gadget news

Still looks weird, Flip Slide HD caught outside the box

2010-04-11T21:26:00.001+07:00

Maybe it's just the odd angle of this newly submitted out-of-box photograph, or maybe we just aren't smart enough for Cisco, but we still we can't quite figure out what exactly is going on here.

We suppose the flip-up screen performs as a sort of poor man's photo frame? At risk of being rude, we're pretty sure we'd just like a thinner video camera, but when it comes to selling millions dirt cheap, dirt simple video cameras to the masses, the makers of the seemingly imminent Flip Slide HD are of course the experts.

New 2010 Vertu Constellation Ayxta gets unboxed and admired

2010-04-06T19:00:00.001+07:00

VERTU is new gadget from NOKIA. Nokia's luxury handset division has rarely gotten much love on these pages, but that's mostly to do with the excessive use of "high end" materials on its phones and zeroes in its prices. Both are present and accounted for here, with the stainless steel and leather-bound Constellation Ayxta starting at somewhere around $7,500.

Still, we retain a curiosity to see such exclusive devices in the glaring lights of reality, and Gear Diary has treated us to just such a treat. The handset before you can crank out 6 hours of talk time over GSM or 300 hours of standby, navigate preloaded maps over GPS, or hook you up to an instant Concierge service if you don't feel like doing the work yourself. And why should you? Mosey on over to the source for the full unboxing gallery.

BMW commits to Megacity EV by 2013

2010-02-23T23:10:00.001+07:00

BMW's first all-electric regular series production vehicle, the Megacity EV, has now been set in stone and inserted into the company's roadmap for a commercial launch in 2012 or 2013. The Bavarian automaker has gone official with word that it plans to use its Leipzig assembly plant to produce the car and further notes that it'll feature a similar setup to the ActiveE concept (pictured above), which is set for field testing in 2011.

Essentially a 1 series that feeds off the electric grid rather than the nearest diesel pump, the ActiveE runs off an array of lithium-ion batteries á la the well liked but recently troubled Tesla Roadster, and will serve as a test mule for refining the underlying technology. Generating up to 170bhp might not sound all that impressive, but it should be more than sufficient for the urban commuters these vehicles will be aimed at. Now we just need Mercedes and Audi to match that release schedule and the electric car should finally have its day in the mainstream sun.

Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate

2010-02-23T23:04:00.002+07:00

Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2, 3.4, and 3.3 percentage points from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (down to 3.1%) and Symbian (down to 5.5%).

Although Gartner says that Symbian "has become uncompetitive in recent years," (ouch) it concedes that market share is still strong especially for Nokia; something backed up by Nokia's Q4 financials and reported quarterly smartphone growth by 5 percentage points. Regarding total handsets of all classifications sold, Nokia continues to dominate with 36.4% of all sales to end users (down from 38.6% in 2008) while Samsung and LG continue to climb at the expense of Motorola (dropping from 7.6% to 4.5% of worldwide sales in 2009) and Sony Ericsson. See that table after the break or hit up the source for the full report.

Explore and Share concept uses super fast from NOKIA

2010-02-23T23:00:00.001+07:00

The so-called, Explore and Share concept starts by placing an N900 onto a "writer" that's tethered to a PC at a retail store. At that point, the PC recognizes the handset and serves up a number of options to the purchaser. For the purposes of the demo, an unnamed Finn selects an album that downloads to the handset in less than 10 seconds.

Less than 10 seconds, wirelessly! If we assume that the 18 track Bruce Springsteen album is somewhere between 100MB and 200MB then we're looking at a 10MBps to 20MBps transfer rate. Nokia doesn't admit to what tech it's using, referring to it only as "a new radio technology." It's certainly not NFC which tops out at 424kbps, or Bluetooth 3.0 + HS which tops out at 3MBps. It also negotiates much faster than WiFi (though that could just be editing trickery). It's closer to Wireless USB's real-world data rates of around 15MBps or TransferJet's 375Mbps effective throughput. Or as a long shot, maybe Bluetooth 4.0 which targets 60Mbps (theoretical) transfer rates. Regardless, it's fast so we have to agree with Nokia when it deadpans: "Sounds great. Doesn't. It." Check out the action after the break.

News : South Korean iPhone users turn to sausages as a cold weather 'meat stylus'

2010-02-12T23:32:00.003+07:00

Apple and HTC might each be trying to patent a fancy capacitive stylus, but it looks like the good people of South Korea have stumbled on a decidedly more low-tech (and delicious) solution to using their phones in the winter: sausages.

Apparently snack sausages from the CJ Corporation are electrostatically compatible with the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen, leading many to use them as a "meat stylus" in the cold weather, rather than remove a glove. And it's not just a joke; apparently South Korean snack sausage sales are soaring. We don't know if anyone's managed to combine this bit of amazing hackery with the bacon iPod sleeve yet, but we do know that we just registered meatstylus.com -- anyone care to send in some local sausage test results?

2010 Motorola details Android 2.1 update for Droid

2010-02-11T01:27:00.001+07:00

Motorola already dropped word that Android 2.1 would be rolling out to the Droid this week, and it's now followed that up with some eagerly anticipated details on just what's in store.

As expected, that includes full multitouch with pinch-to-zoom in the browser, gallery and maps applications, along with some voice recognition and virtual keyboard enhancements, a new 3D gallery, a news and weather app, an enhanced music app (with tabs for navigation) and, of course, the Google Goggles app, among other more minor updates. Still no indication that the update is rolling out just yet, however, although Droid users should get a notification as soon as it's available. Hit up the link below for the complete release notes.

[Thanks, Jimmy]

NEW Motorola Devour has Flash support

2010-02-05T13:03:00.002+07:00

NEW Motorola's official spec sheet for the Devour reveals that there'll be a Flash Lite runtime on board -- presumably version 3.1, which offers support for a variety of video codecs and Flash 9 content -- and more importantly, it'll work in the browser.

That's pretty cool -- it gives the Devour one small leg up on its Droid big brother and matches capabilities that HTC has rolled out in the past on the Hero, but what's more interesting is that the Devour allegedly uses the same next-gen low-cost smartphone processor from Qualcomm, the MSM7627, as the Pixi. Palm has elected not to roll out the Pre's upcoming Flash support to the Pixi on account of its lower-end specs, which begs the question: is Android's Flash Lite 3.1 player significantly more efficient than webOS' Flash 10.1 player, does the Devour have more horsepower packed in there than it's letting on, or does Palm just have higher performance standards for annoying ads than Moto does?

New Motorola Backflip spotted in the wilds of China

2010-02-01T21:55:00.001+07:00

Motorola's Backflip has yet to springboard itself over to AT&T, but those who call China home can hop on the bandwagon right away.

Said phone -- which sports a full touchscreen and a physical QWERTY thanks to the horizontal clamshell design -- is now available from Moto's Chinese portal for 4,298 Chinese yuan (in unlocked form), which translates to right around $630. While the rest of the world awaits the phone's launch later this quarter, you can hit up Mobile.163.com for a downright beautiful gallery of in the wild shots. Go on, it's safe. We think.

So Apple iPad Predicted Trends in 2010

2010-01-29T21:58:00.002+07:00

Apple re-release of their new products. Yesterday early morning WIB or Wednesday (27 / 1) at San Francisco, United States (U.S.), a company engaged in the field of computer technology, launched a tablet computer with touch screen. Apple CEO Steve Jobs appeared on stage to give a name for the iPad the new device.

"We want to start 2010 with the introduction of a truly magical and revolutionary," Jobs said that was launched AFP. This is the second appearance of Jobs in public since September after undergoing liver transplant surgery last year. And as usual, he appeared with his trademark outfit, a black turtleneck shirt, led by blue jeans, and sneakers.

Carrying iPad, Jobs mentioned that the device uses IPS 9.7-inch screen, 0.5 inches thick, and weighs 1.5 pounds. Battery power for up to 10 hours of active use and a month to standby. At first glance, it looks like the iPhone with a large size. Function was no less a notebook. That could be to work, accessing multimedia, and surf the web. Apple iPad provides two variants. That is the only equipped with WiFi and WiFi-equipped GSM and 3G connections. The price ranges from USD 499 USD 5 million to EUR 829 or about USD 8 million.

Jobs added, IPad expected to cover the gap between laptop and smartphone (smart phone). "Is there a product that can accommodate a laptop and smartphone features? IPad I think that could do it," he said.

Especially for the use of the name iPad, Jobs explained that a few days before the launch, Apple iPad request of copyright is now held by Fujitsu to carry one device.

Yes, this is one of the surprise of the presence iPad. Therefore, previous analysts have cautioned that this gadget will be sold in the range of USD 1000.

However, Apple seems quite sensitive to the economic recession which is still hanging, so it does not set prices too expensive for the new champ again expose tersebut.Jobs iPad excellence. According to him, iPad has iTunes, so users can directly download the application, music, and video. ''This product is also supported iWorks applications that have been modified, so keep working on devices with optimal hardware specifications that far from the Mac,''he added.

Another new innovation is provided in the iPad is, the iBook application to read E-Book and E-Book download directly from the Internet. Apple also announced the iBook Store, a new service similar to iTunes specifically for buying and selling E-Book.

''For a while, the new iPad is only available in the U.S.,''continued Jobs. However, Apple will distribute it to the whole world in the next 2-3 months. iPad sold without the exclusive cooperation with operators, including the version with 3G SIM cards are unlocked. Not only that will be iPad coffers of new money for Apple. Along with the launch iPad, while Apple announced a new online store called iBookstore that provides E-Book from the various publishers of the world.

"This store similar to iTunes.''

Jobs hinted that the business model in its new online store is almost the same. So far, iTunes offers music downloads and videos from third parties either free or paid. Apple offers for the outcome of the proceeds content providers.

No mention was how many of the titles currently available. Jobs said that only five name partners who have joined the largest publisher of Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Hachett Book Group, and Harper Collins.

Delays more flights because Hong Kong International Airport installs PS3 game poles

2010-01-26T21:28:00.001+07:00

It's not fair, is it? You'd think Hong Kong's award-winning airport already has enough to keep travelers jolly (there's free WiFi too), but as the old Chinese proverb goes: "Those who don't move forward will only go backward."

As of this week, Hong Kong International Airport has 14 free-of-charge PlayStation 3 game poles that are preloaded with Final Fantasy XIII, Avatar, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, etc. Hey Sony, too bad you didn't start from the top of the "world's worst airports" list -- passengers at London Heathrow would've been forever in your debt.

