Emotiv to make mind-controlled games a reality by Christmas

The idea of wearing a funny hat to mind control software is certainly nothing new 'round these parts. Now Emotiv Systems returns with an update to their Project Epoch USB headset. Crave went hands-on with the system which required a short, six-second calibration before entering the first "game." At that point, Crave was able manipulate a simple cube on the screen with varied success at making it disappear or pull forward. Oooh, what fun! Mind you, it's just a prototype and we've seen this tech applied to old-school arcade games like Pong and Space Invaders to great effect. You'll get your chance soon enough as Emotiv plans to launch the first thought-controlled, consumer gaming device this Christmas for $299 with at least one bundled PC game. One more picture of that Alien face-hugger of a headset after the break.

Sony's Bluetooth-enabled Walkman A820-series unhanded

After the European PR agency seemingly jumped the gun, we finally get some actual press and hands-on shots of Sony's newest video Walkman. The NW-A820 series as it's known in Japan does everything its other NWZ-A820 brother can do in Europe (and presumably the US) only with that icky ATRAC and SonicStage baggage in tow. Sony also announced a new ¥20,000 (about $186) VRC-NW10 cradle with video-out and trick little video-in capability for real-time MPEG-4 recordings straight back to your A820-series player. A SRS-NWT10M external speaker is priced low enough at ¥3,000 ($28) that every teen-age jackass riding the subway will have one. Japan will see the new players in black, white and pink and in 16GB and 8GB models priced at ¥38,000 ($354) and ¥28,000 ($260), respectively. Check the gallery for hot A820 on iPod touch action.

Nintendo's Wii Fit and WiiWare on-line game service coming Stateside in May

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nintendo plans to begin shipping its Wii Fit with weight and motion sensing Balance Board in May. Nintendo will also make good on a new online gaming game distribution service dubbed WiiWare. Right, that homebrew happy service which should result in vast quantities of cheap and innovative content previously only available in Johnny Chung Lee's imagination.

Sony gets on the stick with new E-series Walkmans

If your primary motivation in choosing an MP3 player is its ability to match your shoes then you're in luck, sissy. Sony's newest NW-E-series of Walkman USB sticks come in ¥16,000 (about $149) NW-E026F (4GB), ¥13,000 ($121) NW-E025F (2GB), and ¥11,000 ($102) the NW-E023F (1GB) flavors with plenty of interchangeable shells to keep up with your wardrobe. They support ATRAC/MP3/WMA/AAC and Linear PCM with an FM tuner thrown in for good measure. But hey, nobody as hip as you listens to FM now do they? Look for these to go global with the addition of DRM'd WMA but without Sony's proprietary ATRAC format sometime after the Japanese launch on March 8th.

Asus Nova P22 hits the States in all its spendy, miniature glory

We love us a tiny computer, and the Nova P22 from Asus certainly delivers the goods. The first time we spotted this computer it was a playful Japan-bound orange and white box, but it looks all growed up in this black version for the States. Unfortunately, the price is pretty well growed up as well, at $899. That money buys you a machine with a mere 1GB of RAM, 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor, and 256MB (shared) Intel GMA 3000 integrated graphics, while that cash put toward a full size desktop could easily double your money's worth. The computer should provide a decent PC competitor for the Mac mini and other teensy computers, and 802.11n is a nice touch, but it looks like Asus is going try a bit harder if it really wants to stand out in this space.

So it begins: Toshiba's HD-A3 falls to $99 at Circuit City, comes with 7 free HD DVDs

It's not like there has been any shortage of deals on HD DVD hardware over the past few months or anything, but now that Toshiba (and almost everyone else on the planet) has officially yanked support for the format, prices are beginning to plummet en masse. First on the docket is the HD-A3 at Circuit City, which now sits at just $99.99 and comes with seven free titles, two of which are 300 and Bourne Identity. So yeah, if you've been waiting for this moment to snap up the failed format for cheap, hop on in -- but if we were betting souls, we'd say holding out just a wee bit longer would actually be in your wallet's best interest.

HP's UMPC 2133 to cost $630 when shipping in April?

A report by the Commercial Times says that HP will launch its 8.9-inch UMPC in April for "more than" NT$20,000 or about $630 bucks. Sure sounds like the UMPC 2133 we showed you yesterday, eh? That's about right when you compare it to the $300, entry-level 7-inch Eee PC. The paper claims it'll run a "high-end" Penryn processor as well which is fine by us if true.

