Spam Flood Blog: Interesting Stuff

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Interesting Stuff

6/5/2007 3:55:00 PM

Courtesy of Sprint, Engadget Mobile's got yet another (PRODUCT) RED Motorola RAZR V3m to give away. Sure, the 1.3 megapixel camera and media player are nice, but that red shell lets everyone know that you're doing your part to help fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Try your luck right now!

Have a look at our other contests, too, before it's too late: Motorola T305, Samsung u620, (PRODUCT) RED MOTORAZR V3m for Sprint, Sprint UpStage by Samsung (number two), Samsung BlackJack , Nokia N75 (number two)

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/engadget-mobiles-still-at-it-with-the-giveaways-moto-v3m-for-s/#comments

6/5/2007 3:27:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

We still don't have the magic numbers (launch date and price) on that most impressive new Dell XPS m1330, but we did at least secure some more eye candy for you. A couple more shots after the break.

Continue reading More pics of the Dell XPS m1330

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/more-pics-of-the-dell-xps-m1330/#comments

6/5/2007 2:59:00 PM

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

OEM manufacturer Amtek's rolled into Computex with a fresh new UMPC prototype, and it looks like it may have already signed up a partner in the US to offer it under their brand name. That bit of news comes from GottaBeMobile, which has also managed to scope out a few of the device's specs. As is par for the course these days, the device is based on Intel's McCaslin platform, and packs either an 800MHz A110 or 600MHz A100 processor, a 3600mAh 2-cell battery with an optional 4-cell extended battery, and an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, not to mention a full QWERTY keypad. Apparently, Amtek is set to put the device into mass production by the end of the year, although it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to hear anything on pricing or availability, as well as any word about that mystery US partner.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/amtek-shows-of-u560-umpc-at-computex/#comments

6/5/2007 2:25:00 PM

Filed under: GPS

TomTom doesn't appear to be letting that spat with Encyclopaedia Britannica stop it from rolling out new GPS devices, with its new GO 720 unit making its debut today, along with the company's new "Map Share" system. The device itself is a fairly standard affair, boasting a 4.3-inch WQVGA display, a 400MHz CPU, 64MB of RAM, an SD card slot, an FM transmitter, Bluetooth, and maps of the US and Canada pre-loaded on the unit's 2GB of internal flash memory -- an RDS-TMC traffic information receiver is also available as an optional accessory. The company's new Map Share system, as its name suggests, lets users make changes to maps and share 'em with others. While you'll apparently be able to make the changes directly on the device, you'll still have to use a PC to upload them for others to use, and to get your updated maps in return. Look for this one to set you back about $500 when its released in the US and Canada in late July -- a separate model, the GO 520, will also be available in Europe only.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/tomtom-intros-go-720-with-map-share-technology/#comments

6/5/2007 1:58:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Alienware's Hangar 18 is open for business, as we've entered the fortress tall and come away with a few more details on this new AMD LIVE! Home Cinema PC. The low end configuration comes in at $1,999, 250GB of storage, 720p video output via HDMI and an AMD Athlon X2 4200+, to the $3,899 model with 2TB of DVR storage, 1080p video, 4600+ and 4GB of RAM. Those steel hardware walls are wrapped around Windows Vista Home Premium with all the Media Center features we're used to, which should mean easy streaming of all that content to your PS3 or Xbox 360. The only military intelligence that doesn't make sense, is that you'll be forced to choose between 720p output with up to 4 tuners (2 analog, 2 digital), or 1080p with only 2 tuners (1 each.) Still, the standard 5.1 channel amplifier and wireless Gyration remote it makes for an impressive media PC package, expect it to ship June 21st.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/alienwares-hangar-18-launches/#comments

