Spam Flood Blog: Interesting Stuff

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Interesting Stuff

7/12/2007 12:01:00 PM

It looks like Microsoft might be considering shaking up its Zune Marketplace a bit, with a recent patent application revealing its plans for "off-line economies for digital media" or, in effect, paid Zune sharing. Basically, users would be paid a sales commission for sharing songs with other Zune users -- only if that user actually ends up purchasing the track after the usual three free plays, that is. What's most interesting, however, is that the system could potentially work with "pirated" music as well, with the application specifically stating that "even resale of pirated media content benefits the copyright holder." Of course, there's no indication as to when or if the system may actually be put in place, though it would certainly seem to go some way towards making the Zune more "social" -- in a bugging your friends to join Columbia House sort of way.

[Via ZuneScene]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/microsoft-patent-application-reveals-plans-for-paid-zune-sharing/#comments

7/12/2007 11:41:00 AM

Filed under: Transportation, Wearables

If you've been worrying that small children weren't frightened enough when you pedaled your bike down the street, 22-year-old Luke Pannell, a Brunel University industrial design student, is here to help. The young inventor has created a biking helmet that he's dubbed "Breathe Air," which in addition to looking like a cross between Michael Myers, a Storm Trooper and The Predator, also features a filtering "shield" over the mouth and nose, which cuts particles and dust, then expels them through a plastic tube when the user exhales. The helmet isn't currently in production, but the designer hopes to find a manufacturer, then market the device for around £100. Now all it needs is an attached Bluetooth headset so you can communicate back to the Death Star without taking your eyes off the road.

[Via Boing Boing]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/terrifying-bike-helmet-filters-bad-air-increases-fear/#comments

7/12/2007 11:16:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Anonymous PMP manufacturer Zarva has introduced a new model into the sea of do-it-all players, dubbed the DV MV209. The cellphone-styled PMP features a 16-million color, 2.8-inch screen, and can play MPEG-4 and AVI video content, as well as the typical set of MP3, WMA, FLAC and APE files. Additionally, the player can access SD cards up to 2GB, and appears to feature a built-in camera (though with an indeterminate resolution, as info on this model is scarce). No word yet on pricing or availability, but you can be quite certain you'll have to do some mail-ordering if you want to get your hands on this guy.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/zarvas-dv-mv209-pmp-unleashed-on-an-unsuspecting-public/#comments

7/12/2007 10:51:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming

Two things come to mind whilst perusing the website for the Billet Aluminum Steering Wheel accessory for the Wii. The first, of course, is that this is really nothing new. The second is that this is a pretty classy version of nothing new (especially compared to some of the other, um... models). The concept is simple: you strap your Wiimote onto the blue, anodized aluminum frame, and bam, you're driving a lightweight, blue, virtual car. The wheel is made from aircraft quality metal, which the company claims can "literally smash the competition to pieces" -- and while we don't condone violence, we would like to see a video of the aforementioned event. Available now for the low, low price of $44.95.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/billets-aluminum-wii-steering-wheel-hits-the-road/#comments

7/12/2007 10:26:00 AM

Filed under: Robots

The European Space Agency announced this week that its three-armed robot -- affectionately dubbed Eurobot -- recently underwent a Weightless Environment Test (or WET), and passed with flying colors. The bot's three arms are similar in size and strength to their human counterparts, although Eurobot's limbs are jointed in seven places, thus allowing them to move and pivot in ways human arms cannot. The "neutral buoyancy" test was meant to examine whether or not the robot would be able to complete simple tasks such as putting away tools and equipment, or holding objects for workers in a weightless scenario. The hope is that Eurobot will make its way to the ISS, where it will enable astronauts to accomplish repairs and maintenance with greater speed and safety. Needless to say, HAL was unimpressed.

