May 2008 Archives

Yet another eeepc clone: the second one of today is the One A210 Mini Notebook.

This little copycat features a 7-inch 800 × 480 pixel display, VIA C7 1.0 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 4GB Flash Drive, 2 USB ports, 100 mbit LAN, 3-in-one card reader, 0.3 megapixel web cam, and windows XP home.

The One A320 measures 24.3cm x 17.1cm x 2.8cm, weighs 950g, and costs 279 euros (around $430).

(one.de, via eeepcblog)

Sony just launched a new WiFi enabled photo frame over in Japan.

The VFG-CP1 features a 7" 800x480 screen, card reader, 512MB of memory, and a USB port.

It doesn't just show photos though, it can play music, display the time, show RSS feeds, and get you the latest weather forecast.

The VFG-CP1 will be available on Japan on May 17th and will cost around $258.

(via engadget)

Toshiba has just announced the Portege M800 laptop in Europe.

The Portege M800 has a 2GHz core 2 duo processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, 13.3" screen, FM tuner, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and wireless 802.11a/b/g/n.

There is no pricing yet, and it should be available in Europe in Q3.

(via techdigest)

Clarion has announced two new GPS navigation systems in Europe that feature a three-dimensional display of major buildings and points of interest.

Their other features include a 4.3" display, text-to-speech, TMC tuner, lane assistant, bluetooth, and multimedia player, all powered by a 400MHz processor.

The Map680 comes with 1GB of memory and 4 regional variations, while the Map780 has 2GB of memory and maps for 43 European countries.

(via navigadget)

Pioneer has announced their 2008 US lineup of Kuro Plasma TVs.

The focus is on deeper black levels, 5x deeper than last years models plus they have software that monitors room conditions and automatically makes adjustments.

There aren't many hard details in the press release, butthey are 3.7" thick, they will start arriving in June, are all 1080p, and will start with a 50" for $4000 and a 60" for $5500.

Press release:

As if "urban youth" weren't annoying enough, they can now buy hoodies with built-in speakers.

At least the speakers are unpowered so the noise shouldn't be too deafening. Then again they will probably be less annoying that the people having loud one-sided bluetooth phonecalls.

Thankfully these are just a prototype for now.

(via makezine)

Asus has warned users to beware of third party batteries that may have damaged at least one eee pc and noted that such damage would not be covered under warranty.

Apparently there are batteries available in China for $71 to $86 that had capacities up to twice that of the standard eee pc battery.

The battery maker denies the claims of overheating and states that it is propaganda put out by their rivals designed to hurt their sales.

(via digitimes)

Gizmag has taken a new look at the Rinspeed sQuba amphibious zero emission concept car that turned up at last year's Geneva Motor Show.

The sQuba is designed to go 75mph on land and about 2mph in the water, it is powered by a single 54 kW motor plus a four additional engines for underwater:2 x 800W units drive the twin stern propellers and up front, 2 x 3.6kW Seabob jet drives for steering.

The open top combined with going underwater is a bit strange though: do you wear a wetsuit all day in case you need to go underwater or do you just get your clothes wet and keep some spare clothes in the truck?

(more at gizmag)

The register has reviewed the $300 Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 digital camera.

Here's what they thought:

"Overall, we liked the DMC-FS20 very much. It lacks some of the glitz of other models in a similar price range and it doesn't offer a great deal when it comes to manual control. But then again, this is exactly what many digital camera owners are looking for. The next time you're in the market for a digital camera, may we respectively suggest that, in addition to considering the usual suspects, you check out this Panasonic offering as well."

(more at theregister)

Hitachi has joined Fujitsu in promising a 320GB 7200rpm 2.5 inch laptop hard drive.

The Travelstar 7K320 is said to have all the benefits of a 7200rpm drive (speed) without most of the problems.

it's battery performance is 22% than previous drives sucking up 1.8 watts when reading/writing (the same as a 5400rpm drive) but it's idling power consumption is higher: 0.8 watts compared to 0.55 watts for a 5400rpm drive.

No price yet but Hitachi claims they will have the drives for sale later this month which means they could be out sooner than the Fujitsu drives which aren't expected to appear until June.

(via crave)

Sprint has released a video comparing their Sprint Instinct GPS to using Google Maps on the iPhone. This video also shows off the nice slim look of the Instinct compared to the iPhone.

Irons are a necessity: don't iron your clothes and your boss thinks you are a lazy hippie, iron your clothes and you look smart and presentable and get a promotion.

A downside to irons has always been that they take ages to cool off so you leave them sitting there while you watch the kids and pets to make sure they don't go play with the cord.

Now you can just put the iron away and forget about it in the Sunbeam hot iron storage case: it's made of fancy heat resistant plastics, has adjustable silicon pads to hold the iron, and has a locking lid to keeps the kids/pets out.

Great idea and only $20 at Sunbeam

(via ohgizmo)

Asus has announced a little USB TV tuner/receiver that they claim is plug and play (or should that be plug and watch) on any xp or vista pc.

The My Cinema U3100 mini automatically launches TV viewing software and doesn't need any external power source, getting all it's juice through the PCs powered USB2 slot.

The press release makes it sound like the second coming, but I think we will wait for a few reviews to get a better idea of it's capabilities.

(via fareastgizmos)

Pioneer's second blu-ray announcement of the day is the Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD.

It's basic features are the same as the Pioneer BDP-51FD we covered earlier: blu-ray profile 1.1, 1080p/24 output, onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master audio, 7.1 analog output, and wolfson digital audio converters.

The Elite adds gold plated connectors, aluminum front panel, touch sensitive buttons, and $200 for a total price tag of $800.

We are still not impressed.

Joystiq reader Mat Brady sent in some interesting concept art he put together.

He calls it the iwish because "I wish Sony would get their act together and improve the PSP. So many people are doing such amazing and innovative things these days, and yet the only innovative thing to happen to the PSP since 2005 was that it got a little slimmer."

Mat then goes on to discuss convergence and the prerequisites for a converged device.

Personally I don't think we will have a true converged device until we have projected head-up displays (that don't look like dork glasses) along with virtual input devices - otherwise there is no way to fit a keyboard, a good sized high res touchscreen, and a game controller in a device small enough to carry in a pocket.

(mat's blog)

Pioneer has announced their least expensive blu-ray player to date.

The $600 Pioneer BDP-51FD will be out this summer features blu-ray profile 1.1, 1080p/24 output, onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master audio, 7.1 analog output, and wolfson digital audio converters.

Overall those specs aren't very impressive and the lack of blu-ray 2.0 support is a real deal-killer for us.

Verizon promised us the Blackberry Curve in May and they delivered: it is now up on their site.

The curve is available for $169.99 with a two year contract (after $50 mail-in rebate) and features Dual-band 800/1900 Mhz 1x EV-DO networks, 96 MB Flash Memory/32 MB RAM, 2.5" 320x240 LCD screen, 2 megapixel camera, bluetooth and MicroSD slot. It's dimensions are 4.2" x 2.4" x 0.6" and it weighs 4oz.

(more at verizon)

HTC has uploaded 9 videos from their London press launch of the HTC Touch Diamond to YouTube.

The first one is above and the rest are after the jump.

(via pocketpcthoughts)

NokNok.tv has put out a video of the Nokia 6600 Fold phone and it looks pretty good.

