Despite it’s not so catchy product name, MSI’s PR621 notebook more than makes up for it with its powerful features. This 15.4-inch notebook wallops some exciting features which will definitely be of use for business professionals who are always mobile. For one, the PR621 despite its large screen size is lightweight by standard at only 5.73-pounds.
Now for the usual rundown of features, the MSI PR621 includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Intel GM 45+ICH9M-E chipset, and the 15.4-inch display offers a resolution of 1280 x 800. It can have as much as 4GB of RAM and also features two audio speakers, Wireless LAN, optional Bluetooth, and a 4-in-1 memory card reader.
In addition, the PR621 also boasts of reliable security features such as the use of out-of-band (OOB) communication channel to execute remediation software without minimal interruption to the system, use of execute disable bit to protect against hardware-based anti-virus protection, and blocking off incoming threats proactively and stops them before they can even reach the machine’s OS. A watchdog timer which check that applications are running at regular intervals was even added to this machine for efficiency purposes.
The MSI PR621 may just be your standard notebook fare, that you might tend to neglect or ignore, specifically with the lack of publicized hype about its release. But with those features that we mentioned, it seems like the PR621 should have the hype that it deserves as soon as it is released officially. We’re hoping that pricing and release date for this notebook will be released soon.
Remember the good ol’ FCC leaking out the new Zune 120GB? Well, now there have been some pictures released by the Canadians that show off two new larger capacity Zune players. The image includes a 16GB flash based model and the new 120GB model.
The pictures show up pretty clear considering they were taking from a phone, and you can see that the 16GB Zune has a glossy screen. It would make sense that Microsoft is updating their Zunes, as there have been rumors of what Apple plans to do come their special event. If Apple decides to update their nano, Microsoft will want to have something updated in their Zune line up as well.
Microsoft is still trying it’s hardest to compete with Google and Yahoo! for your internet searching. It’s still trying to buy companies to do so, though it succeeded in the acquisition this time. To help with search results, Microsoft has bought Greenfield Online, the company responsible for ciao.com. Ciao.com is a European price comparison search engine, that is apparently quite popular.
This combined with the Microsoft Live money giving program could make for a great combination for Microsoft if they can leverage it well enough. It should be able to actually provide links to buy products in search results now, rather than mainly links to the the manufacturers page for the product. Sounds like a decent idea, almost like Google Shopping, but in the same page as normal search results if they implement it that way. Now if only Microsoft can convince people to actually look at that page, that’d be quite a feat.
Developer: Sharpcast Price: $2.49 per month to $24.99 per month for 10GB to 250GB of storage Availability: Out now Pros: All your info, everywhere you need it. Cons: I’ll be dragged kicking and screaming to pay for it; coming to terms with your online security fears Overall: This service is good. The system is dialed, works flawlessly. Makes working on a desktop, laptop and mobile device a heck of a lot easier.
Right on the edge. The edge of being overwhelmingly excited and scared of how far reaching this change can be for me, personally. SugarSync is making this leap possible. What leap is that? Why, its the one that means I don’t need to lug around my 30lbs laptop to customer visits. And for me, that is huge.
SugarSync is an online storage/sync/web viewer of your files. That is a basic concept and SugarSync takes it a bit further. More than backup, online access, and my favorite: mobile phone access. Right now, I’ve got 3 machines sync’d to the cloud and that gives me access from one machine to files in all of them. That is power: access your stuff from anywhere.
I’ve got work stuff backed up and available, photos and my entire iTunes library. SugarSync gives you some cool options on what is sync’d where, a lot of my files are just sync’d with the cloud, but accessible from any machine I choose; on any platform. Hot.
The iPhone App (available in the App Store) is pretty slick and works better for me than just going on the web to access the info. Over WiFi, accessing my files is quick and painless. Over an Edge connection, the same couldn’t be said. Could just be where I was at the time, but it was a long download.
Function
To start, I downloaded the desktop application. The application walks you through what you want sync’d (to web, to web and other computers, to other computers). You can get very specific, drilling down on which folders you want and which ones you don’t. The app was very well done.
You can access you files via the web by logging in. Doing so allows you to view them, download them or send them via email. Pretty handy. Otherwise, files sync’d between computers are instantly transferred. Sugarsync calls this push file sync; similar to push email.
To date, a number of sites have done reviews on the service and the consensus seems to be, we like it. A lot.
The elephant in the room: security.
How secure is secure? Here is my Q&A with Sugarsync engineers: * I love the concept but am completely nervous about security here. How do you soothe this fear?
SugarSync is a modern application that is built with the latest and greatest security technologies throughout the system, such as secure communication between clients and servers over SSL, AES encrypted files, and a highly secure data center. In fact, you are much more secure syncing an important file with SugarSync than you are sending it over email (which can easily be intercepted by hackers) or copying files to a USB keychain (which can be lost or stolen, and accessed by anyone).
* A competitor of sorts (I’ve only briefly looked at their stuff) uses 428 bit encryption which is stronger (right?). Why are you using only 128?
They are likely using a different algorithm altogether, in which case there are other factors than the number of bits in comparing the strength of their encryption to ours. That being said, the NSA has deemed 128-bit AES encryption sufficient for classified government documents, so the differences between it and other algorithms is immaterial in practice. What is more important is the design of the system as a whole - using encryption in the right places, properly managing passwords, having proper datacenter security, etc. SugarSync was developed by a team with extensive experience building secure, carrier grade systems, and we feel confident with the security of our customers’ data.
* That conversation aside, SSL isn’t the weakest link in the chain, it leaving the SSL open while surfing or other things. What extra precautions is SugarSync taking to minimize hacking attempts?
All communication is through dedicated SSL connections, and there is no risk to leaving a connection open in the background. SSL is a rock-solid protocol that prevents a background connection from being hijacked or otherwise compromised.
* The download communicates at will? Is there a security risk there?
These “background” downloads only occur on computers that have the SugarSync manager running and on which the user has logged in, and as such does not pose a threat. If a user is on a public computer, such as at an Internet cafe, she would likely access her data through the secure personal website, and when she is finished no more data can be downloaded without logging in again.
Earlier this month, Sony entered the PMP market in China by shipping out their PMX-M80. Today, they have announced another PMP that they plan to sell there as well, however, this is one is more affordable than the PM-M80 and will accompany the PMX-U50 and U53.
The PMX-U55 sports a 2.4-inch screen with a 320 x 240 resolution, supports a few formats including MP4, H.264/AVC Baseline profile, AVI, MP3, WMA, and AAC. It’s only 7.5mm thick, so it’s pretty thin. Battery life isn’t too bad - 12 hours of audio and 5 hours of video playback. The 2GB model is already available, however, it is only available in pink at this time. It will sell for 498 Yuan, which is about $73 US.
