We’re still torn on whether we’d have this or one of those always-evolving HDD Stage Racks at our desk, but really, you can’t go wrong either way. Brando’s 2.5-inch SATA HDD Enclosure with Multi-Function Dock pretty much explains itself, but if you struggle with piecing things together, we’re here to help. The unit holds any 2.5-inch SATA drive you care to insert, and the base doubles as a 2-port USB hub and multicard reader. The whole thing is just $25 — the tough part is choosing between red or black. Hmm.
Ooo, ahhh, you feeling that 3D display on your 2D panel? You should, it’s the world’s largest 3D LCD panel from VMJ measuring in at 65-inches. The stereoscopic panel developed with support from VisuMotion features a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 6-ms refresh, 120-degree viewing angle, and DVI and RGB inputs. Best of all, no goofy 3D glasses of any type are required thanks to the incorporation of Sharp’s Parallax Barrier viewing technology. Priced at Â¥3.15 million (about $30k) when it starts advertising CosaNostra Pizza around Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong.
The rumored Tony Hawk edition of the Sidekick LX is said to be making its first public appearance today, looking every bit the part with a “skateboard look and feel” made complete with “grip-tape-texture” and the skateboarding icon’s name plastered across the display’s bezel. This one isn’t just about branding, though — it’s being said that T-Mobile will use the occasion to launch a rather hearty LX firmware update that includes video recording, stereo Bluetooth, additional themes, some sort of video sharing capability, and more; it’ll be available to all LX owners some time this summer via an over-the-air update. Meanwhile, the very special Tony Hawk piece should be made available to buyers in mid-July.
We didn’t think it’d take too terribly long to make it happen, but Albatron is taking Microsoft’s heed and is already demonstrating a prototype 22-inch monitor with multi-touch, intended for use with whatever Windows 7 will eventually come to be called. The early verdict on the 1680 x 1050 display? TG Daily says it “works much better than we expected,” but we said the same thing about Surface when it debuted last year — so maybe it simply works as well as it should.
For the folks that just can’t let go, JVC is introducing a new duo of recorders that handle VHS, DVD and HDD-based logging. Predictably, the DR-HX500 holds 500GB while the DR-HX250 gets a 250GB drive, and outside of that, both units are identical. You’ll find a built-in analog / digital TV tuner, an HDMI socket and all the dubbing features you (or your grandmother) can handle. It should be noted that digital TV recordings can only be stored on the HDD, but it is possible to capture a digital show there while copying an analog broadcast to VHS / DVD. The pair is all geared up to land in multi-generational homes this July, with prices being pegged at Â¥95,000 ($906) and Â¥75,000 ($715), respectively.
In case it wasn’t completely obvious already that Toshiba had a thing for AMD’s latest line of notebook processors, here’s all the confirmation you need. Tosh has just made official that the next-generation of Athlon, Turion and Turion Ultra CPUs will be “available throughout” its Satellite lineup. If you’re hunting specifics, we’re talkin’ about the P300D, A300D, M300D, U400D, L300D and L350D series — all of which are scheduled to go on sale sometime this summer from a variety of fine retailers.
Well, would you look at this? Toshiba’s Puma-equipped Satellite A305 hasn’t even left the floor of Computex and it has already been benchmarked. Kudos to NotebookReview for snagging some quality hands-on / testing time with the 15.4-incher, which came stocked with a 2.1GHz CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD writer, 1.3-megapixel camera and Windows Vista Home Premium. You know you can’t wait for all the dirty details and pics to boot, so head on down to the read link and save yourself a trip to Taipei.
We don’t see as many waterproof TVs as we do waterproof cameras and other gadgets, but Panasonic’s just tossed a few more options into the fray, which is says are ideal for use in the kitchen or bathtub. Available in pink, white or black, its new SV-ME75 and SV-ME70 models each boast 5-inch, 480 x 272 displays and 1Seg mobile TV tuners, and are apparently identical in every respect except for some added video recording features on the SV-ME75 (which comes in the form of an SD card slot). Look for each of ‘em to hit Japan on June 20th, with the SV-ME70 setting you back Â¥38,000 (or about $362) and the SV-ME75 running Â¥45,000 (or $429).
When everything looks like a netbook, anything out of the ordinary sticks out like a festering wound at Computex. One such sore thumb came from the Thermalright display, which saw a number of new cooling devices basking in the glory and just waiting for photographers. While most items at the booth were generally uninteresting, this particular image shows off one TR-360 — something we can only assume is a replacement heatsink for the Xbox 360. All we’ve got right now is the picture above along with one other in the read link, but here’s to hoping Thermalright gets around to sharing more information soon.
