Liliputing is reporting that the MSI Wind is delayed for a second time and that we won't be seeing them here in the US until July 7th.
This delay is on top of them cutting back the battery from a 6 cell to a 3 cell (while cutting the price by a measly $20).
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American Airlines first flight equipped with WiFi took off this morning from New York JFK bound for Los Angeles LAX.
The WiFi service (called "Gogo") has been installed on 15 American Airlines 767-200 planes so far and allows passengers to go online using their laptops and wifi enabled smartphones (such as blackberries and iphones).
The service offers free access to American's website, to Frommer's travel guides, and to some news headlines. Access to all other sites and services (such as downloading email) will cost $9.95 (for flights shorter than 3 hours) or $12.95 (for longer flights).
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Boy Genius Report just got confirmation that the Blackberry Bold is delayed until August on AT&T.
Apparently this is due to the previously rumored overheating and battery life issues.
My wife will not be happy as she is waiting for one of these......
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The Olympus Mju 1020 is the subject of a new review over at Buy-n-Shoot and they were kind enough to email and let us know about the review.
Here's what they thought of the $300 10.1 megapixel Olympus Mju 1020 with 7x optical zoom and 2.7" LCD screen:
"Overall, operating the Mju 1020 is delightfully straightforward (particularly if you have smaller hands) meaning that taking, reviewing, sorting, editing and deleting photos is a breeze, as too is selecting and using the various modes available. In-built technologies ensure that point-and-shoot operation is virtually failsafe so for those wanting to let the camera do the majority of the work, the Mju 1020 is bound to suit. The unit itself is very attractive yet quite robust and perfect to throw in your pocket or handbag whenever you leave the house."
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Kaleidescape has announced two new DVD players that integrate with their video/music servers and offer 1080p upconverting DVD playback as well as importing DVD to a networked Kaleidescape server.
The Kaleidescape 1080p Player is a 1U rack-mountable solution that matches the look and feel of the rest of the Kaleidescape product line, and the Kaleidescape 1080p mini Player is a smaller product designed for more visible use.
The Kaleidescape system isn;t for the average home user, but is very popular for distributed storage and playback of video and music in large houses and high-end boats.
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NEC has announced a new 26" WUXGA (1920x1200 pixel) monitor, the EA261WM. It will be available in August for $680.
Full press release follows.
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LaptopMag has published a review of the Asus EeePC 1000h, this is the 10" version of the EeePC that has a similar spec to the MSI Wind but is $150 more expensive and half a pound heavier.
Here's their verdict:
"We concluded our review of the Eee PC 901 by saying "with the promise of the 10-inch Eee PC 1000 and Eee PC 1000H just around the corner, some may want to play the waiting game." And we were right. Those looking for a larger mini-notebook with a good sized screen and a spacious keyboard will find nearly everything they are looking for. However, the similarly configured MSI Wind NB offers comparable performance and endurance for $150 less, although some will prefer the 1000H's slick aesthetics. We like the Eee PC 1000H, but we'll like it a lot more if the final pricing for the system winds up being less."
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A reader of jkOnTheRun alerted them to a new tablet pc from Fujitsu, the T5010.
It is pretty heavy at 4.4lb, will probably cost about $1800, and comes loaded with the following specs:
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Boy Genius Report has posted a review of the Sony Xperia X1 phone that has a lot of people excited at the moment.
The Xperia X1 has a 3" 800x480 pixel VGA screen, runs windows Mobile 6.1, had a 3.2 megapixel camera (plus a front facing camera for video calls), aGPS, bluetooth, 256MB RAM, 215MB flash, MicroSD slot, etc etc.
No conclusion to the review as such, but head over there and check out their thoughts.
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Today's the day when Firefox 3 is officially released, and they are trying to set a record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours.
We have been beta testing it for a while and it definitely seems faster and more reliable to us.
3 weeks ago we messed up and left our Canon Powershot SD800 IS digital camera in some clothes that went in the washing machine.
We left it a week hoping it would dry out but it was dead. Today we went to throw it out and decided to check it one last time..... the power came on and (after cleaning the lens) it works perfectly!!!
The photo above is proof: a photo I just took of our vegetable garden.
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The Sony Cybershot DSC-H50 is the subject of a new review over at PhotographyBlog.
Here's what they thought of this $400 9 megapixel digital camera with 15x optical zoom.