Sigma DP1 available for pre-order at Amazon

Hey, remember that hot looking Sigma DP1 we've been yapping about for ages? Well if you can't another second to put your buyin' hat on, the handsome 10-megapixel shooter is available for pre-ordering on Amazon right this second. For just $799.99 ($200 less than the list price), you can finally achieve the satisfied sleep of a Sigma DP1 almost-owner. Sure, you'll still have to wait till March 25th for the goods to drop, but you can probably entertain yourself by pre-ordering a bunch of accessories and booking all the models you're going to shoot when the camera arrives.

Aleratec launches three-drive LightScribe Blu-ray Disc duplicator

Blu-ray duplication systems have been on the block for a good while now, but apparently, Aleratec's flavor does something that none of the other cool kids can even dream of: it supports LightScribe. The 1:3 Copy Cruiser Blu LS houses a trio of LightScribe-enabled SATA Blu-ray burners that can toast BD-Rs at 6x as well as vanilla DVDs and CDs at much higher speeds. You'll even find a built-in eSATA connector and a dual channel eSATA host adapter bundled in for those who need one. Here's the rough part -- this critter will set you back a staggering $3,199, so you best be making some serious coin on whatever you're duplicating for this to be even close to a sound investment.

AT&T's Palm Centro en route for launch next week

Can't you just feel the excitement in the air? AT&T stores are apparently starting to spout off about white, $99 Centros being available starting next Tuesday, February 19, and it seems like a pretty plausible date. We've separately been told that the cute lil' Garnet handsets are expected to be shipping to stores some time this week -- just in time to make the 19th a reality for customers eager to get their paws on the latest tech Palm has to offer -- while previous intel had indicated that it'd definitely be available some time before early April. In other words: yeah, we believe it.

Apple posts Apple TV take 2 Guided Tour

Apple isn't one to let a new product out the door without a video guided tour lately, and today's release of the Apple TV take 2 update is no exception. Nothing too shocking in the walkthrough of iTunes rentals and the new Flickr features -- when will Apple learn that all we really want is some hardcore settings menu action? -- but fans of The Anonymous iPhone Guy and John, The Classy Leopard Dude will be disappointed to see that they've been replaced by Hannah, The Pleasantly Boho Apple TV Lady. Check it out at the read link -- and if you're hungry for some real deets, you know we've got you covered.

Astro Systems introduces 56-inch 4K x 2K LCD monitor

If you thought a 4K x 2K resolution was a bit much for an 82-inch display, imagine what 3,840 x 2,160 pixels looks like on a 56-incher. Astro Systems is apparently gearing up to launch the DM-3400 to appease the "needs" (read: extravagant desires) of its digital cinema and broadcast studio clients, and by the looks of it, we doubt it'll have any issues accomplishing that. This bad boy also supports four channels of DVI and HD-SDI for some of that quad-view action, and there's even contrast, gamma and brightness adjustments for each RGB channel. Unfortunately, we've no idea how much coinage this beast will demand, but there's little no doubt that this is one of those "if you have to ask..." type scenarios.

Cineversum BlackWing Three projectors

With a name like BlackWing, it's gotta be good, right? At least that looks to be the case with Cineversum's latest trio of BlackWing Three projectors, as these bad boys sport a design eerily reminiscent of something straight out of the Star Wars galaxy and a specs sheet that impressed even Yoda would be. The entire trio gets blessed with a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution, two HDMI 1.3 inputs, Color-Select filters for wider color reproduction and a motorized zoom / focus. As for the Pro model, you can expect everything you see above coupled with an optional SD-SDI input and 12V triggers board, professional color management tools and VGA compatibility. Finally, the Ultimate ups the ante a touch further with two more HDMI 1.3 sockets, Mosquito Noise Reduction technology and Theater Mode for 2.35:1 anamorphic setups.

PopCatcher teaches a new 'Pod old tricks

As discussed in last week's Switched On, the PopCatcher Ripper scours FM radio stations to separate the music from the mumble and transfer songs to flash drives, memory cards and several brands of MP3 players. Using the product, one can harvest hundreds of megabytes of music without any service or song acquisition fees or touching a PC.

However, there are some limitations. First, while songs are captured as 192 kbps MP3 files, captured song quality will be less than that of purchased or CD-ripped tracks due to the limitations of FM radio. Furthermore, files are named according to the order in which they were captured. There is no automatic song identification, nor does the company provide an Internet-based song identification service for captured tracks. Radio stations are inserted for the album title field. Because of these analog disadvantages, developing a version of the PopCatcher technology based on HD Radio would be a natural future improvement.

The beginnings and ends of songs will also often be a bit clipped although this generally wasn't as much of a disadvantage as anticipated. Also, because there is no programming guide or way to set manual recording times, you cannot use it to record talk-radio programs, one of the key applications of the PoGo Products' RadioYourWay devices.