6/5/2007 1:41:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

Asus and Intel seem to be bridging the gap between the fairly humanitarian efforts of the OLPC project and their own Classmate PC efforts, and the recent rash of mini-laptop attempts such as Palm's Foleo and VIA's NanoBook. Specs and launch plans aren't entirely nailed down, but this new Eee PC line has quite a bit going for it, even as crowded as this market is getting. The 7-inch ultraportable is based on an unnamed Intel chipset, and runs regular Windows XP or Linux without a problem, but really shines in its "easy" mode that strips things down to a barebones OS mainly for internet browsing (sound familiar, Foleo?). Asus didn't even leave Palm alone with its Wii comparisons either, stating that the Eee name, which stands for "easy to learn, easy to play, easy to work," also conveniently conjures images of the Wii game console, which is known for being novice-friendly. The Eee line will kick things off with the Eee PC 701, which will sport 802.11b/g WiFi, Ethernet and a modem for connectivity, along with a webcam, 512MB of RAM and a 4, 8 or 16GB flash drive for speedy, reliable storage. The real kicker is that prices for the 2 pound laptop are supposed to start as low as $200, and the Intel / Asus duo won't be aiming this at massive governmental purchases, but instead will be offering it to consumers through traditional retail channels.

[Via HardwareZone]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/asus-new-eee-pc-701-joins-the-laptop-lite-fray-with-a-bang/#comments

6/5/2007 1:12:00 PM

Filed under: Features, Peripherals, Storage

Anyone who's ever futzed with a drive array on the fritz or tried to upgrade their large home storage system knows the plight well -- disks will eventually fail and/or run out of space, and when they do, neither scenario is particularly pleasant for a RAID user. (Trust us, we have the horror stories to prove it.) Even though the Data Robotics Drobo isn't ready to take the place of your NAS, if you've been looking for a simple, convenient, reliable method of keeping vast amounts of data in one spot, this may be the way to go. We've been fortunate enough to have a Drobo of our own to fool around with for the past few weeks, and we're pretty excited about how it's gone. Read on for our thoughts.

Gallery: Drobo review

Continue reading Drobo review

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/drobo-review/#comments

6/5/2007 1:02:00 PM

Filed under: Displays

Apple left a little mystery in their MacBook Pro announcement today, and being that this marks their first official release of an LED-backlit laptop we had to take out the guesswork and get confirmation on a few of our more burning questions.

All 15-inch MBPs now use LED-backlit displays standard; 17-inchers still use CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent)
Apple claims users can see a battery-life benefit of between 30 mins - 1 hour (depending on use). They did not have stats on exact efficiencies between LED and CCFL backlit displays.
The new LED backlight is the same brightness: 300 vs 300 nits of the previous gen's CCFL
The viewing angle is also the same as before
In other words, besides faster time from fully-off to full-brightness and an increase in battery life, Apple claims users should notice absolutely no perceivable difference between last-gen displays and the new LED-backlit ones.

Other bits

To clarify, MacBook Pros are using Santa Rosa, but MacBooks are not yet using Santa Rosa
Even though the MBP is 0.2 pounds lighter, we're still without an internal / integrated 3G option

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/more-apples-new-led-backlit-macbook-pro/#comments

6/5/2007 12:46:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

If Toshiba's just announced 12.1-inch Portege R500 laptop is a tad too small for you, you may want to consider the company's new Tecra M8, which packs a 13.3-inch widescreen display into a slightly heftier package (4.5 pounds). Apart from that bump up in size, you'll get a 1.8GHz T7100 Core 2 Duo processor, Intel's GM965 Express chipset, 1GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, a DVD SuperMulti drive, Intel Turbo Memory, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, among other features. Build-to-order models will also apparently be available in the "near future," but if you want one now it looks like you'll have to settle for the default configuration, which'll set you back $1,399.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/toshiba-intros-13-3-inch-tecra-m8-laptop/#comments

6/5/2007 12:17:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

It wasn't too long ago that the Aussies got special treatment with the Australia-centric Beyonwiz DP-S1, and now the Brits in attendance can stop pouting and perk up a bit thanks to the sleek TVonics DVR-250. The UK-friendly digital video recorder sports a stylish black enclosure, a 250GB hard drive, built-in Freeview tuner, one-touch recording, an additional tuner for watching one program whilst recording another, eight-day EPG, and a universal remote to control your AV setup from the comforts of your sofa. Additionally, this device boasts "reduced power consumption" in comparison to its competitors, and claims to be "environmentally friendly" due to the carefully selected components used in construction. Nevertheless, the DVR-250 can be snapped up now for £189.99 ($376) by those looking for OTA recording abilities across the pond.

