Spam Flood Blog: Interesting Stuff

Monday, June 04, 2007

Interesting Stuff

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 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 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 undered 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 Tare 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

6/4/2007 5:24:00 PM

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It seems the love / hate relationship between Microsoft and all things open source is swinging back to the mushy side of the equation, and while this isn't exactly the retaliation we were expecting after getting blasted by Linus Torvalds, it's intriguing nonetheless. In an agreement that eerily resembles that drawn up with Novell, Microsoft has reportedly "announced a broad collaboration agreement based on a set of technical, business, marketing, and intellectual property commitments" with Linux platform provider Xandros. The deal seeks to provide customers working in mixed operating system environments with "enhanced interoperability, more effective systems management solutions, and intellectual property assurances," and the four major focal points include systems management interoperability, server interoperability, office document compatibility, and intellectual property assurance. Interestingly, that also means that Redmond won't be suing Xandros for so-called patent infringement anytime soon, and the partnership even suggests that Microsoft will be "endorsing Xandros Server and Desktop as a preferred Linux distribution." So while we may never know Microsoft's true feelings towards the passionate open source community, there should be a whole lotta love spread to Xandros customers over the next five years.

[Via InformationWeek]

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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/microsoft-briefy-ignores-beef-with-linux-signs-ip-deal-with-xan/#comments

6/4/2007 4:54:00 PM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Don't feel bad if you've never heard of Flextronics, Solectron or both -- we polled our mom on the subject, and she asked when we were going to give up this "blogging nonsense" for a real job -- but these two fairly low-profile contract electronics manufacturers churn out massive amounts of product for other little companies you might have heard of: like HP, Dell, Sony, Ericsson, Cisco, Motorola and Microsoft. Now Flextronics is ending this bitter rivalry in a Coke buys Pepsi-type shocker, forking over $3.6 billion in cash and stock for Solectron. Flextronics will operate Solectron as a subsidiary, and claims the purchase will help it expand scale and market reach, while saving on costs, with the deal to add about 15 percent to earnings, claims the manufacturer.

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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/flextronics-purchasing-solectron-for-3-6-billion/#comments

6/4/2007 4:35:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Storage

Given the Wii's relatively paltry 512MB of internal storage (and nothing more than an SD card slot for expansion), it's hardly a surprise that rumors of an external hard drive add-on have been persisting for about as long as the console's been around. Now, despite being shot down by Nintendo just a few months ago, the rumors seem to have picked up again, with the speculation now pointing towards an announcement at E3 in July. Lending a smidgen of credence to this latest rumor is SNK's recent announcement that it would soon be bringing some of its Neo Geo titles to the Wii's Virtual Console, many of which would take up a heckuva lot more space (up to 330MB) than the current crop of old school games available on the service. Nintendo isn't buying that argument, however, telling gaming site Spong that it's nothing more than "pure rumour and speculation and none of it is based in any fact or announcement." We somehow doubt that'll be enough to quell all the speculation though, which means we'll just have to wait 'till E3 to finally put this one to rest -- at least for a little while.

Read - CVG, " Wii hard drive on the way?"
Read - Spong, "Nintendo: Wii Hard Drive Has No Basis In Fact"

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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/wii-hard-drive-rumor-resurfaces-nintendo-calls-it-pure-specula/#comments

6/4/2007 4:15:00 PM

Filed under: Announcements

Losing isn't fun -- especially when the would-be prize is a shiny new Nokia N75 for AT&T. That's why we want to double everyone's chances of winning this S60-runnin', 3G-havin' wonder -- if you're willing to make the trek over to Engadget Mobile, that is. Have a peek!

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

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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/engadget-mobiles-giveaway-yields-another-nokia-n75/#comments

6/4/2007 4:03:00 PM

Filed under: Handhelds

General Dynamics (who purchased Itronix a couple years back) thinks it's tough stuff, and now it's after that hip new UMPC market with those rough and tumble wares. The new GoBook MR-1 is essentially a FlipStart plus rugged, sporting rubber and brushed aluminum protection, port covers and a housing hump for the WWAN antenna. Don't go dunking this one in the drink, it's only semi-rugged, and we're guessing the $4,450 price tag might dissuade you as well from testing this one's robustness. Since it's just a repackaged FlipStart, there aren't many surprises on specs, though GD did pack in a Intel Core Solo processor instead of the FlipStart's weaker Pentium M offering, and put in a 40GB drive instead of the existing 30 gigger. All the rest is all FlipStart, including all the ugly and the two pound weight of the original. General Dynamics expects to start shipping this in September.

