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UK Shoppers Gadgety Change in Taste

by Jay Garrett on March 17, 2010

The Office for National Statistics has refreshed its hypothetical shopping basket again.

Alongside the addition of liquid soap, cereal bars and garlic bread (it’s the future!) comes the arrival of the more gadgety Blu-ray player!

If you’re not sure what all this is about the ONS updates this rather huge ‘basket’ to reflect the average urban consumer’s spending habits.

This is then used to calculate the consumer prices index (CPI), which the Bank of England is furiously trying to keep below 3 per cent according to The Guardian.

Now that Blu-ray players are pretty affordable, with even top notch gear falling in the sub-£200 zone the HD tech now sits in the country’s basket in order to “capture price changes in this new expanding technology”.

Also joining the gadgety invasion are video game accessories thanks to the extra cash being spent by gamers on the likes of Wii Fit, Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Singstar.

The ONS calls this a “relatively new market” – just wait til Xbox 360’s Project Natal and the PlayStation 3’s Move busts out!

Gone are disposable cameras thanks to “decreasing expenditure as digital compact cameras and mobile phone photography become increasingly popular”.

Do you think that this represents the average shopper?

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I was 31 floors up in Centre Point on Tuesday to witness Sharp’s new line of televisions which, for the first time in tele history, is rocking a fourth, yellow, sub pixel joining its red, green, and blue buddies.

Sharp is waiting before joining the possible ‘fad’ of 3D and is instead looking to make large screen TV’s more economical (40% less power used compared with other LCD’s), brighter, ’sharp’er and with a larger pallet.

“The revolutionary new four colour technology enables billions of colours to be displayed, providing brighter video gaming, clearer sports viewing and sharper action enjoyment”, says the company.

Sharp actually played around with introducing white and cyan pixels but the yellow pixels had the best match of transparency and usefulness as yellow helps with greens, yellows (duh!) as well as the lighter blues.

As Neuroscientist, Dr Jack Lewis, says: “a key mechanism of perceiving colour involves comparing levels of red versus green light and blue versus yellow light, which all happens in a special layer of neurons within the retina. The addition of the yellow sub-pixel (to the standard red, green and blue) in this product creates so many new colour tones that the new technology Sharp is using to create images is mimicking critical features of the brain’s visual system. This could ultimately make us feel more involved in things we watch on TV, whether it’s playing a video game with your mates, cheering on your team or watching the latest action thriller”.

Be prepared to see the little yellow pixies …. errr.. pixels in new Sony goggle-boxes too as apparently they’ve invested heavily with Sharp for the research that’s delivered this extra shade.

Sharp’s new range; the LC-LE811E, LC-LE821E, LC-LE921E, and LC-LE920 will come in 40, 46 and 60 inch flavours with a range of new tech to boost the appeal even further.

Each model is 1080p HD ready, will come complete with Sharp’s UltraBrilliant Edge-lit panel technology and will have HD Freeview baked in as standard.

You also get timeshift so you don’t miss ‘enders as you make a cuppa or if you wanna skip the adverts in 24. This uses the 8GB internal flash memory which is good for about 25 minutes of HD or a coupla hours in standard viewing.

You’ll be able to shove a USB device into the back of the tele but this will only bring the joys of vibrant pictures and sounds until the firmware update which will allow DivX flicks. This should hit the sets in August.

Pricing will start around £1400 for the 40″ which should be out at the end of April.

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Brave Arms Social Shooter – 3D First Person Shooter Coming to Facebook

February 5, 2010 Click to read more →
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Do you need more than Mafia, Vampire and Farming games?
If you have a Facebook account you may have noticed that these ‘casual games’ are becoming increasingly (annoyingly) popular.
Personally I welcome ‘Brave Arms’ with open….err… arms as it becomes Facebook’s first ever 3D first person shooter.
Some may stand-up and say that FPS games cannot be [...]

Augmented Reality Rock, Paper, Scissors T-Shirt – Arm Busts out of Chest

January 24, 2010 Click to read more →
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Perhaps one of the lowest-tech games, Rock-Paper-Scissors (even the game devices are low tech!), has just been given the AR treatment.
To the naked eye, the shirt is a ‘normal’ tribute to the game Rock-Paper-Scissors.
The geek magic happens once you place yourself in front of a puter that’s set to T-post’s special web app and [...]

Girl Wearing Space Invader Tights and not Much Else – Cool Retro Black Milk Clothing

January 17, 2010 Click to read more →
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For all you retro-fangirls and cool scenesters here’s some $80 Space Invaders tights.
Guys – here’s some pictures of a girl in her underwear (check the gallery below)!
I found these on Kokatu under the amusing headline ‘Space Invaders by Camel-Taito‘ Heheheheheh! Classy huh?
There’s stacks of other designs to chose from including ‘Pheonix’, ‘Geishas’ [...]

Still Not Sure Which Gaming Console is the Best, Most Reliable or Played Mostly by Girls? Infographic Time!

January 17, 2010 Click to read more →
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There it is in its multi-font, easy read format.
What’s not to like about infographics – especially when about gaming consoles?
How many of you had your Xbox 360 give you the RRoD?
Who has NEVER played a Mario game?
Click the pic to make it pop larger

YouTube to Add Gaming Portal

December 30, 2009 Click to read more →
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YouTube could be increasing its web monopoly by also becoming an interactive gaming portal as well as somewhere to play 80’s music videos and clips of kittens.
The recent Google  patent application for a “Web-based System for Generation of Interactive Games Based on Digital Videos,” was filed earlier this year but has only been published this [...]