[Via TechDigest]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/tvonics-environmentally-friendly-dvr-250-offers-up-freeview-tuni/#comments

6/5/2007 11:46:00 AM

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We've seen a plethora of devices that seem to convert your iPod into a laptop of sorts without voiding the warranty, but after you've broken the screen and have nothing to lose, why spend money on a pre-fabricated alternative? The iTop is essentially a hacked iPod that now resembles a white MacBook in some strange parallel universe, and while it's definitely a stretch to deem this thing an iPod laptop, it can reportedly run a full build of Linux. Of course, the protruding hard drive may detract from the overall appearance, but at least it performs the task of holding the device upright whilst sitting. Unfortunately, there aren't too many details to assist those who'd like to replicate this feat, but click on through for a few more snaps of this bizarre creation.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Continue reading Apple iPod hacked into iTop handheld

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/apple-ipod-hacked-into-itop-handheld/#comments

6/5/2007 11:15:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Akustica, which makes its mark building acoustic system-on-chip solutions, has recently introduced what it calls the "world's first HD microphone that enables HD voice quality in laptop PCs and other broadband mobile devices." The firm's AKU2103 is a digital-output microphone with a "guaranteed wideband frequency response," which means that you can sleep easy knowing that your built-in mic complies with the TIA-920 audio performance requirement for wideband transmission. This MEMS device crams the mechanical transducer, output amplifier, and sigma-delta converter onto a single chip of silicon, and touts near-immunity to RF and electromagnetic interference as well as to power supply modulation. The surface-mountable unit measures in at just four- x four-millimeters in size, and while pricing details aren't available to the masses just yet, Akustica plans on sampling the AKU2103 in Q3 of this year.

[Via Slashdot]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/akustica-intros-aku2103-hd-microphone-for-laptops/#comments

6/5/2007 10:46:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

It's easy to jump to conclusions when you hear a spec like "2.4 pounds" -- things like no disc drive, minuscule screen and a complete lack of horsepower quickly spring to mind -- but Toshiba is really taking things next-gen with its new Portege R500. The new bestest buddy to Tosh's flagship R400 tablet, the R500 packs a first ever 7mm optical drive, 12.1-inch transflective (outdoor readable) LED-backlit screen, and does it all with a mere 0.77-inches of thickness, which Toshiba claims is the thinnest ever to include a disc drive, and that aforementioned 2.4 pound weight. The R500 isn't spec shy either, with a Core 2 duo U7600 1.2GHz processor, Intel GMA 950 graphics, up to 2GB of RAM, a 120GB HDD and a 1280 x 800 screen res. There's even a PCMCIA slot, gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and VGA out, just to make the other ultraportables look bad. To top it all off, Toshiba is boasting of the "world's longest" battery life for a 12.1-inch widescreen notebook, but doesn't have any hard numbers other than that. The laptop starts at $2,000 with XP Pro, or $2,150 with Vista Business, but the real fun starts later this year when Toshiba starts shipping 64GB SSD configurations, which once specced to a 3 cell battery and no optical drive will weigh a paltry 1.72 pounds.

[Via Laptoping]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/toshibas-12-1-inch-portege-r500-is-worlds-thinnest-with-disc-d/#comments

6/5/2007 10:16:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops

It looks like blistering fast DDR3 RAM and new Draft 2.0-spec 802.11n gear aren't the on 2000 ly new wares taking the stage at Computex, as an X38-based SX38P3 Deluxe was spotted comfortably residing within a Shuttle XPC. Of course, this isn't the first motherboard news coming from the Shuttle camp of late, but the camera-wielding crew at HotHardware was able to snap a few shots of the new flagship system all the while. The SX38P3 will reportedly replace the SD37PV2 as Shuttle's high-end Intel based barebone system, and will sport a single PCI Express x16 slot alongside a vanilla PCI slot -- something the SD37PV2 lacked and received healthy amounts of criticism for. Interestingly, the rear of the machine purportedly held no legacy ports whatsoever, instead opting for six USB 2.0 connectors in hopes that you've upgraded your input peripherals and printer relatively recentlyy. As expected, no availability and pricing details were to be had, but feel free to click on through for more sneak peeks at the newfangled rig.