"Targeting those who want better image quality and a broader range of features - not to mention lens reach - than the typical compact, without going the whole hog and investing in a DSLR, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 shapes up as a surprisingly compelling proposition. With build quality almost equal to an entry-level DSLR, the DSC-H50's chief selling point of that 15x zoom reach is ideal for candid portraiture and even amateur wildlife photography, the kind of subjects where standing back for once can pay creative dividends. As we noted earlier, the H50's image quality is better than expected, and if its images don't quite sing like those from a DSLR with a subject dedicated lens attached, they're nevertheless reassuringly sharp and colourful even at the default settings, with the ability to adjust these parameters either way to suit personal taste. In short, if you're looking for control it's there - and if you don't want to bother getting hands on, you don't have to in order to still end up with images worth keeping. Just half a star short of the full set - there's no RAW, that control pad/scroll wheel combination is fiddly and the menu/home options are confusingly ordered and divided up. The DSC-H50 is a camera that nevertheless comes highly recommended to those looking for one device that covers nearly all photographic bases, and is reasonably easy to use plus - unusually for Sony kit - very fairly priced to boot. At a cost of £299 in the UK, a quick Internet search for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 is bound to make this bridge model more appetizing still."
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"Dell E" Delhi, does Dell have a customer support call center there?
It looks like "Dell E" is actually the name of the Dell Mini Inspiron we have been telling you about.
Engadget got their hands on a bunch of slides detailing market positioning and specifications and after reading those we think the Dell E will definately exceed our expectations.
The basic configuration "Dell E Classic" is only $299 (Wow!) and comes with an 8.9" screen, 1.6GHz atom processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB flash drive, and 802.11g wireless.
Want more than that? if so then you can upgrade to the "Dell E Video" which has 1GB RAM and 8GB flash drive, plus a webcam, or upgrade further to the "Dell E Video+" which has 12GB flash and adds bluetooth.
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Yesterday we complained about how the Acer Aspire One's website was lacking in information.
The gods of irony must have been watching as right after posting we heard about three sites taking a more detailed look at the Aspire One:
LaptopMag got a pre-production version and wrote a great in-depth review along with a video and a bunch of photos, PC Professionale.it posted a video (in Italian) where they take one apart, and Blogeee pointed out some highlights of that video.
Overall this seems like a great inexpensive ultra-portable, just as long as you aren't interested in opening it up and upgrading the RAM or flash drive (both are soldered in place).
Comments (in French) at Blogeee
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Acer has officially announced their competitor to the Asus EeePC and the MSI Wind: the Acer Aspire One.
So what do we know? not a lot as their Aspire One fancy marketing site has no substance. We can see it has an Intel Atom processor, a 8.9" screen at 1024x600 resolution, comes in multiple colors, runs Linpus Linux Lite, and weighs under 2.2lb. The message seems to be "as long as it has style, feeling, vision, and power, who cares about specs, dimensions, and price".
Update: The Aspire One has shown up on German price comparison sites, I doubt their numbers are official but they list the Aspire One with 8GB storage and 512MG RAM for 329 Euros or 80GB hard drive and 1GB RAM for 399 Euros (10% cheaper than the older less powerful EeePC 900!).
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HP seems to be going nowhere in the pda phone arena and their latest offering isn't really that exciting compared to the kinds of devices RIM, Apple and HTC are creating.
The HP iPAQ 914 is their latest pda phone and it will be available in Europe in July for about $775.
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Canon EOS 1000D
Canon has announced their EOS 1000D digital SLR camera that has been the subject of a few "coming soon" rumors the past few weeks.
The Canon EOS 1000D is an entry level 10 megapixel camera that features a 7-point wide area AF system and up to 3fps continuous JPEG shooting. No US price is available yet where the 1000D will be sold as the Rebel XS starting in July but we expect it will be around $650.
Full press release follows:
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HP has announced the availability of their HP Pavilion tx2500z tablet pc.
The tx2500z is based on the AMD Puma mobile platform, and for $1,049 you can get a basic configuration featuring 12.1" 1280x800 pixel touchscreen, windows vista, AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-80 (2.1 GHz) , 2GB RAM, ATI HD3200 graphics, 802.11b/g wifi, 160GB hard drive, and 6 cell battery.
For a more powerful system we would recommend upgrading the processor to 2.4Ghz, the RAM to 4GB, the hard drive to 320GB, the battery to 8 cell, and adding bluetooth for an extra $425.
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Verizon has announced the availability of 3 new LG phones, the dare, the decoy, and the chocolate 3.
Full press release follows:
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As you can see from the graphic Apple is making a big thing out of the price reduction from $399 to $199 for the iPhone 3G, so what if we told you it will actually cost more over two years than the old iPhone.
Yep, that's right: the hardware is subsidized to cost $200 less than before, but those sneaky bastards charming people at AT&T are trying to sneak in a $10 a month price increase for unlimited data (bumping it from $20/month to $30/month).
