Gamertech News -

Gaming Patents From Years Past

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:34:15 -0800

The Technologizer has collected a series of electronic gaming patents spanning from 1969 to 1989. The list includes devices such as the Atari joystick, Simon Says, and Nintendo's Game Boy. It also has a variety of less popular devices, at least some of which should be familiar to anyone who was gaming back then. Here's one description: "A game machine has a plurality of targets which unpredictably come out and disappear from their corresponding holes at the surface of a table on a game stand. A player can only strike targets which are positioned above the surface thereof. A main shaft is provided with the target on its upper end and is supported by bearings in such a manner that it can rotate and move up and down. A plunger disposed at the periphery of the main shaft is magnetically attracted by an electromagnetic solenoid. When raised, the main shaft always faces a predetermined direction due to an action of permanent magnets. Hitting of the target can be detected by monitoring abrupt large fluctuations in the current flowing through the solenoid during a period of time that the target is caused to appear above the table." The game? Whack-a-mole.

Oprah Sued For Infringing "Touch and Feel" Patent

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:03:12 -0800

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Oprah Winfrey, or to be more precise, Oprah's Book Club, is being sued by the inventor/patent attorney Scott C. Harris for infringing upon his patent for 'Enhancing Touch and Feel on the Internet.' So Oprah's Book Club is now one of many people and entities being sued over this patent because they allow people to view part, but not all, of a book online before purchasing it. Mr. Harris also sued Google Books for infringing upon this patent. He actually was fired from his position as partner at Fish & Richardson for that, because Google is a client of that law firm and they had conflict of interest rules to uphold." It would be entertaining to see Oprah give very wide and mainstream publicity to the abuses enabled by our current patent system.

TiVo Search is The Future of TiVo [TiVo]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:01:21 -0800

The redesigned TiVo Search does away with the Swivel Search and now makes show searching more efficient and HD friendly. Just like Swivel Search TiVo Search will weed through both live TV and broadband content, like Amazon on Demand and Youtube, to find a complete list of available programs. But now upon searching for a show TiVo Search will automatically generate similar recommendations and display them with eye-pleasing art at the top of your TV. Another upgrade over the Swivel is the menu layout that is now three columns wide to make use of wide screen TVs and when available HD content is automatically recommended.

Linksys Media Hub Babysits Your Video, Music and Pics, Streaming Locally and Remotely [Network Storage]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:00:15 -0800

The Gadget: Linksys' Media Hub seems like a server, since it backs up data, gathers your media files automatically, and streams media over IP, but it's more like a super functional NAS drive. The Skinny: The Media Hub NAS drive is built on top of a custom linux platform that works with Mac or PC, complete with automated backups, remote access, and specific functionality, such as iTunes Server. Simillar to theHP MediaSmart Server, it presents music, photos and video in a browser based UI, that can be accessed over both local and remote connections. That means you can stream all your media from your web browser without any additional apps. It also plays nice with Linksys' new Wireless Home Audio system.

Linksys Wireless Home Audio System Streams All Around Your House, Secretly Aspires to Kill Sonos [Streaming]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:00:10 -0800

Linksys' new Wireless Home Audio system is very similar in function to Sonos' streaming home audio system, and on specs alone, manages to out spec the latter in some areas. The Wireless Home Audio system comes in a variety of form factors, including standalone CD players with touch panels, hubs that connect to your home theater system, iPod docks and systems with detached speakers. They all have the ability to interface with one another, play music simultaneously according to designated zones, and since they're all DLNA 1.5 compliant, they can pull music from the same digital libraries and connected devices. The components also play nicely with the new Linksys Media Hub NAS.

As Macworld Fades Into CES... [Apple]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:30:05 -0800

As our warriors move from the beachheads of SF to the trenches of LV, here's today's recap, and reminder that the war week is far from over: It's been the easiest thing for everybody in the universe to say that Apple's Macworld 2009 keynote lacked not just Jobs but luster. We did feel a distinct absence of a Jobsian ZOMG hover-board-that-shoots-lightning-bolts reality distortion, a surge that is always followed by inevitable grumbling anyway. But the speech by able stand-in Phil Schiller wasn't without genuine news...

Obama Picks RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Top DoJ Post

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:05:09 -0800

The Recording Industry of America's favorite courtroom lawyer, Tom Perrelli, who has sued individual file swappers in multiple federal courts, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the third in line at the Justice Department. CNet's Declam McCullagh explores the background of the man who won the RIAA's lucrative business for his DC law firm: "An article on his law firm's Web site says that Perrelli represented SoundExchange before the Copyright Royalty Board — and obtained a 250 percent increase in the royalty rate for music played over the Internet by companies like AOL and Yahoo," not to mention Pandora and Radio Paradise. NewYorkCountryLawyer adds, "Certainly this does not bode well for CowboyNeal's being appointed Copyright Czar."

