I hope you are all enjoying the week between Christmas and New Year.
This is a very quiet week for gadgets so no new posts, we are getting ready for the CES Consumer Electronics show in Vegas next week; we will be reporting from the show and attending all the fun launch parties that companies have planned.
Happy New Year!
Alaska is a state where men are men and thermal underwear is required.
In Alaska there are a lot more men than women and as it takes more than muscles and a plaid shirt to attract the ladies, I can see where the inspiration for 26 year old Carlos Owens little project might have came from.
Carlos is building an 18 foor tall Mecha; an exoskeleton that he can climb into and take 8 foot long strides, crushing cars with it's massive pincer hands.
All it needs now is the flamethrower.
.... but I'm not sure if I would want it on my lap.
PC Magazine has reviewed the latest incarnation of the Dell Inspiron XPS "desktop replacement" laptop.
This 9.8lb (probably excluding battery) 14.1" x 10.8" x 2" thick $4400 monster boasts a 3.4GHz Intel Pentuim 4 Extreme Edition processor, Mobility Radeon 9800 Pro graphics, and 256MB DDR2 memory.
Frankly I don't get it, a ten pound laptop is too big to carry around, gets too hot to keep on your lap for long (and could benefit from the chillpak we mentioned recently), and despite it being plugged as an extreme gaming system it only managed a 3DMark05 score of 2300, a full 1500 points less (and $3500 more) than we got with a $649 Dell Desktop PC upgraded with a $200 graphics card.
If you absolutely have to have a large laptop for gaming this is a good choice, otherwise give it a miss.
"Genetic Savings & Clone", a pet cloning company, has announced the first commercially produced clone, a kitten called Little Nicky that cost it's new owner $50,000.
Little Nicky is a clone of (unsurprisingly) a cat called Nicky who died aged 17.
For your $50k "GSC will provide you with a video of the cloning process, birth of your clone, presentation party and dinner as a personal keepsake and remembrance. Your video will be provided in either VHS and DVD format."
7 people have signed up so far at $50k each to get a clone of their cat, and it isn't clear how many more have signed up for Genetic Savings & Clone's storage service where for $295 to $1395 (plus $100 a year) you can get your pets DNA stored.
Oh, and if your pet dies suddenly they have instructions to put your pet in the refridgerator (don't freeze it) and arrange for a biopsy immediately.
Hmm, we love our dog Buddy, but probably not to the extent of $50k, especially when there are so many good dogs and cats being euthanized every day in animal shelters. So if your pet dies don't give 50k to Genetic Savings & Clone, donate some money to your local animal shelter and get a new pet that would otherwise be killed.
There seem to be a lot of Network Attached Storage solutions coming out with a terabyte of storage, perfect for a home media server, and here's another one.
The Ajump Impression P104S is interesting because it is custom configured, built, and tested, and comes at a good price ($1438 with 1TB of storage).
This Ajump NAS server has a RISC processor, 4 Serial ATA bays, gigabit ethernet, 256MB RAM, and hardware RAID levels 0, 1, and 5.
Is it just me, or does it look like a radio from the 1940s?
(via ehomeupgrade)
Now this is one sexy piece of Italian design, the OnCinema Teatro D1 Media Center PC.
The OnCinema Teatro D1 is made of aluminum, comes in silver and black, prominently features a 1280x720 pixel touchscreen LCD, and costs a jaw-dropping 5000 euros ($6000).
There is no mention when you buy of what processor or memory you get with at (irrelevent details?), but you do get a dual layer DVD recorder, 500GB hard drive space, 802.11g wireless, USB 2.0, firewire, Dolby DTS 7.1, dual TV tuners, and a host of outputs including S-Video, component, DVI and lots more.
Foxy!, do you think it's too late to call santa and change my wish list?
OnCinema home page (Italian) (via Gizmodo)
We bought a new Dell PC recently that was a great bargain, offered all the latest technology, but its gaming was very poor due to it coming with a basic Radeon X300 graphics card.
