The Graphic Equalizer T-Shirt - Oh Yes

Have you sat listening to the latest Boyzone single musing as to why nobody has invented a t-shirt with its very own sound-sensitive graphic equaliser? Well, of course you have, because you’re only human after all.

Fortunately, there’s no reason to muse over this particular problem any longer. The T-Qualizer Graphic Equalizer t-shirt is exactly that. The graphic equaliser responds to the beat of any music (even Boyzone – go figure) and flashes in time to the tunes.

T-Qualizer creates a line of unique clubbing software that includes this innovative masterpiece. While the company itself is US based, fortunately there are resellers and stockists all around the world.

Ideal as a gift for the avid clubber, or perfect for those looking for something a little different to wear this summer. And they’re surprisingly low priced so accessible for all.

Also keep a look out for the desktop T-Qualizer (available in Classic, Chiller, and Raver), and a range of clothing with more to follow soon.

New Napster Offers 6 Million DRM Free Downloads

While there are obvious drawbacks to the iTunes service (DRM compatibility immediately springs to mind) the principle behind the music download service is a great one. That’s why it by far the most popular of all online download services in the US, but the latest incarnation of Napster is ringing in some major changes that are likely to shift some of the balance of power.

The new pay per song service runs at 79 per song, which many believe is still a little too high although realises reasonable savings against new releases. However, perhaps the biggest benefit of the new Napster is that it will not only include over 6 million tracks, but will also be DRM (Digital Rights Management) free.

Tracks can be downloaded to your PC, transferred to another PC or audio device (including the iPod) or burned to CD or other storage device. While the new service is a step away from the monthly subscription plan, those customers that have downloaded music using that plan, will still be supported and have access to their collection of music.

The move is likely to help Napster challenge for the throne of music download service kings, although Apple is bound to have something to say about that.

iTunes 8 Released In Less Than A Week

The latest incarnation of the iTunes software is set for release in under a week but there’s some leaked information doing the rounds before the Let’s Rock event that is scheduled as part of that release. Perhaps the most intriguing feature is the Music Genius feature, which is an intelligent system that can create play lists of tracks that would allegedly sound good together. In the spirit of obnoxious cross over sales this will also include links to brainwash you into buying other tracks that would complement your play list.

The browser, explorer interface has been updated to an apparently more user friendly version and the equaliser has also been subjected to a similar fate and an equally similar “better” tag. Aside from the ability to download HD shows and films that’s pretty much the extent of the changes although Apple are bound to make some indescribable and virtually useless tweaks and sell them as being major changes.

The release is set for 9th September when Apple will be holding a Let’s Rock event in order to unleash iTunes 8 on the poor, unsuspecting world of Apple owners. Precise details of the new features will be available at this time, obviously, although a couple more tasty morsels might just be conveniently leaked to continue whetting your appetites.

The USB Drum Pad Mouse Mat

You can buy a buck load of different USB based drum sticks, drum pads, and general noise making implements but if you want to really show off your percussionary genius rather than just use them to annoy everybody in the office (although there is, of course, nothing to say you can’t do both) then the USB drum pad mouse mat is the perfect solution.

The mouse mat plugs into the USB port on your PC and you can then play any of the 8 included percussion sound effects by tapping on the respective drum pad on your mouse mat. Bizarrely, that’s not all it does either – pre-set demonstrations show off the sound effect of the bass, snare, two rack toms, a floor tom, hi-hat, crash, and ride cymbals while the mp3 input enables you to play over the top of any track you have on your mp3 player.

The headphone jack may not completely muffle your drumming prowess from the rest of the office’s inhabitants but it should go some way to making your solos slightly more inaudible except to those that have the misfortune of being sat just a little bit too close.

The New CherryPal C100 Cloud Desktop Computer

The CherryPal C100 isn’t just a darn cheap desktop costing just $250 (£125) it’s also being pushed as a cloud desktop computer because rather than having all the necessary software stored on the computer itself, it is stored (in the clouds) an an online server that is automatically accessed whenever the computer turns on. This unique online environment potentially offers a number of excellent benefits, although does require an Internet connection to even use the PC.

The cloud computer could offer increased security. There should never be any need to download and install software, and pretty much everything is stored online. This means that hackers and malware authors cannot easily gain access to your computer and, even if they can, there’s nothing for them to find.

Because all of the operating system and other software is stored online and not on the hard drive, this could do away with log on issues, installation problems, and general software problems.

The biggest potential drawback we can see is Internet connection reliability. A poor connection would mean poor performance of the software while any Internet downtime would basically make the computer inaccessible. Perhaps in countries where a reliable network is achievable it might work, but I think the technology would be a struggle here in the UK.

Ebay In A World Of Hurt

Ebay (the real Ebay, not a fake one) has now been ordered to pay 38.6 million euros to LVMH, which is the parent company of Louis Vuitton. The damages have been awarded because of Ebay’s inefficiency in preventing fake Vuitton goods from being sold on their auction website. While it isn’t the first action of this type taken against Ebay, it’s highly likely that it will cause yet more court cases of a similar nature.

During the same hearing, Ebay were also forced to pay Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain perfume companies 3.25 million euros for similar offences – although in those cases it was the unauthorised sale of products. Just last month, Hermes won 20,000 euros over similar allegations and it’s possible that now the flood gates have opened there will be no stopping the action from commencing.

LVMH had actually asked for 50 million euros, amid claims that in 2006 more than 90% of the Vuitton products for sale on Ebay were in actual fact replicas.

Ebay is expected to appeal the case, citing that it has numerous anti fake and anti replica measures in place. It’s a bit of a worrying situation, even for a site the size of Ebay, because there are sure to be other companies ready to follow suit and many will have similarly detailed portfolios to that of LVMH.

Asus Laptop Upgrades - Including The Scented Laptop!

Asus has announced various upgrades to their line of laptop PCs and, for a refreshing change, it’s not the Eee PCs that have been given the upgrade. In fact, it seems like Asus has been storing up a few of these for a while and is now hitting us with everything at once while they have the chance and before they probably launch a new Eee sometime soon.

There’s an awful lot of changes coming and we’ll cover some of the more intriguing ones in separate posts but here’s a few notable releases. The most bizarre of all is the scented laptop range – the F6. As well as coming with various visual lid designs there are also numerous fragrances for you to pick from – you wouldn’t believe it would you? The F6 will also have fingerprint scanning security.

Republic of Gamers laptops are going to look the part featuring, we’re promised, LED lighting effects among a number of impressive features that are demanded for modern gaming. Also included in the G71V and G50V are gaming hotkeys and up to 2 500GB hard drives and a dual layer burner.