$10 a month over a two year contract is an extra $240, so the iPhone 3G actually ends up costing $40 more than the old iPhone.
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The Nikon Coolpix P80 is the subject of a new review over at PhotographyBlog.
Here's what they thought of this $340 10.1 megapixel digital camera with 18x optical zoom:
"The Coolpix P80 is an excellent first attempt at a super-zoom camera by Nikon, but it's ultimately let down by image quality that is worse than some of its main rivals. Nikon have worked hard to ensure that the P80 is competing on a level playing field, and the P80 looks and feels very similar to the offerings from Olympus, Fujifilm and Panasonic, with a near-identical feature-set. The P80 is impeccably built, even more impressive given its budget price-tag, and the uncluttered design makes it very intuitive to use, albeit at the cost of relying more heavily on the menu system to access certain key features. The 18x lens is obviously the star of the show, and for most photographers the Nikon Coolpix P80 will cover all the bases, with the exception of ultra-wide angle pictures. The lens is fast, effectively image stabilized and doesn't suffer from too much distortion - Nikon have even thoughtfully included an option to reduce any unwanted effects. Performance is less impressive, with a brief but noticeable lock-up between single images and a disappointingly slow continuous shooting speed, although focusing is quick and accurate even at the telephoto end of the zoom. Which brings us to the P80's achilles heel, namely image quality. Noise and colour artifacts are obvious at the slow ISO speed of 200, with anything above ISO 400 almost a complete write-off, which limits the kind of lighting conditions in which you can use the P80. There's also some fairly obvious purple-fringing if you look closely enough, and the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds is limiting for this class of camera. The 1cm macro mode can't make up for this camera's other deficiencies, and whilst image quality isn't that bad, it isn't great either, and certainly not as good as our current super-zoom of choice, the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd. All of which means that while the Nikon Coolpix P80 is, as Nikon proudly claim, currently the World's smallest 18x camera, it sadly isn't the best."
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As expected, Steve Jobs has just announced the iPhone 3G at the Apple Worldwide Developers conference in San Francisco.
The 3G differs from the original iPhone visually in that it has a black plastic back that is thinner and more contoured at the edges. It keeps the same 3.5" screen (not a smaller screen as some rumors had suggested).
Speed: They compared the iPhone 3G tp the Nokia N95 and the Treo 750 and showed it to be 36% faster at web browsing over 3G, and 360% faster than the original iPhone.
Battery Life: They claim 300hrs standby, 10hrs 2G talk, 5hrs 3G talk, 5-6hrs web browsing, 7hrs video, and 24hrs audio playback.
GPS: the iPhone 3G has A-GPS trying together data from regular GPS along with triangulation from celltowers to give a very accurate location.
Pricing: In the US pricing will be $199 for 8GB and $299 for 16GB (16GB is available in white), both prices are with a new two-year service agreement.
Availability: The iPhone 3G will be available July 11th.
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Asus have been hyping their Ecobook bamboo covered green laptop for a while now but the final product has now been revealed and it is a lot less impressive than the concept designs suggested.
That's it? a little bit of bamboo below the keyboard and around the screen?
Not eco-friendly at all - just another example of fake-green marketing.
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The HTC Touch Pro (formerly HTC Raphael) has now bee officially announced for Europe with a US version to follow later in the year.
Here are the specs:
* Size: 102 x 51 x 18.05mm
* Weight: 165 g
* Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
* Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
* Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
* Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
* Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 288 MB RAM
* Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
* Keyboard: Slide-out 5 row QWERTY keyboard
* Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
* Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
* GPS: GPS/AGPS
* Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
* Battery: 1350 mAh
* Talk time: GSM: up to 8 hours
* Standby time: GSM: up to two-weeks
* Chipset: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz
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APC magazine got to play with the Dell Mini Inspiron at a press briefing and they reported back on a few things:
It does have a 9" screen like we told you a few days back.
It should be available to purchase by August.
It has a fancy new keyboard design with larger alphanumeric keys and the other keys shrunk or (as in the case of the F1-12 keys) removed altogether.
It has 4 status LEDs (which would indicate at least one version of it will come with wifi and bluetooth).
It will come in multiple colors including the red and black we have already seen.
If Dell releases this with a similar price and spec to the EeePC 901 and MSI wind, and markets it well we are convinced it will be a big seller.
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Who do they think will buy this piece of junk? seriously? a 320x240 resolution 2.5" digital photo frame, with just 32mb of memory (yes that isn't a typo, 32 megabytes), that is magnetic so you can stick it to your fridge......