Read - Crave
Read - PC Mag

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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/general-dynamics-gobook-mr-1-gives-the-flipstart-a-thick-skin/#comments

6/4/2007 3:41:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones

Just in case you haven't heard the news, Apple finally shouted out the iPhone's release date (shortly after we had the scoop on the date, new commercials, etc.). Here's a quick spot to get yesterday's coverage:

iPhone release date: June 29th?
iPhone release date confirmed: yours on June 29th
Followup: the first real iPhone ad lands
Apple execs admit to iPhone anxiety
iPhone to get software development kit at WWDC?

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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/iphone-launch-date-roundup/#comments

6/4/2007 3:25:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

If you're ready to get rough and tumble with a Santa Rosa-based Toughbook, you're almost there: Panasonic's announcing the new CF-52's availability in the US, as well as new specs and features. There are two base configs (optimized for $2500 and standard for $1650), which feature:

Core 2 Duo CPUs (2.0 and 1.8GHz)
1GB RAM (expandable to 4GB)
15.4-inch WUXGA or WXGA display (1920 x 1200 or 1366 x 768), enhanced 512MB grahics for Aero
80 or 120GB drives (shock mounted), DVD burner
802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (optional)
3G option (launches officially with Verizon exclusively for 120 days, then will have Sprint Rev. A and Cingular HSDPA support -- or add your own)
(4) USB 2.0, PCMCIA slot, ExpressCard slot, SD reader, 1394, VGA, gigabit Ethernet, modem, serial
TPM chip, and optional SmartCard and biometric scanner
Spill-resistant keyboard and integrated handle

Available in July -- if you're hearty enough to carry around a 2-inch thick 7.3-pound beast of a box.

Gallery: Panasonic's Toughbook CF-52 with Santa Rosa lands in US

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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/panasonics-toughbook-cf-52-with-santa-rosa-lands-in-us/#comments

6/4/2007 3:07:00 PM

Filed under: GPS, HDTV

The folks over at The Inquirer sneaked up on an Ferrari-branded Acer c500 and snapped this grainy picture before getting kicked out of the booth by the camera-shy Acer peoples. At least we're almost positive it's the c500, The Inq wasn't able to get any specs or a model number, but this shiny bugger looks to be the exact unit we saw hit the FCC a few weeks ago, which features WinMo 5, a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, a 300MHz Samsung 2442 processor, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and a decent complement of storage and RAM. We're guessing we'll know more about this sucker soon enough, Acer was never one to keep a random and possibly ill-conceived Ferrari-based concept under wraps for long.

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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/acers-ferrari-c500-pocket-pc-spotted-in-the-wild/#comments

6/4/2007 2:37:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you've been on the lookout for a friggin ginormous media player to fill the space of your classic DVX-POD, Blue Raven's got a new device on the scene today, the MediaMate. While the drive sizes aren't too minuscule for storing plenty of video (7040, 40GB for $380; 7080 80GB for $430) and we're feeling the replaceable battery, the 7-inch 480 x 234 display looks downright hideous once it gets going -- and that's to say nothing of the rest of the unit, which is as shoddy-feeling, large, and unwieldy as we've ever seen a portable media device (at nearly 1.5 pounds and 8 x 4.6 x 1-inches). It does play OGG, however (as well as MP3 and WMA), and while we're really into the fact that it does VOB video playback, it also only supports AVI and MPG containers with MPEG-4 ASP and MPEG 2 --- not so good if you don't want to have to transcode your H.264, DivX, XviD, etc., or are thinking of using Vongo or a PlaysForSure service. Our advice: stick with an Archos if you're really looking to record TV to your player and take it on the go, for us this thing's kind would be a non-starter even if you knocked a hundred bucks off the top.

