I just ran across possibly the most awesome Star Wars item ever. Nikko America has a special edition remote controlR2-D2 home theater audio/video projector that does just about everything. It has a ton of features, including being able to project on the ceiling (not sure I’d ever use that), official sounds, and a ton of inputs including an iPod dock. The tech specs are pretty good, but I’m sure you can build your own home theater that is better with less than the $2900 price tag. It won’t have the massive geek factor that R2-D2 has though. Be sure to check out the video to see it in action.
2 thoughts on “R2-D2 Limited Edition Home Theater Projector by Nikko”
Oh, wow, and I thought the alarm clock was super cool. This is amazing!
Odd, looks like the website is down. It was a pretty good concept, but I think it was more of a gimmick than anything else. I vaguely remember that it was very expensive.
I’ve been huge Star Wars fan since childhood, but was a bit disappointed overall with some of the inconsistencies that cropped up when the prequels were released. Keith Martin helps make sense of it all. He ties the prequels together with Star Wars: A New Hope (later to be called Episode IV) in his post “A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope.” It is packed full of insights, some of which I’ve seen tossed around here and there, but he also adds a bit of humor in just the right places.
If we accept all the Star Wars films as the same canon (as it seems we must) then a lot that happens in the original films has to be reinterpreted in the light of the prequels. As we now know, the rebel Alliance was founded by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa. What can readily be deduced is that their first recruit, who soon became their top field agent, was R2-D2.
I had the opportunity to meet a couple “online” friends this past weekend. I’ve talked to these guys for several years through various online games, instant messaging, Ventrilo/TeamSpeak, and e-mail. Meeting them was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. BrainAlien, a guy I’ve known online since 1999, gave me a Snowtrooper action figure. He knows I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so I really appreciate it. If I ever find my Luke Skywalker in X-Wing suit, I’ll have to have a little battle to relive some childhood moments.
Tonight with my wife, I watched an interesting episode of Nova titled “The World’s Smartest Machine.” Romantic, right? You can tell we are a couple of geeks at heart. Being a huge fan of Asimov and his robot creations, I am continually amazed at the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence. As a kid I was playing chess as early as the 3rd grade. I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty good chess player. When I heard about a computer that supposedly could beat a world champion chess player, I was intrigued. Garry Kasparov battled IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in 1996 and won, however he eventually lost a rematch in 1997. Well, IBM is back at it, this time taking on Jeopardy. Nova takes us behind the scenes with the developers of “Watson,” the next step in AI. I was disappointed when the episode ended and it didn’t say who won. I didn’t realize until logging on PBS.org that the contest actually was taking place while I was watching Nova (on my media center PC). After some frantic Google searches, I eventually came across a Twitter feed with a link to a Youtube posting of the episode. This was not quite 2 hours after the episode aired! Isn’t technology great? I expect the Youtube post to be served a DMCA take down, so watch it soon if you plan on it. In addition to the episode at the end of this post, I’ve embedded the Nova preview and an humorous parody of the challenges Watson overcame during his development. I suggest watching the Nova episode first. If you are at all interested in AI, you must check these out!
There are two more nights to the match, airing Tuesday February 15th, and Wednesday the 16th. Be sure to check them out, along with some live blogging on PBS.org. I find myself rooting for Watson, not because I want to see humans defeated, but because I want to see humans capable of making something smart enough to do it. Who do you think will win? Who do you want to win?
Oh, wow, and I thought the alarm clock was super cool. This is amazing!
Odd, looks like the website is down. It was a pretty good concept, but I think it was more of a gimmick than anything else. I vaguely remember that it was very expensive.