I've been using a Macintosh computer for a few years now, but just a few a weeks ago, I decided to look in my Utilities folder—one of those spur of the moment kind of things.

I found the regular utilities like Activity Monitor, Airport Utility, Console, and Migration Assistant, but what I just stumbled on was something that has saved me so many times from that point on. DigitalColor Meter. Apple likes to secretly tuck away their best utilities in folders that people will most likely never end up using.

So what makes DigitalColor Meter so special? The app does a lot of things, but what I found most useful was the ability for me to hover over any pixel on my screen, and to find out the exact RGB value (read up on RGB here). Video after the jump.

A big problem almost any robot nowadays has is limited agility. While this isn't an issue for industrial and other "practical" robots, humanoids can only move in a slow, mechanical and chopping motion. Honda's Asimo, for example, is considered super-advanced, but doesn't move too elegantly either.

But Japan-based Himeji Softworks raises the bar in that area. Their JO-ZERO robot kit shows we haven't reached that Nureyev level of elegance yet either, but it's pretty impressive, especially since it's the brainchild of a small venture. It can break-dance (sort of) and pull off a number of cool stunts.

This is a video showing BlueMaemo, an application that allows you to control your PS3 with a Nokia N900. Well, it will allow you to control any number of devices, it's just that there's a video of it interacting with a PS3. All hail mighty Bluetooth, king of the wireless protocols.

Everyone’s favorite man-child of indeterminate age or nationality, DiiFii, takes an adrenaline-fueled look at Tekken 6 in his latest review.
[YouTube]

So there's actually two things to tell you about here; for one thing, you can play Tekken 3 on your HTC HD2 phone. That's cool and all, but the big story is the emulator used to play it. The emulator, named FPSECE, not only supports the Playstation 1, but the touchscreen as well.

Sit back and enjoy a trailer that shows a bit of gameplay of Borderland’s next DLC expansion, Mad Moxxi Underdome Riot. [via Joystiq]

Two weeks ago, Apple opened the floodgates for video recording apps on the iPhone, ending a longstanding ban. Nobody was waiting longer for the change than mobile video startup Qik, which tonight is further building out its collection of iPhone apps with the launch of the Qik VideoCamera. The new app allows the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G to locally capture video — something that only the 3GS has been able to do until recently.

Qik has, of course, made its name building live streaming apps that allow users to broadcast their video directly from their phones to the web. Their live streaming app, which is called Qik Live, was released less than a week ago.

You remember OnLive. The service, which lets you play any game remotely on a distant server, has produced much skepticism and much interest, and is now in public beta. We got a good look at it back in March when we were at GDC, and it appears that things are much the same. However, the combination of crowd noise and my bad playing made for a less-than-optimal viewing experience. This video is much clearer and much longer (it's essentially a guest lecture at Columbia), so if you're still interested in the OnLive thing, it may be for you.

This video deals with some of the technical issues that have been brought up. I haven't watched the whole thing (skipped around to get the interesting bits) but he does address some of the compression and packet loss issues they have to deal with.

It’s not clear what level of approval this leaked video has from Microsoft, but my guess would be that there is plenty of testing like this going to to determine the feasibility of FPS games on Natal.
If anything, it looks more awkward than playing with dual analog sticks, but given the right game design, it [...]

This episode is actually a lot more informative than the first one. Watch and learn, friends. Unless, of course, you’re still boycotting MW2.

Palo Alto, CA-based GlobalMotion Media has raised $1 million in Series A financing from the Band of Angels and a group of domestic and international private investors. The young company is probably best known for operating EveryTrail, a GPS travel community and interactive trip sharing service.

The startup is today also announcing the release of its latest iPhone application, EveryTrail 3 (iTunes link), which allows users to easily record and share their hiking, driving, skiing, motorcycling, running, skateboarding or other trips.

I loves me some AMOLED screens. They're easier on the battery, easier on the eyes, and the colors tend to be so damned strong that they just about jump off the screen and punch you in the face. I mean, what's not to love? Oh, that's right - they tend to fail miserably as soon as you step outside. Mix one part direct sunlight with one part AMOLED screen, and you'll find yourself with a completely illegible screen.

At least, that used to be the case.. We're not quite sure why they didn't play this up with deafening fanfare, but it seems like Samsung has stealthily solved the direct sunlight dilemma.

The 1.5-pound, half-inch thick Sony VAIO X Series notebook is easily one of the most impressive portable computers I’ve seen in quite some time. I can’t convey how light it is. It seems to defy logic. My brain doesn’t understand that it’s seeing my hand hold up an 11.1-inch notebook that weighs less than half [...]

Unless you've been living offline for the past year, you've undoubtedly heard and/or seen "I'm On A Boat," Lonely Island's mock hip hop song/video. Today brings a response to it in the form of a group of Apple fanbois rapping about their love of using Apple products. They even have one character autotuned up, just like T-Pain in the "I'm On A Boat" version. No word on if they used the I Am T-Pain iPhone app to get the effect, but a major plus if so.

It's pretty standard stuff: Love Macs, love iPods, love iPhones — hate PCs, hate Zunes, hate drivers and viruses, etc. Fairly well made, this isn't nearly as bad as the Bing Jingle, but it's still a little cringe-inducing. Sample line: "I'm pluggin girls, you at work pluggin in devices."

After the xpPhone was announced back in May, word of its development went surprisingly quiet - enough so, in fact, that I'd been convinced the project had gone the way of Duke Nukem Forever.

With this recent media dump, however, the xpPhone is looking more real than ever. ITG released a handful of prototype images just weeks ago, and followed it up shortly thereafter with a video of the Windows XP-powered handset booting up. This latest video goes on to show a bit of what the phone can actually do -- that is, make phone calls in Windows XP.

You would have been foolish to assume that Modern Warfare 2 would treat foreign cultures with any sort of reverence. First there was the rubbish accents in the Rio de Janeiro level(s). Then there was "No Russian," which, well you know what happened there. Now there's this: there's Arabic all over the Karachi multi-player level. Why is this an issue? Oh, only that Arabic isn't spoken in Pakistan (Karachi is Pakistan's largest city).

A (four day old now) spoof of all the "making of Avatar" videos is out there. It makes fun of James Cameron's 15 year journey to create Avatar. And yes, telesync versions of Avatar are available on BitTorrent now. And watching it that way is nothing at all like watching the movie in a theater in 3D.

The video is below:

2009 is coming to a close, which means it's time to reflect on the events that shaped the last twelve months. And there's nothing like a whirlwind animated musical to put everything into perspective. Cue JibJab, which has just released their annual Year In Review: a two minute video romp that recaps the last year in all its glory. The video is packed will everything from momentous events like the induction of our first black President to moments of unparalleled stupidity (Balloon Boy). Even Three Wolf Moon made the cut.

This is the fifth year that JibJab has produced their Year In Review, and we're told it will be seeing airtime on a number of national television networks tomorrow. For those wondering how the video was made, the company has put together a thorough blog post detailing its production.

Only the truly adventurous are running Chrome OS on their computers today. But it's the elephant in the room whenever Jolicloud, an ambitious netbook operating startup, is discussed.

We first covered the startup in late 2008, when netbooks were mostly running Widows XP or Linux. In June, when the first invites to Jolicloud went out, it looked like a winner.

I caught up with CEO Tariq Krim and Director Partnerships Brenda O'Connell backstage at Le Web and asked them how Jolicloud would compete with Chrome OS.

Here’s another red-hot watch podcast for all you watch fans out there. Happy Holidays and enjoy.

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