As if the awful size and resolution, almost non-existent memory, and exorbitant $60 price weren't bad enough here's the real kicker: the battery charge only lasts 11 hours!
So twice a day you have to remove you photo frame from the fridge and recharge it (via USB).
What a steaming pile of horse manure.
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The Olympus E-420 is the subject of a new review at photographyblog.
Here's what they thought of the $600 10 megapixel entry level compact compact digital SLR:
"From close examination of the Olympus E-420 it's fair to say that owners of the previous E-410 have little to feel threatened by. Doppelganger control layout aside, operationally too the E-420 delivers a performance that's nigh on identical, though if we're pushed it's perhaps one that's slightly more consistent overall. Perhaps Olympus could have gone further, but it already had a camera that was doing most of what was asked of it. So we have a slightly larger LCD albeit with the same resolution as its predecessor, slightly faster continuous capture, but still no built-in mechanical image stabilisation as found on the E-510/E-520. Arguably under most circumstances you can get away without it or use a tripod or steadying surface if necessary. With plenty of detail on offer in the images, and even the natural colour setting providing more 'pep' than we're used to seeing from Olympus, the E-420 maintains the good work laid down by its predecessors. So while existing owners don't have quite a compelling enough reason to upgrade, those buying into the Olympus Four Thirds system now will get a reliable performer at a bargain price. Beginners will also relish the ease of use and the lack of bulk and weight normally associated with a DSLR."
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Sanyo has announced a new HD camcorder - the Xacti HD1010. It is a pistol grip style camcorder that records video in 1080i, and also has a 300fps slo-mo mode.
Other upgrades from the previous model - the Xacto HD1000 - include: 7fps still photography at 4 megapixel resolution and face detection technology.
The Xacti HD1010 has a 10x optical zoom, records to SD cards, weighs 9.9oz, and will be available in July for $799.99.
Full press release follows:
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GM has announced that their Chevrolet volt electric car is on track for a 2010 launch.
The difference between the Chevy Volt and current hybrid cars is that the volt is powered predominantly from it's batteries and can be plugged into a standard electrical outlet to charge. The volt has a range of 40 miles on battery power and for longer journeys it uses a small (1 liter) gas engine to power a 53KW generator that keeps the batteries topped up once battery level gets down to 30%.
The volt seats 4, has a top speed of 120mph, and is expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.
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Yes, I did a very dumb thing last week.
After staying up late too many nights in a row working hard on the new site design I forgot that my camera was in my pocket when I put my clothes in the washing machine.
Result: one wet camera.
I immediately took the battery and SD card out, removed the case, used a hair dryer to dry the little visible water there was, then put it in a bag with some silica in a warm place for a week to dry out.
This morning I got it out, put it back together, put the battery back in, crossed my fingers, and hit the power button.........
No luck, it's a brick... a tiny svelte shiny brick, but a brick nonetheless. Anyone want to buy a slightly used Canon Powershot SD800 IS???
I really don't want to have to buy a new camera now, because you know what the worst thing is about running a gadget blog? you get to read all the reviews and hear about all the upcoming products so you are never satisfied with what is available now and you always want the latest hottest next-generation gadget.
Please learn from my lesson - check your pockets before putting clothes in the laundry... next time it could be your camera, or iphone, or HTC touch diamond, or eeepc (if you have really big pockets).
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LG has introduced 3 new Blu-ray drives that feature 6x write speeds:
The BE06 is an external drive that connects via USB and has a recommended price of $379.95, the other two are internal drives: the GBC-H20L is a blu-ray reader that retails for under $200 - a great price if you want to watch blu-ray movies on your PC, or for $280 get the GBW-H20L which adds blu-ray and DVD writing.
(full press release follows)
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The Nikon D60 is the subject of a new review over at DCresource.
Here's what they thought of the $650 10 megapixel digital SLR:
"Overall, I consider the Nikon D60 a "good, but not great" digital SLR. While entry-level buyers will enjoy its point-and-shoot features, I think more experienced photographers will frown on its overprocessed photos, mediocre set of manual controls, and autofocus lens support. I think there are better entry-level D-SLRs out there, but the D60 is still worth looking at."
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jkkmobile opened up an Eee PC 901 and found there are loads of possibilities for upgrades (both user performed and available from Asus in the future.
So what did they find? they found an unused PCE-e spot plus space for a sim card so 3G HSDPA could be added, and they found there was room for a 1.8" hard drive or another SSD.
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Sandisk has announced a new line of solid state drives (SSDs) designed with ultra low power computers in mind: many SSDs are designed to fit in a standard 2.5" or 1.8" hard drive enclosure but often ULPCs can't spare the space for a full drive so a SSD on a circuit board like this is a better solution.