[Via New Scientist]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/esas-three-armed-space-robot-passes-weightless-test/#comments

7/12/2007 10:06:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

The French PMP-maniacs over at ArchosLounge gotten their hands on the biggest and baddest of Archos' fifth-generation lineup, the 605 WiFi, and it looks like the device is pretty sweet. The user interface is praised as being exceptional, using 3D effects and the whole of the 4.3-inch touchscreen to make navigation simple. That screen wins high marks for another reason, as well: while it's a tiny bit grainy, the scratch-resistant surface somehow doesn't pick up any fingerprints or get greasy -- the bane of all touch devices. The Opera browser has been refined and now works with more websites (no Flash, though), while video streaming seems to work as advertised, although content is currently a little limited. Other than that, the only downsides seem to be the lack of an IM client and the fact that thinness comes at its usual price: the battery is no longer user-replaceable. We're not complaining, though -- this $300 music-playing, video-streaming, PDF-reading, widgetized wonder seems like a hit to us. Check the read link for the entire massive review, and here's hoping that recent FCC approval means we'll see this thing hit shelves in the States soon.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/archos-605-reviewed-it-gives-the-giddiness-indeed/#comments

7/12/2007 9:26:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming

Robbie Bach, Microsoft's executive in charge of the Xbox game console, raised a few eyebrows recently when he sold millions in Microsoft stock just prior to going public with Xbox 360 woes. In a review of SEC filings, Robbie sold some $6.2 million worth of company stock between May 2 and Microsoft's July 5th announcement of charges exceeding $1 billion for Xbox 360 repairs. It is of course perfectly normal for high-ranking corporate execs to turn over company stock. However, this is typically done according to a schedule in order to deflect concerns over insider trading -- Bach's trades followed 8 months of zero sales. Microsoft's stock did not make a significant move after the announcement which, in legal hindsight, has led some insider watchdogs to give Robbie the benefit of the doubt. We'll see if the SEC is so forgiving.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/xbox-360-exec-robbie-bachs-personal-red-ring-of-death-insider/#comments

7/12/2007 8:42:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops

Dell China is setting its sights on "emerging markets" with its new Mini-ITX PC, the EC280. The low-power, small-footprint PC appears to be the same model that we mentioned back in March, which Dell is taking head-to-head with competition like Lenovo and Founder. The handsome little box comes with Windows XP Home Edition pre-installed, and has a 1.2GHz Celeron M 205 processor, 256MB or 512MB of memory, a 40GB or 80GB HD, and a CD (!) or DVD-ROM drive. Clearly with these specs, the EC280 is aimed at no-frills, general computing tasks, but at this price point (around $340), it should make a decent impact in places like China, where a typical desktop is twice the cost.

[Via mini-itx]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/dell-announces-cheap-o-mini-itx-desktop-for-china/#comments

7/12/2007 8:13:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio

Don't call it an i-EGG, that's obviously the Digital Olive from Sofmap. Riiiight. Measuring just 3.1-inches around the waist and 5.5-inches long, this three piece DAP with integrated 3-watt speakers lacks any built-in storage making due with a line-in jack or MP3/WMA playback from SD/MMC or devices slung off its USB host port. Unfortunately, it doesn't pack a headphone jack so you're stuck with listening to those tiny, tinny speakers. Ah well, yours in Japan starting July 24th for just ¥5,980 or about $49 for a good OEM idea gone bad.

[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/2007/07/12/sofmaps-digital-olive-dap/#comments

7/12/2007 7:30:00 AM

Filed under: Cellphones

Granted, Telekinesis is fine and all if you're dealing with a Mac at home, but for those trying to get a little remote access to their PCs through the iPhone, this solution ought to do the trick. Natetrue -- who was apparently frustrated by the mobile's inability to talk to his Wintel remotely from day one -- has taken the TightVNC client and apparently modified the application to play fairly nicely with Apple's handset. More specifically, you can use the iPhone's zooming and panning capabilities to move around your desktop, and all the clicking, typing, and drag 'n drop actions you'd expect from such a program are all being reported as fully functional. Best of all, all the code and insight you need are available gratis, so be sure and hit the read link to get your download on. Oh, and do share how things work out, wouldya?