The phone features twin OLED screens, Quad band GSM, WCDMA 850/2100, and 2 megapixel camera.

If you are looking for a stylish phone that doesn't claim to be a smartphone and need a PhD to operate then you should take a look at the 6600 fold.

(via bgr)

We told you about the buffalo linkstation mini 1TB NAS solution last month, and now Trusted Reviews has got their hands on one to review.

Here's what they thought:

"The LinkStation Mini may not be as fast as larger boxes sporting 3.5in hard disks (it took around one minute 30 seconds to write a 1GB file), and it may not offer quite as much RAID flexibility either. However, it does offer something that no other NAS appliance does - 1TB in a truly tiny chassis. It's also reasonably priced, considering the amount of storage on offer, and that Buffalo has used 7,200rpm SATA notebook drives.

Anyone who has been put off the idea of a NAS box for home, will welcome the diminutive dimensions of the LinkStation Mini, while the silent running means that you could house it in any room of your house without it annoying visually or audibly. If I could have got the web access working, the LinkStation Mini could have walked away with 10/10 and an Editor's Choice, but as it stands it still warrants a whole hearted Recommended."

(more at trustedreviews)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the Sharp Aquos LC32X20E 1080p LCD TV.

Here's what they thought:

"Despite not completely delivering on its full HD promise, Sharp's LC-32X20E is a good TV that becomes very good with really immaculate HD sources and most HD video games.

In other words, if you're a resolution obsessive on a limited budget, especially if you're also a big console gamer, the LC-32X20E definitely warrants a look."

32" with 1080p seems pointless to us unless you plan on using it as a PC monitor. At regular TV viewing distances you won't be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on a 32" screen.

(more at trustedreviews)

YAEC: Yet another eeepc clone.

This time it's the Yinlap Micro PC YDP-G77 that is unremarkably similat to the 7" Eee PC 701.

It's specs are 7" LCD screen, LINUX operating system, 400MHz processor, 500MB flash memory.

With those mediocre specs expect it to be slow and cheap.

(via eeepcblog)

New from Savit Micro in Korea is this twin USB/eSATA hard disk drive enclosure.

It support 2 3.5" SATA hard drives, as well as RAID0/RAID1/NORMAL/JBOD/JBOD33/JBOD50, and it has a Silicon Image Sil5744 SteelVine RAID processor which supports hot-plugging.

(via akihibaranews)

Sony has announced two new network attached storage (NAS) solutions.

Both have an all-in-one memory card reader and am internal 1 or 1.5TB drive amd support a wide variety of file formats: MP3, WAV, ATTRAC, ATTRAC Advanced Lossless, AAC, WMA files and AVCHD, MPEG2, and HDV (MEPG2-TS) video files.

The 1.5TB version will sell for around $1500.

There's a video after the jump.

(via akihibaranews)

In most countries it is legal to unlock a phone that is locked to a particular network provider, but the network providers don't want you doing it as they subsidize the cost of the phones.

Software unlocking solutions exist for many phones but that messes with the phones firmware and breaks the warranty.

Another option is this universal SIM unlock card: you just insert it in parallel with your SIM card and it unlocks the phone so you can use it on a different network.

The unlock card costs $23 and works with a wide range of phones including the iPhone.

(list of supported phones, via techchee)

The Japanese Space Agency and NHK (Japanese TV) send a high definition camera to the moon.

Today they released a ton of photos as well as some 720P video.

(the videos (in japanese))

Here's our weird Japanese gadget of the day.

We have one of those little USB things that heats your cup of coffee but what about when you have something you want chilled (like ice tea maybe)?

The Green House GH-USB-CUP2 (catchy name huh?) does both at the flip of a switch.

Careful though it gets hot: heating drinks to 104 degrees (or cooling them to 59).

What does it cost? 2,780 Yen (about $26.50)

(via akihibaranews)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the $350 12 megapixel Fujifilm Finepix F100fd.

Here's what they thought:

"This camera probably won't many win plaudits for style, it looks quite bland, with little wow factor, but it produces the goods. It's well made, easy to operate and has a feature set that appeals to the photographic savvy. However it would be nice to have some more manual control such as aperture and shutter, and a histogram would also be nice. It's a little too high end for the average snap shooter and just a little to basic in operation for the enthusiast, despite having features that the enthusiast would love, especially the dynamic range function."

(more at trustedreviews)

Imaging Resource has reviewed the $150 8 megapixel 4x optical zoom Canon Powershot A580.

Here's what they thought:

"No entry-level bargain camera is going to score highly on our comprehensive tests, but the Canon PowerShot A580 proved to be pretty scrappy. Thanks to its DIGIC III processor, its performance was nothing to sneeze at. And the same imaging engine gave it some very helpful tools like motion detection and face detection that Canon has harnessed in unique and interesting ways.

Other cameras at less than $150, however, have worse problems, which is enough to make the A580 a Dave's Picks in the Budget category."

(more at imagingresource)

Buy-n-Shoot has reviewed the 10 megapixel Olympus 1030SW camera.

Here's what they thought:

"The 1030SW camera would be an excellent choice for anyone wanting a camera that they can take anywhere. You would not be concerned about the sand at the beach on a family outing or about dropping the camera in a river on a trek through Nepal. The 1030SW has features for all levels of experience and great image quality."

(more at buynshoot)

NEC has unveiled a tough laptop designed to compete with Panasonic's toughbooks being strong (able to withstand 300kg per square foot pressure) and secure (fingerprint sensor and TPM security chip).

The NEC Versa S9100 comes with a 1.2Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, DVD multi-writer optical drive, Intel GMA X3100 graphics, a 12.1" screen, and 801.11a/b/g/n wireless.

Price is 4099 Singapore dollars (about $2,700), it weighs just over 3lb, and battery life is supposed to be around 6hrs. It should be available later this month.

(via cnetasia)

Panasonic has announced the pricing of the first BD-Live Blu-Ray 2.0 player (i.e. the first standalone player that finally catches up with what HD-DVD players were capable of all along).

The Panasonic DMP-BD50 is priced at $700 and has BD-Live (requires an ethernet connection), decodes DTS and Dolby Digital internally, has 1080p/24 playback, and a SD card slot.

(more at gizmodo)

You remember the ebay auction for a pre-release blackberry 9000 that we told you about last week?

Well it turns out that the winner of the auction was none other than the owner of crackberry.com, and he has received and started reviewing it.

Part 1 of his review just covers the unboxing and initial impressions along with a comparison to the Blackberry Pearl and Curve.

A full review will follow and we will let you know once that is posted.

(more at crackberry)

French researchers have invented a new artificial mouth that mimics the the first steps of digestion - chewing, saliva release, and food breakdown.

The goal is to create a mouth that could become part of a robotic taste tester designed to increase our understanding of flavor and improve food quality.

They tested the mouth by setting it at different speeds and feeding it pieces of apple, they then compared the pieces to ones chewed by a real person. Doesn't sound like much fun to me.

I wonder what conclusions the mouth will reach? "English food is too bland" and "the French use too much Garlic" perhaps.

(via newscientist)

CNET has reviewed the $330 Belltronics RX35 radar detector.

Here's what they thought:

"The good: The Beltronics Pro RX65 offers a nice set of programmable features and its tested performance ranks with the best.

