The RS Media is similar in many ways to the previous Robosapien, but there are some noticeable improvements. The motions are now divided into three modes, Control Mode for walking, Arm Mode for…arming, and Media Mode for media playback. In some ways this is a good thing, as you are always aware exactly what functions you’re controlling at any one time; but on the other hand it doesn’t make for the same seamless combinations of walking and picking things up we could create on the previous model.

It’s worth it. The RS Media is a remarkably engineered creation. Its movements are precise, it can pick things up (as long as the things are ‘just the right size’, but still, impressive). It can sit down, lie down, and get back up again. And it’s solid and heavy. Qualities we’ve decided are important in a robot. The RS Media is also big. Well over half a meter tall at 575mm. It could look eye-to-eye with a small child. Big, we have also determined, is another must-have robot quality. Build quality seems to be excellent. It feels solid and withstood our rough treatment.

The RS Media has a huge number of arm functions available to him, including karate chop, pick up, push, throw, drop and roll. In addition, all of these can be performed with either the left or right hand. Like the rest of the unit’s performance, we found them a little sluggish to be truly useful, and the pickup function can be quite fussy with regards to what it can and can’t pick up (the item has to be rather perfectly positioned), but the motions are entertaining nonetheless.

The specification list for the RS Media is simply stunning, whilst its no PlayStation 3, this robot simply wipes the floor of any other robot of equivalent cost on the market today.

Building on the success of the Robosapien V2, the RS Media incorporates (hence the name), more media-centric functionality. The 1.9-inch TFT screen features a 176 x 132 resolution display which allows for video and photos to be taken and displayed, audio playback or for playing on the built-in games. The motion tracking camera has the ability to take photos and record MPEG4 video, but it’s also a more clever use. One of the built-in programmed functions is called the Guard mode. Put your RS Media in to this state and it will sense any audio with its two room-sensitive microphones as well as movement with its camera and activates its alert system.

Programming worked smoothly, though the instructions do not make it clear that if you want to program actions, you need to exit from the remote level that shows “program” and then reenter it to execute the routine. All other controls worked as promised. I put the Roboreptile on guard mode, and it waited for something to pass in front before attacking. I easily controlled the sweep of its ever-moving tail and its head, mouth, volume, and walking speed. The Roboreptile has four speeds, including walking on its two hind legs, but its front legs do not assist in motion, even when it’s walking on all fours. The bottoms of its two front feet have hard, slick plastic pads that slide along the floor while the back legs do all the work. The Roboreptile and its remote take a total of ten double-A batteries. In 45 minutes of play (and additional few-minute-long sessions after that), the robot showed no signs of slowing down.

The two nose mounted IR sensors allow for the Roboreptile to detect objects in its path and movement. With two sensors, it can discern the differences between movement on its left and right. These sensors have limited range when it comes to typical surfaces, thus the robot will not be able to detect you across the room. They do have sufficient range to detect walls and obstacles in its path as well as your hand should you be foolish enough to put it in front of its head when it’s hungry.

The Roboreptile doesn’t ship with any toys, but you can make it follow the remote if you hold down the “feed” button. Its sensors do help it get around objects: It successfully navigated its way under my dining room table and between chair legs, but because the robot’s head is constantly sweeping back and forth and it can really only “see” what’s directly in front of it, it often whacks its head into objects and walls over and over again. The Roboreptile is made of pretty tough plastic, so there was no real damage, but its head—and its tail, which is also always sweeping—got scuffed up rather quickly.

When seen in the store, it’s hard not to be impressed by Roboreptile. It’s striking black and white design and colorful packaging promise a “cool” experience. It is very long and takes up a large amount of shelf space. Due to its size in relation to other toys, it’s usually fairly easy to find. There is also something to be said about the fact that it is a robotic dinosaur. I’m over 30 yrs old now, but when I was 10, I dreamed of someday owning a robotic dinosaur similar to this, even though the technology didn’t exist yet. This is cool stuff!

Using five motors, touch sensors (on its chin, back, and tail, and in its mouth), infrared (on its head and snout) and stereo audio sensors (in the head), Roboraptor can, whether you set it in “Roam” or control its locomotion, move about, avoid obstacles, and even inspect and react to its environment. For a toy, this level of interaction and environmental capability doesn’t come cheap: Roboraptor sells for around $120. But as a low-end robot, it’s priced right.

