Sony VAIO with Blu-ray Shipping This Summer May 15, 2006
READ MORE Laptops
A Sony VAIO 17-inch notebook packing a Blu-ray drive is set for release this summer, with various model numbers for different countries being bandied about. Whether you call it the AR190 or the AR11S, it has a 200GB hard disk, Freeview digital TV tuner, HDMI output and a GeForce Go 7600 GT graphics card. Expected to ship in July, the laptop will sell for around $3765.
Sony to intro Blu-ray notebook in July [the Inquirer]
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Motorola Goes Red for AIDS May 15, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
Bono's AIDS charity has begun seeing red all over the UK. Many manufacturers—including Gap, American Express, Armani, Converse and Motorola—are releasing special red products to raise awareness and money to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Motorola's contribution—the red SLVR—has the same specs, but resides in a nice candy red shell. Also 5 percent of each phone purchase is donated, but the good will doesn't end there. A portion of all normal phone-usage charges is also donated to the Global Fund.
Motorola Red [Join Red]
Super Mini Sound Box: Mini But Not Super May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
We're thinking there's not much super about this USB-powered mini speaker, with its 2 watts of power and tiny size. It has a retractable resonator that's supposed to provide louder sound, but the laws of physics assure us that its output will be nothing that approaches wall-to-wall audio goodness. Looks neat, though, and hey, it's certainly portable. What do you expect for $15?
Product page [USB Geek]
Hitachi Intros “Drive of Steel” May 15, 2006
READ MORE Storage
We're getting a kick out of Hitachi marketers, where last month they announced an HDTV line they called Wooo—no kidding— and now they're touting a perpendicular hard drive they've named the "Drive of Steel." What's so super about it? Hitachi says the 160GB Travelstar 5K160 2.5-inch drive is so perpendicular that it's "super pendicular," whatever that is, and that's no misspelling on our part.
Breathless marketing aside, the technology inside this drive, aimed at the notebook market, is called perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), and it's able to pack bits more closely together without distortion. Hitachi says its design uses a read head made out of indium, manganese, and chromium alloy which brings a 2x improvement in field reliability. Expect to see Hitachi using the same technology in next-generation 1.8-inch drives in the second half of this year. For now, to be unveiled in a phone booth near you, the Hitachi 5K160 will be on sale this summer for $269.
Hitachi hard drive makes firm go nuts in May [the Inquirer]
Windows Live HD Webcams May 15, 2006
Introducing the Windows Live LifeCams. There will be two versions available. The VX-3000 is the lower end model that has a 640x480 resolution and can capture HD stills at 1.3 megapixels. It also has a universal mounting device, face tracking and a microphone. The higher end model is the VX-6000 which includes the same features but also has 5 megapixel stills, HD video at 1.3 megapixels and a wide-angle lens.
These webcams will do a fantastic job showing the true beauty of your e-girlfriend and know if she is worthy of being stalked for all eternity. The VX-3000 should retail for around $50 with the VX-6000 retailing for $100.
Windows Live LifeCams [Epic Empire]
Canned Oxygen For Sale, Suckas May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
You must have seen this coming: now they want to sell you some hot air. Seven-Eleven Japan has announced it will be selling cans of oxygen in its stores beginning May 24. Each can contains enough oxygen for 35 two-second inhalations, and the company says this will last a week if it's used five or six times a day.
Taking a look at the runaway success of selling water to people for hundreds of times what it costs, it's no surprise that marketers have now identified a whole new category of suckers to exploit. This time, as the gullible public sucks oxygen out of cans, their money is sucked out of their pockets—further proof that there is nothing like the good old placebo effect to separate fools from their money. The sales price of the oxygen cans wasn't revealed.
Sales of canned oxygen to create fresh market for Seven-Eleven Japan [RapidNewsWire]
N-Gage, You Came and You Gave Without Taking May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Oh, N-Gage, you held me and stopped me from shaking, and I need you today, oh, N-Gage. Well they threw away your display stand out into the rain, Oh, N-Gage, and even E3 it can't save you, we miss you today, oh N-Gage.
Amex Digital Announces Blu-ray HTPC May 15, 2006
READ MORE Home Entertainment
Hong Kong's Amex Digital calls its MPC-505 the world's first Blu-ray home theater PC (HTPC), but it's one thing to announce and show pictures of a product and an entirely different thing to actually ship it. The company doesn't say when we'll see the MPC-505 on the market or at what price, but its spec list includes a Blu-ray player sending its signal out via DVI and HDMI outputs, Intel Viiv-enabled computing with an Intel Pentium D 930 3.0Ghz chip and 2GB of RAM, a huge 1TB hard disk, as well as a hybrid TV tuner with both digital and analog capabilities.
It looks like this dog might be able to hunt, equipped to handle just about any home theater chores you throw at it with its PVR capability and remote control. It's no slouch in the audio department, either, with 7.1 channel onboard audio with SPDIF optical out. Nice concept for a home theater PC—now let's see it for sale sometime soon.
Amex Digital's Blu-ray HTPC [AVing, via Newlaunches]
Forearm Forklift May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Always getting stuck helping your friends move just because you're the only one with a big car? Buy this Forearm Forklift and make being a decent guy not so painful on your back.
