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Motorola Droid

2012-01-15T21:41:00.001+06:00

Motorola still at least brought a few new goodies to put on display. The latest major addition to Verizon's Droid Razr family, the Razr Maxx, was on hand, as were the white and purple variants of the original version. So what makes the $300 subsidized Maxx so different from its predecessor? Simply enough, the name is a direct reflection of the phone's battery life, as it sports a thicker (translating to a thickness of 8.99mm, a couple millimeters thicker than the original) 3,300 mAh juicepack that promises an out-of-this-world 21 hour talk time. Sadly, we didn't have 21 full hours to dedicate to testing this claim, but we did have enough time to get a few pictures and a video of the entire Droid Razr family together at last below the break.

Something Beautiful for a Friday

2010-04-02T17:45:00.001+06:00

The Seed Cathedral — tens of thousands of undulating fiber optic rods

…with different varieties of seeds embedded in the tips.

iBooks app meets App Store

2010-04-02T17:44:00.000+06:00

Get ready to welcome some amazing wood grain effects into your lives, future iPad owners, for the iBooks app has just landed at the App Store. Proudly proclaimed as being "designed exclusively for the iPad," this app gives you direct access to the iBookstore, which will offer free samples of books ahead of purchase and a brand new way for you to channel money into Cupertino pockets. Built-in search, highlighting and bookmarking features are augmented by text-to-speech functionality and ePub format support. Funnily enough, iBooks will only support DRM-free ePub files sourced from outside the iBookstore, but no mention is made as to whether its own wares will be similarly unimpeded. Speaking of restrictions, the whole operation is still limited to the United States, leaving the Stephen Frys of this world sighing wistfully from across the pond.

first HDTVs certified Windows 7 compatible

2010-04-02T17:43:00.000+06:00

Here's something you don't see every day: a Windows 7 certified 55-inch TV. Toshiba's 120Hz UX600 series is just such a beast, the first on the market to receive official Microsoft certification thanks in part to DLNA support over Ethernet or WiFi. The logo's a nice touch that takes the guess work out of the purchase equation for the average consumer looking to stream media to the living room. Just don't let us catch any retailers slapping a "Compatible with Windows 7" sticker on the bezel ok; this ain't no Best Buy laptop.

Key production milestone

2010-04-02T17:41:00.000+06:00

The Chevy Volt has already passed quite a few significant milestones on the long road to production, and it's now crossed another big hurdle, with the first pre-production vehicles rolling off the line at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant. Those won't actually be sold, of course, but they are necessary to ensure that all the points in the production line are up to standards before the retail models go into production later this year. That's not only Volt news of the day, however, as the Obama administration has also announced plans to buy "the first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines" next year, which would seem to leave the Volt as the only option. It seems that's not quite a done deal just yet though, with GM saying that while it's "pleased to see that the Federal government is interested in the greening of their vehicle fleet," it currently has "no further details regarding these purchases."

BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up on RIM's Thai website

2010-04-02T17:40:00.000+06:00

For those among us who want to jump on the BlackBerry bandwagon, but desire a slightly more distinctive device -- you know who you are -- here's some official indication of an incoming new color option for the Bold 9700. Commended as perhaps the finest device RIM has been able to concoct so far, the 9700 is now being shown sporting a new, creamy white exterior over on RIM's official Thailand website. Seems like the company is developing a habit of diversifying its handsets' colors after giving the classical black some time to hog the spotlight. Here's to hoping the repainted phones filter out to more local online locations and nearby quality phone retailers nice and quickly. A pic of the newly white rear can be found after the break.

Dell and HP said to be investing less in 10-inch netbooks, looking to bigger and better things

2010-04-02T17:37:00.000+06:00

The latest word from our favorite rumor rag DigiTimes suggests that HP and Dell are both curtailing investment in the 10-inch netbook market, with their sights now set on the chunkier 11.6-inch size class. Additionally, with profits from machines built on Intel's Pine Trail platform appearing lower than expected, both are also said to be contemplating AMD's alternatives, presumably in the shape of the Neo CPU and Radeon integrated graphics. HP is even claimed to be considering quitting the 10-inch space entirely, which wouldn't be that unusual given the progressive obsolescence we've witnessed with the 7- and 9-inch predecessors of the current de facto netbook standard. Not to worry, though, Acer, ASUS and Samsung are still deeply involved, and the 10-inch mini laptop isn't about to disappear on us anytime soon. What may happen, according to the source, is that we could see fewer smartbooks popping up as a result, which just means we'll have to find some other way to sate those media consumption needs.

Zii Lives: First Look at the 1080p Android-Powered Trinity Phone

2009-12-01T12:49:00.000+07:00

Remember the Creative/ZiiLabs StemCell system-on-a-chip from a while back? The one that spawned that Android PMP design? Well, the Zii project is marching on, which means new hardware, including

the dual OS Trinity phone, 360º HD webcam and more.

Creative and ZiiLabs are showing off a pile of Zii reference hardware to potential hardware licensors in China today, in hopes that someone will manufacture it. The Zii phone reference design, pictured for the first time above, is the only one we can see right now, and promises full 1080p video playback over HDMI, OpenGL 2.0 accelerated gaming, and support for both Android OS and ZiiLabs' Plaszma software. And that's just the phone—there's a 360º full HD webcam, a PCI-E video coprocessor, a pocket synthesizer and, well, lots.

But before we get to the rest of the new stuff, a little timeline for you. Back in January, Creative announced, with of an offshoot company called ZiiLabs, "Zii StemCell Computing." There were not adjectives strong enough, no superlatives super enough, no words wordy enough to describe the wonders of this StemCell computing. Unlimited Flexibility! Incredible Scalability! High Energy Efficiency! ET! CET! ER! A!

But wait, what is this thing? The Zii StemCell processor is basically an extremely flexible system-on-a-chip, which is to say a multi-talented slab of hardware with an ARM Cortex chip at its core, intended to power all manner of multimedia devices, from PMPs to phones to settop boxes to, well, whatever. Creative promised low power consumption, high processing power, and plenty of uses. The platform would be licensed to hardware manufacturers, and eventually, we'd find these Zii-powered gadgets in our possession, under familiar brands. (But not necessarily Creative itself.)

Then we were shown the Zii Egg—pictured above—which is an Android-powered PMP with an alternate OS called Plaszma. This was actual hardware—that's more like it—and it looked compelling: media playback was strong, and the device itself was hot, and most importantly for Creative, new. But this, like anything else out of ZiiLabs, was reference hardware—unless someone picked it up for manufacture, it was strictly for developers.

Fast-forward to this month, and the project is finally springing some leaks. A smartbook shows up out of nowhere. Rumors about netbooks, which could leverage the Zii chip's power for 1080p video playback, real-time encoding, HD video conferencing, Flash acceleration and more, emerge. And finally, today, an announcement. ZiiLabs is pitching more reference designs, like the Zii Egg, to manufacturers:

The line-up of Zii Powered devices on display include a dual OS concept mobile phone which supports the Plaszma OS and Android OS, a desktop touch screen video conferencing device, a web-box, a 360° multi-view camera system, a PCI Express add-on card that instantly empowers notebooks with HD video encoding for high quality video conferencing, a pocket-sized synthesizer that can emulate the sound of some of the world's best pianos, as well as the world's smallest credit card-sized Blu-ray quality media player – based on the ZMS-08 chip.

The headliner here is obviously the Trinity phone, which can count itself among the first wave of 1GHz Android phones, and promises serious media and 3D support. The reference hardware, as you can see, is conservatively designed, though undeniably nice—and apparently iPhone skinny.

But the other Zii Wares are compelling in their own ways. The videoconferencing system can apparently process a distortion-free 360° view in full HD. The PCI Express add-on card will do video offload duties, a la Nvidia's GPGPU systems. And that little "Blu-ray quality" media player, well, I really don't know. All of the Zii hardware is propped up by the Plaszma-centric ZiiLife suite, which includes videoconferencing software with media sharing, educational software, and an app store.

As they are now, these gadgets will probably never see the light of day—it'll be up to hardware manufacturers to pick up the reference designs, after which they'll undoubtedly put their own spin on each concept. And as far as the associated software goes, it'll most likely remain under wraps until there are actual products to use it with. At any rate, over the next few months we can probably expect to see some of these Zii-powered gadgets show up as actual, buyable products, whatever forms they may take. And honestly, I'm eager to see them.

Nook ship date slips to January 11th, supply chain managers weep

2009-12-01T12:46:00.000+07:00

Hardware construction is a funny thing. Sometimes, regardless of the money you throw at something, you just can't get products to come together any quicker. Evidently that's the case with Barnes & Noble's Nook, which has seen its estimated ship date slip from today to sometime after the holidays, and now to January 11th. There's still a sliver of hope that you'll be able to snag one from a high-traffic retail location on December 7th, but unless you're planning on abandoning ship and helping the Kindle have its new best month ever, the realistic choices are pretty clear: a) pay Tickle Me Elmo-like prices on eBay or b) drop an IOU in a nicely wrapped box, preferably with a cute puppy. We suggest the latter.

Flexio solar powered FM radio doubles as bookmark

2009-12-01T12:45:00.000+07:00

We don't really have much use for radio over the airwaves -- hell, the closest we ever get to the halcyon days of rock'n'roll radio is the Flaming Groovies station on Pandora. But something as convenient (and as cute) as this next item just might get us back in the habit. A proof-of-concept by a small handful of designers (Wu Kun-chia, Wang Shih-ju, Chen Ming-daw & Liou Chang-ho), Flexio is a portable, printed, solar powered, paper-thin FM receiver that fits in a book -- or a pocketbook. Each radio is tuned to a specific frequency, so the design calls for boxed sets for different cities (for example, Taipei, Berlin, or Paris). Sure, it's probably not convenient to carry the whole box around with you, but you might want to hang onto KROQ in case you should ever find yourself wandering around LA late Sunday night/early Monday morning. Get a closer look after the break.

2011 Chevrolet Volt gets taken for a test drive

2009-12-01T12:44:00.000+07:00

The Chevy Volt is one vehicle we can really get behind. It's hard not to be a little excited over it -- we have, after all, been watching its development for quite a long time now. The electric car gets an impressive 230 miles per gallon in the city (and, all shaky rating practices aside, that's nothing to scoff at). Autoblog Green's just taken one of Chevy's 80 IVER pre-production prototypes for a little spin, and they seem to have come away pretty impressed with the car. They report that the brakes are better than most hybrid vehicles, and said that when the engine does kick in after the battery's depleted, they didn't even notice it until they stopped and heard it running quietly. It was a short spin, so they weren't able to gauge, for instance, whether the car can actually pull the full 40 miles per battery charge that Chevrolet claims it gets, but check out their full, detailed observations at the Source link.

Inside Sharp's new LCD factory, we can see our next HDTV from here

2009-12-01T12:42:00.000+07:00

The path back to LCD leadership for Sharp begins at its just opened Sakai City manufacturing facility. Being a 10th generation facility means it can roll out more and bigger displays, producing six 60-inch LCDs from each glass substrate, 60% more than older 8g facilities. Check out the pics for a peek at where 72,000 substrates per month will be made, delivering those slim LED backlit televisions getting so much love, along with solar panels (also being installed on the roofs for that extra green vibe that's in vogue these days) and a few of the more than 100,000 energy efficient LEDs lighting the factory itself. Whether your closest HDTV purchase is a turkey fueled memory from last weekend or yet to come, bargain hunters and AV fans alike can appreciate an eyeful of the robots and testing equipment slicing, dicing and stamping screens headed for shelves nearby, whether bearing an Aquos brand or any number of other nameplates.

DIY cat feeder now enabled by a Cisco switch, streams food and video

2009-12-01T12:37:00.000+07:00

You know, there are times when you have to part ways with your adorable kitties at home, and you might not be so keen on getting a cat sitter in case he or she touches your precious game consoles (even if it's an old granny). We've seen the lazy man's solution before, but Britain's Mathew Newton has brought us a new DIY internet-enabled cat feeder just in time for a new decade. Rather than using a CD-ROM tray to push-release unknown quantities of cat food, Mathew's version has a motor-driven cereal dispenser controlled by signal from port status LEDs on a Cisco switch -- an ingenious way to avoid expensive Ethernet relay units. When it's feeding time the user logs onto a web interface to choose the dispensing quantity, or you can also have an automatic feed schedule set up if you trust the system -- Mathew said he "can rely on it 100%," and his cats do appear to be healthy. Fortunately, you can always check the live video stream just in case you have doubts. All is explained in the video after the break.

