Gadget Trends

HP launches MediaSmart Connect

2009-08-31T04:09:00.000-07:00

HP launches MediaSmart Connect

July will be when HP's MediaSmart Connect will be made available, giving an option for those who don't already own an HP TV. This little black box won't clutter up your living room, but will bring a wide range of functionality such as :-

* WiFi (802.11n) and Ethernet connectivity
* Audio, video and photo streaming (including from compatible Internet services)
* Pulls digital files from any UPnP and DLNA compliant storage devices on your home network

It will retail for $349 a pop and is already available for pre-order. Each purchase comes with a learning remote which is able to wield its influence over four other gadgets, an HDMI cable and a $20 CinemaNow coupon.

World's First Wrist Watch Mobile Phone with 2" Wide Screen

2009-08-31T04:03:00.001-07:00

World's First Wrist Watch Mobile Phone with 2" Wide Screen
Product Description

World's First Wrist Watch Mobile Phone with 2" Wide Screen

This mobile phone is affordable DUAL SIM Standby. With the aluminum alloy shell and stylish model. It features 2.0 inch touch-screen supports full-screen handwriting input. It supports mp3/mp4 player function and include 1.3MP camera. Other functions include bluetooth, GPRS, tri-band watch phone, mutil-Language interfaces.
Features

Language:

(1) English, Chinese

(2) ENG and other multi-language(French, Russian, Arabic, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkish ,Spanish , Portuguese etc

Display Type: 2.0”260k colors ,

resolution：240*RGB（V）*320（H）

Ring tone: 64 chord; Ring tone format: mp3, mp4, midi

Music: play mp3 at background; support equalizer

Video: 3GP、JPG、GIF、MID、MP3、MPEG-4 Support to play in full screen, speed/pause, support play at background; support equalizer ,support hand free

Specifications

Phone book: 500 groups of phone books, ringtones, incoming call bighead ,personal setting of moving play

Incoming call function: support incoming call hold on /transfer、handy key call、incoming call ringtone /incoming call bighead/incoming call personalized movie play/incoming call firewall

Message: 500 pieces SMS、support SMS,MMS、SMS group sending

Chinese input GPRS:support

GSM/GPRS method: handwriting , pingyin, stroke

MMS:support

Network format: GSM

Bands（MHz: 850/1900MHz or 900/1800 MHz or 900/1800/1900MHz（optional）

Accessories

1 x Battery Chargers

1 x Standard Battery

1xUSB cable

1xBxluetooth Earphone

1xEnglish user manual

1 x 1GB Memory card

1x Earphone

1xBluetooth charging cable

Warranty: 90 Days

In mobile phones, dual-band and tri-band refer to functionality that allows a cell phone to support either two or three frequency bands out of the four major GSM bands, and quad-band phones will work with all four of the major GSM (TDMA) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. frequency bands.

GSM 900/1800 bands work in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Brazil

GSM 900/1800/1900 bands will work on at least one network in most countries around the world except for some networks that only support 850MHz(ATT in USA)

GSM 850/900/1800/1900 bands will work on at least one network in most countries around the world

Laser Stars Projector

2008-12-02T01:07:00.001-08:00

When you turn off your lights and turn this unit on - trust us - you will be bamboozled with star rapture. That's the only way we can describe it.

What IS the Laser Stars Projector really?
It's a unit about 10inches tall that projects a combination of green laser stars and blue (slightly ultraviolet-ish blue) clouds onto your ceiling, walls, pets, etc. Both the clouds and the stars are constantly moving and morphing, just like a proper Universe should. And there are literally thousands of green laser stars to look at. There are two ways you can adjust your Laser Stars Projector, first you can pivot the projector itself 180 degrees horizontally around the base so that you can control *where* it is projecting in your room. It can literally fill up an entire ceiling and portions of several walls at once. And the other thing you can adjust is the intensity of the blue gaseous clouds, from zero to full intensity.

How does it really work?
The Laser Stars Projector utilizes a state of the art Diode Pumped, Solid State (DPSS) green laser combined with custom developed multiphase diffractive holographic optics, super luminous diodes and precision motors to produce the laser stars effect. The coherent light produced by the DPSS laser passes through a passive diffractive holographic optical element, which in turn passes through a circular periodicity electromechanical wheel, which is driven by a precision motor to create the soothing motion of the star field. So there.

