Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Creative is perhaps the oft-overlooked, though seldom underrated, cousin to the iPod. After all, there was that whole nasty patent lawsuit between Apple and Creative regarding their respective MP3 players, which Apple all but lost. Regardless, I’ve found Creative’s players to be more feature-rich and groundbreaking than Apple’s.
That’s why I’m excited about the new ZEN X-Fi portable media player, which Creative just officially announced for the US today.
The ZEN X-Fi will be a continuation of Creative’s X-Fi line, with proprietary technology that makes your ripped music sound more like it should by digitally restoring the highs and lows lost during digitization and compression. Obviously this only works with lossy formats like MP3 and WMA. (more…)

Just barely a month after Sony Ericsson spawned its 8-megapixel camera phone, Samsung has followed that step with the i8510 Primera. This 8-megapixel camera phone comes fully equipped with an LED flash (not as good as xenon) and autofocus. In terms of video, the Primera will be able to record slow-motion QVGA videos at 120FPS, similar to the LG KU990 Viewty and KF750 Secret.
There’s even a rumor that Samsung is also manufacturing the camera sensor for Sony Ericsson’s C905, although this has not been confirmed yet.
Intending to trump Apple’s iPhone 3G and the Nokia N96, the Primera is loaded with the most up to date features available. Starting from your choice of 8GB or 16GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a 2.8-inch QVGA screen and A-GPS. (more…)

These tiny thumb size wind-up key chain flashlights are very useful, ecologically friendly, and just plain cute! People these days are using LEDs to do almost everything from decorating Christmas trees to spelling out words in a kids game. They’re powerful and extremely energy efficient. So efficient in fact that it makes sense to use a dynamo to run a flashlight. That’s exactly what Brando did. The flashlight, which comes in three colors, measures 4 inches at it’s longest edge.
So whether this flashlight is with you camping when the call of nature sounds or on your keyring in case the porch light goes out, any way you want to use it, it’ll never need batteries. (more…)
“Introducing Mino. Now playing: You“
Those are the words you see when you first check out Flip Video. Their Mino camcorder is tiny: 3.94” x 1.97” x 0.63” That’s approximately four inches by two inches by a half inch. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it provides you with a Camcorder, not just a camera.
Gone are the days of holding a huge bulky camera so you can shoot some video! You get an hour of high-quality video and four hours if you get the optional power adapter. (more…)

After Penryn, Intel introduced the Montevina line of processors. Samsung apparently is invited to the party, spinning out no less that four new laptops, two of which are powered by the newest Intel processor.
For the desktop replacement category, the Samsung R710 sports a 17-inch screen, a 2.53Ghz P9500 Core 2 Duo and a 512MB NVidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card and a Blu-Ray drive. It is complete with colorful casing, similar to the new Samsung LCDs. (more…)

Israeli researchers from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University predict that plastic-based transistors and organic light-emitting displays will revolutionize the electronics industry.
Flexible plastic transistors could lead to ultra thin, bendable notebooks, they say. Currently impossible with rigid silicon based transistors.
Less complex and easier to manufacture, foldable organic light emitting displays (FOLED) will provide a cheaper and more energy efficient solution than current LCD panels. (more…)

Finally a USB drive for people like me! It seems like every time I turn around I’m losing something. Now the marvelous people at Sourcing Map are offering a solution. A durable plastic USB 2.0 flash drive with 4GB of data molded into a wristband. There is no power required and it’s totally plug and play.
It only weighs a measly 17.8grams so you’ll hardly feel it on your wrist. You won’t feel the price either, at about $20 USD. (more…)

In computing there is nothing more important than having a solid backup. Hardware fails, software crashes, and we all know what it’s like to be stuck without that vital piece of information you’ve worked so hard on. Data Robotics Inc. knows this and has a great answer to this problem.
A company best known for its cutely named Drobo, Data Robotics has just unveiled its much anticipated sequel to the successful storage robot. Much of the excitement about this upgrade revolves around the addition of Firewire 800 support. Previously, the Drobo only had support for USB 2.0. With Firewire 800 comes read speeds of up to 50MB/s and write speeds of up to 35MB/s, which is a huge boon over the competition.
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Yes, that really is a computer mouse complete with scroll wheel and two buttons. Yes, that really is a rubber ducky floating in the end of it.
As you move the mouse, the little rubber ducky will splash around for your entertainment–or for the toddler on your lap that wants to play with your toys. It’s small at just 4.5-inches long so it’s perfect for a kid or a teen’s computer.
It has a fairly long cord with a USB plug and is compatible with both PCs and Macs.
It was designed in Switzerland and made in China. You can get one for yourself for only $30 USD.
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Gorilla is the name of the new GPS system from Sanyo. It has a 5.8″ touchscreen, a digital TV tuner, and an ECO driving mode similar to Digitalcube’s U7 GPS.
The name of the device is actually the NV-SD585DT. Thank heavens it has a nick name!
This GPS makes the most of the Gorilla engine as it provides a prime wide-aspect display with plenty of options for side by side viewing. There’s 3D mapping which mean when you hit an intersection you see it from the view of the driver and you’ll see the more notable buildings. Searching can be done by address and phone number. (more…)