Recently, Samsung announced two new MP3 players, the YP-Q1, which is pictured above, and the YP-U4. The interesting thing about the Q1 is that it is the first MP3 player by Samsung that sports their DNSe 3 audio technology, which restores what is lost when songs are compressed.
In addition, it comes with a light-up D-Pad, 2.4-inch LCD screen, FM tuner, photo display and video playback. No word on exact formats for video and photo, however it is set to come in a few different models which include 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of flash memory. Next, we have the YP-U4, which is an upgraded model of the Samsung U3. It comes in a stick-like shape, a full directional pad to navigate within the device and a monochrome OLED screen. Furthermore, it comes with a battery life of up to 16 hours.
The Samsung YP-Q1 has been slated for an October release, and it would sell in a few different colors. The YP-U4 is already retailing it select areas.
Well despite the fact that HD DVD is now a dead format, Toshiba is not yet willing to part with those patents. A recent report coming from the Economic Daily News, a Chinese-language newspaper is claiming that the Taiwan Information Storage Association’s (TISA) has contacted Toshiba in an effort to acquire the HD DVD patents.
Its being speculated that they were looking to purchase Toshiba’s patents in an effort to further develop the CBHD (China Blue High-definition Disc), which according to estimates is based on “more than 90%” of HD DVD patents. Had they acquired these patents it was also believed that it would have helped them by adding some extra bargaining chips in their Blu-ray royalty negotiations.
Of course without the patents being sold, it seems that why they really wanted them will remain nothing more than speculation. One does have to wonder just what, if anything that Toshiba will bring to the table in the future that may require those patents.
MSI has announced a new addition to its line-up of gaming notebooks - the 14.1-inch GX400. Boasting of powerful features when it comes to graphics and processing power, the GX400 is equipped with an nVIDIA Geforce 9600M GT 3D graphics card with a built-in DDR3 512MB VRAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Intel PM45 Express Chipset.
Complementing those features are the GX400’s vivid image enhancement technology, Dolby Surround Sound, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, DTV receiver, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a long battery life which is perfect for Blu-ray movie playback. In addition, the GX400 also features a quick launch touch sensor for switching to its five different modes - gaming, movie, presentation, office and turbo battery. The GX400 comes with up to 500GB or hard drive space, and either a DVD Super-Multi or Blu-ray optical drive.
Pricing and release details of the GX400 have not yet been announced.
Samsung has taken a 120GB 1.8-inch hard drive and recently put it into a shiny black, credit card sized enclosure. Seemingly without an official name, the new drives feature a shiny black exterior with a hard drive logo and a simple statement of “The Storage World In Hand.”
All things considered 120GB is quite a lot of storage for a drive enclosure of that size, and certainly beats using a regular USB flash drive in terms of capacity. The drive does offer some nice perks in that its a 4200rpm drive which only requires 1.4W of power, which means it will not require anything other than a spare USB port for power.
The downfall is that its currently a little, well actually a lot on the expensive side and retailing for around $300. Of course, they also have a few smaller options such as the 40GB, 60GB or 80GB and those retail for a slightly more affordable $160, $190 and $235 respectively.
Samsung has announced its feature rich Blu-ray player, the BD-P2500. Boasting interactive features such BD Live and Bonus View, this Blu-ray player gives out a full HD audio-visual experience through its Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) processing and 7.1-Channel analog audio outputs. Even better is the fact that the BD-P2500 does not only play Blu-ray discs but also does upscaling of standard DVD’s in full HD 1080p quality.
A quick rundown of the BD-P2500’s features would give us a built-in wired Ethernet connection, 1GB internal flash memory, USB port, HDMI 1.3 output with xvTCC Deep Color support, and 24fps film mode. The player also tops in the sound department since it can decode high-resolution digital multichannel audio soundtracks as well as outputs Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS either as an uncompressed PCM signal or through 7.1 analog outputs. In addition, users can receive feature updates and upgrades through its embedded Ethernet connection, USB port as well as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc.
The Samsung BD-P2500 will be available sometime in October and carries and retail price of $499.99.
Lately we have been seeing quite a few rumors about upcoming models of the Amazon Kindle. Just within the past few weeks we have seen some rumored information about a Kindle 2.0 that was expected to be thinner, a little more stylish and best of all, a little cheaper. In addition to the Kindle 2.0 we have also seen recent stories about a second version of the Kindle that is aimed at student market, this was was even “confirmed” by a recent story in the Seattle PI.
However it seems that everything that has been written recently may not be entirely true. Overall the cheaper Kindle 2.0 sounds nice, and the student edition sounds great, especially compared to a bunch of heavy textbooks, but it is a little strange to see a lower priced model coming, especially considering the success that Amazon is having with the current model and current pricing.
The latest news, which basically kills these rumors comes from Amazon spokesman Craig Berman who recently spoke with the New York Times and told them to not “believe everything you read.” He also went on to state that “there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”
So you can read into that statement however you want, as with any successful product its only likely that we will see a follow or second edition come. So there likely still is a student edition coming, just not in 2008, of course Craig Berman would not offer any comment as to whether they were developing a Kindle for a specific group.
T-Mobile has already been offering an Eee PC that comes along with a mobile broadband package, but up until this point its been used with an external modem. However, based on a recent press release it looks like we can soon be expecting to see a new version of the Eee PC 901 with built-in 3G capability, which has been dubbed the Eee PC 901 GO.
According to the release, Asus will be working with T-Mobile to offer an “ASUS Connection Manager” which will allow the 3G-capable Eee to easily and quickly connect with the network when launched. In addition they also mentioned that users would get up to five hours of surfing time. As of now T-Mobile has not yet released any information as to when this service will be available, they also failed to mention how much the service will cost, or how much the Eee PC 901 GO will retail for.
All in all this sounds like a great bit of news, but sadly this particular model is only scheduled to hit T-Mobile...in Germany. Although we do not expect it to happen, we can only hope it will eventually show up in other areas. I for one have pretty much left my Eee PC in favor of the HP Mini-Note, but with built-in 3G connectivity, this may be enough to convince me to come back and I feel pretty safe saying that I would not be alone in that move.
The latest potential launch date for the AT&T BlackBerry Bold is now expected to come in just about a month, on October 2. I wish we were able to say this has been confirmed, but sadly it is just based on a tip that is being considered “pretty solid.” Of course we have seen these situations go either way when it come to reliable sources, so keep your credit card safely in your wallet for now. In the meantime it looks like October 2 is the date for AT&T to announce the Bold, with full availability coming on Monday October 6. All in all, the release seems to make sense timing wise now that Rogers has finally gotten theirs ready and out.