The bottom line: The Beltronics Pro RX65 works well for novice to advanced users, giving long distance warning about radar monitoring. Although we had some interface issues, the device works very well overall."

Personally we don't bother with a radar detector, everyone drives 20 over the limit and as long as you stay with the flow of traffic you never get ticketed.

(more at cnet)

Munich-based truck maker F.X. Meiller GmbH & Co KG has seen the future of construction hauling, and it is a sleek all-wheel drive tipper capable of dumping on all four directions.

Chinese transportation designer Haishan Deng created a series of concept drawings depicting what Meiller's new "super tipper" truck in action that won him a 2007 red dot award for product design from Germany's Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, an institution formed in 1955 to promote industrial design aesthetics. Inspired by the movement of quadruped animals, Deng designed the super tipper with independent suspension arms that absorb uneven terrain better than conventional dump trucks.

(more at scientificamerican)

Freesat, a free satellite TV service, has launched in the UK: there are no monthly subscription fees just a one-off payment for the hardware and installation.

Currently it offers 80 TV and radio channels but only one of them is high-definition (BBC). Freesat plans to have 200 channels up by the end of the year.

A standard-definition only receiver is priced at £49 ($100), high-definition receivers will cost £120 to £150 ($240 - $300) and installation will cost £80 ($160) on average.

Freesat also plans on launching 42" 46" and 50" HDTVs with integrated receivers in the next 3 months.

(via theregister)

Microsoft just announced that they have resumed downloads of XP service pack 3 and Vista service pack 1 through Windows Update.

We have service pack 3 installed and it isn't anything earth shatteringly new, but it does make sure you are up to date with all the latest security fixes so in that regard it is worth installing.

Engadget was at the press launch for the HTC Touch Diamond and have released some hand-on photos, some videos. and their first impressions of the new Windows Mobile 6.1 device.

"We had a little thumb-print orgy with the new HTC Touch Diamond immediately following its launch. Light and small, the Touch Diamond comes off as a unit with promise. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to get our hands on this via a US carrier, but Orange users in the UK will no doubt be pretty happy with this new handset, the first of its kind to use Windows Mobile 6.1."

(more at engadget)

LONDON - MAY 06: The Shadow Robot company's dextrous hand robot holds an Apple at the Streetwise Robots event held at the Science Museum's Dana Centre on May 6, 2008 in London, England. The Dextrous Robotic Hand has a bank of 40 Air Muscles which make it capable of 24 movements and the most advanced robot hand in the World. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Space Shuttle Columbia exploded during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crewmembers.

A hard drive was recovered from the wreckage, that hard drive was part of an experiment to study how xeon gas flows in microgravity.

Amazingly 99% of the data of the hard drive was able to be recovered and now, over 5 years after the explosion, the results of that experiment has been published in the journal Physics Review E.

RIP Colonel Rick Husband, Commander William McCool, Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson, Colonel Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, Captain David Brown, and Captain Laurel Clark.

(scientificamerican, via engadget)

Gateway has announced a bunch of new desktop pcs.

The new PCs ranger from the $549 DX442 with Pentium Dual-core, onboard graphics, 2GB RAM and 320GB hard drive to the $3500 factory overclocked, dual 8800 GT graphics FX541XT.

More details after the jump.

Dell is now offering graffiti influenced artwork by Brooklyn based artist Mike Ming on the top lids of their Inspiron 1525 laptops.

There are 4 different pieces of artwork available across two different versions of the 1525: a $699 model with 1.73Ghz processor, 3GB RAM and 160GB hard drive, and a $799 model with 1.83Ghz processor, 3GB RAM, and 320GB hard drive.

The new laptops are available today and will ship in about two weeks.

(more at dell)

Digital Trends has reviewed the $450 Archos 705 WiFi 160GB portable media player.

Here's what they thought:

"We love the 705's huge hard drive and WiFi capabilities, but lacking physical control buttons, it should offer a better-feeling and -looking touchscreen, even if it adds cost. The device should also either come with wider support for various formats, and built-in recording (like the Cowon A3) would be nice too - we'd even be willing to pay a bit extra for it.

As far as replacing your laptop is concerned, however, the Archos 705 may boast an entirely different set of flaws than the Cowon Q5W, but neither is quite ready for that responsibility... yet."

(more at digitaltrends)

Microsoft is giving a bunch of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals - I'm sure that will be especially appreciated by the kids who have hurt themselves playing Wii.

Microsoft Corp. today announced a new partnership with Companions in Courage, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting children and families who are overcoming life-threatening obstacles. As part of its commitment to providing fun, interactive entertainment for children, Microsoft is supplying hundreds of Xbox 360 game kiosks to playrooms in children's hospitals across the country, intended to provide a respite for young patients and be a catalyst for fun. In addition to select games, movies and television content, the Xbox 360 kiosks will provide access to a secure, private network that allows hospitalized children across the country to play games and chat over Xbox LIVE, the world's largest social network connected to television.

OCZ is now the leader in the race for the fastest most awesome overclockable desktop pc memory.

They just announced the availability of 4GB PC3-16000 DDR3 memory kits designed for overclockers who want the best possible memory.

They are 100% hand-tested, have a lifetime warranty, and unsurprisingly the price has not been released - if you need to know the price you probably can't afford it.

(press release)

Super talent has announced a new line of solid state drives (SSDs).

The MasterDrive series are designed as direct replacements for laptop 2.5" drives and connect over the SATA-II interface. They also feature Super Talent's patented wear leveling algorithms and bad bit management for extended lifespan.

The news drives come in 30GB, 60GB and 120GB capacities with 120/40 MB/sec read/write, consume 85% less power than a conventional hard drive, and retail for $299, $449, and $699.

(more at supertalent)

EVGA has come out with a couple of cool new stackable USB based graphics adapters that allow you to easily add an additional monitor to your PC without needing to open the box.

They don't have a GPU processor of their own so don't expect to run games on them but they sounds great for adding an extra monitor for improved web browsing or locating widgets or email off your main screen.Both have a DVD outlet and a DVI to VGA converter for older monitors, the UV-12 supports up to 1280x1024 resolution and the DV-16 supports up to 1600x1200.

With the under-whelming press event in London now over the HTC Touch Diamond is now officially official... it will be out on 5 networks in the UK shortly and out in the US some time this year.

Here's the officially official specs:

• Size: 102 x 51 x 11.33mm


• Weight: 110 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: 4 GB Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,


• 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: 900 mAh


• Talk time: GSM: up to 4 hours


• Standby time: GSM: up to 300 hours/100 hours with push email


• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM® 7201A™ 528MHz

We are officially unimpressed.

Boy Genius from Boy Genius Report went all the way to London for the extremely over hyped press conference from HTC that was supposed to announce the most exciting product of the year.

All that got announced was the HTC Touch Diamond that we already knew all about.

Here are some of his comments:

11:50 AM: We've pretty much confirmed Android will not be making an appearance here. Mmm.
12:15 PM: He just said the design is museum-worthy. We'll be the judge of that, fella.
12:26 PM: Marketing spin: "HTC Touch Diamond is Just Like Your Life." What, sad and lonely?
12:29 PM: Available in Europe and Asia in June. Rest of the world is later this year. What. In. The. Hell?
12:44 PM: Oh my god. We came all the way here for one phone. Where is my slide-out keyboard, damn it!