Quad SSD drive and dynamic graphics is SONY VAIO Z

2010-01-20T02:55:00.002+07:00

we just got word that the Core i7-620M pumpin' VAIO Z series from Sony will be hitting Europe in late March. The Z's biggest claim to fame is its ultra-fast Quad SSD, a rather unique Sony innovation that writes data in parallel to four SSDs (up to 256GB total capacity in RAID 0) at speeds up to 6.2x faster than typical 5400 rpm laptop hard disks.

Sony also fits the Z with a hybrid graphics solution that combines 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with Intel HD graphics allowing you to automatically (or manually) switch between "speed" and "stamina" modes... presumably without requiring a logout if we're reading "dynamic" correctly. Rounding out the specs are 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 802.11n WiFi, integrated optical drive, and optional VAIO Everywair 3G mobile broadband module all stuffed into this 13.1-inch laptop with 1920 x 1080 pixel LED backlit display with 210 x 23.8-32.7 x 314mm and 1.43kg footprint. Power AND portability? Come give us a hug Sony.

NEW Samsung MU200 caught on camera, begging for its screen to be touched

2010-01-20T02:39:00.002+07:00

SAMSUNG MU200.. Somehow we missed giving the Samsung MU200 a groping at CES, and we're pretty sure we'd forgive ourselves for that if NewGadgets.de hadn't caught some pretty incomplete video of the 20-inch touchscreen all-in-one.

Though it has some responsive touch buttons, we've got no idea how its multitouch display performs since the German-chap forgot to test it out. We know CES can be an exhausting time, but we're not sure how you forget to try out the most important part of the machine (there's even a big cartoon finger demanding onlookers to touch it!). But we do learn from the video that the system packs a 2.2GHz Intel Pentium T4400 processor, 2GB of RAM, 320GB of storage, and GeForce G310 graphics and that it got a fair share of ports along the backside and an optical drive on its right side. For now we'll just be left wondering what's its like to drag our fingers over that digital fish pond, and if the MU200 will making it past the Korean market. Hit the break for the video.

New Motorola Shadow is Nexus Two with sliding QWERTY keyboard?

2010-01-17T18:22:00.002+07:00

MOTOROLA SHADOW The gang at Mobile01 have laid out two more photos of what is being called the Motorola Shadow (not to be confused with the T-Mobile Shadow), which in a nutshell looks like Droid / Milestone with a white keyboard and wrist strap.

Even more interesting is the assertion that this could be Google's next flagship device, here lovingly dubbed the Nexus Two. Now while there is no way to corroborate at this point, we could totally buy this as feasible. After all, what better way to complement the Nexus One slate than with one with physical QWERTY? And who better than the company whose Android 2.0 device increased the platform's mindshare at supersonic speeds, with a CEO willing to signify support even at the launch event for a competitor's product? Color us curious -- wrist strap-laden render after the break

New Acer Liquid now available in black

2010-01-17T18:19:00.001+07:00

While we have yet to see the Acer Liquid popping up for real on American soil, the lucky Brits have just been treated to a second color option -- black -- for this underclocked Snapdragon Android phone.

Still no sign of the red option that Acer promised, though. Price remains steady at around £330 (which is about $537) at a couple of UK e-tailers, but hey, with that shiny $529 tag on the Nexus One it's hard to be mad at our British friends. Let's hope Google and Vodafone can work out something nice for them.

2010 First Else hands-on at CES: 'still alive and kicking'

2010-01-11T22:36:00.003+07:00

According to CTO Eldad Eilam, the basic functions of the ALP-based phone are finally done and dusted, so now Else will mainly focus on fine-tuning its snazzy visual effects until beta around the end of March.

There's no doubt that it's also finalizing plans -- pricing, content distribution, and remote sync service, etc.-- with various partners in the US and Europe. If you happen to be in Asia, then sorry -- apparently Else has no intention to visit you guys just yet, but you might get lucky if you sneak into Sharp's factories in Japan or China. For the rest of us, we shall continuously gaze at our hands-on videos until First Else's expected end-of-Q2 launch -- we've got a new one for you after the break.

New Cobra XRS 9970G radar detector has a touchscreen

2010-01-07T22:01:00.002+07:00

HELOO...!! If you're thinking switching between city and highway mode on a regular radar detector was pretty easy, well, you're wrong. What you need is a 1.5-inch touchscreen, as found on the new Cobra XRS 9970G and 9965, which replaces that baffling array of knobs and switches with a baffling array of icons.

Of course, none of this will actually make radar detectors effective or relevant, but that's not really the point here, is it?

New Modder crafts handheld wireless visual interface for PS3

2009-12-31T00:28:00.002+07:00

One techknott has just finished up his latest creation, a WVI (wireless visual interface) for Sony's PlayStation 3 console. The purpose? To transmit signals to and from the PS3 by way of this handy handheld.

A 1.2GHz wireless transmitter is used to get the controller commands to the PS3, and the same is used in reverse to get the video signals from the console to the homegrown device. The device itself utilizes a 5-inch LCD, 4,500mAh Li-ion battery (complete with a LED capacity meter), an AV input, headphone jack, USB port and a button for every last DualShock command. Hop on past the break for a video, and head to the source if you're interested in making an offer for it. Yeah, we said it -- dude's going to be selling this!

Debuts of New Dell Inspiron Mini 10

2009-12-21T22:45:00.001+07:00

Looks like Dell's trying to jump out ahead of the CES Atom N450 netbook rush by announcing a new version of the Inspiron Mini 10 a couple weeks before we all head to Vegas -- and we can't say we blame them, since there's a lot here to like. The newly streamlined case can accommodate a six-cell battery good for nine and half hours of use without the usual netbook bulge, and inside that next-gen Atom can be paired with an optional Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator for HD video playback. Also on the options list: four case colors, Bluetooth, WWAN, GPS, a TV tuner, and a 1366 x 768 display, in case you actually want to see some of those accelerated video pixels. Prices will start at $299 when this guy hits in early January, but we'll see how much all these options add to the final pricetag. Press release after the break.

Nokia's Store At London

2009-12-08T17:56:00.002+07:00

We're not sure exactly what this means for the rest of the world's nine Nokia flagship stores, but it's been announced that Nokia will be pulling out of its prominent Regent Street location in London as it apparently prepares for a retail revamp going into early 2010.

Weak foot traffic is cited as the main reason for the closure, and if Nokia can't generate sales in the heart of one of its strongholds -- Western Europe -- we can't imagine that this bodes well for the other flagships either, all of which were designed and built around a high-tech, pricey theme (the Regent Street store alone was rumored to run Nokia a cool £4 million, about $6.5 million, to open) that likely drags on the company's bottom line quarter after quarter. Then again, we'd assumed that these stores were built to foster mindshare, not necessarily to contribute euro day in and day out -- but this is probably why we're not executives at a major phone manufacturer. Other Nokia stores in the UK will remain open, but for Espoo, the days of the over-the-top retail marvel of design and architecture may be over.

New Themes strike BlackBerry App World

2009-12-08T17:33:00.003+07:00

The company had started taking submissions about a month ago, giving them a nice little head start for beefing up the catalog.

Then again, if you'd rather roll your own, this all dovetails nicely with another of RIM's recent introductions: the introduction of BlackBerry Theme Studio, a simplified and unified way for slapping together everything you need to turn your Bold into a Pip-Boy. Technically, shouldn't this go into... oh, we don't know, something called Theme World?

Holiday season from MICROSOFT

2009-11-25T22:10:00.001+07:00

In an effort to drum up yet more hype for its latest OS, and perhaps to try and gauge customer interest in an East coast Store, Microsoft has decided to open up a cozy "PC lounge" inside Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship New York store -- you know, the one that actually is on Fifth Avenue.

As part of the agreement, Windows 7 will be used to drive Saks' window displays, and opportunities will be provided for customers to interact with the new software throughout the building. The lounge itself will be populated by Windows 7 laptops and Microsoft experts, who'll probably answer your questions in the sort of overly peppy, commercial way that makes us wonder why anyone goes to offline shops in the first place.

New Lenovo Ideapad 2009

2009-11-16T22:20:00.003+07:00

Pine Trail fast-tracking we were talking about? Yeah, it's for real. Intel's latest submission to the FCC reveals details of a new member of Lenovo's IdeaPad netbook range, and is the first confirmed sighting of the Pineview processor every netbook diehard has been waiting for.

The documentation suggests an S10-3 moniker for the new 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 machine, which is likely to pair up that Atom N450 with 2GB of RAM and 250GB of storage. Click past the break to see the sticker with all the specs on it, and do make your voices heard in the comments below regarding that buttonless touchpad -- a Synaptics ClickPad, perchance?

News : Verizon confirms DROID tethering cost

2009-11-07T12:16:00.001+07:00

Just a few days ago Verizon made the less-than-shocking confirmation that DROID tethering was coming, but wouldn't say how much it would cost. Now that the hardest of hardcore fans are already waiting in line, disconnected from the world at large, the company is unleashing the bad news: it'll be $30.

That doubles the cost of the required data plan that sits atop a subscriber's voice plan, meaning a total of $60 per month for "unlimited" data access on handset or laptop. Mind you, "unlimited" really means 5GB of data per, a total of 10 split between the two $30 plans. Glass ceilings: we hate them.

Android and keeps it cheap that is Verizon's DROID ERIS by HTC

2009-11-05T21:55:00.002+07:00

Codenamed Desire ahead of launch, the phone is essentially Verizon's custom remix of the venerable Hero as found on Sprint and various GSM carriers around the world, featuring a 5 megapixel camera, 3.2-inch capacitive display, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microSD expansion up to 16GB.

Check it out in your local store hiding somewhere in the shadow of the DROID starting Friday for $99.99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, which -- if you can forgo a physical keyboard, faster processor, and high-res display -- works out to a cool hundred less than Moto's entry.

New Acer wants the Aspire 8940

2009-11-03T19:13:00.001+07:00

You'd think you've seen all the Windows 7 holiday laptops to last you through this yuletide season, but in comes Acer with another offering, the Core i7-packing Aspire 8940. The 18.4-inch 1080p widescreen monitor brings with it a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M, Blu-ray drive, 600GB HDD, and 4GB RAM.

Let's also throw in a webcam, 802.11 a/b/g Draft-N, webcam, multi-card reader, HDMI and eSATA ports and a 8-cell Li-Ion battery for good measure. Quite a hefty number, so expect a little bit of workout if you're wanting to haul this around. Suggested price is $1,349 and all we know of the release date is "holiday season" so it should be safe to add this to your wishlist.

New Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

2009-10-31T13:04:00.001+07:00

We've already seen some sample footage from Canon's new professional EOS-1D Mark IV DSLR (and should be seeing plenty more come December), but a pre-production version of the camera has now turned up at the Canon Pro Photo Solutions 09 show in London, and TrustedReviews managed to get an early hands-on with it.