[Via Inquirer]

Continue reading Shuttle X38-based desktop spotted at Computex

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/shuttle-x38-based-desktop-spotted-at-computex/#comments

6/5/2007 9:46:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

Right on cue, we've got MacBook Pro updates for you to love or hate depending upon your fanboy affiliation. First the 17-inch which now features new NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics and a new 1920 x 1200 pixel display (for $100 extra)... at last. Both the 15- and 17-inch models now sport Intel's Santa Rosa platform -- Intel's latest take on Centrino featuring an 800MHz front side bus which changes dynamically to save power. Apple was also kind enough to finally loose a MacBook Pro with LED backlighting just like Sir Steve promised. However, that appears to be limited to the 15-inch model. So now we're looking at a 15.4-inch MBP with a 1440 x 900 pixel display topping out with a new 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 160GB 5,400rpm disk, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (up to 4GB supported), pre-enabled 802.11n of course, a new 256MB of NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics option, 8x (up from 6x) slot-loading SuperDrive, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR. It maintains the same dimensions while tipping the scales at 5.4-pounds (down from 5.6-pounds). The 17-inch meanwhile tops out with the same 2.4GHz proc and up to 250GB of disk. Much newness, at least for the 15-incher, for the same entrance fee of $1,999 starting today -- that'll only get you into the cheap seats but the faithful have to sit somewhere.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/macbook-pros-updated-santa-rosa-led-backlighting-and-1920x120/#comments

6/5/2007 9:33:00 AM

Filed under: Wireless

Considering the sensational amount of knockoff gadgetry and counterfeit software that manages to emerge in China, it's only surprising that it has taken this long for a company (or two) to unveil a legitimate solution to at least curb the amount of black market goods that leave the country. Reportedly, Oracle will be teaming up with Hitachi to "jointly market wireless IC tags in China that can be used to identify whether products are real or not," meaning that tagged goods can now be easily identified as authentic when placed over a reader. The tags will be made and distributed by Hitachi and the duo of firms will promote the usage of said anti-piracy measures with the Tokyo-based Ubiquitous ID Center which issues and manages IC tags. Initially, the tags will purportedly be used with tickets for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and Expo 2010 in Shanghai, but there was no word on any planned rollouts or potential takers outside of these two events. Still, for Japanese wares makers that operate in China, ¥10 ($0.08) a pop for these piracy-thwarting tags sounds like an awfully fair deal. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Via Yahoo]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/hitachi-and-oracle-introduce-anti-piracy-tags-in-china/#comments

6/5/2007 9:02:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Video

Asuka packed some decent codec support in this one, and it's hard to fault 'em for a 3.6-inch QVGA screen and the 0.67-inch thickness, but could this PME380 PMP really be any less exciting? You can pack in your media, including most MPEG flavors, DivX and XviD, onto an SD card and play it back for 7 to 10 hours, or tune into DVB-T for about 4. There's also video out and an FM transmitter option, but that's as far as the spec sheet reaches. No word on price, but Asuka plans on starting volume production in August.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/asukas-pme380-3-6-inch-pmp-does-up-dvb-t-with-a-yawn/#comments

6/5/2007 8:21:00 AM

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC just made their "major" announcement. Are you ready for it... wait... it's the Elf now official with its "Touch" street name. Right, the Windows Mobile device we first saw six months ago and already formally announced by O2 Germany as the Xda nova. HTC's big surprise? Well, the Touch is the first device to feature TouchFLO touchscreen technology "developed by HTC" -- though we think Microsoft had a little something to do with it. It's not multi-touch like the iPhone, but it does offer a "new and unique" way to sweep a finger (or stylus) across the screen to control the 3D interface. To recap, the diminutive 99.9 x 58 x 13.9-mm Touch runs Windows Mobile 6 with TouchFLO UI on a 2.8-inch display and OMAP850 processor while packing tri-band 900/1800/1900 GSM with EDGE, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB microSD expansion included, and a 2 megapixel cam. Best of all, it's available now in the UK, later this month around Europe and Asia, and then North and Latin America in the 2nd half of the year.

Gallery: HTC's Touch with TouchFLO -- the Elf with new 3D sweep interface

Read -- press release
Read -- TouchFLO interactive

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/htcs-touch-with-touchflo-the-elf-with-new-3d-sweep-interface/#comments

6/5/2007 7:57:00 AM

Filed under: Storage

And Hitachi makes three. Crashing Samsung's and Fujitsu's 9-mm thin, 250GB laptop disk party is Hitachi's new TravelStar 5K250. Spinning at 5,400rpm, it brings along your choice of SATA 3Gbps and 1.5Gbps interfaces, an 11-ms mean seek time, 8MB data buffer, 24dB rattle when idle (26dB operational), and 1.8W average power draw during read/write cycles. Pretty consistent with the others until you factor in Hitachi's optional Bulk Data Encryption to safeguard data from loss or criminal harvesting. Shipping in volume today for an undisclosed price.