As if we needed any more evidence that the 16:9 laptop bandwagon is already roaring right along, DigiTimes is now reporting that LG and AU Optronics are each readying some 17.3-inch panels boasting the increasingly common aspect ratio. If the usual unnamed “industry sources” are to be believed, those panels will supposedly be finding their way into laptops from Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Asustek, among others, although it’s not clear when those will actually be showing up. Somewhat interestingly, those same sources also say that Samsung has no plans to produce 17.3-inch panels of its own, although at the rate these various slight changes in sizes keep cropping up, we wouldn’t be surprised if that situation changed sooner rather than later.
Klipsch made tiny waves with their original Image headphones, saying they were the world’s smallest. We took their word for it and moved along. Now Klipsch has given up on the size game with its new X5 headphones, boasting that the 2mm-bigger X5 headphones are “light but heavy in sound.” Anyway, the Image X5 use a full-range armature driver, tuned bass-reflex system, and sport a long-enough 50-inch cable. The housing is electroplated aluminum and Klipsch says the black “tail” reduces cable stress and dampens cable noise. The X5 is iPhone compatible and comes in at a more wallet-friendly (but still slightly alarming) $249 later this month. For that price you’ll get the headphones, carrying pouch, airplane adapter, five multi-sized ear gels, and an ear gel cleaning tool.
AMD’s on a roll at Computex, and it’s keeping the stream alive with two more decently important announcements. First off, the company is making the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800 official, which is said to “triple top-of-the-line graphics performance in comparison to the previous generation ATI Mobility Radeon GPUs.” The unit also enables laptop makers to include CrossFireX technology for the first time, so yeah, there’s that. Moving on, we’ve got the low down on its PowerXpress technology, which enables users to “double or triple the performance of the integrated graphics processor when plugged into a wall socket or extend their battery life by over an hour while on the go.” In actuality, it’s a variant of ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology for lappies, giving folks the option to switch between a Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series GPU and an integrated AMD M780G without the need for a reboot. If your eyebrows just perked up, you can snag said tech on select Fujitsu-Siemens machines right now. All the gory details are linked below — enjoy!
Read - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800 gets official
Read - ATI PowerXpress shipping on select Fujitsu-Siemens laptops
The more cells you can pack onto a NAND chip, the cheaper the storage, so we’re excited about Hynix’s recent announcement of triple-level-cell NAND flash. You might have noticed that MLC-based SSDs are cheaper than SLC units, and TLC keeps the trend alive — Hynix says the cost of TLC production is some 30 percent lower than current chips. On top of that, the 32GB chips themselves are 30 percent smaller than current NAND chips, meaning device manufacturers will be able to cram more storage into our PMPs and phones. We’ll have to wait a little while though: production is going to ramp up in October, and Hynix hasn’t committed to using the new chips in SSDs quite yet.
Mio’s got quite the interesting duo set up at Computex: the Windows Mobile 6.1-packin’ G50 and the two-faced LEAP K1. As for the former, you may know it better as the Lovebird, but it seems a more corporately accepted monicker was chosen at the last minute for the quad-band GSM handset. As for the latter, this mysterious creature actually has two faces to fondle — one of which packs a traditional numeric keypad, while the other features an expansive panel perfect for serving up routes. Check the links below for more details on both.
Sapphire Technologies is showing off some new 3D gear at Computex this week, with a pair of 3D monitors and a new stereoscopic graphics driver on display. The driver works with ATI graphics cards to send a polarized image to the dual-layer monitors, which displays a 3D image to viewers with special glasses. Details on the monitors are pretty sketchy, but Sappire says it’s not working with Zalman and that it’ll have something on the market in the “next couple of months.” Great — now just ditch the shades and we’ll be all good.
Although it physically hurts to suffer the synaptic explosions required to slap out yet another netbook post, this one might actually be worth it. Laptop had the chance to go hands-on with the ECS G10IL at Computex and came away impressed by the 10.2-inch “Wind-esque” Atom-based ultra-portable. No price or dates were provided, although with a promised HSDPA data capability we’re not expecting anything close to $300. Hit the read link for plenty of pics and video.