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/modified-vnc-software-enables-remote-access-on-iphone/#comments

7/12/2007 6:25:00 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/#comments

7/12/2007 4:01:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

NEC's LaVie laptops haven't exactly been relying on their looks to get noticed, but the company seems to be trying to change that, recently introducing a new "3D" paint job option for those wanting to stand out in a crowd. According to The Register, the laptops make use of a special metallic paint which, "when surrounded by a magnetic field," magically displays a "hologram-style" pattern. Otherwise, the laptops appear to be thoroughly ordinary, boasting a 15.4-inch display and your choice of AMD Sempron or Turion 64 X2 processors. Not surprisingly, they're also only available in Japan, where they apparently start around the $860 mark.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/nec-spruces-up-lavie-laptops-with-3d-paint-job/#comments

7/12/2007 2:14:00 AM

Filed under: Wearables

Air conditioned clothing is far from new, but thanks to Entrak, now the civilians in the crowd can don their own AC-equipped vest -- if you don't mind getting stared at while out in public, that is. The aptly-named ventilationVest is dubbed a "personal climate system" wrapped inside of an otherwise vanilla polyester vest, and reportedly utilizes "two battery-powered ventilation units concealed in its side pockets to circulate air" through a permeable liner. Additionally, the vest weighs just under three-pounds with all the gadgetry strapped in, and can purportedly keep a fresh breeze flowin' for a whopping eight hours sans a recharge. Unfortunately, there's no word on how much this fan-filled article will run you, and yes, it looks like that clashtastic blue will be your only color choice when ordering.

[Via MedLaunches]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/entraks-ventilationvest-cools-you-down-ensures-public-humiliat/#comments

7/12/2007 12:42:00 AM

Filed under: Wearables

There's no shortage of bizarre creations that prevent you from oversleeping, but a Meng Fendi concept could actually help you (and your partner) wake up on the right side of the bed for a change. The simply-titled "Ring" sports an alarm clock dock with two times and a pair of wearable hoops, which enables you to wake up at a different time than your third-shift-workin' SO. Moreover, the elastic vibrating rings are donned at night, and simply provide a constant buzz to get your attention rather than wrecking your rest with a piercing array of beeps. Click on for a few more shots.

[Via Yanko Design]

Continue reading Alarming 'Ring' concept vibrates finger to wake you up

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/alarming-ring-concept-vibrates-finger-to-wake-you-up/#comments

7/11/2007 11:16:00 PM

The folks at Extremetech got a chance to put the Dell's newest gaming rig, the XPS 720, through its paces recently, and although the price is still stratospheric at $7K, the test results came back mostly favorable. The crew tested a unit with a 2.93GHZ Core 2 Quad QX6800, 4GB of RAM, two SLI NVIDIA 8800 Ultra graphics cards, and an Ageia PhysX physics card, and found that the 720 consistently pumped out solid framerates even when the various test games were set to 1920x1200 with all details turned up, 4X anti-aliasing, and max anistropic filtering. Interestingly, turning on SLI resulted in a noticeable performance gain for DirectX 9 games, but DirectX 10 games received only a small boost -- something Extremetech chalks up to driver issues. Other than that, Dell seems to have built quite a monster with the 720 -- now if it only it could do something about that price tag.

[Thanks, mikemuch]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/dells-xps-720-gaming-machine-reviewed/#comments

Wed, 11 Jed, 11 Jul 2007 21:19:00 EST

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

All those DLP sets from Samsung we saw at CES are finally hitting store shelves. In addition to 1080p across the board in the 76, 87 and 89 series sets, all of the displays are 3D-ready (with a $100 add-on kit that includes the necessary LCD glasses) and feature 10,000:1 contrast ratios and three HDMI plugs apiece. Price breakdown is after the break.

Continue reading Samsung ships the 2007 models in its 76, 87 and 89 series DLPs

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/samsung-ships-the-2007-models-in-its-76-87-and-89-series-dlps/#comments

7/11/2007 9:58:00 PM

Filed under: Peripherals

While not as well stocked as Samsung's event today -- or as cleverly named -- Belkin hit NY today to show off its 2007 product lineup. We're loving us that Wireless USB, and the N1 Vision is just the right amount of over-the-top, but you aren't getting any of those frumpy cases in between us and our scratch-free iPhone just yet.