Acer Aspire One AO751h reviewed -- sweet battery life, sad CPU marks

2009-06-27T23:04:00.000+07:00

Acer's 11.6-inch netbook -- the Aspire One 751h -- has been available Stateside since mid-May, and Laptop's spent some quality time with it, delivering a full review. Overall, they found the nice, large screen to be welcoming, and the battery life (on their 6-cell configuration) was fantastic -- clocking in at over seven hours. They were, however, pretty disappointed in the 1.22-GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, finding it to really slow the unit down. They note that other similarly priced models boast better processors, and might be a smarter choice. The Aspire One 751h runs $399 with a 3-cell battery, and $449 for the 6-cell version. Hit up the read link for the full review. One more shot after the break.

Continue reading Acer Aspire One AO751h reviewed -- sweet battery life, sad CPU marks

Filed under: Laptops

The Life and Music of Michael Jackson

2009-06-27T22:53:00.000+07:00

My heart was broken, because when I was six, I was pretty sure I was going to marry him. I distinctly remember getting into a huge fight with my best friend Meredith because she claimed that Prince was cuter.

Toshiba's new Satellite M500 and U500 mid-tier laptops "shine" in the flesh

2009-06-26T11:54:00.000+07:00

You know, at one point chrome accents and glossy plastics were novel additions to previously staid consumer electronics -- now they make us want to punch a hole in the nearest smarmy LCD display. While HP has tried its best to be the worst offender in its consumer line, Toshiba is really giving it a shot with the M500 and U500 series laptops -- the U500 is pretty outlandish, but at least it offers a ribbed, almost-desirable matte surface of sorts, while the M500 (pictured) makes everything else look tame in comparison, and has the plentiful finger smudges to prove it. Both of the laptops offer chrome trim, overdone speaker grills and light-up accents. The textured trackpads are probably a love it or hate it thing; in fact, most of these "style" choices could be termed as such, but we're sure you've ascertained by now where we stand. Sure, the so-called general consumer apparently eats it up, but the charm is lost on us. On a gentler note, the M505 we looked at was running Windows 7, something we more commonly see being demoed on a touchscreen PC or something otherwise Windows 7 specific. Obviously it's not shipping with that OS yet, but the pining is palpable.

Gallery: Toshiba's new Satellite M500 and U500 mid-tier laptops "shine" in the flesh

Filed under: Laptops

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might've missed

2009-06-26T11:51:00.000+07:00


	Windows 7 official pricing announced, limited pre-orders start tomorrow Here's the big takeaway: Vista and XP users will need to pony up $119.99, $199.99, or $219.99 on October 22 to score their Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate upgrade		Palm App Catalog sees 1 million downloads to 150,000 Pre owners Even more impressive when you consider that fewer than 30 applications were available for download from the App Catalog to a single device (the Pre) available only on the number 3 carrier (Sprint) in the US.
	Apple pulls adult-content app from App Store, anyone surprised? Interesting update: The dev now says that Hottest Girls has been "pulled" because their servers were "reaching their limits" and that the app will be back up soon, naughty pictures intact.	Other news of import Canon PowerShot D10 review PSPgo video hands-on quickie HP ProBook 4310s hands-on Always Innovating's Touch Book in production, finally pictured in non-render form
	Vizio's VBR100 Blu-ray player is a $188 Wal-mart exclusive next month For $188 (just not that cheap anymore) Wal-mart shoppers can expect a BD-Live ready (with optional 1GB+ USB thumbdrive attached) player, though no details on codec or output support.		Motorola Endeavor HX1 ears-on We're just going to come right out with it: this is the best Bluetooth headset we've ever used.
Mvix Ultio "It Plays All" HD media streamer debuts in the U.S. July 6 for $179 Netgear MoCA Coax-Ethernet adapter review		Sony Ericsson intros T715 slider, VH310 Bluetooth headset AT&T's 3G MicroCell still on track for release sometime before the end of the year

Code-X Yacht Will Have Two Kinds of Power: Super Clean and Oh So Dirty

2009-06-19T11:00:00.000+06:00

There's a real company promoting a not-so-real poweryacht called the Code-X. The differentiator—or "thing that's supposed to land a billionaire customer"—is that the boat will have two Formula 1 engines and two solar-powered electric ones.

It's not abundantly clear when you'd use the as-yet-unannounced electric engines, or exactly how efficiently the onboard solar panels will collect sunlight and charge the as-yet-unannounced batteries.

Let's be honest: You probably won't use them all that often. The point is to have them, and to tell your rich-ass friends that you are, in Code-X's words, "a pioneer and frontrunner on the path to a cleaner and more environmentally friendly future." The point is to be saying this while gunning your twin F1 Limor 710HP smogmasters to drown out the riffraff circling you in those environmentally unfriendly Jet Skis.

The most sinister thing about the whole operation is the length that Code-X went to render a completely non-existent boat into so many real-life scenes, almost as if James Cameron was the company's marketing consultant. [Code-X via Josh Spear via DVice]

Freakishly Tiny Drill Inspires Us to Believe Anything Is Possible in Life

2009-06-19T10:59:00.000+06:00

This drill, posted by Flickr user S8, serves absolutely no purpose. On any level. Yet I look at it and still think to myself, "that's friggin awesome." Ladies and gentleman, an unbelievably small drill.

NASA Wants to Blow Up Part of the Moon to Search for Water

2009-06-19T10:58:00.000+06:00

NASA launched a lunar satellite into orbit today, which will fire a rocket booster at 5,600 MPH into a Moon crater, causing a six-mile-high explosion. They hope to find water in the Moon's south pole. But I find this deeply disturbing.

You savages may be all excited that they want the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite to launch a Centaur rocket into the moon. Buthas anyone really stopped to consider how the Moon (not to mention Ignignokt and Err) feels about this?! I don't care if scientists have detected signs of hydrogen in the past. And I also don't care if the blast will kick up 350 metric tons of debris, letting the trailing satellite cameras analyze the mess for signs of water—the Moon will be in PAIN!!!

Yamaha's MusicCAST2 Wireless Audio Streamer, For Those Who Missed MusicCAST1

2009-06-19T10:57:00.000+06:00

Yamaha's MusicCAST2 Network Music System is a Wi-Fi-based tunes center that allows you to wirelessly transmit and listen to music in up to 32 rooms throughout your home. Do you even have 32 rooms in your home?

Touted as the ultimate multiroom wireless system for music lover's, the MusicCAST2 supports iTunes AAC files as well as MP3s, WMA, FLAC, and WAV, and can playback music from iPods, Bluetooth devices and other Yamaha accessories—via a built-in dock port—and USB thumb drives. It can also pull audio from a variety of sources, including Rhapsody, Internet radio, both PC and Macs, and NAS devices.

First introduced to the market six or seven years ago when the release of a wireless music platform was highly anticipated, the original MusicCAST was a server and satellite system that promised an awful lot at a time when networking technology wasn't very good, so the release of a successor—the MusicCAST2—comes as a surprise to us.

Pentagon's New "Suburb Warrior" UAVs Promise to Try to Kill Slightly Fewer Civilians

2009-06-19T10:55:00.000+06:00

The Pentagon's current crop of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are insanely powerful—the "Hellfire" is so named for a reason—but also fairly imprecise, often killing innocent, nearby civilians. The DoD's new UAVs hope to cut down on such casualties.

In a recent briefing, the Department of Defense laid out its new plans: Smaller and far more precise UAVs with badass names like "Suburb Warrior" and "Sniper" that will hunt in groups, rather than just blowing suspected hideouts to pieces with Hellfire missiles. The Suburb Warrior, for example, is designed to fire volleys of mini-missiles in tight formation, which makes a nice change from previous missiles that often demolished entire city blocks.

Unfortunately, these new UAVs should see production in about five years, by which time who knows what kind of battles we'll need to fight—or who'll be leading the Pentagon. But it's a step in the right direction, that's for sure. [Esquire]

Sony unveils 15.5-inch VAIO NW with BD-ROM and $880 price tag, we go hands-on

2009-06-19T10:54:00.000+06:00

Sony announced today a new entry into its VAIO series, the NW, complete with a Blu-ray drive and what they're hoping is an aggressive pricing point. It's packing a 15.5-inch WXGA display with XBRITE, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 with 512MB VRAM, a 4x BD-ROM drive, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, webcam, 802.11a/b/g/n, a 400GB HDD, and a Li-ion battery that's at best 5.5 hours in large capacity and at worst 1.5 hours with the standard-sized version. Port-wise, we've got VGA and HDMI output and Memory Stick Pro, ExpressCard, and SD card slots.

We got a chance to get some hands-on time with the portable, and we gotta say, it's a pretty impressive little number. It's not the most slender 15-incher, but at six pounds, it's lighter than we expected. The chiclet keys -- dubbed "isolated keyboard" by Sony PR -- are comfortable to use, as is the textured trackpad. Body and hinge felt sturdy, with an intentionally rugged and stylistic feel to it, and as one rep was excited to show, the metallic "Vaio" logo on the back makes a great reflection in the sun. From what we saw, Blu-ray playback was smooth, but we did notice horizontal viewing angles weren't the best. We'll reserve judgment when we get some play time with the unit and see how hard we can push the software, but for now we're pretty happy with what we've seen. Starting price isn't too shabby, at $880 equipped with the BD-ROM and $800 without, and it comes in three colors: white, grey, and dark brown. Striking your fancy? Look for it to ship out pretty quickly, as in some time next month.

Gallery: Sony unveils 15.5-inch VAIO NW with BD-ROM and $880 price tag

Gallery: Sony VAIO NW hands-on

Filed under: Laptops

DJ Hero spinning a $120 price tag, October 27th ship date?

2009-06-19T10:53:00.000+06:00

While far from being a confirmation, major online retailers Gamestop and Amazon have independently of one another put up listings for the DJ Hero / turntable bundle with the same October 27th ship date and $119.99 price tag for Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 owners -- the PS2 version is either the same price or $20 cheaper, depending on which site you trust. That's a good $70 less than the two-instrument Guitar Hero World Tour package, but of course you're paying for a more single-player setup. Again, we haven't heard word one from Activision, and with over four months until this supposed date, things are likely subject to change (assuming these even came from the publisher in the first place, and weren't just magically pulled out of a large, black cap with frilly edges). We wouldn't be surprised to see this being the final price, though, and either way, it serves as a nagging reminder that the life of a fake plastic musician doesn't come cheap.

[Via Joystiq]

Read - Gamestop listing
Read - Amazon listing

Filed under: Gaming

iPhone 3G S gets the quick and dirty tear apart treatment, already

2009-06-19T10:50:00.000+06:00

Well that was fast. Orange Boutique in Paris, France did a midnight release of the iPhone 3G S, and the gang at Rapid Repair were there to pick one up and subsequently rip their new toy to shreds. There isn't much here in terms of analysis of parts yet, it's more so just a quick and dirty job to get it out to the world, but hey, if you're into watching someone rip apart brand new, expensive gadgetry, we've got just the gallery for you.

Navy UAV uses hydrogen fuel cells for greener surveillance

2009-04-18T12:45:00.000+06:00

It sure is nice to see that the military is paying attention to the environment, always on the lookout for greener ways to spy on people, foreign and domestic. Ion Tiger, for instance, is an unmanned vehicle being cooked up at the Naval Research Laboratory that incorporates a hydrogen fuel cell, offering many improvements on earlier battery powered designs -- including a greater range (up to seven times further than that of current designs), heavier payloads, smaller size, reduced noise, a low heat signature, and zero emissions. The Office of Naval Research is making much of the possible civilian potentials for this technology, pointing out that research contributes "directly to solving some of the same technology challenges faced at the national level," but we know the truth: the US military is in cahoots with Greenpeace. You heard it here first, folks. Video after the break.

[Via PhysOrg]

Continue reading Video: Navy UAV uses hydrogen fuel cells for greener surveillance

The Abisko is Closer to a Water Slide Than a Sink

2009-04-18T12:42:00.000+06:00

In a world filled with crazy sink designs, the Abisko sink from Eumar just might be the craziest. Seriously, I want to ride this thing.

If you are less about waterparks and more about peaceful zen gardens, the Abisko also evokes the feeling of a gently flowing stream—complete with waterfalls. So far, there is no word on pricing—but it is safe to say that this will set you back some serious cash. Hopefully, they will make a matching urinal version. Now THAT would be something (truly horrible). [Eumar via Trendir via DVICE]

This Is Just My Coaxial Tube

2009-04-18T12:36:00.000+06:00

Yes, I picked this photo out of BoingBoing Gadget's fantastic illustrated history of transoceanic

cable because it was the most obvious penis joke. This coaxial tube carried over 90,000 telephone calls simultaneously.

