our expanding product portfolio … Our global expansion is aimed at achieving a new level of creative capacity, quality, and expertise in video game software development.

This is an interesting acquisition by DIS and one that could turn out to be a very important asset. One of the biggest problems of developing games for the new platforms (PS3 and Xbox 360 in particular) are the sheer amount of assets required and the time it takes to produce them. If you have a 90-strong team of experienced staff used to outsourcing work, that problem could just disappear.

Definitely a clever acquisition if handled right and it is likely to be copied by other large game developers if successful. For more information on Gamestar check out this Gamasutra China outsourcing review from 2006.

Read more at MCVUK.com

In our last episode, you may recall, I was hunting around for an ipod Touch substitute that would be cheaper - and perhaps even better, in some ways, at playing videos and Web surfing. And I thought I might have found it: the Archos 605 WiFi, which the CNET reviewer liked a lot.

But even at $200 less than the Touch, that’s still serious bucks to nag my loving family into spending on my birthday. So more research was indicated. Which gave me a reason to try out a new search engine, name of Retrevo.

Oh no, not another search engine! Oh ho, yes indeedy. But Retrevo is not just another search engine. It’s a search engine designed for one of Popgadget’s deepest avocations: Shopping. Shopping for electronic items, to be precise.

Precise is just the word for Retrevo, in fact. Plug the eProduct (or iProduct) of your dreams into Retrevo and up come reviews, blog posts, manufacturer info, and buying sites, all neatly organized and categorized for your researching pleasure. It will also search for solutions to problems you’re having with a technotoy, and it finds manuals for you, too. No more excuses for not being able to RTFM!

Filed in archive Software by jim on April 07, 2008

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If your memory card's data becomes corrupted, deleted, or even if the card has been reformatted you can probably recover all or most of the pictures with this free program.

"Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery 3" software is advertised as being capable of recovered most images captured in the most popular formats such as, JPEG, TIFF, and RAW, and many others.

This a small free program that you don't want to be without.

Source:www.www.artplus.hr

As I may have mentioned, my iPhone is terribly spoiled; always has to have the latest case, the newest earbuds, or the system mysteriously slows down. Right now, it’s sporting the new Wave case by Griffin, ($24.99) which is a bright red and made of a translucent polycarbonate shell.

Named the Wave case because of the unique wave-shaped closure, it provides greater interlocking surface area, so you can carry your iPhone and keep it somewhat protected in case of drops. Handily protecting your iPhone without impinging on it’s functionality, it comes in translucent red, pink, orange, green, blue, and black, but please don’t tell my iphone.

DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR NEXT GIVEAWAY - SIGN UP FOR POPGADGET DROP EMAILS.

Posted Apr 7th 2008 4:22AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Pretty much anything that’s predictably repetitive can be automated. As such, we expect corporate lawyers to be replaced by shiny dull robots just as soon as AI advances sufficiently beyond Japanese pet translators. Robots… lawyers… oh wait. Anyway, ASUS has mechanically responded to IBM’s patent lawsuit with a scripted suit all its own. ASUS claims that IBM is violating two of its patents related to server technology and storage on the Internet. That’s two claimed violations against IBM vs. three against ASUS — if this were a playground, IBM would win and ASUS would have to hand over its lunch money. Instead, this is big time patent law so it’ll cost somebody millions and create months of distraction.

Posted Apr 7th 2008 6:10AM by Thomas Ricker

The morning has only begun and already the first oddity has been unleashed in Japan. You’re looking at NTT DoCoMo Communications “Mobile Fragrance Communications Kit” which is based on the same scent delivery technology NTT has already deployed into homes and movie theaters. Fragrance playlists are downloaded to your DoCoMo phone and then transmitted over Ir to the portable “aroma generator” pre-loaded with base fragrances. The scents are then unleashed into the room under the accompaniment of new-age MIDIs and animated GIFs we presume will include dancing pandas and Hello Kitty cats. Ugh. The pilot program runs from April 10th to the 20th and will undoubtably be a huge success in the land of the uprising robo-san.

[Via Impress]

Overview

If you want to experience the legendary sword used by Japan’s Samurai, then go for SANYO Katana cell phone that has been designed keeping in mind to evoke the same passion for craftsmanship. Sporting an ultra-sleek design, SANYO Katana Cell Phone comes with a 2.2-inch QVGA TFT LCD Main Display and 1.0-inch TFT LCD External Display. You can choose SANYO Katana Cell Phone from any of its four exciting colors, Blue Sapphire, Mystic Black, Cherry Blossom Pink and Polar White.

Features

• digital camera.
• Supports Bluetooth, HSP, HFP, DUN and OPP.
• Superior Battery Performance.
• Caller ID capability.
• External side Volume Controls.
• Sprint PCS Vision capable downloading games and browsing the web.

With SANYO Katana Cell Phone you get up to 3.6 hours of talk time. Its phone book can store up to 700 phone numbers and 1000 Email and 500 Web Addresses. Apart from the advanced features like Dual band/ Tri mode, T9 Text Input and Call Screening, SANYO Katana Cell Phone also supports functions like calculator, alarm clock, vibrating alert and stopwatch.

Box content

The box comprises of SANYO Katana Cell Phone, Headset Adapter, Travel Charger and Standard SANYO Battery.

Price

SANYO Katana Cell Phone is available at a price of $ 129.99.

Source: Sanyo

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The NYC Ring Flash Camera comes with a tagline “Now You’re Ready To Become A Fashion Photographer”, and truth be told, that ain’t very far from the point at all. After all, with the flash of the camera handing around the lens in a loop, images captured this way will result in typically high contrast, accompanied by dark vignettes to give an overall lomo feel. The handle-bar styled grip also ensures the camera won’t suffer from (too) blur pictures whenever you snap images with a single hand.
[ Source ]

Do you know what I like about LG Phones? Its the design. LG has always thought of cool new ideas when designing their phones. Do you know what LG has thought of this time? A limited edition LG Shine Iron Man phone. The phone was created for a new campaign in partnership with Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Being a luxury edition of LG Shine (KE970), LG Iron Man is dressed in solid gold (18k). Only 100 Iron Man handsets are made, so it will be pretty difficult to get one. Aside from the expensive case, LG Iron Man brings the same basic features that LG Shine has: 2.2 inch TFT display, 2 Megapixel camera, EDGE connectivity, email, Web browsing and so on.
[ Source ]