Wed27Aug20080910AM
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Wed27Aug20080910AM
Filed under: Laptops
Look, we know you’ve spent the last three or so hours toying around on Dell’s build-to-order page, but be honest with yourself — are you really willing to pull the trigger on an Inspiron 13 without taking one tiny peek at a review first? NotebookReview has snagged one of the new 13-inchers and taken it for a ride on the test bench, and overall, things are lookin’ up. Reviewers found the design to be “sleek,” the specifications to be “reasonable” and the price point “attractive.” Beyond that, it also found the battery life to be surprisingly satisfactory, though the “cheap palm rests and noisy slot-loading optical drive” were small (albeit noteworthy) nuisances. In the end, critics summed things up by suggesting that if you’re scouting “a basic mobile companion with good looks and a low price tag, then this is probably the right notebook for you.” Hit up the read link for the full writeup and even a few benchmarks.
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Wed27Aug20080910AM
Filed under: Displays
It’s one thing to take good pictures. It’s another to show ‘em off on a good display. Epson Imaging Devices has just made official its new 4-inch high-resolution LTPS LCD, which is featured in the forthcoming P-6000 / P-7000 photo viewers. The diminutive display has an 80-degree viewing angle (from all sides) and covers 94% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. Built upon the Photo Fine Premia technology, Epson is hoping that this newfangled screen will find its way into digital cameras and PMPs so owners can be proud of playing back photo slideshows on the go. Funny thing though — we’re never told just how “high” high-resolution really is. Is the sky the limit, or what?
[Via Physorg]
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Wed27Aug20080910AM
Filed under: Desktops
Surely you’ve been wondering what types of motherboards would be surfacing to support Intel’s Core i7, no? Regardless of your answer, we’re pretty sure the gamers and performance mavens in the house will appreciate Gigabyte’s latest effort. The prototype mobo, coined Extreme Edition, was recently displayed at NVIDIA’s NVISION 08 expo, and if the final version is anything like this, we’d say some records are in real danger of being obliterated. The unit was said to be based on the X58 chipset and provide support for up to six graphics cards, 24GB of DDR3-1333 RAM (or 6GB of DDR3-1900/2000 using overclocked 2GB DIMMs) and a separated 12-phase power supply for the CPU. Interested yet?
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Wed27Aug20080910AM
Filed under: GPS
Garmin continued its contribution to the general, incremental advancement of technology today by spitting out a handful of new satnavs destined to be suctioned to your windshield in the very near future. The company introduced updates to its low-end 2×5 series, including the 265T, 265WT and 275T. The models include lifetime traffic alerts via NAVTEQ Traffic, Bluetooth connectivity, and are offered in 3.5-inch or 4.3-inch touchscreen iterations. Garmin also updated its higher-end 7×5 lineup, bringing the 755T, 765T, and 775T into the mix. The devices sport 4.3-inch touchscreens, those same NAVTEQ Traffic updates, 3D transparent building views, accelerated graphics rendering, and HotFix (which stores “critical satellite information”). No word yet on release date or pricing for the new models, though we expect to see them on display at IFA.
[Thanks, Tim]
Read - Garmin Expands Affordable nüvi 2×5 Series, Offering Hands-Free Calling and Lifetime Traffic Alerts
Read - Garmin Introduces nüvi 7×5 Series with Lane Assist, Giving Drivers a Clear Picture of the Road Ahead
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Wed27Aug20080859AM
Filed under: Peripherals
We’re not really sure if Microsoft is peddling a revolution here or just the mousing tech flavor of the month, but we’ve got ourselves a much better idea of where things might be going. After that little “Say Goodbye to Laser” teaser turned our pointing device world upside down, a reader spotted this MS Explorer Mini Mouse with “Blue Track” technology over on Amazon.de. Coincidence? We’re guessing no. We followed a bit more of the PI work done by our fine commenters and discovered Blue Track to be based on a blue LED combined with a wide-angle lens that’s supposed to work on more surfaces than laser and optical. Microsoft only really seems to be aiming this at the portable spectrum, hence the wireless adapter and miniature size, so perhaps Blue Track isn’t the end of laser after all.
[Thanks, awesome commenters]
Read - Amazon.de’s Blue Track gallery
Read - Blue Track explained… in Italian
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Wed27Aug20080859AM
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables
The always-imaginative gurus at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft never cease to amaze, and at this year’s IFA, they’re delivering once more. The so-called “virtual mirror” gives to-be garb buyers an accurate look at what different outfits look like on their person without requiring them to try a single thing on. Granted, shopaholics are apt to detest this thing, but anyone with better things to do than try on four sweaters to see which one makes them look fat should be completely in love. The concept here is far from new, as we’ve seen both virtual makeover machines and fitting room enhancers before. Still, Fraunhofer’s dream of getting you suited up and out of the store in mere minutes is one we’d love to see come true. Just don’t ditch the traditional stalls too soon — we wouldn’t want any kind of worldwide uprising.