[Via Impress]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/hitachis-travelstar-5k250-laptop-drive-hits-250gb/#comments

6/5/2007 7:33:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Wake the kids, phone the neighbors, the Apple store is down. If they follow the usual course of events, the store should return touting new gear important enough for an hour or so's worth of downtime, but not important enough for a full blown media event. Our guess: Santa Rosa based MacBook Pro updates with LED backlighting... but who knows.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/apple-store-is-down/#comments

6/5/2007 7:11:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio

So you've given in and finally picked up an iPod nano, eh? So how do you go about differentiating yourself from the white-bud wearin' cattle around you? Easy, slip that skinny slab of flash into the massive FACTRON Re-nano case made of solid Titanium, boy. The ¥99,750 (about $818) case made by Kiwami Studios will be available for your $149 nano starting June 5th. Crazy huh? Then again, we never thought we'd feel the need for a $1,500 keyboard either.

Gallery: The Re-nano titanium iPod nano case: only $800

[Via Impress]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/the-re-nano-titanium-ipod-nano-case-only-800/#comments

6/5/2007 6:55:00 AM

Filed under: Household

They don't specialize in the video playing watches that all the cool kids want these days: instead Tokyoflash claims a reputation for weird watch designs, and their latest design is a refinement on one of their weirdest. The EleeNo EG3 has a face that represents the time through a series of squares: the top 3 indicate the hour, the middle three show how many minutes past the hour in tens, and the final three represent the single minutes. At ¥9,800 ($80/£41), the EG3 isn't on the high end of the watch hierarchy either. Just think of all the awkward conversations you can have with members of the public that have innocently inquired about the time!

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/eleeno-eg3-watch-uses-squares-to-tell-the-time/#comments

6/5/2007 5:51:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming

It's not like Sony's PSP hasn't flanked the top of a steering wheel before, but the X-Bike Sony PSP Kit takes the handheld into the world of exercising like never before. Of course, we're not sure if this newfangled motivational tool will help you melt off the pounds like other systems we've seen, but the half-hearted attempt to integrate the PSP into an exercise bike allows users to watch movies (or fitness tapes) whilst burning calories. Interestingly, the product page doesn't mention the possibility of gaming, but we see no reason why the uber-coordinated couldn't mash a few buttons while maintaining their balance on the bike, so feel free to drop your $100 if you know you're in that elite crowd.

[Via Joystiq]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/trixter-exercise-bike-gets-a-psp-add-on-kit/#comments

6/5/2007 5:05:00 AM

Filed under: Storage

They told us they were coming, now sure enough, PNY has loosed their line-up of Solid State Disks. Available in 1.8- and 2.5-inch profiles, the new SSDs feature up to 66MBps read and 55MBps write speeds and standard ZIF, micro-SATA, 44-pin IDE, and regular ol' SATA interfaces for drop-in replacement of hard disks in things like iPods (you wish PNY) and laptops -- right, the same price as SanDisk. Unfortunately, you'll have to be an OEM to take order (starting today) of the 2.5-inch, 32GB jobbie which costs about $350 when purchased in quantity. By Q3, PNY (and everyone else it seems) expects to be shipping their 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch SSDs in 64GB and 128GB capacities, respectively.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/pny-unveils-ssds-for-laptops-ipods-and-more/#comments

6/5/2007 3:51:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

Uh, Palm, thPalm, the Foleo just got shown up. VIA just announced the NanoBook Ultra Mobile Device, a reference design for a new ultraportable laptop which just happens to be lighter and smaller than the Foleo -- and which will supposedly retail for just $600. The NanoBook runs on either Windows XP or Vista, weighs less than 850g (1.87 pounds), and sports a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor, up to 1GB of RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a 7-inch WVGA display, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth (they don't specify which kind), DVI-out, a slot next to the screen where you can pop in a GPS, VoIP, or WWAN module (the module in the pic above is some world clock thing), and up to five hours of battery life. Packard Bell has already signed on to use the reference design as the basis for the EasyNote XS, which is due out in Europe later this year; VIA tells us that at least one other OEM is on-board, but they weren't ready to announce who it was yet.

