11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Portable Audio
Onkyo’s latest aren’t the most stylish headphones we’ve ever seen — far from it, actually — but those more concerned with audio fidelity and iPod compatibility may be able to overlook the pedestrian design. The wireless MHP-UW2 headphones transmit tunes over the 2.4GHz frequency and come bundled with a handy-dandy iPod adapter that should work with practically any dock-connecting unit out there. We’re told it can last around 8 hours before needing a recharge via USB (or AC adapter, should you choose), though it’s hard to say when it’ll ever ship to any market outside of Japan. Nevertheless, those in and around Tokyo can find the kit next month for ￥20,000 ($201).
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Desktops
With all these nettops, netbooks and plain ole motherboards flying every which-away, it’s hard to say if Portwell’s Atom-based nano-ITX board really is the first, but it’s close enough to count in our book. Utilizing all sorts of legerdemain and black magic, the engineers at Portwell were able to craft a Linux-friendly mobo that measures just 4.72- x 4.72- x 0.65-inches and supports Intel’s Silverthorne Atom while including six USB 2.0 ports, embedded audio and a gigabit Ethernet jack. The Nano-8044 can be ordered in two flavors — the Z530, which packs a 1.6GHz CPU, or the Z510, which clocks in at 1.1GHz. As you could likely guess, this one’s aimed primarily at point-of-sale machines, digital signage devices and other commercial applications, and the sub-10-watt power draw should keep energy costs to a minimum. Oh, and it should totally play Doom in a pinch.
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Desktops
Really, eMachines? You’re honestly going to give your newest cheap-o PC this kind of tagline? Truth be told, we’re not exactly sure what a standard sized dictionary even looks like (there’s this thing called the internet…), but apparently, it’s exactly the same size as the EL1200 desktop. Not sassy enough to be called a nettop, this here mini-tower is 40% smaller and 55% lighter than the company’s second tiniest rig, and while it won’t handle the likes of Crysis, it shouldn’t have too many issues surfing the web and opening Word documents. As for specs, we’ve got a 1.5GHz AMD Athlon 2650e 64-bit CPU, NVIDIA’s GeForce 6150SE integrated graphics, 1GB of DDR2, 160GB hard drive, a dual-layer DVD burner, 14-in-1 multicard reader, seven USB 2.0 ports and a $298 (MSRP) price tag. That system we just rattled off is available now at Wally World, while a slightly more stacked edition can be had at Best Buy for $349.Read
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Laptops
We’ve seen tons of Eeesmoddedwithtouchscreens, and it looks like ASUS is taking the hint — it’s saying that it expects to launch touch-enabled Eee PCs next year, as long rumored. It’s not clear whether the new models will run XP or a special Linux build, but we’ll find out soon enough, since the company plans to show them off at CES in January. Unsurprisingly, we should also be seeing dual-core Atom 330 chips make their way into the Eee line as soon as they’re available in quantity, but the best piece of news is probably that ASUS will be getting aggressive on price with a sub-$300 Eee. Now just wrap all that up in the S101’s case and we’re all set — that would be just about perfect.
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Portable Audio
We’re still baffled that traditional eSATA flash drives require power from the USB port in order to operate (at least until that Power Over eSATA initiative starts bearing fruit), but it seems that Ao-LAB has found a nice, practical workaround for the time being. The outfit’s eSATA / USB Combo Drive arrives in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB flavors and provides dual interfaces along with a convenient way to power it if you’re dead-set on using eSATA for transfers. And given that speeds over eSATA absolutely obliterate those over USB 2.0, you’re going to want to. Shame there’s no pricing / availability information, but we suspect you can get a few hundred of ‘em sans issue should you contact the company seeking a bulk contract.
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
With Wrath of the Lich King just around the corner, it’s time to up your game and finally make it out of the low double digits with that Blood Elf mage you keep telling us about. Maybe SteelSeries can help. The high-end gaming peripherals builder recently snapped up Ideazon, and together they’ve built the official World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse in close cooperation with Ideazon’s BFF Blizzard. There are 15 programmable buttons scattered across the mouse, and a new in-game configuration utility to graphically assign the buttons just where they’re needed. You can save different profiles for different purposes, and choose one of 16 million colors for those LEDs down the back. Just don’t expect any fancy auto-levelling macros or even a recommended control scheme — Blizzard still expects you to do the hard work of lining up your favorite actions and buying your gold on eBay. The laser mouse hits on November 13th to coincide with the Lich King launch, and should retail “under $100.”Permalink
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones
Funny story — we pretty much heard this exact same rumor floating around last August, but given the current economic situation, we’re inclined to believe this one a good bit more. A recent Reuters report is pointing out that RIM (like practically every other company right about now) is ripe for the picking, and any outfit with a serious load of cash reserves could get themselves quite a bargain. Given that the Redmond mega-corp has shown interest before (and clearly has plenty of Greenbacks), we were particularly interested in Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek’s quote: “I’m fairly certain [Microsoft] has a standing offer to buy [RIM] at $50 a share.” If you’ll recall, RIM’s stock sat at $148 per share just four months ago, and now, it’s hovering around $60. As expected, Microsoft had no comment on the report, but don’t be surprised to see something go down if Wall Street keeps hemorrhaging.
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
If you’re wondering why you don’t have an AT&T-branded BlackBerry Bold in your hand at this very second, the answer might lie a couple thousand miles away where Orange has allegedly pulled all units off the shelves to hammer out some “software issues” that have plagued early devices in subscribers’ hands. The whole situation leaves us to wonder whether carriers jumped the gun on validating early builds of the Bold’s firmware in an effort to get it out into the market in a non-ridiculous amount of time, while AT&T may have chosen to play it safe with a longer, more excrutiating battery of tests — leading to RIM’s swipe that the October 2 miss was all AT&T’s fault. It’s just a theory, and probably a pretty meaningless one since this Orange fiasco should apparently take a couple weeks to clear up at most, and we’re still hearing occasional whispers out of the AT&T camp that they’re still pushing for an October release over there. Chop chop, guys.
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11 Oct, 2008
Growing up, I was in every instance phonetic that appearance your flashy laundry current universal was a deficient part, however that was at one time the Internet brought us blogging, podcasts with forums where we gross net out gross kinds of trifles as regards our lives.
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11 Oct, 2008
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Aw, how convenient! Now, when you purchase your next ATM skimmer, you don’t even have to risk being arrested when you wander out to retrieve it. For those outside of the know, an ATM skimmer sits on credit / debit card machines and swipes information as unsuspecting civilians pass their cards through. In the days of old, scammers would have to physically retrieve the skimmer in order to acquire all that precious information; now, models with built-in SMS notification are becoming available, meaning that numbers, expiration dates and that easy-to-forget three digit code on the back can be shot out instantly after the data is snatched. Word on the street has these devices going for $8,500 a pop, and they can dish out around 2,000 texts. Just another zanyhack to be aware of in the wide world of ATM shenanigans.
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