As you might expect, the camera definitely seems to impress in person, with the 1.2 kilogram body providing a feeling of "solid reliability and competence," while its ergonomics also apparently represent a more subtle but welcome improvement over previous Canon offerings. Unfortunately, the folks at TrustedReviews weren't able to share any sample shots, but they did get a chance to try out the camera's 45-point autofocus system, which is said to be "extremely fast," and its tracking function reportedly had no trouble focusing even in dark, low contrast situations with a 400mm telephoto lens. Hit up the link below for a few more hands-on shots and impressions.

2009 Nintendo DSi LL

2009-10-29T18:41:00.001+07:00

The above comparison is straight from the Big N showing the DSi LL vs. the white DSi. Besides the obvious increase in height and width, the 21.2-mm handheld is chubbier than the 18.9-mm DSi but slimmer than the 21.5-mm DS Lite when it ships in your choice of dark brown, burgundy and natural white.

The battery seems to be roughly on par with the DS Lite going for about 4 to 5 hours on maximum brightness and intensity or 13 to 17 hours when dialing back the display to its lowest settings. No word on US or international shipping yet but obviously they'd be smart to get this out in time for the holidays. A few more pics and a full spec-by-spec comparison with the DSi and DS Lite after the break.

New Apple's Magic Mouse

2009-10-29T18:31:00.001+07:00

Unfortunately, over time, even after hours and hours of vigorous rubbing, the top-mounted trackball would become so ensnared in hand-jam that owners were left with two options: delicately splay the mouse for a bit of X-acto home surgery... or smash it with a vengeance hammer until justice was served.

So maybe now you can understand all the hopeful fuss made over its successor: the Magic Mouse. It's now shipping to those of you who ordered it separately from its iMac bundle. Snow Leopard (and Leopard) users can even download the software update now so that all those multi-touch and gestural features will be enabled once the bluetooth mouse arrives. Then we'll see if this is the mouse that rights all those wrongs.

New Nokia Booklet 3G running Windows 7

2009-10-23T22:20:00.002+07:00

If your pulse is racing like Windows 7 on an Atom processor then this Nokia Booklet 3G is surely the cause. The premium netbook running Microsoft's not so premium 32-bit, Aero-less Starter Edition OS (see the sticker?) is the first demo unit to arrive at Best Buy. Buyers better enjoy looking at that Windows flag 'cause with Starter, it's the only wallpaper you're ever going to get.

Not working for many , Windows 7 student upgrade installer

2009-10-23T22:12:00.001+07:00

The Windows 7 launch seems to have gone off mostly roses and sunbeams, but we're hearing today that quite a few people have had issues installing the downloadable $29 student upgrade edition on 32-bit Vista -- apparently the file doesn't unpack to an ISO, but instead to an executable and two bundles that don't function properly,

and eventually the process errors out with a 64-bit app trying to launch on 32-bit systems. It's possible to create an ISO using some hackery, but the install process seems to be 50/50 after that -- we've heard of both success and further crashes. For it's part, Microsoft says it's looking into things, so hopefully a newly repackaged download will be forthcoming -- every party has its ups and downs, right?

New Plastic Logic teases QUE proReader with 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen

2009-10-19T11:40:00.001+07:00

since the official launch won't happen until January 7 at CES next year, but Plastic Logic is looking to crash into the "pro" segment of the e-reader market (currently mostly occupied by the Kindle DX) with its upcoming QUE proReader.

The unit uses E Ink Vizplex tech in a shatterproof display the size of a regular piece of paper at 8.5 x 11-inches, and has 3G wireless capabilities courtesy of AT&T and a business-centric ebook store at QUEreader.com which will be powered by Barnes & Noble. There's also a touchscreen interface, but it's unclear if that covers the entire display, or is something more akin to the leaked photos we've seen of the Barnes & Noble reader. The device is "less than 1/3-inch thick," and can handle PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents, including tools for "interacting with and managing the content," which sounds beyond the scope of most e-readers on the market currently. We'll have to wait and see how useful the interface really is, and how much damage (if any) that touchscreen sensor does to readability, but a bit of diversification in the ebook space sounds like a good thing on paper. Full PR is after the break.

New 2009 Acer debuts stylish

2009-10-15T12:09:00.002+07:00

We had heard that Acer had some touch-enabled Windows 7 devices in the works, and it looks like the company is now finally starting to deliver on that promise, and then some, with its new Aspire Z5610 all-in-one PC.

Boasting a 24-inch HD touchscreen with full multitouch support, this one rounds things out with some decent if unremarkable specs, including a Pentium Dual Core E5300 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, among other standard fare. It's the design of the desktop that's sure to turn the most heads, however, and while Acer's claim of it being a "timeless piece" might be a bit of a stretch, there are certainly plenty of touches that are a cut above the rest -- we're especially curious to see how the illuminated strip between the LCD and soundbar works (it's designed to light up the keyboard in the dark). Best of all, this one packs an MSRP of just $899, and should be available sometime this holiday season.

YAMAHA HRP-4C singing at CEATEC

2009-10-08T22:08:00.001+07:00

Like the other robots, Yamaha did a demonstration at the CEATEC show also a very impressive performance. how not impressive, Yamaha modify HRP-4C that can retrieve data from the iPhone. Very Amazing words were spoken from the demonstrations Yamaha HRP-4C.

very fast : HP mini 311

2009-10-06T09:40:00.003+07:00

Latest products from HP mini NVIDIA has its own uniqueness.

The 311 scored a 1,917 on the PCMark 05 test, almost 500 points above the average netbook, and put up a scorching 1,386 in the 3DMark06 test -- 1,200 points over the netbook average, and basically the same score as a MacBook Air. That's not too surprising, seeing as ION is just a netbook-oriented variant of the GeForce 9400M, but it's still rather impressive -- and combined with 1080p video playback, the potential for some light gaming, and (eventually) ION-accelerated Flash, we'd say the Mini 311 is looking like a real contender. We've already seen the NVIDIA ION-based HP Mini 311 perform impressively during demos, but now that the netbook is hitting reviewers it's time for some real benchmarks -- and according to the crew at Laptop, they're more than solid.

Panasonic adds Windows 7

2009-09-29T19:29:00.003+07:00

Today must be some industry-wide Windows 7 announcement day, as Panasonic is hot on the heels of Dell and Toshiba with no less than six lappies set to sport Vista's agile younger sibling. The Let's Note (ToughBook, to you and us) F8, R8, T8 and W8 models are likely to take on the new OS without alterations to their hardware, but the hot news comes in the form of the brand new N8 and S8.

Powered by Core 2 Duo P8700 chips, both machines will come with 12.1-inch WXGA LCD screens, 250GB HDDs, up to 4GB of RAM, WiMAX, WiFi, HDMI and SDHC connectivity. They also share a stonking claim of 16 hours of battery life, and the one feature that distinguishes between them is the internal DVD burner on the S8. All that goodness will be out come October 22, with expected pricing around ¥200,000 (about $2,230) for the N series.

Pentax K-x DSLR coming October

2009-09-17T16:13:00.003+07:00

Pentax has made its not quite entry-level DSLR, the K-x. All the earlier specs have panned out, so we're looking at a 12.4 megapixel CMOS censor, a 200 to 6400 ISO sensitivity expandable to 100 to 12,800, 4.7 frames per second continuous shooting, and 720p HD video at 24 frames per second.

Sized up to the K-7, its wider ISO range is the only improvement, otherwise on par in features or lacking, as is in the case of AF / AE, video, and continuous shooting speed. It's due out in October available in black, white, red, or navy blue, with an attractive base price of $650 that nets you a 18-55mm lens.

WIDEBOOK laptop from LG

2009-09-17T16:07:00.002+07:00

we bring you the WIDEBOOK from LG. It's wide see, 16:9 wide for what LG call's a cinematic experience. Oh, just you never mind that cinematic typically refers to 21:9 -- this is marketing-speak, not science.

Anywho, the five new models are LED backlit with Intel Core 2 Duo procs and include the 15.6-inch R580/R560, 14-inch R480/R460, and affordable 13-inch R380 that boasts a "Smart On" feature for five-second boots. The R580 (with Blu-ray) and R480 are premium models while the R560 and R460 lay claim to the "workhorse" moniker. The laptops come in either 1600x900 or 1368x768 pixel resolutions with up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and 500GB disk, 802.11n and HSDPA data, e-SATA and HDMI interfaces, 1.3 megapixel cams, and 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Expect to see 'em make the jump to the global stage throughout September. Until then we've got pics, lots of pics, and the full specs from the press release below.

Mouse from phillips

2009-09-12T23:56:00.002+07:00

Philips out the latest products in the form of the mouse. This latest product is a bluetooth mouse, USB and touchpad.

What can we say about aptly named "Bluetooth notebook mouse SPM9800/10?" Well, if you need a Bluetooth mouse, you can use it like a Bluetooth mouse. If the juice runs out, plug it in via USB and you have a USB mouse. But the feature that most differentiates this from other, how we say, 'mash-ups,' is that the click wheel has been replaced with a 360°TouchControl sensor, which is essentially a touchpad on the top of the thing. That's right: lift this thing off the table and use the touchpad to move around on the screen. PowerPoint has never been this sexy! Hits the scene in select European markets soon for about $80.

Headed for Europe, T-Mobile Pulse runs Android

2009-09-03T21:49:00.002+07:00

T-Mobile pulled out the latest products of Huawei U8220. Products launched in the United States choose a taste that is more than the previous product. Huawei U8220 can be used to record video that you like so you do not lose such an amazing event.

Not that our Stateside T-Mobile needs much help scoring Android handsets, but this phone looks strictly reserved for our European brethren. The T-Mobile Pulse is actually Huawei's U8220, which looks a little drab compared to its sibling U8230, and works in what seems to be standard these days smartphone specs: 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5-inch 320 x 480 screen, HSDPA, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The 2GB SD cards and their 3.5 hours of talk time leave a bit to be desired, and the 13.5mm thickness is almost as beastly as Motorola's latest, but we're sure the Pulse means well. No word on a straight price, but in Germany with a two year agreement prices start at 5 euros a month.

N97 is New Product From NOKIA

2009-09-03T21:34:00.002+07:00

Nokia has released the latest product in the form of booklets 3G. And a small unique shape that allows its users. This Nokia product launched in Stuttgart, Germany.

You should probably be informed that Nokia had quite the morning yesterday as Nokia World 2009 kicked off in Stuttgart. Not only was the N97 mini made official, but the company's Booklet 3G was fully detailed and the first two handsets in the newfangled X series were also unveiled. Naturally, a slew of cameras descended upon the new gear just as soon as the suits left the stage, and we've rounded up the best of the best below for your perusal and enjoyment. If you're looking for the actual news on these very devices, have a look right here, and feel free to hop on past the break for a few videos from the show floor.