Continue reading VIA intros NanoBook Ultra Mobile Device - $600 ultraportable laptop

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/via-intros-nanobook-ultra-mobile-device-600-ultraportable-lap/#comments

6/5/2007 3:22:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Storage

It's not the first album to be released on a USB stick, but this new limited edition drive packing Bob Marley's classic "Exodus" is certainly one of the highest-profile releases to date, and apparently the first from a major label catalog artist. While the exact capacity of the drive isn't clear, there's at least enough space to store three videos of Bob Marley's 1977 performance at London's Rainbow Theatre in addition to the ten tracks from the album itself. As it's not coming from a record label that's seen fit to ditch DRM, however, there's also presumably a few restrictions on how you can use those tracks, so you'll just have to save your rendition of "No DRM, No Cry" for another day. You'll also have to act pretty fast to get one, as there'll apparently only be 4000 drives produced, with them only available to those joining the Bob Marley Passport Fan Club for $45 a year.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/bob-marleys-exodus-released-on-limited-edition-usb-stick/#comments

6/5/2007 1:35:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops

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Considering the recent onslaught of Pico-ITX and other diminutive motherboards hitting the scene, it's not too surprising to hear that Shuttle could end up shipping standalone mobos for its widely recognized XPC series of small form factor PCs. According to an interview with DigiTimes, a Shuttle spokesperson purportedly revealed that the company was "planning to start shipping standalone motherboards for its XPC line" of computers, which would allow current XPC barebone kit owners to upgrade just their mainboard in the future rather than having to buy an entirely new setup. Moreover, this decision would enable owners to mix and match current motherboard offerings with the variety of chassis options, and while there were no hints as to when Shuttle would make the final call on this reported decision, we can't imagine it hanging around for too much longer while competitors eat away at SFF market share.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/shuttle-to-ship-standalone-xpc-motherboards/#comments

6/5/2007 12:24:00 AM

Filed under: Storage

SanDisk has tossed a few more entries into its ever-expanding line of Cruzer USB flash drives, with its new Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise models offering a few additional perks for more security-minded folks. Both drives are available in 1, 2, and 4GB versions, and each boast the same 24MB/sec read time and 20MB/sec write time. Opting for the Professional model, however, will only get you some basic security features, including a "Privacy Zone" that'll let you password-protect as much or as little of the drive as you'd like. The Cruzer Enterprise, on the other hand, boasts mandatory password protection for the entire drive, along with a set-up process that forces users to create complex passwords. The Enterprise drive will also work with Sandisk's Cruzer Enterprise Central Management & Control server software, which'll give businesses central back-up and restore capabilities, and even allow for remote termination of lost drives. If that meets with your approval, you can snag the Enterprise drives now for between $75 and $185, or save a few bucks with the Professional drives, which'll set you back between $55 and $155.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/sandisk-intros-cruzer-professional-enterprise-usb-drives/#comments

6/4/2007 11:34:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

If we had a revolution for every surround sound headphone that promises us one, we'd all be so directionally aware we wouldn't know what do with ourselves. Today's "revolutionary" headphones come to us from Turtle Beach, who promises to turn the very waveform on its head with this new Ear Force AK-R8 "True Surround Sound" headset. Lucky for Turtle Beach, it has indeed packed a couple of notable features into the AK-R8, including a whoppin' eight speakers, dual mics to monitor outside sounds, and a USB audio interface / sound card that includes a 10 band EQ and positioning abilities to (theoretically) get that big room system feel without all the calls from the neighbors. The AK-R8 also includes a removable boom microphone for chatting up your frag buddies, is Windows only, includes an optical S/PDIF adapter for tapping into your sound system, and should be retailing now for about $150.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/turtle-beachs-ak-r8-eight-speaker-usb-surround-sound-headphones/#comments