Also worth peeking at—the underseas cable system in 1901 versus today: Cable day at BoingBoing Gadgets, it's pretty excellent. If nothing else, you should find out whether or not your wives really do boff the cable guy. [BoingBoing Gadgets]

The Watch Without a Face

2009-04-18T12:33:00.000+06:00

At first glance this watch appears to be nothing more than a thick, gaudy silver bracelet. But tucked between the joints are LEDs that display the time at the push of a button.

If I wasn't so sure that I would look like a complete tool wearing this, it would be something I would love to pick up. Sadly, I don't feel the need to repeatedly explain to people that: A: it's a watch—not a bracelet. And B: I wear my shirt open with a medallion and chest hair sticking out because it's comfortable and the ladies love it. Besides, there is no word on when this might actually be available for sale. [100per via BBG via Wired]

My Other Ride's a Battlestar Galactica Raptor

2009-04-18T12:31:00.000+06:00

Calling all Battlestar Galactica nerds: Looking for a new mode of transportation? If you've got a buttload of cash—and no dignity—you can have your very own used, full-sized Raptor on May 8.

The Raptor was previously being sold on eBay, but with an ending price of $28,100 after 43 bids, the auction never reached the reserve price. So to those of you who are comfortably masked by the invisible cloak we call online shopping, it's time to come out of hiding: you'll actually have to show your face to take this sweet ride home. NBC/Universal is now looking to get rid of the Raptor—as well as a full-sized Mark VII Viper and other various BSG props—via "live" auction in Pasadena, CA. [eBay auction via hplus via boingboing]

How would you change HP's Mini 1000 Mi?

2009-04-18T12:29:00.000+06:00

Judging by recent PC shipment reports, HP's had a pretty good run in Q1, and we fully suspect that a good chunk of those sales are in the netbook category. The outfit's Mini 1000 Mi was highly anticipated and chock full of promise, though we're not totally convinced the whole Mi interface lived up to the mile-high hype. So, now's your chance to tell us -- did it? Are you pleased with the software? Do you feel the user interface attracts or detracts? Could the hardware use a retooling? Are you totally looking forward to the 2000 Mi (or 1000 Mii, whatever HP settles on)? Feel free to blast our your really real opinions in comments below -- we'll be listening.

Filed under: Laptops

Leyio's UWB-touting personal sharing device unboxed, handled on video

2009-04-18T12:27:00.000+06:00

We first caught a glimpse of Leyio's Ultra-wideband-pushing personal sharing device back in January, and while UWB is still teetering near mostly dead and slightly alive, Le Journal du Geek has acquired a pair for some fun unboxing action and video hands-on accompanied by lovely French narrative. The reviewer predicts most people will be discouraged by the 179 euro (US $233) price tag, and with wireless filesharing here limited pretty much to just other Leyios at the moment, we can't say we disagree. Check out the video for yourself after the break -- if you're not a native French speaker or your babel fish is on the fritz, you should still be able to figure out what's going on.

Continue reading Leyio's UWB-touting personal sharing device unboxed, handled on video

Filed under: Wireless, Storage

How Tech Changed the Way We Listen to Music

2009-04-18T12:24:00.000+06:00

Technology always helped bring the listener closer to the music. Progressing from wax tubes, to records, to cassettes, to CDs, each jump has benefited the music fan. But maybe it's gone a bit too far.

The History

Admittedly, new music formats have always changed the way we listen to music. However, I don't think any have had such an effect over the last 60 years as the move to MP3 and other digital file formats. The advent of the 45 RPM single in the 50s is arguably the first big shift in the way popular music was consumed. Records went from longer-playing 78s and 33s, to the cheaper 45 format, which carried two or three songs on a disc, and became much more accessible for mass consumption. Soon, every big pop artist was releasing their big hits on 45s, and this became the main mode of consumption.

Then came cassettes, which shrank down the record onto magnetic film and brought the long-playing album back into vogue. Cassingles also remained popular among consumers, but the idea of the album as the main purchase was gaining steam again because tapes were more durable and easier to store. It also made it possible for people to record their own mixes very easily.

But the problem with all these analog formats is that they wore down and degraded over time. Vinyl lost it's sound quality the more you played it, scratched easily, and storing it in the wrong place climate would warp it's shape. Tapes would sound muffled over time, and the actual tape could easily be spooled out from the cassette.

Enter the Compact Disc. Created as a way to prevent the degradation of sound over time, the compact disc ushered in the digital era of music, but it wasn't without complaints. Audiophiles said the sound was cold and sterile, and purists worried about the idea you could skip around the album order so easily, that albums were meant to be listened to sequentially, and not on one-track repeat for hits. It also wasn't impervious, still liable to scratching and subsequent choppy playback. Still, it was the best available option to get music to consumers, until the MP3.

Too Much Music

Sometimes, I feel the rise of MP3s made music too easy to obtain. Instead of taking time to appreciate good work, we now devour as much music as we possibly can. My music collection feels increasingly impersonal, to the point that I have albums I've forgot I downloaded. Sometimes I'll listen to an album I like just once, and never touch it again. Why?

Because at any given time, I have about 10-20 other new albums I'm wanting to check out. There's just not enough time to give every album the same attention, and when you try to really get into a handful of albums, you miss out on 100 other new releases.

The MP3 era is enabling the music junkie's futile quest to stay up on all music, at all times.

But that's not to say it's all bad. Albums that used to take me months to track down in the past can be found with a few minutes of google ingenuity. I've been able to listen to artists I might have only known by name in the past, and not have to wait for corporate America to make their music accessible to the masses.

Narrowing Tastes

Despite the greatly enhanced variety of music available to the average music listener, I feel like people's tastes are actually narrowing, more than they're branching out. Sure, the hardcore music fan will go out and dig out obscure artists in 20 different genres. But for the casual indie rock fan, it's just as easy to go out and find 20 other bands who sound just like Sigur Ros.

As a result, you find people digging deeper into genres that they really like, while ignoring the access they have to so many other great genres. The rise of internet forums and communities based around certain kinds of music have only helped listeners to identify with other like-minded individuals and firmly entrench themselves.

However, the rise of unclassifiable, genre-free music this decade would seem to go against my notion of narrowing tastes. Fans have embraced musicians who pull from a variety of seemingly unrelated influences, and reassemble the parts into a whole new beast.

Artists as big as Timbaland, as small as the Avalanches, as weird as Flying Lotus, or as colorful as M.I.A have all made a name for themselves by consciously ignoring the boundaries of genre. And as a result, I've seen myself and many of my friends digging into genres, past and present, they previously had ignored. We're better music fans because of this.

The Death of the Album, The Rise of Musical A.D.D.

I blame the iPod. Before MP3s, when you wanted to listen to something, you at least had to insert a complete album, or at least take the time to piece together a mixtape. Tracklists meant more back then, because it was more difficult to rearrange the order (save for the skip/shuffle functions).

These days, you can crap out whatever you want into an unfocused playlist and take it on the go. Add or subtract songs in a matter of seconds, it's a thought-free process. There's no need to give a whole album the time of day anymore when you can just add your favorite. We all have Musical A.D.D.

But the truth is, I'm just being a paranoid purist. When CDs first came out, vinyl purists lamented how too many tracks were packed into the 74-minute capacity discs, and how easily people could just switch from track to track. Before that, the entire pop music culture was formed around 45 RPM singles in the 50s and 60s.

So while the crotchety old man in me wants to say that we need to preserve the complete album, the truth is that it's significance among music fans has always changed and evolved.

As much I want to say MP3s have ruined all our listening habits, the truth is, they've just pushed us into the next wave of music culture. Maybe it means the album tracklist really is dead. Maybe I'll only listen to a complete album once or twice from here on out. Or maybe it just means people need to start making more interesting albums worthy of such attention.

Nemo Gould's Bogeyman and Praying Mantis Could Easily Be Dr. Who Villains

2009-04-18T11:47:00.000+06:00

I love Daleks and Cybermen because they're illogically terrifying: The clumsier the tech, the scarier they get. Nemo Gould's found-material sculptures unlock the same secret brain code, being cartoony and scary at the same time.

Video: Epson's multitouch X-Desk is your next coffee table

2009-04-18T11:42:00.001+06:00

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense for Epson to get into the touch-surface game -- most of the larger versions are projector-based, and Epson's been making great little beamers for quite some time. Showcased earlier this year at ISE 2009 alongside a multitouch air hockey table, the Core 2 Duo-powered X-Desk boasts a 1,024 x 768 resolution panel and possesses the ability to recognize up to 16,000 objects using "Smart Tags." Also of note, gesture recognition software enables users to actually speak to the table and see results, though there's no word on whether raising your voice or blurting out obscenities improves efficiency. Like all of these things, we've nary a clue when they'll really be available for the layperson to purchase, but you can certainly live vicariously by hopping past the break.

[Via AboutProjectors]

Continue reading Video: Epson's multitouch X-Desk is your next coffee table

Filed under: Displays

Second "Meet Pre" video retains calming effects, shows off third party apps

2009-04-02T13:00:00.000+06:00

If that first Meet Pre video wasn't soothing enough, Palm's released the second episode of its chill-inducing series, "This Weekend," showing off third party like Fandango and Pandora, as well as offering a sharper look at messaging and how SMS and internet clients like Google Talk / AIM are placed into one cohesive chat log with each contact. As with last time, integration is the key point to take from here, and of course being able to play Pandora in the background while browsing other apps has gotta be one of the most enjoyable features, especially for anyone who's been struggling with the iPhone's lack of multitasking. Sure, the video's great, but whether or not it'll function that well in practice is still up in the air. Hit up the read link to see it for yourself.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony HDR-TG5 makes world's smallest Full HD camcorder smaller, adds GPS

2009-04-02T12:59:00.000+06:00

The problem with Sony's previous world's smallest pistol-grip Full HD camcorder -- the HDR-TG1 aka, the TG3E -- wasn't size, it was usability. So we're happy to hear that Sony's TG5 counts a tweaked UI among its updates. And although Sony doesn't say in the press release, the TG5's touch-panel looks far more sensitive (capacitive maybe?) than that of the previous generation's finger bender. The other improvements are GPS to geotag your media (assuming your software supports it), Navteq maps, improved image processing, smile shutter technology, and 16GB of built-in storage (up from 8GB) all riding inside a slightly smaller and lighter chassis. Other specs remain unchanged: 1920 x 1080 AVCHD video, 2.7-inch touchscreen display, and a 10x optically stabilized zoom exposing a 2.4 megapixel CMOS sensor. Expensive? Oh most definitely: ¥120,000 or $1,217 starting in May. Check the video after the break.

Gallery: Sony HDR-TG5 makes world's smallest Full HD camcorder smaller, adds GPS

[Via CNET]

Continue reading Sony HDR-TG5 makes world's smallest Full HD camcorder smaller, adds GPS

Filed under: Digital Cameras

CTIA Roundup, Day One

2009-04-02T12:46:00.001+06:00

Pandora, Amazon, other third-party apps demoed on Palm Pre Dovetailing dreamingly with the company's SDK announcement today, Palm's chosen CTIA to show off a round of third-party apps for the Pre.		HTC Snap hands-on What the Snap lacks in flair, it makes up for in sheer, unadulterated function -- and having an utterly awesome keyboard certainly helps in that regard.
AT&T's Samsung Propel Pro hands-on AT&T's Propel Pro ups the ante not only in build quality and material, but the new set is also reborn as a proper smartphone thanks to the inclusion of Windows Mobile 6.1.		AT&T's Samsung Impression hands-on with video With AT&T's Samsung Impression packing things like quad-band GSM, dual-band HSPA for the Americas and a supremely useable QWERTY keypad, we're suitably impressed.
Sprint's Samsung Instinct S30 hands-on with video We had a few minutes with Sprint's Samsung Instinct S30 at CTIA this evening and while we couldn't dive in to find its deepest darkest secrets, we did get in a quick tour.	Also check out: AT&T's Samsung Magnet hands-on with video Samsung Mondi WiMAX hands-on with video Nokia E71x graces us with its presence

Time Will Eat Your Flesh While Robots Stay Beautiful

2009-03-28T12:56:00.001+06:00

"I'm all for fighting the good fight, but I don't care how much you work out or how much cream you put on-things change." Cindy Crawford, as an ageless robot applies some tonic. [Allure]

Nokia E71x Coming to AT&T Next Week for $200, Symbian Lovers Rejoice

2009-03-21T00:11:00.000+06:00

Some Symbian S60 love from AT&T, at last: Boy Genius says Nokia's excellent E71x is landing at AT&T March 24 for $200 after the usual two-year contract dance. It's like a little miracle. [BGR]

Send Someone (or Some Thing) Into Space [Photoshop Contest]

2009-03-21T00:02:00.000+06:00

People are honoring the daring spacebat all over the world. Now it's your turn. Your turn to mock the whole thing using your Photoshop skills, sneaking someone onto the space shuttle—inside or out.