Touching the chin sensor when the raptor’s in Playful mode causes it to make a slow, almost purring, sound (though it’s rougher and louder than a purr) and push its head against your hand. Roboraptor’s mouth sensor lets it play tug-of-war. We did have to shove the T-shirt into its mouth (the robot barely opens its mouth on its own), but once the shirt was in there—pressing up against the sensor, which is nestled in the roof of the raptor’s mouth—the robot engaged in a spirited struggle to gain control of it. The only issue we encountered was that the 3-pound robot has a tendency to tip over on its head.

Roboraptor is not a cuddly robot toy. It is, after all, a dinosaur. It doesn’t stand upright; it’s horizontal from the tip of its tail to the end of its nose. Picking up the long and somewhat unwieldy bot can be difficult. You almost wish it had a handle.

His head and tail can be swung from side to side, and if he walks up to something he can try to pick it up in his mouth. Aside from that, he really has no cool functions. He has a tendency to roar a lot, at pretty much everything, which may appeal to some people by adding some authenticity, but it wasn’t a patch on the hilarious repertoire of the Robosapien. The controller was fairly easy to get the hang of, largely due to having less buttons than its predecessor. There is a single pad that controls walking, and a second pad to move the head and tail. The shoulder buttons control the targeting system, allowing RoboRaptor to move towards a specific target, assuming you can get him moving at all.

The right size. The right price. The Canon ZR40 is the right choice for preserving special moments with family and friends. Shooting extraordinary video is effortless. The ZR40 provides you with all the features you need to make you shoot like a pro.

All the benefits of digital video, Digital Photo Mode, a 2.5″ Flexible Color View Screen, 18X Optical Zoom/360X Digital Zoom, Color Night Mode, Image Stabilization, High Quality Microphone, Built-in Analog to Digital Converter, and more!

The ZR60 is improved over the previous model, the ZR40 in a few ways, the biggest being that Canon increased the CCD resolution to 680K pixels. The camcorder includes a 2.5 in. Flexible Color View Screen, 18X Optical Zoom/360X Digital Zoom, Color Night Mode, Image Stabilization, a microphone, both microphone in and headphone out ports, and a built-in Analog to Digital Converter, and more. The ZR60 carries an MSRP of $499, dropped by $100 from the ZR40.

All the ZR models have a rounder feel to them, which I like a lot. Not much else has been changed other than the inclusion of DV Messenger software. The software is pretty cool. The new ZRs, including the ZR60 are able to function now as web cams through the Firewire port. You can use the web cam feature of MSN messenger and the DV Messenger plug-in to control the camcorder of the person on the other end. You can make it zoom and record, you can play, fast-forward and rewind tapes and also view stills off their SD card.

Features:

• Digital Video Format and IEEE 1394
• Image Stabilizer
• Precision Canon Optical Zoom Lens
• Shooting Modes
• Color Viewfinder and 2.5″ LCD Screen
• Programmed Auto Exposure
• Manual Controls
• Digital Effects, Faders and Special Effects
• PCM Digital Stereo Sound
• IEEE 1394 Input and Output Terminal
• Video and Audio Inputs and Outputs
• Additional Features

Life is full of special occasions that we wish could be savored forever — the ultimate vacation, the excitement of a high school graduation ceremony, your family’s first trip abroad, the antics of your favorite pet. With Canon’s new line of Elura camcorders, no matter where you go the moment never has to end. Create home movies and digital photos with life-like clarity. Then, transfer them to your computer with the click of a button. Offering a newly refined ultra-portable design at an affordable price, the Elura 70 is designed to fit your hand and your budget perfectly.

Each Elura camcorder comes with a host of features guaranteed to enhance your home movies and digital photos. Take stunning shots and then print and transfer images with ease thanks to these ultra-portable performers. The 70 further enhances the Elura-line with added power and functionality.

