OLO Computer has introduced a conceptual design where a clamshell notebook computer will be powered solely by a socketed iPhone.  The computer looks much like a normal laptop, except there will be a slot for your iPhone on the palmrest. The iPhone will then double as a trackpad and as the brains of the computer.

According to OLO’s conceptual image on its website, the system seems to be running Mac OS X, although this may not be exactly accurate. Their website shows no actual specs, description, or pricing other than a message stating “Coming soon… Sorry but your PC is out!”

We are not sure if it will have actual “computer-like” features, or if is just a bigger screen and a keyboard for the iPhone. If the latter, then it will most likely flop like the Palm Foleo or the recent RedFly device.

Microsoft has confirmed that it has plans to offer customers a Blu-Ray player option to its console Xbox 360. Due to their unenthuasiasm for the BD-Java technology, the software giant originally had adopted the HD-DVD format which was recently phased out – leaving Blu-Ray the victor in the format war.

In the past, Microsoft had clearly stated that it will not be adopting the Blu-Ray format for their Xbox 360 unless there was a high demand. It looks like with the increasing sales of the Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft is now quickly acting to offer a Blu-Ray option to match its console competitor.

Microsoft has contracted a Toshiba-Samsung joint venture to manufacture external Blu-Ray disc drives for the Xbox 360 console. The company is hoping to offer the new drives for about $100-$150 in order to compete with the Sony Playstation 3 in the video game console market.

There is no mention of when the drives will be offered to consumers as of yet, although there is anticipation that they may be available as early as the holiday season. Otherwise, it’s most likely Microsoft will be postponing the unveiling until the Consumer Electronics Show early next year in order to attract the most attention concerning the device.

Mind-controlled video games are becoming a reality. NeuroSky Inc., maker of “wearable” consumer bio-sensors for various applications, announced today that it would unveil a brainwave-controlled video game at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 in Makuhari, Japan on October 9th and 10th. The game is being jointly developed with Square Enix, creators of the popular Final Fantasy series.

The game will initially operate on Windows PC machines in conjunction with a NeuroSky commercial headset called the MindSet. The MindSet is capable of interfacing with various gaming platforms including PC, console, and mobile. The MindSet is fashioned like a regular headset, except for a single electrode which contacts the wearer’s forehead and reads brainwave information, or EEG data. The headset will sense relaxation or concentration states of the player, allowing them to perform various actions in the game as a result.

Ryutaro Ichimura, Producer at Square Enix said, “At Square Enix, we are actively involved in developing a variety of gaming interfaces. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with NeuroSky, and apply their advanced sensor technology in this brain-wave controlled game demonstration. Although the main purpose of the demo is to test the results of our short development period, I hope it also unlocks new potentials in gaming.”

The CEO of NeuroSky, Stanley Yang, believes that brainwave-reading technology (EEG) will rapidly emerge in the video game industry as an alternative to traditional controllers.

Nintendo and Wii fanboys beware.

Admit it. You loved SEGA. Even if you didn’t buy the Dreamcast or Saturn, if you couldn’t afford the Sega CD and wanted no part of the ill-conceived 32X, you were still sad to see the mighty Genesis-maker bow out of the console hardware arena.

Don’t worry, you still don’t have to feel guilty about not buying the company’s upcoming gaming device, the SEGA Vision, because it’s not a gaming device. The company has flatly denied rumors from last week that the Vision is a “PSP beater,” as reported by Register Hardware.

Unofficial RPG Site had their doubts about the original story, so they asked SEGA for an explanation. The response:

The Sega Vision is a real device, but it is not intended as a re-entry to the gaming hardware market or a rival to Sony or Nintendo’s systems.

Sega is committed to remaining a software third party in the videogames industry, but also has several non-games products in the market. The Vision is primarily an MP4 video player with some basic games functionality, and not a new handheld gaming machine.

Unofficial RPG Site then says that upon further investigation, the Vision is actually a Chinese-made iPod knockoff, rebranded with SEGA’s name. The games are just Java applications that you’d find on a mobile phone. And Register Hardware notes that while the device won’t be released until next year, it’s somehow available at an arcade skill crane game in London.

Now for an admission of our own: The whole thing sounds fishy. [Thanks Joystiq]

Ford announced today a new technology called MyKey in which car owners will be able to control their vehicle’s speed, stereo volume, and seatbelt warning functions. MyKey will be standard on the 2010 Ford Focus Coupe and eventually be incorporated into the rest of the company’s lineup.

The technology is essentially aimed for parents wanting to control their children’s driving habits. Three things can be done with MyKey: limit a vehicle’s top speed to 80 miles per hour, set a stereo’s max volume to 44% of its normal limit, and set a sustaining warning chime if seat belts are not fastened.

According to a Ford survey, 67% of teenagers polled did not approve of the idea, although it dropped to 36% disapproval if the MyKey system led parents to allowing their kids to use the car more often.

MyKey uses some existing technology from Ford, particularly the SecuriLock anti-theft feature, to identify which keys are in the ignition and in turn letting the vehicle know which driving mode to engage.

Other MyKey features include setting warning sounds when the car approaches 45, 55, or 65 mph, and enabling a permanent traction control system. Ford is confident that this system will make their Ford Focus Coupe
a popular choice amongst parents with teenage drivers, at least until competitor companies start implementing the same idea.

Mozilla, the makers of many products for users of the web generation, most famously the web browser Fire Fox, is taking it to the streets. The mobile version on Fire Fox will be on its way to users all around the world much earlier than we originally thought that it would.

A little more than week ago, Mozilla stated that the release was to be coming along to the general public “before 2010″, but that seems to have been a little bit of a long estimate. The CEO of Mozilla, John Lilly now states that we will be seeing the new browser as soon as “in a few weeks.”

Not exactly a specific release date, but a lot closer than then the original expected date.

The phone will come in two different versions, a touch screen and a non-touch screen.

The Non-Touch Screen Version

The browser will be available for non-touch screen models of PDA’s or mobile phones, which means that users of the iPhone are stuck out of luck.

The Touch Screen Version

This version will work with touch screens, sadly the user the iPhone are still out of luck due to SDK issues. Ha, tricked you. Users of other touch screen devices however, will have a raging good time.

Add-on’s

Right now little to no information is available about special plugins or toolbars for the mobile browser, but we can all dream….

LCD technology is advancing so quickly that the images being displayed are becoming 3D. KDDI Corporation has been showing off a new prototype version on a small scale — for mobile phones. Both images and videos will be displayed in a three dimensional view using two merged LCD screens.

Obviously the screenshots here are hard to convey the 3D effect but the method involves displaying two images, projected and interlaced by two separate LCD screens laid together. One displays the image for the left eye, while the other displays a variation of the image for the right eye. Although the variation is very subtle, these stereoscopic LCD displays trick the eye into seeing a three dimensional image.

KDDI has been demonstrating a prototype with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels with both still images and moving video displayed in 3D. No word when an actual phone using such a technology will be available to the public.