Who would you like to send to space to never hear about him/her again?

Send us your image at contests@gizmodo.com with "Space stowaway" in the subject line by this Wednesday at noon. Name your files with a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention and use JPG or PNG as your file types.

2010 Saab 9-5: Bigger, Quirkier And With More Born From Jets References

2009-03-20T23:58:00.000+06:00

The future of Saab under GM ownership is dubious at best, but the Swedish automaker is still moving forward as evidenced by these spy photos of the 2010 Saab 9-5.

Despite riding on the Opel Insignia's Epsilon II platform, the next 9-5 appears to wear styling every Snaab will feel comfortable driving. It appears as though we've got an upright windshield, a formal front A-pillar and a sloping tumblehome which looks to retain a hatchback, all classic Saab cues. The car will be much bigger than the current iteration in an effort to put some space between the 9-5 and the 9-3, but the new car will be going out of its way to tow the Saab party line.

The only thing we find troubling? This particular tester's gone so far as to wear a license plate starting wih "JET." Blech!
[World Car Fans]

Holy Sh*t Look At This Drill

2009-03-20T23:57:00.000+06:00

Behold, the Hitachi DH50MRY. Part drill, part jackhammer, it can eat up concrete like balsa wood without killing your arms. Our friends at PopSci cut one open to show how it works.

It's the first drill of its kind to feature a counterweight strong enough to cancel out what is undoubtedly some pretty serious recoil.

I still think it would take all the counterweight in the world for this not to shake my spaghetti arms out of their sockets in two, maybe three seconds. But that picture—can't take my eyes off it. More at: [PopSci]

Palm posts net loss of $95 million for Q3, reaffirms that Pre is on schedule

2009-03-20T23:55:00.000+06:00

Palm's third quarter earnings earnings report for 2009 has dropped, and it's looking pretty rough for the old boys. The company posted a net loss of $95 million dollars in the quarter, and sold 482,000 units where it sold 833,000 in the same quarter last year. Palm's total earnings for the quarter fell 71 percent over last year, from $312 million to just $90.6 million. Palm stock fell a net 53 cents quarter over quarter, though it's made some recent significant gains. CEO Ed Colligan was quick to point out, however, that its much-touted and anxiously awaited Pre (with the new webOS) is on target for its release date in the "second quarter." The heat is officially on.

Filed under: Cellphones

Chrome Is the Last Browser Standing at Pwn2Own Hacking Competition [Browsers]

2009-03-20T23:52:00.000+06:00

Whether you're a Google Chrome fan or not, you have to give it up to the guys at Google for withstanding day one of the Pwn2Own hacking competition when other browsers went down in flames.

As noted yesterday, Safari was compromised in a mere 10 seconds while Firefox and IE were taken down shortly thereafter by a hacker known only as "Nils." Only Chrome was able to withstand the first day of the event thanks, in large part, to its innovative sandbox feature. However, it's reign is likely to be a short one as day two ups the ante with more prize money and the ability to use plugins as part of the hack. [Ars Technica]

Cyberpower Gamer Dragon 9500 desktop gets reviewed

2009-03-20T23:48:00.000+06:00

It's not the first Dragon-based gaming rig out there but, according to ComputerShopper, Cyberpower's new Gamer Dragon 9500 may just be one of the best bargains around, with it even able to do double duty as a media PC if you're looking to keep your number of boxes to a minimum. That latter attribute comes larger from its addition of a Blu-ray drive, but the system expectedly really delivers the goods when it comes to gaming, with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics (with 2GB of DDR5 memory) helping to pump out some respectable frame rates at even ridiculous resolutions. The $1,499 base price will also get you a generous 1TB hard drive, 4GB of RAM and, of course, the 3.6GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940 processor at the heart of the rig. Hit up the link below for the full rundown, and a few benchmark numbers.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Media PCs

Gadget Gallery: Itty-Bitty iPods, Revved-Up Runners, Pretty PCs, Enviro Escalades

2009-03-19T13:00:00.000+06:00

: Photo: Dylan Tweeny/Wired.com

Apple's newest Shuffle (almost 50 percent smaller than previous Shuffles) could easily be mistaken for a stick of Trident, features no buttons, and pimps voice-identification technology. But even given its apparent readily consumable stature, there are a few features on the Shuffle that are a bit tough to swallow.

The biggest gripe on the 4-GB Shuffle we tested is definitely the control set. First off, it's completely counterintuitive; Apple says you can easily use it without looking. We still don't have the hang of it after a few days of testing. What's worse, if you have a decent set of earbuds (say, a pair of Shures or Ultimate Ears) you're totally hosed — you'll have to endure the 'buds that come with the Shuffle or pick up specially made third-party headphones. Our recommendation? Pick up a new Shuffle only if you're prepared to deal with proprietary headphones and ambiguous controls.

WIRED Thumb-drive size. Can double as a tie clip. Battery life lasts for 12 freaking hours. Short USB sync cord is sexy. Yes, we'll admit, it's another beautifully designed piece of hardware from Apple. Battery bonked out after 11 constant hours of blasting Thunderstruck on loop.

TIRED Proprietary headphones required. Control set awkward to use, hard to get used to. So small, it nearly gets lost in the packaging it comes in.

$80, apple.com

Read our full Apple iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Rather than foam, gel or compressed-air cushioning, the soles on Newtons have a series of "actuator lugs" just below the ball of the foot. The lugs are designed to help encourage you to land on your forefoot, to protect that part of the foot, and (best yet) to propel you forward. When you land, the lugs push into hollow chambers in the midsole. This cushions your landing, and helps make it comfy to land midsole or forefoot rather than on the heel as you might be accustomed. As your foot moves forward, these lugs then essentially lever out, and as you lift your foot, they return the energy by pushing up and out in the same direction as your stride. Newton claims this makes them more efficient than traditional foam or gel soles that simply absorb energy but don't return it.

WIRED So cozy they're like a Snuggie for your feet. Actuator lugs get you off your heels better than a La-Z-Boy. Lightweight at 10.2 ounces. Designed for all stride types. Stomps cold weather like global warming, and keeps out the drizzle for shizzle.

TIRED Not waterproof. Worse on single-track trails than a skateboard. $175??? OMG, for that much money I could just pay somebody to run for me.

$175, newtonrunning.com

Read our full Newton All Weather Trainer review.

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The Firebird features a hybrid design — using 2.5-inch hard drives (two 320-GB models) and dual graphics cards originally designed for laptops — but powers it all with a desktop CPU and desktop-sized DIMMs. As with a laptop, wireless is built in, but the power supply is not: To save on wattage, HP breaks out the (enormous) power adapter instead of integrating it into the box.

As cool as the Firebird is on the whole, it isn't without some foibles. The inclusion of an ExpressCard slot is on the baffling-to-useless side, and the external power supply (it's huge) is more annoying to deal with than it sounds. But our biggest gripe is that the Firebird's streamlined shell means it includes no front-mounted ports at all, not even a single USB slot for your thumb drive. Seriously HP, even the Mac Pro finds room for that.

WIRED Amazingly quiet and conscientious in its power consumption. Outstanding design; belongs on top of the desk, not beneath it. Solid all-around performance at a fair price.

TIRED No front USB port. Curvy design means you can't put anything on top of the case. Functionally locked down, with no real upgrade path.

$2,100 (as tested), hp.com

Read our full HP Firebird 803 review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

I shouldn't love this truck. I should hate it. I purposely do not own a car, and this all-black behemoth represents everything I hate about SUV culture: conspicuous consumption, insensitivity to our rapidly shrinking world and crowded cities, middle finger raised at global warming.

You could slap a cold fusion generator under Big Poppa Cadillac's hood and the first two issues would still apply, but I was kind of wrong about that last one. Have you ever seen Godzilla vs. Megalon? Where Godzilla fights on behalf of the people of Japan against a giant rhinoceros/cockroach? Sure, Tokyo's favorite monster still smashes a bunch of buildings and steps on some people, but he's trying to be good. Same goes for this Hybrid Chromedaddy.

WIRED Decent pickup for a motorized bomb shelter. Combined ABS and regenerative braking system do a terrific job of hauling the beast down from speed. Trick motorized step makes it easy for shorties to climb into your rolling condo.

TIRED Thing has a car phone. No, not Bluetooth, but an actual phone built into infotainment system. (It's actually just Onstar, but there was no other option for hands-free calling.) What is this, 1989? Cadillac — God love 'em — uses the fact that this is a hybrid as an excuse to bling up the truck even more: Hybrid badges are plastered on every hard surface, on the sides of the door, even the windshield. —Joe Brown

$74,085 (as tested), Cadillac.com

Read our full Cadillac Escalade Hybrid review.

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The Kindle 2 is zippier, with pages turning 20 percent faster (yes, you can tell the difference). It has more memory (2 gigabytes, enough for storing more than 1,500 books onboard). And it flaunts a more powerful built-in battery: Amazon claims that the Kindle lasts four to five days with the wireless on (we got 4.5 days in our first test) and up to two weeks with it off. After a week of limited wireless, my meter is around 50 percent. Amazon also says that after 500 charges, it will hold 80 percent of its original juice. That means that most users won't have to replace the battery (a $60 procedure) for about a decade or so.

Looking over the horizon, it's clear that Amazon's biggest competitor in selling digital books will be Google, whose recent agreement with publishers and authors will make it the virtually exclusive seller for millions of books in copyright but not in print. But right now at least, the Google and Amazon formats aren't compatible: I was unsuccessful in getting a PDF of a public-domain book downloaded from Google to appear in readable form on my Kindle.

WIRED The best e-reading system on the market. Welcome improvements to aesthetics, more functional industrial design, better graphics and longer battery life. Sleeker than the original: One-third of an inch thick and 10 ounces.

TIRED Quite expensive. Book content shackled with DRM. Interface is improved, sure, but it could be even better.

$360, amazon.com

Read our full Amazon.com Kindle 2 review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

The iWOW adapter from SRS Labs promises to coax more "immersive" sound from your iPod, and it actually delivers — provided you're listening to the right kind of music. Setup is easy: Snap on the slick little 1-inch extension, plug in some spendy headphones, press a button, and you do indeed get a fuller sound with more depth — especially if you enjoy songs like Sting's "Fragile," a track hand-picked by SRS to highlight the effect.

But when iWOW was applied to songs that were heavy on low-end thump or had multilayered sound (Exhibit A: Beck's "Cold Brains") the iWOW performed more like iMeh. At top volume, bass beats splintered, while at lower volumes tracks sounded muddled and crowded. SRS claims the device "dynamically locates and restores audio detail" and creates a more natural sound. We're not buying it — most of the audio we threw at the iWOW was punctuated with a subtle hiss and fuzzy bass.

WIRED Relatively small adapter. Snaps easily onto your iPod and lends some oomph to certain tunes.

TIRED The effect is nearly lost when using ear buds, the device won't work with older generation iPods, and music that already has a fair share of bass sounds muffled.

$70, srslabs.com

Read our full SRS Labs iWOW Adapter for iPod review.

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Leaps ahead of other cam phones, the Memoir's not limited to the 8 megapixels it captures. In shooting mode, the touchscreen has shutterbug controls — zoom, brightness, timer and flash — that float around the image. And just hitting the shutter will take you into camera mode. The Memoir includes a 1-GB microSD to augment the phone's 100 MB of storage (and it's an easy-access slot, rather than hidden under the battery).

But for all its convenience, the Memoir simply isn't a competitor for even the lowliest of dedicated cameras. First off, it's pokey: slow to focus, slow to snap and very touchy when it comes to movement. And though it touts a 16x digital zoom, it has no optical-zooming option.

WIRED Cool touchscreen and accelerometer helps you shoot or view pictures. Compact, pocket-friendly shape, even for hipsters in painted-on jeans.

TIRED Vampiric light sensitivity makes for washed-out shots. Slow to focus, shoot and recover. E-mail functions are even slower. The screen is hard to see in sunlight. Lens cover doesn't close all the time, so the lens can get dusty.