(more at boygeniusreport)

Blogeee has done some testing of the battery shipped with the Eee PC 900 and the performance is not that impressive.

With the display at 100% using openoffice word processor spreadsheet etc they only got 82 minutes of life out of the battery, stop using the mouse turn off wifi and turn the screen down to 30% and you still only get 108 minutes.

Want to watch a movie? I hope it's a short one: just 50 minutes battery life watching a movie on a USB drive or 66 minutes if the movie is stored on the SSD.

As much as we love owning the latest and best gadgets we think it may make sense to wait for an ultraportable using Intel's delayed Atom processor to get a good battery life.

(more at blogeee)

Engadget got their hands on the Steelseries ikari laser mouse and the new 7G keyboard that launched May 5th.

Here's what they thought:

"Both of these products are obviously built for pro and casual gamers, but we found a productivity boost in our regular day-to-day blogging operations, which requires large quantities of precise link clicking (how's that for a resume line item?) and rapidly written posts. In addition to these two, SteelSeries is bringing its entire line of Euro-popular gaming peripherals to the States, including headphones and crazily fancy mouse pads."

(loads of photos at engadget)

Korean company Diotek has announced handwriting recognition software for the iPhone:

"This newly developed handwriting recognition software, DioPen™, is an input method that allows writing letters on capacitive touchscreen of Apple's iPhone by using bare fingertip. Currently, iPhone only provides QWERTY virtual keyboard without additional input methods such as handwriting recognition widely used in most other PDAs or mobile phones with resistive touchscreen.

DioPen™ can recognize Korean, Chinese and English/European characters and digits written in cursive, print or mixed cursive/print with extreme accuracy. In addition to Apple iPhone, DioPen™ can be easily implemented with other mobile devices with capacitive touchscreen as well as resistive touchscreen."

(via akihibaranews)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the $800 720P Panasonic TH-42PX80 plasma tv.

Here's what they thought:

"After combining Panasonic's finest plasma performance to date with an amazingly aggressive price for a 42in flat TV, the 42PX80 starts to look like arguably the biggest bargain of the year so far."

(more at trustedreviews)

Ok, it isn't bullet-proof and it can't fly but Raytheon's Sarcos Exoskeleton can carry 200lb and is agile enough to climb stairs.

It isn't really practical yet and appears to be connected to power and computer via a thick set of cables but they have come a long way since they started on the exoskeleton in 2000.

My guess is that in about 10 years we will see these deployed with our military - not as laser wielding Terminators but as cargo loading assistants as in the movie Aliens.

(large photo gallery at raytheon)

Vodaphone has announced agreements to sell the iPhone in 10 new countries: Australia, India, South Africa, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, and Turkey.

The iPhone is currently only available officially in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, and Austria, although unlocked versions have been imported and sold on the gray market in many other countries.

(via Yahoo)

Shutterbug has reviewed the Sigma DP1, the $800 digital camera that tries to fit the functionality of a full-size digital SLR into the body of a compact camera.

Here's what they thought:

"I worked with the DP1 over the course of a few weeks and found image quality to be excellent in both the Fine JPEG and Raw modes. As of this writing there is no Raw converter in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw for CS3, so you have to process the Raw images using the Sigma software. I am told by Sigma that they are working with Adobe to get this straightened out. My advice is to convert using the software and do the rest of the work in your image editor of choice."

(more at shutterbug)

Digicam Review has reviewed the $300 10 megapixel Canon Powershot SD 790 IS (known as the IXUS 90 IS in Europe).

Here's what they thought:

"The Canon Digital IXUS 90 IS / SD790 is an ultra stylish compact camera that provides an impressive 3" screen, 10 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens and image stabilisation. Noise is controlled quite well considering the camera has 10 megapixels, and image quality is generally very good. The camera's screen works well even in bright sunlight and battery life is quite good. Overall this is a fairly appealling camera however it's price could put a number of people off buying it, especially when other cameras from Canon and other manufacturers often offer better value for money. Another area where this camera could be seen as lacking, is in the lens department, especially as most new cameras now offer a more wide angle lens. However, if you want a genuinely good camera with a large 3" screen that works in the sun, then this is recommended!
"

(more at digicamreview)

DCresource has reviewed the 9 megapixel $300 Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 digital camera.

Here's what they thought:

"In the introduction to this review, I remarked that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 was one of my favorite cameras of 2007. I'm pleased to report that this years model, the DMC-TZ5, is even better. It offers a big zoom lens, good photo quality, a stunning 3-inch LCD display, a 720p movie mode, and generally snappy performance, all in a relatively compact body. It has a few downsides, including above average noise, a slow lens, and sluggish low light focusing. Despite a few flaws, the TZ5 is a great camera, and one which I can highly recommend."

(more at dcresource)

Sony has launched 3 new TVs for the European market.

The Bravia V4500 comes in 26", 32" and 37" flavors each with a 720P (1388 x 720) panel.

They also have 33,000:1 contrast, 178 degree viewing angle and 3 HDMI ports.

No word yet on a release date or price.

Yep, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel to provide "news" today as everyone else seems to be off drinking margaritas or celebrating communism.

AT&T has now made the LG Vu available for purchase on their web site.

The cost is $549.99 without a contract or $299.99 with a 2 year enslavement plus a $100 mail-in rebate.

This is one of only two phones that currently support the new Mobile TV service.

(at&t, via engadget)

People look at Topol-M ICBM passing by during a rehersal for the nation's Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 5, 2008. Victory Day, in honor of the end of WWII, will be celebrated on May 9. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER NEMENOV (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

The Topol-M missile is 75.5 feet long, 6.4 feet in diameter, weighs 104,000lb, is know in the west as the SS-27 Stalin, and carries six 550 kiloton nuclear warheads.

This version with a mobile launcher entered service in 2006 and between silo and mobile launched Topol-M missiles there will be 62 in service by the end of 2008.

The Topol-M has a range of 6,900 miles and is thought to have propulsion enhancements designed to help it avoid US anti-ballistic missiles.

China is building some interesting stuff in an attempt to look good for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, case in point is this zero energy media wall by GreenPix.

The wall is said to be the largest color LCD display in the world and is powered only by solar panels built into the wall. It charges during the say and displays images at night.

No information on the actual dimensions of the wall or the resolution of the images it will display, but the real question is "will the wall and the rest of the Olympics takes peoples mind off what is happeneing in Tibet, the massive pollution in Beijing, and the crackdowns on free speech and any political dissent?".

(via psfk)

The LG VX9100 is now officially announced in the US on Verizon.

The VX9100 replaces the VX9900 enV and is 3G with a 2.4" 320x240 pixel LCD, 160x64 pixel secondary LCD, 2MP camera, microSD card slot, 8GB memory, QWERTY keyboard, and bluetooth.

It weighs 4.2oz and measures 4.0 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches.

We like the way it looks!

(via akihibaranews)

Akihibara News has reviewed the Sony Handycam HDR-TG1 compact HD digital video camera.