Aw, snap. Our Chinese branch just happened upon Acer’s totally unmistakable new gaming rig at Computex, and while they couldn’t spend enough time with it to confirm or deny whether it really was faster, better, stronger or longer than anything else, they did manage to capture a few shots. Granted, that little “Don’t Touch” sign technically makes this a hands-off, but either way, we’re sure you’ll enjoy the close-ups found in the read link below.
Back in February a group of researchers from MIT and Texas Instruments designed a new chip for portable devices that uses a mere fraction of the power required in similar chips today. The researchers were able to design a chip that may be up to ten times as energy efficient as current technology.
Current chips operate at about 1 volt and the new design from the MIT researchers operates on 0.3 volts of power. Anantha Chadrakasan, Professor of Electrical Engineering told MIT Energy Initiative, “Memory and logic circuits have to be redesigned to operate at very low power supply voltages. Chadrakasan directs the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, where the work was conducted.
Simply reducing the voltage required for the chip to operate wasn’t the only trick the researchers used to get energy savings for the chip. The researchers also optimized the energy processing circuitry to account for several factors including environmental conditions and variations in circuit demands.
One key to the efficient nature of the new chip design according to Chadrakasan says was a high-efficiency DC-to-DC converter used to reduce voltage to lower levels built right onto the chip. At this point the chip design is only a proof of concept and significant obstacles remain to be overcome before the chip can enter production and ultimately end up in your cell phone. Researchers say that one of the biggest problems they had to overcome was the variability in chip manufacturing.
Lower voltage levels mean that differences in variations and imperfections in the chip building process are magnified and become a problem. Chadrakasan says that commercial applications for the new chip could be seen in five years or sooner. The researchers are also looking at applications for the low voltage chip other than in electronics.
Since the chip can operate on such low power requirements, the researchers also believe it could be used in implantable devices like pacemakers. In this application the chip would be able to get all the power it needs from body heat or the movement of the person with the implant. This would allow implantable devices to be powered indefinitely. Battery life is currently a very big concern for implantable medical devices.
One of the main reasons cited for the lack of encryption on telemetry data sent from pacemakers and internal defibrillators is the added strain encryption would put on the battery inside the devices. A low power chip that gets all the power it needs from the body may be just what is needed to allow stronger security in implanted medical devices.
These researchers aren’t alone in their quest for lower voltage, less power hungry chips and processors. Intel recently introduced its Atom processor which is a full x86 processor and requires only 0.6W of power. The Atom processor still consumes more power than the 0.3V design from MIT.
AMD plans to launch two Phenom X4 and three X2 models within the next three quarters
AMD’s latest roadmap reveals the company’s model numbers for the performance and mainstream Phenom X4 and X2 processors. Despite AMD issuing model numbers, the clock speeds are still ballpark figures and not yet set in stone. AMD has two Phenom X4 and three X2 models planned. Three of the models are set for a Q4’2007 launch.
The Agena-based Phenom X4 processors carry the GP-7xxx model number. There will be two Phenom X4 GP-7xxx processors at launch – the GP-7100 and the GP-7000. AMD plans to clock the Phenom X4 GP-7100 from 2.2-to-2.4 GHz. The Phenom X4 GP-7100 has a 3600 MHz HyperTransport 3.0, or HT3, bus speed. The lesser Phenom X4 GP-7000 has a targeted clock speed between 2.0-to-2.2 GHz and a lesser HT3 bus speed in excess of 3200 MHz. The two quad-core processors will have 89-watt thermal ratings.
AMD plans to launch one Phenom X2 GP-6xxx model by the end of the year. The Phenom X2 GP-6550 joins the Phenom line up next quarter clocked somewhere between 2.0-to-2.4 GHz. The first Phenom X2 to launch has a 3600 MHz HT3 bus speed. This model has a TDP of 65 watts.
Two more Phenom X2 GP-6xxx models will join the lineup in Q1’2008. The Phenom X2 GP-6650 will launch first between 2.2-to-2.6 GHz with a 3600 MHz HT3 bus speed. This model has a 65-watt TDP, similar to the GP-6550. The next Phenom X2 GP-6xxx model to launch is the GP-6800. This model has a higher 89-watt TDP, but still a dual-core processor. AMD aims for a 2.4-to-2.8 GHz clock speed with a 4000 MHz HT3 bus speed.
In Q2’2008, AMD plans to launch one more Stars processor based on the Rana core. This model does not carry the Phenom name because it’s a lower end mainstream processor without L3 cache. The Athlon X2 LS-2350 aims to clock in at 2.0-to-2.2 GHz with a 3200 MHz HT3 bus speed.