$300 (with 2-year contract), t-mobile.com

Read our full Samsung Memoir.

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From the outside, the 1000HE doesn't look much different from other netbooks. But it's the machine's heart — the brand new 1.66-GHz Atom N280 processor — that makes it faster, stronger, smarter than its opponents.

Intel claims the silicon slab boosts computing power across the board, especially HD video playback — something that has been woefully horrid in past machines using Atom processors. It's not lying. This is the fastest netbook we've tested (by about 7 percent) in our benchmarks. And HD video playback was noticeably smoother and devoid of chop.

WIRED The first netbook to feature the new Atom N280 chip. MMC and SD media reader slots. Attractive, pearly finish. Decent 1.3-megapixel webcam.

TIRED At 3.1 pounds, it's one of the heaviest puppies in the netbook litter. Lame keyboard.

$400 as tested, asus.com

Read our full Asus Eee PC 1000HE review.

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The R50 is remarkably easy to set up and use. As you program each component into the remote using the setup wizard, you test a few controls to make sure it has the right code. The remote instantly recognized all our components, and it took us about 10 minutes to get the AV rig up and running. As part of the setup, you name each component, which then appears as an icon on the screen: in my case, a Sony HDTV, Yamaha amp/receiver, Squeezebox, Oppo DVD player and Soundmatters speaker.

WIRED Cool, reddish backlight perfect for nighttime navigation. No computer or web connection needed for operation. No charging cradle required.

TIRED No user manual means gizmo novices might get lost in setup. $150 price point isn't super pricey, but then it's not the cheapest universal remote out there.

$150, universalremote.com

Read our full Universal Remote Digital R50 review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Like other watches in the 25-year-old G-Shock line, the MTG-1500 is forged with Mr. T levels of toughness: It can easily survive being banged clumsily against tabletops or whacked against a surfboard in a wipeout. And it's water-resistant to 200 meters. But unlike most other G-Shock watches, which are primarily plastic, the MTG-1500's body and band are stainless steel, with a few tasteful black plastic accents.

We half expected to find the MTG-1500 lacking in minor features. Surprisingly, it didn't. It's got a stopwatch mode, dual time-zone support, five different alarms and a countdown timer. Free abundant sunlight or bright artificial light recharges the battery as you wear the watch. Once fully charged, the battery should be able to power the watch for 6 months without additional light.

WIRED Handsome, two-toned steel-and-black styling doesn't blare "nerd," "Swatch-wearing poser" or "too lazy to take off my gym watch." Self-syncs with superaccurate official time stations. Gives you an excuse to say "solar" and "atomic" in the same sentence.

TIRED Digital display too small and can be obscured by watch hands. LED provides uneven illumination in the dark. $500 can buy a timepiece that's much fancier, albeit not atomic.

$500, casio.com

Read our full Casio G-Shock MTG-1500 review.

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The skinny on this countertop unit is pretty straightforward: It's the touch-based kitchen computer that won't put you out of house and home. Don't go rushing out to cash in that 401(k), though — despite a recession-friendly price, the Eee Top still feels a little light in the loafers.

The glossy white, semi-opaque keyboard and mouse look stylish out of the box, but after extended handling their light, plastic-y build became annoying. The slim chassis sat solid on our countertop, while the bright, 15.6-inch screen and the integrated speaker bar make up the majority of the Top's sleek profile. Rounding out the device are six USB ports, memory card reader, 1.3-MP web cam and integrated Wi-Fi. We were pretty bummed at the lack of an optical drive, though.

WIRED An all-in-one for the Top Ramen set. Quick, responsive touch interface. Compact design has integrated storage for both keyboard and stylus. Integrated 802.11n and gigabit ethernet ensure throughput thrashings. One-touch shutoff button for ~~hiding porn~~ er, convenience. Runs whisper-quiet.

TIRED Underpowered for heavy web video. A wired keyboard and mouse — on an all-in-one?!? Heats up after extended poke/prod sessions. Anemic 160-GB hard drive. Even a cheapy, noisy optical drive would've been nice. No battery means no mobile computing.

$600 (as tested), asus.com

Read our full Asus ET1602 Eee Top review.

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This camera is about the size and shape of a pack of chewing gum, and weighs just 0.68 ounces. It records videos at 352 x 288 pixels, encoding them in the 3-GP format used by many cellphones (the videos can be played on your computer using most media-player software, including QuickTime and RealPlayer).

But the MovieStick is oozing with design flaws. The pinhole-sized lens is located on the long side of the device, rather than the short end, limiting your ability to go truly undercover. Add to that a confusing series of lights that supposedly indicate when the cam is charging, turned on or recording, and you end up with more than one inadvertent video of the floor.

WIRED The smallest video camera we've seen yet. Simple to set up and use. Makes you look like a double agent.

TIRED Location of camera lens makes it hard to go covert. No internal storage or memory card included. Recorded video is shakier and blurrier than outtakes from The Blair Witch Project.

$120, swannsecurity.com

Read our full Swann Micro-VideoCam Recorder review.

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Kodak’s Theatre HD's raison d'être is straightforward: to shuttle the contents of your PC directly to your television using ethernet or Wi-Fi. Pictures, videos, podcasts, music or any other digital content that may be living on your hard drive (as long as it's not squelched by some DRM straightjacket) can be whisked away by this tiny little box to your television with little to no fuss.

What really sets the Theatre HD Player apart from the rest of the field is how immaculately it performs its tasks. Once you've downloaded Kodak's EasyShare display software, everything is pretty much taken care of. Have a hard drive filled with extra content? No problem. Simply hook it up to one of the player's USB ports and you're ready to go.

WIRED Intuitive UI coupled with a handy RF remote makes setup and playback of multimedia a Zen-like experience. Wealth of connectivity options: component, HDMI, optical or RCA audio, dual USB ports. Transforms crappy YouTube video into semi-watchable content.

TIRED Requires Kodak EasyShare software to get the streaming party started. No Mac compatibility (for now). Pricey, especially for a device without a hard drive. Needs more internet content.

$300, Kodak

Read our full Kodak Theatre HD Player review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Skidding in at 53 pounds (on the lighter side for this category), Ohm's mountain bike-inspired geometry and its nine-level power-assist and regeneration system make it a smart, nimble and efficient two-wheeler.

On pavement and trail the BionX power plant, mounted on the rear hub, employs a unique sensor technology that is constantly adjusting the level of assistance it gives you based on the terrain. Encountering some mushy road? More power is delivered to the gears. Gliding down paved asphalt? The juice is dialed back. And if your thighs are flushed with lactic acid on a sheer hill, a flick of the trusty thumb throttle cracks the whip and the motor totally takes over, no pedaling required. But for all this innovation and comfort, you will, however, have to part with a spouse-enraging $3,450. Is it worth it? Well, it is a ton of fun.

WIRED Excellent Shimano parts mix with disc brakes and RockShox suspension fork. Lockable battery compartment hides space for mobile phone, wallet, media player and your other little stuff. Regeneration mode gives extra on-bike battery life. Comfortable suspension seat post. Four- to six-hour charge time.

TIRED Throttle position needs to be improved for optimal bike handling. Price steeper than any hill the bike can handle.

$3450, Ohm Cycles

Read our full Ohm Cycles XS700 review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

For about $300 more than the average netbook, the UC7807u offers a scintillating array of grownup specs. Intel 2.0-GHz Core 2 Duo CPU? Check. 250-GB hard drive? Yep. 3 GB of memory, a glossy 13.3-inch display, a slot-loading optical drive and ports galore (three USB and an HDMI)? You betcha! Best of all, with its fetching brushed aluminum chassis, no one will mistake this for a budget notebook.

Unfortunately, the UC7807u also has all the telltale signs of some obvious corner cutting. Forget about gaming. Due to Intel's torpid integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics card, even moderately intensive titles won't run properly. But our main beef with the UC7807u is the feeble 6-cell battery which clocked in at a disappointing 3 hours, 25 minutes — a full hour shorter than most other notebooks in this category.

WIRED Recession-worthy price. Built like a tank. Slick, touch-sensitive volume and multimedia controls.

TIRED Tips the scales for a notebook in this category. Battery drains faster than an ATM at a strip club. Epic fail on the tiny circular touchpad. It's cramped and serves no discernable purpose. Onboard speakers spit out tinny, distorted sound. HDMI, but no Blu-ray?

$800 as tested, Gateway

Read our full Gateway UC7807u review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

It's no wonder this watch ran away with my heart; for the competitive runner or multisport athlete seeking a personal best in 2009, the Polar RS800CX is the required training device. Because of incredibly robust desktop software, tracking of obscure performance metrics, and a wide variety of add-on sensors, the RS800CX can help you measure, analyze and improve nearly every aspect of your training program.

WIRED Offers better heart-rate monitoring than your average hospital. Incredibly customizable from in-watch display, to software interface, to training programs. GPS and barometric altimeter combined with location tracking mean you'll never wonder where you wandered. Extensible pods make watch more sport-versatile than Lance Armstrong.

TIRED Even beer goggles won't pretty up this ugly watch face. May need to hire a coach anyway — just to teach you how to use the PC-only desktop software.

$500, Polar

Read our full Polar RS800CX MULTI review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

The pocket rocket we've been packing in our pants recently (full name: Optoma DLP EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector) is one of the first mini projectors to hit the market. It's also one of the best, even though a number of flaws spill from the tiny device.

Styled like a '40s-era Zippo, the piano-black portable feels more natural in the hand than a lot of cellphones. But it's not size that matters to us, it's the video components! The projector is comprised of a combo-rig LED lamp and a DLP chip (courtesy of Texas Instruments) that sets the resolution at 480 x 320 pixels with a range output of 9 lumens. Yes, we know this is low compared to full-bodied projectors like Benq's gargantuan MP512 ST 2500-lumen projector but for something this small, it's remarkable.

WIRED Perfect projector for parties. Rectangular lens creates wide image that keeps the image from stretching. Fine picture quality, 8-96 inches. Startup time > 4 seconds. Dead-sexy hardware.

TIRED Lithium-ion batteries die after 2 hours' use; how are we supposed to watch our Battlestar marathon? Battery recharge time 4 frakkin' hours. Suck-tastic speaker. Unless you have a video-out adapter, you can't project Office docs from your PC. Projector gets hot enough to fry bacon after running 30 minutes.

$400, Optoma

Read our full Optoma EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Are you the schlemiel who's always dropping his cellphone or camera at parties? Or maybe you're the schlemazel who always gets the drink spilled on him? Either way, if you're looking for a camera to fit a clumsy or accident-prone lifestyle, the shockproof, waterproof, and cold-resistant Stylus 1050 SW can take the beating from fumbles, faceplants or full-speed crashes, and still keep clicking.

About the size and shape as a pack of smokes, the 1050 is equipped with an accelerometer letting you tinker with settings by tapping on the top and the sides. This lets you do useful stuff like turn the flash on and off with a gloved mitt or preview pictures with one hand while you fend off a tiger shark with the other.

WIRED Shockproof to 5 feet and waterproof 10 means you can bang it on the edge of the pool as you fall in with no harm done. Tap feature lets you change settings without futzing with buttons, and the camera can handle alpine frigidity with aplomb. Comes with a microSD adapter for greater media versatility.

TIRED Lens cover slides more easily than Ricky Henderson. The battery is easily inserted backwards, making you think it's dead or the camera is malfunctioning. Weak zoom and poor macro ability; this camera could use a bifocal upgrade.

$300, Olympus

Read our full Olympus Stylus 1050 SW review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Touted as the thinnest and lightest BlackBerry yet, the Curve 8900 has some much-needed upgrades over its predecessor, but also some disappointments.

Wi-Fi is hot and easy to set up, the camera got a bump to 3.2 megapixels, the 16 GB MicroSD storage can hold up to 20 hours of video, and the high-res screen is fantastic in any light. On the other hand, callers were hard to hear, documents were difficult to create, and RIM's revamped proprietary browser is good for surfing the Internet but isn't as smart about automatically resizing webpages as the browsers on competing smartphones.

WIRED Slick, sexy design mashes the best of the Bold and Curve 8830. Brilliant, high-resolution screen is one of the best we've seen on a RIM device. Full HTML-rendering on websites. 3.2-megapixel camera is even better when paired with video-recording capabilities; 3.5mm headphone jack means no clumsy adapters. Near 5-hour battery life is most impressive.

TIRED 3G is MIA. Despite the powerful 512-Mhz processor, the software still lags. New website and software don't perform as well as they should. Phone quality was mixed and loud speakers fail to compensate for somewhat distorted music playback.