Xbox LIVE Phone Confirmed via Microsoft Job Ad

December 30, 2009 Click to read more →
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Way back in May there was quite a stir caused by the rumour of the xYz portable device that was to sit somewhere between the Zune and Xbox platforms.
To me and a lot of others in the interweblogosphere thoughts of a Zune or Xbox phone rocking LIVE anywhere sprang to mind.
Now, Microsoft has advertised for [...]

Nintendo Zii Trademarked – New Console, Handheld or What?

December 15, 2009 Click to read more →
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Nintendo has just trademarked the title “Zii” in Japan which is to be used for computer games and electronic devices, according to the paperwork released today.
The company actually filed for the trademark on October 30, but this was only just released on the trademark database.
This means that Nintendo has protected the word [...]

Sony’s New PlayStation 3 Motion Controller Called ‘Gem’ – Perhaps Definitely / Maybe

December 12, 2009 Click to read more →
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EA’s CEO,John Riccitiello, accidentally let slip that Sony has been referring to the motion-sensing accessory as the “Gem” at a media conference in New York. Ooopsy!
During his speech Riccitiello said: “Natal [Microsoft's motion sensing game solution] and Gem, these are likely to bring new consumers into the marketplace”.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America director of [...]

Get Money Off Your Gifts – Have a VERY Merry Christmas!

December 8, 2009 Click to read more →
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I’ve just been pointed in the direction of Very.co.uk.
‘Very’ is a new online department store from Shop Direct and it’s offering Gadgety News readers a great discount of £10 off your first order of £40 or more when you open a credit account.
All you have to do to claim your discount is simply [...]

Lara Croft to be Immortalised by Derby Ring Road

December 3, 2009 Click to read more →
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Derby council has taken the brave/lazy/dangerous step of asking the public for suggestions of what to call two stretches of their new £36.2 million ring road.
Now, the ‘best’ (or most sensible/cleanest/least offensive) names have been shortlisted into 8 choices, one of which is Lara Croft Way – but there is a kind of logic at [...]

Gaming Christmas Tree Ornaments or Geek Mobile

November 27, 2009 Click to read more →
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Thinking that your Christmas tree is lacking in a certain gaming department?
Fed up with the traditional baubles and santas?
Well – howsabout these game-tastic hanging red acrylic laser-cuts?
Each ornament measures between 3 and 4 inches wide.
Alternatively you could make these into a mobile to start your kid off in the right direction
Sounds like they’ve [...]

Bought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Activision says Thanks 310 Million Times! CoD

November 14, 2009 Click to read more →
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You can’t have gotten through this week without hearing about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
I’ve not bothered mentioning it as everyone seemed to be doing that.
But I can’t fail mentioning this.
The latest episode of the popular shooty-shooty-death-kill game has experienced the biggest launch of an entertainment product in history!
It has managed to haul a [...]

Sony PSPgo Possibly Getting Huge Colour Range

November 12, 2009 Click to read more →
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The Sony PSPgo! hasn’t really taken the gaming scene by storm has it?
Perhaps a slew of pretty colours may persuade you.
A Destructoid reader, Artimecion, was surveyed by Hall & Partners Europe for their opinion of a proposed range of colourful PSPgo’s.
The large gallery of potential PSPgo flavours was actually part of a much longer survey [...]

Microsoft Xbox 360 Natal Coming in 12 Months With Cheap Games

November 11, 2009 Click to read more →
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Don’t you just love leaked info?
Well, thanks to MCV the above news was gathered via a tricky tipster who said that the information was apparently the result of behind-closed-door meetings right here in the UK between Microsoft and third party developers.
Microsoft will be manufacturing 5 million Natals for a worldwide launch in November 2010 [...]

UK Gets its First Gamer Rehab Clinic – 12 Steps in Somerset

November 4, 2009 Click to read more →
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After reporting about the internet addiction clinic opening in the States in August it’s the turn of the Brits.
Yup – we are now the proud owners of our first rehab clinic targeting addicted gamers.
The Broadway Lodge, a residential rehabilitation unit in Weston-super-Mare, treats around 400 addicts a year for a range of issues and will [...]

MMORPGamers Targetted by Worms – World of Warcraft Virus

November 3, 2009 Click to read more →
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There’s been plenty of press regarding the health issues of gamers that spend most their waking lives playing these Massively Multiplayer Online games but here’s a new health scare.
The health of your secure details held on USB’s, external hard-drives and the like.
Microsoft has published a report pointing out that virus writers are getting hip to [...]

1 in 4 Gamers Pay and Download Instead of Leaving Their Gaming Chairs – What’s a High Street Again?

October 28, 2009 Click to read more →
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Gamers love to have the latest and bestest and it shows that 25% of gamers surveyed said that paying for and downloading the digital only version is the way forward.
The International Gamers Survey, conducted by Today’s Gamers took in the opinion of 13,000 gamers across Europe and the United States and found that, on average, [...]

NHS to Give Wii Fit Plus Stamp of Approval

October 26, 2009 Click to read more →
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Since Wii Fit arrived there has been the question: “Does it really work?”
There has been plenty of opinions but now the NHS has stepped in.
The National Health Service is quite happy to give Nintendo Wii Fit Plus its official backing.
The NHS say that there’s plenty many benefits to be gained from the balance board game [...]