Another lawsuit against Nintendo has cropped up once again, this time over the touch-screen capabilities of the Nintendo DS. John Martin of Illinois claims that the popular handheld has infringed on his patent, that describes a electronic game device that has "an improved method of operating a touch screen." More details in the full article!

Dealing with all the wires with one console is bad enough, especially when you have other devices you attach to your TV set, but when you have more than one console, things can get crazy really fast if you're not careful. Here's an easy solution: use one component cable for all your consoles. XCM has released a new component cable that supports all platforms at once, including the PSP Slim. More details in the full article.

Homebrew developer Zx-81 dropped by the QJ.net Forums to give us the latest release of PSPCAP32 - a CPC emulator for your PSP. It's got a lot of major updates, not even mentioning compatibility with custom firmwares 3.x and the PSP Slim.

The update for the emulator places some major attention on improving the speed. Here's the changelog for PSPCAP32 v1.2.0:

• Major Speed improvements, it's really fullspeed!
• Import CRT emulation part of older version of Caprice32 (less accurate, but much faster)
• Add two new render modes : Fast and Ultra.
• Sound is now played in 16 bits and stereo!
• IR keyboard support!
• Display and save thumbnail images for each save state
• New speed limiter function
• Add option to display fps rate
• Option to prevent the blue led to be displayed when L or R is pressed
• Now compatible with custom firmwares 3.x and PSP-slim
• Add a simple intro splash screen
• Support iso8859-1 fonts in print text functions (might be useful to translate menus in German, French...)
• Bug fix and code cleaning

As always, users are encouraged to go through the readme file, which contains all the essential information about the app. The source code and a whole bunch of CPC snapshots for the emulator courtesy of Gryzor are also available for download below.

Download: PSPCAP32 v.1.2.0 fw15
Download: PSPCAP32 v.1.2.0 fw3x
Download: PSPCAP32 v.1.2.0 src
Download: CPC snapshots
Visit: PSP Development Forums

We just got word that peripheral maker VDigi Electronics has a solution for gamers who want to connect their Wii units to a CRT or LCD monitor in the form of a VGA cable.

According to the company, the cable is compatible with Wii units in all regions and is capable of producing high quality VGA output. For interested parties, the VD-W2 Wii VGA cable can be purchased at VDigi's online site (via our Read link below) for US$ 39.

Stocks are still available as of this writing and will be shipped within seven to 14 days. Some of the worth mentioning features include:

• Easy to setup and use
• Compatible with Japan, U.S. and UK version console Wii, backward compatible with Gamecube 480p supported games
• Provide high quality VGA output
• Clear crystal image quality
• No external power needed
• Support wide range of CRT/LCD monitors

The Read link below will also provide you with the cable's other specifications.

According to Computer Supermarket UK, they've got the cheapest 20.1-inch, widescreen LCD TV/Monitor in the world, and its sporting an attractive GB£ 129.95 (US$ 250) price tag, although that doesn't include shipping and handling or VAT. So if you were always hoping to replace that bulky CRT or break the 17-inch barrier for your PC's LCD monitor, here's your chance.

Computer Supermarket's NQ211 is primarily an LCD TV, complete with a built-in TV tuner and interfaces for all applicable home entertainment systems. While still using rather dated, but trusty Active Matrix technology, the LCD does sport a widescreen profile (16:9 aspect), allowing viewers to enjoy widescreen-formatted movies and games.

Along with S-Video, component and RF connections, the LCD TV will also accept DVI and VGA input, allowing it to interface with PCs and consoles. It also boasts a 1200:1 contrast ratio and an 8ms response time for vivid color and performance.

As of press time, Computer Supermarket's got 192 of these black beauties in stock, so interested parties better hover their cursor over the read link below before stocks run out.

It recently came to Apple Inc. that some environmental organizations are criticizing it for not being a good model in terms of removing toxic chemicals from its new products as well as recycling old products.

CEO Steve Jobs came up then with a press release highlighting his company's plans about the matter. Jobs revealed though that these measures aren't exactly new, and that they've been doing this long before the said complaints made mass media. It's just that he felt the need to inform Apple's consumers and stakeholders because the above mentioned allegations are rather serious.