Sprint’s popular, new smartphone, the Samsung Instinct, is going to be sold for the first time at RadioShack coming this Labor Day Weekend. You might be thinking, what’s so special about RadioShack selling the Samsung Instinct, I could go buy it at any other retailer or the Sprint store. Well, the reason is that RadioShack will be selling the Instinct for the low price of $100 for new customers.
From August 29 through the end of the holiday weekend, new users will be able to score a Samsung Instinct at 4,400+ RadioShack stores for just $100. This pricing does require customers to sign a new agreement and sign up with Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan. Current customers looking to upgrade the existing Spring handset will still have to pay $129 for the Instinct. Overall sounds like a great deal for RadioShack, and it should be good enough to get some people to switch to Sprint in order to get this phone.
Today, Samsung has officially unveiled their once rumored ultraportable X360 notebook. Judging from the specs, the X360 should be a decent around town or traveling notebook with its light weight of just 2.8-pounds. Not to mention its slim design which measures in anywhere from as thin as 0.66-inches up to a still thin 1.2-inches at its thickest point.
In addition, the specs are seemingly just as nice, the X360 will be powered by a Centrino 2 ULV processor and will feature a 13.3-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution. Other features include a standard 1GB of RAM that is upgradable to 4GB, your choice of a 64 or 128GB SSD or a standard 120GB hard drive. The X360 also offers a 1.3-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR, an ExpressCard slot, three USB ports, HDMI, VGA-out and a 7-in-1 card reader. One item that is missing, but also comes as little surprise is that the X360 does not offer any optical drive.
As for power, according to the release announcement, the X360 will offer anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of battery life, however its likely to believe that the 10 hours of battery life may add some extra weight to that 2.8-pounds. All in all the X360 sounds pretty good, however Samsung has not yet announced any pricing or availability.
Many GPS units come with the ability to get live traffic updates using a traffic receiver. However, it typically comes with a monthly subscription, which adds up to a lot of money over a year. Navigon has been nice to its customers who buy their high-end GPS models, such as the 7200T by adding in free traffic updates using its FM Tuner. Now, they have announced that all of their units, entry level or high-end, will come with built-in free traffic updates. To do well in this big GPS market, it is necessary for companies to add something unique to their products, which is exactly what Navigon has done.
Coming this fall, all of their units will feature free traffic updates. Andreas Hecht, Navigon’s president for North and South America, has this to say;
“We were very excited to be the first to offer Free Lifetime Traffic last year and are thrilled to bring it to the next level, we see traffic updates as being critical to the core navigation experience and felt it was very important to make it available across the entire product portfolio.”
It will be interesting to see if other GPS companies such as Garmin and TomTom make any changes to their respective lines of GPS’.
Fujitsu Siemens has officially unveiled the frequently pictured Amilo Mini netbook, which carries the official name of Amilo Mini Ui 3520 netbook, and with the official announcement we now have the final specs, pricing and some nice press style images to go along.
First up, the Mini Ui 3520 will feature an 8.9-inch WSVGA display with a 1024 x 600 resolution and it will be running Windows XP Home Edition. Other features include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of DDR2 667MHz RAM, either a 3600rpm 60GB or 4200rpm 80GB hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. Otherwise it will have the usual array ports and connectivity which include Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, an ExpressCard slot, USB 2.0, VGA, microphone in and headphone out.
Sadly they still have not announced an official release date, however the Mini Ui 3520 netbook will retail for €399 (around $588 US).
It looks like those leaked images of the “no function key” Dell Inspiron 910 were indeed accurate, the latest image (pictured above) comes courtesy of some newly released Dell support pages for the upcoming Inspiron 910.
Based on the image, and the docs we can now confirm that the Inspiron 910 will have just two LED’s, one for power and one for battery status. We can also confirm, with some disappointment that the keyboard will be slightly different than most are currently used to seeing, as it will not have the dedicated function keys. Of course, looking on the bright side, it could make for a nicer typing experience with the possibility of slightly larger keys.
Sadly there still has not been an official release date or price point announcement, but with the docs beginning to show up online, we can only imagine that it will be soon.
Bill Gates promised frequent updates way back when they were doing the final testing of IE7. Yet somehow, it’s been almost two years before they finally released the beta mode of Internet Explorer 8 just today. Some will hurrah, some will cringe, some won’t care one way or the other. But...it’s out...and along with actually seeming to be an improvement over the previous version...it’s pretty clear that the folks at Microsoft are also using their latest browser as a clever little way to try to take over some Google ground.
I admit, I’m a diehard Firefox user. And when I checked out IE8 beta, I immediately recognized the same thing others seem to be seeing. The Smart Address Bar is very similar to the Awesome Bar in Firefox 3. When you start to type in the address bar, it tries to guess where you want to go, based on where you’ve been before. Although I have to give it to Microsoft, their Smart Bar seems to do the job even a little better. It shows history items, autocomplete suggestions, and your saved Favorites all in lists that you can collapse or expand with just a click. Also, you can delete an address from the Smart Bar with just a click as well, which is really handy for any addresses you may have in there that were typed incorrectly or if you have bookmarks you just don’t use anymore.
Of course, it features the much talked about ”InPrivate Browsing” (aka “porn mode"). It seems to do what it’s supposed to do. Your history and temporary internet files aren’t affected, cookies are only stored in your memory, and no usernames/passwords are saved. And then, when you exit the browser...POOF! Any and all traces of the session vanish. It never happened. Parents will however be happy to know this feature can be turned off, and actually if parental controls are turned on, it is automatically disabled completely.
As for the “trying to take over Google” bit. Guess who doesn’t show up anywhere on their browser main page? In the upper right hand corner is an option for search destinations...no...Google isn’t one of the options it automatically offers you. And when you highlight a street address, of course, you are taken to “Live Maps”, although you are able to over-ride this choice and change it to Google. But a big way it is seen as a stab is that, in a very un-Microsoft move, it is giving Web sites the option to offer up results and customize how they appear. It is also letting these sites take all the revenue from the ads alongside the results. Definite stab at Google’s business.
Since Internet Explorer is still the most commonly used browser, it looks like they plan to take advantage of whatever they can while they can. Heck, they did it with operating systems. They better come up with something if they want to hold onto the browser lead, because Mozilla may be behind, but they are no longer invisible. Their market shares jumped by a third in the last year; while Microsoft’s fell 6 points. I agree with John Lilly, CEO of Firefox publisher Mozilla who was quoted in Forbes as saying “They’re playing catch-up, but I’m glad they’re playing.”.