Gallery: Engadget at Belkin's July media get-together

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/engadget-at-belkins-july-media-get-together/#comments

7/11/2007 9:46:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV, Wireless

Samsung is also finally ready to loose its 94 series plasmas (and a 58-inch version of its 84 series) today, featuring 1080p displays, 15,000:1 contrast ratio, 3 CEC HDMI ports, Ultra FilterBright light diffusion, 18-bit color processing, ATSC / clear QAM tuners, and USB. The 94 series packs one extra special little thing: 802.11n WiFi for streaming up to 1080i video to the set (no mention of DLNA or any other standards, cross your fingers). The 50 and 58-inch 94 series will run you $3600 and $5300 fourth quarter this year; the new 58-inch 84-series will land for $4700 this September.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/samsung-announces-94-series-1080p-plasma-hdtvs-with-wifi/#comments

7/11/2007 9:45:00 PM

Filed under: Networking

Belkin is finally adding some action to the wireless router game with its newest entry, the N1 Vision. Instead of the uninformative and confusing blinking lights which adorn most routers, the N1 has a full monochrome LCD display which tracks your upstream / downstream speeds, logs your bandwidth, displays date, time and network access key info, and also shows you what devices are connected and how much bandwidth each one is eating up. Clearly an ideal solution for those of you requiring cold, hard facts with which to confront roommates about their rampant "film" downloading. In addition to all the displayed data, the N1 sports 802.11n, gigabit ports, a link rate of 300Mbps, a range of up 1,600 ft., and a hefty $199.99 price tag. Check some more pics after the break.

Continue reading Belkin N1 Vision router displays speed and bandwidth

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/belkin-n1-vision-router-displays-speed-and-bandwidth/#comments

7/11/2007 9:39:00 PM

Filed under: Displays

It wouldn't really be a Samsung release party without some monitors, now would it? -- and true to form, Sammy included a pair of 22- and 24-inch widescreen models in today's slew of announcements. The 245BW (pictured above) offers up a pretty standard 1920 x 1200 resolution, 5-millisecond response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio (3000:1 dynamic contrast), and 400 cd/m² of brightness, while the 226CW (pictured after the break) also features the expected specs, including 1680 x 1050 res, 300 cd/m² brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and rather snappy gray-to-gray 2-millisecond response time. Sammy is also playing up this latter unit's Wild Color Gamut CCFL backlighting technology, along with each model's suite of Magic-branded fine-tuning options that we're all so familiar with. Both monitors are shipping immediately, with the 24-incher retailing for $550 and the 22-incher asking $380.

Continue reading Samsung announces 245BW and 226CW widescreen monitors

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/samsung-announces-245bw-and-226cw-widescreen-monitors/#comments

7/11/2007 9:28:00 PM

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Samsung has dropped its "Holidays in July" bomb on the good people of Earth, and within that treasure trove are a few little gems, like the company's new Blu-ray duo, the BD-P2400, and kid sister BD-P1400. Both players feature Blu-ray playback at native HD resolution (1080p / 1080i / 720p), handle HD video at 1920 x 1080, and up-convert standard DVDs to 1080p via HDMI. The BD-P2400 also utilizes Samsung's "Hollywood Quality Video", which rocks some proprietary de-interlacing that makes Pirates of the Caribbean look really, really real. The player's audio does the regular rounds with stereo and 5.1, coaxial and optical digital outs, and Dolby Digital Plus with DTS HD and MP3 playback.; for video you get HDMI, component, S-Video and composite outs. The BD-P2400 will be available in October for $649, and the BD-P1400 in September for $549.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/samsungs-bd-p2400-and-bd-p1400-third-gen-blu-ray-players/#comments

7/11/2007 9:25:00 PM

Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets

We hit up Samsung's friendly little media gathering today to soak in the awkwardly placed holiday ornamentation and a good amount of new tech. Highlights included Samsung's trick SC-HMX10 flash-based HD camcorder, the gimmicky 3D DLPs and of course those fan-fave washing machines. Stick around this evening for announcements galore, or just hit up the gallery below to get a drive-by look at what Samsung had on display.

Gallery: Engadget at Samsung's "Holidays in July" press preview

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/engadget-at-samsungs-holidays-in-july-press-preview/#comments

7/11/2007 9:19:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV

Samsung's finally launching its 71 and 81 series 1080p LCD HDTVs -- let's cut to the chase. The 71 series features Auto Motion Plus (i.e. 120Hz) 25,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, CCFL backlight, three HDMI 1.3 ports, CEC HDMI, USB, ATSC / clear QAM tuner, 8ms response time, and lands next month in 40, 46, and 52-inch sizes (for $2700, $3400, and $4400).

