Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Here’s an interesting one. That red / black Xbox 360 controller that was showcased back in July is now available to any ole consumer in the US, Canada, Latin America New Zealand and Asia, and it comes bundled with a Play & Charge Kit and red rechargeable battery for $64.99. For whatever reason, Microsoft’s totally missing a golden opportunity to cash in on the holiday shopping season by reserving the green counterpart as some “promotional item.” C’mon guys, is it really that hard to understand how irresistible a red and green gamepad tandem would be in late December?

[Via IGN]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

As if an office full of guitar-controlled lights weren’t enough to get you in the holiday spirit, along comes a self-proclaimed geek to play Jingle Bells on his graphics card. We know, it’s hard to really grasp what we mean, so jump on past the break to catch a video that will undoubtedly do our explaining for us.

[Via TheInquirer]

Continue reading Jingle Bells played with graphics card, Santa wonders why

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While we already knew Sony’s mysterious Rolly got down to holiday tunes, this installation managed to capture our attention just a wee bit more. Rivaled only by the famed TSO project from 2005, this guitar-controlled setup transforms a traditional office into a holiday funhouse by enabling rockers to control the light patterns within the building. Open source software, dubbed Frets on Fire, was modified to generate controls for dozens of light strings around the cubicles, with the corner plant being used to “keep the beat” and the trash can fittingly being lit only when someone missed a note. Click on through to catch this madness in action — and yeah, it’s pretty evident the boss left weeks ago to enjoy the rest of ‘07 from afar.

Continue reading Christmas lights synced with Guitar Hero axe

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Filed under: Laptops

Really, what would the week before the new year be without a half-hour of Charlie Brown in all of its grainy glory? Right on cue, Epson has unveiled a Peanuts-themed laptop that should fit the bill if you weren’t really feelin’ its Hello Kitty variants. The machine checks in with a 15-inch display, a 1.73GHz Intel Celeron M430 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, an 80GB hard drive, four USB ports and a DVD combo drive. As if those partial specs weren’t enough to satisfy, you can also count on a number of Snoopy themes being bundled in to clog up your system resources. ‘Course, you’ll be paying an absolutely insane amount for the privilege of owning one — and just think, your $2,799.99 still can’t get it here any quicker than January.

[Via ChipChick]

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Filed under: Storage

Just in case you missed the memo — and have subsequently wondered why the mall traffic has been just unmanageable of late — the holiday season is upon us, and there’s no better way to celebrate than by picking up one of Walletex’s newest flash drives. Granted, the firm only has Christmas and Hanukkah editions, but it is offering up a couple of motifs in each of the aforementioned flavors. The wallet-sized cards are available now in sizes ranging from 128MB to 4GB, and while you can snag one for you or a loved one for as low as $26.95, don’t expect to store too many jingles without ponying up quite a bit more.

[Via ChipChick]

Read - Christmas flash cards
Read - Hanukkah flash cards

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Displays, Gaming, GPS, HDTV, Laptops

A national survey of 1,200 consumers conducted by Solutions Research Group found that 3 out of 4 surveyed Americans wanted a new gadget this holiday season. The rankings went a little something like this:

1. HDTV (35%)
2. Windows-based notebook (20%)
3. Digital camera (17%)
4. Windows-based desktop computer
5. GPS car navigation
6. Cellphone
7. Digital video camera
8. Nintendo Wii
9. Sony PS3
10. HD DVD or Blu-ray player

So where’s Apple, the big bad daddy of consumer electronics? Well, their best showing was the MacBook with an 11 ranking followed by the iPhone at number 15. Pretty good when you consider the level of brand awareness this represents in a field of otherwise unspecified laptops and cellphones. In fact, 1-in-6 consumers are hoping for some type of Apple gear under the Chanukazaa tree this season.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!