April 2008 Archives

Weather Underground has announced their new Wundermaps feature that superimposes precipitation maps and radar on the familiar Google maps interface.

They go way beyond what weather.com offers by also including all the weather stations that upload data to their service so you get a realtime picture of temperature and wind at multiple locations in the area.

Full press release:

According to the Korea Times Samsung SDI has signed a deal to provide laptop batteries to Dell and HP.

The new batteries have 7.7% more capacity, 10% more in-use time, and recharges quicker than the 2600mAh batteries currently in use.

Samsung also plan on an even more powerful 3000mAh battery in the near future.

(more at koreatimes)

Sony is going to be making big price cuts in their LCD TVs next month in order to try to gain market share.

It appears that Sony's big competitors Toshiba, Sharp, Sansung, LG will follow suit.

It is also likely that the lower end producers such as Westinghouse and Vizio will cut their prices to remain competitive.

What does this mean? Sony's planned cuts of 20-25% could spread across all TV manufacturers and top quality 1080p sets will be under $1200.

(via hdguru)

Now this is a neat house gadget for any ultramodern city dweller: it looks like a window but press the magic button and it folds out to become a balcony.

The bloomframe balcony designed by Hofman Dujardin Architects won a 2008 Red Dot Design Award and can be customized and made to order. There is no price listed but I doubt it is cheap.

(bloomframe, via likecool)

CNET got a Psystar Open Computer running MacOS Leopard to review.

They don't have the full review posted yet but they have put up a slideshow and an unboxing video:

slideshow
unboxing

The full review should be up later today.

It seems like despite all the naysayers who thought it was a scam the product is real. The next part of the story though will likely be the lawsuit against Psystar by Apple.

Now this is a smart idea for those people who feel that their hybrid car lifestyle just isn't good enough for the environment.

The SEV solar module for 2004-2006 Toyota Prius cars generates 215 watts of power which the makers claim provides up to an extra 20 miles of gas-free travel a day and a 29% better fuel economy overall.

They claim it will pay for itself in 2 to 3 years, but only if you take liberties with a Federal energy tax credit by buying it at the same time as a residential solar system and conveniently include the price in with your residential system.

(via redferret)

TabletPCReview found out about an unannounced tablet pc shown recently by Fujitsu in Germany. Here's what they know:

"At this point the following specifications are known: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400, 13.3" passive digitizer Display, Accessories in the same design.

It looks as though it could be a replacement for the T2010 tablets or maybe we are in luck and Fujitsu has a completely new design. No word on pricing yet either, but we hope more information will start trickling out."

more at tabletpcreview via engadget)

Boing Boing posted about this $30 pet porthole from Hammacher-Schlemmer.

That is the last thing I would put in my fence: I don't want my dogs to see what is going on outside the backyard - if they see things (mailman, UPS truck, someone walking by, a cat) they bark, I don't want the little *bleep* barking all day.

(via boingboing)

X-Bit Labs have posted a review and face-off between six newer 24" LCD monitors from Acer, Dell, NEC, and Samsung.

We were rooting for the Dell 2407WFP to win as we have two of them on the PC we use to write ShinyPlastic but here's what they concluded:

"Although four out of the six monitors tested for this review are based on TN matrixes, I'm not disappointed. The main drawback of this technology is small viewing angles, but those of modern TN matrixes are suitable for most users. Of course, if you prefer to watch movies while lying on a sofa (with the monitor above your head level) or if you are just sensitive to minor deviations in contrast, you should consider models with *VA or S-IPS matrixes such as Dell 2407WFP-HC and NEC MultiSync LCD2470WNX or those we tested earlier."

In other words they didn't pick any one as being the best.

(full reviews at xbitlabs)

Toshiba's laptops with "fusion finish" (the U400, M300, A300 and P300) will now come with facial recognition software that won't let you login unless your face (or whatever other part of your anatomy you waved at the webcam during setup) matches a database of stored user images.

In unrelated news police expect the number of decapitations associated with laptop thefts to increase.

"Hand over your laptop or else!, hold on that's one of them fancy Toshiba ones, sorry mate I'm just going to have to decapitate you as well."

(via hothardware)

Watchismo Times got photos and video of the $400k HD3 Complication Vulcania watch that last year topped a list of the world's most complicated watches.

It definitely has a unique look to it, I'm not sure if I would wear one, but as they say: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

(more at watchismotimes)

MSI has announced a new Mini-ITX basebones PC that would be a perfect base for a media center pc or a car computer.

The Titan 700 is just 7.3" x 9.4" x 2.7" and comes with the VIA® CN700 + 8237R+ chipset, 60w power supply, slim DVD burner, 2.5" drive, and Gigabit LAN.

(more at msi)

"Taipei, Taiwan, April 30, 2008 - Catering to users who require extreme graphical support and robust performance, ASUS, leading producer of motherboards, has today released the new ASUS Crosshair II Formula Motherboard. This powerful motherboard includes innovative technologies like CPU Level Up, Hybrid SLI and 3-Way SLI for the best performance and graphical support. It is also ready for AMD® Socket AM2+ Phenom™ FX / Phenom X4 / Phenom X2 / Athlon™ X2 / Sempron™ and legacy AM2 processors; and features up to 5200 MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0-based system bus speeds for AM2+ CPUs. "

The great looking touchscreen samsung glyde looks like it is going to be available on Verizon sooner than previously thought.

According to unwired view it will be available in May and will cost $299 with a two-year enslavement, or $429 without the aforementioned blood contract.