New Samsung's SCH-W830 is like a window to your soul

2009-08-20T15:05:00.001+07:00

If you spell happiness T-W-E-L-V-E M-E-G-A-P-I-X-E-L-S, you're looking in the wrong place. Samsung's SCH-W830 -- along with its SPH-W8300 and SPH-W8350 cousins for other networks -- finds inner peace through the simplicity and beauty of a scintillating light show set around an ultra-low res display. You've only got two megapixels to work with around back, but seriously, who has time to snap pictures when you're being dazzled by a seemingly endless array of colored lights? Between that and the spring-loaded opening mechanism, this is a flip fit for the fiddler / fidgeter in all of us, and it's available now on South Korea's LGT, SKT, and KTF.

2010 Brando's Ultimate 3-Point Hand Strap will help you get attached to your DSLR

2009-08-20T15:00:00.002+07:00

a regular wrist strap will probably stay attached to both your wrist and your camera most of the time, but why take chances when you can have something like this? Always on the cutting edge of inexpensive, occasionally useful contraptions, Brando is now offering this so-called Ultimate 3-Point Hand Strap, which attaches to your camera's tripod socket, its wrist strap attach point and, of course, your wrist -- all in the name of comfort and stability. Will it hold up to lugging your hefty DSLR around all day? Will your wrist hold up? It only costs $16 to find out.

WD TV-2 spruces up Western Digital's already attractive media player offering

2009-08-16T22:15:00.001+07:00

Western Digital really hit a sweet spot last year with its $130 WD TV HD Media Player. The thing pumped out 1080p over HDMI at an attractive price, and that's all most people really needed. The newly leaked WD TV-2 revisits the formula, but adds in network playback over the new Ethernet jack, DTS audio decoding, and a component video plug for folks caught in the technological no man's land between composite and HDMI. Outside of that there's a just plain silly amount of codec support, which is hard not to love. No word on price or a release date, but the leaked photos and detailed specs seem to imply this thing is ready for prime time.

New Sony Alpha 850 leaked, looks exactly like the Alpha 900?

2009-08-16T22:13:00.001+07:00

This photo of what is presumably the upcoming Sony α850 DSLR was spotted by Photo Rumors on an unnamed retail site. It looks exactly the same as the α900, but doesn't really seem off on layout compared to the leaked α850 manual. The scary part is that the camera is listed for 1,999 Euro (about $2,833 US), so hopefully Sony is doing something a bit more wonderful under the hood than just those α900 downgrades that have been hinted at so far.

2010 iPhone devs offered cash to code for the Zune HD?

2009-08-14T21:56:00.002+07:00

We've all been a bit up in arms about the apparent lack of a push for apps on the Zune HD given the platform's obvious strengths, but news from Daring Fireball seems to suggest that may not be the whole story. According to John Gruber, after publishing a short story on the ZHD and Microsoft's seeming lack of developer interest, he was contacted by an iPhone dev who claimed to have been pinged by Redmond to code for the new device.

According to the source -- a Twitter client-maker -- he was asked to port his software to the Zune platform for "a bucket of money," though he ultimately declined the offer. Details beyond that fact are scarce, though apparently this dev is "certain" the offer was for the Zune. We won't argue for the benefits of having your application on two high-profile devices (clearly a personal decision), but it is extremely encouraging to hear that Microsoft sees the need to bring more than just basic functionality to a device like the Zune HD. Now, it's just a question of how smartly they go about it.

2009 LG GD900 Crystal submerged in a fish tank

2009-08-09T00:40:00.002+07:00

It's really a shame this isn't an out of box feature, but some ingenious modder has graced LG's GD900 Crystal phone -- you know, the one with the gesture-based transparent keypad -- with a custom water-resistant case that renders it perfect for swimming with the fishes. And so did they just that, dipping it into a fish tank. It'd make for one insanely hip charging dock, but we digress. Meanwhile in Russia, mobile@mail.ru has delivered some impressions on the device, with good words to say for the keypad's gestures but lamenting it's $899 suggested price tag, a figure higher than even the super sexy BL40 Chocolate. Aquatic footage is six feet under after the break, and hit up the read link below for the machine-translated impressions.

New Nokia RX-51 tablet captured in the wild

2009-08-09T00:32:00.004+07:00

Not long at all after that mysterious Nokia RX-51 passed through the FCC comes shots from Indonesian message board Kaskus of the tablet-like device in the wild. The blurred box shot and the label behind the battery clearly says RX-51 prototype, and the design is unmistakably similar to the rumored press photo for the Maemo 5-powered Rover from back in May. We can't help but notice the 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens and, more importantly, SIM card slot and an ear piece, which would be perfect for placing calls on, say, T-Mobile's network. Few more shots after the break, and hit up the read link for the gallery of photos.

New Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents

2009-08-05T22:35:00.001+07:00

As we've seen with the slight resurgence of new and improved incandescent light bulbs, the amount of energy used to actually light up the bulb isn't necessarily the whole measure of energy efficiency. There's also the small matter of producing the bulb, shipping it around the world, and eventually disposing of it. With that in mind, the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations conducted a study that compared regular compact fluorescents to LED lamps -- using one 25,000-hour LED lamp as a constant, compared to 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents (and 25 1,000-hour incandescents). While it's still holding back on some of the finer details, the group did apparently find that LEDs are no more or no less energy efficient than compact flourescents when the entire lifecycle of the bulb is taken into account, although it is quick to point out that LEDs should eventually win out as they become more efficient to produce.

New NVIDIA clings desperately to XP

2009-08-04T21:46:00.002+07:00

Anything that makes our netbooks, nettops, and smartphones into slightly less mediocre video performers is okay in our book, so we're fond of NVIDIA's ION platform and are looking forward to finding out exactly what the company has up its sleeve for ION 2. We weren't, however, expecting an even cheaper revision of the chipset, but that's exactly what's been announced this morning. NVIDIA is creating ION LE, a sibling of the existing ION that does everything its big sister can do except support DirectX 10. The idea, of course, is to lower costs while providing all the functionality XP-packing netbooks and nettops need, but as Windows 7 sits at home getting made up for its débutante party we have to wonder just how much longer Microsoft's old faithful will be on the market -- and how much longer DX9 will be relevant.

News : Palm's ad agency "loves that you're creeped out" by new TV spots

2009-08-04T21:16:00.003+07:00

Advertising Age has taken a deep dive into Palm's latest string of unsettling, polarizing ads -- you know, the ones with the girl -- in an attempt to explain the company's intention with the creepy spots. The industry paper spoke with Gary Koepke, the co-founder and executive creative director at Modernista, the company which developed and produced the short clips.

According to Gary, he's happy that viewers find the commercials upsetting, stating that "The Pre is probably being talked about more than other phones right now because of the marketing and advertising, and that's a good thing. Could the ads work harder to show exactly how the phone works? Yes, but we knew it would be polarizing people to have a woman not shout at them and tell an interesting story." Apparently the agency is taking its own stab at Microsoft's Seinfeld / Bill Gates strategy, which means viewers don't necessarily have to like (or even understand) the ads... as long as they keep talking about them. Of course, that game plan may work for a company like Microsoft, which arguably has nothing to lose if they run a few ill-received spots. Palm, on the other hand, won't get a second chance to make a first impression with a lot of people, and since its fortune is currently riding on the device these ads attempt to sell to consumers, it's a pretty risky proposition. C'mon, how could the folks that brought you the Foleo be wrong?

PlayStation 3 Slim to debut August 18th

2009-08-04T20:17:00.001+07:00

Whoa, Nelly! No sooner than we hear that Sony is informing Japanese retailers that the 80GB PS3 model won't be shipping any longer after August 8th, along comes this to stoke the raging rumor fires once more. In a one-two punch that just can't be coincidental, Sony has also hacked $50 off of its 160GB PlayStation 3 bundle from Amazon. But really, it's the report from RTLinfo that has us most excited. According to it, the Sony elite are informing European retailers of an impending €100 price slashing on the 80GB console, which will dovetail nicely into the sudden and not-at-all unexpected debut of the PS3 Slim at the gamescom expo in Cologne, Germany. Reportedly, the willowy unit -- which shouldn't differ much in terms of specifications and features -- will be properly introduced to the world during Sony's pre-event press conference on August 18th. Obviously we've no way to confirm or deny just yet, but given everything else that has transpired over the past few months, we'd say an official reveal is definitely due. What say you, rumormongers?

2010 T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers

2009-08-04T18:35:00.000+07:00

We really couldn't make this stuff up -- it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We've done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won't hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

New DEFCON clearly the work of ironic criminals

2009-08-03T23:11:00.002+07:00

The hooligans in this case have a dry sense of humor or are extremely unlucky: Either way, we can't help but get a chuckle out of the fact that someone placed their smart card skimmin' faux ATM at the Riviera Hotel Casino in Las Vegas -- during DEFCON, the world's largest hacker convention. No one can say exactly how long the kiosk was there -- at least the kids were smart enough to place it right outside the security office, one of the few places in the conference center not under surveillance. It was picking up on this last fact that aroused the suspicion of Brian Markus, CEO of Aries Security. When shining a light through the glass panel that should house a camera, he instead found the PC that was set up to skim people's data. He then notified security, who removed the device and once again made the world safe for hackers and their bank accounts.

Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple board

2009-08-03T23:07:00.001+07:00

Should have seen this one coming, right? Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's board today citing a conflict of interest. Apple (Steve Jobs, in fact) says that "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest." Android and Chrome OS -- something had to give, but the timing sure does make it seem like that Google Voice app rejection might have really hurt someone's feelings.

The truth is, it's been a tangled web for some time as far as the relationship between Apple and Google goes. Sure, Schmidt sat on the board, the companies claim to be working on new projects, and Google Maps comes preloaded onto the iPhone, but over the past year, Google's increasing move into Apple's space, and Apple's increasing desire to control every inch of that space have not been good bedfellows. It's hard to imagine that Apple could maintain a completely healthy relationship with a direct competitor in both the phone and OS space for very long, and that's to say nothing of Cupertino's latest push into online document editing and management, which couldn't have seemed very awesome to Schmidt and company. Oh, and there's that matter of the antitrust case which is currently ongoing. Still, it's a bit sad to see this power couple going their separate ways, though it does give us some hope that Google will begin a full assault with Android in earnest, because only sweet stuff could come from those efforts. If you're interested, the full PR is after the break.

Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple's Board of Directors

CUPERTINO, California-August 3, 2009-Apple today announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, is resigning from Apple's Board of Directors, a position he has held since August 2006.

"Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple's Board."

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

News : Sony looking to purchase LED HDTVs from Samsung?

