Devices Gadgets

Posted Mar 31st 2008 4:21PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Displays It looks like Hitachi is aiming to give those normally confined to XGA projectors a bit of a boost, with its new CPX3 model not only boasting a slightly more home theater friendly WXGA (1280 x 800) resolution, but some short-throw capabilities as well. Exactly how short that throw is isn’t clear, however, with Hitachi only going so far as to describe the projector as boasting a wide-angle lens that’ll let you use it “close to the screen with no obstructions.” Apart from that, the 3.9-pound projector is fairly standard fare, with it packing 2,000 lumens of brightness, HDMI input, and a built-in 1 watt speaker, along with some security measures sure to please more business-minded types. While there doesn’t appear to be any official word on a price from Hitachi, a couple of retailers seem to already be selling it for around $1,000.

Verizon Wireless subscribers are now the latest to officially be able to access MySpace Mobile. To connect, users simply need to tap the connect category on the Mobile Web 2.0 screen and then tap the MySpace category, and they will be brought to the MySpace Mobile web site.

With MySpace Mobile on their phones, Verizon Wireless users who also have a MySpace account can now perform various MySpace activities right on their mobile phones. MySpace users will be able to edit their profiles, view and add friends, view photo albums, post comments and blogs, as well as send and receive MySpace messages.

To access MySpace Mobile, users don’t have to call Verizon Wireless support anymore, all they have to do is to register for Mobile Web 2.0 on their mobile phones. This can be done by visiting the News and Info category under the Get it Now menu in the Mobile Web 2.0 portal. Even sweeter is that the use of MySpace Mobile has no additional charges for V CAST VPak subscribers, because they already have Unlimited Mobile Web 2.0 as part of the $15 monthly fee. Users without the Unlimited Mobile Web 2.0 service can also access MySpace Mobile but will incur usage charges of $1.99 per megabyte, so better limit the time connected with your ‘friends’ or you may just go broke.

Via [SlashPhone]

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The official specs for the LG Vu are in and it seems the recent speculation about two versions was correct. The Vu will be available as the CU920 with TV support and the CU915 without TV support. Both models will, of course, feature the large 3-inch WQVGA 262K color touchscreen.

Other features that are shared between both models is 3G support, a 2-megapixel camera and HTML web browser. The Vu has just 120MB of internal memory, but also has a microSD slot with support for up to 4GB of additional storage. The Vu measures in at 4.25 x 2.16 x 0.51-inches and weighs just 3.16-ounces. The included 1000mAh battery is stated to give up to 3-hours of talk time.

Although it has not been officially confirmed, an announcement is expected to come very shortly, perhaps during CTIA which runs April 1-3, 2008.

Via [IntoMobile]

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LG have announced their new external Blu-ray rewriter and HD DVD-ROM drive, the LG BE06LU10. It has the ability to both read and write Blu-ray and also read HD DVD at 6x speed. The LG BE06LU10 offers a quick and easy way to add a permanent or portable HD drive to your computer.

Its great to see a drive which supports the reading of both HD formats, and also provides great storage options with being able to write / burn to Blu-ray discs at a speedy 6x. So with the LG BE06LU10 you will be able to play back and watch both blu-ray and HD-DVDs and also have the ability to burn blu-ray discs for a huge 50GB of storage, thats enough space for over 11,000 MP3s.

The external BE06LU10 uses a simple USB 2.0 connector and offers similar specifications as the recently launched (Internal) LG GGW-H20L.  The LG BE06LU10 is avaliable now for around £260. Check below for current prices.

LG BE06LU10 specifications:
Write

• BD-R(SL/DL): 6X/4X
• BD-RE(SL/DL): 2X
• DVD+R/R DL: 16X/4X
• DVD+RW/-RW: 8X/6X
• CD-R/RW: 40X/24X

Read

• BD-R/RO(SL): 6X
• BD-R/ROM(DL): 4.8X
• BD-RE(SL/DL): 2X
• HD DVD-ROM(SL/DL): 3X
• DVD-ROM(SL): 16X
• CD-ROM: 40X

Motorola has been working on a 5 megapixel camera phone in collaboration with Kodak for what seems like years. Finally, the partnership might be about to bear fruit with the launch of the new Motorola Zine ZN5 camera phone at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas tomorrow.

The Zine will be the first phone released since Motorola split itself in two in an attempt to stop the company’s mobile phone division slipping even further into the red. This won’t make the Zine any good, though, as it still comes from a company whose last innovation was to paint the RAZR pink and sell it as a new phone!

More pics and derision after the jump.

Indeed, you get a sense of how bad the new Zine will be when you read that it looks like the ROKR E8 (see the above pic - it’s the phone on the left), which didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and despite having a 5 megapixel camera (which will therefore lead to some pretty huge files), will only come with EDGE connectivity. Yup, that’s right - not even 3G let alone HSDPA, just super-slow EDGE, which gives data transfer speeds not all that dissimilar to ye olde dial-up!

So, prepare for a lot of Motorola hype tomorrow when CTIA Vegas opens its doors, but expect to be sorely disappointed. Motorola’s mobile handset division is in deep trouble at the moment because it failed to compete in terms of style, features, marketing and any kind of understanding of what the consumer actually wants; don’t expect all that to change just because the company has spun off its mobile handset division.

