In one of the more awkward gaming experiences since we were first introduced to the the sensor-packing Wii, the folks at Vicarious Visions bring us Guitar Grip! This finally (and emphatically) answers the question, “How could you possibly play Guitar Hero on the Nintendo DS?”. Featuring 4 familiar looking buttons, this module actually slots into the DS, and sports a hand strap to keep you hurling this at innocent bystanders while pulling your best Slash impression.

Release is slated in for sometime between April and June 2008 in the US, with a local release date not yet pencilled in. Check out the video, and some more information, at N-Zone.

2008 is set to be a very exciting time for the once-dowdy national broadcaster ABC. Amongst new areas for the ABC in 2008 announced by Managing Director Mark Scott are: the establishment of a 24/7 Continuous News Centre (CNC), the launch of 60 new local online sites, with broadband content, feature stories, pictures, videos and audio reflecting local events and culture, news, weather and sports coverage, ABC shop downloads where consumers can log on and order or download some of the latest ABC content, and most interestingly, ABC Playback, Australia’s first Internet TV service with full screen quality pictures.

While each of the other servicesare more common in this market already (albeit, from other parties), ABC Playback is looking to be Australia’s most comprehensive Internet TV foray to date. Instead of operating as a video-on-demand website or portal, the three channels will operate as more conventional television, but accessible via the Internet. Continue reading…

We always seem to hear on the news about the newest innovations with a product like the iPod, and subsequently how much Apple’s stock is soaring. However, following is a cautionary tale about the downsides of innovating, takin’ it to tha’ streets, and crumbling dismally.

Word is that the cost to Toshiba of losing the High Def Disc format war is going to cost them 100 billion yen (US$986 million) for last year alone! That’s ahellavalotta Big Macs (at least 260 million-ish, just in case you were wondering)!

Despite this, Tosh will still be booking a small net profit for the year, mostly on the back of other products it manufactures like microchips and NAND flash memory.

For those surfing the broad interwebs today may have come across the news of Apple’s new iPhone SDK. This Software Development Kit will finally allow third-party developers (Read: not Apple) to develop applications for the platform without the need to hack the phone. The applications will then have to be approved by an official party (read: Apple) before it can be made available for users to download. The applications can be loaded up on the things via the new App Store feature, and be sideloaded to your iTunes.

Okay, so we don’t (officially) have iPhones yet in Australia, and there was no definite news about a local release. However, an indication of a release soon of a 3G iPhone, which would be much better suited to our market, is that this SDK is due for a version 2.0 release very soon (it’s currently being beta tested). So what, I hear you ask. Well, they way that much software development and upgrades occur, particularly with the Apple crew, is that updates come incrementally and tend not to jump up a full generation until there is a significant change. With the current iPhone user environment at v1.1.4, there would have to be a significant upgrade to the system to warrant a v2.0 so soon (3G, anyone).

Would it be worth importing a current gen iPhone and ‘modifying’ it to work on Australian networks at the moment? It depends. Can you wait six months?