Tech Shout!

One of the most auspicious festivals in the Hindu calendar is Diwali. It is celebrated to connote the triumph of good over evil. If you look at most of the video games, the base of the story is the same, the victory of good over evil. Whether it is Mario saving the princess by defeating Bowser or Marcus Fenix battling the Locust Horde, at the end of each game, the gamer feels a sense of awe after defeating the boss.

For a kid growing up in India, Diwali means firecrackers, sweets and gifts. Earlier gifts meant a few toys, maybe a small car or a cricket bat. In the nineties, those small handheld videogames featuring Tetris or tank we also popular. Occasionally kids would also get their hands on a Media Kid or a Mitashi (cheap imitations of NES). But now it is the era of the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the PC. The game titles are as expensive and gamers in India have wait for a festival system so that they can zero in to their favorite games.

But Read the rest of this story >>

Hewlett Packard (HP) and MySpace have collaborated together to fill the space in MySpace users’ profiles with printing option.

MySpace users will now get to see the ‘click-to-print’ HP button on their profiles enabling them to print their favourites in the album. This comes as a quickest way to way to share and print photos on the internet.

“This will generate revenue for both companies,” said Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing for MySpace, reports Information Week. “This is really the first-of-its-kind deal for us.”

The new addition to MySpace will be released in the month of November this year. Users across Australia, Canada, United States and Western Europe will be able to use the embedded service.

Also it is expected that both the might go in for offering personalized merchandise employing photos from MySpace.

MySpace is reported to have more that 120 million users over the globe out Read the rest of this story >>

To turn this holiday season into a lucrative business Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is offering a new bunch of 80 GB Sony Playstation 3 with Dual Shock 3 wireless controllers which it will be launching on October 30, 2008.

The recommended retail price (RRP) of the 80 GB PS3 and Dual Shock 3 wireless controllers is at 39,980 yen including tax.

The 80 GB PS3 system will be available in the colors of ‘clear black’, ‘ceramic white’ and ‘satin silver’. As a holiday season offer, bundled with the console comes the Blu-ray disc version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue III. This pack will be available for RRP of 4,980 yen including tax.

There offer doesn’t end there. Customers can even opt for the PS3 with the much awaited Little Big Planet and the Dual Shock 3 wireless controllers. This pack is offered at 7,980 yen. There is a special Playstation 3 LittleBigPlanet Dream Box bundle pack featuring the Dual Shock 3 wireless controllers Read the rest of this story >>

This Diwali there is a lot in store for Indians to grab as latest electronics and high-end technologies are coming up with upgrades and innovations one wouldn’t want to miss.

One of this is the Bose’s Wave Music System that will be now offered in the all new color of Titanium Silver.

The Bose Wave Music System is an elegant, simple and sophisticated looking audio system with powerful performance and now it boasts of silver on one in the collection. Apart from the expertise involved in its manufacturing process, the music system also boasts of features like a slot-load CD player, MP3, support, talk radio mode, circuitry that saves the system settings and time for two days in case of a power outage without the use of batteries.

It also claims to be user friendly as it comes with no buttons but a credit card-style remote that adds to the beauty of the system. The remote is built to work with all Read the rest of this story >>

BenQ India has forayed into the laptop segment in India with the introduction of its latest range of sleek, designer Joybooks.

The new range of BenQ laptops includes three distinct models, BenQ S32W, BenQ R43 and BenQ Q41.

The BenQ S32W is especially designed for corporate women. The laptop features a silver strip with a diamond-cut logo on the outside to match the artistic POP art pattern, 3D image embedded in the svelte aluminum body and a ripple textured touchpad.

The BenQ Q41 is targeted at users who seek new and unique features in their gadgets. The notebook packs in an auxiliary 2.5 inch screen on the outer panel that allows users to view photos, play games and listen to music even when laptop’s lid is shut.

The BenQ R43 sports a polished deep black lid and a band with an inscribed laminar film that depicts and shines with the city skyline to give the Joybook a shimmering appearance, making it perfect Read the rest of this story >>

Nikon has announced the launch of the multimedia playback headset device called Media Port UP. The compact headphones is not only equipped with music capabilities but also incorporates a display, Wi-Fi capability, high capacity memory and power source.

In a nutshell, the Media Port UP allows users to view pictures, watch videos and listen to music anywhere. The cool thing is that, when a user views the media through the headset it gives them the sensation that they are watching the media on a 50-inch screen from a distance of 3 metres.

The multimedia headset also includes integrated Wi-Fi capability, so users can download media contents such as music and videos from the Internet.

It is compatible with various file formats including WMV9 and MPEG1, MPEG2 movies and MP3, AAC, and WMA9 audio files.

Currently, there are two models of the Media Port UP available, the high-end UP300x and the basic UP300.

The Read the rest of this story >>

Nintendo has announced the launch date for Wii Speak accessory and Wii Speak Channel in Europe. Both will make appearance in the European market 5 December 2008.

Enhancing the connectivity features of the Wii console, the Wii Speak enables users to connect to and communicate with friends using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Wii Speak can be connected directly to the console and pick up the conversations from an entire room of people, meaning friends and families.

The Wii Speak Channel is easy to access through Wii’s main menu. Up to four console users located at any part of the world can connect together and chat or share pictures and text messages. Gamers’ Miis represent them on-screen during their conversations. While players are having conversation, their Miis also ‘talk’ to match the sound that is being picked up by the Wii Speak accessory.

For maintaining the privacy, Read the rest of this story >>

It is that time of the year when we can go shopping for the things we longed for or buy stuff that is latest in the market. Many of us are planning to shop for the newest gadgets and it becomes really important to buy the best. But to find the ones that fit our budget is tiring.

This can also be mind taxing as sometimes we end up liking things that are not fitting in our budget and vice versa. Thankfully, this festival we have lots of options to choose from the many modern technologies that have been introduced in the computer peripherals segment.

The best part about computer peripherals is that these gadgets can prove to be the coolest gift ever for anyone. To help our readers choose the gadgets wisely within a limited budget of Rs. 10,000, we thought of presenting a list of some devices to look forward to while shopping and enjoying the experience.

Keyboards: It is needless to say that computer Read the rest of this story >>

Razer has announced the new Lycosa Mirror Special Edition and the Arctosa gaming keyboard.

The Lycosa Mirror Edition keyboard features enhanced backlighting with clean lines. The successor of the Lycosa keyboard further sports a high-gloss mirror finish on the former with enhanced backlighting for night gaming. The Razer Lycosa Mirror Edition will be available in December 2008.

On the other hand, the Arctosa is a basic version of the Razer Lycosa without the backlight but enhanced with fully macro-programmable and media access keys. The keyboard comes along with the standard silver-printed key letters in addition it also comes with a black on black edition for gamers who have achieved the art of gaming without looking at their keys. The Arctosa is scheduled to retail by November 2008.

Moreover, both the keyboards are equipped with USB and audio port hub.

“The Read the rest of this story >>

The most anticipated BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm has finally been officially announced by RIM. Verizon Wireless will be the carrier of the device in US while Vodafone will carry the phone in other countries including India, Australia, New Zealand and Europe too.

BlackBerry Storm is a touchscreen phone that is specifically designed keeping the businessmen in mind. RIM claims that the Strom features world’s first “clickable” touch-screen that responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.

Apart from touchscreen the phone also comes along with few navigation keys including phone, menu and escape. For the ease of operations the phone supports for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures.

The 3G enabled Storm phone further features a built-in accelerometer that allows its touchscreen to automatically Read the rest of this story >>