To replace the card we had two choices, spend $400+ on a top of the range Radeon X800/X850 or GeForce 6800 card, or keep the budget more sensible and get a mid-range card for around $200 such as a Radeon X600 or GeForce 6600 card.
We wanted a card that would handle the latest games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 at a good resolution (1280x1024) with high graphics settings, and after researching we bought a Sparkle GeForce 6600GT graphics card from Directron for $207.
How did the card perform, and how much did it improve over the 16377 Aquamark3 benchmark score we got with the old X300 card? Keep reading to find out......
| 
|
Dean Haglund (one of the 3 geeks from the X-Files that got his own TV series that was a flop) has become an inventor:
He has created a device that draws heat away from the CPU on your laptop.
No, not a little fan (Schulyer Wheeler invented the electric fan in 1886), the X-Files guy invented one of those gel pack things (like doctors and nurses use for reducing swelling instead of a bag of peas) but here's the clever bit: it eliminates condensation, which for obvious reasons is a "good thing" as computers and water don't mix.
One word of warning guys, don't chill it too much then use it on your lap with your laptop: I imagine frostbitten balls are very unpleasant.
Probably coming to an infomercial near you soon (or alternatively available for $19.99 (via paypal) on chillpak.com.
| |
Burt Rutan (of first private spaceship SpaceShipOne) fame has talked to the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper about the future of SpaceShipOne and his plans for it's successor SpaceShipTwo (AKA Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise).
SpaceShipOne, despite receiving a lot of requests for flights and cargo runs, will be preserved in the Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington DC and will not fly again.
SpaceShipTwo, which will carry 9 people higher than SpaceShipOne, should be flying in two and a half years and should be starting commercial flights in four years.
In the longer term he things that in twenty to twenty-five years people will be able to visit hotels in orbit.
Put me down for a weekend stay at the hotel to celebrate my 55th or 60th birthday.
Here's a nice looking barebones small form factor PC from Asus: The S-presso SI-P111.
The Asus Spresso comes with the fancy looking case, LED panel, TV tuner, remote control, memory card reader, and a high-end Asus motherboard. All you do is add a hard drive, operating system of your choice (this would be great for Windows Media Center), DDR memory, socket 478 processor, and a graphics card (it has been tested with most recent high-power 8x AGP card, making it suitable for a gaming PC).
The Asus Spresso SI-P111 is 9.5" x 7.1" x 13", and costs around $300.
Acer have launched two new Pocket PCs: the n50 and the n35.
The n35 is described as the Pocket Chauffeur due to its built in GPS receiver. It also has a SD/MMC card slot, 266MHz processor, 64MB RAM, 32MB ROM, QVGA 240x320 screen.
The n50 has a standard and a premium version:
The n50 standard features a 312MHz processor, 64MB RAM, 64MB ROM, SD/MMC and CF card slots, bluetooth, and a QVGA 240x320 screen.
The n50 premium features a 520MHz processor, 128MB RAM, 64MB ROM, SD/MMC and CF card slots, bluetooth, and a QVGA 240x320 screen.
None of these devices sound particularly exciting to us, where is the 802.11b wireless, the VGA screen etc?
Acer (via PocketPCThoughts)
| |
LiveDigitally got the scoop on the Ovideon Portable Media Player, which is one of the first devices by a US manufacturer to use an OLED screen.
The Ovideon Portable Media Player has a wierd sized screen, 512 by 218 pixels, and boasts a built-in cable TV tuner, audio/video inputs, 1 inch hard drive (presumably 4 or 5gb), video recording, and playback of MP3, AVI, WMA, WMV, DIVx, and JPEG.
The MP3, AVI, WMA, WMV, DIVx, and JPEG weighs just over 5oz and will cost $599.
Trustedreviews has reviewed the new Motorola e1000 phone in the UK:
"My handset is a second generation 3G phone, but if the new Motorola E1000 is anything to go by, things are set to improve with the third generation of handsets that are now being launched. The E1000 is a traditional “candy bar” phone while most 3G phones so far seem to have been of the flip variant. If this is a good thing or not tends to be down to personal taste, but Motorola has come up with some interesting additions to a traditional design.