6/4/2007 10:44:00 PM

Filed under: Wireless

If you're wondering how the privacy advocates that get shipped off to Japan's wireless island will maintain their sanity, we've got a hunch that they just might look Paper Tyger's way before departing. The aptly-named RFID Shield is reportedly "easily printable" and unsurprisingly aims to protect personal information on contactless credit cards and similar wallet mainstays. Purportedly, the unit contains "a new security barrier to assure that sensitive information contained on the card's RFID chip remains protected when not in use," and can even be fabricated into envelopes or paper sleeves. No word just yet on when this here RFID-shunning technology will be available for purchase, but we're sure at least a small sect of individuals will be clamoring for dibs when it finally goes commercial.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/paper-tyger-unveils-printable-rfid-shield/#comments

6/4/2007 9:42:00 PM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We've seen soft 'n cuddly teddies transformed into nearly every gadget imaginable, but the Save-A-Life Training Center is hoping to teach common individuals how to perform CPR with the use of a less frightening subject. The oh-so-adorable CPR Teddy looks a whole lot better than other CPR training bots that we've come across, and after squeezing one of his paws, "voice prompts walk you through the correct procedures for choking rescue and infant / child CPR." It gets a bit dodgy, however, when you have to submerse yourself in the moment and actually press down on his red heart patch as the bear's built-in metronome paces you. Subsequently, the creature's bow tie actually lights up in green or red to alert you of how you're doing, and his chest will actually rise up as you perform rescue breathing and simultaneously inhale mounds of fur. The basic CPR Teddy kit rings up at just $79.95, but we'd highly recommend picking up a few extra masks to avoid getting choked up yourself when performing mouth-to-mouth.

[Via Uber-Review]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/cpr-teddy-cuddles-up-nicely-teaches-resuscitation/#comments

6/4/2007 9:23:00 PM

Filed under: Desktops

As the green trend looms ever larger over the consumer electronics industry, HP is taking full advantage of the opportunity by unveiling the environmentally friendly rp5700 slim desktop PC. The company toots its own horn by boasting about the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold award that the machine has garnered, and we'd assume that building it from 95-percent recyclable components and packing it in a box made from at least 25-percent post-consumer recycled cardboard had something to do with it. Additionally, the unit sports an uber-efficient power supply and comes with "an optional solar renewable energy source" to extract juice from the sun. As for hardware, you'll find Intel Core 2 Duo chips up to 2.13GHz, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, SATA hard drives as large as 250GB, optional RAID 1 setups, and your choice of operating system. Of course, the EPEAT Gold-certified machine steps it down to a Celeron 440 CPU with 512MB of RAM, and while this particular configuration will start at $817, other options are available today from $648 right on up.

[Via Slashgear]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games g games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/hp-launches-environmentally-friendly-rp5700-slim-desktop-pc/#comments

6/4/2007 8:52:00 PM

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Ok, Fon's new La Fonera isn't too different from last year's business-stealing La Fonera -- except this time it has a second Ethernet jack if you have a computer or device you want to plug right on in (and don't want / need to use an external switch), or, we suppose, if you want to jack your Fonera into your home network (if you do want / need to use an external switch). We kind of wish Fon changed the name up a little on this thing, maybe re-conjucated it so it would become La Fonero or something, but it would seem the ethernet jack is the only think you've got to look forward to in version 2.

P.S. -Don't mind that USB port -- it only appears in some of the pictures and not in the documentation, so we're assuming that's just a port used in testing / debug units.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/fons-new-la-fonera-hits-fcc/#comments

6/4/2007 8:34:00 PM

While not nearly as capacious as PQI's 256GB behemoth of an SSD, SanDisk is creeping ever closer by bumping its 1.8- and 2.5-inch SSD to 64GB. Previously capped at 32GB, the SATA 5000 and UATA 5000 series are now doubling in capacity and ready to become your next drop-in hard drive replacement. The devices reportedly sport a sustained read rate of around 67Mbps, a random read rate of 7,000 IOPS, and consume about half as much energy as its traditional HDD counterparts. No word just yet on pricing, but SanDisk is reportedly planning to offer up 64GB engineering samples in Q3, while mass production is scheduled to commence by the year's end.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs t Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/sandisk-bumps-1-8-and-2-5-inch-ssd-to-64gb/#comments