The Canon Elura 70 looks very similar to to the rest of the company’s MiniDV line. Weighing just 1.1 pounds, it’s very easy to carry around all day–if you wear baggy hip-hop shorts, you can even fit it in your pocket. The controls are logically organized, and the tape loads into the compartment from the top, so you can switch tapes while the Elura is mounted on a tripod. Provided you don’t use a tripod with a large platform, you might be able to access the SD card slot as well.

Equipped with a 1/4.5 inch CCD and a Canon 18x optical zoom lens, the Canon Elura 70 is poised to perform well under excellent lighting conditions. At 3000 lux, the Canon Elura 70 performed very well, even if the colors were slightly washed out. The problem with most camcorders is that they are not designed to perform well at each step of a very dynamic light range of 15 lux to 3000 lux.

Features:

• Shoot, process, and share images as never before
• Spoil yourself with brilliant color and clarity
• Shoot video and photos without interruption
• Zoom in on superior images
• Catch all the action without shake
• Print and transfer images with ease
• Shoot close-ups they’ll love
• Relive those low-light moments
• Seamlessly connect to your computer, TV or VCR
• Enjoy wide-screen images
• Take continuous shots at the press of a button
• Make mini movies at a moment’s notice
• Get creative with the supplied software
• Take control of your creativity
• Faders and Special Effects
• Personalize your Elura camcorder

Digital Sophistication and Absolute Elegance Only From Canon

Only Canon can deliver the best in digital video technology. The Vistura fuses superior image quality with a sleek, elegant and compact design. Created to fit in the palm of your hand, the Vistura lets you capture and combine high-resolution video and still photos onto Mini DV videocassettes. Its large, rotating view screen is perfect for capturing almost any conceivable angle or for immediate playback viewing. The Vistura, from its outstanding zoom lens to its auto editing capability, is all you need to produce amazing digital video from start to finish.

The camcorder uses the MiniDV tape format which provides high quality digital video. The Vistura follows a line of great canon digtal camcorders, it can recorde in both 16bit and 12 bit digital audio and has 1/3 inch CCD with 390,000 pixels. The Vistura offers both SP (60 minutes) and LP (90 minutes) recording, a feature which is not usually included in most digtal video cameras and can be very helpful. The vistura has a 16x zoom, which is not as big as most but is probably big enough for most users. The Vistura has a 2.8 inch LCD screen which can be very helpful in getting those neat creative shots. The camcorder has Fire Wire port which is great for editing your digital videos. A feature that can be considered both good or bad dependant on the user is the cameras small size; it weights only 9 and 3/8 oz. and is about 2 7/8 x 3 7/8 x 5 3/4 inches in size. This is really great for some one who wants to take their camcorder every where and travels alot, though small camcorders are hard to control and keep steady. This can make your videos shaky and hard to watch.

• 16x Optical Zoom plus 64x Digital Zoom
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• IEEE 1394 DV Terminal
• Large 2.8″ LCD View Screen and Viewfinder
• Auto Editing Function
• SLR-Style Flash Photography
• Programmed Auto Exposure
• FlexiZone AF/AE
• PCM Digital Stereo Sound
• Digital Photo Mode
• Digital Effects
• Manual Controls
• Superb Playback
• Built-in Speaker
• Time Code & Data Code
• LP Mode
• Lithium Ion Battery
• Composite & S-Video Output
• World Clock
• Other Features

Being a hybrid product means that one can successfully carry the workload of two. The Optura 100MC takes the concept of a hybrid to a whole new level. Stunning video and razor sharp still images are flawlessly combined to produce a superior imaging tool.

The perfect fusion of camcorder and still camera, the Optura 100MC successfully manages the task of both. Versatility and style is the backbone of the Optura 100MC. An extensive feature set and attention to detail make every shooting experience a sheer delight. To complement the high performance of the Optura 100MC, Canon offers a variety of different accessories. Whether you desire a fresh perspective, more light, or simply want to extend your shooting time, Canon has the right solution.