The press release is full of marketing speak but light on facts: no size, no power consumption and no prices are specified... so what do we know? they will come in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes with read speeds of 39MB/sec and write speeds of 17MB/sec.
Full press release follows:
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The Nikon P80 is the subject of a new review over at Steve's Digicams.
Here's what they thought of the $340 10 megapixel camera with 18x optical zoom.
"Bottom line - the Nikon Coolpix P80 is a bit of a mixed bag. While loaded with appealing features like the 18x Nikkor zoom, 2.7-inch LCD, high resolution EVF, Vibration Reduction, High ISO capabilities and great image quality, the slower shooting performance, uncomfortable EVF eye piece, amount of noise in high sensitivity photos and slower Face detection system really disappointed us. That said, with a street price of US$399 or less, the P80 is an affordable super-zoom model (about $100 less than many of it's competitors) that is sure to capture pleasing images of your friends and family, you just might not get all of those spontaneous moments. "
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You know how sometimes you read about something and at first it sounds like a great idea but when you think about it you realize that it just doesn't add up?
That's how we felt when we read about LG's new 29" and 38" stretched LCD monitors.
LG claims:
"ideal for exhibiting information in large commercial areas, such as shopping centres and cinemas, and in high footfall locations like airports and train stations. "
and:
"designed specifically to host large format digital data for public locations"
How do they reconcile that with:
"screen resolution of 1366 x 398 and 1366 x 480"
In other words less than half the resolution of the average laptop, whereas most LCD TVs currently used for commercial displays support 1080p, or more than 3 times the amount of "large format digital data".
They are less resolution than a regular large LCD, they are smaller too, but I bet they cost more...... and they call this progress and innovation?
(full press release follows)
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Wouldn't it be great if you could get an ultra-portable the size and power of the EeePC combined with the usability of a touchscreen tablet pc for well under $1000?
Well it looks like that is what Gigabyte will be announcing this week at Computex in the form of the M912 which has just shown up on their website with the following specs:
We like the look of this, you get the convenience of a UMPC or tablet PC for simple web browsing, reading books, watching movies etc but can open it up and use the keyboard for more intensive work such as email or blogging.
Lets hope the price is good.
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It's official launch isn't until tomorrow but Asus are showing off the EeePC 901 at the WiMax Expo and have revealed that they will be coming out with a WiMax enabled version.
Full specs of the version being shown at the WiMax Expo are: 1.6GHz Atom processor, 8.9" screen, 1BG RAM, SD card slot, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and either XP and a 12GB SSD or Linux and a 20GB SSD.
In other words exactly the same as the EeePC 900 except that it has the Intel Atom processor instead of the Via one.
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Asus has announced the full specifications and pricing of the eee box, the mini desktop version of the eeepc that is now officially called the eee box B202.
There will be 3 versions initially released in the US, all 3 will feature the following:
The base configuration with Linux, 1GB memory and an 80GB hard drive is $269 (monitor, keyboard + mouse not included), and for an extra $30 you get your choice of Windows XP or an upgrade to 2GB RAM/160GB hard drive.
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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500 is the subject of a new review at cameralabs.
Here's what they thought of the $400 10.1 megapixel compact camera with 5x optical zoom.
"If you're after a quality compact, the FX500 will fit the bill, although it's not got what it takes to turn the heads of real enthusiasts from models like the Canon G9. It's also crucial to compare its features against the other two Lumix cameras mentioned above as all three have a lot in common including the same sensor and HD movie recording facilities.
Indeed you'd only go for the FX500 over either of these models if you really wanted its manual control, touch screen and found its 5x range more appropriate for your style of photography. Even then, it's hard to resist the Lumix TZ5's big 10x optical zoom range for the same price or slightly less, and many will ultimately sacrifice the touch-screen and manual control for the longer coverage - while also enjoying a higher resolution screen in playback.
Panasonic FX500
Ultimately the FX500's decent lens range, touch screen, manual control and HD movies all add up to product we can Highly Recommended, but do compare it very closely with the Lumix FX35 and TZ5, as one may be better-suited to your personal requirements. "
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The Olympus FE-340 is the subject of a new review over at TrustedReviews.
Here's what they thought of the $170 8 megapixel entry level camera.
"The Olympus FE-340 may be very cheap, but it lacks a number of features that would be considered standard on most other cameras, such as continuous shooting, colour adjustment and image stabilisation. The build quality is good, and the LCD monitor is outstanding, but the styling is awkward and ungainly and the handling could be better. Low-light performance is below average, but the camera is redeemed somewhat by good image quality. Still, there are much better and more capable cameras available for not much more money."
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