Asus Unveils 2008 'Eee' Line-up February 02, 2008

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , HDTV , Laptops , PC , TV

Following on from the surprise success of its cheap and wee ‘Eee’ laptop, Asus is planning to rollout some additions to the range during the year.

These will include the E-DT [a desktop PC], E-TV and E-Monitor. The E-DT PC will be sold without a monitor, run on a Celeron processor and cost somewhere between £100 and £150, although Asus really wants it to keep it down at the £100 mark, if possible. The E-DT will upgrade to Intel's Shelton'08 mobile platform featuring a single-core Diamondville CPU, which is due to launch in Q2. It will run at 1.6GHz, have a 533MHz FSB and a TDP of just 3.5Watts.

The E-Monitor will be an all-in-one system, like the Dell XPS One or iMac, based inside a 19-21in display with a in-built TV tuner. The price is expected to be around £250 or, in real terms, a whole lot cheaper than anything else on the market.

Finally, the E-TV is a HDTV, designed to compete in the “over 42-inch LCD TV market”, but will also throw in the same Linux-based PC functionality of the other Eee PC products. Asus said the goal will be to keep the pricing within £100 of similar sized TVs.-Martin Lynch

[Digitimes]

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B&O TV Comes With Robotic Arm February 02, 2008

Read more Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , HDTV , Home Cinema , Home Entertainment , TV

It may sound like something from Lost In Space but luxury TV maker, Bang & Olufsen, is getting all sci-fi with its latest telly, which comes complete with a robotic arm.

No, it’s not for serving up snacks and beer but for testing your TV to make sure it’s performing at its best. The robotic arm on the new 50in BeoVision 4 Plasma has a small camera attached to it and every 100 hours or so, the arm swings out from behind the TV, takes a snapshot of a test image on screen and then analyses the colour temperature.

If it’s off by even a smidgen, the TV will self-calibrate itself until it’s back to its peak performance settings.

The 1080p TV also features existing B&O cleverness, called Automatic Picture Control, which uses sensors to measure ambient light in a room and then adjusts the TVs picture accordingly. The TVs will come in silver, black, red, blue and dark grey.

The 50in BeoVision will cost around £3,750 when it launches in March. For those with deeper pockets, there’ll be a 65in version too that will set you back £6,750. For an extra £2,000 you can add the BeoLab 10, a speaker/amplifier which delivers up to 500W of sound in a 180° arc. Why not, in for a penny, in for a grand.-Martin Lynch

[B&O]

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