Here's what they thought:

"Compact, Stylish and providing good video once turned in 720p, Sony with the TG1 will definitively attract a lot of potential buyer, but unfortunately for us the TG1 is not mature yet, several UI flaws combined with poor photo quality and a poorly design companion software make us wonder why spending SO much money when the HD1000 form Sanyo offers as good as video as the TG1 for half its price (In Japan)"

(more at akihibaranews)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the $350 Netgear ReadyNAS Duo twin-bay network attached storage.

Here's what they thought:

"The ReadyNAS Duo takes everything that makes the NV+ a great NAS appliance and packs it into a pint-sized desktop unit. It's an affordable choice for home users, delivers good overall performance and offers a wealth of multimedia features into the bargain."

(more at trustedreviews)

Engadget has posted their full review of the Lenovo Ideapad U110.

Here's what they thought:

"So, did Lenovo hit a home run with the IdeaPad U110? All things considered, we might have to say no. Granted, that's based primarily on the dreadful keyboard and slightly underpowered feel. You just can't make an ultraportable that's tough to type on -- this class of machine, more than any other, requires the quality of the keys to be top-shelf. Unfortunately, we weren't able to adapt to the annoyingly slick coating, and we found ourselves frustrated by the inability to type for even short periods of time without accidentally inputting characters that we didn't intend to.

That being said, the U110 is otherwise still a solid machine. If the keys felt half as good as the trackpad, we'd feel totally different about the entire thing. Additionally, the absurdly glossy display doesn't help matters, as it's next to impossible to avoid seeing those ever-present reflections. We really dig the design and overall build quality, but at $1,899 (or $1,999 for the 3GB RAM model), it's a stretch to recommend it without qualifications. If you really, really like what you're seeing, we would suggest finding one and giving those keys a go on your own; for those not bothered by the coating, it's entirely more inviting."

(full review at engadget)

"Crazy Lenny" the Mad Mariner has stress tested a few portable GPS and VHF handhelds: the Garmin GPSmap 76c, the Lowrance iFinder H2O, the Raymarine Ray 101, the Uniden Voyager, and the Uniden MHS 350.

How were they stress tested? dropped them a few times, tossed them around in a cooler of ice and live fish, threw them overboard into a couple of feet of salt water, drove a trailer and boat over them, handed them to a bunch of kids with instructions to break them, and then finally flushed then down the toilet.

A week later he tested them and they all still worked.

(full review at madmariner)

Goldstriker have brought out a new version of the 24 caret gold plated iPhone.

The Goldeneye has the front bezel and apple logo gold plated plus the rear is plated to match the "metallic winter gold" of the 2008 Jaguar XK Goldeneye car.

How much do you have to pay to get this ultra-shiny gold-plated thief chick magnet?

£749.95 (about $1500)

(via ubergizmo)

New from Transcend is the Storejet 35 Ultra hard drive enclosure for SATA drives, what made it different from most other enclosures is that to keep the hard drive healthy it comes with an extra quiet 80mm high flow fan.

No info yet on price but it measures 197.5mm by 127.5mm by 48mm and you can get it with or without a 500GB SATA drive pre-installed.

(via fareastgizmos)

boing boing reviewed the Novatel U727 cellular EVDO USB stick that costs $280 (or $80 plus a $60/month 2 year contract with Sprint).

Overall they found it to be bigger than expected, installed easily, got good connectivity most of the time, and it doubles as a SD card reader.

If you live and spend most of your time in a large city this could be worth looking into.

(more at boingboing)

ASUS North American headquarters today announced the availability of the long-awaited ASUS Eee PC 900. The US is the 3rd in-line to offer the 8.9-inch ASUS Eee PC following its release in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Both Linux and Microsoft Windows operation system will be available for the pre-order.

This new generation of ASUS Eee PC includes a package of new features. The new 8.9-inch (1024 x 600) is equipped with a 1.3 Mega Pixel webcam, 1GB of memory, and has a FingerGlide feature which enables users to zoom in and out of pictures with simple finger movement.

The ASUS Eee PC 900 will officially become available in the US on May 12th.

US Specs:

$549, 8.9" 1024x600 LCD, 1GB RAM, either 12GB SSD and XP or 20GB SSD and Linux, 802.11b/g, 1.3mp webcam, MMC/SD card slot, 3 USB ports, 8.86" x 6.69" x 0.79"~1.33", 2.18lb.

tbreak have dome some testing to see how the Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX scales from single use to dual SLI through to triple SLI.

Here's what they found:

"So there you have it- at the resolutions that we tested these games under, Triple SLI does not really bring much to the table. Out of the eight games, there was noticeable (20% or higher) difference in four- Company of Heroes, Crysis, Enemy Territory and Lost Planet. The other four games didn't show that big of an improvement.

So at the moment, Triple SLI might only be worth for people with displays capable of extremely high resolutions- we're talking 30" LCDs here. For everyone else including a high-end gamer that plays at 1920x1200 with 4X AA, your standard dual card SLI is more than capable and the scaling of Triple SLI is not required."

(full review at http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=607)

At a campaign stop in Indianapolis Obama attacked Grand Theft Auto 4:

"Now, this isn't intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids. Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they're spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment."

Typical Democrat blaming an inanimate object instead of people: the gun went off and killed him, the drugs made him the way he is, the computer game raises our kids wrong.

Bullshit!

It isn't the computer game that creates bad kids, bad parenting causes bad kids.

Why doesn't Obama blame bad parents for letting their kids have access to adult themed games? because he doesn't want to lose their votes.

CNBC is reporting that California-based battery company ZPower will announce it's first product in august (after 10 years development).

ZPower batteries are based on silver-zinc in stead of the currently used lithium-ion and are designed to be 85% recyclable.

The batteries offer 40% more power density than lithium-ion which means that the same size battery will keep your laptop going 40% longer.

(more at cnbc)

HTC are supposed to be making a big announcement this coming Tuesday and it is likely to be the HTC Touch Diamond whose specs and photos have just been leaked:

2.8-inch VGA display, Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, eGPS, FM tuner, Quad-band HSDPA 7.2, 4GB internal flash, microSD slot, 528MHz CPU, 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, 10.7mm (0.47-inches) thick, supposedly also features an orientation sensor / accelerometer.

The specs are great but I'm not loving the look: too blocky for my taste.

(via newsmobile)

Last week Lenovo started selling the Ideapad U110 laptop with the following specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz (4 MB cache, 800 MHz FSB), 2GB PC2-5300/667 MHz RAM (up to 3GB supported), 120 GB 4200 rpm PATA HDD, System ships with two batteries: 4-cell and 7-cell, plus an external USB portable DVD burner, 2.4 lbs weight, 11.1-inch 16:9 LED-backlit WXGA screen (1366 x 768), Intel X3100 integrated Graphics, Aluminum etch cover and Magnesium Aluminum case, Frameless screen, Touch-sensitive controls, Vista Home Premium, Dolby Home Theatre Speaker System, Veriface security authentication, Integrated 1.3 megapixel camera, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 6 in 1 card reader, Express Card slot, and Mini-PCIe slot.

Engadget got hold of one and have posted a bunch of nice unboxing photos.

(more at engadget)

Dvico has launched what they say is the first dual tuner HDTV PCI express TV tuner.

It allows you to watch or record two 1080i HDTV channels at one time using two of the latest XC5000 silicon TV tuners from Samsung and supports digital cable (64QAM/256QAM) and ATSC terrestrial reception.