2009-08-02T17:41:00.002+07:00

Just becuase it's prepared to source millions of flat panels from a joint venture with Sharp, don't think Sony is even close to satisfying its hunger for LCDs. Word from the Seoul Economic Daily is that it may also deal with Samsung on LED backlit televisions (beyond the existing S-LCD partnership,) a decision probably somewhat related to its move towards cheaper white LEDs (already used by Samsung) in upcoming BRAVIA sets as opposed to its more expensive Triluminos backlighting scheme. This shouldn't affect the marketplace immediately, but tuck that knowledge away for TV shopping 2010, the price difference between one brand and another probably doesn't buy as much difference as you think.

Info : Windows Mobile 6.5, HTC Touch Diamond2, and Flash collide on video

2009-08-02T17:27:00.001+07:00

Remember that pretty Windows Mobile 6.5-ish skin for AT&T's Warhawk (a.k.a. HTC Touch Diamond2) we saw last week? Looks like it (or another very similar skin) is ready to make another appearance. The Inquirer managed to get a walkthrough of what's being called the final build of WinMo 6.5, and while there isn't a lot of new functionality shown -- large portions of the video are devoted to My Phone syncing and QR codes -- we do get to seem a few Zune inspired ideas and a brief glimpse of how it handles flash. It's still on track for release by Christmas, and if you want your glimpse now, check out the video after the break.

2009 BlackBerry App World 1.1 unleashed

2009-08-02T17:25:00.001+07:00

If you've been using your BlackBerry in the last 24 hours or so, you've probably noticed that red star plastered on the App World icon, signaling it's time for an upgrade. Yes, RIM's version of the app store has hit version 1.1, and the bulk of the update concerns better navigation options -- new categories, top downloads for free and premium apps, and the ability to sort search results by name, release date, rating, price, and developer. Outside of that, we've also got the option to now archive apps on SD card or other memory, but unfortunately there's no option to run those programs without reinstalling to internal memory. The update is available for all countries, including the recently-introduced group of ten. Full details after the break.

This mobile client update includes:

Enhanced discovery

* View the catalog by free vs. paid top downloads
* Additional categories and sub-categories

Customers can sort their search results by:

* Newest
* Highest Rated
* Price (lowest/highest)
* Developer (alphabetical)
* Application Name (alphabetical)

Archive apps: Customers can now archive their apps to SD Card or on-device storage memory and reinstall when they want to use them.

New customers can go to Mobile.BlackBerry.com or BlackBerry.com/AppWorld to download BlackBerry App World 1.1. Current users will be notified of the new version a red star (splat!) on the BlackBerry App World icon.

Available to download in five languages (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish), BlackBerry App World 1.1 is also now available to customers in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and the Channel Islands, as well as those in the U.S., UK and Canada.

New Acer Timeline 8000 series arrives at Office Depot

2009-08-02T17:24:00.002+07:00

Well, that didn't take long. Less than a day after Acer announced the new Timeline 8000 series, the 14-inch AS4810T-8480 has popped up on an Office Depot shelf for $699. It's not bad for the money -- you're getting a 1.4GHz Core Solo SU3500, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB disk, and eight hours of battery life -- but we'd wait to buy until next week, when our tipster says it'll be on sale for $549. Anyone planning to pick one up?

Compaq's $300 laptop reviewed

2009-08-02T17:20:00.002+07:00

For all intents and purposes, HP's Compaq Presario CQ60 is a pretty unremarkable laptop -- but slap a $300 price tag on it like Walmart has done, a price comparable to most netbooks on the market, and that reframes the entire conversation. Computer Shopper has gotten some hands-on time with the machine, and while not spectacular, it seems to outperform Intel Atom-based machines. You're still not gonna be able to do much more than check your email and browse the web, though, and the tradeoff for having a 15.6-inch display and DVD burner is a bulkier, less travel-friendly form factor. Still, this seems to do an apt job at filling in that gap between netbook and laptop, and we're sure someone out there will appreciate or feeling nostalgic over that modem jack.

in South Korea M&Soft launches 7-inch Mappy AP1 PND

2009-07-31T21:46:00.002+07:00

M&Soft's Mappy navigation software seems well established in Korea, and now the company has decided to offer its own hardware for it in the shape of a 7-inch SiRF-based touchscreen device. Of course, it wouldn't be a South Korean PND if it didn't include a DMB digital TV tuner, video and audio playback, and a photo / text viewer, but the company's gone one better by offering the elaborate, gimmicky GUI you see above. Pricing is pretty decent too, set at 349,000 KRW ($283) with a 4GB SDHC card, or 399,000 KRW ($323) for an 8GB unit. The AP in the model name stands for "Absolute Pride" -- sure, make your jokes, but maybe it's that wise-guy sense of humor keeping this sort of tech away from Western shores.

hackers park for free In San Francisco

2009-07-31T21:43:00.002+07:00

In High School civics class we learned that besides voting, feeding the meter is one of the most important things we Americans can do. But just like e-voting, it looks like you can add parking to the list of things that hackers have spoiled for law and order-types everywhere. According to the kids at CNET, a group of nogoodniks were able to decode the smartcards used by Guardian XLE-series meters manufactured by J.J. MacKay Canada -- from which point it was a simple matter of boosting the card's value to $999.99. Its unclear how the city of San Francisco (one of several around the country that have dealt with the company) is going to address the problem, but one possibility is flagging accounts with suspicious activity and reprogramming parking meters to ignore the offending cards. Is nothing sacred, people?

New Loewe Individual Selection TVs

2009-07-31T21:40:00.001+07:00

For millions of homes, a slight variation on the basic black TV theme fits into the decor just fine. People who suffer an allergic reaction to black gadgets can opt for silver, Samsung's Touch of Color, or stainless steel. If those options don't quiet your fashion faux pas alarms, Loewe has something for you. Rather than innovate on the actual display, the Individual Selection LCD TVs let you mix and match a glossy white or aluminum fascia with swappable inlay side panels in Ruby Red, Apple Green, High Gloss Black, or even console-fabulous Light Oak. We could go into the specs (pretty "meh") or the price (probably "gulp"), but those are beside the point; if you've read this far, you'll want one regardless of specs or price. Might we recommend looking into a truly custom colored set instead?

2009 Motorola Sholes Android phone headed for Verizon?

2009-07-31T21:34:00.003+07:00

On the lookout for the Motorola / Android / Verizon trifecta, we dug up some handset renders over at motofan.ru that seem to fit the bill quite well, thank you. According to the site, "Sholes" is a 3.7-inch (480 x 854) touchscreen device that will make its debut in the U.S. in October, featuring: 512MB storage, 256MB RAM, support for microSD / microSDHC up to 16 GB (an 8GB microSD ships with the phone), a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, GPS, and the expected connectivity (USB, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi), audio, and video formats. And if the translation wasn't hopelessly garbled, the source is also saying that this bad boy will support both CDMA and EVDO Rev A . No word on a price yet, but if this phone does make it to the realm of the real it'll be nice to see a Moto / Android device that doesn't look like it belongs in the hands of a tweenage girl (yeah, we said it, Morrison). See for yourself after the break.

New Samsung YP-R0 outed, not exactly groundbreaking

2009-07-31T21:28:00.002+07:00

In the vein of the previous yawnfest, the YP-R1, Samsung's apparently got this baby -- the YP-R0 -- on the decks as well. Maybe it's just the naming scheme that bores us -- after all, it's not a bad-looking slim little device, with a 2.6-inch touchscreen display, and this model will supposedly house 8GB of storage, an RDS FM tuner, a microphone, plus a microSD card slot. It'll support a host of formats, including MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF, FLAC, WAV, AAC, MPEG4, WMV, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF -- just to name a few. The whole thing weighs in at about 60 grams, and is expected to run about €130 (about $183) when it is made available, though we don't know yet when that will be. There's one more shot after the break.

New Onkyo HT-S7200 and HT-S6200 HTIBs

2009-07-29T22:12:00.003+07:00

There's so many features (and components -- they even include an iPod dock) packed into Onkyo's HTIB systems that it takes a little digging to find the spec bumps in the new HT-S7200 and S6200 models. The top-line HT-S7200 received one extra HDMI input (for a total of five), and both new models also added Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Dolby ProLogic IIz to their processing palette. All in all, pretty consistent with the changes sweeping over the TX-SRx07 receiver lineup, and the $899 and $699 prices for the HT-S7200 and HT-S6200, respectively, are also in line with Onkyo's high value equation for its HTIBs. Finally, there's a $499 SKS-HT870 speaker-only package with the "tallboy" anchored speakers from the HT-S7200 system available for those who want to upgrade their HTIB without starting all over.

New Samsung Solstice for AT&T spotted on official site, coming in at $99.99 next week?

2009-07-29T22:03:00.001+07:00

Remember that midrange full-touch Samsung Infinity that was rumored for AT&T a while back? It looks like the stars are aligning for a model called the Solstice to be launching on the carrier in the next few days -- and it looks (and sounds) suspiciously like what we'd all expected out of the Infinity. Basically, this looks to be Sammy's mainstream touch offering for AT&T, with a relatively meager 2 megapixel cam, QVGA display, dual-band 3G, and not a whole heck of a lot else. The good news is that you should be getting a good deal in exchange for the light spec sheet -- Boy Genius Report has the Solstice launching this coming Sunday, August 2 for $99.99 on contract. Coincidentally, Samsung's official product directory conspicuously shows a Solstice off in the distance of its page banner, so yeah, this thing is definitely happening one way or another -- only question is whether we've got the specs, pricing, and launch date all nailed.

New VUDU ditches the box, integrates into LG's LH50 NetCast HDTVs

2009-07-29T21:43:00.002+07:00

After a quick test run on Entone's IPTV boxes, VUDU has now done the deed with a big time player. In a joint announcement today with LG, the outfit is announcing its first major foray into STB-less movie streaming. LG's Netflix-friendly LH50 line of connected HDTVs will act as the hosts, with VUDU's tried and true high-def streaming service acting as the highly anticipated guest. The outfit's next generation movie platform will enable owners of the 47LH50, 50PS80, 60PS80 and 42LH50 to buy or rent HD and HDX (1080p) films on demand through a refreshed user interface that promises no stutters or buffering waits. The new VUDU also brings along instant fast forward and rewind as well as instant start for all movie qualities, and as before, there's no monthly fee associated with the service. Eager to dive on in? It'll be made available for everyone (existing owners included) starting next month, and just so you know, we definitely don't envision LG being the last TV maker to slip under VUDU's covers. The full release is after the break.