Hurry, get one before your friends do. Then plug it in, turn it on, and tune out...

Please note: It's difficult to portray what the Laser Stars Projector projects here in images because it works best in the dark. The images tend to mute the green stars and exaggerate the blue clouds a bit.

Pure Digital Flip Mino HD

2008-12-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

Pure Digital Flip Mino HD

Pure Digital Flip Mino HD
The Flip Mino from Pure Digital is no longer playing in Little League but wants to rough it out with the big boys as it is now able to record in high definition resolution (720p only). Features include MPEG-4 encoding for all your digital memories, 4GB of internal memory that can stored to approximately an hour's worth of video and USB connectivity for quick data transfer. The integrated FlipShare editing software makes life easier before you upload your videos to websites such as YouTube or MySpace, compressing these to more manageable resolutions like 480 x 270. The Flip Mino HD will be going for $230 - not too shabby.

USB Useful Information

2008-12-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

Step1
Consider the storage space you want in your USB drive. You may buy a pen or flash drive for smaller storage space or an external hard disk for larger space. Note that flash drives are easier to carry as compared to the regular hard drives.
Step2
Check if the drive is designed for USB 2.0 interface and if it is backward compatible.
Step3
Learn the features of the USB drive before buying. It usually comes with a in-built fast Ethernet port. It has an easy Web-based user interface for quick configuration from the network. The USB drive sends alert signals when the storage capacity is almost full.
Step4
Visit online stores such as Yahoo! Shopping and eBay to learn more about brands that offer USB drives. Transcend, Memorex, Verbatim, LG, Sony, Lexar and Iomega are some of the reliable brands that offer a variety of USB drives.
Step5
Plan your budget for purchasing the USB drive.
Step6
Learn more about the features and prices of USB drives by referring to online buyers’ guides. Browse through reviews and compare pricing. Some popular buyers’ guides include NexTag, Windows Marketplace, MySimon, Bizrate and Epinions (See links below).
Step7
Browse blogs and tech discussion forums. These are good avenues for gathering more information on features, trends and other insights on USB drives.
Step8
Buy a USB drive after comparing prices. Search for online vendors using search engines like Yahoo! or Google. Browse through popular online stores such as CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City (See links below).

Dmedia System G400 WiMAX MID

2008-12-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

Dmedia System G400 WiMAX MID

Dmedia System has released its G400 WiMAX MID, and while there aren't too many details available at this point in time, it looks set to make a splash next year (hopefully at CES 2009, too). Features of the G400 include :-

* 3.8"/4.3" touchscreen display with 800 x 480 resolution
* Bluetooth support
* WiMAX connectivity
* Integrated HSPDA/WCDMA
* GPS navigation
* microSD memory card slot

A 1400mAh battery powers the G400, and it looks set to settle down under the consumer internet device or portable media player niche compared to a MID. There is no word on pricing as at press time.

NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800

2008-11-11T01:43:00.000-08:00

NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800

NVIDIA has announced its new workstation graphics card called Quadro FX 5800. The big novelty: 4GB of video memory on board. Oh, it's not going to make your games much faster as most consumer applications don't use that much memory, however for those working on serious things like finding the next billion barrels of oil, simulating wind power generation or looking inside your heart the additional memory can become invaluable to avoid costly memory swapping.

Most of you know its cousin, the GTX 280 with which it shares most of the architectural traits, like having 240 stream processors. If you wonder, the main difference between GeForce and Quadro cards reside in the driver optimizations. Quadro chips are also selected from the "best" chips that have passed a more rigourous testing process.

AlienBees Cyber Commander remote flash trigger

2008-11-08T00:03:00.000-08:00

AlienBees have just rolled out the Cyber Commander remote flash trigger that comes with a generous color LCD display, allowing the user to have total control of the parameters, changing up to 16 different light units directly from the camera. This will also include setting the
camera f-stop of each light, flash duration, color temperature as well as relative flash power via the European standard scale. These lights are also easily assigned to individual groups, and you won't have to grapple with cryptic naming conventions as the Cyber Commander will utilize the actual model name or position of the lights. These settings can be stored on a microSD memory card for future use, saving you time and plenty of hassle in the proces. No idea on when the Cyber Commander will be available, but when it is, it will come with a sticker price tag of $179.95.