The 81 series ups the ante with an LED backlight, bumping the contrast ratio to a measly 100,000:1, and also comes with 10-bit processing, 8ms response time, an ATSC / clear QAM tuner, CEC HDMI, USB, and also lands in August in 40, 46, 52, and 57-inch sizes( for $3000, $4000, $5000, and $7000, respectively).

Gallery: Samsung announces 71, 81 series 1080p LCD HDTVs

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/samsung-announces-71-81-series-1080p-lcd-hdtvs/#comments

7/11/2007 9:17:00 PM

Filed under: Transportation

It's not often we cover fourteen year old cars 'round here, but it's also not often that a rare concept vehicle with crazy "disappearing" doors turns up on eBay. That's what happened to this one-of-a-kind Lincoln Mark VIII, which narrowly avoided the scrap heap back in the day and apparently went on to make one owner very happy all these years. As the story goes, Lincoln commissioned Joalto Design to modify the car after worrying about its ability to fit in tight parking spaces. Joalto's solution was to have the door slide under the car, a process that turned out to be surprisingly graceful (check out the video at the link below). For some unknown reason, Lincoln turned 'em down and ordered the vehicle destroyed. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and this piece of automotive futurism could now be yours for the right price (Iast we checked bidding was around the $19,000 mark with the reserve not yet met).

[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/2007/07/11/disappearing-door-lincoln-concept-turns-up-on-ebay/#comments

7/11/2007 8:27:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio

Much like the oft-resurrected Commodore brand, the current incarnation of Packard Bell seems to continually find new products to slap its name on, the latest of which is the unfortunately-named "FunKey Town" MP3 player. Apparently, Packard Bell considers this to be "the first streetwear MP3 player," not to mention a "veritable fashion statement." While that may be overselling things, the player does look to be decent enough, available in 1GB or 2GB varieties, boasting the usual support for MP3 and WMA file formats, a retractable USB port, with an "anti-shock" rubber skin thrown in for good measure. As with other Packard Bell products these days, this one's available in Europe only, where it'll set you back €50 or €60 (or $70-$80) depending on the size. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via Pocket-lint]

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/packard-bell-intros-funkey-town-mp3-player/#comments

7/11/2007 7:37:00 PM

Filed under: Laptops

Toshiba seems to be on a serious roll as of late, at least in the world of laptops. Just following the launch of the Dynabook SS RX1 and a whole slew of new Qosmios and Satellites, the company is delivering two fresh, middle-of-the-road models (at least on Japanese shores). Both new laptops boast wildly predictable configurations, consisting of an 80GB or 120GB HDD, up to 4GB of RAM, an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M graphics chipset, and 802.11a/b/g -- with the 13.3-inch SS M40 rocking a Celeron 540 or Core 2 Duo T7100 processor (at 1.8GHz or 1.86GHz, respectively), while the 15-inch J63 sports a 1.73GHz Celeron M530. In Japan, the SS M40 ranges in price from around $1531 to $1789 while the J63 sells for $1496 to $1651. No word, however, on when or if these puppies will be making it Stateside.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/toshibas-new-ss-m40-and-satellite-j63-laptops-keep-it-basic/#comments

7/11/2007 6:47:00 PM

Filed under: Displays

We had a sneaking suspicion that HANNspree would revert back to its relatively flamboyant style soon enough, and just two months after busting out a surprisingly bland array of monitors, the firm is hitting back with a duo of stylish LCDs that take cues from two of America's most recognized cities. The 19-inch HANNS boston and HANNS new york are both part of the design-centric Xm-Series, and each share a WXGA+ resolution, brightness levels of up to 350 cd/m2, a five-millisecond response time, cable management / mounting options, DVI and VGA inputs, 700:1 contrast ratio, built-in two-watt stereo speakers, and an auxiliary audio input as well. As seen above, the Boston-themed flavor sports a wood-grain design scheme, while the industrial New Yorker (pictured after the break) sports a brushed aluminum stand and a dash of "art techno" for good measure. Regardless of your city of choice, both of these devices can be snapped up real soon for $249.99.