[Source: UnwiredView]

Posted Mar 31st 2008 4:53PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Misc. gadgetsIt looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they’ve developed a “near real-time” 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with “millimeter accuracy.” All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it’d be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4×4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn’t just setting its sights to military applications, with it also touting Masthead’s potential benefits for police forces in planning security measures for large events, to name one example.

[Via Physorg]

In a move that’s stunned the market, Nokia has made an agressive bid for Apple for a whopping $159 billion. Alarmed by the rise of the iPhone, which is set to net Apple $3 billion this year and up to $45 billion next year according to market analyst Piper Jaffray, the giant Finnish phone maker has decided its best option is to buy Apple outright in a deal that makes Microsoft’s bid of $44 billion for Yahoo! seem like chicken feed. According to reports, Nokia intends to spin off Apple’s existing computer business, but keep its successful music and phone divisions. The plan is to ultimately incorporate iPod and iPhone technology, the iTunes service, and Nokia’s famed high-end mobile phones into one super-phone that will single-handedly challenge the mobile phone market, mobile music market and the GPS market all at once. An insider at Nokia says the new super-phone, called the N-iPple, will feature the same user interface as the iPhone, together with many of the high tech innovations that Nokia’s N-Series is famed for. The insider claims the list will include: HSDPA aGPS 7 megapixel camera with auto-focus DVD quality 60fps video recording (similar to the LG Viewty’s)

Photoshop Express recently attracted my attention and I signed up. This was a very easy and short process. Include me in that group of digital photo snapping and sharing fanatics. Sharing photos has become the easy part - choosing where to share them is - well, not so easy. Researching the numerous photo sharing sites available on the internet is very time consuming.

Competition is rampant among these photo hosting sites. Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly and Picasa are just a few popular drops in the bucket. I wish that there was a giant list of options that could be checked off that would lead to the perfect site for me. My requirements may not be the same as yours but here goes.

I’d rather not pay a subscription fee. Most photo sharing sites offer free albums but extra features will initiate a fee. Editing abilities and uploads to my blogs as well as other sites are huge time savers. For example, photos in Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa can be edited through Photoshop Express. Viewing options for my visitors are also important to me. Whether viewing as a private visitor or as a public viewer, slideshows and videos are fun. 

So, what else does Photoshop Express offer you and me? It may not mean a lot to some but the Flash Player 9 required to run Photoshop Express gives a smooth and good looking page. There are not an over abundance of features that confuse someone just getting started - but the quality of the features keep more experienced users happy. I can choose to display all or some of my photos to the public or to keep all or some of them private. Overall I like Photoshop Express.

Menus are not hard to navigate and some editing can be accomplished by simply placing your mouse over a photo. With a simple click on the photo you will see a long list including options from editing to emailing. Small editing projects are also possible. You can touch up areas that you don’t like such red-eye or a blemish. Change the overall hue of the photo, change areas to another color or change it to black and white. Editing should not scare anyone since the separate thumbnails will show the result of any changes made and you can always return to your original photo. My tip here is to give your changes a second or two to finish. At first I thought that I was doing something wrong and then realized that the screen was telling me that Photoshop Express was “working” and to give it a rest already.

Photoshop Express fills many of my requests. It is still in beta so maybe I will tell them about options that appeal to me. One thing I noticed is that when I upload a photo I am shown the size and date of the photo. Although I can resize it I would rather be able to specify the size rather than to choose a preset adjustment. I like to highlight particular areas of a photo with my choice of colors. I had great luck changing the colors of the screen of my cell phone but not so much with wings of a butterfly. The “Pop Color” feature could be a bit easier to use in my opinion.

Product [Adobe Photoshop Express]

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I’m the kind of guy that loves customizing his computer. No boring beige box and single monitor for me. I’ve got a nice window in the side of the case to show off my awesome hardware and liquid cooling system. The two wall-mounted LCDs help me stand out a bit too. However, one thing I haven’t really thought about is customizing my keyboard. Sure, I can program a few function keys to my liking, but nothing like this DX1 keyboard.

The DX1 is about as customizable as you can get. While it has only 25 keys, it’s not really meant for typing, but rather as a tool to aid you in whatever line of work (or play) you’re doing. Each key can be placed anywhere on the board, and moved on a whim. You’re welcome to assign shortcuts and macros to each key, however, you don’t need to worry about how it interacts with multiple programs as it will remember your preferences for each. This customizable keyboard will set you back more than most, at $139 it is a bit salty, but would be well worth it to some.

Source: UberReview

There is a new Suunto Core watch in town, and this one, like its predecessors, cater to folk who love the great outdoors, especially climbers, mountain bikers and other adventure sports enthusiasts. It allows you to track both your altitude and bearings while being smart enough to alert you of oncoming storms so you won’t be caught unawares. All this is made possible by Suunto’s own ‘ABC functionality’ mantra that includes an altimeter, barometer and compass. The compass itself is electronic, so there will be less chances of it malfunctioning compared to a standard model. The new Suunto Core watch comes in a choice of half a dozen colors and has different straps to choose from.

Press Release