The Canon Optura 100MC is a digital video camcorder, using the standard MiniDV cassette; it produces the highest quality video possible from non-broadcast equipment. The MiniDV format standard delivers more than 500 lines of horizontal resolution. This is about a 25% improvement in picture quality over the best analog formats. On top of that, because it records both video and audio as digital data, this information can be transferred — without any loss of picture or audio quality — to computer for editing, then transferred back to DV tape, without a reduction in either picture or audio quality. All of this is through the use of the IEEE 1394 protocol commonly known as FireWire

Key Features:

• Digital Video Format and IEEE 1394
• 1.33 Megapixel CCD
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• Precision Canon Optical Zoom Lens
• Built-in Flash and Advanced Accessory Shoe
• Progressive Photo
• MultiMediaCard and SD Memory Card compatible
• Color Viewfinder and 2.5″ LCD Screen
• Programmed Auto Exposure
• Manual Controls
• Digital Effects and Digital Faders
• PCM Digital Stereo Sound
• Analog Video and Audio Inputs and Outputs
• Additional Features

There was once a time when the word ‘Mod’ conjured images of someone who listened to The Who a little too often and had a powerful lust for Lambretta scooters. For Ben Heck, facile pop rock and miniature two wheeled death traps are distractions that he can ill afford, especially when he is already putting his time to such good use.

Familiarity with Heck’s crusade to ‘make mobile’ that which is usually stationary is not a pre-requisite for appreciating just how ingenious some of his mods are. The latest to fly from his work bench is a portable reconfiguration of the Atari 2600 home system. Although decidedly chunky in stature, the snappily named Rev 7, is finished with the professional sheen that has become the distinguishing hallmark of Heck’s works and evidence of his clear love of all things gaming old and new.

If only we could all pick our natural talents; I think Heck’ particular skill would be pretty high up on the list for me (alongside dancing and lion taming), as it stands it looks like I am stuck with calligraphy and the nose flute. Truly, there is no justice in this world.

The Atari Video Computer System (VCS) was introduced to the American public in 1977 and was a phenomenal success for Atari and it’s parent company Warner Communications. What this innovative product did was to spawn a new hobby for young and old alike. This cartridge-based video game system could be hooked up to any standard television (either color or monochrome) and easy enough for kids to play and use. Atari even produced the system for Sears as the ‘Telegame Video Arcade.’ In 1982, the income generated by the VCS and related products generated two-thirds of Warner’s profits! The popularity of this game system shouldn’t be under-estimated. The VCS was so wildly embraced by families everywhere that many referred to it as the ‘third television network’ by many at that time. It remained the game system to own for many years and is still sought out by gamers and collectors alike. While this system was released to a market that knew Atari’s previous successful products, the VCS introduced this new hobby called video gaming to a huge new segment of that had never experienced it before! The VCS (developed by Atari’s founder Nolan Bushnell-the father of video game industry) laid the foundation for video gaming that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft enjoy now.

Programs for small computers were generally stored on cassette tape, disk, or paper tape. By the early 1970s, Hewlett Packard manufactured desktop computers costing thousands of dollars such as the HP 9830 which packaged ROM memory into removeable cartridges to add special programming features, and these were being considered for use in games. At first, the design was not going to be cartridge-based, but after seeing a “fake” cartridge system on another machine, they realized they could place the games on cartridges essentially for the price of the connector and packaging.

The crash of the video game market had red ink was gushing from all the video game system hardware manufacturers and software developers. Mattel bailed out of the video game market completely with the sale of its Mattel Electronics Division to employees. Coleco was headed for bankruptcy after a disastrous flirtation with home computers with a system called the ADAM. Most of the third party suppliers and software developers eventually went out of business. Even Atari was not immune to the crash and was totally unprepared to take measures . Faced with out-of-control expenses, Warner Communications sold its Atari Computer/Video Game Division to Jack Tramiel of Commodore 64 fame. His main concern was making Atari profitable by focusing on computers where he had knowledge of the market - coming straight from the success of the Commodore 64.

Created by Benjamin Heckendorn, the NEStari has build for himself a portable NES and Atari 2600 gamer combo. The gadget provides endless gaming fun on the go. The screen is a 3.5-inch LCD and he uses a rechargeable battery like all them portable these days. More pics after the break.

The handheld has a built-in 3.5-inch LCD screen, runs on rechargeable batteries, and has all the controls needed to play all your favorite 80’s console games. These days Ben usually builds his systems on commission, but he decided to just build this one on a whim, so he’s willing to let it go if the price is right.