Sony will soon be releasing a feature-rich and yet affordable point-and-shoot joining its Cybershot series - the DSC-T500 digital camera. Featuring a 10-megapixel sensor, this compact digital camera can record wide and full-screen 720p video at up to 30fps in its fine, standard and VGA video recording modes. By standard this is high-enough considering that the DSC-T500 is a digital camera.
The DSC-T500’s movie function is based on the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 codec which produces high-quality video without eating up too much space of the memory card. This movie mode comes even better with a zoom function that works even when the camera is in recording mode. It can record video continuously up to 10 minutes in length and can store hours of video clips depending on the capacity of the Memory Stick.
Other features of the DSC-T500 include a 3.5-inch transflective touch panel LCD screen, Carl Zeiss lens with up to 5x optical zoom capability, high ISO sensitivity of up to 3200, face detection, HDMI output cable, dual photo and video capture modes, and background music for the camera’s slideshow feature.
Sony is planning to release the DSC-T500 in late September and it will retail for $400.
Our buddy Xavier over at Notebooks.com currently has a excellent contest running, they are giving away a chance to win either a Voodoo Envy 133 worth $2,199 or one of three IdeaPad S10s.
“We will randomly select one grand prize (Envy S10) winner and three (Ideapad S10) winners from the pool of respondents who have completed the survey, including all open-ended questions by September 3rd. Winners will be notified of their prizes by email by Sept. 16.”
Sounds like some great prizes, you do have to fill out a survey in order to qualify, but with notebooks like those I think it sounds like it could be well worth your time. So what are you waiting for, head on over to Notebooks.com and try your luck.
We just have to trust Sony when it says that its new KDL-40ZX1 LCD TV is the world’s thinnest so far. Measuring a mere 9.9mm, this 40-inch LCD beauty weighs 12.2kg. Makes you wonder where it puts all that weight considering that it is so thin?
Anyway, the KDL-40ZX1 is said to feature wireless video reception which Sony has dubbed the Bravia 1080 Wireless. In addition, this LCD panel also features a 3000:1 contrast ratio, a full 1080p HD resolution, three HDMI ports, both a digital and analog tuner, as well as LAN and USB ports.
However perhaps the most exciting feature of the KDL-40ZX1 is its “Flow Motion 120 HZ” which displays video and still photos in either 60 fps or 24fps. Aside from this, it also features video blur correction technology.
The Sony KDL-40ZX1 LCD HDTV will be out in Japan on November 10 with an is expected to retail for around $4,500. No word yet on when, or if it will be released internationally.
Samsung has announced four new digital photo frames, two of them, the SPF-85H and SPF-85V will be available on September 1, while the other two, the SPF-105P and SPF-105V will be on store shelves on October 1.
Both the SPF-85H and SPF-85V digital frames sport an 8-inch screen with an 800 x 600 resolution and support SD/MMC/MS/XD media cards and also have a USB memory slot. In addition, the SPF-85H is packed with a 1GB internal memory, an auto on/off function and auto photo resize. The SPF-85V only packs in 64MB of internal memory but makes up for it with its Wi-Fi connectivity, it also features auto rotation, a rechargeable battery and InfoLink, which is a free information service for news, weather and stock information.
As for the the SPF-105P and SPF105V, they both sport a 10-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution, support SD/MMC/MS/XD media cards, and each comes with a USB memory slot. Additionally, the SPF-105P boasts of 1GB internal memory, auto photo resize and a rechargeable battery. Similar to the SPF-85V, the SPF-105V has a 64MB internal memory, auto rotation function, Wi-Fi connectivity and support for the InfoLink service.
The SPF-85H will retail for $129.99, both the SPF-85V and SPF-105P get the same $199.99 price tag and the SPF-105V will retail for $289.99.
Product: Jabra SP700. Price and Availability: $99 out now Pros: Doesn’t make you look like a tool. Easily answer calls in your car. Makes not upgrading to the expensive new cars “tech package” a lot easier to live with. Sound is great, surround sound through speakers is even better. Cons: no air of superiority that comes with a headset (wait, maybe that should be in the Pros?) Overall: I’ve already ordered two for my cars. I give it 10/10
If you are like me, you’ll go to almost any length no to wear your bluetooth headset. An incoming call when I am in the car sends me fumbling around my front seats for the tiny headset, the awkward install into my ear and then my eyes are back on the road. Surely that is safer than just answer the phone?
This is my new solution: the Jabra SP 700. I love this darn thing. I had my doubts this would work for me, as despite my feelings on the look and overriding “tool-i-ness” of a bluetooth headset, there is something almost fun about being plugged in like that. But this Jabra piece changed my mind.
Form Almost hiding on my visor, the unit looks good as its buttons are hidden on the sides. A sexy almost Scandinavian voice announces settings like “power on” or “connected” keeping my eyes on the road. I’ve not tired of her yet, but I am sure that is coming. Set up, as with most bluetooth devices, is super simple.
Better yet, the unit comes with a built in FM transmitter that pumps your callers voice through your cars sound system. It creates a very warm environment that is more like talking in person than on a call. I really dig it. Jabra can also send music on your phone to the cars. The SP700 will even search for the best frequency for you to transmit over, very cool.
Function The sound quality is indistinguishable from just using the phone. Callers sounded clear to me and me to them. Road noise was swept away and people were amazed I was driving around, much less on a dirt road. Jabra says the SP700 has echo cancellation and noise reduction all aimed at making your conversation as natural as possible.
I let my wife borrow it this morning. She phoned more from the road after a couple of uses and wanted to let me know she was keeping it. She was headed into the office to show it to her friends.
All calls are announced by that sexy Scandinavian voice, keeping me focused on the traffic, not searching around for my phone. Taking the call is as easy as tapping the visor-mounted unit.
Jabra has put out an excellent option for hands free communications in the car. I highly recommend.
MSI has recently added two new laptops into its collection, this time its the EX300 and EX400. As of now, neither models have been given a price, nor a US release date, but judging from the specs, they should be something that we hope to see.
The EX300 features a 13.3-inch TFT WXGA ACV display with a 1280X800 resolution, an Intel Core2 Duo processor and a DVD Super-multi or Blu-Ray DVD optical drive. In addition the EX300 also Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, an Ethernet port, two USB ports, HDMI, headphone out, microphone in, a built-in card reader and has the option for Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. Other options also include anywhere from 160 up to 320GB of hard drive space and it can top out with 4GB of RAM. The EX300 will be running Windows Vista Home Premium and have the option for either a 4 or 8-cell battery.
