Filed under: Gaming

You know how it goes with Sony and PS3-related peripherals. A big introduction, followed by a slight delay, followed by a longer delay, followed by a little something to take the sting off. Here we have word from Noam Rimon, senior development manager at SCEA R&D, that the news-blasting (and uncomfortably named) Life with PlayStation will once again be delayed. According to Noam, Sony is “still pushing some paperwork” on the service, though he gave no expected time frame for the actual launch. Nevertheless, he softened the blow by announcing once and for all that it will indeed be free (and accessible directly from the XMB) whenever it finally goes live. Gotta take the good with the bad, we guess.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Peripherals

For better or worse, it looks like the so-called iControlPad is edging closer to reality — or at least something really similar. According to a new image (and our limited Spanish translation skills), Belkin is actually looking to produce an App Store gaming controller, though we’re still not entirely convinced that what we’re seeing is legitimate. Whatever the case, the JoyPod would somehow, someway provide users who purchased Super Monkey Ball to play it using a bona fide game pad, though we can’t figure out if the iPod touch / iPhone slips in behind the controller or if it just morphs to fit the JoyPod’s space constraints. Guess we’ll see (or not) soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Sprint, CDMA

From the looks of it, Sprint has gone and gotten a decent chunk of its playbook leaked all over the interblogs, and it’s chock-full of titillating information. Thanks to slippery fingers and loose lips, we already knew that the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro were headed to the carrier, but now we have some solid dates (mid-September for the Diamond, October 19th for the Pro), and pricing ($549.99 and $579.99, respectively). Of course, this is all according to the above document, which admittedly could be the work of an extremely bored Photoshopper — but this jives pretty tightly with a lot of other chatter we’ve been hearing.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

IFA typically isn’t considered the strongest show in the mobile world, which Samsung apparently saw as an opportunity to grab just a little more spotlight than it’d normally have. Okay, maybe “a little more spotlight” is an understatement, seeing how it trotted out no fewer than a dozen handsets at the show — and granted, none of them are groundbreaking taken alone, but the collective ends up making for a mighty showing. Highlights include the S7330 slider, featuring a Soul-like display in the d-pad; the rumored D980 DUOS which adds an extra SIM slot to the F480′s design language; the music-centric M3510 Beat; and this here beast of a phone, the B2700, looking like it’s more than ready to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Overall, we would’ve liked to have seen a little more high-end fare in the mix, but we’ll take it.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Worried that retailers might be running out of utter crap to sell? Been looking for that perfect accessory to go with your “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps” sign? Enter the USB-powered, soda can-shaped anion humidifier. Not only will this magical and totally necessary device clean the air around you and re-energize your fat, lazy body, but it will look cool while doing it — you know, just sitting there being all soda-can-badass. When you absolutely, positively can’t find anything else to do with $24.99, the “Portable Can Shape USB Office Home Miniature Anion Humidifier” is there.

[Thanks, Simon]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM

Sonim has chosen IFA this week to show off its latest hardcore G’zOne killer, the in-your-face, take-no-prisoners LM801 candybar. Highlights of the rugged set include an integrated flashlight, laser pointer (for those times when you’re stranded in the Rockies and you need to blind you some bears, we figure), magnetic compass, barometer / altimeter, FM radio, and thermometer, all bundled neatly into a yellow shell that repels all the water and dust you can toss at it. Most carriers aren’t terribly talented at offering a rugged lineup, so we can think of a few who’d be well-served to investigate adding something like this into the mix — and seriously, what’s with no other phone having a laser pointer?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we mostly kick gaming-themed cufflinks when we hit the town in our finest French cuffs, but we’re definitely looking into getting a set of these hot one megabit EPROM links to spice things up a bit. Made by Flickr user JMarler as a birthday present for a friend, they’re certainly unique — but come one, we demand at least 1GB of wrist-based storage in this day and age.

[Via MAKE]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Remember that fad where everyone had dining room tables of their favorite Disney character? Or the age in the 70s where tables were shaped like lava lamps? No? At any rate, the modders over at SCAD Inc. have spent all summer crafting a fully-functional Super Nintendo controller-table, which reminds us an awful lot of the fully-functional NES controller-table we saw in May of this year. So, which geek is gonna take on the N64 controller table? Or better yet, the Virtual Boy?

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Original post by Darren Murph