Motorola H270 And H390 Bluetooth Headsets

2008-11-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Motorola H270 And H390 Bluetooth Headsets

Motorola has released a couple of Bluetooth headsets for the masses without much fanfare - the H270 and the H390. The former is a basic Bluetooth headset with a solitary call/end conversation button as well as a couple of volume keys, offering 6 hours of talk time and 6 days of standby time. As for the H390, that model will feature a slightly more powerful battery, capable of hitting 8 hours for talk time and 8 days of standby time. Apart from the basic controls found on the H270, the H390 will also come with a trichromatic LED that turns green whenever the battery is fully charged, turning to yellow after some time of use and red to signal that a trip to the nearest power outlet is imminent.

HP USB Floppy Drive Key

2008-11-07T22:58:00.001-08:00

HP has released its USB Floppy Drive Key that offers a 2-in-1 USB media solution that boasts the ability to read the USB flash drive as a standard storage device or a floppy device. All you need to do is connect the USB flash drive to a computer, copy files required onto the USB floppy section and transfer the flash drive over to the selected computer and boot up. Kiss goodbye to dedicated USB floppy disk drives since floppies are all but extinct for many years already. You can pick up the 256MB and 1GB models for $49 and $79, respectively. Wonder what happened to the 512MB model? Strange to see HP leave that out.

Mr. Jones Average Day Watch

2008-11-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

Mr. Jones Average Day Watch
Are you an average Joe who goes through life without much fanfare? Well, why not check out whether the time on the Mr. Jones Average Day Watch is accurate or not - it does not feature numerals but instead attempts to humor you by measuring activities at various points throughout the day. Since this is not a 24-hour digital display, you will find daytime and nighttime activities overlap each other - case in point, working and watching TV to unwind once you get back. No idea if anyone is willing to part with £100 for something as inane as this. Guess the average Joe doesn’t get much bedroom action either, judging by this timepiece.

Alienware M17 Gaming Laptop

2008-11-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Alienware M17 Gaming Laptop
Alienware is no stranger when it comes to the world of gaming laptops, and their latest addition is the M17 - make sure you don't mix it up with the M17x. This 17" gaming laptop is also the first from Alienware to boast CrossFire X support, and comes with the following high-end specifications :-

* Intel Core 2 Quad/Extreme processor
* Maximum 4GB DDR3 RAM
* Twin ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs
* WXGA+/WUXGA panel
* Optional ATSC HDTV tuner
* Maximum of 640GB hard drive space
* Dual-layer DVD writer/optional Blu-ray reader
* Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity
* Gigabit Ethernet
* Facial recognition sensor

Would be interesting to see how secure the facial recognition sensor is, as it will basically be useless with identical twins in the picture (pun not intended). Prices start from $1,399 upwards, depending on how juiced up you want it to be

Digital Cube T5

2008-11-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Digital Cube Releases T5 Portable Media Player
Digital Cube recently rolled out the T5 portable media player which is in its fifth generation, bringing together the following features in a single, compact device :-

* 4.8" LCD display
* HSDPA connectivity
* 3D user interface

Word has it the T5 might even come with an NVIDIA Tegra chip for all your graphical processing needs. Hopefully it won't burn too big a hole in the wallet to bring one home.

Optoma Pico Projector

2008-11-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

More Information On Optoma Pico Projector
Pico projectors look set to be the next big thing as our cell phones and mobile devices turn out to be more versatile and powerful than ever before, so throwing in a projector functionality makes perfect sense. We have new information on the Optoma Pico Projector that will come with the following :-

* DLP technology
* 480 x 320 resolution display
* 9 lumens brightness
* Minimum projection distance of 8"
* AC/USB rechargeable

Unfortunately, the 20,000 hour bulb is not replaceable, which means you have to get a totally new unit once this one dies. Well, at least the $430 price tag isn't too intimidating for rare replacements.