The FusionHDTV7 is available now at cyberestore for $139.00.

(cyberestore, via tvsquad)

Earlier today we told you about the designer photo frame that only gives you 10mb storage and a 7" LCD for a whopping $500.

Now we have a much better value photo frame for you: the Image Moments 8 from Digital Foci gives you an 8" 800x600 pixel LCD screen with 500:1 contrast ratio, a card reader that supports all the usual card formats, a USB slot, speakers for mellow background music, and a much more impressive 450MB of storage.

The price: just $199.

(via engadget)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the $50 Silverstone treasure TS01B 2.5" hard drive enclosure.

Here's what they thought:

"The security features of the TS01B may not appeal to everyone, and they're by no means flawless, but once configured it's a damn sight easier to use than a software solution. Even without that aspect though, you're still getting a good portable hard drive enclosure for a pretty good price."

I don't think I like the idea of RFID fob hardware encryption as RFID tags are too easy to fry (accidentally or deliberately) so tou could lose access to your data.

(full review at trustedreviews)

The two new tablet pcs announced by fujitsu earlier this year are now available for purchase.

The U810 mini laptop is just 1.56lb with a 5.6" LCD and Ultra Low Power 800MHz Intel A110 processor and costs $999.

The T2010 is larger and more powerful with a 12.1" LCD, Intel Core2 Duo 7600 processor, and a $1499 price tag.

Both can be ordered with built-in HSUPA connectivity allowing access to 3G and EDGE/GPRS wireless systems in 145 countries through AT&T, this options costs $200 plus the usual AT&T data plan.

TweakTown has reviewed the MSI GX600X laptop.

Here's what they thought:

"If they had one without the logos and glossy finish, and instead a simple matt black coating understating the products true power, then I would have no qualms in stepping out and buying it today.

We have decided to give it the Best Performance award because of the amazing overclocking ability, as well as being a feature packed product at an affordable price. Well done MSI."

(full review at tweaktown)

The Popcorn Hour a-100 network media player is now available for pre-order on their site.

For $179 you get a box that you connect to your network via ethernet cable and then stream just about anything at 1080p via HDMI to your TV.

You can also add a hard drive of your own to the a-100 and then send it off to download stuff via bittorrent, look at youtube, flickr etc.

It's a good gadget for people that don't have a dedicated media pc.

(pre-order at popcornhour)

Laptop Mag has reviewed the Acer 8920G Aspire laptop that has a massive 18.4" screen, this is no ultraportable, it's almost an unportable at 8.8lb.

A full review will come later but for now they say:

"What immediately jumped out at us was the dramatic revamping of the Gemstone design. This new Gemstone "blue" design consists of a slick blue, black, and silver color scheme, textured NeoWeave palmrest and touchpad, illuminated power button, Acer logo on the lid, and status indicators. The best use of the illumination is in the Acer CineDash Media Console, a touch-sensitive interface positioned left of the keyboard that lets you control music and videos."

(review at laptopmag)

If you are one of those people who don't want just any old electronic photo frame from Target then you should take a look at the $500 "Parrot Digital Frame by Andrée Putman" available only at the Far nd Few concept store in London.

It's a 7-inch screen, with bluetooth and SD card slot, 10mb of memory, and a fancy designer name, for $500.

Are we excited? nope, not really.

Next week the Tesla Roadster electric car will move from development to market with the opening of their first showroom in Los Angeles.

The Tesla is no souped-up gold cart, it is a $109,000 electric powered sports car that does 0-60mph in under 4 seconds, has a top speed of 125mph, and a range of 225mph. Once the battery runs out of oomph you just plug it in and it recharges in 3.5hrs.

This takes a lot of battery power: the lithium-ion batteries account for 1,000lb of the Tesla's 2,700lb weight and they have an expected lifespan of 100,000 miles.

Don;t expect to walk into the showroom and buy one though - there is a current wait of 15 months to get one, but if you see one driving down the street take a look at the driver - Arnold Schwartenegger, George Clooney, and Kelsey Grammer have all ordered one.

Everyone is showing off their fuel cells today.

This is a prototype from Sony, a 2" x 1.2" methanol hybrid fuel cell that can put out up to 3W and can power a video phone long enough to watch 14hrs of movies while only using 10ml of methanol fuel.

Enough with the prototypes, give us a working product!

MTI MicroFuel Cells has shown a prototype GPS that is powered by their mobion methanol fuel cell.

The fuel cell powers the GPS for 60 hours of continuous use and be can be refuelled. The GPS also includes a USB port to recharge other gadgets too.

No news on pricing or availability, but I can't wait for all out gadgets to me fuel cell powered.

Hitachi has announced the availability of their new ultrathin 1.5" display line for the US market. Available in 32'', 37'', 42'', and 47'', ultrathin is being offered in two series.

The directors series models will cost between $1999 and $4699, and come with a 2 year warranty.

The ultravision - V Series will cost from $1799 to $4499, and come with a 1 year warranty.

32" models support 720p and larger models support 1080p, almost all models are 120Hz

The Register has reviewed the $2500 Lenovo Thinkpad X300 think lightweight 13" laptop.

Here's what they thought:

"The ThinkPad X300 is an expensive piece of kit but it's a superb laptop that is well worth the asking price. Yes, it costs the best part of two grand. Yes, that is a very high price, but you really ought to get your hands on an X300 for a test drive. If you do, you won't want anything else."

(full review at theregister)

Boy Genius Report has provided more info on the clamshell blackberry kickstart:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, "Next Gen" SureType keyboard, 2 Megapixel camera, 16-bit color LCDs, Internal LCD is 240×320, external one is 160×128, Wi-Fi b,g, 3.5mm headset jack, OS is 4.6.

The current speculation is that it will be out in September on T-Mobile.

(via bgr)

Imaging Resource has reviewed the $800 4.6 megapixel Sigma DP1.

Here's what they thought:

"Thanks to its higher price of around $800 and the other limitations mentioned above, the Sigma DP1 doesn't meet the needs of the general photographer wishing for an SLR replacement or substitute. However, the patient photographer might find the Sigma DP1 a refreshing pocket companion for wide-angle photography, and it would certainly serve well as an auxiliary wide-angle choice while shooting with a telephoto lens mounted on your SLR -- if only it were a little faster. As with any photographic tool, an artist can make much of any device that can image as well as the Sigma DP1."

(full review at imagingresource)

Steve's Digicams has reviewed the $1700 12.3 megapixel Nikon D200 digital SLR.

Here's what they thought:

" Nikon's new D300 further raises the bar in the enthusiasts dSLR category. Offering a wealth of features, plenty of customization options, 12.3 megapixels of resolution, upgraded 51-point Autofocus System, a fast frame rate (when using a recommend 266x CF card) and excellent image quality, this model represents Nikon's best effort so far in this market niche. At a price of approximately US$1799, it's not inexpensive, but the D300's features and image quality justify the lofty price. We have no issues giving this camera our highest recommendation; Well done Nikon. "

(full review at stevesdigicams)

Mvix have announced a new 2.5" hard drive based media player that provides up to 250GB of portable media storage in a 5" x 3" x 0.5" enclosure.

The MV-2500U doesn't have a screen of it's own so you need to connect it to a TV via component cables then use the remote control and on screen menus to access your media.

