Filed under: Laptops

HiVision (also known as Shenzhen), a Chinese OEM exhibiting at IFA, is completely unabashed about its collection of netbook look-alikes, which range from 400MHz ARM-based computers that could retail for as little $150, to full featured VIA-powered affairs. Everything was as plastic as could be, of course, but the HP Mini-Note rips were almost passable as sexy. Almost.

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Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Gaming

According to the reader who sent this our way, this candy dispenser looks “exactly” like a Wiimote, except it fires candy out of the spot where the IR transmitter should be. Apparently the instructions suggest that you “Do not aim at face,” so… it’s kind of like the real thing.

[Thanks, Timothy]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Yeah, we too are hoping that these overseas impostors will have to start changing up their game if they still want to ape the iPhone in just a few months, but as it stands, the Toggolino Phone actually does a fantastic job of shaming itself. Apparently this handset, er, device comes packaged with some form of German kit meant to teach kinder a few things about words, animals and the equitable distribution of wealth throughout social classes. Okay, so maybe that last bit isn’t in there, but seriously, those animal apps look way more interesting than stocks, weather and company email.

[Thanks, Oliver]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Like peanut butter and jelly, oil and vinegar, and Benny and Joon, some things just go together. If you thought the words “Blade Runner” and the industrial design of the RAZR were always “meant to be,” your day has finally come. Enter the Blade Runner MP4 player — the PMP that looks like a phone, but acts like far, far, far less. The device has lots of familiar media player features, but let’s be honest: all the information you need about this baby is up in that photo above. Own the magic today for $49.99.

[Via Crave]

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Not content with just KIRF’n popular gadgets, our favorite reversers of engineering are back and this time, doing it up in space. Notice any difference between the 1994 Pentagon photo (on left) of the moon and that taken by China’s Chang 1 last week in almost exactly the same location? Right, what appears to be a new crater on the geologically dead hellscape we call the moon. Well, since the image was released under great fanfare in China, it’s been heavily shouted down as a fake by flat-Earthers in the West. It’s not, at least not in the traditional sense. According to Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society, the image is real (and likely original) but the “new” crater is just an artifact from the process of stitching and blending 19 image strips taken on different orbits. The correctly stitched image (achieved by sliding the left-most crater up, and the right-most down) is presented in the yellow box above. Unfortunately, the chief scientist of the Chinese lunar exploration program, Ouyang Ziyuan, said that the emergence of the crater was proof that their photograph was original. Sorry Charlie, the crater is not new, only the lighting angle and resolution is… we think.

[Via MSNBC]

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

Filed under: Cellphones

Another unimaginative PMP for you this weekend, which happens to vaguely rip-off the design of the RAZR2. Nope, this doesn’t have a phone stuck inside: it’s simply a regular little PMP that features a 2-inch screen and controls that mimic the look of Motorola’s flagship. It also has an FM tuner, a speaker — hey, at least you could pretend that this is a speakerphone — and e-Book and gaming “functionality.” Don’t expect to see this in your local Wal-Mart anytime soon.

[Via PMP Today]

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

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

German publication Welt Online has the scoop on a killer KIRF: the Loomax Ii touch, which rips off the iPod Touch and sells for less than half the price. It has all the usual ingredients — it plays music, has a touch screen, and Apple-esque icons — but this time, Apple gives a damn. Apple spokesperson George Albrecht commented on this specific example, saying something along the lines of “we’ll examine this case closely,” which is a lot more than can be said for the multitude of other iPod rip-offs we’ve seen in our KIRF series (and beyond.)

[Thanks, David K.]

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

Filed under: Cellphones

Although this “Manhattan” Wide Screen GSM Dual Card Mobile phone doesn’t rip-off any logos, it most certainly is more than “inspired” by T-Mobile’s Dash. You probably won’t want to pick up this $224.99 model, unless you don’t mind living without any internet access at all (it doesn’t even do GPRS), but if you need a phone that does two SIM cards — we can’t imagine what for — then you’re in luck. Then again, if you live in the US or Canada, you’re out of luck again, because apparently this doesn’t work there. Double lame.

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

Filed under: Gaming

While we imagine that reverse engineering the Wii console is a fairly straightforward procedure, reproducing Nintendo’s extensive software library would be quite the trick. That is, until Meizu’s OS X duplication team becomes available. Pages 3 and 4 after the break.

[Thanks, Anonymouse]

Continue reading Keepin’ it real fake, part LXXXII: The Chintendo Vii

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