A clock made of old hard disk drive.

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The PCTV picoStick is a tiny, almost nano-sized DVB-T TV tuner launched today. DVB is growing in its adoption throughout the world, but DVB-T is only widely used in Western Europe. For signal reception, the picoStick comes with an MCX connector and an a small telescoping flip antenna, which can be attached to the device itself or by cable to a free standing antenna stand. Pinnacle’s TVCenter 6 adds DVR and time-shifting software for recording shows for later watching. Recordings can be saved in MPEG-2, DivX (off-line transcoding) or H.264 formats for permanent collections or transfer to other devices. They also included some additional software for video editing.

Although only available for Windows XP, Vista and 7, special attention has been paid to making this a low-power CPU, netbook friendly nano device. This is reflected in their hardware requirements minimum being listed as Intel 1.6GHZ Atom and 256MB of RAM. This tiny unit will go on sale next week but only in Europe for around $80.

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Daniel Sieberg spoke with Mattel’s Jim Sheridan about their new mind control toy, Mind Flex. The game uses brain waves to power a fan that floats a ball through an obstacle course.

This is the pocket-sized device that projects a 60″ image from an iPod, iPhone, or any video source with composite outputs. About the size of a candy bar, the unit projects bright, clear images and pivots up to 90º to display content on a wall or ceiling. The projector’s LED uses Digital Light Processing Technology–the same as digital cinema projectors–to produce sharp 480×320 resolution with a 1000:1 contrast ratio and a 3:2 aspect ratio. It has a manual focus dial, adjustable volume control for its 1/2-watt internal speaker, and a headphone jack for private listening. The projector’s rechargeable battery provides two hours of viewing time after a three-hour charge from the included AC adapter, or from a computer with the included USB cable. Comes with 3.5mm and composite cables and a padded case. 4 3/4″ L x 2″ W x 1″ D. (6 oz.)

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NEC uses the term of “unmatched viewing experience” for their new 43 inch curved wide screen monitor. Lets forget about the $7,000 price tage for a moment.

It’s a seamless curved design which is the most impressive feature, and includes connectivity as a single DVI-D input, HDMI 1.3, or USB 2.0. NEC doesn’t clearly spec if the USB connection is for the monitor or an internal hub that just gives you access points for promotional flash drives, cameras and camcorders.

Some notable features which I didn’t think about, but NEC did the convenience of reminding me are the lack of bezels of multiple monitors side-by-side, and auto extended taskbar that spreads natively across the screen.

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