[Via Electronista]

Continue reading HANNspree unveils design-centric Xm-Series LCD monitors

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/hannspree-unveils-design-centric-xm-series-lcd-monitors/#comments

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 ul 2007 17:07:00 EST

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

Those not satisfied by Belkin's latest attempt at clutter-reducing USB hubs may want to consider stepping up to the company's new 4-port Wireless USB Hub, which'll let you ditch the cables all together and spread your peripherals to places they've never been before. According to Belkin, the hub will give you about a 30 foot range and transfer speeds up to 480Mbps, with full compatibility promised for any "Certified Wireless USB" devices. Nothing too remarkable there, but the price is certainly a bit more welcoming than some other hubs we've seen, coming in at an even $200, which includes the hub and a wireless USB adapter. Look for it to roll out late next month.

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/belkin-announces-4-port-wireless-usb-hub/#comments

7/11/2007 5:37:00 PM

Filed under: Features, Gaming

We got to check out Sony's new PSP, and what can we say? It's certainly a bit thinner and lighter, but it's not really blowing our minds without any significant hardware changes. Still, we want one. Go figure.

Gallery: Sony's thinner, lighter PSP hands-on

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

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/sonys-thinner-lighter-psp-hands-on/#comments

7/11/2007 5:26:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones, Features

People used to iPods were fairly miffed when they discovered there would be no access to the file system on the iPhone - at least for the time being - but thankfully Ecamm Netork's iPhoneDrive sorts this oversight for just $9.95. iPhoneDrive is a really basic tool, no muss, no fuss, just plug your iPhone into your Mac - no Windows version yet friends -- start iPhoneDrive and presto change-o, a gui opens for adding files to your iPhone. Read on, and we'll show you what all the fuss is about.

Continue reading Ecamm Network's iPhoneDrive: how-to and 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/2007/07/11/ecamm-networks-iphonedrive-how-to-and-review/#comments

7/11/2007 3:30:00 PM

Filed under: Features, Gaming

We're running off from Nintendo's E3 2007 press conference to Sony's. Check back here shortly for our live coverage of the event. The conference is set to begin 11:30 PDT.

11:30 PDT -- Ok, we're seated, and things are getting started. Swirling images on four massive displays, like the flowing background on the PS3.

11:32 PDT - Opening promo movie coming up, kaleidoscopes of PS3 and PSP, but no gameplay. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Jack Tretton."

11:33 PDT - "We're extremely excited to unveil all our plans for the PS brand this year." Showing around Home. "We've already had our public beta going on for months, and this is the Home square."

Continue reading Engadget & Joystiq live from Sony's E3 2007 keynote

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

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7/11/2007 3:20:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

It's not quite the PSP 2 some might've hoped for, but Sony is giving its handheld console a serious refresh in the form of a slimmer, lighter and faster "updated" PSP. The new unit still includes the 4.3-inch LCD and UMD, but is 33 percent lighter, 19 percent slimmer, has sped up game load times and improved battery life. The only real "new" features is a video output capability to allow you to play your PSP games on a big screen TV. You can score one in September in the original Piano Black, a new Ice Silver color, and a Star Wars Battlefront special edition. The latter two PSPs come in $199 bundles with related games and a 1GB Memory Stick in the case of Ice Silver. More pics after the break.

Update: Also worth noting is the fact that this new model "is equipped with enhanced feature to temporarily store game data from UMD, reducing load time during game play." No complaints about that!

Continue reading Sony's new PSP is slimmer, includes video output

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

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7/11/2007 3:18:00 PM

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung UK has just announced three new digital cameras which the company will be adding to its already crowded lineup, the L730 (pictured, £119), L830 (£149) and the L83T (£179). All three compact models appear to feature many, if not all of the same specs, save for slight variations in megapixel numbers (7, 8, and 8.2, respectively). The cameras sport a 2.5-inch LCD screen, 3X optical zoom, ISO to 1600, movie capture mode in 320x240 to 800x592, 16 MB of internal memory (plus SD support to 4GB), and come bundled with the company's Digimax Master software. The L83T adds ASR image stabilization, but other than that, these cameras are practically identical. Samsung clearly felt that the market for small, silver digital cameras was lacking a certain blandness only it could provide.