Gallery: Blue Raven launches MediaMate "portable" media player / DVR

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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/blue-raven-launches-mediamate-portable-media-player-dvr/#comments

6/4/2007 2:03:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The iPhone's critics have focused on a handful of issl of issues that could serve to to derail its would-be path to retail dominance; of those, the lack of a removable battery, 3G radio, and support for third-party apps are frequently cited as the top three (presented in no particular order). We may be waiting for round two to get either of the first two niggles resolved -- but contrary to initial reports, it seems that independent devs may end up getting a crack at the first model after all as Jobs had suggested at D. The New York Times is citing "a person briefed on Apple's plans" as saying that WWDC will see the introduction of a software development kit that allows folks to convert small Mac apps to run on the iPhone, seemingly making good on Apple's claim that the handset runs OS X. So who's ready to take the plunge if -- and only if -- this announcement pans out?

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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/iphone-to-get-software-development-kit-at-wwdc/#comments

6/4/2007 1:32:00 PM

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Media PCs

Asustek looks to be taking advantage of this week's big Computex trade show in Taipei to show of its latest round of "rock solid, heart touching" gear, which the folks at Infoworld has thankfully rounded up for us. As is often the case, not everything on display is entirely new, including the company's previously announced super-upgradeable C90 laptop, and its A33 "media player," which is actually more of a media center, packing a DVD burner, 320GB hard drive, dual channel TV tuner, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi. Among the newer products are a pair of Internet radios, one of which, the Asustek Internet Radio 3 (AIR 3), boasts an iPod dock on the top, along with a USB port to let you play tunes off a USB stick. Look for it to set you back about $400 when it's released later this year, while the iPod-less AIR 1 radio will only run you $200. Also announced are a pair of 2 megapixel webcams, one with an autofocus lens and one without, costing $110 and $90, respectively. In addition to showing of its wares, Asustek's also talking a bit about some of its future plans, saying that it expects to launch its first high-definition disc player by the first quarter of 2008, which it says will "likely" be a Blu-ray device.

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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/asustek-set-to-show-off-gear-aplenty-at-computex/#comments

6/4/2007 1:02:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

We've got the scoop on some early marketing materials / renders for Dell XPS m1330, and we have to say, this is as impressed as we've ever been with a Dell laptop. Check it out:

13.3-inch screen, configurable with LED backlight! (300cd/m2, or 220 with CCFL backlight)
Core 2 Duo processor (up to 2.4GHz), Santa Rosa chipset (965PM/GM)
Up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM
32GB SSD drive or spinning-platter drive options up to 250GB
Slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive!
Optional NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS / 128MB
WWAN option for Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T
Ethernet, 802.11a, a/g, or n options, Bluetooth option
Integrated 2 megapixel webcam (VGA only on LED-backlit display)
HDMI, VGA, 1394, (2) USB 2.0, integrated media reader (MS, SD, xD), dual mini-PCI slots, fingerprint reader
Dimensions with LED 12.5 x 9.4 x 0.87 - 1.33-inches (318 x 238 x 22.1 - 33.8mm) / with CCFL 12.5 x 9.4 x 0.97 - 1.43-inches (318 x 238 x 24.6 - 36.3mm)
Weight starts at 4 pounds

More shots after the break!

Continue reading Dell XPS m1330 performance ultraportable revealed

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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/dell-xps-m133xps-m1330-performance-ultraportable-revealed/#comments

6/4/2007 12:35:00 PM

Filed under: Digital Cameras

You won't be seeing one of these sensors in your fashioncam any time soon. Canon has built a 50 megapixel CMOS monstrosity, which is reportedly almost twice the resolution of its nearest competition, and is prepping it as a sort of large format surveillance camera for monitoring large, busy areas such as parking lots and theme parks, along with detailed work like factory part inspections. Despite the sensor's clear industrial-end aims, Canon has managed to build its prototype at 19 x 28mm in size, the same dimensions of the sensors in its DSLR cameras, so who knows where this tech could end up in the long run. So far Canon hasn't even announced release plans for this current incarnation, so we aren't going to go hawking our existing shooter just yet.

[Warning: subscription required]

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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/canon-crams-50-megapixels-into-a-cmos-prototype/#comments

6/4/2007 12:05:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

We already had a pretty good idea of what Acer's first Gemstone laptop, the Aspire 5920, would look like, but we've now got the full rundown of specs, along with a price, courtesycourtesy of Acer's Thailand site. As we knew before, it's a Santa Rosa-based machine, boasting a 15.4-inch WXGA display, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, and an optional HD-DVD drive, among other not too shabby features. What we didn't know is that it'd come with your choice of T7100 or T7300 Core 2 Duo processors, up to 4GB of RAM, and a max 200GB hard drive. Also notably lacking until now was any word on price, which has now been revealed to be 46,900 or 59,900 baht depending on the configuration, or roughly $1,425 and $1,820 for those of you outside of Thailand.