The 3.0 GHz Phenom processor that AMD demonstrated last week during its Analyst Day does not appear anywhere in the most recent desktop roadmap.
AMD’s latest guidance explains that sample availability for AM2 Phenom will begin in the “September/October” window, with box stock during “November/December.”
Check it high-enders. DigiTimes has been milking their Taiwanese motherboard sources for information about Intel’s laptop-class, Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor. They’ve come away with a Q3 ship date and price of $1,038 when purchasing the quad-core proc in bulk. Digitimes’ own sources had originally pegged the QX9300 for a May release. But such is the life of the muckraker.
It hasn’t even been a year since Gateway dropped the M-series laptop on us, but with all the other kids getting fancy new Penryn shoes, it’s time for an upgrade — say ‘allo to the M-151X and M-151XL. Only the XL gets the fancy new 2.4GHz T8300 Core 2 Duo, actually — poor X here is still wearing last year’s 65nm 1.66GHz T5450 fashions. Both feature a 15-inch glossy screen, though, as well as 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics with HDMI out, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, fingerprint reader, 5-in-1 memory card reader, slot-loading dual-layer burner, 250GB drive, and Vista Home Premium. Not a bad little package, especially for the price: the X will set you back a cool grand, while the XL runs $1,299.
The Olympus E-420 is sized more like a point-and-shoot camera than a DSLR
Olympus announced a new digital SLR camera called the E-420 that it bills as the world’s smallest DSLR camera. Despite its small size, Olympus promises a full feature set.
Olympus says the E-420 is small enough to fit into a purse or jacket pocket with measurements of 5.1-inches by 3.6-inches by 2.1-inches the E-420 is sized more like a point and shoot camera than a traditional DSLR. The camera is also very lightweight at only 13.4 ounces.
Other features of the E-420 include autofocus with a live view LCD that allows users to frame shots with the LCD screen rather than the view finder is desired. The LCD itself is a 2.7-inch HyperCrystal II promising twice the contrast and better viewing in bright conditions. The camera uses a 10-megapixel Live-MOS sensor promising clear images even at high ISO settings.
The E-420 is also compatible with wireless flash units form Olympus including the FL-50R and FL-36R. The camera supports CompactFlash Type I/II, Microdrive and xD-Picture cards for storage and the lens mount is a four thirds system. A dust reduction system is built-in and uses Supersonic Wave Filter technology. Images can be shot in 12-bit RAW format, JPEG, or RAW+JPEG.
The viewfinder is an eye-level single-lens reflex design with approximately a 95% field of view with a magnification of 0.92x. Image stabilization is not included. The autofocus system uses 3-point multiple AF and has an available focusing aid. The ISO sensitivity rage is ISO 100- 1600 in 1EV steps and the shutter speed is from 2 – 1/4000 of a second. The camera ships with a 14-42mm f2.8 kit lens. Availability is scheduled for late April at about $599 for the kit with lens and $499 for the body only.
DailyTech recently covered Olympus-rival Sony which launched a pair of new D-SLR cameras as well called the A300 and A350.
Although Toshiba may be out of the HD DVD game, it’s certainly not done with being a force in the DVD Forum – the body behind both HD DVD and regular DVD formats.
At the recent 41st Steering Committee meeting, the DVD Forum approved Toshiba as the Chair Company serving from February 2008 to February 2010. Holders of Vice Chair positions are Sony for the CE Industry, Intel for the IT Industry and Warner from the Content Industry.
Also approved was the scope of WG-12, which states the mission: “To study and specify network applications and related network specification of DVD Forum formats, make recommendations for better interoperability and functionality of network connected DVD Forum specified devices and content, and communicate on relevant recommendations with other standard creation organizations.”
Particularly notable was the approval that all CH-DVD format matters be made the responsibility of the China High Definition DVD Industry Association (CHDA) and Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC), though both organizations will report their activities to the DVD Forum.
While similar to HD DVD in that it uses blue-violet laser technology, CH-DVD is supported by media authoring methods owned and approved by the Chinese government. The specific schemes supposedly offer specific measures against piracy.
The China High Definition DVD Industry Association said last fall that it will “make a big push to launch CH-DVD player into the Chinese market in 2008†and “encourage all related industries to… to make the transition from standard definition DVD to high definition DVD.â€
Acer passes Dell as the number two notebook PC maker in the world
Notebook manufacturers are always fighting it out for global supremacy, measured in the number of computers sold and shipped around the world. Market research firm DisplaySearch routinely ranks the companies according to the number of notebooks shipped.