The EX400, which is the larger of the two laptops comes with a 14.1-inch WXGA TFT-LCD display. Otherwise it offers similar specs that include an Intel Core2 Duo processor and a DVD Super-multi or Blu-Ray DVD optical drive. The EX400 will also top out at 4GB of RAM, however it has the option for a little more storage space, offering anywhere from 160GB up to 500GB. The ports and connectivity are the same as the EX300, however this model comes with either a 6-cell or 9-cell battery. And finally it will be running Windows Vista Home Premium.
As previously mentioned, nothing yet in terms of pricing or release, but judging from these specs, MSI certainly has more to offer than just the Wind netbook.
Rogers may not always have the best pricing when it comes to their handsets or data plans, but its hard to argue the fact that they are building an awesome collection of available phones. Consider just recently we have seen both the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold become available, and the latest rumor has them releasing the Palm Pro with a September 17 launch date.
The Palm Pro, as we have recently learned has a decent set of specs, albeit a slightly disappointing Centro like keypad, but otherwise its a little more of what we were hoping for in a Palm device. The Palm Pro features a 320 x 320 touchscreen display, 2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, GPS, Wi-Fi, and 3G (HSDPA) support. It is also running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.
Currently there has not been any information available as to the pricing, however it was released in Europe for €399, and will hit the US as an unlocked handset for $549. As always when we find out some more details, you will be the first to know.
There have been a lot of great Scarlets in the last one hundred years. Scarlet O’Hara, Scarlet Johansson, Miss Scarlet from Clue. The new Scarlet from LG is the latest of fine looking Scarlets to burst onto the scene.
LG has recently unveiled two more great Scarlets with the LG70 and LG80 LCD televisions. I imagine that these televisions take their namesake from their red frames, and each one has full HD resolution of 1080p, as well as USB connectivity. The LG70 has a contrast ratio of 50,000:1, while the LG80 has a 30,000:1.
As for the sound, they both have precisely tuned speakers. This 3.1 channel Virtual Surround Sound system has two speakers that will automatically turn around when the TV is switched on.
Now that is one cool feature! Unfortunately, since these new television sets have just been revealed, there is no word on a price. A few thousand dollars for each will be my best guess. I suppose we have to just wait and see, because we also have no word on a release date.
As our Doug Berger posted on earlier this month, presidential candidate Barack Obama offered to send you a text message with his VP choice. You’d be among the first to know, as Obama was leaking this info to you first, instead of the talking heads over at CNN and the like.
So how many gave away their phone number? It is estimated 2.9 million parted ways with that morsel of data. Shocked? Astounded? Me too. And not just with Obama’s choice of running mates.
Nielsen Mobile makes this estimate and calls it the biggest mobile marketing campaign ever. So far.
Since younger voters tend to skew toward the ranks of the non-voters, bringing this group to the table could prove huge come this December. Brian McConnell over at Gigom wrote up a thoughtful post on the far reaching effects of thinking outside the networks:
* Conduct non-intrusive surveys (e.g. are you registered to vote yet? what zip code are you in?) * On a state-by-state basis, send reminder messages about the cutoff dates for voter registration and link to registration forms * On a state-by-state basis, tell people to mail in their ballots to vote absentee * Invite people to campaign events in their area code * Remind people to get out and vote on Election Day (believe it or not, some people forget, although you’d need to be hiding in a cave to miss this one) * Promote down-ballot candidates on a zipcode-by-zipcode basis
Personally, I think it is great the pols are finding ways to engage the voters. Educated voters (on topics, not necessarily schooling) make informed choices and that has to be better than the alternative.
Once again your printer is out of ink way before you think there is any way it should be. Yet somehow, BOOM. It just refuses to print another page until you replace the cartridge. Well, when Farhad Manjoo’s Brother printer suddenly stopped printing; he started to wonder if his printer wasn’t simply lying to him that it was out of toner just so he would buy more before he actually even needed it. His prints hadn’t been fading at all; his printer just suddenly simply refused to keep going without a new cartridge.
Manjoo decided to look to the ‘Net for a way around this. And he indeed found some answers. He learned that by covering up the sides of his toner cartridge with a piece of electrical tape he could “trick” his printer into thinking it was full. He says the printer was been chugging along just fine ever since...eight months and hundreds of pages down the road...printing out perfect pages.
It’s not just Manjoo this had happened to, the whole “you don’t really need a new cartridge but your printer tells you that you do” bit. The problem is actually becoming so widespread that there have actually been class action lawsuits filed against Epson and Hewlett-Packard over the trickery. It seems this is even more common for inkjets than laser printers...because inkjets make their money off, guess what? The ink.
There are many ways to get extra life out of your printer ink or toner, from the standard “shake the heck out of it” approach, to finding the options in your menus that will override “cartridge check” features. In his Slate article though, Manjoo suggests a web search for specific advice, since there are just so many kinds of printers out there. He suggests looking up the model of your printer along with words like toner, override, cheap, and perhaps lying bastards. Although if that fails, FixYourOwnPrinter is a pretty good place to start.
Aside from the two Vostro laptops which Dell announced, it will also release two new desktop models - the affordable and practical Vostro A160 Mini-Tower and the entry-level Vostro A100. Both are geared for the most basic business computing needs and boast of similar features and specs.
Both desktops feature either an Ubuntu Linux or Windows Vista, integrated audio, graphics and network connection, expandable graphics capability, USB and audio ports. The A160 comes with either a single or dual core Intel Celeron or dual core Pentium processors, up to 80GB of hard drive space and a 16x DVD ROM. The A100 desktop gets the Intel Atom processor, an 8x DVD+/-RW and up to 160GB of hard drive space.
The Vostro A160 and A100 will be released in various countries starting with the release of the A180 in China this week. Other countries will start getting these two desktops from September to November. For pricing, we will have to trust Dell at the moment when they say that both desktops will have very affordable prices since they haven’t officially announced it yet.
Trying to lure in customers to replace their DVDs or HD DVDs with Blu-rays, Paramount is offering ten bucks per title to do just that. Although Paramount and Dreamwork titles are involved in the offer, it isn’t good for just any Paramount movie.
According to HighDefDigest, the promotion will start with the release of Transformers on Blu-ray coming in just a few days on September 2nd. Hopefully you won’t mind messing up those boxes a bit though, since you need to include the proof-of-purchase tabs from both the DVD and the Blu-ray disk, along with the promotional certificate from inside eligible Blu-ray movies. You also have to buy your Blu-rays before December 31, 2009 and have your rebate envelope postmarked before January 31, 2010.
