The Zone

Why is this post all about cars? At HWM, we do have our own car nuts who love cars, and being technology lovers ourselves, the invitation to Detroit Electric's electric car introduction today was one of the greater pleasures in life when work meshes with our hobby. More details and videos to come in a later post!Pictures after the jump!

NVIDIA's much awaited built-in PhysX is finally getting some support. NVIDIA has released power packs which should whet the appetite for more on their website through their CUDA interface. The power packs contain drivers, tools you can explore, a full game (WarMonger) and a number of demos that should tie you over until a commercial PhysX game comes out (NOT! Most such games are supposedly for next year!). Download them after the jump for a glimpse at PhysX.

Heya folks. Check out our HWM/GameAxis minion, Fat Cat Lim, holding the PS3. It's not ours, but we're getting one for "reviews". That's right, we're GETTING one.

Don't hate us because we're beautiful.

So, if you're curious to see what we think of the PS3, don't forget to check out the January issue of GameAxis next month.

PS: We might get the Wii and do a double-header hands-on! Woot!

Samsung has hinted that it has produced a so-called 'fusion memory chip' that allows mobile phone makers to boost performance at half the current DRAM sizes. Running at a mere 133MHz and having a total of 512MB onboard memory, it is also touted to =

"reduce power consumption by 30 percent, lessens the number of chips needed and minimizes area coverage by 50 percent, resulting in a five-fold increase in the speed of cell phone and gaming console operations, longer battery life and slimmer handset designs."

All that from a chip containing both DRAM and SRAM? Cool! We can probably see Samsung's own nGage in the near future, I guess, but then again, mobile game developers should stop making rehashes of Mario in the first place!

 images are copyright of Samsung

 for more information click me *link opens in new window

• Asus Striker Extreme motherboard: RM1700
• x2 Asus Graphic Card 8800 GTX: RM4600
• Corsair Dominator 2GB 800MHz RAM: RM1500 
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz Quad Core processor: RM3500+

Total cost: RM11300+

System being devoured by the power tentacles of a CoolerMaster 850W PSU? Priceless

XD 

We'll surely want this for Christmas, but that's passed, unfortunately >.<

In case you're wondering, that's a full-sized gauss pistol that actually works on the principles of magnetic propulsion. And that's the same laws of physics behind the ever-cool gauss rifle in the MechWarrior universe. Too bad the creator has to wait till April 2007 till the imminent release.

For more info, head over to www.gausspistol.com 

(image originally taken from Screenshots) 

You gotta love Malaysia. Where else can you find a whole street closed off for a officiating ceremony for the new 23 public "automatic-cleaning" toilets? 

With the toilets costing RM400,000 each, you wonder if they'll throw in a back massage once you're done with your "business" in there. I remember trying out one such toilet back in Sydney, Australia, but I didn't think they were that great compared to a normal toilet. Anyone tried out the ones in Jalan Bukit Bintang yet?

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While we were still lagging behind the rest of the world on our slower-than-slow internet connections, Hitachi has pulled off a big one - it has broke the 1TB hard drive space, which means that we can now fit that hidden stash of porn movies in our HTPCs!! hurrah!

more sauce here: Hitachi announces 1TB hard drives (opens in a new window)

While everyone had a great CES weekend, we're rooting for Macworld that's happening in (about) 8 hours from this post, and while CES is great because it gives you a taste and feel of all your new consumer stuff that's coming out within the next couple of months (or years), I'd rather go for a show that deals in unveiling products that we will see the day after they are unveiled by the maniacal leader him-who-holds-the-apple-by-its-balls! Amongst the rumors this year are the unveiling of the new Macphone (if the rumors are true, anyways) and a launch of a new Mac home theather system. Sweeeeet

One thing we spotted while browsing Engadget is their hands-on report of the Asus XG Station in the CES event in Las Vegas, which is basically an external video and audio processing "docking station". Once you connect it to your notebook via your ExpressCard slot, you no longer have to depend on the stock Intel GMA graphics chips to power your games. Apparently it managed to run 3DMark06 (default settings, we presume) quite nicely.