The MV-2500U supports MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, DivX® 3.11, 4x, 5x, XviD, DVD(IFO, VOB), ISO video, AC3, MP2, MP3, DTS pass through, WMA, OGG, M3U audio, and JPG photos and outputs in 1080i or 720p resolution.

Cost for the basic unit is $149 without a drive or you can get one with a 80MB, 160MB or 250MB drive for between $99 and $199 more.

Gizmodo have come out with seven reasons why they think you should steer clear of Psystar and the "open computer" mac clone right now.

1. You can't update
2. You can't reinstall Leopard if you mess things up
3. Their support is untested
4. Apple is going to sue and try to put then out of business
5. The build quality isn't good and the fan is very noisy
6. You are breaking the EULA of the Leopard OS
7. You can build a better mac yourself

I have to say I find it hard to disagree with any of their arguments.

(more at gizmodo)

The Asus Eee PC 900 is now available for purchase in the UK in two versions:

The Eee PC 900 has a 8.9" 1024x600 pixel screen, 1GB RAM, 20GB SSD, 802.11b/g wireless, 1.3 megapixel camera, and is preloaded with Linux.

The Eee OC 900 Windows has the same specs except it only has a 12GB SSD and is preloaded with Windows XP and Microsoft Works.

Both versions are priced at £329 ($660) and are available in black or white.

(asus uk)

Dell has announced the availability of two new inexpensive Vostro laptops.

The Vostro 1310 is a 13.3" laptop that weighs 4.6lb and starts at $749 and the Vostro 1510 is a 15.4" laptop weighing 5.7lb and starting at $599.

Both laptops have Intel Core 2 Duo processors, up to 4GB RAM, optical drive, and fingerprint reader.

In about 2 weeks Dell will launch a similar 1710 laptop with 17" screen (pictured).

(via laptoping)

The British Royal Navy's new Astute class of attack submarines are doing away with the traditional periscope and instead will be fitted with an optronic mast designed by Thales UK.

The mast (SHU: Sensor Head Unit) will pop-up, capture a 360-degree scan of the surrounding area, and disappear back beneath the waves before enemy ships have a chance to detect it. It is pressure-proof, can operate in a wide range of temperatures, is blast hardened, and contains stabilized high-performance cameras and optics as well as environmental sensors.

(via gizmag)

DARPA has announced two test flights of it's Hypersonic Technology Vehicles next year in May and October.

Both will be launched by Minotaur solid-fuel rockets from Vandenberg Air Force Base and will impact near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.

If these flights are successful the next flight demonstrator may be the reusable Blackswift plane and we will be a step closer to getting anywhere on the planet in just a few hours.

(via flightinternational)

New from Devotec is this inexpensive ($40) solar charger with an 1800mAh battery.

It takes 12 hours of good sunshine to charge the battery or you can charge it by AC or USB in 4 hours, and it comes with charging tips for Nokia old, Nokia new/N series, Sony Ericsson, Motorola/Blackberry/mini USB and Samsung phones as well as a DC 5V tip for PSPs and many digital cameras, an Ipod tip, and one for female USB.

(devotec, via engadget)

It looks like everyone got a Dell XPS 730 H1C to review recently. We can't tell if CNET or PC Magazine were the first to get their review posted so we will link you to both.

CNET says: "Dell's updated flagship gaming desktop incorporates the latest hardware from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD into a system that delivers some very impressive gaming scores. We'd give it a higher recommendation if it wasn't so expensive compared with systems from the competition."

PC Magazine says: "At this price level, however, only high-end gamers with deep pockets need apply (though the XPS 730 H2C is actually a little less expensive than its predecessors). It yielded some of the better gaming performance I've seen lately, but for the time being you're really buying a system with future-proofing built in."

(reviews at cnet, and pcmag)

PC Perspective got their hands on the new Asus M50S multimedia laptop and while they work on a full review they posted some photos.

Here's how it came equipped:

"A quick look at the specs of the system should impress most: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor that rocks at 2.10 GHz, 3GB of memory, 15.4" screen that is incredibly bright (but very capable of producing glare), 250GB SATA hard drive, 802.11 networks galore (a, b, g, n), Bluetooth and even the new NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS mobility GPU with 512MB of dedicated frame buffer. Oh, and it comes with a Blu-ray disc reader / DVD burner as well. "

(more at pcperspectives)

Ok, it's official, I am suffering from computer envy.

5 minutes after posting the press release on the Dell XPS 730 H2C I find out that not only do hothardware already have one but that they have posted the unboxing and ran some benchmarks.

"So far, the XPS 730 H2C is shaping up to be a very impressive machine. However, we've barely just started to explore this system. Stay tuned and keep watching the front page because we'll have a full review of the XPS 730 H2C soon, complete with a full suite of benchmarks and, of course, plenty more pictures."

(more at hothardware)

Dell has announced it's new top end gaming machine: the Dell XPS 730 H2C.

It comes in two versions: the XPS 730 with air cooling and starting at $3,999 and the watercooled XPS 730 H2C starting at $4,999.

These PCs are quad-tastic with quad graphics cards, quad core factory overclocked processors, and quad hard drives.

We just specced one out the way we want it and it came to over $10k, that's what I call a high-end gaming pc!

The Eee PC is being released in three pastel colors in Japan: sky blue, brush pink, and rush green.

No word yet on if these colors will ever make it to the Eee PC 900 or to non-Asian countries.

I like these colors, very relaxing, it's the sort of laptop I would buy for my 9 nieces and nephews (if I were stinking rich).

(via akihibaranews)

So when we first heard about the $3000 R2-D2 DVD projector we thought it would be really cheesy.

Now there is a video out and it is cheesy but in an awesome spectacular way!

This thing moves around, projects movies onto the wall at 1024x768 (1500 lumens), can lead back and project onto the ceiling, 20 watt speaker system, ipod dock, it does everything (except electrocute other robots).

How long until the first video comes out showing some 40 year old overweight geek in his basement pleasuring himself to the tune of "help me obi-wan kenobi, you're my only hope" while wearing his homemade princess leia slave costume?? *shudder*

(video at starwarsblog)

It appears that iPhone users are given free WiFi access at 71,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots including Barnes & Noble and Starbucks stores.

Instead of the usual login/payment screens iPhone users are seeing a new entry screen asking for their iPhone phone number and once the number is entered they get free access.

macrumors notes that this appears to be based on the "user-agent" setting of the web browser so this is easily faked on a laptop to get free access (as long as you have a valid iPhone phone number to enter).

(via macrumors)

Asus has announced the specs of their G70 gaming laptop.

It will ship with an Intel core 2 duo or core 2 extreme processor, twin GeForce 8700M graphics, 17" 1920x1200 screen, up to 4gb RAM, and up to 640MB of hard drive space.

Full press release:

Ina Fried bought a $99 recertified 4gb iPod Nano from buy.com. The ipod contained a virus (that thankfully was caught by antivirus software).

That iPod didn't come from apple, it was recertified by an unidentified company in Illinois and supposedly buy.com checked and it was not a widespread problem.

As with any good deal online: caveat emptor ("buyer beware").

(via cnet)

PC Magazine recently got sent a destroyed hard drive by eDR solutions to show off their hard drive crusher.