Other titles included in the promotion include The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration (the complete trilogy which is due out September 23rd), Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd, Zodiac, Stardust, and Old School. They do kind of hit all different genres in their picks at least...although hopefully even more will be added to this list.
I think now that Paramount is out there offering the bucks to get you to flip your viewing library to Blu-ray, we just may see other studios hopping on the bandwagon as well. Well, it would be nice at least. That way, if you are spending the money investing in a player, at least you get to save a little on the disks themselves, considering they run anywhere from $29 for catalog titles to $39 for a new release. How about it? Is it worth it to you to trade up a title you already own if you’re getting ten bucks back? Or do you just stick with the original?
Rumors about Nikon’s next DSLR model, the D90 started surfacing as early as December last year. This was heightened a couple of days ago when leak photos and specs started appearing again. But finally, Nikon has ended all the speculations and announced the D90 with a new feature which some may love while others may not like at all. We’re talking here about the D90’s video function which is a first among DSLR cameras.
The D90’s D-Movie mode function allows for capturing high-definition movie clips at 720p. For some this might be the realization of a long time longing for a DSLR function, while DSLR purists might find this simply unacceptable. At any rate, we all have to accept the fact that from now on, the camera that we used to know is now a hybrid of a point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras.
But aside from the D-Movie mode, the D90 still packs in some great features worthy of being called a DSLR. Most notable of these features are a CMOS image sensor with 12.3-megapixels, Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED image processing system and a broad range of ISO sensitivity. In addition, the D90 also has a 3-inch LCD screen, 11-point auto focus using Nikon’s exclusive Scene Recognition System and Face Detection, a power-up time of just 0.15ms. The D90 is certainly a good improvement of previous Nikon DSLR models such as the D300 and D80.
With Nikon and Canon announcing two new DSLR cameras almost at the same time, we’re sure prosumer camera users are planning to upgrade their cameras would have a hard time deciding which one to get. But Nikon got the edge on release date as the D90 will start shipping as early as September compared to the Canon 50D which will not be available until October. Nikon also got the edge over price as it will have a retail price of $999.95 for body only and $1,299.95 for body with the AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens.
Asus has quietly launched their latest offering, the Eee Download service, and judging from the initial support and initial response, they should have kept it a little quieter and made sure it was a little further developed before they unveiled it.
See, at first glance its a great idea, the Eee Download service offers the ability to “install software and multimedia in just one click,” which comes courtesy of the Click ‘N Run (CNR) format. If you remember back, CNR comes from Lindows Linspire fame shame, however CNR has since recently been purchased by Xandros.
So that all sounds great, Xandros owns a service and the version of Linux that is installed on the Eee PC’s is Xandros, that sounds like it should be a match made in heaven. However the purchase of CNR is a pretty recent one, and it seems that most of the software is still not actually compatible with Xandros. We can only hope that is something they are working on.
Basically this seems like a great idea, having used CNR before I can attest to its ease of use, and it typically makes Linux a little more friendly for those non-geeks that Asus is trying to attract with the Eee. Its just hard to think that Asus completely jumped the gun on this launch.
Of course keeping in mind that Xandros does make the CNR service a little more Eee-friendly, then users would have the option to (at current) 3,432 software applications and 148 audio and video files. Lets hope they get an updated version rolled out soon.
Mozilla Labs announced yesterday the release of the Initial Prototype of the latest project meant to connect the web with language - Ubiquity. From a quote on their blog, the folks over at Mozilla Labs hope to “find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily.”
Ok. So, what the heck does that mean? An example of what they are saying their program would be useful for could be this. You just snagged some concert tickets from a radio contest to a show happening tonight. Coolness. Only you haven’t been to this venue before, and neither has the friend that you’re emailing and inviting. Not so cool. Heck...you haven’t even heard of the band. Do you even know if you want to go? Is there anywhere to eat on the way? Now, normally, you’d have to be searching out the address on some mapping site, looking up the band for some info on them, copying all of this into an email (including either links or the map itself as well). Lots of typing, clicking, searching, copying, pasting, right? Well, this is some of what Ubiquity hopes to get rid of.
What they allow you to do is simply interact and tell the program what you want it to do by using language-based instructions. So, you could tell it to look up the address of Montage Mountain Toyota Pavilion, and the artist 36 Crazyfists, lookup nearby restaurants, and email the results to your buddy Jake.
Some people giving feedback on the program so far, seem to really love it. There are however those that simply don’t see it’s usefulness in the real world. And others that say all that typing is a pain in the rear. One suggestion that I saw, I thought was great. On the Mozilla Labs comment section, reader Chris Papadopoulos writes
“Say you’re reading a message board and somebody wrote, “Hey, did you guys hear that Linkin Park is playing at the Spectrum on Sept. 27th? I love that song of theirs My December. I can’t wait for that!”
Highlighting that bit of text, the system should quickly process it, and give you a menu that presents a few different options.
* a Wiki link for the music artist (the system should be intelligent enough through various grammatical cues and perhaps a quick wiki/google search) * a link to the ticket purchase site * plane tickets to Philadelphia (the system should be intelligent enough to realize that the Spectrum is in Philadelphia and you live far enough away to justify plane tickets * create a new calendar event * A Map of the region * An Email this link * A youtube link to that song’s video.
This approach is definitely not as powerful as a command-line type system, but probably much more usable for the average person.”
I definitely think that if they move it into this type of UI, it would be even more effective and more widely received by the general population. Right now, I think it’s a kind of neat program, fun to play around with, with lots of potential....but I can’t really say it’s something I’ll be adopting into my daily routine.
HTC had recently followed up the S730 with a newer model, appropriately named the S740. As you can see, it looks a lot like the Touch Pro mixed with the Touch Diamond.
It definitely has the makings of a gem with its candybar model with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It runs with Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, and has a 2.4-inch QVGA screen.
Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, GPS, 256 flash memory and 256MB of RAM. It is set up to run on WCDMA/HSDPA networks, or GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
The S740 should surface sometime next month in Europe, but there is no word on a price as yet.
Dell has announced they have two new laptops joining its Vostro series, the A860 and A840. Sporting almost the same features, the Dell Vostro A860 comes with a 15.6-inch HD LCD while the A840 has a smaller 14.1-inch WXGA LCD, both are sporting anti-glare widescreen features.