The first thing you notice about the E1000 is the large screen and at 34 x 44mm, with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, this 16bit display is excellent in use and very clear and easy to read. The second thing you notice is the odd button layout – there’s a row of four buttons on each side of the display, which is similar to the design of the Siemens SX1, although not quite as brave as having the whole keypad down the side of the phone."
| |
If you have bought one of the newer high-end digital cameras you may have been bummed to find out that Photoshop CS didn't support the RAW image format on those cameras.
Well, Adobe has just released a public beta of their Adobe Camera Raw plug-in that adds support for the RAW format of the following cameras to Photoshop CS:
* Canon EOS 20D
* Canon PowerShot S70
* Canon PowerShot G6
* Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II
* Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200
* Konica Minolta MAXXUM 7D
* Nikon D2X
Time for us to switch to using RAW format on our 20D and see what the results are like.
I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I doubt Apple will be flattered when they see this.
Details are scarce but the "i-pocket" by Taiwanese firm Aboss has a 4-color OLED screen, an SD/MMC card slot, 800MaH battery, the same 5 colors as the iPod mini, and probably an internal CF card as htey claim storage capacities from 64mb to 8gb (although they could just be talking about the capacity of the SD card you put in it.)
casa-aboss-com.tw (more info via Engadget and DAPreview)
| |
One downside to the wonderful new gadgets coming out these days is that they all seems to chew through batteries faster than our dog chews through treats.
Voltaic have a solution with their Voltaic Solar Powered Backpack: it has 3 solar cells on the back connected to a 2200mAh 7.2v battery pack so you can recharge your gadgets while out and about.
The Voltaic Solar Powered Backpack comes with an AC and car charger for when the sun isn't enough, and includes a set of adapters for many common phones, 7 universal DC adapters plugs to replicate the chargers of many PDAs, MP3 players etc, and if all else fails there is a car charger adapter that lets you use your gadget's existing car charger with the Voltaic.
The Voltaic was announced months ago for pre-order but is now shipping and costs $229.
Until recently you could only buy Windows XP Media Center Edition as part of a new PC purchase, but now you can buy it with as little as one piece of hardware and then build your own Media Center PC.
Extremetech did this and while they had a few difficulties getting all the software and drivers to play nice together they ended up with a very nice HDTV Media Center PC for just over $2300 to go with the HDTVs from their HDTV buying guide we mentioned earlier this month.
Our opinion is that while it would be nice to build your own Media Center PC to your exact specifications, for that much money you could buy a Media Center PC from a major manufacturer and have the reassurance of tech support when things go wrong, so give this a miss unless you are very confident in your PC building abilities.
Extremetech Media Center PC Building Guide (via digitalmediathoughts)
| |
Wal-Mart Breaks Price Barrier with $498 Linux Laptop Running Linspire
Monday December 20, 6:30 am ET
New low-cost computer features complete operating system and Microsoft File-compatible office suite
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Walmart.com has released the $498 Balance laptop, which runs the Linux-based operating system Linspire. The laptop comes fully equipped with the operating system, Internet suite, and Microsoft-file compatible office suite, and can be used with both dial-up modems and broadband connections. The $498 price does not require coupons or rebates and can be purchased immediately at http://www.linspire.com/498.
Wal-Mart and Linspire worked together to offer a laptop that would give customers the best user experience at the lowest price possible. The Balance notebook is the lowest-priced laptop currently on the market to include a complete operating system and office suite -- comparable machines cost hundreds more even without an office suite or software included.
Hardware specifications:
-- 1.0 GHz processor
-- 128 MB RAM, expandable up to 512 MB with included SODIMM slot
-- 14.1" LCD screen
Included software:
-- Linspire 4.5 operating system
-- OpenOffice.org - full-featured Microsoft file-compatible office suite
with word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation programs
-- Internet suite including email with spam blockers, Internet browser,
and built-in firewall
-- More than 1,900 free software programs for download, with guaranteed
software updates for 3 months
More specifications for the Balance $498 laptop are available at http://www.linspire.com/498.
