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There are too many companies that try to gain notoriety by claiming all sorts of things about their products. Claiming stuff is something and having those things actually working as you claim is something different altogether and loudspeaker company THIEL Audio seems to be knowing this principle. Although I haven’t hear of it, and I’m sure most of you haven’t either, THIEL now announces world’s first truly plug-n-play, multi-room, multi-channel, audiophile quality distributed audio system featuring the pure THIEL sound.

Known as the Zöet, the system utilizes your existing home Ethernet network combining it with THIEL’s lossless proprietary wireless network in order to locate and connect the self-powered IP-addressable speakers via a special dB1 distribution processor.

According to Ubergizmo, this concept was also presented at CES 2008 earlier this year under the THIELnet brand name. Back then, THIEL used a 5xwireless SCS4 monoblock 250watts speaker managed by a ThielNet DB1 system. The concept was slightly altered with Zöet. Now, you can operate it with the aid of an intuitive remote control. The entire thing can be accessed via a simple web interface which also provides system changes and firmware upgrades.

THIEL claims that the biggest issue with networked and wireless audio systems is that sound between speakers is never properly synchronized. Unlike other wireless products, Zöet provides better performance by integrating innovative technologies that preserves signal synchronization to improve imaging and reduce echo effect common to other network-based systems.

This way Zöet performs almost the same with traditional high-end systems, and you don’t have to worry about those expensive cables. Price and availability are still unknown.

We had the chance to get in touch with Gamertrainer’s President, Dave Williams, who managed to find some time and answer our 10-question interview. Enjoy reading!

TechPin: Hi, Dave! Thanks for allowing us to take you this interview! Our first question is...what is Gamertrainer?

Dave: Gamertrainer is a web portal dedicated to helping gamers of any experience level increase their skills in a fun, supportive environment. We accomplish this through our featured game tips, our forums and private, online training sessions with our “Gamertrainers”. Our trainers will create a lesson plan designed to meet a customers specific needs and then adapt that plan as they go - that’s the beauty of an interactive session, a trainer can evaluate a customers skills, assess their needs, receive feedback and teach them things they didn’t even know they needed! We currently offer training on Battlefield: Bad Company, COD 4, Guitar Hero III, Halo 2 and 3, Madden NFL 09, Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2, Rock Band and World of Warcraft.

TechPin: What exactly could users learn after creating an account on your website?

Dave: Once a user has created an account they get two immediate benefits. 1.They will now be able to fully interact with our forums which contain a wealth of gaming tips and guides. As an added bonus, users can find many of our trainers hanging out there, happy to answer questions or just discuss gaming in general. 2.They get access to the trainer profiles and have to ability to purchase training credits, gift certificates or book training sessions.

TechPin: Could you help a casual gamer enter the pro leagues faster?

Dave: Certainly we can prepare the casual gamer on what to expect from the pro leagues but becoming a professional gamer is a journey of years. Thing is… Most people have no idea the thousands of hours and extraordinary skill (and luck) required to become a true pro gamer. It would be disingenuous of us to claim we can transform novices into pros. Can we help people prepare to play at an MLG event or get involved with GameBattles? Sure… But our real focus is helping the gamer who wants to play online but is intimidated by the level of play or who has reached a plateau and wants to take their skills to a higher level… That could mean just increasing their win percentage in ranked Madden matches or finally being able to beat their neighbor in Guitar Hero.

TechPin: What is the experience of the Gamertrainers? In other words, what would I have to know in order to be accepted in the team?

Dave: The number one skill we look for is the patience and ability to teach… There are lots of fantastic gamers out there who also happen to be complete jackasses – if you are good person as well as being extremely skilled at the particular title you want to train on we are interested. We get tons of applications and we review each one – if the applicant feels the need to explain how they “pwn teh n00bs” every day we feel the need to hit the delete key. They don’t even make it to the interview!

TechPin: Who is your most experienced Gamertrainer?

Dave: Our trainers have been gaming all of their lives so their experience is pretty vast. They have logged many, many hours on the games they train on and have high ranks, levels, etc. Many have also won tournaments on their respective games and compete on a regular basis. What really makes our trainers different from the other talented gamers out there is that they posses the ability to communicate well with people and are great to work with. They also have a way of providing instruction which is clear and easily implemented. Finally - on a more personal note - I would like to add that many of our trainers have made gaming a fun and advice filled experience for us (as owners we play with our trainers frequently) for a long time, so in that respect, they have all been informally training for years!