Hot update : AESIR's UFO-like UAV spotted above Wales

2009-07-29T21:30:00.002+07:00

Unmanned autonomous vehicles come in all shapes and sizes, but we still haven't lost the sense of wonderment of watching the things go about their business while hapless humans watch from afar. AESIR's Embler is the latest we've seen, sporting a UFO-like design and a top-mounted fan that's completely protected should the thing bump into any buildings or insurgents whilst gliding to its next waypoint. Vanes counteract the torque generated by the spinning blades, while flaps open and close to shove it this way or that. Right now AESIR has no military buyers for the device, perhaps because it doesn't look to be entirely autonomous just yet, but after watching the video below we're reaching for our collective checkbooks.

New BlackBerry Curve 8520 gets a hands-on, photo shoot

2009-07-28T12:02:00.002+07:00

Hot on the heels of the word that RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8520 would be heading for Vodaphone in the UK, Pocket Lint's gotten a hold of one. The optical trackball-boasting, entry-level, non-3G darling looks pretty brilliant in the photos, despite its stripped down form factor. Pocket Lint is also reporting that it'll be Vodaphone-bound in August, and it'll also be available through Orange for pre-paid deals and from Carphone Warehouse where it'll be offered in violet. Now that, we'll admit, we're kind of interested in. The 8520 (or Gemini, as it's also known) is T-Mobile-bound in the US of A, most likely on August 5th. There's another shot after the break -- hit the read link for the full set.

with the SNE-50K, Samsung jumps into e-book reader game

2009-07-27T23:31:00.002+07:00

Samsung's announced it's jumping into the best game in town -- the paperless book trade -- with its SNE-50K e-book reader. With 512MB of onboard storage, a five-inch touchscreen and stylus, and a complete lack of wireless or internet capabilities, it's not the most advanced reader we've ever seen, but it's slim and light, at nine millimeters thick and weighing about 6.5 ounces. In South Korea, where the reader will be launched first, Samsung has partnered with Kyobo Bookstore, one of the largest booksellers in the country. There's no word on launches outside of South Korea at this time, but Samsung does plan on showing a prototypes for other countries at a trade show in January (most likely CES).

News : Acer's Aspire Timeline 1810T gets a price, release window

2009-07-27T21:55:00.001+07:00

If you're in Europe and you love Acer laptops, today is your lucky day. The company has gotten totally official with its Aspire Timeline 1810T notebook, at least according to ComputerBase in Germany. If you'll recall, the laptop boasts an 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 display, a 1.4GHz ULV CPU, can support up to 4GB of RAM, and sports a GMA 4500MHD graphics chipset. The base model includes a 250GB hard drive, and all the systems come with an HDMI out, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3G option, and are preloaded with Vista -- just in case you were worried. For the low-ish starting price of €499 (or about $708) you can take one of these puppies back to your flat soonish (they're on preorder now and should be available in two or three weeks)

New Panasonic's TC-P54V10 plasma crowned king, so sayeth the HD Guru

2009-07-27T21:47:00.002+07:00

Panasonic's run of critical acclaim for its NeoPDP panels, and the V10 series in particular, just keeps rolling along. Given the positive reception the HD Guru gave Panny's G10-series set, it should come as no surprise that the higher-spec TC-P54V10 model came through its review with flying colors. The Guru blew right past the "sheet of glass" aesthetic and added color spaces that will largely go unused and got right into the good stuff. Sure, the 96Hz mode delivered on its promise of judder-free 4:4 pulldown, but most surprising was the V10's black level performance, which fell below the test equipment's ability to measure -- the review guessed it to be about half as bright as the G10's black level. That's in spitting distance of the Kuro performance, and the V10 managed to pull a little more dark detail as well. Yeah, it's a winner -- so much so that the Guru had to break out a fifth heart in its rating. The Kuro is dead, long live the Kuro.

Update : Samsung announces world's fastest Cortex A8 core

2009-07-27T21:43:00.001+07:00

Some of the most advanced mobile devices on the market today are built around cores based on ARM's Cortex A8 architecture, including a couple you may be familiar with: the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS. The 3GS, for example, runs a Samsung S5PC100 system-on-chip clipping along at a healthy 600MHz, enough to make it noticeably snappier than the 3G it replaces -- but time marches relentlessly forward, as always, and that S5PC100 is suddenly starting to look a little long in the tooth with today's news. Sammy has partnered up with silicon design firm Intrinsity to develop what it's billing as the world's fastest Cortex A8 core, a 1GHz unit codenamed "Hummingbird" that's based on 45nm manufacturing techniques and can deliver peak performance at a single volt with power consumption characteristics favorable for mobile use. Translation: this thing should be nipping at the heels of Snapdragon once Samsung finishes up work turning this core into a system-on-chip that can be sourced by manufacturers, and it should do so without causing batteries to beg for mercy. Unfortunately, there's no word just yet on exactly when we'll see phones running this setup in the market, so Pre, 3GS, you're safe for now -- but the clock's ticking.

New Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X2 demoed on video

2009-07-27T21:40:00.001+07:00

You know what frustrates us? Someone with their hands on a totally sweet piece of gadgetry who clearly doesn't know what to do with it. Such is the case in the video below, which seems to depict a gentlemen fondling Sony Ericsson's next XPERIA installment, the X2. While there's not much to see of the device itself, the phone is apparently running a fairly recent version of Windows Mobile 6.5, and the company has clearly taken its skinning team to parts of the OS, as the user in the video manages to stumble past some pretty magnificent looking UI trickery. It doesn't seem as dressed up as the X1's Panel interface does, though this likely isn't the final product. Truck on after the break to see the X2 in action, and try to quell your anger as the phone is repeatedly put to sleep during the demo.

Now even easier, Installing Pre homebrew apps

2009-07-27T21:36:00.002+07:00

While Palm is busily engaged in a game of domination with Apple to see which one can keep iTunes sync working or broken the longest, the Pre homebrew community hasn't been sitting idle, introducing two new and painless ways to get homemade software up in your handset. The first is a desktop app called WebOS Quick Install that works on Mac, PC, and Linux, allowing installation with just a drag, a drop, and a click. The other is called fileCoaster, enabling users to download and install IPKs right on the phone itself, plus other files too. Two great apps for fans of unofficial softwares and good tidings for a warm future of basement innovation -- only a month after the first custom apps came to light.

ASUS Eee PC 1004DN lands in Taiwan

2009-07-26T19:34:00.002+07:00

An optical drive isn't going to explode the definition of netbooks as we know it -- we'll have to wait for Windows 7 to do that -- but perhaps we can all learn to live lives of greater peace and harmony now that you can spin up a plastic circle of ones and zeros inside an Eee PC. The new 1004DN is now available in Taiwan for NT$19,988, about $609 US.

Dan Hesse says Android coming to Sprint this year

2009-07-25T22:28:00.002+07:00

While speaking at Fortune's Brainstorm: Tech event in Pasadena on Friday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse apparently got all kinds of verbal when it came to Android and his carrier. The honcho (and TV commercial star) remarked at the industry conference that he was "Glad we waited on Android," adding "The reviews say now it's ready for prime time. It wasn't when it first came out." While we knew Sprint had interest in Android phones (and potentially some forthcoming models), we hadn't heard a peep about timeframes, and the last thing Dan had to say was that he thought Googlephones weren't quite ready for prime-time. That's all changed now with the appearance of Android 1.5, it seems, as Hesse stated that the carrier will ship at least one model with the OS onboard this year. We don't want to be zany conspiracy theorists, but the timing of this seems to dovetail nicely with the very public launch of HTC's heavily modified Hero and Sense UI... a device which has been rumored to be making its way to Sprint sometime this year. The carrier obviously has a storied history of partnering with HTC on phones, so it wouldn't come as a surprise to see it land on Sprint (we certainly haven't seen any other carriers pipe up). Regardless, it looks like Sprint won't be putting all of its eggs in the Palm basket for long. It's going to be a very interesting holiday season.

News : Palm complains about Apple to USB governing body

2009-07-25T22:24:00.002+07:00

You should be refilling that popcorn bucket right about now. While we thought the next round of the Pre / iTunes syncing fiasco would probably be something simple like Apple releasing another quick patch, Palm has stepped it up a notch by complaining to the USB Implementers Forum over what it sees is "improper use of the Vendor ID number" by the gang at Cupertino. What the company means is that when an ID is applied for, a form is signed that states:

"Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited."

The implication here is that Palm believes Apple is violating this stature by disallowing certain Vendor IDs -- namely, Palm's -- from using iTunes. So how'd Palm manage to "fix" that syncing hole Apple managed to fill? From the looks of it, by misrepresenting its own Vendor ID, so that the Pre now shows up as a iPod / mass storage device made by Apple (ID 0x05ac) as opposed to one by Palm (ID 0x083) -- hence the complaint. Of course, lying about your own ID would seem to break with the aforementioned rule, too, so what we're left here is some muddled grey area and Palm apparently being okay with fudging some data to correct what it sees is an injustice. If anyone's curious, DVD Jon points out that the root USB Node is still identified as "Pre," so we very likely could see another round of these shenanigans in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, now's as good of a time as any to take a look at some of the peripheral casualties from this war of attrition. In an essay on his personal site that's been circulating the interwebs, Marc Deslauriers outlines the pangs he and the Linux community have felt over the years trying to use iPods on the open source platform, surmising that Apple is intentionally and repeatedly seeking ways to block non-iTunes programs from syncing in any way with its devices. This story is far from over, and as ugly as it looks now, it's probably only gonna get worse.

Preview : Samsung's Omnia Pro B7610

2009-07-25T22:17:00.000+07:00

Samsung's recently-announced Omnia Pro B7610 seems like a sweet hunk of Windows Mobile love -- especially if you're cross-shopping it with the Touch Pro2 -- but is there more than meets the eye? GSMArena recently put a prerelease unit through its paces, and it's not a perfect situation by any stretch; first off, apparently not very pretty in the flesh, owing in part to its girth and in part to the weird red battery cover. The resistive touchscreen isn't great and the OLED display washes out in sunlight (as they typically do), but on the plus side, the QWERTY keyboard is said to be stellar and it seems that Sammy's done a great job of completely concealing WinMo 6.1's sad, sagging skin with TouchWiz. In the final analysis, the site concludes that the phone easily matches the high bar set by the Touch Pro2 -- strong words considering HTC's market dominance and the fact that we're still looking at a prototype Omnia Pro here, so this should get even more interesting.

New Samsung Omnia II gets banded for US 3G

2009-07-24T23:04:00.000+07:00

Remember how Verizon is getting the Omnia II? Yeah, well, don't get too excited, because this isn't it. A version of Samsung's latest full-touch WinMo superphone just garnered FCC approval, and more excitingly, it packs WCDMA bands II and V -- exactly the bands we use in North America -- but you might notice that there's a surprising dearth of English on the product's certification label. Well, see, it turns out that South America uses those bands, too -- and the "L" in this version's model number of i8000L probably stands for Latin America, if we had to guess. That's not to say savvy North Americans couldn't import this and get some juicy 3G on AT&T or Rogers, but at least in AT&T's case, we still don't have any particular reason to believe that this'll land over there. Certainly wouldn't hurt their case, though, would it?