DisplaySearch released a new report this week that shows some interesting information. While HP maintained its worldwide market dominance of the notebook PC industry holding on to its number one spot for the sixth straight quarter, Acer is making huge gains on the list. Acer overtook Dell as the number two notebook maker in the world.
HP moved more than 6 million notebook computers in Q4 2007 while Acer showed big gains shipping 5.25 million notebooks worldwide leaving it about 1.4 million units behind number one HP. Dell ranked third with shipments of 4.64 million units.
Acer’s acquisitions of rival PC makers Gateway and Packard Bell enabled it to beat Dell out of the second place spot on the DisplaySearch list. However, DisplaySearch points out that Acer was able to dramatically narrow the gap between it and Dell with Acer branded notebooks alone.
Fourth place on the list goes to Toshiba with 2.86 million notebooks shipped in Q4 2007. Fifth place went to Lenovo with 2.73 million and Fujitsu captured sixth place with 1.62 million shipped. Sony, Asus and Apple rounded out the list with 1.59 million, 1.56 million and 1.34 million unit shipped respectively. All other PC makers not listed by name in the report account for 5.55 million units shipped.
Some other interesting facts from the report were that the most popular size notebook was the 15.4-inch with 1280 x 800 resolution. In a distant second place were notebooks with 14.1-inch screens.
Nokia confirmed yesterday that we’d be seeing touch-enabled S60 devices in the second half of the year, which instantly started speculation over what a form the UI might take, as we’ve seen some pretty wild concepts from the Finns in the past. Sadly, however, it looks like touch S60 is going be exactly what the name implies and not a speck more — check out this demo video posted on the Nokia marketing blog. Sure, it’s being demoed off a PC on a touch tablet and anything could change, but we’d say that Nokia’s goal of keeping S60 essentially the same to avoid confusing consumers is a little misplaced — this seems like a terrific opportunity to roll out a sexy new version of S60 with touch at the forefront and re-capture the interest of all those Symbian users, so simply glomming touch onto the existing UI seems like a cop-out. Let’s hope things get a little swoopier when the first devices show up in a few months, eh? Video after the break.
Modu lives! We had opportunity to check out one of Mobile World Congress’ most unique offerings today, and we were impressed to say the least. This handset could completely change the way people use handsets giving them a really simple way to actually use your set for music, in-car, or on the go. Hit up Engadget Mobile for a huge gallery showing off some of what modu can do.
Blu-ray duplication systems have been on the block for a good while now, but apparently, Aleratec’s flavor does something that none of the other cool kids can even dream of: it supports LightScribe. The 1:3 Copy Cruiser Blu LS houses a trio of LightScribe-enabled SATA Blu-ray burners that can toast BD-Rs at 6x as well as vanilla DVDs and CDs at much higher speeds. You’ll even find a built-in eSATA connector and a dual channel eSATA host adapter bundled in for those who need one. Here’s the rough part — this critter will set you back a staggering $3,199, so you best be making some serious coin on whatever you’re duplicating for this to be even close to a sound investment.
It’s like we can’t make it through the week these days without word of some outlandish memory technology solving all worldly ills; but it’s not that we’re complaining. This week’s featured tech comes from Nanochip, and promises gains in storage quantity and cost per chip over flash memory. The first prototypes will store 100GB, and will be shipped to device makers next year for evaluation. Nanochip technology stores data on a thin-film material, and accesses it using microscopic cantilevers. Each bit will be 15 nanometers wide at first, with theoretical sizes as small as a couple nanometers. Speeds will be near that of flash, and the data could last longer. There are still some obstacles to accessing the data efficiently, but luckily Nanochip just scored $14 million in funding to complete its pursuit. IBM has been pursuing a similar tech since the late 90’s.
Hey, remember that hot looking Sigma DP1 we’ve been yapping about for ages? Well if you can’t another second to put your buyin’ hat on, the handsome 10-megapixel shooter is available for pre-ordering on Amazon right this second. For just $799.99 ($200 less than the list price), you can finally achieve the satisfied sleep of a Sigma DP1 almost-owner. Sure, you’ll still have to wait till March 25th for the goods to drop, but you can probably entertain yourself by pre-ordering a bunch of accessories and booking all the models you’re going to shoot when the camera arrives.
