Berg Little Printer aims to make printing fun again

Behind the cute exterior face of the Berg Little Printer, there lies a conscience that cares not for mother earth, couldn't give a monkeys about the monkeys and has been covering its ears and making loud noises whenever anyone dares to talk about sustainability.

For, in an age where we're encouraged to go green and to avoid printing anything unless absolutely necessary, Berg wants to make printing cool and fun. At least it's on a miniature scale we suppose.

The Berg Little printer connects up to the cloud and allows you, via an app (we're not sure if this is a web app or a native one at present), to select a load of content that you want printed on receipt like sized paper. Stuff such as puzzles, messages, horoscopes, pictures and lists, as well as content from launch partners Arup, Foursquare, Google, the Guardian, and Nike. And when it's finished printing, the cute little face re-appears.

You can also send things to your pals' Berg Little Printers. Printing starts when you push the little button on the top.

Berg is a design studio based in London and is the brain behind the invisible ink SVK comic.

The Little Printer is just the tip of the Berg though, there are plans afoot for more Berg Cloud devices to follow.

"It’s the beginning of the journey, and I hope you’ll be with us the whole way," said Berg's Matt Webb. "We’ll be sharing stories as Little Printer makes its way through manufacture and assembly, packaging and warehousing, new content development and new features, and all the way to beta product and beyond."

It's out next year. You can register your interest now.

Best looking laptop accessories

We’d all love to own the most beautiful gadgets in the world but sometimes irritating things like money and family members who don’t want us to blow it all on items that we don’t technically need can get in the way. Essentially, there’s two ways around this but, before you start planning the perfect murder, allow Pocket-lint to step in and help you out.

This being Style Week, we’ve got a few ideas instead on how to turn the kit you already own into fabulous looking items of aesthetic wonder that’ll make your co-workers and friends weep with envy. All of this at a fraction of the cost of buying something state of the art. So, what with today all about laptops, here are the best accessories to buy to make your laptop look beautiful.

Bags

The most obvious thing to do with your laptop if it doesn’t look very nice is to hide it in a bag. That way you can turn even the most hideous lump of grey plastic into a thing of beauty. Bags are also good in general for carrying computers about but, of course, that’s merely secondary.

Having said that this is a cheaper option than buying a new device, let’s start with where that might not be so true. If you’re serious about this, then your first port of call may as well be with the serious fashion designers who, these days, churn out bags with laptop compartments like there’s no tomorrow.

For men, Burberry run a superb line. For a full on man bag experience that you can carry around like a briefcase there’s there’s either the Smoked Check or Beat Nylon for something smooth but modern, more timeless tan leather option in the Push-Button and, if you really want to make a statement, the white Gladstone Canvas.

If you’d rather wear over the shoulder, then the Beat Nylon comes in a cross-body messenger bag style too as do the similar style in both Vintage Check and your classic Burberry Haymarket Check as well as a tan leather. All rather swish.


For women, it’s a case of whether you want to go for the classic Burberry Check or leather and are we talking bowling ball style or for the shoulder? Either way the London fashion design house has got you more than well covered with the likes of the Heritage Jacquard, Medium Vintage House Check and Medium Check Jacquard all looking tasteful as well as the Nova Check Bowling Bag if your laptop's on the small side. You’d best make the measurements. You’re looking at anywhere between £400-900 for any of this lot.

Naturally it’s a similar story with the likes of Gucci who do an excellent, if pricey, range of messenger bags for men and women. There are some other designers and bags that are more affordable, though, and just as stylish likes this pair from Radley in the shape of the Bloomsbury, for women, and the Workbag for men (if you’ve got guts, go with the purple, otherwise we’ll let you off with the black). Not at all bad for around £250.

Finally on the designer side, and probably most affordable of all without having to sacrifice on looks, is the wonderful collection for both men and women from tech bag specialist Knomo. As well as a host of tablet and phone cases, you can also pick up all sorts of fancy leather brief cases and more colourful, more shiny handbag styled versions. The site will let you search by laptop screen size as well as also having a specific Apple section if that’s the way you run. Particular Pocket-lint favourites would have to be the Bungo Messenger, Cholet, Paris, Kobe and one of the coloured Saxbys for something a little more funky with all of them coming in under £200 or thereabouts.


If the Knomo gang are still more than you’re looking to spend in the name of fashion, then there’s still plenty of options but naturally the quality begins to take a dip. Nonetheless, Pakuma has some colourful options around the £50 mark with the Choroka K3LT and K3; Port Designs do a good looking Indiana MacBook bag which is worth it for the name alone if not the safari adventure stylings and both Tech Air and Muji do decent looking messenger options. For women’s less expensive laptop bags you’d probably best head to Hama Nice, Krusell and the Port Designs Roma.