TechPin: We know that users can purchase gift certificates from the website and we’d like to know more about this.

Dave: Ahhh… The gift for the gamer that has everything! Our process is easy – customers just chose the gift certificate option from our store, choose how many credit hours they would like to gift and then select where they would like the gift certificate emailed – either to the recipient or to themselves if they want to deliver it in person. If you are the lucky owner of a Gamertrainer gift certificate all you have to do is go to the site, register, select a game and trainer and use your code - pretty simple… So hey – the holidays are right around the corner – give a GT gift certificate to the gamer you love… or two… or three…;-)

TechPin: And now comes the question you are probably expecting to hear from all interviews. Many consider that $30 per hour is too much. What's the difference between reading walkthrough guides during gaming and using one of your human guides?

Dave: LOL – We do get that from time to time… I think it comes down to what is your time worth? And I know what some might say – the journey and time investment is part of the overall experience and I don’t disagree… assuming you have the time… Fact is that the age of the average gamer continues to rise and many are entering the market for the first time, short on experience and time, but long on desire to jump in and find out what all the fuss is about– I guess you could say we help bridge that gap. Plus… Any teacher will tell you people learn better from doing and I can tell you that from experience! I had tried World of Warcraft and was just overwhelmed by the myriad of choices, acronyms and assumed knowledge that was required to play – I read the guides, visited the forums but still pretty much just gave it up… It wasn’t until I had another player come in and help that I understood how to approach the early parts of the game, level up and get to the fun stuff… It was a game changer for me…

TechPin: What are the most popular games users want to learn from you?

Dave: Right now we run the gambit from World of Warcraft to Guitar Hero to Madden NFL 09 – we even had someone put in a special request for GTA IV (we do take special requests.) If I had to pick one I would have to say Madden NFL 09.

TechPin: And now it’s your turn to tell us what your favorite games are.

Dave: Hmmm… Well – I am really enjoying Castle Crashers right now – it’s on Xbox LIVE Arcade – what a blast! At least try the demo, you won’t be disappointed… I have always loved the Halo series, Bio-Shock was excellent and to go a little old school I loved the old Baldur’s Gate games on PC. World of Warcraft is still a work in progress but I’m getting there!

TechPin: We are also curious to know Gamertrainer’s plans for the near future. What new things will we find in your system during the next weeks or months?

Dave: We are always adding new games to our training roster – for instance we are adding Battlefield 2142 for the PC in the next few days and there are some biggies on the horizon in the next few months. Look for us to be offering training on Gears of War 2, Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Left 4 Dead and many others… Some other things on the horizon include group lessons for specific skills like sniping or knifing and crafting seminars for World of Warcraft guilds that want to get their lower level members up to speed. We are also looking to expand our support of the PS3 and Wii. You never know what might be next for us!

If I tell you I’m going to buy a plasma display in a few months, you’d probably think I’m a plasma display supporter. The thing is I’m actually looking forward to buying a projector and I’m just waiting for those Super Hi-Vision models to pop up in 2009 or 2010. 1080p are OK but there still are issues with the brightness and the lamp life. Good thing LEDs are now replacing the old lamps, but that is actually going to cost us more. I’m not counting the ventilation noise problem here. As you can see, there’s still room for improvements and cost effectiveness. Speaking of ventilation noise and LED light source, Taiwanese company Chillin Technology have recently showcased World’s 1st Lamp Free 1080p Projector with Liquid Cooling Technology at CEDIA EXPO 2008.

The liquid cooled projector was developed in partnership with Luminus Devices and Texas Instruments. Basically, the Taiwanese company managed to integrate the new Luminus PhlatLight LED and the latest Texas Instrument 1080p (1920x1080) DMD technology together with a liquid cooling system that should provide extended life to the lighting source, as well as keep things cooler and eliminate the ventilation noise problem.

According to the press release, Chillin’s projector boasts some impressive specs including 600 ANSI lumen and >100,000:1 Contrast Ratios. This enables a 128% NTSC color gamut, which is 80% greater than that achieved through conventional UHP projectors, and a little over 30% greater than what most of the current LCD HDTVs can display.

“Building on our 44-year heritage of superior technical capabilities, we at Chilin are very enthusiastic about the harmony of artistry and technology that we have achieved with our new LED based projector, “said Alex Wang, senior product manager of Chilin Technology. “Though we may be a newcomer as a Taiwan OEM/ODM supplier in the custom home theater arena, we are focused on delivering ultra high end projectors that provide our customers superior color management, picture quality and thermal management systems.”