The $498 Balance notebook with Linspire is an extremely affordable Linux-based computer perfect for use as a second or third home machine. Users can connect to the Internet and create, edit and share documents within minutes of bringing the laptop home without paying extra charges for software or licensing fees. Wal-Mart and Linspire partnered to bring a full-featured laptop to consumers at the lowest price point possible.
The Balance laptop is compatible with other office and Internet suites like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, and can be used with more than 1,000 printers and hardware components. With the included office suite OpenOffice.org (http://www.linspire.com/openoffice), users can open, edit and exchange files such as word processing documents (.doc), spreadsheets (.xls) or presentations (.ppt) in a familiar, comfortable environment. The laptop's included Mozilla Internet suite (http://www.linspire.com/mozilla) comes with a fast-functioning browser and email program that can display Web-based forms, PDF documents, images, and multimedia files. The suite's included instant messenger program works with AOL, MSN and Yahoo! logins.
Besides being affordable, the laptop is also easy-to-use, even for those new to Linux-based operating systems. The computer's Linspire operating system has a comfortable, familiar interface and software that is comparable to Windows. "Hot keys" on the keyboard give users one-touch access to email and the Internet. The laptop also comes installed with multimedia tutorials that Linspire worked with Wal-Mart to create for users who purchase the laptop, and a Quick Start guide to make set-up easy. View the interactive tutorials at http://www.linspire.com/walmartstart and a sample Quick Start guide at http://www.linspire.com/qsguide.
Because it is based on Linux, the Linspire operating system is immune to security threats targeting Microsoft Windows software including viruses, Trojan horses and spyware. The machine's built-in firewall gives an extra level of protection from outside threats, and the included Internet suite's standard spam and pop-up blockers make surfing and emailing hassle-free.
The $498 price also includes access to software programs via the CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/warehouse), an Internet-based software download center that allows users to install any of more than 1,900 software programs with one click. The CNR Service is available free to those who purchase the laptop from walmart.com, with guaranteed software updates available for three months after purchase. Once programs are downloaded, they are completely owned by the user and can be shared on multiple Linspire-based PCs with no activation codes required.
To purchase the Balance notebook for $498 with Linspire, please visit http://www.linspire.com/498.
For more information about Linspire, contact:
Heather MacKenzie
Linspire, Inc.
858-587-6700, ext. 263
858-587-8095 Fax
pr@linspireinc.com
About Linspire, Inc.
Linspire (http://www.linspire.com) is an affordable Linux-based operating system designed specifically for desktop and laptop computers in homes, schools and businesses. Linspire uses innovative CNR technology that allows the installation, updating and management of more than 1,900 software programs with just one click from Linspire's CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/warehouse). The Linspire operating system is also offered in Spanish (http://www.linspire.com/espanol), Italian (http://www.linspire.com/italiano) and Japanese (http://www.linspire.com/livedoor). Linspire, CNR, and CNR Warehouse are trademarks of Linspire, Inc., a Delaware Corporation. Other marks used herein may be the property of their respective owners.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Linspire, Inc.
Walmart have put out a press release about a new bargain laptop they are selling for under 500 bucks. The catch is that it runs linspire which is a Linux based operating system.
We suggest you go for the version that has Windows XP home and costs $50 more.
Other specs of the XP version are just ok: 1.1GHz mobile Athlon 4 processor, 40gb hard drive, 128mb RAM, 14.1" screen, 802.11b wireless and DVD drive.
This is a PC that will just about start up Windows XP and let you do email and surf the web, you wont be able to play games or do much else with a slow processor and minimal memory (XP really needs at least 256mb).
A while back we reviewed some Slappa CD/DVD cases.
Livedigitally has now posted their review of the same cases, but they approached the review process a little differently:
They poured coffee on it, they poured raw eggs on it, they sat on it, they squeezed it, they stood on it, they dropped it 50 feet, and finally (probably after smoking something they shouldn't) they covered it in lighter fluid and set fire to it.
