Tag: HYPECHECK

What it is: A multi-purpose rolling bag that also serves as a portable seat and a take-along boombox. Why it's different: The Trip Sound is a bag, chair and boombox all at once, which makes it pretty unique. It's designed for travelers who find themselves restless in airports, with no free seat to relax upon, and no decent sound system to crank in their hotel rooms. If there's ever been ...

What it is: Until now, iRobot's Roomba has been the only janitorial gadget worth employing. Enter Neato Robotics' XV-11, which, after several months' delay, has finally hit the market. The results are impressive; while perhaps not powerful or thorough enough to render your manual vacuum obsolete, it does represent a solid step forward for automated cleaning technology (otherwise known as Machines ...

What it is Share The DSi XL is the latest in Nintendo's DS line -- a line that is now four models deep, each one incrementally better than the one before it. The XL is, as its name might imply, a bigger version of the DSi; the screen is about an inch bigger than that of its sibling (4.3-inch diagonal, as opposed to the DSi's 3.25 inches), and the console itself is accordingly bigger and heavier. ...

What it is. Boxee is the most hyped media center software to ever hit the market. It's supposed to change the way we watch TV, how we discover new content, and solve global warming. Okay, maybe not that last part, but you can only expect so much from what amounts to a prettied-up version of the open-source XBMC (Xbox Media Center). ...

HYPE CHECK Leica M9 Digital Rangefinder Camera What it is: The cult of Leica originated in the '40s, when Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Magnum photographers first brought the so-called "decisive moment" into the cultural consciousness. Their startlingly immediate images of street life, war, and people are as fresh today as they were the day they were snapped. The weapon of choice for this ...

Hype Check 'Modern Warfare 2' What it is: The latest installment in the 'Call of Duty' series, and the second to be set in contemporary times, 'Modern Warfare 2' takes place five years after the setting of 'Call of Duty 4.' Your mission is to hunt down a Russian insurgent and to repel an invasion of the East Coast. In campaign mode, you jump between five soldiers, a function that grants ...

HYPE CHECK 'DJ Hero' What it is: Until now, rock-and-roll has dominated the rhythm-action gaming charts. 'Rock Band' and 'Guitar Hero' both provide amazing experiences for guitars-and-drums jams, but don't really address either hip hop or dance music (i.e., electronic music). Activision has tried to remedy this situation with its newest 'Hero' game, aptly titled 'DJ Hero.' Just as ...

HYPE CHECK Sony PSPGo What it is: Sony's third crack at creating the ultimate handheld gaming system. PSP Go takes what Sony has accomplished with the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and squeezes it into a significantly smaller form factor, and embraces a whole new approach to getting games onto the device. Sporting graphics output roughly equivalent to that of the PlayStation 2 (if not better ...

Hype Check: Zune HD What it is: You've no doubt heard of Zune -- Microsoft's much-hyped personal media player (PMP) -- but you may not have seen much of it. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the device hasn't exactly caught on with the mainstream, with Apple's iPod (not to mention iPhone) still dominating the space. Zune HD is the Zune's third iteration and it comes in 16 -gigabyte (GB) and 32GB ...

Hype Check: 'The Beatles: Rock Band' (MTV Games/Harmonix) What it is: A little band called The Beatles has joined forces with a little game called 'Rock Band' to create what is arguably the most highly anticipated music game to date. It includes 45 songs by the seminal British band, and a full-on visual overhaul to depict the Beatles' members and style. The game comes either bundled with ...

What it is: The myTouch 3G, the second Android smartphone (aka "Googlephone") to be introduced by T-Mobile, after the G1, is essentially a re-branded HTC Magic. What's different about it? Unlike the G1 (the first "Googlephone"), the myTouch opts for a touchscreen-based interface, dropping the physical keyboard. The Android 1.5 ("Cupcake") operating system and marketplace have come a ...

What it is: The Olympus PEN E-P1 is the company's first Micro Four Thirds (MFT) camera -- a miniaturized alternative to a digital SLR (DSLR) based on a tech standard developed in cooperation with Panasonic. The physical design and name are throwbacks to the half-frame film cameras Olympus produced from the '50s through the '80s. The E-P1, priced at $799, includes a 14-42-millimeter, f3.5-5.6 ...

What it is: Those who still think a vacuum's a vacuum have yet to encounter Dyson. The funky-looking, English-engineered line of bag-less, suctioning masterpieces is a far cry from the clunkers lining the shelves of Bed, Bath & Beyond. (You'll even find several in modern art museums around the world.) The DC22 Motorhead is the newest addition to the line of Dyson canister models. It takes ...

BlackBerry Curve 8900 What it is: The 8900 is the next-generation version of the popular, easy-to-use, and versatile Curve line. What's different about it? The original Curve 8300 was our favorite BlackBerry when it first came out because it was as full-featured as the more business-oriented BlackBerrys (like the 8800 series), but still had everything you needed to have fun with your ...

BlackBerry Tour What it is: The latest and greatest CDMA BlackBerry device -- in other words, it runs on Sprint and Verizon Wireless's networks -- and quite possibly the best BlackBerry ever. Why it's different: It seems as though it's been an eternity since a new QWERTY-keyboard-equipped BlackBerry has hit the market for CDMA customers. While our BlackBerry-toting GSM brethren with T-Mobile ...