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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/acer-gemstone-specs-and-pricing-revealed/#comments

6/4/2007 11:40:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The Chinese government has announced its latest futile attempt to hold back the tidal wave of free digital information that is bound to flood the country sooner or later, placing a ban on the licensing of new internet cafes for 2007 while officials investigate supposed breaches of their restrictive rules. Specifically, the thought police want to find out how widespread the illegal renting of licenses and failure to register customers really are, as part of a larger crackdown on internet culture that began in April at the behest of President Hu Jintao. Let's just hope this moratorium is lifted before next summer, because with the lack of 3G availability by the time the Summer Games hit, it would seem that already-crowded cafes may get pushed to the breaking point as tourists fight one another in a rush to check their MySpaces and get their photos on Flickr.

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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/china-puts-moratorium-on-new-internet-cafes/#comments

6/4/2007 11:05:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

Sony never really got official with us on this Vaio CR series of laptops, that would just make things too easy, but that doesn't mean the info has to stop flowing. Notebook Italy scrounged up so more dirt on the things, and apparently these units are due to hit in the middle of June, and naturally will be bringing Santa Rosa with them. The look seems in line with Sony's other all-new laptops this season, if perhaps a tad frumpier, and the specs are fairly familiar as well, with Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz T7100 processors, GMA X1300 integrated graphics, Vista Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD and dual-layer DVD burner. The 14.1-inch 1280 x 800 screen includes a webcam, and Sony has tossed in an SD card slot along with its usual complement of Memory Stick, FireWire and ExpressCard inputs. Notebook Italy is betting on a 1,350 Euro tag ($1,815 US) for most of the configurations, with a 1,550 Euro ($2,084 US) option coming alongside with beefed up Radeon HD 2300+ graphics.

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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/new-pics-specs-for-sonys-vaio-cr-laptop/#comments

6/4/2007 10:45:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio

We know, no one was expecting the minuscule integrated speakers within Creative's Zen Wav to be anything more than a mild joke, but just in case you wanted to hear this thing with your own two ears before plunking down the cash to pick one up (or point and laugh), TechEBlog's got you covered. In this brief hands-on look, Creative's Zen Wav is videotaped in a cradle pumping out a sample jam that admittedly highlights treble, but at least it's at least somewhat listenable. Of course, judging the audio quality based on a handheld camcorder is a far cry from scientific evaluation, but click on through anyway for a quick listen and look at the Wav in action.

Continue reading Creative's Zen Wav caught on video

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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/creatives-zen-wav-caught-on-video/#comments

6/4/2007 10:25:00 AM

Filed under: Tablet PCs

You won't hear us grumbling about a new competitor in the rut">rugged tablet PC arena, and while it's probably too early to tell whether ACA Digital's latest device is one to pay attention to, it has managed to slip into the divulging hands of the FCC. The self-proclaimed "rugged" XT1100 sports a fairly uninspiring enclosure, a VIA Eden CPU, VIA CX700M chipset, 256MB of DDR2 RAM, optional 2.5-inch HDD, a 10.4-inch SVGA or VGA TFT touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, optional GPS module, and a rechargeable Li-ion battery. Additionally, there looks to be a PC card slot, CF slot, headphone / microphone jacks, "telephone" and Ethernet ports, a pair of serial ports, VGA, a duo of USB connectors, padded bumpers on each corner, joystick, numerical, and directional buttons on the face, and 802.11a/b/g WiFi. As expected, there's no word on pricing nor future availability, but we all know the final frontier isn't too far away after getting green lit by the FCC.

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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/aca-digitals-xt1100-rugged-tablet-pc-hits-the-fcc/#comments

6/4/2007 10:05:00 AM

Filed under: Digital Cameras

If you have a taste for surreal photography then you'll want to pay attention, goth boy. The kids at Instructables have a new, improved guide for building an infrared filter for your digital cameras and camcorders. While the filter will work with any point-and-shoot, your camera should feature plenty of manual controls over the ISO, exposure, and white balance for best results. The effect is particularly interesting when shooting foliage since chlorophyl is transparent at these wavelengths. As such, scenic landscapes process as lurid white nightmares haunting jet black skies. The longer infrared wavelengths also cut through the dust and haze of the atmosphere (and your tortured mind) better than visible light. The filter assembly consists of an empty bottle of your mom's antidepressants, an old floppy disk of ennui, and a piece of unexposed film processed by the disintegrations of youth. That's it, you're ready to shoot, assuming you can even get out of bed. Now click-on to see the completed filter if you still possess the will.