BenQ E1050 Slim Digital Camera

2008-11-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

BenQ E1050 Slim Digital Camera
BenQ is still in the sandbox with their range of digital cameras never really breaking out of the point-and-shoot mold, and the E1050 is yet another example. This uber slim digital camera features :-

* 10 megapixel CCD sensor
* 3x optical zoom
* 3" LCD display
* 10MB internal memory
* SDHC memory card slot (max. 16GB)
* Movie recording capability

Everything else is more or less the industry standard, so the main selling point of the E1050 would be its 16.8mm thickness. There is no word on pricing or availability as at press time, but it shouldn't cost too much.

Nokia N78 N Series

2008-11-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Nokia N78

The Nokia N78 is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode portable multimedia computer supporting WCDMA 900/2100 HSDPA, EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WLAN. Use the Nokia N78 for connecting to mobile Broadband using WLAN or HSDPA (3.5G) with faster downloading than 3G. Find directions and locations with the integrated A-GPS and included maps. Take photos with a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera and enjoy videos, music and graphics on the 2.4” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels), 16M color display. Listen to music with using the built-in stereo speakers. Addition features include UPnP, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR and USB 2.0 High-Speed.

Another Nokia’s product at Mobile World Congress 2008 is the N78 smartphone. The Nokia N78 is an all-around phone designed for navigation, photography, and music. The model has integrated A-GPS with free Nokia maps for geo-tagging of your photos. Speaking of photos, the Nokia N78 has a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. It features a card slot which can accommodate up to 8GB microSD cards, FM transmitter, and WLAN and HSDPA support. The Nokia N78 can access the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Internet Radio, and Share on Ovi -- Nokia's new personal media sharing community. The Nokia N78 phone will be released on Q2 2008, before the N96, for approximately US$508 (€350) sans taxes.

Nokia N78 Specifications:

* Cell networks: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and WCDMA/HSDPA 900/2100 MHz
* Platform: S60 3rd Edition FP 2
* Display: 2.4-inch QVGA, 16M colors
* 70 MB of onboard memory
* microSD-slot
* Music player: MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA
* 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens (digital zoom 20x)
* Frontal CIF-camera
* Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, USB2.0
* A-GPS
* FM-radio
* FM-transmitter
* Battery: 1200 mAh
* Dimensions: 113x49x15.1 mm
* Weight: 101.8 g

Orango V580 PMP Takes A Swipe At iPod nano

2008-11-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

How's this for an iPod nano 4G clone? The Orango V580 portable media player isn't a slouch with the following specifications :-

* 2.4" LCD display
* Support for RM, RMVB, FLV, AVI (Xvid / Divx), VOB, DAT and MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC and APE formats
* E-book reader
* USB 2.0 connectivity
* microSD memory card slot

In addition, there will also be the Orango V880 that does away with the Clickwheel, but it has a very fetching wallpaper. The V880 will come with 2GB of internal memory and retail for $51, a cheap replacement for folks with broken iPods without having to break the bank, although you do lose the ease-of-use and familiarity of a bona fide iPod.

AT AND T USBConnect Quicksilver External Modem

2008-11-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver External Modem

AT&T's latest external modem is the USBConnect Quicksilver, and this adapter will rely on the latest Icera 3G chipset which works with all three major HSPA frequencies without piling on the bulk. The adapter is tiny enough to feature a swivel cover that keeps the USB port protected whenever the modem isn't in use. Currently, AT&T is pointing to real-world download and upload speeds of 1.7Mbps and 1.2Mbps, respectively. Just in case you travel a whole lot to different areas where HSPA frequencies are unavailable, the USBConnect Quicksilver does support quad-band EDGE and GPRS speeds as well. Both Windows and Mac drivers are already pre-loaded, although you can store more information on it thanks to a microSD memory card slot. You can pick up the Quicksilver for $250 as a standalone device, or for nothing as long as you sign up for a 2-year data plan.

Next-gen Macbook Announced!

2008-11-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

Good news: the White Macbook price goes down to $999 and a next-generation has just been announced. It is very close to the Macbook Pro (details here), but doesn't feature the discrete GPU.

