Nintendo has just announced the 3rd generation of Nintendo DS, the DSi. Not just a cosmetic remodel of the DS Lite, the DSi incorporates several physical changes. The DSi is approximately 2.6mm thinner and will sport bigger screens sized at 3.25 inches (previous models had 3 inch screens). As Nintendo said recently, the GBA (Gameboy Advance) is now a thing of the past, the GBA slot is no more, and in place of the GBA slot is a SD card slot. The SD card slot will allow for saving pictures taken from the two on-board digital cameras, one mounted outside and one mounted inside. Other things downloadable to the SD card will be music and games; I am betting that videos may also be supported, as it was on their Japan only GBA Play-Yan cartridge.

Games download will be offered for purchase via wireless through the Nintendo DSi shop, which sounds similar to the Apple App Store on iTunes. The DSi will also include a web browser; although there is no word on which browser yet, it will most likely be an improved version of Opera for the DS. The DSi will launch in Japan November 1st and sell for $179. No word yet of a release date for North America, Nintendo does plan for global release sometime in 2009.

Love for Star Wars is tremendous, and this Youtube video I stumbled across proves it. Until I saw this video, I did not know that there exists something called Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. They have a show called, Dance Off with the Star Wars Stars.  It is AWESOME and a must watch!

Video courtesy of MookieMovies

ThinkGeek, the masters of bringing us awesomely cool geek toys, has just released the Black Stealth 3-Channel R/C Helicopter. YAY! This is not just another one of those tiny palm size helicopters with a different look; this one has the important third channel to allow full control of forward and reverse movement. Previous similar sized helicopters had only two channels to control the up and down, and they used weights to tune the speed of the constantly forward moving heli. In the looks department, the Black Stealth sports a plastic body instead of the foam ones used on the other two channel helicopters; this gives it a realistic appearance and actually resembles one of the more expensive bigger R/C helicopters.

Our geek friends over at ThinkGeek say that this helicopter is the easiest to fly and has “incredible hovering and stability.” The Black Stealth charges up via the remote in 10 minutes and provides 7 minutes of fun flight time. Two different channels are available for ordering, so two of the helicopters can share the same air space. All this flying goodness can be yours for $29.99 at ThinkGeek.

When the made for TV movie, Knight Rider (2008) came out earlier this year, I had issues with the new KITT (see my post), and I had completely written off watching any future Knight Rider productions. Now based on the pilot movie doing so well in ratings (thanks to all of us being curious), NBC had green-lighted the TV series. Last week, NBC revealed the newly redesigned Attack KITT and released a preview of the TV show at Comic-Con 2008. It looks like NBC did take Knight Rider fan comments seriously, and they went back to the drawing board on how they could make the TV series better than what was seen in the pilot movie, as the one minute preview footage looks pretty cool.  I don’t want to spoil any surprises, just watch the promo video below:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released recently, but I have yet to see the movie. Some of the people I know who have seen seen it said it was good, but some did not like it; I think I will wait until the movie is released via Cablevisions On-demand. Until then, this YouTube video will serve as a reminder of the movie which started the whole Indiana Jones saga…

Video game maker Destineer announced today that they would be releasing the game title, Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine for the Nintendo Wii and DS. The scoop so far is that Iron Chef America host, Mark Dacascos will appear in the game. Now, given the unique input hardware of the Nintendo Wii and DS, there should be some interesting and fun elements to the game play. Expected release is summer of 2008.

Check out the announcement trailer:

Think you’ve got lots of hard drive space in your notebook computer with a 250 GB hard drive? Well, think again. 500 GB notebook hard drives are coming. Thats right, all the top players in the notebook hard drive industry have recently released 500 GB hard drives for installation in notebook computers; Samsung, Fujitsu, and Hitachi will be shipping the high capacity hard drives in Serial ATA configurations.

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The new Knight Rider is set to launch in 6 days on NBC, and all is not going well for the NBC production from my perspective. First there was the ruckus by the Knight Rider fan boys over NBC choosing to go with a Mustang. And now Will Arnet has backed out of the role of KITT. Will Arnet does the voice-over for GM car commercials, and was contractually restricted from voicing for the opposition. At two weeks to air of the movie, NBC hired Val Kilmer to provide the voice of KITT. Yes, that’s right. The Top Gun Iceman is now the voice of the new KITT! I am unsure if Kilmer will be able to provide the right voice for KITT.

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Somehow word of the ASUS Eee PC flew under my radar. I had no clue as to its existence until the first week of November (two weeks after the US launch) when a colleague at work informed me of this low cost ultra compact portable computer. After hearing the brief details and that the computer would come pre-installed with Linux, my reaction was WOW! That sounds way cool! I quickly searched for it on the internet when I got back to my office. After seeing the info on the ASUS and the EeeUser web sites, I just had to have one of these computers.

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At the same time that Gear Diary was approached to review the Johnny Lightning Battle Wheels, we were also invited to review the V_Bot. What is the V_Bot? Well, here is a clipping from the email describing it:

“V_Bot, the new high-tech hero, transforms from a sleek street vehicle into a giant robot loaded with action moves. This revolutionary RC toy captures kids’ imaginations with a giant robot that they can control, transform and drive. V_Bot even has a plug-in for an MP3 player.”

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The call of duty beckons yet again, to review another RC aircraft. But, this time it is not another helicopter, it is an airplane. Specifically, it is the Silverlit Palm-Z Mini RC Indoor Airplane, available from Hobbytron.com. To date I have test flown the Hornet 3 Mini RC Helicopter and the RC AH-64 Apache RTF 4 CH Electric Helicopter, both also available from HobbyTron.com. With my RC helicopter flying experience would I be able to take on flying an airplane? We’ll see.

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When NBC released the trailer for their new comedy TV show Chuck, I did not know if I should be offended, accept the show for what it is, or just ignore it. Why did I feel that way? Well, it is very clear that the show is poking fun at geeks/nerds, something that could offend me, because I am a geek.

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During the season premiere of Beauty and the Geek, there was a unusual geek who went to the auditions with a bunch of Smurfs, his name is André Meadows. André made it to the finals but did not get picked to be on the show. However, he did get 23 seconds of fame on TV, which was enough, as shortly after I found his audition video posted onto his YouTube channel, BlackNerdComedy and his videos became some of my favorites on YouTube. André’s newest video “Buy Mii a Wii – Black Nerd Music Video” is his best video yet! In the video, he proclaims his love for the Nintendo Wii.

Disclaimer: This video is rated PG (Parental guidance recommended) – André gets a bit TOO friendly with his Nintendo Wii box towards the end of the video, and it might scare the children.

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When Gear Diary was approached to review the new Johnny Lightning Battle Wheels, I was going pass on reviewing them. I never really was interested in robotic combat. However, Judie convinced me to accept and do the review. And, I actually had fun, thanks Judie!

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[A friendly warning, there are 100 pictures in this trip report, so you may want to wait until you have access to a fast internet connection before viewing it all]

The last time I attended a show was several years ago for the New York Auto Show and the now no longer PC-Expo. Back then, I went to see new stuff and to get swag (stuff we all get). Fast forward to present day, my visit to the Digital Life show had a new mission, to find cool products to share with Gear Diary readers. Digital Life focuses on the ultimate in consumer technology, gaming and entertainment. I feel there is a broad range of products on display of interest to everyone.

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