dragon

Dragon phone gets a clamshell sibling

Thought you had a one-of-a-kind phone with the Lillian Too Luck Dragon phone? No such luck. Quantum Telecom is displaying its clamshell twin Feng Shui phone at the company's CommunicAsia booth, alongside other fashion-inspired offerings such as its Hummer and Cadillac mobiles.

Unlike the red candybar predecessor with its stick-on front plate, this one comes in black and sports a gold dragon. At first glance it looked more like a laquer box than a clamshell phone. Inside, there appears to be a vanity mirror, though this could work either way as a feng shui talisman to repel negative elements. … Read more

Encrypted flash disk detects live skin

USB flash disks with biometric fingerprint sensors are a dime a dozen. So what makes the Sellgino Dragon Security biometric drive unique? It may be the first biometric-enabled flash disk to use a fingerprint sensor that detects the live skin layer.

Sensors found on other devices scan only the surface of the finger, which means that if your hand is dirty you might be locked out of your disk. In fact, even fingers that are too dry can compromise the detection rate of normal biometric sensors.

By seeking the live layer of the skin, the Dragon Security has a much … Read more

Wii virtual console release for this week

There's only one game available for download on the virtual console this week, but it's a classic!

Double Dragon (1988, NES, 500 Wii points): Double Dragon is the ultimate side-scrolling action game. What started as a phenomenon in arcades eventually made its way onto the home console, which, in turn, lead to countless sequels. In this classic original, you'll take on a group known as The Black Warriors as you make your way through various stages with nothing but your martial arts training to save you.

What games do you think are missing from the Wii virtual … Read more

Hands-on with the Lucky Dragon phone

Finally, we got ourselves a set of M1's Lillian Too Lucky Dragon phones. For the uninitiated, Too is a best-selling author on the topic of feng shui. She hails from Malaysia and is an astute businesswoman, as well as a well-known follower of the ancient Chinese practice, so it makes a lot of sense that she conceived this idea. It's one of those things we carry around with us all the time, so having it as your lucky charm also is a logical step.

Just looking at pictures of this mobile phone doesn't quite prepare you to … Read more

'Dungeons & Dragons' fourth edition, online tools just around corner

SAN FRANCISCO--This is not your big brother's Dungeons & Dragons.

On June 6, Wizards of the Coast will officially roll out the fourth edition of the D&D franchise, as well as a new suite of digital tools, and the world-famous game will never be the same.

And this time, it won't require the death of the game's inventor, Gary Gygax, to get D&D into the news.

I got a preview of what's new on Monday, and while I'm certainly no D&D expert, I'll try to spell out what … Read more

MIT students erect giant 20-sided die in Gary Gygax tribute

Over at Laughing Squid this afternoon, I found a wonderful item about some ingenuity on the part of some obvious Dungeons & Dragons MIT students.

Apparently, according to The Tech, MIT's student paper, the students put the giant die up in the campus' Killian Court as a way of paying tribute to the late Gary Gygax, who created the iconic game.

This, obviously, isn't huge news, but it's yet a wonderful example of people using a little bit of whimsy and a little bit of creativity and mashing them up to make something that tugs the heartstrings.… Read more

Remembering Gary Gygax

When Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax died last week, Wired was at work on a package of stories about the man and about a forthcoming revision of the legendary game. It has now published the portrait of Gygax, with the additional stories to follow later this month.

In the magazine-length biography, Wired delivers a richly detailed portrait of a man fascinated by the rolling of dice who "forged an industry around D&D and made a small fortune in the process," and in so doing, laid the "the cornerstone of geek culture."

Read more: &… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 674: Pomme not Pom

EPISODE 674

Yahoo, Time Warner reportedly talk deal to thwart Microsoft http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886157-7.html http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886254-7.html

Gates to Google: 'Your business applications stink' http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9884752-16.html

Adobe bites its tongue after iPhone Flash jab http://www.news.com/8301-10787_3-9886265-60.html

Warning: Your iPod may get you mugged http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9885873-7.html http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/ 1282422/researchers_ipods_attract_violent_crime

Is Microsoft’s ‘Singularity’ the OS of the future? http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886184-7.html

NIN’s music experiment sells big numbers http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/05/076221… Read more

An homage to the man behind 'Dungeons & Dragons'

Gary Gygax helped keep me out of trouble when I was in junior high school.

I was saddened earlier Tuesday to hear that Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and the father of modern role-playing games, has died. He was 69 years old. My CNET Reviews colleague Will Greenwald has already written about Gygax's role in the gaming community.

For many of us who grew up before PCs became ubiquitous and long before it was cool to be a geek, Gygax's creation meant Friday nights spent playing games with your friends, not wishing you were someone else. … Read more