Android-powered HTC Click

2009-07-24T17:37:00.001+07:00

One more note about that Android-powered HTC Click that we saw in a gloriously-framed shot yesterday morning: it's going to be cheap. It had been said all along that the Click would mark HTC's first Android entry into the low-end fray (joining the Touch Viva on WinMo), meaning the sticker price would be kept to a minimum -- but the Vietnamese forum that first brought you this picture is saying that we're looking at somewhere between 5 and 6 million dong, which works out to $280 to $336 unlocked. That's cheap enough to ensure that it's free on contract virtually anywhere in the world where it's sold, bringing Android to a whole new demographic. Now, just call us when the Hero's down to $280, eh?

Garmin-Asus confirms nuvifone G60 for sale this month, M20 soon after

2009-07-24T17:32:00.002+07:00

Is this really happening? Are we all collectively in some sort of lucid, dreamlike state where Garmin-branded cellphones flow like water, or is this the real deal? Correct us if we're wrong, readers -- but if we're reading this press release correctly, Taiwanese folks will have a crack at Garmin-Asus' nuvifone G60 come the 27th of this month, just a few days from now; Singapore and Malaysia will have theirs meanwhile by the end of August, and Europe and the US are "on schedule" for the second half of the year (we hesitate to associate the phrase "on schedule" with this product, but we'll let it slide this time). If WinMo is more your cup of tea, the M20 will be coming to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia in August as expected -- the US isn't on the roadmap for this one, but Europe should have it later this half. These phones have taken so long to arrive that they'll be fighting an uphill battle against irrelevance -- but with the reality that handsets will be all but replacing dedicated portable nav units in the coming years, it's a play that Garmin's gotta still be eager to make nonetheless.

News : Walmart offers decently-spec'd Compaq laptop for $300

2009-07-24T17:26:00.002+07:00

Not sold on the whole netbook craze? Then you might want to consider paying a visit to your local Walmart, which is set to offer a surprisingly well-spec'd Compaq Presario laptop for the low, low price of $298. As you might expect however, that model (the CQ60-419WM) isn't entirely new, but it did just debut in January of this year with a significantly higher $470 price tag, and packed enough features to make it a not terrible deal even at that price. That includes a 15.6-inch 1366x768 display, an AMD Sempron SI-42 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8200M graphics, 3GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a DVD burner and, of course, Windows Vista for an OS. Good enough for ya? Then look for it to hit Walmarts on July 26th and be available "while supplies last."

New Olympus : FE range of compact cameras

2009-07-23T23:49:00.001+07:00

If the EP-1 is a little out of your price range, you could always drop down the Olympus range and check out the FE-5020, FE-4000 and FE-26, which promise top-notch imagery and ease of use, but without the hefty hole in the wallet.

Working our way up the range, the £99 Olympus FE-26, which is available in flamingo pink, cornflower blue and cosmic black, packs in a 2.7-inch display, Dual Image Stabilisation for blur-free images even in crowded environments and Advanced Face Detection for better people shots. Yes, an Olympus camera covering all the basics for under £100 - which means you'll not be in tears if you leave it in a club.

For £40 more, you can opts for the £139 Olympus FE-4000 in pure white, dark grey, metal magenta, arctic blue and tangerine orange. For that extra outlay, you get a super-slim shell that packs in a wide zoom function for better group shots, an AF tracking function for better moving shots, the same Advanced Face Detection and Dual Image Stabilisation, along with four Magic Filters - Pop Art, Fish Eye, Sketch and Pin Hole. Yes, Olympus goes all Lomo.

Top of this particular range is the Olympus FE-5020. Retailing for £169 and available in pure white, dark grey, mocha brown and ocean blue, it's another slimline snapper, offering super wide zoom, AF tracking, Dual Image Stabilisation, Advanced Face Detection, those four Magic Filters and movie recording with sound.

HTC Firestone shown ?

2009-07-23T23:35:00.002+07:00

We've got enough evidence at this point to say with confidence that the leaked HTC lineup from early this ear is stone cold real, and if you remember correctly, one of the headline devices in there was the Firestone -- a device likely destined to sit at the very top end of the company's range with aims on replacing the Touch HD. You might also remember that there was a small, crappy pic of the Firestone in there, showing a weird silver corner on the phone's face. That disappeared in a later (almost certainly fake) render, but it's back now -- with a vengeance. Some mysterious figure hooked up wmpoweruser with this latest image, and we're of two opinions here: one, it's crappily-rendered enough to be fake -- but two, even if it is fake, we're thinking it paints a very accurate picture of what the real phone's going to look like. The concept of a front corner-mounted metal mesh loudspeaker has yet to prove its worth in the real world, but if we can get a dreamy list of specs and the rumored capacitive touchscreen to come along for the ride, we might be willing to let it slide.

Modu actually launches in Israel

2009-07-23T21:15:00.002+07:00

You know, we really didn't believe it at first, but looks like Modu has finally launched in some part of the world, and just as rumored, the inaugural carrier is the Israel company's local network Cellcom. Likely because they knew we still wouldn't be convinced, the crew at Mobo have gone hands-on with the phone. All in all, no difference from what we saw back in February -- jackets and all -- but hey, it's crossed a major threshold and hit "retail product" status. So is it time to talk about touchscreens yet?

New Palm Pre now available from Sprint online, activity avoided

2009-07-23T20:06:00.001+07:00

Hey, it's hot out there. While you could lather-up into a deep dish of epidural man-gravy by trucking on over to the nearest brick-and-mortar, why not kick back on-line with Sprint for that new Palm Pre purchase? Sure, you'll still have to mail-in the $100 rebate, but last we checked, licking a stamp won't break a sweat.

2009 iPhone 3.0's 'broken' push messaging caused by unlockers, dirty keys

2009-07-23T19:59:00.002+07:00

First this week there was something of a brouhaha when some iPhone 3.0 users started receiving random instant messages seemingly intended for other folks. Push notifications were one of the big additions in this release and so naturally a lot of people claimed the feature was broken. They were partially right, but wrong in blaming Apple, as it was they who had themselves broken it. The iPhone generates unique public/private keys upon activation that identify handsets to secure those pushed IMs, and it should come as no surprise that unlocking tools use duplicated keys to facilitate illicit use. You know what happens when you share dirty keys, right? With single identifiers registered to multiple phones instant messages are getting zinged all over the place rather than to their intended destination, a feature we're guessing spammers will start exploiting in three... two...

New Intel's 34nm X25-M runs like a thoroughbred SSD, costs less

2009-07-23T19:42:00.002+07:00

It was only two days ago that they finally became official, but already we've got a couple of reviews springing up to tell us all about the second generation X25-M SSDs from Intel. PC Perspective kick things off with a full examination of the new drive, finding plenty of good (improved random reads and writes), some bad (minor fragmentation issues under extreme use scenarios) and pretty much no ugly. Not to be outdone, Anandtech have dissected the drive and compared its innards with the older generation hardware, while also running a few benchmarks for good measure. The conclusion in both camps is that while Intel has improved the hardware side of things, it is the drastically reduced price that makes the X25-M G2 the best choice in the consumer SSD space. Navigate past the break for a pricing chart, but remember that retail cost will be a bit steeper, should you be able to snag one in the wild.

2009 GoPro offers 1080p high-def in a little helmetcam with the HD Hero Wide

2009-07-23T18:52:00.001+07:00

The high definition-helmetcam wars are heating up. We recently tested the VholdR's sleek ContourHD 720p goggle-mounted shooter and definitely enjoyed it... but you know us: always looking for more. More is what the GoPro HD Hero Wide looks set to offer, with full 1080p recording at 30fps; a first in the extreme camera segment and not something frequently found in a device this small. Just as impressive is a 720p at 60fps recording mode, perfect for catching every detail of your aerials and varials -- and subsequent faceplants. We're still not particularly fond of the "cube on the head" look of the thing, but that cube will at least now contain an 1100mAh battery, said to offer a solid two to three hours of battery life. Quite a package, and while the expected package price of $299 is $100 more than the company's current offerings, it's still solid value. No word on when this will be showing up at the supercross scene.

New Azentech joins the HD audio HTPC party

2009-07-02T11:44:00.002+07:00

It wasn't that long ago that there wasn't a way for Blu-ray fans to enjoy the latest and greatest audio encoded with TrueHD and DTS-HD on their home theater PCs and now there are about to be two. That's thanks to the fact that Azentech is going to start shipping its X-FI HomeTheater HD sound card by the end of July -- no word on the price. Unfortunately just like the ASUS Xonar before it, you'll still need a separate video card for a complete solution.

From there you'll connect the X-FI to your HDTV via HDMI 1.3 to enjoy your choice of bitstream or PCM lossless audio. You can even use analog outputs if you desire as well as other sources. We're really happy to see some competition in this space, but still wonder how long before you'll be able to just buy a video card that can do both.

News : Microsoft's "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?

2009-07-02T11:36:00.002+07:00

Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft's mysterious "Pink" smartphone project? Good, cause we've got a few -- and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of "Pink" is now that it's a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what's left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded -- as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What's more, Redmond wouldn't be letting third parties use this new UI -- Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who've made Sidekicks in the past.

It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back -- companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it's another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft's selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild -- we haven't even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it's based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or... you get the idea. Hey Microsoft -- you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products?

NEW, Olympus E-P1 hands-on, test shots, and mini-review

2009-07-02T11:25:00.004+07:00

It goes without saying that we've been pretty excited about the Olympus E-P1 (or "digital Pen") since we first laid eyes on the prototype the company was showing off. The Micro Four Thirds camera just seems to breed gadget lust amongst the staff, combining the best of modern tech with a throwback retro style that is somewhat irresistible. Of course, no one wants to drop $800 on a digicam unless it's actually capable of taking a decent shot -- so we thought we'd put the E-P1 through some basic paces to see if this guy is worth unloading nearly a grand on. Read on for some of our first impressions and observations.
Gallery: Olympus E-P1 hands-on

Hardware
The hardware on the E-P1 is obviously gorgeous. At first glance, you can't help but be somewhat taken by the styling, which pays clear homage to Olympus cameras from the 60's and 70's -- in this case, the original "Pen" line of small, fixed lens and SLR models. The build quality doesn't disappoint either; the camera feels solid in your hands, though not so heavy or bulky that you couldn't throw it into a bag or shoot one-handed. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised with just how compact the device feels in your hands and when compared with an average DSLR.