[Via Physorg, image courtesy of Flickr]
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Wed27Aug20080859AM
Filed under: Displays, Transportation
We’ll be honest — we still kind of prefer the days when hacking Wiimotes and other household gadgets was the preferred method for extracting more enjoyment from one’s vehicle, but we suppose there’s no stopping progress. Starting in 2009 (a few years too late for the Fast & Furious crowd), General Motors will begin to offer up a $295 Reconfigurable Performance Display option in the Cobalt and HHR SS. Said display will enable easily distracted drivers to quickly see how many Gs they’re pulling, enable / disable Traction Control, Stability Control and Competition Mode, and get a visual on boost, cam phaser angle, spark advance, engine torque, etc. Oh, and it totally adds 10-horsepower when installed alongside a spare NoS sticker.
[Via Autoblog]
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Wed27Aug20080859AM
Filed under: Gaming
Immersion, the company that owns virtually every vibration and haptic tech on earth, is getting a taste of its own medicine now that it owes Microsoft $21 million. You may remember back in 2003 when Microsoft floated an unknown sum of cash in the direction of Immersion in order to include patented vibration technology in its Xbox 360 controllers. Around the same time, Sony told us all that we don’t need no stinkin’ vibration and passed on paying up. Las year, though, Sony bowed to customer pressure and paid Immersion $121 million in order to unleash the Dual Shock 3. Immersion was supposed to share some of that Sony booty with Microsoft — and they didn’t. So there we have it: we all got a piece of Sony and we have the DualShock 3. Everyone happy now?
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Wed27Aug20080859AM
Filed under: Desktops
While it likely won’t cause the same clamoring for benchmarks that we see around the release of a new
high-end NVIDIA card, those on a budget will no doubt nonetheless be pleased to know that the company’s just bolstered it’s low-end offerings a bit, with a new card that starts at just $59. That, of course, won’t exactly get you a Crysis killer, but the GeForce 9400 GT does at least boast 16 processor cores, a 128-bit memory interface, dual-link DVI, DirectX 10 support and, in its standard configuration, 512MB of graphics memory (from the looks of it, 1GB versions are also available). Unlike something like a GTX 280 SLI config, this one also likely won’t make a noticeable impact on your power bill.
[Via Computer Monger, thanks Ivana]
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Tue26Aug20080926AM
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Tue26Aug20080926AM
Filed under: Robots
It’s official: Dr. Trung doesn’t have a day job. He’s been tweaking his fembot “Aiko” for almost a year now, and his latest creation is a rather amazing hand that can be used for Aiko or for human augmentation. The last time we saw them the hand was a clumsy golf glove affair, but now Trung has slimmed it down to more feminine, creepo proportions, while keeping the five movable fingers and pretty stunning dexterity for what seems to be a primarily individual effort on the part of Dr. Trung. The next step seems to be feedback sensors, and we still haven’t seen this bolted onto Aiko, but we like where this project is headed. Video is after the break.
Continue reading New Aiko hand sheds the clumsy glove, attains exciting new levels of creepiness
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Tue26Aug20080926AM
Filed under: Handhelds
While we’re quite certain you can still buy an “
electronic dictionary” that is actually only a dictionary (or, maybe, a thesaurus), that seems to be the exception to the rule in Korea, where devices like the Udea Expert 300W are the norm. Apparently, this is the first such dictionary to boast built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, T-DMB mobile TV and a built-in FM radio, which is more than you can say for most netbooks. Apart from that, you can expect a 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, Windows CE 5.0 for an OS, 2GB of memory, an SD card slot for expansion, TV out, a pair of built-in speakers and, of course, an amply supply of dictionaries to help you out. Look for this one to set you back 418,000 KRW, or about $385.
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Tue26Aug20080926AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Following new plans geared to the decidedly less fruity phones in AT&T’s lineup earlier this month, the carrier has announced a pair of international data packages geared specifically toward the iPhone and iPhone 3G. The bad news is that they still cost more than the average subscriber’s entire monthly bill; the good news, though, is that they should still manage to save globetrotters a buck or two (or a thousand) who insist on keeping data roaming enabled while out in the field. 100MB of global data is going to set you back $119.99 on top of your regular package, while 200MB runs $199.99 — certainly not enough to go crazy in the App Store, but probably enough of a meager allowance to take care of email and stay on the grid. The new plans are available starting tomorrow.
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Tue26Aug20080926AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets
We haven’t heard a whole lot from M2E Power since it burst onto the scene
last year with promises of powering your gadgets with movment, but the company now says that it’s made some real progress with its wonder device, and it’s claiming that it’ll actually be available sometime next year. According to the company, the charger will let you get about 30 to 60 minutes of talk time on your cellphone after six hours of cumulative motion, and you’ll of course be able to use it with other gadgets as well. As you can see above, the charger unit can also simply be plugged into an outlet to be topped off if you need a slightly quicker fix. What’s more, M2E also says that it has had discussions with some unspecified cellphone makers to build the generator directly into a phone, although it says it’ll take “at least two years” before something like that is commercially available.
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