While rumors of a touchscreen BlackBerry are nothing new — and hey, we’ve even got ourselves a patent to go on nowadays — it’s still encouraging to hear promising hints from the likes of RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie. When asked if RIM would release a touchscreen version of the BlackBerry, Balsillie sounded optimistic. “For sure we’re looking at all kinds of different device packaging and presentation,” he said. “I think getting religious on packaging is not the way to go, it’s really user preference-oriented.” Whether that means we’ll be seeing an iPhone look-alike, or something completely different in the near future is yet to be seen, but at least we do have word that HSDPA is showing up in a BlackBerry near you before long: “Certainly going to HSDPA is something that’s very important to us in the near term,” said Balsillie.
We’re not huge fans of overzealous security camera deployment, but if you’re going to spend taxpayer money deploying nannycams, at least make sure they’re capturing more than one frame every two seconds — the rate at which San Francisco’s $900,000 system is running. A study of the city’s 68 cameras found that the system has only led to one arrest in two and a half years of operation, and the main reason for the failure is uselessly slow video — which is grainy, to boot. Compare that to Chicago’s much-hated (but effective) system, which runs at 30fps, and it’s obvious why the president of San Francisco’s Police Commission said the city was “throwing money away.” There’s no word on how or when the issue might be resolved, but the city is due to review the system and issue a determination soon. Check the read link for a video of the system in (in)action.
We’re short on specifics, but MSI looks to be getting behind Intel’s upcoming 45nm Diamondville processor in a big way — a totally unsurprising turn of events. Diamondville is pretty much built from the ground up for powering low-cost ultraportables of the Eee PC’s ilk, so we’re sure to be seeing it in all sorts of cheap computers in the coming year or so, but MSI is one of the first to announce a budget laptop built around the platform. The chip is due to be formally unveiled in April, and MSI says the “when Diamondville is ready, our project will be ready.” That should be around July or August, and we can’t wait to see those design chops (pictured above) put to good use.
Well folks, that Nikon D60 DSLR we’d heard whispers about way back in the crazy, carefree days of December 2007 appears to be on the verge of coming to light at this year’s PMAs. Digital Photography Review has gotten a leaked press release from the company concerning the new shooter, and now we’ve got a sheet of specs to backup the rumors. It looks like the 10.2-megapixel camera will be sporting a number of improvements, including a 0.19-second power-up, continuous shooting mode at three frames per second, Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering II, compatibility with AF-S and AF-I Nikkor lenses, RAW image handling, in-camera retouching capabilities, and a slew of other, incredibly technical functions that the true camera-geek will surely salivate over. Our suggestion? Hit the read link, and take your good old time poring over the details.
If our description from CES of the perplexing (and frankly inconvenient) navigation associated with E-Lead’s Noahpad wasn’t enough to truly depict what is going on with this thing, then perhaps these videos will help. Sure, they’ve gotten a British guy to do voice-overs, and the company is playing some interesting angles with the multi-use concept, but we’re not sold that anyone could really get used to that keyboard. Take a look for yourself… you’ll see what we mean.
Here’s hoping you own some Verizon stock, readers. According to the company’s Q4 ‘07 earnings call which took place this morning, the massive telco finished out the year on an up note, with a sizable boost in subscribers, and consequently, profit. The company saw a net income boost of 3.9-percent ($1.07 billion, or $.37 a share) year-over-year, and a rise in revenue at 5.5-percent to $23.84 billion, including a 13.3-percent gain (or about 2 million new customers) in wireless sales. Analysts expectations were right on mark with the company’s earnings, at $.62 a share, and the company saw growth in both its aforementioned wireless division, as well as big jumps in FiOS users. That’s right kids, the rich do get richer.
iPod surround bars are nothing new, but iLive’s hoping to catch a few eyes that normally gloss over these type things by blessing its iT188B with an oh-so-attractive $99 price tag. This iteration sports “dual built-in subwoofers,” an AM / FM radio, obligatory iPod dock and an on board clock to boot. It also comes bundled with a remote control and an auxiliary input to complement the twin video inputs, video output and subwoofer out for connecting an external thumper. As you’d expect, this one’s built for use underneath a flat-panel HDTV, but it shouldn’t have any problems perched up on a countertop, either. You already know how badly this one’s gonna hurt your wallet, but at least you’ve got until April to save up.