Loop these straps on our forearms and under whatever you are moving for a much better grip on the furniture. We had to move a 250 pound CRT TV up three flights of stairs, so we know that this thing is useful.
Available now for $20.
Forearm Forklift [Amazon via Cool Tools]
Microsoft HDMI Cable Announced, Sorta May 15, 2006
READ MORE Home Entertainment
Lik-Sang, purveyor of all things accessory, has spilled the beans about the Xbox 360 HDMI Cable. After Microsoft's HD DVD announcement at E3, people were wondering whether HD DVDs would be capable of playing at full resolution on analog component cables, since there was no HDMI cable available for the 360. Well, that particular question hasn't been solved, but we do know that there is an HDMI cable for the 360.
The cable isn't actually available yet, but you can place yourself on the list to be notified when it is. Note that this is an official Microsoft cable, so it should be widely available by the time the HD DVD drive is released.
Xbox 360 HDMI Cable [Lik-Sang]
Palm Treo 700p Released May 15, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
You remember that time when you were a kid and you snuck downstairs on Christmas Eve to catch your parents putting presents down under the tree, pretending to be Santa? Then remember how they gave you extra presents to make up for shattering your still undeveloped soul? This is kind of like that. Except now you get a Palm Treo 700p!
The new Palm OS Treo has EVDO, 128 Megs of memory (60 for the user), Built-In Dial-up Networking with Bluetooth support, 1.3 megapixel camera, SD Card storage, and email access to Outlook, Yahoo!, AOL and Gmail.
The internets are asploding with news of this cancer-curing impressive device:
Digital Lifestyle Video Unveiling
TMC Net Review
Mobility Today Announcement
Mobility Today Podcast
Sony Joins the Origami Battle May 15, 2006
READ MORE Portable Media
We present you with the Sony UX ultra-portable PC. Here are the facts known so far. It has a 7-inch touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Core Solo processor, Wi-Fi, biometric sensor, two cameras, Windows XP Pro, 3G and Bluetooth. Whew, that was a lot. These details and specs are from an anonymous tipster over at Mobility Today, so be warned it could still be a fake. It is still pretty sexy, and more competitors can knock down prices—so hooray!
Sony UX pics surface in our mailbox [Mobility Today]
The LunchBox-A-Lele May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Do you play a ukulele? Do you like lunchboxes? If you answered "Yes" to those two questions and are over the age of 10, you are probably never going to be on the cover of GQ Magazine. Nevertheless, Box-A-Lele combines your two favorite hobbies to form the LunchBox-A-Lele, which is exactly what it sounds like.
By sticking a Ukulele on a lunchbox, you can play your favorite Patridge Family tunes on an actual Patridge Family lunchbox. You just can't store your lunch inside, because opening up the box would destroy your instrument. Oh well!
LunchBox-A-Lele [BoxALele]
Bus Light/Write Mini - Bath Salt Replacement May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Boy, we wish we had our very own Brian Ashcraft from Kotaku right now to decipher all the Japanese on this page. Nevertheless, with our high tech Rosetta Stone we can see that this nifty bath salt replacement comes in six different colors (red blue green pink yellow purple).
Each one of these only costs $2.80, so collect all six and use them every day, like the site says. Unlike bath salts, these don't melt (we think), so you can keep on enjoying them when you clean yourself daily. You do wash daily, right?
Update: We weren't clear on this, but these aren't actually bath salts. They are little atmospheric lighting balls that have a soothing effect similar to bath salts. Gomennasai.
Light/write "bus pallet" [Banpresto]
Apple iPhone Confirmed, Kind of May 15, 2006
READ MORE Mobile phones
The Japanese web and telecom company, Softbank Corporate, is going to be getting freaky with Apple in development of the Apple licensed phone, finally. It is going to be a true iTunes phone that can play music and download songs from the iTunes Music Store.
The original report, from Nikkei, says that Apple and Softbank agreed to co-develop the phone and it may be available as early as this year. Apple declined to comment about any of this. iPhone, here we come!
Apple, Softbank plan iPod mobile phones [Reuters]
British Man Invents 8,000 Mile Per Gallon Car May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
While it's not quite a Lexus, it is a start. A enterprising fellow from Britain invented a car that he believes can go 8,000 miles before it needs a fill up. It cost only $3,689 to build and weighs 126 pounds. The inventor, Andy Green, is no stranger to inventing fuel efficient cars and is the current record holder in Britain for such engineering. Taking two years to build, this isn't exactly the most powerful car on the block, powered by only a 35cc engine. The car is to be entered in a competition in France to determine the most fuel efficient car, where rules state that all such cars must be able to plod along at a blazing 18 miles per hour. So for all of you out there feeling the pinch at the gas pump, might you want consider looking like a dork and watching children in tricycles go faster than you.
8,000 MPG Car Unveiled [Sky News]
Vonage USB SoftPhone Kit Leaked May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Our Bothan spies sent us some shots of a USB-key based Vonage SoftPhone that will be available in June. This thing consists of the USB key containing the software and a headset. You plug it into any PC—no Mac support, apparently—up comes your home phone and voicemail et al. No pricing yet.
