Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo’s Wiimote has been a big hit. Now a new mouse from HillCrest Labs uses similar motion-sensing technology to let users control an on-screen cursor with the flick of their wrist.

The bangle-shaped mouse called the Loop Pointer is designed for use by consumers who connect their PC or Mac to a TV, says the company. Through a combination of sensors and accelerometers, the remote feels the users’ movements and reflects it on the screen, much like the Wiimote. Users can then click the right or the left button on the remote to make their selections.

With the growth of online video and sites such as Hulu, an increasing number of consumers are connecting their home television sets to a personal computer. The Consumer Electronics Association estimates more than 7 million U.S. households have their PCs and TVs linked.

The Loop Pointer will make it easy for these consumers to search, browse and navigate the internet in a way that’s more fun than using the traditional two-button click mouse, says HillCrest Labs. To use the Loop, consumers have to plug a small USB 2.0 transceiver into their PC and get started.

The product was originally been developed as a concept to demonstrate Hillcrest’ motion control technology and we saw it showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.

The Loop can also be used with the PlayStation 3’s web browser and can also work for Apple TV users who use aTV Flash software.

The Loop is available through Amazon and the company’s website for $100.

And if you are wondering about the similarity between the Loop and the Wiimote, it may not be entirely coincidental. Last year, HillCrest Labs filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging patent infringement over the motion-sensing technology.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Just hours after the announcement of the iPhone 3G S yesterday, the emails started to flood in about third-party accessories. “Our [insert product name here] is compatible with the new iPhone! ” they said. Which we could have guessed because, y’know, the new iPhone is the exact same size and shape as the old iPhone.

One piece of hardware, though, has our attention. It’s the TomTom GPS unit, which will be one of the first accessories to hook into an application via the dock-connector. The “TomTom for iPhone” sticks onto the inside of your car window and acts as a charging cradle for the iPhone. It also provides a nice, loud (as in audible above the engine noise) sound output for turn-by-turn instruction and also lets you dial hands-free. And even more important, it gives “enhanced GPS performance”, which we take to mean an extra antenna for picking up the satellite signals.

The unit comes paired with a TomTom application, which was demonstrated on-stage at yesterday’s WWDC keynote, and works in tandem with the hardware. TomTom has made no announcement on pricing yet, so we don’t know whether the software will be free or only available as a separate purchase. Also unknown is the precise mechanism for buying software which requires a hardware dongle to work: Will you need to check a box to say you own the hardware before buying the app? We don’t know, but the alternative – actually hooking the hardware up as you make the purchase – seems a little clunky. Still, it’s exciting stuff. Now we just need the folks at OnOne to make a remote camera trigger for the iPhone.

Product page [TomTom]

I may be wrong, but in-car cup holders seem to be a mostly US-only phenomenon. It might be that Europeans simply don’t live in their cars like Statesiders, or that our coffee tends to be smaller — espresso sized rather than delivered in buckets, the weak, watery brew sucked through a plastic teat while sitting safely inside the protective steel and rubber womb.

Which is a shame, as this little cup-holder mounted gizmo looks genuinely useful. The $30 Coffee Cup Power Inverter plugs into the 12v cigarette lighter socket and up-converts the power to 120v AC. There’s even a USB socket on there for charging iPods and the like. The unit can supply a continuous 200 watts, so unless you’re hooking up hair dryers and soldering irons, you should be good for anything. Actually, I’ve just thought of another reason this wouldn’t work here in Europe (aside from us needing 220v to power our gear): We tend to use our car cigarette lighters for lighting our cigarettes.

Product page [ThinkGeek via BoingBoingBeschizza]

Nintendo on Tuesday gave a sneak peek of the Wii Vitality Sensor, a Wiimote accessory that fits on your finger and takes your pulse.

Previewed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the Wii Vitality Sensor will serve as much more than a heartbeat gauge, said Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo.

“It intends to have you see the information relating to the inner world of your body, achieve greater relaxation,” Iwata said. “Everyone under pressure in our stressful society could use this as a way to relax … [and it] could even make it easier to fall asleep.”

Nintendo did not announce games it had in mind for the Vitality Sensor. We’re guessing it will have something to do with the Wii Fit exercise game at some point.

No word yet on price or a release date. See another image of the Vitality Sensor below the jump. Also, visit Wired.com’s Game Life blog for more coverage of E3 2009.

See Also:

• Live Blog: Sony’s Press Conference at E3 2009
• New Mario, Metroid and Vitality Sensor Coming to Wii
• E3 Day 1 Reactions: Cameras Are the New Waggle
• E3 Video: Microsoft Shows New Games, Project Natal
• Microsoft Unveils Full-Body Xbox Camera Controller
• 7 Hot E3 Rumors (and Why Some Are True)

Images: Nintendo

Amidst some wishful musings, Dennis Crowley – blogger, NYC resident and co-founder of the nerd-gasmic Foursquare – has come up with possibly the most fantastic use of “augmented reality” yet. He wants to use an iPhone to play real-life Ghost Racers.

If you have played Super Mario Kart, you’ll know the score. In single-player time trials you get to race against yourself. Your previous best race is replicated by a ghost version of you, and the goal is to beat it. Crowley suggests that a mashup of the iPhone’s GPS capabilities and the Nike+ pedometer could bring this to the streets:

Ghost racers.  Think: Super Mario Kart time-trials, except you’re running against a ghost version of your best time on the map.  I know the Garmin already does this, but make it social… show me the best times of my friends or other local users.  (I really really want to do this for skiing one of these days).

There seems to be no reason, bar a little programming, that this couldn’t be done. Think about it: bike races against friends who aren’t even there, with the tension of Mario Kart somewhat replicated by, say, coded beeps in the headphones to tell you if you are winning or losing. Or, what about racing against Steve McQueen’s famous car-chase in Bullit? Like I said: fantastic. Now we just have to work out how to build a real-world Red Shell, and stars would be pretty helpful for whacking those delivery vans out of the bike lanes.

Idea [Teen Drama via Kottke]