The E-P1 has a large, 3-inch LCD display which was clear and crisp indoors, though we found it to be almost impossible to use in daylight. That wouldn't be an issue, except that the camera has no viewfinder, so under bright (or even overcast) light, you pretty much have to cross your fingers. This was kind of a big issue for us -- not being able to tell how an image will look in daylight is a bit of a downer when you're out shooting photos. Still, we found ways to compensate, but nothing that made up for a dedicated viewfinder.

Olympus does offer a $100 viewfinder attachment, though it's not going through the lens. It will help a bit in these situations, but doesn't really give you much wiggle room (or the accuracy you'd get with standard DSLR).

Thankfully, Olympus puts most of your go-to settings just a button press away, though the company does tuck away f-stop and shutter speed controls in menus accessible from the wheel on the back. We found getting into manual mode and flipping between settings to be relatively painless -- most of the functionality is obvious just by glancing at the back of the camera and controls up top.

Software
The E-P1 was a cinch to set up and start snapping pictures with. We found the menu layout and navigation to be quite easy to figure out after a few quick guesses (though we have the advantage of constantly looking through the menus of new gadgets). Olympus is clearly aiming this model at the casual photographer set, offering lots and lots of preset modes that let you quickly get to snapping. We didn't need to use many of them, though the variations that we tried produced excellent results.

Those presets are a nice touch from the company, and will make this camera much easier to position to moms and dads that want to take nice family shots without a lot of fuss, or the amateur photographers who are looking for something easier and quick than their DSLR. More serious shooters will still have all the options they're looking for, but it's obvious that this is targeted elsewhere.

Still image quality
Our early impressions of the image quality from the E-P1 are mostly positive, though we do have a few issues with the camera that sap a tiny bit of our excitement.

Using the stock 14-42mm lens provided plenty of range for shooting, and we found the speed and accuracy of the autofocus to be rock solid (it wasn't quite D90 quality, but excellent nonetheless). As we mentioned before, indoors shooting was a snap, but going out-of-doors took a little adjusting. Once we got comfortable with the "hope for the best" angle of using the LCD, we ended up with some pretty decent shots. One big issue we had, however, was with color saturation and tint. We found much of the red and pink in our photos to be exaggerated in an unflattering way, with some reds even coming off as over exposed and nearly hot pink in hue. This doesn't feel like a dealbreaker (it obviously can be compensated for), but coming out of the box with noticeable color issues wasn't a plus in our book.

For low light / high ISO shooting, we came away pretty impressed with the noise levels we saw. The E-P1 has an ISO range of 100-6400. At the top end (and with a sensor this small) we expected more noise than we actually got. Compared with similarly sized point-and-shoot cameras, we thought this model did a brilliant job at tackling ISOs that would be unusable on some of the competition.

ISO 1000 vs. ISO 6400
Overall, we're not about to pass final judgment on still quality -- we've only given the camera a short test, and we expect to see better (and more interesting) results once we've spent more time tweaking.

When it came to video, we were frankly blown away. The 720p output is nothing short of breathtaking, and we're looking forward to shooting some serious cop dramas with this thing. Unfortunately, we do have a bone to pick with Olympus on the audio -- the stereo sound is excellent, but while using continuous focus (a nice touch, and it looks great), the sound of the lens makes the experience somewhat less heartening. It's not unusable, but to have your gorgeous video marred by the shhhk / click of the lens is a bit annoying. That whole issue could easily be circumvented with an external audio input... but Olympus doesn't provide one here, meaning you're stuck with what's onboard.

Wrap-up
We still have plenty more to explore on the E-P1, such as the in-camera editing, slideshow options, and lots of little perks that Olympus has smartly added, but at a glance, we're impressed with much of what the company has delivered.

Obviously some of the detracting factors here should give pause before you put down your $799 for the basic kit, but you should know that there are also a lot of really outstanding features and impressive performance packed into this small and extremely attractive package. The E-P1 would be an excellent pick for anyone getting serious about photography who wants something easy to use, but still powerful enough to take really striking pictures and video. And for the gadget lovers out there... well, let's just say our wallets might be getting about $800 lighter pretty soon.

Windows 7 cheaper than vista

2009-06-26T14:15:00.001+07:00

Seattle: Microsoft to give back good news, proclaim upon the will Windows 7 come in October. Microsoft back to make customers happy with a cheaper price for Windows 7 than the price of Windows Vista that previously marketed.

Microsoft will determine banderole Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade version, which demand, among non-business, the price of 49.99 U.S dollars, until 11 July of 2009. After this date, for pre-order, the price will increase to 119.99 U.S. dollars. The price of Windows 7 is 8 percent less expensive version of Vista for the same, with the official 159.99 U.S. dollars.

As for the Professional Windows 7 upgrades version, the price of 99.99 U.S. dollars up to July 11. After that will increase to 199.99 U.S. dollars. This means the same as the price for the Vista version of the same.

In addition to providing cheaper price for the upgrade version, full version of Windows 7 will also get a cheaper price compared to Vista. Microsoft will sell Windows 7 Home Premium full version at 199.99 U.S. dollars, 17 percent cheaper than Vista. While Windows 7 for the Professional and Ultimate editions with the price of each 299.99 U.S. dollars and 319.99 U.S. dollars. The price was the same as the price of Vista.

Other good news, Windows will also be available in a language that is more complete. The plan will Windows 7 is available in 14 languages on October 22, and 21 languages on the upcoming October 31. If the good news is followed by the performance of Windows 7 reliability, it seems consumers do not need to hesitate dive wallet.

Toshiba with Laptop a Multimedia Collections, newest!

2009-06-24T21:36:00.002+07:00

Can not be denied, sometimes' Brand 'control so strong in one product. Fact, the output Toshiba laptop, it has the strength of the market share of the high selling price with a high return also. So anything that comes from the latest Toshiba certainly want to invite a sense of its users.

Since two weeks ago, in Europe have announced the types and models of Toshiba laptop output. Not just one but many models are introduced at the event. I want what is introduced at that time?

What type of laptop that was introduced by Toshiba? Special multimedia laptop that is designed specifically for your pleasure to spend time to create multimedia works. Of the needs of your laptop is not normal. Nah A500 Toshiba 16 inch of sail alone offered in this price range around 749.99 or USD 7.5 million. While for the model U500 valued USD 849.99 or about 8.5 million which has a tiny size that is 13.3 inch.

There is a new, namely the M500/M505 inch and 14 sailed in with the official price of 699.99 USD. While the model for P500/P505 screen with a very large one that is valued around the 18.4 inch 799.99 USD.

All kinds of laptop is a multimedia laptop with a webcam, Face Recognation software, speakers and eSATA / USB combo port. Quite interesting indeed once we free to choose the size of which seems appropriate for our use, if a very large one that is a 18.4 inch or smaller size is 13.3 inch.

New VAIO Laptop 15.5 inch, at USD 880

2009-06-22T00:45:00.001+07:00

Luxury laptop has indeed become their own enjoyment. One does not, if we take the laptop this laptop as a luxury, because the only people who can only have one. That is the VAIO, recently announced one of the latest output VAIO laptop. What about the laptop specifications. 15.5 inch sail this?

Widescreen laptop is already provided with a processor Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 with 512MB VRAM, 4xBD-ROM drive, 4GB DDR2 RAM, webcam, 802.11 a / b / g / n, has a capacity of 400GB HDD and baterei Li-ion that can survive for 5 hours.

In addition, this VAIO laptop has a VGA and HDMI outputs and Memory Stick Pro, ExpressCard and SD card slot. There are 3 kinds of color choice for this laptop that is white, gray and dark brown. The price? This laptop is in the price range USD 880

Vostro 1220, Dell New Weapon Candidates

2009-06-20T23:32:00.002+07:00

TEXAS - Vendor computer origin United States (USA), prepared newest issue of weapons, dell vostro 1220.

The latest generation of Dell notebooks, it will use 12-inch screen with a Core 2 Duo processor t6750 with the speed of 2.1GHz. Options screen is 12 inches, is a breakthrough for Dell that were previously played on the screen size 13 inch and 15 inch.

Softpedia Saturday (20/6/2009) spread, vostro 1220 will be planned for the business who need a laptop that can meet all their needs from the internet to multimedia and of course supported with maximum performance.

Vostro 1220 will also be supported with hard disk capacity up to 320 GB and 4 GB RAM capacity. Not only that, 1220 is equipped with features such as interesting, Fingerprint reader, SD card slot.

To design and color options, according to news circulating the only one color choice, which is only red.

However, Dell has not been able to launch the certainty of the vostro 1220. Dell only repeatedly stated, will issue a vostro generation in the near future. (srn)

Google Translate Farsi to English

2009-06-20T12:53:00.002+07:00

Internet giant Google, starting from the translation of the Persian or Farsi language, Friday 19 June 2009. Google hopes this step can be used to help disseminate information about post-election crisis in the Iranian president.

The Google translator (translate.google.com) has been able to translate the text to speak in Persian to English, so is vice versa. Google says the attempt to add about 40 languages that can be translated to and from the Persian language.

"This service is free of any translated, news, pages, blogs, electronic mail, or Facebook messages," said a press statement via Google cited as the television station CNN.

The launch of Google feel translators from the Persian-English is very important in the midst of chaotic in Iran. For the past week, flooding the demonstrant the street, in the capital city of Iran, Tehran, to protest results of presidential elections.

Incumbent candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated the absolute gain of 62.63 percent of votes. The opponents no point cheating in vote counting process and the re-election.

However, Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asserted will not hold elections and ordered the investigation of allegations of cheating is.

"Google Translate is a tool that can help those who speak Persian to communicate with the world, to improve access to information," said Google.

E-P1, a sophisticated camera from Olympus

2009-06-18T00:26:00.002+07:00

San Francisco: Olympus introduced, a digital camera newest E-P1, on Tuesday (16 / 6). This camera will be released to the market in July, with prices around 750 U.S. dollars. This camera is sophisticated enough, E-P1 is able to record high definition (HD) video.

Although equipped with interchangeable lenses, this camera is not the type of reflection sigle lens (SLR). E-P1 has a 12.3 megapixel sensor as the Olympus E-30 and E-620 DSLR. Lens is paired with the camera body so that it offers more flexibility and the ability of a camera.

Body made of stainless steel, which is designed just stored in a jacket pocket or purse. The size of the camera is about 4.75 x 2.75 x 1.43 inches with a weight of 11.8 oz. Using the camera Olympus Zuiko M is available in the 14-42 mm f3.5-5, 6 and 17mm F2.8.

Olympus camera also features image stabilization feature, with three-inch LCD with live view and dust cleaning. The camera is also able to record a JPEG AVI video with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. (Macworld)

Source : liputan6