Product Page [Vonage]
HDTV Finally Coming To Hotels En Masse May 15, 2006
READ MORE Home Entertainment
If you're anything like us, HDTV has become a bit of a necessity when it comes to watching TV. Thankfully, LodgeNet is making going to hotels a little bit easier with their decision to include HDTVs and HD channels in 160,000 of their hotels. Pretty soon, no longer will we be forced to watch standard definition TV broadcasts or, worse yet, standard definition broadcasts on flat screen plasma displays, perhaps the greatest sin of them all.
You Shall Never Be Without HDTV Again [HotelChatter]
NEC Blurs Line Between Real and Virtual Robots May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
NEC recently announced that after years of research, they have developed a technology that makes the difference between robots and their on-screen computer graphics (CG) counterparts less marked. NEC demonstrated the new technology with this friendly-looking robot named PaPeRo and its CG sidekick, PaPeRo CG. The whole purpose of this is to make interaction between humans and robots, be they real or stuck inside a computer screen, easier. You could talk to your real robot, then take its memory chip and transfer it over to a PC or PDA, then pick up the conversation right where you left off. Not only is that incredibly creepy, but it smacks a little bit of trying to make man and robot friends, equals if you will. Before you start sending angry letters to NEC about them trying to play God, just keep in mind that they plan to use this research to improve user interfaces on cellphones and navigation systems. At this point, it's just a matter of time until there's 900 numbers with robots on the other end of the line.
NEC's Personal Robot Gets New Virtual Friend [BIOS]
Electric Scooter Zips Along May 15, 2006
READ MORE Gadgets
Walking is so yesterday. Despite a yearning to lose my gut I find myself helplessly attracted to mechanically powered devices designed to help me take a load off. Bus, tube, train and car all fit the bill and now I can add the new, faster GoMotoboard scooter to the list. Unlike buses, trains and tubes, this might actually get you somewhere on time, as long as the journey is no more than 15 miles. The 2000X is touted as the world’s most advanced electric scooter with a NiMH battery that will charge in just two hours for 15 miles worth of scootering at up to 15mph. OK, 15mph might not sound like a lot but for anyone that works in a large city, it’s light speed. It will cost you £450 but if that’s a bit steep, the previous version – the 1500X – has had its price slashed to £175. Worth it for office racing alone. Via Stuff.
Cheapo PS3 to have wired-only controllers? May 15, 2006
READ MORE Consoles , Gadgets , Games , Home Entertainment , Peripherals
Last week, you may have come across the odd avalanche of stories that surrounded Sony’s announcement of two PS3s with different features and prices. Apart from the ‘Holy Crap!’ prices – roughly £340 and £400 – here’s what you don’t get for the £340 entry level PS3: WiFi, a memory card reader and a HDMI port – you know, the port you’ll need to watch copyright-protected, high definition movies. In fact, this last omission – considering all PS3s will feature a Blu-Ray drive – has much of the planet – rightfully – freaking out. And now, the rumour mill has ground out the latest insult: wired controllers. That’s right, no wireless controllers for you cheapskates. The mill has also revealed that the teenie weenie 20GB disk drive in the base PS3 will not be upgradeable. If true, it’s all bad news. Hmm, anyone would think Sony didn’t want people buying the basic model? Via Gamesradar
games Gaming ps3 Sony Playstation 3
BBC Rents Virtual Island May 15, 2006
READ MORE Digital Audio , Online , PC
Life imitating art imitating virtual life imitating – oh forget it. Trying to get your head around radio stations buying virtual islands in online games to promote real-life concerts is the mental equivalent of getting your arms around Pavarotti. Not likely. The BBC has dug into its coffers to buy an island in the online game, Second Life. The site was used last weekend to mirror BBC Radio 1's One Big Weekend event in Dundee which expected 30,000 revelers. For the 400 online visitors to the virtual gig – having first gotten past virtual bouncers - they were in line to hear tunes from the acts, including Muse, Razorlight and Gnarls Barkley. The Beeb intends to keep the island awhile to showcase new talent etc. to those willing who surf on over, register, log in, virtually queue and then get refused anyway by the virtual bouncers. Or, you could just turn on the radio. Via BBC
music radio technology Internet
JVC’s new flagship HDD camcorder May 15, 2006
READ MORE Digital cameras , Gadgets , Home Entertainment , Storage
The company that started the very clever idea of shoving HDDs inside camcorders has just overhauled its G-series with the launch of the Everio GZ-MG505 with a 30GB drive. In real terms, that’s seven hours of DVD quality video or 10 hours of DVD camcorder quality video. JVC likes to point out that it would take 22 single-sided DVD camcorder discs to hold seven hours of video at camcorder quality. In Eco mode, you can boost the camera’s capacity for video to over 37 hours if uber-quality is not an issue. This is a 3 CCD camera capable of 5MP video quality and boasts a native widescreen resolution of 1173 x 660 x3. Photo resolution tops out at 2560 x 1920 pixels. It has a 10x optical zoom and 2.7in widescreen display. See the full press release here. Due out in July it will cost around £700.
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