A quick rundown of the features and specifications of the basic configurations for both laptops will give us either an Ubuntu Linux or Windows Vista for OS, black color design, a built-in integrated network, modem and wireless connectivity. Bluetooth comes in as an optional connectivity feature. Both laptops also feature an integrated PC Card slot, either a single or dual core Intel Celeron or a Pentium dual core for their processors, up to 1GB of RAM, built-in optical drives, up to 160GB for the A860 and 120GB for the A840, and DVD/CD-RW combo drive or 8x DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability.
Other than those features, the Vostro A860 and A840 are pretty much your standard laptops. The Vostro A840 is supposed to come out anytime this week while the Vostro A860 will be out sometime in September. Pricing for these two laptops vary depending on their pre-configurations.
While we are still awaiting an official announcement for the upcoming BlackBerry Kickstart, it seems like the leaked images and screenshots are going to continue coming.
The latest series is a collection of screenshots from the Kickstart, which is running BlackBerry OS 4.6 and one thing is for sure, it looks like T-Mobile. The Kickstart will include BlackBerry Messenger, a new Clock application that has a very cool looking stopwatch and of course will be myFaves compatible.
As of now, the best information available still puts the Kickstart as being available sometime in October and retailing for $49.99. Of course one thing that we know for sure is that it will be exclusive with T-Mobile when launched. In the meantime continue reading to check out some more of the Kickstart screenshot images…
Panasonic has really been pulling out all the stops on their HDTV department, releasing eight new models of plasma and LCD TVs with the ZR900 and PZ800 series.
The ZR900 series come in sizes ranging from 42, 46, and 50-inch models which feature a digital TV tuner, YouTube Ready emulator, and one terabyte (121 hours worth of video footage) of internal memory.
The PZ800 series is available in 58-inch and 65-inch models. These feature a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, Network TV and 4-port HDMI connectivity, plus the Viera Link, which allows the users to monitor video surveillance cameras from the television itself.
These television sets are available at varying prices, and with the 42-inch PZR900 at about $3,800, the 46-inch model at $4,300, and the 50-inch version at $4,900. I’m not certain of the prices on the other models, but it’s pretty obvious it increases with the more inches you get.
I guess size does matter. If this is important to you, then you should know that most of these sets should be available in Japan as of now.
We first saw E-Ten announced their Glofiish X610 and V900 smartphones about six months back, however until now there has been very little in terms of details. Well it seems that E-Ten has re-announced both models however they have still not announced an exact release date, leaving it as they will be available soon.
The Glofiish X610 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE handset and features a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen display, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, FM radio, Wi-Fi and GPS. The X610 has 128MB ROM and 64MB SDRAM, will be running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and powered by a 400MHz SC3 2442 Samsung processor.
The Glofiish V900 is a little more of high-end handset as compared to the X610 and will feature a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen display, 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, FM radio, Wi-Fi and GPS. The V900 is also a TV capable handset which features a DVB-T receiver. It is powered by a 533MHz Samsung processor and offers 3G support.
Sadly, even with this latest re-announcement, E-Ten still has not announced any pricing information.
Finally, Nokia has officially announced the much talked about N-series mobile phone, N96. To be out sometime in Q4 2008, the N96, just like all the other models in the N-Series, will feature a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, integrated Wi-Fi support and aGPS. Nokia has also tied up the N96 with its own Ovi services which would allow users to enjoy mobile content such as images and videos available online. In addition, the N96 also packs in some preinstalled N-Gage games which would pretty much tease users into partaking of Nokia’s paid N-Gage gaming service. In fact, the N96 will come with vouchers to purchase the full version of the N-Gage games such as Asphalt 3: Street Rules as well as trial version of four other popular N-Gage titles.
Other features of the N96 that we haven’t mentioned before include 3G capability, support for video download services that includes those using the Windows Media format, and a built-in “kick stand” for additional viewing pleasure as it allow users to position their N96 at an optimal viewing angle while previewing video content. These are in addition to the other features of the N96 that we already know before including a 2.3-inch screen, 16MB internal memory plus a slot for memory expansion and its support for various video formats.
Contrary to previous reports that the N96 will retail for $870, it will actually have a price of $895.
In private beta testing mode since January, the England-based ProofHQ has just opened it’s program up to the the public. What makes it so appealing to so many is the obvious allowance for collaboration. ProofHQ makes this simple with the use of several formats on the web. Blogs, social media applications...users are able to comment and give feedback on a project that can be seen by anyone working on it by using embeddable objects.
There is no cost for this new personal version, unless you want to upgrade to a more advanced package that offers more storage. The free package only allows for five proofs a months (50 megabytes of storage), and the upgrades run anywhere from $29 to $99 a month. However, you can get a feel for it to see what you think by taking advantage of their 14 day free trial offer. It is both PC and Mac compatible.
The whole “cloud collaboration” idea isn’t a new one. There are several other companies out there doing much the same thing. You have for instance, Conceptshare, Octopz, Scribd, and the well known Basecamp. What is especially handy about ProofHQ is that users of Basecamp are able to integrate ProofHQ right into their Basecamp program. Or for those more familiar with Scribd, in ProofHQ, you can also embed items you need to proof right into your site and have other people leave feeback since your document lives inside an embedded file viewer that runs on Flash. When it’s time to make edits, just kick over to the full editor. One downside is that there isn’t any video conferencing or chat (like Octopz offers), but although there isn’t any real-time collaboration in these modes, changes do get shown to other viewers as soon as they are made to a project.
At this point, the biggest perks separating it from the others really are the ease of use, and the fact that you can merge it with another program you may already be using.
So it looks like our friends from the UK are not the only ones getting the two new N-Series phones - the N79 and N85. Nokia has also announced the North American versions of these two powerful mobile handsets, and while the UK versions of the N79 and N85 are more than likely to start hitting the stores this month, US stores will start getting both sometime in October.
Anyway, in addition to the features that we already know about the N85 such as a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, a 2.6-inch AMOLED display, GPS navigation, geotagging support and 28 hours of audio playback, we also know now that the N85 will support N-Gage gaming, high-speed HSDPA connectivity as well have Wi-Fi capability and a built-in FM transmitter.
While for the N79, aside from the 5-megapixel camera, dual-LED based flash, 3G connectivity, microSDHC memory card slot, Wi-Fi and GPS navigation, we also learned that it will also have a built-in FM transmitter, web browsing and 10 pre-loaded N-Gage games. In addition, a Friendster widget will also be made available for the Nokia N79 via the WidSets service. The N79 will come with five Xpress-on smart covers in five full colors - light sea blue, espresso brown, olive green, white and coral red.
Once available the Nokia N85 and N79 will retail for around $650 and $508 respectively.
