Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Author: Razi Ejaz | at : 7:14 AM | |

Zotac jumping in Ion-filled waters with new Mini-ITX motherboards

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 9:53AM

We'd heard a few whispers rolling through the gentle breeze that Zotacwould be hopping on the Ion bandwagon early on, and sure enough, it looks like said firm is indeed latched on. Reportedly, the outfit will be producing a few Mini-ITX motherboards in the near future that support Intel's Atom 230 / 330 processors and come loaded with NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M G chipsets. The mobos would also include all of the basic amenities: Ethernet, two RAM slots, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs, a trio of SATA ports and a WiFi module. There's still no word on what system maker is looking to slap these into their next-generationnettops, but who knows, maybe this will end up being the first standalone Ion-based board for the DIYers in attendance.

[Via Expreview, thanks Shawn]

Super Monkey Kong crams 14k of Jumpman excellence onto Meggy Jr RGB

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 9:29AM


Like we said at the outset, the incredibly inventive and fun handheld hardware of Meggy JR RGB is only as good as the games that hackers can manage to squeeze onto it. Well, we'd say the hackers have won. Steven Read has built a fully-functional Donkey Kong clone called Super Monkey Kong that plays out on that delicious 8 x 8 grid of RGB LEDs. It took him roughly 3,000 lines of code to do it, which compresses down to 14k, the max allowable by the AVR microcontroller in use. Check out the video at the read link to see it for yourself.

[Via Oh Gizmo!]

Touchscreen calligraphy tablet concept gives linguists hope

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 9:08AM


Ah, now this is the spirit. Rather than concocting yet another handheld tablet that's good for nothing more than checking email and wowing onlookers, designers Soonkyu Jang, Chung Lee and Yonghuk Yim have come together to put linguists on the front burner once again. This here touchscreen concept is a calligraphy board that enables you to practice your stroke without ruining reams of paper and blasting through countless bottles of ink. Initially, at least, the board would only come loaded with teaching tools for the Korean language, but you know Leapfrog could hook this thing up with Lithuanian, Maltese and Slovak should it ever get involved.

Nabaztag's Violet RFID-readin' USB Mirror now available

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 8:46AM

Nabaztag's Violet RFID-readin' USB Mirror now available
Looking for a brighter, cuter way to search for those RFID implants the government has hiddensomewhere in your body? The Violet RFID Mirror is your gadget, and it's now shipping. Those not running from the NWO will find the $59.99 gadget has a myriad of other uses as well, letting you tag all sorts of things and have them trigger various applications. You could set your keys on it and have it launch a traffic report, or put your wallet on there to bring up your bank statement. You know, useless but still interesting stuff -- a lot like the company's multi-colored bunnies that seem to love to sit upon them.

[Via I4U]

Cube H100HD PMP does 1080i in a tiny package

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 8:23AM

Cube H100HD PMP does 1080i in a tiny package
Thought 720p output from a PMP was impressive? Try 1080i on for size. Yes, Cube has seemingly one-upped itself, introducing a new PMP called the H100HD that, like its predecessor, sports a 5-inch LCD and support for a variety of video and audio formats, but adds in an FM tuner, support for simple Flash games, and another step up the HD resolution ladder, all in a package that's a bit more svelte than before. And yes, it still does 720p output for those progressive types. No information on price yet, but since the last one sold for under $75 don't expect it to break the bank -- also don't expect it to show up at whatever electronics retailers are still in business where you are.

Antiquarian peripherals play Bohemian Rhapsody

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 7:56AM

Antiquarian peripherals play Bohemian Rhapsody
Like many things in life, the whirrs and noises of old computers that were formerly annoying now inspire a nostalgic sense of retro glee -- the bleating of a fax modem, the blatting of a large-format dot-matrix printer. It's this sort of nostalgia that inspires some users to make them sing, like a YouTuber going by the handle of bd594 who orchestrated a collection of outdated gear to emit the soulful strings of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It starts with an HP ScanJet 3C playing the part of Freddie Mercury, then an Atari 800XL makes the organ sounds, TI-99/4a handles guitar duties, and a selection of other archaic goodies make visual and aural appearances. While the scanner did need to be recorded four separate times for all the "vocal" tracks, nothing was pitch-corrected, meaning your old scanner is officially more talented than three quarters of the Weekly Top 40. See for yourself after the break.

[Via Boing Boing]

Continue reading Antiquarian peripherals play Bohemian Rhapsody


Qtv launches console IPTV platform on the PlayStation.... 2

by Richard Lawler, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 7:22AM


In one of the more unexpected developments from NAB 2009, Qtv is pushing its streaming media player platform for consoles. Not an altogether radical idea we know, but what's different here is a plan to launch first on the PlayStation 2 and move to newer hardware later. From the makers of the Qcast technology behind the GameShark Media Player, Qtv includes YouTube and access to streaming video from other sources, plus pictures, music and video (DivX, h.264, XviD & more) from USB devices or networked computers. The PS2 may not be the first HD set-top box we thought of, it does have the highest installed base. The Qtv player launches later this year and will be available on Mac and PC as well for "less than $50," although thanks to the free 30-day trial the hardest part may be remembering where we left our PS2s.