All geared up to start your work week with a trio of hu hum NEC monitors? If so, we won’t delay any longer in doling out the nitty-gritty. Up first is the 17-inch LCD174WXM, which features a 1,440 x 900 resolution panel, DVI / VGA (x2) inputs, twin one-watt speakers, a headphone jack, 250 nits of brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio. As for the 19-inch LCD194WXM and 22-inch LCD224WXM, they each share a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness and 176-degree viewing angles. Still, the 19-incher gets stuck with a 1,440 x 900 resolution while the 22-inch sibling gets blessed with 1,680 x 1,050. Per usual, there’s no word on prices just yet, but considering the lack of excitement these are bringing, we doubt too many folks will mind.
According to Ars Technica, Sony has some big plans for a PlayStation 3 refresh, starting with a phase-out of the 80GB model. According to an “inside source” — which Ars claims has been consistently right on video game-related predictions — the console-maker’s new plot is starting to take shape, holding fast to a two-SKU approach on packages, upping the hard drive capacity on systems, and including the Dual Shock 3 controller. The new bundles will take the high / low road, with the source stating that the 40GB model will remain on shelves, while the 80GB, Spider-Man 3-inclusive system will disappear, only to be replaced with a 120GB or 160GB configuration. Of course, right now these are just words on a screen, though in light of Best Buy’s recent stock changes, there certainly is an air of movement over at Sony.
The HD digital distribution club just got a little bigger, as lossless audio distributor MusicGiants is launching its VideoGiants service with 250 movies from Paramount, and additional content from HDNet. Available in 1080p or 1080i WMV format, users can purchase the movies in 10-packs for $159 delivered via Seagate hard drives or, in a few months, one at a time via direct download to a home media server. After that, it can be viewed via the media PC or Media Extender (including Xbox 360). MusicGiants has been selling HD audio tracks to high end home theater owners via its network of dealers and installers for about two years, with plans to make this type of service available to the mass market soon. Still think the future of HD content is on shiny discs?
Those looking for some added desktop real estate may want to keep an eye on what EVGA has in store, as the company has just taken the wraps off two upcoming products that take considerably different approaches to expand your view of things. The first is a rather standard USB monitor adapter, dubbed the EVGA UV Plus+, which will apparently be available in both standard and widescreen-capable versions (as opposed to one that does both). The former of those will give you a max resolution 1280×1024, while the latter maxes out at a decent 1680×1050, with each boasting a single DVI port and support for full 32-bit color depth. Taking another tact is the company’s so-called InterView display (pictured after the break), which consists of two 17-inch monitors that can be folded together for toting around. Those’ll give you a combined 2880×900 resolution, along with a 500:1 contrast ratio and an 8ms response time. On a somewhat related front, EVGA also took the opportunity to show off its latest motherboard, which may be most notable simply for its name: the EVGA 780i SLI FTW (we kid you not.)
ook, we really want to live in a world where strolling around wearing MyVu’s latest video glasses is acceptable, but we just don’t — which is probably why Mahalo Daily’s Veronica Belmont could just barely bring herself to put ‘em on when she stopped by the booth at CES. Check out the vid after the break!
Avis is showing off its new Where2 portable nav unit this week, a customized Garmin Nuvi 780 that will replace the StreetPilot-based units currently in Avis’ arsenal. The software has been mildly reworked to offer routing to Avis rental return locations and the like, but we think the best part of the customization is the bezel. Come on, tell us that red isn’t way better than Garmin’s own gray? Look for the new units to be available — by rental only, of course — in March.
We’ve wanted a long time to get our old pal Major Nelson on the Engadget podcast, and what better occasion than CES? Ok, maybe E3 — but there’s been no dearth of 360 news at and prior to the show, and no shortage of questions we’ve been dying to have answered on the air. If you’re not down with the Xbox, you’ll probably want to wait for a little bit until our next podcast, because in this one we’re talking about the recent Live outages, how the console’s been doing in the market, the persistence of the integrated HD DVD player rumor, the announcement of the 360’s first IPTV rollout, and even waxing nerd about our favorite titles of late.
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Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Guest: Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson
Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International)
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LISTEN (OGG)
Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
We’ve wanted a long time to get our old pal Major Nelson on the Engadget podcast, and what better occasion than CES? Ok, maybe E3 — but there’s been no dearth of 360 news at and prior to the show, and no shortage of questions we’ve been dying to have answered on the air. If you’re not down with the Xbox, you’ll probably want to wait for a little bit until our next podcast, because in this one we’re talking about the recent Live outages, how the console’s been doing in the market, the persistence of the integrated HD DVD player rumor, the announcement of the 360’s first IPTV rollout, and even waxing nerd about our favorite titles of late.
Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[RSS OGG] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in OGG) to your RSS aggregator.
Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Guest: Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson
Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International)
LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)
LISTEN (OGG)
Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
One day we’ll all be taking home automation for granted when every new house on the market includes built-in support for controlling our fireplaces via our watch phones, but until that glorious future arrives the home automation noob has a dizzying array of choices to contend with. We checked out what Control4 has to offer in the way of centralized command over your media, home theater, lights, security system and temperature and found fairly clean, easy to use interfaces coupled with an array of choices for central control and storage depending on the scope of your needs, all compliant with the lovably-named ZigBee wireless standard. Hit the gallery for an overview of Control4 devices and configurations including their Home Controller HC-300 we heard about earlier this year.
Counterfeit batteries and chargers are a legitimate problem for electronics manufacturers — faulty components tend to go up in (literal) smoke, and have even caused deaths — so we can totally see why Kodak has decided to join Nokia and NEC in decided to employing an anti-counterfeiting system in its digital camera batteries. The system, called TRACELESS, uses invisible markers that can be mixed directly into thermally-printed barcode labels, and can only be detected by handheld Kodak readers. Apparently Kodak’s already deployed the system in the pharmaceutical, wine, and cosmetics industries, and the results seems to have inspired a little cockiness — Philip Faraci, Kodak’s president, says counterfeiters should simply stop tying to replicate Kodak’s batteries, “because [they] simply won’t be able to do it.” That kind of confidence has apparently convinced Sanyo to license out the tech for its cams as well, but Kodak hasn’t said anything about legitimate third party accessory manufacturers — which has us a little worried, to be sure.
It’s been a tick since Ziova cranked out a new media streamer, but its ClearStream CS615 looks pretty promising. Interestingly, this one doesn’t feature any built-in wireless capabilities nor a DVD drive, but it seems as if the firm’s CEO is aiming this unit at folks who didn’t want to go cordless, anyway. You will, however, find USB 2.0 and 10 / 100 Ethernet ports along with a caddy for an internal 3.5-inch HDD, and the support for WAV, H.264, FLAC, OGG, LPCM, WMA, AAC, AC3, DTS, MPEG1/2/3/4, WMV9, QuickTime, JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG files (just to name a few) ain’t too shabby, either. Furthermore, there’s HDMI (HDCP-compliant), S-Video, composite and component video jacks, support for SMB / FTP and a front-mounted LCD to dish out ID3 tags and other pertinent information. The CS615 is slated to land stateside in March for $329, while Europeans and Aussies can expect it to head their way shortly thereafter.
The future of converged devices is with pda devices. Today the fully functionality of pda can be gained be using pda accessories. However these high tech gadgets should be properly protected by using pda cases.
While the corporate IT world has long had access to remotely-controlled power for servers and data centers, it’s pretty cutting-edge stuff for home theater, with PS Audio releasing the first line of Internet-connected power management devices. Ranging in price from $600 to $1,995 and scheduled to release in Spring 2008, the four products in the PowerPlay line differ in number of switchable and isolated plugs, but all offer a web interface to toggle power, schedule reboots, and monitor power quality. There is an RS-232 port for hardwired power control as well as IR blasters for turning devices back on after a reboot. Now you can reboot your TiVo without ever stepping foot in the house.
As the unfortunate trend continues, yet another kiddo has found their Christmas PMP replaced with something that’s, well, not a PMP. In today’s episode, we find a Washington, D.C. girl that unwrapped an iPod earlier this week and discovered that the only Apple product tucked within was the inner packaging. Instead, a clever note was stashed inside (presumably with a paperweight of some sort) that read: “Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple store.” Oh, and just in case you really needed more than one guess as to where this thing came from, here’s a hint: it was sold by the same retailer who passed on Wii demo units due to “safety” concerns.
We already saw the Amilo Xi 2550 from Fujitsu-Siemens, but if you thought that was the only mobile Penryn-based lappie you’d see prior to January 6th, you’ve got another a few more things coming. Spotted over at Notebook Italia, we’ve got five new Acer Aspires (2920, 4920, 5920, 7720 and 9920), a pair of new Acer Travelmates (6492 and 6592G), a couple of Fujitsu-Siemens (the aforementioned Amilo Pi Amilo Xi 2550 and the 2428) and four new Sony VAIOs (FZ31, SZ71, CR31 and AR61) — all of which will be housing that Penryn goodness when they launch. As you can imagine, there’s far too many specs between the 13 new machines to cover in this space, but feel free to tag the links below for all the details on each.