Continue reading The improved DIY infrared filter for stygian photogs

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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/the-improved-diy-infrared-filter-for-stygian-photogs/#comments

6/4/2007 9:35:00 AM

Filed under: GPS

Don't be alarmed if you've never heard of NAViBLUE, but the company's NBC3500 navigation system is nevertheless aiming for the budget-conscience set with its remarkably inexpensive 3.5-inch GPS. The device reportedly packs a 300MHz Atlas II processor, 32MB of NAND Flash ROM, 64MB of RAM, USB 2.0 connectivity, an SD flash card slot, rechargeable Li-ion, and a Samsung touchscreen as well. Moreover, you'll find a SiRF Star III receiver, headphone jack, built-in speakers, and a multimedia player and image viewer that handles MP3, WMA, OGG, JPG, BMP, and GIF formats. The unit measures in at 4.5- x 3.1- x 0.9-inches in size and weighs 7.1-ounces, holds a map of the USA on an included SD card, sports turn-by-turn guidance, and best of all, rings up at just under $155. Of course, this thing isn't the sleekest navigator on the market, but for $154.99, we'll give it a pass on aesthetics.

[Via NaviGadget]

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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/naviblue-nbc3500-3-5-inch-gps-rings-up-at-155/#comments

6/4/2007 9:05:00 AM

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic just slid out a new Lumix shooter in Japan under the name DMC-FS2. It comes packing plenty of average with a 7.2 megapixel CCD, 3x Leica DC Vario-Elmarit zoom lens, ISO 3200 "high sensitivity" mode, and 2.5-inch LCD on the backside. It can record about 350 shots off a single charge and record 848 x 480 video at 30fps direct to SDHC/SD cards. The FS2 will ship in choice of pink, black, or silver in Japan (and presumably beyond) starting mid-June for an undisclosed price.

Gallery: Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FS2: another ho-hum 7.2 megapixel shooter

[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/2007/06/04/panasonics-lumix-dmc-fs2-another-ho-hum-7-2-megapixel-shooter/#comments

6/4/2007 8:24:00 AM

Filed under: HDTV, Laptops, Storage

Toshiba Qosmio fans have reason to celebrate with the unveiling of Tosh's skinny SD-L912A HD DVD-RW writer for laptops, a world's first to support rewritable HD DVD media. Unfortunately, we're only talking 1x read/write speeds here, or about 2 hours to fill a 30GB dual-layer disc -- but it's a start. The drives is also capable of writing to HD DVD-R DL and all the DVD and CDROM formats you can throw at it. The 12.7-mm thin drive will be shipping in sample quantities to OEMs in July as they spin up to production capacity in the months that follow. That would make it available as an option in the Qosmio G40 sometime near the end of summer.

[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/2007/06/04/toshiba-unveils-hd-dvd-rw-writer-for-laptops/#comments

6/4/2007 7:41:00 AM

Filed under: Cellphones

The hype over the iPhone is almost deafening right now, but there's an article in today's New York Times today that captures a rare moment of self-doubt from Apple regarding the impending launch:

"The anticipation, which is intense even by Jobsian standards, has led to some quiet, behind-the-scenes anxiety at Apple. Some Apple executives worry privately that expectations for the one-button phones may be too high and that first-generation buyers will end up disappointed."

They're right to be a bit nervous. We don't doubt that the iPhone will sell like crazy when it first comes out and be hard to find in stores for months, but it's rare for anything this highly anticipated to completely live up to everyone's expectations. The iPhone's on pretty much the most massive pedestal that any gadget has ever been on, and if there are any issues with it -- like with its touchscreen, battery life, call quality, or software stability -- you can expect the backlash to be severe.