Of course, the final route, and possibly the kind of bag that’ll draw more comments than any others are handmade ones that most other people are highly unlikely to have. The place to head here is Etsy. It’s very simple. Just type laptop bag into the search and you’ll get in the region of 17,000 items to choose from from the kooky to the retro via the geek and the chic. The downside is that you’ll probably end up paying for shipping. The upside is that there’s some wonderfully creative crafters out there to persuade you to do so.

Sleeves

If you’d rather not commit to a whole bag, or you just don’t need one, then you’ll find the laptop sleeve market an excellent field for cooling up your computer. Luckily, but there are plenty more to choose from. Proporta is a good place to head. The laptop section allows you to search under your specific machine. Mainly focused on mobile phones, the selection isn’t what it could be and it rather depends on what laptop you use but there a certainly some crackers on the system.

The next step up from that is probably Wrappers who make sleeves from natural fibres that manage to look as incredible as they feel. Again, you can search by machine but what’s really nice is that the good people of the company will make bespoke ones from special patterns and materials that you choose as well.

Last of all, again, you can head back over to Etsy with this time just the 9,000 odd to sift through if you enter “laptop sleeve”. Hundreds of winners there just waiting to be bought. Try searching under geekery for something a little more amusing than swish. Stylish all the same, of course

Skins

Less invasive still than a bag, case or sleeve is simply a skin or decal as you might find it called. Essentially what we’re talking about is a sticker to slap on the back of your screen to make you machine turn instantly from plain and dull into pretty much anything you want it to be. Obviously they serve little in the way of protecting your computer but who cares about function in a week like this.

Wrappz is an excellent place to start. Choose your machine for a size match and then either pick from one of their thousands of designs (Hollywood icons, cameras, flags, patters, music acts) or upload something of your own be it a picture or a pattern. Around £20 and a few days later and it’ll arrive at your door ready to slap onto your machine and make it look ace.


Of course, Etsy can still help out with plenty of decals to choose from which tend to not occupy your entire laptop back cover. There’s around 4,000 to sift through this time but if even that’s too much of a stretch then why not just cover your laptop in any old stickers? Plaster it in enough and the effect you get is something like a comic book collage of randomness. A good look but perhaps something you’d only try with a machine that you don’t intend on keeping for too much longer.

Speakers

Built-in speakers on laptops are largely rubbish and, while we’re obviously more concerned with form over function in Style Week, that doesn’t mean we’d ignore an opportunity to have both. You can sculpt speakers in all sorts of intriguing and artistic ways and ones made to plug into the 3.5mm jack of a computer are no exception. The choice is largely about whether you want your stylish sound for when you’re on the move or for your desk. Either way, Pocket-lint has investigated.

Desktop is where all the fun is frankly. There’s a lot more of them out there and they look great. It’s all about glass with Harman Kardon who have both the SoundSticks, which come with possibly the best looking sub we’ve ever seen, and the GLA-55 speakers (see what they did there) which look like a pair of icebergs. The former are a surprisingly affordable £150, or thereabouts, while the latter will set you back about as much as you paid for your laptop, if not more.


Your other main port of call for stylish dekstop audio is, naturally, from Bang & Olufsen who has the pyramid shaped BeoLab 4 speakers. They are another bank breaker though. Fortunately, Bose are much more reasonable and probably better sounding too. Head either for Bose Companion 3 or the properly suped-up Bose Cinemate GS Series II home theatre sound from your PC package. If you really need to keep your feet on the ground though, check out the JBL Creature III or Spot Black & White, or something like the Soyntec Voizze 330 speaker system.
Naturally, you'll take a cut in quality and style once you're looking for a portable solution but the iHome rechargeables do a decent job and look tasty in metallic red, the Philips SPA3251 are far better in white than the name suggest and the Razer Ferox system isn't too tatty either.

Mice

Last of all, there's the humble mouse to consider - well, short of a Hooters mouse mat that is. Yes, if you're after something that's more about style and you get your fingers in a cramp using you touchpad all the time, then there's a couple of options worth considering.

The pick of the bunch has to be either the unique aesthetics of the Microsoft Arc Touch or the familiar simplicity of the Apple Magic Touchpad. The next level down, if you can handle the complexity, is the Cyborg RAT 9 and beyond that it's probably a case of kitsch with either the Casio Calculator mouse or one of the vehicles from the Road Mice range. We'd go for the Camaro cop car but that's us

New Nintendo Wii coming on November

Nintendo is planning on releasing a new-look Wii console on November as part of a value for money bundle that includes Wii Sports and Wii Party. 

