Post Christmas Sales

Well, I hope you all had a good sleep yesterday, after stuffing yourself with Turkey and all that Chrimbo cheer. Well, in the search for some post-Christmas bargains, I found this little one over at Empire Direct. OK, so I know many of you will want the latest Intel based MacBook, but some prefer the older iBook for its screen and styling.

Point your browser over here and you could pick yourself up a brand new Apple iBook, with a G4 1.2GHz processor, 12-inch display, 32MB ATI 9200 graphics card, and a 30GB hard drive. All this for £399 plus £8 delivery. It is in stock now, but be quick, I don't think this will be available for too long.

Oregon DP100 World's First Daylight Projection Clock

Oregon Scientific, today unveiled their new Daylight Projection Clock, the DP100. We just love gadgets like this, and the fact that the DP100 can be used in the daytime is a massive plus point. We will be bringing you a full review of the DP100 in the New Year, but in the meantime, catch the full details below.

This sleek and stylish timepiece is the world’s first LCD clock capable of illuminating numbers whilst in daylight. It projects the time and indoor temperature on any surface and is also light-source sensitive, adapting to how bright or dark its surroundings are. The projection arm can rotate up to 180º, meaning the time can be viewed from any angle at almost any distance, breaking the mould from traditional timepieces.
Its innovative design is as clever on the inside as it is beautiful on the outside, designed with a minimalist black and silver casing. An infrared motion sensor means that the Daylight Projection Clock is motion activated, making it unnecessary to fumble for buttons, when changing the LCD display from; digital clock, calendar, alarm and indoor temperature. By using the “projection auto” mode, the projected image will alternate between time and indoor temperature, providing more convenience. When the alarm sounds, setting the 8-minute snooze function is easy by waving just above the clock, again using motion trigger mechanism. The clock displays temperature information in both Celsius and Fahrenheit as well as animation effects for aesthetic purposes.
This world’s first daylight projection clock is sensitive to light source and can automatically and intelligently adjust the intensity of the projected image according to changes in lighting throughout the whole day. Sleek, stylish designed. It is practical and decorative.

For details on Oregon products call 0845 601 3964 or visit www.oregonscientific.co.uk or head on over to www.firebox.com where you can order the DP100 for £79.95.

Wii Sports - Wii will get fit !

So we have had a long (and tiring) weekend with the Nintendo Wii and under normal circumstances we would exit Sunday fresh for the new week ahead. Things are different now we have the Wii, for a change everyone who played is knackered. All weekend the game that got the biggest play-time was Wii Sports Bowling, this game is just so addictive. Such a simple concept, swing your arm, release the bowling ball, knock down the pins. The main difference here, is that you do it from the comfort of your own home, and it is fun! There are additional controls like angling the Wii Remote to spin and curve your ball, plus an extra training mode with Power Bowling, where the number of pins steadily increases.
Baseball was our second favourite, where timing is absolutely crucial. One player pitches, the other is determined to hit that home run. Again great fun, with curve balls, and different angle hits.
Tennis is pretty good too, but we struggled with two players, let alone four, with just not enough room to avoid knocking into each other. You really need a big screen to enjoy four player tennis.
Golf and Boxing got a short look in, but just didn't seem that well put together, somewhat an after-thought. Of the two Golf seemed the better choice, where actually swinging the Remote at different speeds determined the power of your shot.
All in all, Wii Sports is a great game, made even better by the fact that it is free with the Wii console. The biggest difference to the console wars this Christmas is that you will be running around your lounge, burning off all that Christmas dinner. Thanks to Nintendo we can all get fit and have fun at the same time.

Nintendo Wii - UK Launch Initial Impressions

Nintendo Europe launched their much anticipated Nintendo Wii today. Plenty of consoles were available in Kent, and we rushed back to the office to open the box and set-up our new baby.
Initial impressions are that it is a small, well made and stylish box of tricks. It feels just right, nice, white and glossy. Set-up is easy, plug into the mains, scart to the TV, connect the sensor bar cable, turn on, and within 15 minutes (this included a couple of internet updates) we were ready to play.
Everything about the interface seems smooth and polished. Even entering the boring stuff, like WEP security settings seems fun, hovering your hand on the screen with the Wii Remote. The console is very quiet in use and sliding the disks in is a joy. We are testing Wii Sports now, so will report back later with our findings.
For £179.99 you can buy yourself a lot of fun this Christmas. Our main thought (with an Apple flavour) are that if Apple had done a console in 2006, it would have been the Wii !

Nintendo - Wii have no Wiimotes

Anyone who is anyone today will know about the launch of the new Nintendo Wii, and whilst consoles seemed plentiful, there was no extra Wii Remote Controls in most retailers deliveries. This left a lot of people disappointed, the only option they had was to buy WiiPlay, a game that included the controller, but cost a little extra. Let us hope they filter through in the next few days. Check back on Geekanoids later today, we have a Wii and will be giving our initial impression. (actually, we know what we think now, but are too busy playing Bowling)...

iRooster - Wake up to your Mac

iLove clever and useful little applications for the Mac, it is what makes the platform unique and great. iRooster is one such application. In it's most basic form it is an alarm clock for your Mac, but has some nice little features too. For example, the Lullaby feature allows you to fall asleep to a track from your iTunes library. Another unique feature is 'Chimp Tunes' which allows you to "Find out what everyone else wakes up to with this iRooster music recommendation service." A 14 day trial is available, with the full version costing $9.95, available for download here.

London Regent Street Apple Store Re-opens

The date, Friday 1st December 2006 – the venue, London's Regent Street Apple Store. Yes, it has been trading for some time, but they recently had a refit, making them once again making them the largest Apple Store, adding almost 10,000 square feet of selling space. You will also find a new glass elevator, and more iPod floorspace. For some pictures you could check out MacWorld UK here.

Nintendo Wii Launched in Japan

Nintendo released their Wii console in Japan, where queues reached in excess of 1,000 outside some stores. Nintendo had around 400,000 consoles available for the Japan launch, but, you guessed it, they still managed to sell out, with some loyal fans leaving empty handed.

The UK launch is next Friday (8th December), I for one will be in the queue, though in the UK they do tend to be a lot smaller, but I still expect there will be an unexpected shortage in the UK too.

To all my readers who get one, enjoy your Wii and leave your first impressions in the comments.

Apple Store UK Savings - Today Only !

Apple Store UK has their One Day Sale today, with some excellent savings to be had. Save up to £11 on a Nano, £21 on a 5th gen iPod, and £71 off a MacBook or iMac. There are plenty of other savings to be had... support us by clicking the link and be sure to check the Apple Store UK site - remember it is today only (Friday, December 1st).

Apple ID - now you can change it !

Apple have updated the My Info part of their website. For a long time now, I have wanted to change my Apple ID, as it contained a very old email address. Although you could change your email address for contact purposes, you couldn't change your Apple ID. Well now you can, thank you Apple !

MyTVPal offers Mac TV Streaming

If you have ever fancied streaming TV on your Mac to another Mac or PC, or perhaps even over the internet to a hotel room, then it could be on the way. Gizmodo report on the myTVPal... "Matrixstream 1080p IPTV streaming has made it to the next level, now calling itself MyTVPal and offering a beta version of its software video player for free download."
This is well worth a read, so check out the full article here.

Apple ready Keyboard with iPod Dock

Sources over at ThinkSecret have reported that "Apple may be preparing to release a new USB keyboard with a built-in iPod dock, sources report."
We certainly hope this will come to fruition, as not only would it look the part, but we would also regain a USB port. Come on Apple, you know we want it.
Read the full article here.