The hard drive crusher drills a hole through the spindle of the hard drive which according to eRD "creates ripples in the platters making it impossible to recover the data".

This 19" x 13.5" x 12" gadget runs off a standard AC outlet and can destroy 60 drives an hour with the actual crushing taking just 10 seconds.

The hard drive crusher costs $11,500 plus an extra $895 for a hand pump to use if the power is out. For that sort of money they seem to be targeting the military and embassies as customers.

I know how I destroy hard drives: I take them to the range and put about 20 7.65x51mm NATO rounds through them - it's fun and I know the military can use the same solution and spend $10 on ammo instead of $11,500 on a crusher.

(via gearlog)

Asus expects to nearly double shipments of their Eee PCs during the second quarter of 2008. In the first quarter they sold 700,000 Eee PCs and expect to sell 1,300,000 this quarter including their new Eee PC 900.

It will be interesting to see if they meet that goal considering all the competition coming online in the ultraportable space.

(via pcworld)

PC World has published an interesting article on what the claim are the top 18 software features Windows Vista (and XP) should have but don't.

I disagree with 3. Back to My Mac: if you were smart enough to keep automatic backups on Amazon's S3 service then you could get the file easily and pay a lot less than $99/yr. A lot of the other features are already handled in windows by free third party software - why should Microsoft reinvent the wheel?

Overall I see nothing in their list that would make me ditch XP on my main PCs for Mac or Linux (even though I also use and like Linux).

(pcworld, via digitalhomethoughts)

Fujitsu has developed a monitor that uses zero power when in standby mode.

"The primary component is a circuit element in the power supply unit of the monitor that is switched by the PC. As soon as the video signal of the computer subsides, a relay--an electrically powered switch--with two switching positions automatically interrupts the entire electrical circuit of the monitor. When the computer signal returns again, the low currents that then begin to flow across the interface are sufficient to trigger the relay and thereby restart the monitor. "

The zero watt monitors will be sold for the same price as a regular monitor starting this summer, expect other monitor manufacturers to follow suit.

(via physorg)

DCResource has reviewed the $220 Canon SD1100 IS 8 megapixel 3x optical zoom ultracompact digital camera.

Here's what they thought:

"All things considered, the PowerShot SD1100 is a quality ultra-compact camera. It offers good photo quality, snappy performance, and image stabilization in a sleek, stylish metal body. Sure, there's room for improvement, but I'm yet to review a perfect camera. So, if it's a compact camera you're after, then this one's definitely worth a look."

I think Canon needs to put more thought into their product numbering as the SD890 IS and SD950 IS are both much better cameras that the SD1100 IS (and are more expensive).

(more at dcresource)

CNET has reviewed the $300 Sony cybershot DSC-H10 8.1 megapixel digital camera with 10x optical zoom and 3" LCD.

Here's what they thought:

"A decent, but not outstanding option for those in search of a modestly priced megazoom, you might want to check out our list of Best megazoom digital cameras before committing to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10."

(more at cnet)

DigiCanReview has reviewed the $400 Ricoh R8 10 megapixel compact digital camera with 7.1x optical zoom.

Here's what they thought:

" The Ricoh R8 looks and feels great, and is capable of taking some great photos. The camera has a sharp wide angle 7.1x optical zoom lens, and is almost ultra compact, similar in size to other ultra compact cameras such as the IXUS 90 IS. Ricoh appear to have moved this camera upmarket with a newly designed body, and improved hand grip and control dial. The camera features built in anti-shake which helps keep pictures sharp, and has one of the sharpest screens I've ever seen. The camera still suffers from a poorly positioned flash, and noticable noise levels at all ISO settings. However, if you can look past the noise and can work with the camera - then it is capable of producing some excellent results."

(more at digicamreview)

AT&T are launching two new handsets on May 4th that support MediaFLO Mobile TV: the LG Vu ($300 with 2yr contract) and the Samsung Access ($200 with 2yr contract).

The TV broadcasts will be available in 58 cities and there are 10 channels available. The Mobile TV service will cost $15 a month for unlimited access.

One interesting thought: in an emergency (9/11, Katrina etc) the normal cellphone network gets overloaded, as MediaFLO operates on a separate network you would still be able to get CNN or Fox News to keep abreast of events if you were caught up in the emergency.

(more at myfoxutah, via engadget)

Giga-byte have announced a new ui for their gsmart windows mobile smartphones.

The smart touch interface is similar to the iPhone interface in that you use your fingers to activate and move 16 different apps.

Smart touch will be available in Europe in the next month.

(via theunwired)

Boy Genius Report truly is the guru of all blackberry info releases these days (but as you will see he needs a better camera). As if the blackberry 9000 specs weren't enough he comes back today with the unveiling of a new Blackberry, the kickstart, that has a clamshell flip open design so you can be more like Kirk with his communicator as opposed to McCoy with his tricorder.

Details are scarce but this is what he knows: crackberry suretype keyboard, external and internal lcds, trackball navigation, camera, and it will be out sometime this year.

(photo gallery at boygeniusreport)

iLuv is one of the multitude of companies who jumped on the Apply iPod iMac iPhone bandwagon by putting the letter i in front of everything.

They just announced two alarm clock radios that receive HD radio broadcasts: the i168 at $89.99 and the i169 at $169.99. What's the difference I hear you ask? the i169 looks cooler and has an iPod dock so you can listen to your iTunes when the iAlarm wakes iYou in time to go to your iJob.

Me? I'm "blessed" with a built-in alarm clock that wakes me at 4.40am every morning, even on the weekends......

Press release:

Determined to get to the bottom of their macbook air overheating problems engadget took their too hot to trot skinny laptop to an Apple "genius" but he couldn't reproduce the problem.

So, when all else fails create a poll. They asked their readers if they too were having problems and the winning answer with a resounding 73.2% of the vote was......

"I don't have a MacBook Air, thanks for asking"

Of the people who responded that do own a macbook air the majority were having problems with over 2000 people reporting their macbook air "Overheats all the time, really annoying".

Sounds like the problem is real and Apple needs to do something about it.

(poll at engadget)

Extreme tech has reviewed the 300GB Western Digital Velociraptor that is really a 2.5" drive wrapped in a massive heat sink and asked "Can a 2.5-inch drive really outperform a high density, 3.5-inch drive?".

Here's the answer:

"Overall performance is quite good, while write performance is particularly excellent--and likely to be better than most (but not all) solid state drives. However, even at $299, it's still vastly less expensive than solid state drives of much lower capacity. Given its substantial performance advantage over 7,200RPM drives, we'll no doubt see these arriving in most enthusiast-class systems and lower-end workstations. For those users, performance trumps capacity for the system drive. After all, you can always add a big 7,200RPM drive (or array) as a secondary drive, if you need capacity."

(more at extremetech)

Engadget has put their Psystar open computer through it's paces and have posted their thoughts, a video, and some benchmarks:

Okay, so we've been playing with the Psystar Open Computer for a few hours now, and we've formed some early impressions and put together a short video of it in action. We haven't really tried to stress the system yet, but based on our other experiences with OSx86 machines, we're expecting things to generally go smoothly. That said, there are some definite rough patches and issues, all mostly having to do with the fact that OS X isn't really built for this hardware. Here's what we know so far:

.......

(more at engadget)