Read - Samsung L730
Read - Samsung L830
Read - Samsung L83T

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

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7/11/2007 3:16:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones

It looks like LG is getting set to release a new Prada-esque keypad-less phone, with its hereto unheard of KU990 model recently landing in the hands of the folks at Clipset.net. Apparently, this is one of the forthcoming YouTube-enabled handsets recently mentioned by the company, meaning that it'll not only be able to play YouTube videos but let users submit videos to the site straight from the phone as well. Otherwise, the phone's big selling points are its ample 5-megapixel camera and HSDPA connectivity, not to mention its sizeable 3-inch touchscreen. Rounding out the specs, you'll get a built-in FM radio, MP3 player, microSD card slot, and an array of pre-loaded applications, including the Muvee video editing app. No word on pricing or availability, though it certainly doesn't seem like it's all that far off. Hit up the link below for more pics and a video showing off the phone from every angle.

[Via SlashPhone]

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

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7/11/2007 2:45:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio

It looks like Switzerland is going down a road other countries have traveled before, with a Federal Court now confirming a tax on digital audio players and other devices that had originally been slated to go into effect in March of 2006. That date ended up being pushed back after complaints from various groups, some of whom deemed the tax to be too high while others thought it was too low, according to SwissInfo. The court apparently found the tax to be just right though, and it's now set to go into effect next month, tacking anywhere from $25 to $75 onto the price of various audio devices, including flash and hard drive-based digital music players, as well as other hard drive-based audio/video recorders. Seems like our gadget-happy Swiss friends just can't catch a break these days.

[Thanks, Jonathan D]

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

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7/11/2007 1:50:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

11:34AM PDT We're taking our seats at the Nintendo press conference. Meaning we're sitting down and not, you know, exhibiting kleptomaniac tendencies. Stay tuned!

8:42AM PDT - Entering the auditorium, we're greeted (assaulted?) by the family-friendly sounds of the Monkees' "I'm a Believer."

8:49AM PDT - Giant screens flanking the main stage share a dozen plus shots of various demographics all enjoying the pick up and play experience offered by the Wii and DS ... or something. No one up there looks like us ... they're all well groomed and a significant percentage of them enjoy senior citizen mass transit discounts.

Continue reading Engadget & Joystiq live from Nintendo's E3 2007 keynote

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

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7/11/2007 1:30:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Household

Nintendo's Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel are great and all, but what's really going to get those casual gamers flocking is this here Wii Fit game and its accompanying controller. A sort of Wii counterpart to Nintendo's brain-sharpening DS thrust, the Wii Balance Board is a Reebok Step look-alike, with dual sensors that can detect your weight and balance on each side as you exercise to the various on-screen Wii activities in Wii Fit. The board is wireless, and holds the potential of full-body games involving the Wiimote and the Wii Balance Board simultaneously. If you've had enough gaming, you can also have the Balance Board diagnose your body mass index. Or not. No word on when these two will launch, or for how much. Plenty of action shots after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo Wii Balance Board gets you stepping in upcoming Wii Fit title

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

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7/11/2007 12:39:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

Let's not bandy about here, we're pretty much God's gift to green shell snipes, and hook us up with a few red shells and perhaps a banana or two and you can pretty much kiss your Flower Cup goodbye. Nintendo just announced some extensive online functionality for its upcoming Wii-based Mario Kart title, including an undisclosed amount of "more" online competitors, which is always a plus. Nintendo is also packing a free Wii Wheel with each copy of the game to help ease the newbs into the Kart action. No word on how much the new wheel will cost on its own, but we'll be seeing both it and Mario Kart in the first quarter of 2008. More pics after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo packing Wii Wheel with Mario Kart for Wii

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

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7/11/2007 12:35:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

It took them a while, but Nintendo is finally busting out its Wii Zapper accessory for housing the Wiimote and Nunchaku in a FPS-friendly shell. It'll be out this year, shipping for free with a "far along" unannounced title from Nintendo, and selling stand alone at retail for $20. Other games with announced compatibility include "Ghost Squad," "Medal of Honor" with 32 person online matches, and "Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles." More pics after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo Wii Zapper announced

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