$200 with a two year contract, RIM

Read our full RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

This handset (which arrives in some of the most gorgeous packaging I've ever seen a consumer electronic encased in) is almost laughably banal in its actual construction. A silver slider with wide-spaced keys, it posses a passing resemblance to the Nokia 5200, albeit with a larger (2.2-inch) screen. But, once you switch it on and start using it, things begin to get interesting.

The operating system orbits around Facebook synchronization. Basically you take the phone online, pair it with your Facebook account, and all of your various Facebook applications become active on the mobile. Your Facebook address book syncs up with the phone's address book. Events from your Facebook calendar become part of the phone's calendar. Take a picture with the 3.2-megapixel camera, and you can automatically upload those shots to a Facebook album.

WIRED Brightly hued, easy to use, easy-to-sync OS pairs perfectly with your Facebook account. Skype integration is thoughtful. Thoughtfully spaced keys make texting, entering URLs rather pleasant. Camera takes photos that are sharp enough to be a profile picture. Extremely cheap for an unlocked device.

TIRED Humdrum hardware punctuates novel OS. Not offered in the United States ... yet. Battery life is clinically depressing when surfing the web, using Skype.

$112 (estimated), Three

Read our full INQ1 Facebook Phone review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

HP has been tinkering with touch tech for a couple of years. But they have yet to nail the bull's eye with a machine that mixes mature hardware with a haptic interface that feels like more than just a half-assed effort. So, we were cautiously optimistic with the TouchSmart tx2z. The good news? As HP's first multitouch convertible tablet, it's got a lot of potential.

Converting from notebook to tablet proved painless, thanks to a solid hinge and the included pen. After swinging the 1280 x 800 screen around (and folding it back), we found two goodies. First, using the pen automatically disables the touchscreen (to prevent palm-related havoc), and second, HP included an active digitizer for handwritten input. This made reckless activities like e-mailing while strolling around the block surprisingly easy. Even jotting down quick notes using a finger (instead of the pen) gave us minimal hassle.

WIRED Fully baked as both a touch and tablet device. Travels well with its compact and stylish chassis. Includes quick keys for rotating screen orientation. Mini media remote and pen conveniently hide away in chassis. Altec Lansing speakers strike decent balance between volume and clarity. Extra goodies aplenty: biometric security, webcam, dual headphone jacks, 802.11n compatibility and 5-in-1 card reader.

TIRED Bloated OS hinders performance of otherwise decent specs. Occasionally laggy switches between notebook and tablet mode. No multitouch love for the trackpad. Terrible viewing angles and weak visibility in direct sunlight. Fan sounds like a leaf-blower at a My Bloody Valentine show.

$1550 (as tested), HP

Read our full HP TouchSmart tx2z review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Nero's LiquidTV TiVo PC looks like a TiVo and acts like a TiVo, but, brother, it ain't no TiVo.

Actually, the package makes your PC act like a TiVo by adding a USB TV tuner and the same TiVo software that drives the set-tops. You also get a for-reals TiVo remote and an IR receiver so you can command content from the couch.

Ironically, that's where you're gonna get pissed. The remote can't launch the software, so you'll have to physically walk over and mouse it open. The remote can be programmed to turn your TV on and off, but it can't put your PC in standby mode or wake it up again. If you do that manually, the IR receiver fails to wake up with the rest of the system.

WIRED Includes a one-year TiVo subscription, and after that it's a cheaper-than-set-top $99 per year. The software can auto-convert recordings to iPod or Sony PSP format. Integrates with any TiVo boxes you already have. Extra storage is just an external hard drive away.

TIRED The remote lacks necessary PC controls. Not measurably better than Windows Media Center — which, incidentally, is free. The tuner supports ClearQAM, but the software doesn't, so forget digital channels unless you hook up the antenna.

$125, Tivo

Read our full Nero LiquidTV TiVo PC review.

Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Do Not Erase!

2009-03-19T12:56:00.000+06:00

I'm a student of history. OK, maybe more like, I am a getting-older journalist following a youngish history, of companies like Apple, a company I covered in the 80s, Microsoft, (late 80s to present), AOL, Yahoo (mid 90s to present), Google (late 90s to present), Facebook (early 2000s to present), and on and on (yes, Twitter is my most recent obsession as a story).

So when I saw this tweet today, well, heck, it brought me back. To this. I first saw the Google Master Plan whiteboard when I went to Google in early 2002 to meet with Eric Schmidt. Love the idea that Twitter now has a whiteboard with its revenue plans, and prominently declared is that wonderful mandate we've all written in the corner; DO NOT ERASE!

Yes, that's a good idea. Don't erase (see my previous post on why).

PS - Google's Master plan also had a "Do Not Erase" in the top left hand corner. So did the "Don't be evil" whiteboard moniker put up across campus in the early days.

Heart Failure Strikes Blacks More Often and at Younger Ages, Study Finds

2009-03-19T12:55:00.000+06:00

Black adults developed heart failure at a rate 20 times higher than did whites, even dying of it decades before the condition typically strikes whites, in a large multicenter study of the causes of heart disease, researchers reported.

Heart failure typically occurs in the elderly and is rare in young adults. Researchers did not expect to see much of it among the 5,115 young blacks and whites, evenly split along racial and sex lines, that they had been following to learn about causes of heart disease. But after 20 years, 27 participants in the study had developed heart failure, all but one of them black.

Most of the heart failure patients were in their 30s and 40s. Three black men and two black women with heart failure died during the study period.

The researchers estimated that heart failure strikes one in 100 blacks under age 50 in the United States.

The study is to be published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“Blacks in our study who were in their 30s and 40s had the same rate of heart failure as whites in their 50s and 60s,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, the lead investigator of the study, which was part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults, or Cardia, study and was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“These are people who are in the prime of their life and should be contributing in all kinds of ways,” Dr. Bibbins-Domingo added, “so this disease has a devastating effect, not just on the individual patient but on the family, the community and society in general.”

Those who developed heart failure were more likely than those who did not to have been suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. They were also more likely to have been obese and to have had low levels of HDL, so-called “good” cholesterol.

Heart failure is a chronic condition that is difficult to treat and often leads to early death. Patients who suffer from it tire easily, suffer from shortness of breath and usually are unable to work and qualify for disability.

David Mullens, a 57-year-old black man in San Francisco who was not part of the study, was so young when he developed shortness of breath 15 years ago that doctors thought he had asthma.

“I was climbing steps and getting short-winded, and I was surprised and thinking, ‘Forty-two isn’t too old,’ ” said Mr. Mullens, who has been on disability for the past 15 years.

Dr. Eric D. Peterson, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who wrote an editorial on racial disparities in cardiac care published with the report, called the study “remarkably important” and emphasized that the disease was preventable.

“This shows you where having 20 years of uncontrolled blood pressure has effects, on kidney disease — and on the heart,” Dr. Peterson said. “It wears it out.”

Several experts said the rate of heart failure seen in the study might be just the “tip of the iceberg,” since researchers only identified patients whose heart failure led to a hospitalization or to death.

“Could the disproportional rate be even higher?” asked Dr. Gina Wei, medical officer of the Cardia study. “It’s possible, certainly.”

Latest Obama Plan: Not Too Relevant for Small Businesses

2009-03-19T12:52:00.000+06:00

My latest column at the OPEN Forum looks at President’s Obama’s recent announcement on Monday of the latest small business economic plan. While I think it is positive for some segments of small businesses, overall the main question that comes to mind is: “how relevant is it to what ails small businesses?”

On Monday, March 16, 2009, President Obama announced a new plan to help small businesses. (Announcement here - PDF.)

The plan is mainly centered around easing SBA loans. The plan calls for the government to buy up SBA loan securities to free up the secondary markets so banks can sell their SBA loans; it cuts SBA loan fees; and it increases the Federal guarantee on SBA loans to 90%. It also calls for the 21 largest banks getting Federal funding to report on their volume of small business loans each month. The rest of the announced provisions for the most part were already included in the Stimulus package and not new.

So: thumbs up or thumbs down?

I’d say the plan is mildly positive, but mostly it’s just not relevant to the majority of small businesses. Here’s why:

To the extent small businesses actually want SBA loans, this could help. However, not every small business wants or needs a loan.

To me, the fact that the President took the time to make a small-business-specific announcement and has been more positive in tone of late, will have a bigger symbolic impact than the SBA lending provisions.

Read: Is President Obama’s New Small Business Plan Relevant?

From Small Business Trends

Latest Obama Plan: Not Too Relevant for Small Businesses

Naveen Jain’s Intelius Begins To Crumble. Good.

2009-03-19T12:50:00.000+06:00

A year ago we wrote about Naveen Jain’s current startup, Intelius. Jain left previous the company he founded, InfoSpace, in disgrace in late 2002 after violating insider trading laws and other sketchy activities. After leaving InfoSpace Jain started Intelius, across the street from his old offices in Bellevue, Washington.

In that post we outlined how Intelius, at the time in the process of becoming a public company, was growing revenue via a scam:

Intelius has been on the receiving end of hundreds of consumer complaints alleging fraud, many of which are around a partnership the company has with Adaptive Marketing and a “product” they offer called Privacy Matters Identity.

Every time a customer buys a product at Intelius, they are shown a page telling them “Take our 2008 Consumer Credit Survey and claim $10.00 CASH BACK with Privacy Matters Identity.” The user is then shown two survey questions and asked to enter their email and click a large orange button. They can choose to skip the survey by clicking on a small link at the bottom of the page.

Undoubtedly a lot of consumers do the survey and move forward to the next page - it only takes a second. But what most people don’t do is read the fine print, which gives no real details on the $10 cash back (in fact, it is never mentioned again, anywhere). Instead, in light gray small text, users are told that by taking the survey they are really signing up to a $20/month subscription. Intelius forwards your personal information, including your credit card, to Adaptive Marketing. The next day a $20 charge appears on your credit card, and each month afterwards.

Now, nearly a year later, Intelius is being deservedly buried in lawsuits and consumer complaints. A long Seattle Weekly expose on Jain and Intelius describes the various legal issues facing the company: 121 complaints to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, 822 complaints to the Better Business Bureau, a lawsuit in King County Superior Court accusing Jain of inflating financial figures and a Federal Trade Commission investigation for possible violation of laws regulating how credit information is disseminated. More at TechFlash.

As an aside, all these negative stories are really piling up for Google searches on Naveen Jain. Jain has clearly been using basic SEO tacticts to try to drive those stories down. He maintains at a handful of sites, Naveenjain.com, naveenjain.org and naveenjain.us, naveenjain.info, all of which use his full name in almost every sentence and talk about his philanthropic efforts. All of the sites link to eachother, creating a small link farm. Still, the bad news is out there.

Toshiba selects Norio Sasaki as next President and CEO

2009-03-19T12:49:00.000+06:00

We needn't tell you that things haven't been going awesome for Toshiba ever since HD DVD hit the skids and slid right into its coffin, but the company has yet to lose hope in its future. As a sign of impending change, Tosh's board of directors has just selected Mr. Norio Sasaki -- who is currently a senior executive VP in the company -- to become the next CEO and President this June. Sasaki will replace Atsutoshi Nishida following an ordinary general meeting of the shareholders, and he'll also succeed Tadashi Okamura in becoming the next chairman of the board at Toshiba Corporation. If you're curious as to whether or not this chap has what it takes, check this: the man is into mountain biking, smooth jazz and golf, and his personal motto is "perseverance will open the way." How dare you doubt that?

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

White Nokia E71 arrives in America... on Cincinnati Bell

2009-03-19T12:47:00.000+06:00

Whoa, wait up, what's this? On the very same day that Nokia's white E71 invaded North America via Rogers Wireless, one of America's least known carriers is following suit for those in and around the great state of Ohio. For reasons unknown, Cincinnati Bell (of all carriers) has managed to pick up the suddenly hot color of this here QWERTY-packin' smartphone, and best of all, it's available for free on a two-year agreement. What's next? Mexico getting this for -$100 after rebate?

[Thanks, Jordan]

Update: You can also get this bad boy unlocked, if you're so inclined. Still, though, seriously -- much love, Cincinnati Bell. You're a prince among carriers for launching this for free on contract. Thanks, Chris!