The new Wii will unfortunately lose the console's ability to take advantage of Gamecube games and accessories, something which many Nintendo fans counted as vital to the console. It is also identical in size to the older generation Wii, looking virtually identical apart from the greater emphasis on the console sitting horizontally.

We spotted the bundle way back in August, when Nintendo told Eurogamer that it planned on focusing much more on the new Wii hardware. The really exciting bit is that we now know it's due out on 4 November. 

We also know what the bundle is going to include: shipping with Wii Sports and Wii Party inside and a Wii Remote Plus. The original Wii Sports is also thrown in for good measure. 

The 18 November will see a special blue version of the newly configured Wii shipping with Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

Nintendo says more Wii bundles are set to be announced in Autumn in the the build up to Christmas. Those not looking to pick up the new-look Wii can opt for one of two Wii Fit Plus bundles, one shipping with a black Wii Console and Balance Board, the other without a console. The bundles will launch on 2 December. 

Limited Edition Legend of Zelda 3DS

Tear up your Christmas list and get ready to ask Santa for the Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Limited Edition Nintendo 3DS, which has been confirmed by Nintendo as coming to Europe.

The "Cosmic Black" edition of the console will hit the shops on 25 November, giving Christmas shoppers plenty of time to nab one.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that it looked like a regular black 3DS but look carefully and you'll notice the shiny goldish trim. It's all about the little details you see.

Also in the box will be a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, a game which earned the converted Pocket-lint "Hot Product" tag after scoring 9/10 in our comprehensive review.

The Nintendo 3DS hasn't exactly been the rip-roaring success that the Japanese gaming giant would have hoped and some will see the Zelda limited edition bundle as a cynical ploy to boost sales figures by appealing to Zelda and Nintendo collectors.

We don't though, we're all for a mashed-up console. In fact, our Christmas list not only has this new addition on it - but the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Call of Duty: MW3 console as well.

No word on pricing as of yet, we'll update this story as and when we have the official details.

In the meantime, check out our The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D review

And also take a look at our Nintendo 3DS review too

Via: nintendoworldreport.com

Gears of War 3 Lancer built entirely out of Lego

Every so often the odd video comes along that surprises even the darkest depths of our geeky souls. Something so terrifically time consuming, yet utterly brilliant in its fanboyish approach that we can't help but stare at it.

This special Gears of War 3 Lancer made entirely out of Lego is most definitely one of them. First up it is bar none the most complex piece of bricks put together that we have ever seen. We can't even begin to contemplate the amount of man hours involved in putting something like this together, let alone making it so both the chainsaw and ammo cartridge work.
The gun operates by having rubber bands wrapped around the black brick ammo cartridge, which is then snapped into place, Gears of War style. You then draw back the firing mechanism on top of the rifle and away you go. From the looks of it the gun itself has quite a bit of power, thankfully the builders even went to the effort to put a safety catch on it.
The battery operated chainsaw mounted below the Lancer is easily our favourite bit, particularly when the gun's builders use it to knock over the tiny paper Locust cut outs.
This is one for both Lego and Gears fans to enjoy, we doubt it will ever make its way onto shop shelves, but perhaps a guide on building the thing will turn up. Don't imagine it comes cheap though, looks like more bricks have been used in putting the entire Lancer together than Pocket-lint's entire childhoods combined. 

Gears of War 3 Calibur11 Xbox 360 evil

Not all of us can afford to splash out on an entirely new Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 slim, but many will want to enjoy the aesthetic improvements a crimson-soaked console can bring to the living room. 

Thankfully, Calibur11 has come to the rescue with its special Gears of War console vaults, which feature a "Bleed Out" colour scheme and LED illuminated Omen on the side. 

The actual vault itself behaves like a sort of wraparound for the Xbox 360. It consists of a chassis, body panels and a locking mechanism, which brings with it extra console cooling and stability. On top of all the cooling and stability there is a dynamically changing game-based LED mechanism, which glows red every time you get shot to pieces on Gears of War 3. 

You are, of course, going to need an Xbox 360 slim to stick inside the console vault; thankfully, wrapping your gaming pride and joy in the console case doesn't void your warranty. 

The Calibur11 accessory is priced in at £69.99 and is available now. Those who want to grab a copy of Gears of War 3 to slam inside the console will be able to from 20 September when it launches. If you are particularly excited you could even opt for GAME's midnight launch at the Oxford Street store. Freebies are due to be handed out and rumours point to the Locust being there, thankfully not real-life, so you should emerge unscathed.