Amazon just announced the acquisition of the start-up book sharing company Shelfari. They are on a roll with literary-related purchases, as just earlier this month, they bought AbeBooks, an online seller of rare and used works. Now, what makes this Shelfari purchase a tad more interesting is the fact that one of their main competitors is LibraryThing. And AbeBooks just happens to own 40% of LibraryThing. Keeping it in the family Amazon.
LibraryThing however, is not seeming to have that much respect for the Shelfari site. Just yesterday they wrote on their site that Shelfari is a “clone” and that it is “..somewhat less intellectual, less featureful”, among other zingers. And there they are practically cousins.
Others seem to have glowing praise for the stand out user interface of Shelfari, which is rather different from the same old-same old seen on many such sites. They provide what basically amounts to pop-ups within the pop-ups when you mouse-over a book...something you just rarely see done...and it actually works surprisingly well for the choices it offers you. Once you are in the menu, you are given check boxes instead of buttons, which allow for multiple selections, although again breaks standard UI “rules”. The thing is, this gadget is very intuitive while you are interacting with the book; it makes your choices simple even for the novice.
Despite the praise for the Shelfari UI, there are those out there that feel they have some less than above-board practices in other areas. Words like ”shady spamming and astroturfing” were flung out there by people commenting on the acquistion in defense of why Librarything was less than thrilled with the competition they would be getting from Shelfari.
I guess time will tell whether they will be around for a while, or shelved rather quickly.
Canon has introduced its newest digital camera line called the PowerShot E-Series. For starters, the PowerShot E-Series is getting the trendy PowerShot E1 digital camera. To be released in 3 eye-catching colors - white, blue or pink, the PowerShot E1 is geared for the teen and tween users and features an eye-candy stylish design highlighted by its rounded and curvy form factor.
But aside from its stylish form factor, the PowerShot E1 also boasts of decent camera features such as, a 10-megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom, a 4-inch LCD, optical image stabilization, face detection and 17 shooting modes including Easy Mode and Scene Mode. This camera uses AA batteries so users are pretty sure that they can always replace it anytime, anywhere.
Fortunately for parents, they don’t have to worry spending too much of their budget as it will retail for $199.99, except the PowerShot E1 to hit the market sometime in September.
Mystery has surrounded the whole HTC Dream G1 launch from T-Mobile since word broke about the Android-powered Dream. There has been speculation running rampant about what the first Android headset is going to look like. Websites had mock-ups showing different views of what people thought it might be. There was even a video. Well, apparently, there have been photos leaked “from a trusted source” of what the G1 is going to look like...and there are a few things people didn’t see coming.
One difference you see right away is the tilt at the bottom of the handset by the trackball. And from reader feedback so far across the “Net...many do not seem to be loving this little feature. Concerns were raised of would it poke out in the pocket carrying it, or as simple as it just doesn’t look good. Lots of people seemed to like the QWERTY keyboard, with the buttons not all jammed together. When you flip it over, you can see they are apparently using brand recognition to try to help sell the handset, since they have “With Google” splashed on it. Personally...I don’t know how much the name “Google” is gonna help them right now, but that’s besides the point.
There have been all kinds of dates tossed around. Right now it seems that with an official launch date of October 13th, T-Mobile will also begin taking pre-orders at an exclusive online site from existing customers only on October 17th. Only post-paid customers can pre-order. If you are a FlexPay, PreyPay or a T-Mobile Employee, you have to wait for the Dream to go to general availability. Looks like two-year contracts will be necessary, and the pre-order price is $199 after an instant rebate. You also need a GMail account to set up your G1.
Available in black, white or brown, the phone comes with the following features:
Touch Screen
Full Qwerty keyboard
3G/ WiFi
Full HTML internet capabilities
Easy access to all Google applications (Gmail, Gtalk, search)
Maps (presumably GPS..although their website somehow omits this)
Street view
You Tube
Phone
IM/Text
Email
Camera 3.0mp
Video (playback only, no recording)
Music player & 1GB memory card pre-loaded
Applications, all available in Google marketplace (icon on the homescreen)
Guess we’ll see if it’s worth all the hype when it hits the market. Whaddya think? Worth the price, bottom tilt and all?
Canon’s two latest models from its budget-friendly A-Series digital cameras are definitely something to look forward to when they are released sometime in September. These cameras are the PowerShot A1000 IS and PowerShot A2000 IS. Finally, Canon has decided to do away with the bulky and heavy form factor of its old A-Series cameras and decided to make their new generation slimmer, lighter and more compact. Canon has even throw in a very powerful feature which is the ultra-zoom optical range.
Features common to both the A1000 IS and A2000 IS are their 10-megapixel resolution sensor and the presence of the DIGIC III Image Processor plus the A1000 IS gets a 4x optical zoom while the A2000 IS gets a higher 6x optical zoom. Both models are also equipped with an optical image stabilization lens and high ISO Auto sensitivity.
For other features, we are looking at a 2.5-inch LCD for the A1000 IS and 3-inch LCD for the A2000 IS. The digital cameras also feature an optical viewer, face detection, Easy Mode and Easy Playback modes, print/share button for direct printing and downloading, ID Photo Print and Movie Print as well, motion detection automatic red eye correction.
Canon has announced two new simple-to-use printers, the PIXMA iP4600 and PIXMA iP3600. Both printers, aside from boasting of easy-to-use software also feature individual ink tanks and fast print speeds that are capable of delivering high-quality photo prints and documents. They are both bundled with ChromaLife100+ ink set and Easy-PhotoPrint EX software. The photo editing software comes with Canon’s Auto Photo Fix for a quick way to make photos look better when printed. The iP4600 is capable of printing a 4x6 inch lab quality and borderless photos in 20 seconds while the iP3600 can do the same in 41 seconds.
For their other features, both printers offer a maximum color resolution of 9600 x 2400 dpi and have Canon’s FINE print head technology. In addition, the iP4600 comes with a built-in automatic duplexer to let users print double-sided documents easily and two paper trays for holding around 300 pages of paper. For its part the iP3600 comes with a Smart LED equipped individual ink tanks and dual paper paths. For their printing speeds, the iP4600 can max out 26ppm for black and 21ppm for color printing. The iP3600 gives out a good 26ppm black and 17ppm color printing speeds.
The PIXMA iP4600 retails for $99.99 and the iP3600 will burn $79.99 off your budget.
As our Doug Berger posted on earlier this month, presidential candidate Barack Obama offered to send you a text message with his VP choice. You’d be among the first to know, as Obama was leaking this info to you first, instead of the talking heads over at CNN and the like. 