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm Pre to be assembled by Chi Mei Communication Systems, fairies

2009-03-19T12:45:00.000+06:00

Information about Palm's hotly anticipated Pre just keeps slowly trickling out... today, we hear that Taiwanese OEM Chi Mei Communication Systems will have the honor of assembling the smartphones. The company's not one of the largest out there, but it also manufactures phones for Motorola. This info comes to us courtesy of DigiTimes, so make of it what you will, but they also say that production could begin as early as March. Considering that it's March now, well... we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

[Via Brighthand]

Filed under: Cellphones

Diminutive Spark Nano GPS tracker gives suspicious parents real answers

2009-03-19T12:43:00.000+06:00

Not that sneaky, minuscule GPS trackers are impossible to come by, but with kids growing more and more mischievous, outraged parents are demanding more options. At least that's the word passed on by Lightning GPS' Jason Lazarus, who has just recently decided to make its ridiculously small Spark Nano available to the public. You see, this here company has generally thrived on providing covert GPS trackers to military and law enforcement, but now even civilians are being allowed in on the fun. The device, which is obviously used to track whatever or whomever you wish, is about the size of a 9-volt battery and can easily withstand bumps, bruises and the occasional drink spill. Users who implant one can track the subject via the web (shown after the break) or phone, and you can count on five solid days of continuous tracking when the rechargeable battery is topped off. It's shipping now from BrickHouse Security for $299.95.

Continue reading Diminutive Spark Nano GPS tracker gives suspicious parents real answers

Filed under: GPS

Modistech unveils flexible, ultrathin OLED light in Korea

2009-03-19T12:41:00.000+06:00

We just heard that the OLED market was set to skyrocket in 2011, but don't tell Modistech. Said outfit has just revealed its own flexible, ultrathin OLED light module in South Korea, which honestly looks eerily similar to Samsung's "flapping" OLED panels from last fall. Details are pretty scant right now, but we're told to expect mass production within the next year, with public availability penciled in for -- you guessed it -- 2011. Hit the read link for a few more delightful looks.

[Via OLED-Display]

Filed under: Displays

Hanwha's Duo for Laptop lets you doodle on your standard 15.4-inch laptop

2009-03-19T12:40:00.000+06:00

Here's a novel idea -- turning one's standard, non-tablet PC into a tablet PC. Hanwha Japan has just introduced its incredibly useful Duo for Laptop device, which sits gently atop one's laptop display and tracks digital pen movements via Infrared and ultrasonic technology in order to add doodling functionality to LCDs that were never designed to understand touch input. The only limitation -- and it's a big one -- is that this seems to only work with lappies possessing up to a 15.4-inch display. If that's kosher with you, you can snap one up for ¥9,980 ($101), or if not, you can just wait 'til these are announced for netbooks, ultraportables and desktop replacements.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Filed under: Peripherals, Tablet PCs

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might've missed

2009-03-19T12:36:00.001+06:00


	Video: iPhone OS 3.0 walkthrough Many of us -- okay, a small handful of us -- wouldn't dream of putting beta firmware on our day-to-day devices, so we wanted to treat that very special group of safety-minded individuals to a once-over with iPhone OS 3.0's finer points on video.		Fujitsu melts faces and wallets with FLEPia, the first color e-book for general consumption After years of teasing -- FLEPia was first announced in April of 2007, and first proven in 2006 -- Fujitsu has at last released its color e-book (or e-paper mobile terminal, as they'd like you to call it) to the masses.
	Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro in-depth impressions When Apple's ever-so-slightly refreshed Nehalem-based Mac Pro showed up on our doorstep, we were understandably taken aback by the enclosure.	Other news of import Peek Pronto: is a new Peek device on its way? Is Office Depot taking care of business by screwing over customers?
	Popcorn Hour A-110 review With HD media streamers being a dime a dozen these days, when one particular one seems gain popularity we take notice.		USB tethering, Publish Video and Find my iPhone found in OS 3.0 Apple touted quite a few new iPhone features at yesterday's OS 3.0 event, but now that the beta build is trickling out, there's been a bevy of unearthed discoveries to further pique our interests.
First unofficial PlayOn media server plugin caught in action Toshiba's REGZA SV LCD HDTVs float to UK		AT&T to offer unsubsidized iPhone 3G with no commitment required? Rumors of Sony Ericsson split heat up again Keepin' it real fake, part CXCI: Motorola Aura gets the fake Louis Vuitton treatment

Internet Explorer 8 Gets All Final to Join New Browser Party

2009-03-19T12:30:00.000+06:00

Microsoft seems like the last one to the new browser party that's dragged out over the last month, but they are the first to make their entrance final with Internet Explorer 8.

If you've used the release candidate, or even the beta right before it, it'll be a mostly familiar experience, with nothing that seriously warps your fragile little mind. Microsoft does want you to forget about all of the Javascript benchmarks you've been seeing—they insist it's not about the Javascript performance touted by Apple or Google with their Webkit-based browsers. It's all about how fast pages actually open they say, and they claim IE8 is now "as fast or faster a majority of the time" than Firefox or Chrome (before the most recent beta). We'll see!

One cool UI bit, which you can see in the screencap, is that tabs are color-coded, so you can see where your trains of thought spring from—all of my Giz-originating tabs are one color, while all of the links I opened up in tabs from Fark are a different color, and so on. Pretty handy.

Accelerators are its version of add-ons in a way, or at least that's how they tout in them. In practice, they let you quickly jump to web apps, like Google Maps (or their own Live Maps) or translate something from Japanese or whatever language via their own service, or one of your choosing, like Google Translate. So IE8 is way more open in how you use embedded services—you're not stuck with Microsoft's own, which is good since a majority of the browsing public will be using this one day (probably, anyway). But without features like Firefox's add-ons and extensions, Chrome's rawer minimalism, or Safari/Opera's Top Sites, it still feels a few steps behind the rest of the pack.

Oh yeah, you can grab it at noon eastern in the morning. [Microsoft]

SwitchEasy's ThumbTacks are the cutest iPod mics you ever did see

2009-03-19T12:29:00.000+06:00

SwitchEasy's ThumbTacks are far from being the first third-party microphones designed to function nicely with Apple's iPod nano 4G and second-generation iPod touch, but we'll be darned if they aren't the cutest. Clearly designed to mimic the iconic thumb tack, these itty-bitty microphones function with all third-party voice applications and can be selected in black, white or red. Not too shabby for $15.99 shipped, wouldn't you say?

[Via iLounge]

Gallery: SwitchEasy's ThumbTacks are the cutest iPod mics you ever did see

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

New F-15 Silent Eagle Is Cheap Stealth Plane for Recession-minded Warmongers

2009-03-19T12:28:00.000+06:00

Here you have the F-15 Silent Eagle, a classic fighter with special coating and sightly angled surfaces to reduce its radar signature. Check out its completely new weapons bays, integrated in the fuel tanks.

Obviously, this plane won't have the same stealth capabilities of the F-35 Lightning II or the F-22 Raptor, but according to Boeing, it's a low cost version of those amazing fifth generation combat jets, according to Mark Bass, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing:

The F-15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our international customers' anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads. The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs.

The plane has Digital Flight Control System—which reduces its weight and improves reliability—, anti-radar coating, and redesigned conformal fuel tanks that can hold the weapons inside, from air-to-air missiles to air-to-ground weapons. This allows for two things: It allows to have less surfaces to reflect radar waves—which result in a smaller radar signature—and, if you don't care about the radar, load more weapons, since the wings can carry the standard payload of any F-15 Eagle.

All cool stuff, as long as it break in midair. [Boeing]

Tanita's BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor wirelessly sends embarrassing weight details

2009-03-19T12:27:00.001+06:00

Remember all those ANT+ wireless peripherals that were supposed to come flooding out after the introduction of Garmin's FR60 Fitness Watch? We suppose said flood has to start somewhere, and this is it. Tanita's BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor is hardly more than a sophisticated scale, designed to hold humans for just moments at a time while collecting measurements on muscle mass, overall physique, daily caloric intake, metabolic age, bone mass and visceral fat. From there, the unit can either send those details wireless to the aforesaid watch, or it can beam them to any PC with an appropriate dongle. The device is slated to ship this summer for $279.99 with a USB stick or $399.99 with an FR60 watch.

Filed under: Wearables, Wireless

Spider Drill Piano Produces Symphony of Cacaphony

2009-03-19T12:25:00.000+06:00

Brazilian artist Paulo Nenflidio, who's currently showing off his work in Arizona, creates weird noise-producing sculptures like this robot drill spider, which ends up sounding as frightening as it looks. Each of the six hammer drills is linked keys on the main body's keyboard. When a key is pressed, it causes the drills to start operating, producing a terrible calamitous sound. The keyboard is sensitive to pressure, so pressing down harder causes the bit to drill faster. Like so:

Super Talent ships decently priced UltraDrive ME / LE SSDs

2009-03-19T12:24:00.000+06:00

In terms of affordability, solid state drives still have quite some ways to go before they can actually be considered as viable replacements for most consumers. That being true, Super Talent is still doing its best to narrow the gap with the lower-priced UltraDrive families. Both the ME and the LE crews began shipping today, with the former arriving in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB flavors and the latter in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities. The LE lot rolls a touch faster at 230MB/sec (maximum read) and 170MB/sec (maximum write), while the ME editions are rated at 200MB/sec write and 160MB/sec read. There's no mention of the LE prices, but the UltraDrive ME drives can be snapped up now for $128 (32GB), $205 (64GB), $379 (128GB) and $645 (256GB) from NewEgg.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Storage

Israel Has Nukes, US Army Confirms

2009-03-19T12:23:00.000+06:00

Good news people! The US army has confirmed that Israel has their very own circumcised version of Dr Manhattan's schlong, which is estimated in 200 to 400 nuclear warheads by other sources.

After years of ignoring the Israeli nuclear program—which was denounced in 1986 by former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu—the United States' Department of Defense has acknowledged Israel nuclear power status for the first time.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of its own nuclear arsenal, but page 37 of the US Joint Forces Command report recognizes the fact, putting it in the same group as Pakistan, India, China, North Korea, Russia, along with an "emerging Iran," Taiwan, and Japan having "the capability to develop nuclear weapons quickly."

According to "The Samson Option" report—an investigative article written by reporter Seymour Hersh—Israel may have 200 to 400 atomic warheads, ready to use as the last resort in case of a massive attack that may put in danger the existence of the country.

This is a big deal for two reasons: First, because the subject has been dodged forever by the US government, including President Barack Obama, who recently ignored the question when asked by White House correspondent Helen Thomas. And second, because to the Symington Amendment—which bans support to countries developing nuclear weapons—this may mean the end of US help to Israel.

Or maybe this just means that someone at the DOD will get fired and the report corrected with a big black marker.

It can go either way, and it will still be very bad news. [US Army PDF via DOD Buzz]

Atomic construction yields punchier power store

2009-03-16T12:27:00.002+06:00

Devices from electric cars to laptops could benefit from a new kind of capacitor, which combines the best features of conventional devices to store a large quantity of charge and release it rapidly.

Electrostatic capacitors store charge on the surface of two conducting plates separated by an insulating layer. Their advantage is that they can store and release energy much faster than batteries.

That makes them ideal candidates to replace batteries in devices that require speedy discharge of power, such as electric cars. However, electric capacitors can hold only limited charge. Supercapacitors that store charge chemically as well as electrically have greater capacities, but perform only as well as the best batteries.

Now a prototype capacitor has been made that manages to store power as densely as a supercapacitor, but deliver it at speeds comparable with electrostatic capacitors.

Columbus innocent over anthrax in the Americas

2009-03-16T12:20:00.000+06:00

There's no debating that invading Europeans did introduce diseases that decimated Native American peoples, but anthrax probably wasn't one of them

The Most Violent Video Games Ever Made

2009-03-16T12:16:00.000+06:00

Ready for a bloody good time? We dissect some of the goriest video games ever made, which include everything from chainsaw bayonets to dismembered aliens. Don't read on if you just ate.

Bashundhara City comes to life again

2009-03-16T12:11:00.002+06:00

The Bashundhara City Complex was opened today to public, two day's after a devastating fire turned the mall into a towering inferno.

The market came to life again around 10:00am as the shop owners on the shutters of their shops housed from the first floor to the eighth floors of the largest shopping mall of the country, ATN Bangla, a private television channel reports at its 11 0'clock morning bulletin.

Meanwhile, public started to come at the shopping mall.

The authorities of the shopping mall yesterday informed that the fire damaged their properties worth over Tk 200 crore. But, they assured that the paper documents are all right.

On March 13, a devastating fire swept through the Bashundhara City Complex, killing seven people and injuring 20 others.

Car and auto website for Bangladesh

2009-03-16T12:03:00.001+06:00

MotorGari.Com is the only online open source auto showroom in Bangladesh. You may trade (buy or sell) your autos new recondition old or used autos including car, bus, truck, motorcycle, microbus.

