3-D

Under the sea

Screen savers these days tend to give users a lot of options: adjust the speed of one element, change the quantity or color of something else, add your own music, and so on. Coral Reef screen saver downplays customization in favor of really, really good graphics, and we can't say it's a bad trade-off.

The screen saver doesn't do a whole lot. As the name would suggest, it's an underwater scene, with fish leisurely swimming past a shipwreck. Sunlight streams through the water, creating a ripple effect on the sea creatures in the foreground. Users can … Read more

Under the sea

Unique's 3D Salt Water Fish Tank is an attractive screen saver that transforms your computer into a burbling aquarium. Some aspects could be better, but it's soothing and not a bad simulation overall.

The screen saver's graphics aren't going to fool anyone into thinking that they're seeing real fish, but on the whole, they're pretty high quality, with smooth and realistic movement. We like that you can customize the look of the aquarium to some extent, such as setting the tank lighting for high noon, dusk, or night. You can also adjust the tint … Read more

Mediocre screensaver

There was some excitement about trying 3D Desktop Bunny Rabbits Screen Saver. We like bunnies, and it sounded like it might be cute. Unfortunately, this program didn't quite live up to expectations. Although this screensaver is somewhat entertaining, the mediocre graphics really undermine its quality.

The first strike against this screensaver was the terrible interface to the program's options and settings. Although 3D Desktop Bunny Rabbits functions well enough, and all its commands are pretty basic and fairly easy to understand, the interface is a cluttered mess of italics and exclamation points, an immediate turn-off. We did like … Read more

Gadgettes Podcast 86: The Body Episode (a FLASHBACK episode!)

There will be no episode of Gadgettes this week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday here in the US. So, have a listen to a classic episode from the Gadgettes archive. Remember to read this entire blog post in your own "hot breath" voice for the full effect. Go ahead. You know you want to. Enjoy!

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 86

Robotic snake surgeon tinkers with your heart via your mouth

Power Shirt charges gadgets as you walk

Ergoskin: Underwear that makes you sit up straight

Remember Ring (Thanks, David!)

The Body-laptop interface is knitted from Thneed which nobody, Nobody, NOBODY needs

3D Tattoo is like a secret between you and people with funny glasses

Giant mouth exhibit is just one stop on a gross, informative journey… Read more

Farm frenzy

FarmMania is a hectic time management game in which Anna must help her grandfather save the family farm. By raising produce and livestock and producing other goods, all while racing against the clock, users help Anna earn enough money to make the farm a profitable venture.

The program's graphics are cartoon-style and not particularly impressive, but they're not bad for what they are, and overall the game is fairly attractive. Users start off by planting vegetables, which must be watered, weeded, harvested, and sent into town to be sold. As players advance the game becomes more complex, with … Read more

Time warp table service

Diner Dash: Flo Through Time is an action-packed game in which users must use speed and skill to keep all of their hungry diners satisfied. Although the premise is simple, juggling all the game's tasks turns out to be quite a challenge.

It all starts when Grandma Florence has an accident with her time machine that sends her and granddaughter Flo hurtling through time. To earn enough money to repair the time machine and get home, Flo opens a restaurant, and this is where the fun begins. The first place we landed was in the Stone Age, and we … Read more

Multiservice chat and 3D racing: iPhone apps of the week

With more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes App Store and huge success around the world with the iPhone, it would appear Apple has done just about everything right with the launch of its first mobile handset. But as any iPhone app developers will tell you, the app approval process is less than ideal, with some developers waiting well beyond Apple's 14-day waiting period and sometimes longer to get their apps approved. Though Apple has stated it is working on the app approval process, there has been little in the way of progress if you ask iPhone app … Read more

PS3 to go 3D by 2011

Sony has a strategy for upping the quality of its content and providing an incentive for gamers to upgrade their home entertainment systems next year, and it involves the PS3 going 3D.

A presentation to investors yesterday underlined that the PlayStation 3 will be a fully 3D-capable game console by the end of 2010, and that a firmware update would share this upgrade across all existing PS3s. A few demos of PS3 3D gaming have been shown previously, but the news of an across-the-board firmware update is new. Of course, a gamer would still need a 3D-capable Bravia HDTV and … Read more

Hands-on with the Asus 3D laptop

Earlier this week, Asus unveiled a 15-inch laptop with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology built in. The $1,699 Asus G51J 3D has a 120Hz LCD panel, an Intel Core i7 CPU, and a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU, and comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia's active glasses and the USB-powered IR emitter required to make the glasses work.

We've just had a chance to take the system for a test drive, and came away largely impressed with the results, especially compared with Acer's Aspire 5738DG, a 3D laptop that uses a pair of passive … Read more

Asus builds Nvidia 3D Vision technology into a gaming laptop

We're fans of Nvidia's 3D Vision technology, which uses a collection of hardware and software to create 3D versions of PC games. Our main knock against the concept has been that it requires several highly specific hardware purchases to work. In a recent article comparing Nvidia's 3D Vision technology to a new 3D laptop from Acer, we said:

Nvidia's 3D Vision requires a bundle of specialized hardware. At a minimum, the active glasses plus the USB emitter cost $199. But since 120Hz LCD monitors are still not common (and Nvidia only lists two officially compatible models, … Read more