6/4/2007 7:54:00 PM

Filed under: Desktops

HiPe PC is no stranger to the land of excessive power and unorthodox construction, and the firm's latest two gaming rigs are no exception to either. The K-Tana 2.0 can come stocked with your choice of an overclocked 3.2GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme or dual liquid-cooled AMD Athlon FX-72 / FX-74 processors, an overclocked NVIDIA 8800 SLI graphics setup, 1,200-watt power supply, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, up to 4TB of HDD storage, acoustical dampening, colored neon lighting systems, and the ability to order up a customized paint scheme if the early 90s vibe isn't really workin' for you. The real head-scratcher is the DaishÅ 2.0 Dual PC (shown after the jump), which as the name implies, sports a duo of networked PCs within a single vertical chassis. The primary PC is a GeForce 8800-equipped gaming rig with up to 4GB of RAM and 4TB of HDD space, while the secondary computer is a "personal media center or server" powered by either VIA's Epia C7 or Intel's Merom processor. Additionally, the secondary unit is connected to a motorized touchscreen LCD and responds to your voice thanks to the included speech recognition software. Notably, both machines can be configured to include a Blu-ray writer, and while both systems manage to start around $2,600, the sky really is the limit when adding in luxurious extras.

Continue reading HiPe intros K-Tana 2.0 gaming rig, two-in-one Daisho 2.0 Dual PC

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/hipe-intros-k-tana-2-0-gaming-rig-two-in-one-daisho-2-0-dual-pc/#comments

6/4/2007 7:24:00 PM

Filed under: Wireless

Solar-powered WiFi isn't exactly anything new, but upstart Meraki looks to be doing its best to make it more accessible to the general public, today announcing a new outdoor wireless repeater with a solar panel to keep it running. Designed to be used with Meraki's existing Mini WiFi router, the repeater will let you beam a signal up to 700 feet away which, at just $99 a pop, would make a neighborhood-wide WiFi network a relatively low-cost affair. Unfortunately, there's no word just yet on what the solar panel accessory will cost, although Meraki says it'll "clearly be the most affordable option on the market." We shouldn't have to wait too much longer for that key detail, however, as the entire kit's set to ship sometime late this summer.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/meraki-announces-solar-powered-wifi-kit/#comments

6/4/2007 6:54:00 PM

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Major League Baseball may not be happy about Sling Media enabling fans to stream out of market baseball games over the internet, but it is apparently backing off of plans to sue the company into oblivion, RIAA-style. Bob Bowman, president of Major League Baseball Advanced Media said in an interview that winning could be done with "good technology and good content, not lawyers". Following up on its decision not to freeze cable customers out of its Extra Innings package, baseball's new strategy seems to lean towards not irritating its best customers. While we're intrigued by their ideas, we're not subscribing to the newsletter -- yet.

[Warning: subscription req'd for link]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/mlb-backs-off-of-sling-a-little/#comments

6/4/2007 6:24:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you've been holding out for a red version of the Zune to hit the market before you finally make the plunge, we're guessing the more reasonable metrics of "number of friends with a Zune" or "number of rational software features implemented by Microsoft" aren't really your cup of tea. That's cool, wholly rational actors are totally overrated. On June 10th you'll be able to nab a special edition Red Zune at Target or Amazon (who's laughing now, GameStop?), but just in case you need help holding out that long, Microsoft has unleashed some official press shots of the "watermelon red" player. Not a bad color choice in the slightest, but we were hoping for some aquamarine doubleshot to really make this guy pop. More pics after the break.

[Via Zune-Online]

Continue reading Red Zune coming on June 10th, try and contain your excitement

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/red-zune-coming-on-june-10th-try-and-contain-your-excitement/#comments

6/4/2007 5:54:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

With the Pac-Man World Championships set to go down in New York tomorrow, earth shattering events are bound to happen, right? That's the word from Gamertag Radio's Godfree anyway, who says he was chatting up Xbox's Aaron Greenberg about the Tuesday event, and Aaron mentioned that "we have a secret unveil for gamers around the world that I think will go down in video game history." We're fairly positive that nothing Microsoft could possibly announce tomorrow could live up to that sort of hype, and it seems even less likely that this will be anything hardware related, but we're always willing to be proven wrong. We were planning on hanging out on this mortal coil for at least the next 24 hours or so anyways, so there's no harm done either way.

[Thanks, Nick P]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/04/big-xbox-announcement-tomorrow-were-so-not-holding-our-breath/#comments

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

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