Video: Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro unboxing and hands-on

2009-03-15T20:18:00.000+06:00

Here she is, fresh off the Saturday Express. Apple's latest Mac Pro is said to be significantly more nimble and entirely easier to upgrade than its Penryn-based predecessor, and while it'll take us a few days yet to check out the former claim, we can already assure you that the second one is valid. Upon unboxing this beast (to be fair, it's not all that monstrous), we immediately dug within the cover to see what was up with Apple's new tray system. Rather than forcing users to squeeze their hands into unfathomably tight places just to pop in a new DIMM or add in a fresh 2TB hard drive, the engineers at Cupertino found a way to place all eight RAM slots on a removable tray, meaning that you can actually take that piece elsewhere and operate under better lighting. The tray was dead simple to remove and replace, and while it's a small inclusion, it's definitely an appreciated one. We'll be stressing this thing out and writing up a more thorough review soon, but for now, enjoy the snapshots / video below and after the break, respectively.

Gallery: Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro unboxing and hands-on

Continue reading Video: Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro unboxing and hands-on

Filed under: Desktops

HP Pavilion dv6t laptop gets a quiet upgrade, new paint job

2009-03-15T20:16:00.000+06:00

HP just dished out a quiet upgrade to its dv7t gaming laptop last month, and it now looks like it's done the same with its slightly more modest Pavilion dv6t, which gets some sprucing up inside and out. That includes your choice of 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 or 1GB HD 4650 graphics, which have edged out the previous NVIDIA options, although the rest of the specs seem to have remained largely untouched, including the usual range of Core 2 Duo processors, up to 8GB of RAM, a max 500GB hard drive, and an unfortunately lackluster 1366 x 768 resolution on that 16-inch display. You can also now get the laptop in your choice of Espresso Black or Moonlight White color schemes, although there seems to be a $25 premium over the $679.99 base price for the latter option (pictured above).

[Thanks, Plasma]

Filed under: Laptops

BlackBerry 9630 Niagara pops up in more glamorous spy shots

2009-03-15T20:15:00.000+06:00

Ladies and gentlemen, we now present even more shots of the CDMA-equipped BlackBerry 9630 Niagara that was caught strutting its stuff earlier this month. Not only is the phone turned on this time, but we've also caught it lying across some shagadelic leopard print. Additionally, the fine folks over at the Crackberry forums have a couple of less stylish pics, allegedly uploaded by someone trying to hawk the phone on craigslist for a cool $800. Those images show off what appears to be a battery slot on the back that's slimmer than current models. Until RIM decides to give us some official visuals, we remain ever-hopeful that someone with the leaked phone manages a sexier photo shoot. More spy shots, including that of the mobile's underside, after the break.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Read - Device-on photo
Read - Pics of underside

Continue reading BlackBerry 9630 Niagara pops up in more glamorous spy shots

Filed under: Cellphones

AMD proposes new laptop battery life metrics, Intel is like "whatevs"

2009-03-15T20:13:00.000+06:00

AMD has struggled of late to produce anything akin to a "good idea," but we've got to give a serious high five to senior VP and CMO Nigel Dessau on this one. While pumping gas one day and thinking about the low / high MPG ratings on vehicles, he began to wonder why laptops are being left out of that scheme. Handsets have talk time / standby time, PMPs have separate longevity ratings for audio and video -- so why on Earth are we generally given just a single figure for laptops? Testing has shown that almost always the quoted figures from laptop makers aren't even close to what users get in the real world, so Dessau is suggesting we implement a "guide rail" system that explains a maximum and minimum life expectancy. As for Intel's take? "There are many ways to measure battery life. We believe the best way to determine how to measure battery life is by making proposals and debating it in industry consortiums and not via a blog post." Oh Intel, could you possibly be any more corporate?

[Via HotHardware]

Read - AMD's take
Read - Intel's take

Filed under: Laptops

EverGreen's Chinese Horoscope MP3 players begin their adorable invasion

2009-03-15T20:12:00.001+06:00

Looking for some equally cute alternatives to all the Hello Kitty gear out there? Then you may want to consider these new Chinese Horoscope MP3 players from EverGreen, which sacrifice only a tiny bit of usability for a whole lot of adorability. You will get some actual, if not entirely intuitive, controls on the rear, however, along with an adequate 2GB of storage space, but you'll apparently have to make do with just five hours of play time. Then again, at less than $30 each, you could just collect 'em all and keep the cuteness train rolling for days on end.

[Via PMP Today]

OLED market set to skyrocket in 2011, says DisplaySearch

2009-03-15T20:07:00.000+06:00

You've seen the prototypes tucked away in trade show corners, and you've seen the demise of existing generation technologies -- it doesn't take an industry expert to realize that the door is wide open for OLED to walk through. According to a new report from -- who else? -- industry experts, the OLED lighting market is set to boom in 2011, with OLED revenues expected to surpass PMOLED displays in the 2013 / 2014 time frame. Specifically in the OLED TV market, manufacturers are scrambling to assemble large-screen OLED TVs that are even close to affordable, and estimates we've personally heard put those on the market just after the next decade begins. Clearly, the biggest hindrance from OLED domination right now is the prohibitive pricing, but once those XEL-1s are given away inside King Size cereal boxes, we'll really be onto something.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Mouse Computer doles out dueling Core i7-powered desktops

2009-03-14T14:48:00.000+06:00

It has seriously been a hot, hot minute since we've seen a compelling new desktop from the doors of Mouse Computer, but lo and behold, we've finally found a pair worth glancing all the way to Japan just to swoon over. The outfit's NextGear L720 and Masterpiece V1200 lines arrive with all manners of Core i7 CPUs within, each boasting between 3GB and 12GB of DDR3 RAM, SATA hard drives and NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Prospective buyers can also load one up with a Blu-ray drive should they choose, but you can plan on laying down ¥110,000 ($1,121) at the very least to get your palms around one.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Filed under: Desktops

Lotto Turm: Play the Lottery with Naked Lifeguards and Classy Hookers

2009-03-14T14:45:00.000+06:00

Constructing a building to be bigger and taller is overrated. But constructing a "building"—which is just 55 shipping crates stacked on top of each other—with a unique design is apparently all the rage these days.

Designer Lars Behrendt's newest project—Lotto Turm—is to revamp the "Oesterreichischer Platz," which is currently a parking spot in Stuttgart (Southern Germany), isolated by surrounding highways.

The new structure will be made from 55 shipping crates being stacked on top of each other, with a spherical roof that will mainly serve as a lottery-number-drawing area. The buiding will also be split in two so that at least one section of the structure will be secluded from traffic and other outside noises. Not much else is known about the project, but from the pictures, it looks like there will be many levels connected by stairs, roomy terraces, a colorful courtyard, a lengthy swimming pool—with a naked lifeguard—and what's that I see? A nicely dressed escort in the love room or red-light district? You had me at naked lifeguards. Woohoo! [Design Boom]

RIM's BlackBerry 9630 World Edition finally strikes a pose

2009-03-05T20:56:00.000+06:00

Finally, an honest to goodness picture of what may well be the sweetest BlackBerry RIM has pushed out to date. Featuring keyboard styling taken from its chubbier friend, the BlackBerry Bold, and the sleeker lines of the Curve 8900, this certainly looks like a recipe for success. If you're a BlackBerry user on Verizon, we'd say major celebration is in order if this wanders your way in the near future. We still only have the info we posted last week about it, but as the hype spins up, we expect the leaks will, too.

Filed under: Cellphones

MSI Winki hands-on: it's an instant-on OS, but for desktops

2009-03-05T01:05:00.000+06:00

MSI did a laudatory job this morning baffling us with its Winki release, but we managed to find an exceptionally kind, English-speaking representative at its CeBIT booth today who broke it down for us. In short, Winki is MSI's new instant-on operating system. It's Linux-based, and looks a heck of a lot more elaborate than the HyperSpace instant-on OS that we toyed with in January. The kicker is that at least for now, this thing is only for desktops, as it's actually built into a small module (shown above) that plugs directly into an MSI motherboard. At first, only select mainboards will come bundled with Winki, but it just might roll out across MSI's entire mobo line. The dame we spoke with wouldn't divulge any details on whether this OS would ever come to its wide-ranging laptop line, but we suspect it will in due time. Winki provides easy access to IM services, Skype and the internet, which is a shortcut to Doom away from being all the true gamer needs in life, anyway.

Gallery: MSI Winki hands-on: it's an instant-on OS, but for desktops

Filed under: Desktops

The Great Pyramid PC Would Make Tutankhamun Jealous [Mods]

2009-03-05T01:03:00.000+06:00

When I die, I want my remains buried in this pyramid PC mod.

Just 7.5 pounds, the mighty pyramid pc's frame was constructed from laser cut, black and silver aluminum before acrylic paneling sealed the system off to grave robbers and historians. Two 80mm fans keep things frosty with the assistance of liquid cooling. And, of course, a few extra LEDs have been added here and there to bring a little glam to the shabby old pyramids.

Specs:
CPU: Q6600 B3 OC @ 3.15 GHz (Max stable OC @ 3.4 GHz) – "water cooled"
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L
RAM: G-Skills 4GB PC2-8000 OC @ 1066 MHz
GPU: 512 MB 8800GT Zotac AMP Editions (700 MHz Core/ 2000 Mhz Memory)
HDD: 500 GB Cavier WD 300 SATA
PSU: 500 Watts Rosewill
Cooling: Thermaltake Tide water plus w/ Swiftech apogee GT CPU block

I do wish Dell/Alienware put out machines that were this bold in design. Because, why not? The world isn't exactly short on tower PCs.[Power Up! via Geeky Gadgets]

LG X110 finally reaching US soil before July

2009-03-05T01:02:00.000+06:00

Ever get the feeling LG's netbook sector has something against the US? The X110 has been out in Europe since September, and the X120 is scheduled to be joining it later this month. But across the pond? Zilch -- until now, at any rate. President of Mobile Communications Skott Ahn told Forbes that the X110 will be landing here with Uncle Sam's approval sometime before July for a cool $400 unsubsidized. With so much competition, however, isn't that a bit pricey? Since the company's yet to go through the official channels with this information, it could be subject to change. Either way, it looks like we'll find out soon enough.

Filed under: Laptops

GPS-equipped FineDrive iQ500 PMP proves Korea's awesomeness once more

2009-03-05T01:01:00.000+06:00

Seriously folks, is it really that hard? Can we North Americans get a few PMPs like this one, or are we destined to have but a few kinda-sorta similar Archos units to choose from? South Korea is proving yet again that its PMP designers are truly top notch with the FineDrive iQ500, which proudly sports an expansive 7-inch LCD (800 x 480 resolution), a 600MHz ARM processor, 4GB / 8GB of internal storage, an SDHC expansion slot, WinCE, GPS module, a DMB TV tuner and support for a smorgasbord of audio and video file formats. It's also spectacularly thin and drool-worthy, and naturally, can only be procured and fully enjoyed within the confines of its home nation. Oh, one question though: "Oil Save?"

[Via Akihabara News]

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio, Portable Video

This Gorgeous Laptop is Actually an Asus Eee [Laptops]

2009-03-05T00:58:00.000+06:00

No offense, Asus, but when a company puts a netbook's name on an ultra-thin, ultra-light computer, it's like the first time grandma danced to Who Let The Dogs Out at a wedding. Trend over.

Yes, today the MacBook Air is much, much lamer, but the Eee brand name is marginally more cool.

The Asus Eee PC (1008HA), a 10-inch netbook, is just 1-inch thick and 2.8lbs in weight. It also features the beveled design of the MacBook Air, with its curving chassis that thins around the edges. Asus isn't the first netbook manufacturer to go after a thin design, as MSI did the same thing with their X-Slim. But Asus takes the cake for most convincing press shot.

Unfortunately, the processor, price and release date are still unannounced. So crank up the Macarena and enjoy the pics. [lilliputing]

iMac (early 2009) unboxing and hands-on

2009-03-05T00:57:00.000+06:00

Just like the new Mac mini, the new iMac is the externally the same apart from the terribly sad swap of FireWire 400 for an additional USB port and the addition of mini DisplayPort, but inside things have been updated all around. We're busy putting this 2.93GHz bad boy to the test as we speak, but in the meantime check out the unboxing below -- and let us know if you find the tiny new keyboard super-cute or super-ridiculous, we're on the fence.

Gallery: iMac (Early 2009) unboxing and hands-on

Filed under: Desktops