Liquid crystal lasers will light up next-gen HDTVs, your life

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 6:51AM

Liquid crystal lasers will light up next-gen HDTVs, your life
If you thought Mitsubishi's LaserVue HDTVs were the beginning and the end of laser-tech in boob tubes, think again. Mitsu's line is carrying on, but the brightness and depth of color offered by that telly are apparently just the beginning of what's possible according to researchers at the Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics at the University of Cambridge. They indicate that the use of liquid crystals in concert with a single, laser-based light source would result in the same color depth but at a lower cost and higher reliability than the LaserVue, which requires separate lasers for RGB. What cost, exactly? That, dear reader, remains to be seen, but given the source we're thinking you have plenty of time to save up -- and to practice those Dr. Evil impressions. 

[Via OLED-Display]

FINIS AquaPulse monitors, communicates heart rate to swimmers

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 6:17AM


Now that every kid on planet Earth is attempting to mimic the once-heroic Michael Phelps, it's only fair to equip them with the very best in training tools. FINIS, the same firm that's been cranking out bone conducting underwater MP3 players for years on end, has finally branched out a bit with the introduction of the AquaPulse. By utilizing an Infrared sensor, the device -- which straps onto one's goggles and rests on the temple bone -- can continually monitor heart rate and communicate it audibly to the swimmer via bone conduction in customizable intervals. Unfortunately, FINIS didn't think to integrate music playback into this for moments when it's not dishing out vitals, but you could also rock one of its dedicated music players on the non-dominant ear. Olympians-to-be can catch it this May for $139.99. Full release is after the break.

Gallery: FINIS AquaPulse monitors, communicates heart rate to swimmers

Continue reading FINIS AquaPulse monitors, communicates heart rate to swimmers

Video: iHouse SmartFaucet with face recognition is more smug than smart

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 5:59AM

Ready for the ultimate in convergence overkill? Meet the SmartFaucet from iHouse; a tap with built-in face recognition technology that automatically adjusts the water pressure and temperature to your preferred settings. The touchscreen display even features widgets for at-a-glance access to eMail, appointments, and the outside temperature while LEDs illuminate the flow with temperature matching colors. iHouse's Fadec (pictured after the break) also adds face recognition to a 2.8-inch in-house remote control. That little trick allows the remote to respond to pre-programmed scenes (think AC, lighting, audio) customized by inhabitant. Too much? Never.

[Via BornRich]

Continue reading Video: iHouse SmartFaucet with face recognition is more smug than smart


Video: Sharp's Mebius LCD trackpad

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 5:05AMBreaking News

Akihabara News was on-site for the unveiling of Sharp's Mebius netbook with combo LCD display and trackpad. Fortunately, they did the world a favor and snagged video (posted after the break) of the 854 x 480 pixel LCD in action. Sure, the icons and apps demonstrated are all a bit lame but the idea of repurposing that 4-inch space for a dual-purpose trackpad and secondary display / widget panel is killer. This friends, this is the future.

Continue reading Video: Sharp's Mebius LCD trackpad

Samsung's M7 500GB laptop drive can take a licking

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 4:40AM


While we've seen plenty of 500GB hard disks for laptops but Samsung's SpinPoint M7 is the first with the guts to call itself "rugged." The dual-platter, 2.5-inch drive spins at 5400rpm and features a 400G operational shock tolerance -- that's about 50G better than the claimed tolerances of other 500GB drivesand 75G better than Sammy's own Spinpoint M6. Expect to see the M7 ship sometime this month.

Fujitsu's 10.1-inch LOOX M netbook looks good, positively average

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 4:22AM


Not that Fujitsu's totally new to the netbook arena or anything, but we've got to hand it to the outfit's design team on this one. The newfangled LOOX M netbook is definitely handsome, even though the innards contain a list of hardware components that we could rattle off in our sleep. Ready? Here goes. A 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive (yawning yet?), WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, three USB 2.0 sockets and a multicard reader. If you're suddenly overcome with déjà vu, you're definitely not alone -- 'tis a shame Fujitsu has the nerve to charge ¥59,800 ($611) for something that's no more advanced than the original line of Eee PCs.

[Via Engadget Japanese]


Sony's Walkman E-series lets music nerds play dress up

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 21st 2009 at 3:49AM


Think USB sticks are fashion statements? Then listen up nerds, Sony's get a sackful of Walkmans to match your technicolor style. The Walkman E series will get to poppin' next month in 2GB (NW-E042), 4GB (NW-E043), and 8GB (NW-E044) capacities starting at ¥8,000 (about $80, tax inclusive) on up to ¥13,000 (about $132). Each stick ships with a second front panel / cap combination for a quick color swap. Spec-wise, you're looking at a 3-line color LCD display, FM radio, quick 3-hours on 3-minute charge (or 90 minute full charge for 28 hours of MP3 playback), and Sony's excellent earbuds with 13.5mm driver. Japanese launch video demonstrating the finer points of handbag matching posted after the break.

[Via Impress]


0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)