The Glyde not only has that 2.78" touchscreen goodness it also has a slide out full keyboard, 2 megapixel main camera, plus a front camera for video calls.

(via unwiredview)

Digital Trends has reviewed the $480 Gateway FHD-2400 24-inch LCD monitor.

Here's what they thought:

"All in all, the FHD2400 is a well-rounded display with a lot of excellent features and gorgeous image quality. You'll find the unit easy to setup and calibrate, and its wide array of ports make it compatible with HD optical drives as well as PCs and game consoles too. Occasional design quibble aside (see aforementioned DVI cable issues, and note that vertically-oriented ports can be difficult to access), once it's up and running, you'll have few issues apart from being unable to rotate the panel left or right. And that's what we call a good look. "

(full review at digitaltrends)

Eeepc.net has come out with a couple of nice charts that compare features of both 7" and larger ultraportables listing displays, CPU, RAM, storage, WiFi, lan, webcam, USB, card reader, battery, weight, OS and cost.

7 inch chart

8 to 10 inch chart

The U110 wasn't the only ideapad laptop announced by lenovo yesterday: they also announced two less exciting new members of the ideapad line.

The Ideapad Y510 is a pretty standard 15.4" laptop for $669 and the Ideapad Y710 is a higher performance 17" laptop for $1099.

Full press release:

The Samsung p960 is the first cellphone outside of Asia to receive and show over the air digital TV broadcasts.

This little slide phone sports a 2.6" QVGA (240x320) screen, GSM 900/1800/1900, HSDPA 2100, bluetooth, and microsd card.

The Europeans gets to play with this phone but hopefully there will be something similar in the US soon (are you listening blackberry and apple?)

(via gizmodo)

Full press release:

Alienware has announced their new Area-51 m17x gaming laptop, a massive laptop that is their fastest ever featuring Intel Core 2 extreme processors, dual SLI GeForce 8800M GTX graphics, 4GB RAM, up to a terabyte of storage space, 1200 x 1920 pixel 17" LCD. TV tuner draft-n WiFi, and much more.

The m17x starts at $2,199, but for top performance max out all the options and cough up a little over 6 grand.

(more at alienware)

Boy Genius sure is getting all the scoops on the Blackberry 9000. His lastest info is the final specs of this much anticipated fix for the crackberry addicts.

Radio - GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA, Bands - Quad-band GPRS/EDGE: 800/850/1800/1900MHz, HSDPA: 850/1900/2100MHz, Expandable memory - microSD, Display - HVGA Color LCD (480×320), TrackBall Navigation, Camera - 2MP, Wi-Fi - a,b,g, A-GPS, Battery - 1500mAh, "High quality material, high-end finish" and Software - 4.6

The launch carriers will be AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, and Vodafone with AT&T launching forst as the US exclusive carrier.

Looks like T-Mobile is flipping the switch on their 1700MHz 3G data network tomorrow.

Initially it may only be turned on in New York but it may also be switched on in other large cities around the country.

(via boygeniusreport)

Sharp has announced a wireless option for their super-thin X-series LCD TVs.

For about an extra $800 your TV comes as the screen plus a separate tuner/control box that communicate wirelessly with each other at a range of up to 100 feet. Plug your cable and DVD boxes into the control box and hide the whole package away somewhere for a clean crisp minimalist TV viewing experience.

(either that or buy a regular tv and run a conduit inside your wall to hide the cables like we did).

Full press release:

The Register has reviewed the $250 LG GGW-H20L HD combo drive, they seem to feel a drive that supports HD-DVD is still needed but we disagree.

Here's what they thought:

"Blu-ray writing has a certain appeal but ultimately it's a bit pointless. Most people can't read a Blu-ray video disc, especially on their PC, and the format doesn't have enough capacity and write-speed - an a low enough cost - to put DVD-R in the shade.

For movie playback, a combo drive with both Blu-ray and HD DVD in a high-end media centre is a winner, but the GGW-H20L falls betwixt and between, as you pay £50 for a feature that may only get occasional use."

(full review at theregister)

Fortune magazine is reporting that AT&T plans to subsidize the price of the next generation 3G iPhone by up to $200 in order to make it less attractive to unlockers.

If it does end up subsidized that could bring the price down to $199 (plus the average of $100/month that iPhone users pay for data and calls).

According to the same source the new iPhone will be 2.5 mm thinner than the 11.7 mm original. The iPhone will also have a GPS chip for navigation and other location-based services.

(via fortune)

Sealife have announced a new camera waterproof to 300 feet that features color correction modes specifically designed for underwater photos.

The $549 8 megapixel DC800 also features a 4x optical zoom, 2.7" LCD, and a removable outer shell that leaves you with a smaller camera for use away from water.

Full press release:

PopPhoto have reviewed the $800 Sony A350 14.2 Megapixel digital camera.

Here's what they thought:

"In all, the A350 has impressive features, specs, and price. But it's still too early to tell whether it will lure serious shooters away from the new Canon EOS Rebel XSi or Pentax K200D. Though we haven't tested them yet, both promise to control noise well in low light and high ISOs. And the Canon is likely to capture more detail.

As for stealing customers from Sony's own A700? We doubt it. That camera will continue to attract hard-core shooters. The A350 is aimed at those moving up from a compact or for those who want (and can afford) more from an entry-level DSLR than Sony is offering in its new A300 ($600, estimated street, with 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens), Nikon in its new D60 ($630, street, body only), or Olympus in its new E-420 ($500, estimted street, body only). For such photographers, the A350's increased image quality and overall performance will be amazing, and the extra features -- especially live view -- will be reassuringly familiar."

(full review at popphoto)