Kids, don't try this at home.
| |
ecoustics have posted a review of the Kreisen LT-30FMP 30-inch LCD HDTV Monitor which displays 720p HDTV (1280x768 resolution).
Overall it seemed a good LCD for the price ($1349) but seemed to have a few too many cons to be someones main TV.
"It was hard not be impressed when I first viewed the Kreisen LT-30FMP 30-inch flat panel LCD HDTV monitor.
The HDTV over-air-picture was stunning when I watched Monday Night Football in high definition (720p). The LCD handled bright scenes very well, and at times the picture looked 3-dimesional in HD."
"Only after extended viewing did I start to notice some of its shortcomings. Reds seemed to be over-emphasized, and the picture at times seemed overly bright. Not surprisingly, the contrast and brightness settings were set almost all the way up, which is a common tactic manufacturers are using to make flat panels look better on a showroom floor."
| |
Alan from Pfucata.com emailed to let us know about a digital camera buyer's guide he wrote.
"Digital cameras offer more value today than they ever have, and you can buy a camera today without having to worry about it being obsolete. Unfortunately, like the famous opening line from Dicken's classic novel, it's also a difficult time to find the right digital camera. Never have there been so wide a range of options and so wide a range of quality. Fortunately, with Pfucata as your personal guide, you'll easily be able to find your perfect digital camera and it begins with by realizing that there are two different types of cameras."
It seems like a useful guide for anyone looking for a new digital camera and you can read the full guide at firingsquad.com:
| |
This review should have been called "how to get a high-performance desktop PC with 17 inch LCD monitor for under $650".
Yes, you read that right. If you had the chance to buy a PC with 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor, PCI Express Graphics, Serial ATA Hard Drive, 533MHz DDR3 Memory, Gigabit Ethernet, and lots more, for about half the price of buying each component and putting it together yourself, would you do it?
We did, in fact we jumped on the deal, and now we are going to tell you if the Dell Dimension 8400 lives up to the promise of being a high performance PC with all the latest technology.
Toshiba has announced that they will be shipping an 80gb version of the 1.8" hard drive used in Apple iPods.
The 80gb hard drive will be the same size (0.32" thick) and weight as the current 40gb and 60gb drives used in iPods.
Toshiba also announced a new 40gb drive that is just 0.20" thick, which should lead to thinner 40gb MP3 players in the future.
The drives spin at 4200rpm (the same as most 2.5" laptop drives), have an average seek time of 15ms, and can take a 500G shock when operating.
(via The Register)
Our search and referrer logs tell us that a ton of people find ShinyPlastic when looking for info on the XDA III (aka Blue Angel) Pocket PC Phone.
If you are one of those people you will be happy to hear that the Siemens SX66 (basically a rebadged XDA III / Blue Angel) is now available in the US through Cingular Wireless.
The Siemens SX66 runs Windows Mobile Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition, has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 64MB ROM and 128MB RAM, WiFi Bluetooth and IrDA connectivity, 400MHz processor, 240x320 color screen, and operates as a Quad-Band phone with 4 hours talktime (not enough for my wife!).
You can get the Siemens SX66 through Cingular Wireless for $549.99 with a 2 year contract.
(firstadopter via engadget)
We are writing a series of articles about our $649 low price high performance PC and we are looking at the best $200 upgrades.
The first component we are upgrading is the graphics card; switching out the anaemic ATI X300 solution for a nice new GeForce 6600GT.
When we made that decision it was a choice between two types of cards, both of which are available for around $200: 128mb GeForce 6600GT or 256mb Radeon X700 pro
At first we wanted to go for the X700 pro as it had twice the memory and used the same drivers as the X300 (making for an easier upgrade), but we heard there was a big performance difference that made the GeForce 6600 a better buy.
Anandtech has just confirmed what we heard in a faceoff between GeForce 6600GT and Radeon X700 pro cards. The GeForce 6600GT got a 20% better frame rate in Half-Life 2, 70% better in Doom 3, and between 5% and 20% improvement in other games.
Looks like we made the right choice.
| |