The list is quite long and the Read link should take to Jobs' complete statement. But some of the most important highlights include:

• Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs in mid-2006. Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo still ship CRT displays today.
• Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008.
• Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products by the end of 2008.
• Apple recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste in 2006, which is equal to 9.5% of the weight of all products Apple sold seven years earlier.
• We expect this percentage to grow to 13% in 2007, and to 20% in 2008. By 2010, we forecast recycling 19 million pounds of e-waste per year — nearly 30% of the product weight we sold seven years earlier.
• All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal.
• Apple products are designed using high quality materials that are in high demand from recyclers.

Yeah, the PS3 has a few display issues. If you're still wondering when Sony will get around to fixing the PS3's issues with upscaling 720p games to 1080i/p or if you have an old CRT HDTV set which typically only supports 480i/p or 1080i, then here's some good news for you.

According to IGN, an article at Beyond3D states that Sony has released a new software development kit (SDK) update for the PS3 that opens up limited hardware scaling. This will give developers "an easier path to natively displaying 720p games at 1080i/p." Says IGN, developers used to have a much harder time supporting 1080i/p because the scaling was done entirely through software, which takes up valuable system resources.

Even better, with the new SDK out, apparently there's the potential for developers to patch old 720p games to allow them to display at 1080i/p as well. Sounds like great news for those who want to keep playing their PS2 games on their PS3s.

Fanboys beware! This dude from St. Louis kicks out all the stops to the definition and raises his obsession a level higher. Yes, that's right: Jeremy Mehrle's apartment is a tribute to the Apple Macintosh. And its quite an impressive display, in fact: he has 74 Macs in his basement with 30 at the Classic bar (yes the bar is in his basement). Also in his collection are four different Apple II personal computers, 18 assorted CRT-based Macs, a Next Cube, and a 20th Anniversary Mac just to top the icing. This would've rocked had it been one of those "Get a Mac" ads. See for yourselves!

    

You can see more of his vision of Mac dedication by clicking on the Read link provided below.

Since Tech-centric people are really sensitive about how hot their technological box of choice can get, here's something that can help them feel a bit less insecure.

Despite the fact that this page over at the URL http://granulator.gg.utk.edu/~web/thermalcam is entitled "Fun with a thermal camera", their geeky endeavors into the actual temperatures of a MacBook, an Xbox 360, and a 38-inch CRT HDTV is presented in a very academic fashion. The short of the long story? They took several pieces of essential tech-gear, and put each under a thermal camera. They found out that the appliances can get hot, really, really hot.

Here are their images of the MacBook.

And here's the 38-inch HDTV CRT, followed by the Xbox 360.

The author of the site would like to note that he is not making any claims about the safety of the above products. He's just simply showing the images he took, and he is taking the time to report the results. Also, the author of the site claims that the above images were taken in conjunction his current PhD research, as test cases for calibration of their camera for future field work.

We now wonder what the PS3 looks like under a thermal camera. We also wonder how the Xbox 360 would look under a thermal cam if one of those spangly third-party cooling devices were attached to it.

While most are engulfed by the ongoing Consumers Electronic Show, let us take a few steps back for a while and talk about the consumer electronics sale. The two are related with each other anyway. Those which have been raking in money for this year were once part of the show in one way or another.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association or CEA, the consumers spent a total number of US$ 145 billion in electronics for 2006 and it is going nowhere but up this year. The group added that most revenues came from videogames, digital music and flat-screen displays. According to CEA V.P. Todd Thibodeaux, plasma and LCD TV sets and music players will continue to dominate this year:

The TV market is setting all-time revenue records. Traditional CRT-based sets are giving way to flat panel displays. The successful ongoing transition to digital television is driving demand. It continues to ship at large volumes and 2007 will be no different as the market shifts into a replacement mode. Many consumers will be replacing their first-generation players with new players offering video playback capability.

Their findings also showed that the age of standalone devices such as CD players and cassette tape decks is really over. CEA explained that the switch to digital media has benefited the manufacturers very well. The trend started back in 2003, jumping up the total revenues back then to 50%.