A few caveats: it's kinda big, and you'll need an external monitor to output the graphics. But if you're just gonna use it at home I guess that's okay; as long as it's a marked improvement over the standard Intel GMA graphics. We're still wondering what's the GPU powering the Asus XG Station... X1000 Radeon or a GeForce 7 card?

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Although we primarily eschew Macs for their mice, we can't simply resist the temptation of the new iPhone, which was unveiled last night at Macworld. stunningly thin and ultimately gorgeous, we think that it's the device that's currently the closest to perfection (until communication brain implants are developed). Although there is a slight disappointment in the choice of finish (we want apple white!), us Asians will only recieve stocks in 2008 (and hopefully the bugs will be ironed out by then)

*image from Apple Inc. 

Juicy specs include:

super-big 3.5" touchscreen @ 320 by 480 at 160 ppi

"multi-finger" input 

runs on OS X 

is also a widescreen iPod (hence, no new iPod video we guess)

comes in 4GB or 8GB flavours

connectivity options include quad-band GSM, WiFi b/g, EDGE, BT v2.0 with A2DP and uses the 'iPod connector' for charging and data connections

has a 2.0 Megapixel camera 

Its going to be offered with a 2-year plan from Cingular at USD499 for the 4GB model, and USD599 for the 8GB model. Better save those pennies now!

LOL who doesn't want an extra day of leave especially during the holiday season, and that might be true when the upcoming Aopen/Mitsubishi Taiwan CAR PC gets worldwide distribution.

Why blue screen of death? It runs with a "Celeron M360 on a 915 chipset, 512MB of RAM, a 40GB hard disk, GPS, GMA 900 for graphics, a DVD player, and support for DirectX 9" - on a Windows XP platform, and while connectivity information is still scarce (we have bananas working as bloggers - its in Mandarin), we still dont know wether you're able to continue your torrents while driving. Just don't expect too much from a mobile HTPC.

More information here = CAR PC 

Tired of being limited to bringing reading material into the toilet to pass away the time when you're doing your business? An American company is planning to a "next-generation" toilet that has all the needs a guy can ever need without ever leaving the toilet: an Xbox 360, HDTV, iPod and Dock, DVD Player, Laptop, and even a fridge.   

I'm not quite sure I understand the appeal of playing videogames or watching movies while in the john, especially when you're in the same room smelling your own crap. I mean, I can probably stand a max of 20 minutes with a good magazine before I've to exit the loo; it's not like my faeces smell like a bouquet of roses. And sitting your bum on the toilet seat for extended periods of time can get pretty sore.

Of course I foresee a problem with accommodating Xbox 360s and HDTVs with  Malaysian houses with squatting toilets. If they ever do make one, pray that you don't ever drop your joystick or remote into the crapper hole.

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Samsung seems raring to go after Canon and Nikon - they just launched their new range of Samsung NV digital cameras, which will be targeted towards mainstream consumers. Maybe it's me but they've a classic-retro camera look to them, especially the NV10 and its pop-up flash. They're very purty-looking though, and I wouldn't mind upgrading my old Canon IXUS 30.

Thing is, they've an interface with like a dozen tiny touch-sensitive buttons on the back, which I ain't too crazy about. Still, can't deny that they perform well and look sleek too. Anyway, here are a few more shots to whet your appetite. 

Some of you might know of this - the Yanks are slapping lasers onto airplane noses in a bid to stop incoming missles from God-knows-where. And they have suceeded.  Boeing's first test flight were flown last year, and if you ever get a look of this monstrosity -

you're toast.

Other than that, we think its undoubtedly cool - to be able to shoot down UFOs and what-nots in the middle of the desert, while they're dancing around your plane.