Highlights

* Starts at $1300
* Available today!
* 13.3", 2.0Ghz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD.
* 5 hrs of battery life
* Same glass trackpad than the Macbook Pro

Macbook family
White: $999
Aluminum: $1300 and $1600

Be BOOK Released In England

2008-11-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

Be BOOK Released In England
Folks living across the pond will be able to get their hands on a new e-book reader known as the BeBook. It offers the following specifications :-

* Supports PDF, mobi, prc, epub, lit, txt, fb2, doc, html, rtf, djvu, wol, ppt, mbp, and chm formats
* Supports BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF and TIF image formats
* Supports RAR and ZIP compressed files
* MP3 playback capability
* 3.5mm headphone jack
* 500MB internal memory
* SD memory card slot
* 800 x 600 resolution
* RSS feed support

The 950mAh lithium-ion battery is able to last for approximately 7,000 page turns, and takes around 3-hours to charge it fully. The BeBook will retail for about $360.

NEW MAC BOOk PRO A LOOK WITH 2 GPU'S

2008-11-07T00:35:00.000-08:00

NEW MAC BOOk PRO A LOOK WITH 2 GPU'S
New Macbook Pro Announced! Two NVIDIA GPUs, large glass touch pad are the star of the show

There you go, now it's official. The new Macbook has been announced and many of the rumors have turned out to be true. It features an LED backlit display, an NVIDIA chipset with an integrated GPU, a Mini-Display graphics connector that can drive a 30-inch display (2560x1600).

The Macbook Pro also has a discrete GPU (9600GT) and you can choose the Integrated GeForce 9400 to save power (5 hours) or the 9600GT to get the maximum performance (4 hours battery). If software allows, both GPUs could also work simultaneously (physics + graphics). This might be a future update. The Macbook pro is shipping today starting from $2000.

New construction technique (unibody enclosure)
0.95" thick - Starting from an aluminum "Brick" that weighs 2.5 lbs, only 0.5 lbs is left when all the carving and punching is done. It has a stronger, more rigid, internal frame (derived from the Macbook Air design).

NVIDIA Chipset
A single chip that controls the motherboard and integrates a GeForce Series 9 graphics processor (GPU). The GPU has 16 cores and is about 5x faster than its Intel Integrated counterpart. (a high-end GPU has 256 cores). MultiTouch Glass Trackpad 39% larger tracking area. It also has programmable software buttons only, which means that you can have as many buttons as software developers (or Apple) want. It will also accept 4-finger gestures .
Ports

* FW800
* Two USB
* Gb Ethernet
* Magsafe (power)
* Audio I/O (Digital + Analog)

Fujistu LifeBook U 820

2008-11-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

Fujitsu Releases LifeBook U820

Fujitsu goes smaller with the LifeBook U820 mini notebook, featuring a tiny 5.6" touch screen display that won't do much for those who want to get plenty of work done while on the road. Other features of this 1.32 pound mini notebook include :-

* Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
* Integrated GPS navigation
* 1GB RAM
* 60GB/120GB hard drive or 64GB SSD
* Integrated Intel graphics chipset
* 1.3 megapixel webcam
* Fingerprint reader
* Wi-Fi connectivity
* SD/CF memory card slots

Despite having such a small sized display, it doesn't scrimp on resolution at 1,280 x 800 pixels with passive touch-screen technology. This Windows Vista-powered mini notebook will start from $1,049 upwards.

Transcend Indroduces P6 a New Memory Card Reader

2008-11-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Transcend P6 Memory Card Reader

Transcend has stumbled upon a flash of inspiration recently with its P6 USB memory card reader - it looks somewhat like a regular USB flash drive, except for the fact that it holds no memory within, relying on you to provide the memory card instead. Compatible memorey cards include Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo, Memory Stick Micro (M2), microSD and microSDHC. The P6 comes in a gleaming black case accented with a bright color band and smooth rounded edges, and features a bright LED to indicate either card insertion or data transfer activity. It is able to hit read and write data transfer speeds of up to 30MB/s and 18MB/s, respectively.