The Wii, Wii Fit and Wii Sports have been a big success and Nintendo are hoping to further that with Wii Music. Wii Music is a music video game for the Wii that simulates playing musical instruments using the Wii Remote and the Wii Balance Board and definitely looks like bags of fun but not sure what market they are aiming it at. Wii Music was originally suggested as a Wii launch title, but was not released at launch and received little coverage until recently. It will have a job to take the “Simon says” type game crown from Rockband and Guitar Hero, which are recognised as the king of the genre, but if any platform can do it - Wii can. Wii Music will be available in 2008. - more info and prices (UK) / (US)

dikutip dari : http://simoncpage.co.uk/blog/2008/11/05/top-10-gadgets-for-2009/

Resident Evil 5 is the most anticipated game of 2009 for me (I have some others Heavy Rain, Streetfighter IV and Gran Turismo 5 - but just not as excited about these. 1up.com has an excellent list of 25 of the hottest video games of for 2009 - that is worth checking out, albeit I think they have missed a few like Resident Evil 5).

This game from the Toyko Game Show looks so polished already that I just know it is going to come out as a real eye popping next gen game. Most of RE5 remains under wraps at the moment: there’s no word yet on how the weapons purchasing or upgrading will work, no details on which flavours of co-op will be available, and the long-hinted-at cover system hasn’t been revealed yet too. But given the release date of March 2009 with the game’s already looking solid: the AI seems smart, and the levels I have seen were filled with details and strategic options. With the controls they have opted to refine RE4’s revolution, and, if the game isn’t quite as good as scaring you in the hard African daylight as it was in the misty half-darkness of previous titles, it’s still able to bring on a visceral thrill as the crowd gets closer. It’s more about tension and full-on panic that the sudden shock approach from previous incarnations and I think this is a clever evolution. - don’t miss out pre-order today…

dikutip dari : http://simoncpage.co.uk/blog/2008/11/05/top-10-gadgets-for-2009/

Not long ago Google announced that the source code at the core of its Android platform would be available for free to anyone wanting to use it and develop with. This open source approach has opened up the market to more phones manufacturers and developers able to make Android based phones but it also means there will be a host of application to download for it - and I suspect we will see more useful applications than the mainly games ridden App Store on iTunes (I want a good Exchange Mail client). It looks like Asus, Motorola and Samsung will be the next to follow Kogan and the rather averagely designed HTC G1 with a Google Android phone early next year, hopefully making the most of the Android platform finally. - more info…

Also look out for the new Palm iphone killer - the Pre. It looks to be a top contender in the touch screen phone market and I’m pleased that as with all the other iphone killers they have included a slide out keyboard.

dikutip dari : http://simoncpage.co.uk/blog/2008/11/05/top-10-gadgets-for-2009/

Vista didn’t really do Windows brand any justice and Microsoft have responded with promising a release or a new operating system in 2009 - Microsoft Window 7. There are loads of benefits to this new system and from looking at the Beta it seems to fix a lot of the problems with Vista. Some of the new functions to look out for:

* Improved task bar with full screen preview.
This has always been a problem with users who open on average of 7 - 15 windows at once. I love the invisible window option.
* Jump Lists
A nice convenient way to reach recent files or files you want to access often.
* New User Interface
There is a bunch of new copy and paste features, more open, re-size, close, maximise, arrange windows options - but it still has the familiar windows style (in fact it does look branding wise just like Vista).
* Internet Explorer 8
Mozilla 3 is currently my choice of browser having lost my patience with IE7 and memory issues. IE7 is still much quick at opening that Mozilla but the overall experience isn’t as good. IE8 plans to fixs this and pull back some of the market share it is losing. Some new functions to look out for with this release are;
o Accelerators
Highlight text or info from a page and select from a number of online services like address look up and
o Webslices
Which monitors changes to websites like weather, sport scores etc.
* Improved Device Management
A single device windows to manage all devices on a computer and Device Stage which allows you to interact better with devices seeing it’s status and run common tasks.
* Home Group
Home groups is a easy way to setup a home network. Microsoft has managed to make this extremely simple to share files, videos or music but with more security.
* Faster and increased performance
* Extended battery life for laptops and portable devices
* Action Center to sort problems easier
* Windows Touch
After all Microsoft’s work on their touchscreen devices and tables of recent this should be a great feature albeit I think devices that start using this will take a while to appear. The problems with touch screens like the Eee PC is that your arms starts to ache after extended use - but it is great for quick tasks like selecting a film, sending an email or checking some news.
* Improved Voice and Handwriting recognition

This should start appearing mid 2009 and I hope to see Windows 7 SP1 (Service Pack) out by the end of the year - just in time for Christmas when gadget and electronics sales are up again. - more info…

dikutip dari : http://simoncpage.co.uk/blog/2008/11/05/top-10-gadgets-for-2009/

Nokia have been the top seller of mobile phones for a long time now and want to revive the market with their Nokia 5800 / N97 touch screen phone - their effective iPhone killers (Nokia N97 N-series touch phone has already been announced and released this year).

From Q3 2007 to Q3 2008 they lost 15.4% of the market share, dropping to 35%, due mainly to the iPhone. With the release of the Apple iPhone it has caused a ripple in the market and mobile phone manufacturers have realised that they need to raise their game. Blackberry have out their Storm 9500 (bottom of top 10) which will be a hot gadget of 2009 (once it gets the firmware it needs to speed up navigation) and will be available before the end of the year. Sony have their X1 touch phone out which, if it was running Google Android, would probably be my number 1 - as it is gorgeous to look at. But since the X1 has Windows Mobile 6 and is therefore rather slow and clunky, it’s not. HTC have release their G1 which albeit has the best mobile OS in my opinion, Android, doesn’t leverage it and certainly isn’t attractive - no where near the iPhone killer it was marketed as. more information…

Specification - The 5800 has all that you would expect from Nokia including finally support for flash:

* Symbian 9.4 Series 60 5th Edition
* Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900MHz
* HSDPA (3.6 Mbits) / GPRS Class 32 / Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11g)
* Bluetooth (2.0)
* 3.2 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss Optics camera
* microSDHC card slot
* 640 x 320 pixels - 3.2 inch touch screen display
* 30fps Video Recording
* Supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264, Flash, H.263 WMV & Real Player
* E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange)
* Battery: Talk Time: 528 mins - Standby Time: 406 hrs

dikutip dari : http://simoncpage.co.uk/blog/2008/11/05/top-10-gadgets-for-2009/