The Phenom project is a monster of a case mod project with a team headed by Bill Owen, who has brought us some fantastic looking case mods in the past. Recently we featured the Ghostrider case mod, but Phenom looks to be the most ambitious project to date.  Interested in Bill’s ongoing work, I emailed him and asked a few questions.  He was kind enough to respond and give me a little information about his latest project.

If you are interested in modding and want to get some ideas of what’s involved in a big project, please read on.  The email interview, a few photos and a very interesting You Tube video are included after the jump.  The specs that this monster is going to have are truly mind blowing.  I heard mention of quad PCI, new Phenom FX processor and Bill makes mention of a 128GB SSD.  I would love to see this thing powering multi-monitor Call of Duty 4 or Crysis.  Wouldn’t it be great if AMD could bankroll all of our PC projects? (more…)

[ Read more → ]

One week ago to this day, I opened the box to my brand new Logitech Quickcam Communicate STX. It has everything a person needs in a camera and it is reasonably priced. Here in Japan, we are blessed with extremely high speed Internet and unlimited bandwidth, but my family and friends at home are not. What I was looking for was a good quality webcam that did not suck up too much bandwidth. Sure, it is possible to run high-end webcams at lower settings, but there is no point. A budget model suited my needs just fine. I also wanted to do away with my ugly Elecom desk microphone.

When it arrived, I opened it up, plugged it in and I realized that something was wrong. It needs the drivers in place before it is plugged in. I unplugged it, set up the drivers and that was it. The software integrates with Skype and the face tracking technology is a lot of fun. The camera will follow your face and slowly zoom in and out according to your movements. It works well and it is very hard to trick. It had a little bit of trouble when two people were in the picture, but it would always lock onto one of them, so it was not really a problem. There are settings for following two people, but I have yet to explore them. Video quality is quite good, as much or more than can be expected from an inexpensive webcam. The mounting system is clever, and stable. It can be installed, literally in seconds. Snapshots are captured at 1.3 megapixels, and come out very clearly, providing the lighting situation is reasonable.

There are many pros for the Quickcam Communicate STX, but there are also a few cons. While I did not purchase the product expecting too much, I expected a little more from the “RightLight Technology.” I could not notice any discernable effect, in fact the only evidence of “RightLight Technology,” was the branding on the front of the webcam. The major stumbling block for the Communicate STX is the sound. It features “RightSound Technology,” that is about as good as the “RightLight Technology.” Sure, it cancels echo, but my existing microphone did that, without any branding whatsoever. The problem was the sound quality. I sounded, according to one person who was very familiar with my previous setup, as if I was talking into a box. What is worse, he went on to add, “Your old microphone sounded crystal clear.”

Logitech nailed the video for this webcam, but they screwed up the sound. I was a little disappointed that the ugly white microphone, which does not match my all black system at all, will have to stay. My Elecom microphone was $10, featured great quality sound, without the need for drivers. Is it unreasonable to expect the same quality from my webcam microphone? It is still a good product, however and I would buy it again. It is a cut above most medium priced webcams and it is affordable, I would like to see future models match the video quality with sound quality.

Price: $49.95

[ Read more → ]

What is the Zero X? It is a motorcycle, and not just any motorcycle. It allegedly offers “the world’s best acceleration, agility and durability of any in the motorcycle in the market, electric or gas.” The Zero is a lithium-ion battery powered motorcycle. It runs silently, weighs only 120 pounds and goes from 0-50 miles per hour in “a flash.” This is not a bike to compete with the 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa; it is, however, an extremely cheap way to commute. It costs less than a cent per mile. It recharges in about three hours and a single charge will get you about 40 miles of cruising.

It does not burn gas so it runs in complete silence. This was a problem for some people, who would forget that the engine was running and inadvertently engage the throttle while it was operational. The absence of gasoline and oil also make for some very easy maintenance. The parts have an almost modular look to them. The frame is designed to be suitable for everything from city commuting to serious cross-country or motocross riding. For off-road use, larger wheels and smaller sprockets are used than for city riding. The one-speed transmission delivers some serious acceleration, while fully adjustable hydraulic suspension should be able to take whatever rough terrain you throw at it. According to their website, the ZDrive electric engine requires almost no maintenance, and delivers twenty horsepower.

The ZDrive uses one-tenth the steel and half the copper of competing DC motors, and delivers the best power-to-size ratio in the industry.

(more…)

[ Read more → ]

The Ondine ESS Tub Control lets you preset your bath temperature and desired water level. You can start the bath running, walk away and never worry about finding a pond on the bathroom floor when you return.

[via Popsci]

[ Read more → ]

Tony Alleyne, the man who turned his apartment into the Star Trek Starship Voyager has gone bankrupt. He started transforming his apartment after his wife left him when he replaced the refrigerator with a ‘warp coil’. The apartment is located in Hinckley, Leics, has moulded walls, touch-panel blue lighting, and a command console. He even built a life-size model of the show’s transporter room with reshaped windows to look like portholes and set up vertical lights to give the illusion of being beamed up. Tony at one time had the apartment for auction on eBay for $2 million but had no luck in selling. Tony maxed out 14 credit cards accumulating £100,000 in debt. His goal was to lure other Trekkies to pay him to convert their humble abodes.

Here’s what Tony has to say on his grand plan:

But I was wrong and just overstretched. Building it in my apartment was the enjoyable and easy bit. But then I got hooked up with marketing and merchandise people here and in America and it all got out of hand.

I’m still proud of what I created but it’s been a financial disaster.

At least with all that credit card use, he probably earned a trip to space with all the accumulated airmiles.

UPDATE: Here is Tony’s Official Website: 24th Century Interior Design

Update #2:Here is a video of the place

For an eclectic mix of uber-cool gadgetry and wired madness.
Subscribe to our RSS feed.

[via Ananova]

Before you go, check out these stories

• Austin Mini automobile makes for a perfect desk
• The ultimate safe
• Remote control golf ball, now you’re one step closer to beating Tiger Woods
• smoking,drinking and computers
• New web cams make you appear a little less hideous during web chats

filed under crazy

[ Read more → ]

Recent Searches

• talking grip
• aquatic climbing wall
• hand towel price
• guitar
• casio g-shock
• ladybug mouse
• world of warcraft
• startrek
• lomo
• video games plug in tv

All searches