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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/apple-execs-admit-to-iphone-anxiety/#comments

6/4/2007 6:24:00 AM

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage

As if TiVo honestly needed any more reasons to fear for its life, it looks like the forthcoming version of the General Public License could actually do more "harm to its business." It the firm's most recent regulatory filing, it warned that the third version of the aforementioned license "would prohibit manufacturers of consumer appliances that use open source software from implementing technical measures designed to prevent user modifications," essentially giving the TiVo hackers of the world even fewer hoops to jump through. TiVo fears that if GPLv3 is widely adopted, it may be "unable to incorporate future enhancements to the GNU / Linux operating system into its software," which would obviously affect the outfit in a negative fashion. Notably, Novell has also spoken up about how this latest document could "disrupt its Linux distribution partnership with Microsoft," but unless something major happens rather hastily, the Free Software Foundation reportedly expects GPLv3 to be published sometime 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/tivo-fears-new-open-source-license-will-harm-business/#comments

6/4/2007 5:58:00 AM

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Prices on next-gen optical HD players continue to plummet today with Sony's announced price drop on their new BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player. At $499 list, it's now priced for $100 less than the Playstation 3 which currently reigns supreme as the cheapest (and noisiest) BD player on the market. In fact, the move might even cannibalize PS3 sales now that BD buffs have a cheaper source for HDMI 1.3 playback from a unit offering a traditional remote control and A/V stylings. It's still ~~$100~~ $200 or so more than Toshiba's cheapest HD DVD player which recently shed a Benjamin in time for Father's Day. But hey Sony, Toshiba... it's not the price that's holding back interest. It's the uncertainty you've created by launching two essentially equal but incompatible formats onto the world of consumer electronics. If you don't get your houses in order soon, your problems won't be with each other. Rather, it'll be be those traditional and not-so-traditional CE players offering set top boxes with big disks and HD video on demand that form the roots of your demise.

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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/sonys-bdp-s300-blu-ray-player-now-less-than-a-ps3/#comments

6/4/2007 5:10:00 AM

The wires are alight with news that Palm will be announcing a deal to sell a 25% stake to Elevation Partners. The private equity firm where Bono is a founding partner will shell-out $325 million for the privilege of helping Palm reorganize. Jon Rubinstein, Apple's retired head of hardware -- yes, that hardware -- joins Palm as executive chairman to head up product development while Apple's former CFO Fred Anderson -- yes, that Fred Anderson -- joins Palm's board of directors. Palm's current Chairman, Eric Benhamou, and board director D. Scott Mercer would then step down assuming shareholders approve the deal. Sure, it's not the sale that many had hoped for, but at least we can look forward to a new limited edition black and red Foleo which is somethin'.

Update: It's official, see the press release for all the recapitalization gore.

[Via MocoNews]

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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/palm-sells-25-stake-to-bono-others/#comments

6/4/2007 4:37:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

We're always a little more skeptical of Mac-fanboy analysts (fanalists, if you will) that often seem to make this stuff up as they go, but American Technology Research's Shaw Wu -- who doesn't really have the best track record on calling Apple's moves -- is jumping on the bandwagon in the belief that WWDC will break from its typically developer-centric agenda and land some new laptops, including LED-backlit MacBook Pros (which we weren't really expecting this early in the year), and even a "MacBook mini" geek-fantasy ultraportable, complete with power-saving SSD drive. Also on Wu's docket: OS X virtualization, which , which would enable, say, Windows to run almost as an app in itself (another beaten-to-death rumor; see also: Parallels). Not that we'd put a lot of weight on this one, but you've been warned.

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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/analyst-new-macbook-pros-macbook-mini-possible-at-wwdc/#comments

6/4/2007 3:35:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops

Just about a week after Dell officially started offering up Linux-equipped machines for sale, an anxious user over at UbuntuForums managed to get his hands around a XPS 410n desktop and put it through a few paces. Notably, the unboxing experience was far from enthralling, as the documentation still reeked of Windows and an Ubuntu install disc was (mistakenly) not included. Those quirks aside, the "remarkably silent" startup led to a fair amount of tinkering to get things up and running as he wanted, but the general vibe was a positive one. While it did take "some skill" to make the machine play nice with his non-Dell monitor, there didn't seem to be any issues that Dell's technical support (or his internal knowledge) couldn't solve. After cracking open the case, he was "delighted" at the quiet cooling system that was included and the ease of snapping in / out hardware components. All in all, it seems like Dell's first shot at a Linux-based machine was a commendable effort, but considering that it wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, we'd recommend tapping the read link and giving the thread a good perusal before diving in head first.

[Via Digg]

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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/dells-ubuntu-equipped-xps-410n-desktop-reviewed/#comments

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