Flying Duck Hunter Robot Will Appease PETA But Not Your Cold, Killing Instincts [Robots]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:30:01 -0800

Who wants to hunt some ducks? I said, WHO WANTS TO HUNT SOME DUCKS?? Available this spring, the Duck Hunter is like a WowWee Dragonfly mixed with a lightgun shooting game. The duck launches from your IR blaster, charging in just 10 seconds from a few AAs in the pistol. When the poor, robotic duck takes flight autonomously (and some may say, with a soul), you shoot away until you hit the bird three times. Then it dies.

Lenovo IdeaCentre 600 All-in-One and Motion Controller Hands On: Ain't No Wii [Ces 2009]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:10:57 -0800

In person, Lenovo's IdeaCentre 600 all-in-one PC is not as beautiful as we'd hoped, with a bulbous ass. But its do-it-all remote, with Wii-like gaming, is exactly like we expected: crap. We tried to play the IdeaCentre's motion tennis game for the most direct Wii Sports comparison, but no one knew how to get it going, and the remote's confusing, schizo layout didn't help. The remote does work okay as an air mouse (it's a little laggy), but performance in the ping pong game that we did get to play was still nowhere near Wii level—and it's not like the Wii's controller is ultra-precise. It's hard to tell if it's a hardware, firmware or software problem, but it's thoroughly mediocre, as we suspected it'd be. (Swiss Army Knife gadgets usually suck.)

$199 Sign Language Translator...OK, Video Dictionary [PMPs]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:50:53 -0800

The Sign Language Translator's name may be a tad misleading (it doesn't actually translate anything), but as a pocket ASL video dictionary, it's a neat enough idea. Featuring a 3,500 word dictionary (more words will be downloadable, we're promised), this seemingly retrofitted PMP is navigated via stylus. You type in the word that you'd like to sign and a video pops up of a guy signing it. Easy enough.

First Look at The Sharper Image's New Direction: Cheap iPod Docks [Rebrandings]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:30:50 -0800

We reported last month that The Sharper Image would be rebranding itself as a gadget maker here at CES, and now we have our first hands-on with their cheap iPod docks. Welcome to the future! galleryPost('sharperimagedocks', 6, 'Sharper Image iPod Docks');Yes, now instead of a store in the mall to buy your stepdad a spatula mixed with a thermometer, The Sharper Image is going to be a line of iPod docks sold at places like department stores and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Phishing Is a Minimum-Wage Job

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:06:06 -0800

rohitm918 writes "A study by Microsoft Research concludes that phishers make very little (PDF): '...low-skill jobs pay like low-skill jobs, whether the activity is legal or not.' They also find that the Gartner numbers that everyone quotes ($3.2B/year etc) are rubbish, off by a factor of 50. 'Even though it harvests "free money," phishing generates total revenue equal to the total costs incurred by the actors. Each participant earns, on average, only as much as he would have made in the opportunities he gave up elsewhere. As the total phishing effort increases the total phishing revenue declines: the harder individual phishers try the worse their collective situation gets. As a consequence, increasing effort is a sign of failure rather than of success.'"

Pandora iPhone App Hits 2.0, Gets Even Snazzier [IPhone Apps]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:00:46 -0800

Pandora's personalized internet radio player is one of our favorite iPhone apps—and tonight it got better, adding a snazzy Coverflow-like song history, bookmark previewing, in-line artist bios and a playback progress bar (finally). You can also take your track-based stations (previously only generated via artist and e-mail them to friends, just like the artist stations (Update: Pandora says something here is new, but you folks are right, you could do this in the last version. Weird. The emailing bit is still true.) Artist biographies also show up inline now to supplement Pandora's ingenious descriptive tags.

Eee Keyboard: An Entire Touchscreen Home Theater PC [Asus]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:33:43 -0800

We spotted some Asus keyboards last week, but none were nearly as potentially awesome as the official Eee Keyboard. Featuring wireless HDMI, it's a "fully functional PC" with full QWERTY and a mini secondary touchscreen. Asus was vague as to if/when we'll actually see the Eee Keyboard come to market (though we're pretty sure it's a semi-real product), but it's a fantastic concept for a home theater PC if we've ever seen one. Through wireless HDMI you could potentially make any television into your monitor (complete with audio playback) without having some huge PC taking up space. Processor? RAM? Yeah, we have no clue. But look at all those ports!

Build Your Own Giant Atari Joystick Lamp [DIY]

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:27:40 -0800

Who hasn't dreamed about owning a giant Atari joystick lamp? Seriously, its right up there with winning the lottery. The good news is that you can make it happen with a little hard work. This DIY project seems a bit time consuming—so you really have to want it. However, the man behind it was able to get the job done with only a small supply of basic tools. If you have some decent equiptment like a band saw or a scroll saw, you should be able to get this one done in record time using the instructions provided in the following link. [instructables]