Chilin’s unique liquid cooling technology can dissipate heat directly from the Phlat Light LEDs which is operated at a high electric current of 30A which is much higher than common LED application. This means that you won’t be required to replace the light source, since the estimated lifespan of the Phlat Light LED is up to 50,000 hours when paired with Chillin’s liquid coolers.

No info regarding availability and price, but I bet it’s going to be twice as pricey as current high-end 1080p projectors.

Together with the release of Google’s new browser – Google Chrome – the corporation introduced Picasa 3.0 and the improved version of Picasa Web Albums, a photo-sharing web application which allows users with accounts at Google to store and share 1 GB of photos for free. Picasa Web Albums reached remarkable figures from its release: it is now used by millions of people from all over the globe who upload billions of photos everyday.

Photographs are the logical consequence of the human being’s vivid imagination and Picasa Web Albums makes them a public display of the free spirit. Whether they capture moments, ideas or perspectives, the most important thing they have in common is the fact that the person behind the camera is guided by the desire of sharing experience with friends, family, and why not, even strangers.
Preoccupied with a better way of sharing and enjoying our photos with others, Google has developed major technology upgrades for both Picasa and Picasa Web Albums.

Starters will most surely appreciate a brand-new feature called “name tags” because it allows them to quickly label all the people in their photos. That way, they can organize photos based on who’s in the picture. This “name tags” feature is the result of an advanced technology which makes easier the automatic grouping of similar faces together. You label your pictures and then you can create a slideshow, for example, with you and your best friend starring the pictures, or you can share party photos with everyone who appears in the photo album.

But the changes do not end here. The site has a new fresh look that does not contorts the clarity of photos and features a new “Explore” page where you can browse the most interesting content of the site, including “Recent Photos”, a near-real-time view of public photos added to Picasa Web Albums. Another possibility is for you to send photos to Picasa Web Albums via email.
In addition, because Picasa Web Albums has always been integrated with Picasa, Google’s free photo management software for your PC, the beta version of Picasa 3 is made public at picasa.google.com.

The main advantage of Picasa was always the fact that it made sharing photos look like a simple action, handy to all kinds of people, with more or less technical knowledge. In the given context, Google pretend to have made sharing a whole lot easier in Picasa 3; so easy, as a matter of fact, that users don’t have to bother at all. There’s a new “sync to web” button which synchronizes specified albums on your PC to the web. Therefore, whenever you edit or add photos to the album on your PC, due to this button’s function, the changes will automatically apply to Picasa Web Albums. Moreover, you have the total control over who can see your pictures and who can’t through the Picasa software itself.



In addition, there are new powerful editing tools to retouch and restore photos, that will help you detect and fix red-eye pictures, or to add text to your images. As if this wasn’t enough already, Picasa is now fun to experience, because the overhauled photo collages and slideshows give you the chance to be creative regarding composition and layout. It must not be forgotten the brand-new movie maker that blends photos, video, webcam capture and music, in order to create customized movies that you can further share on YouTube.

If you’re curious about changes Picasa Web Albums have suffered or anxious to find some hot new stuff about Picasa 3, you can do this on Google’s official blog, where there will be daily posts about its new features.

(Source The Official Google Blog)

I grew up playing with LEGO bricks, and every time I see something related to LEGO I get all nostalgic. I’ve seen all sorts of stuff made of LEGO bricks, even a huge bolder comprising 1 million bricks. Now here’s something more useful that looks to be a lamp.

The LEGO block lamp includes a set of industrial-strength blocks made of heat resistant material, so they won’t mess up when you leave the light bulb turned on. Wait, is the light bulb made of LEGO bricks too? Guess not… Oh well, at least you have those cool transparent blocks that you can rearrange in any configuration your mind would fancy.

According to Technabob, the kit comes with 219 small, 16 medium, and 4 large heat-resistant clear acrylic blocks which are supposed to work well with a 40-watt light bulb. If you feel like you can’t really come with a cool design for you lamp, just leave that it to your kids. They’ll have fun and you’d be using the lamp in no time.

RED5 has the LEGO lamp for approximately $45 USD. RED5 only supplies the kits with 240-volt power cords so you might want to buy a power transformer and an appropriate light bulb in case you are from the North American countries.