Wow, HP's iPods really are different looking aren't they? Well, no... well, yes, if you count printing off "tattoos" and sticking them on as different. But otherwise, no, the HP iPods aren't blue or anything else fancy - just the plain ol' white iPods everybody else can get.
HP did announce a whole mess of new equipment today, though, including a $5,000 plasma display, a home theater projector with a built-in DVD player, and a new 14-inch widescreen home theater laptop - yes, laptop, with lots of "for couples" features like dual-headphone outs. How romantic!
ChaitGear has a nice round up of all the new HP stuff if you'd like to get a little more in depth. Or, you can always go around HP's way, too.
Read - HP Unveils Fall CE Lineup [Chait]
Read - HP Digital Experience Launch Press Page [HP]
Griffin is selling a set of snap-on covers for the iPod's trademark white earbuds called the 'EarJams,' that convert the headphones into in-ear versions. And although they come with three different sized plugs and a carrying case, pricing them at $20 seems like it might just be expensive enough to encourage people to look for a new set of headphones. I guess Griffin is counting on the cachet of the white earbuds to carry the day (never mind that you can get a set of white Sony in-ears for like $40).
Read - Product Page [GriffinTechnology]
Here's one phone we didn't get in the states you can be happy about. Apparently the Siemens M65 is being recalled in Europe due to the fact it plays a potentially ear-damaging tone as it shuts off due to a low battery, even if you're in the middle of a call.
At least that's what I'm told this article says. I can't read German and Babelfish doesn't believe me when I tell it that commas can exist in URLs. (Thanks, Thorsten!)
Read - Siemens blamiert sich mit Pannenmodell [SpiegelDE]
Thanks for all the well wishing, guys. I think it's the first time I've ever gotten a "get well soon" card that used the term "shitload."
But I can't sit eating crackers all morning, so you guys get some news. How about this picture of what may be the iMac G5? A faithful reader sent in this pic with the story that it was surreptitiously snapped in an elevator at Charles de Gualle. If I weren't feeling crappy, this would be the part where I make a joke about Apple and unsecured AirPorts.
Related
This Last Hour In iMac [Gizmodo]
Apple Plays Nice, Announces New iMac Early; Details Slim [Gizmodo]
iMac G5, or the G5 Mini [Gizmodo]
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My insides are becoming my outsides. I'll try to get something going here in a bit.
And there you have it - the first pictures of the upcoming Treo 650. More pics to come. Can you say Bluetooth and new backlit keyboard? (Thanks, Michael!)
Read - TREO ACE/650 CRITICAL INFO [TreoCentral]
Update: More pictures after the jump. Looks like no Treo 600 peripherals will work with the 650, either. Somehow I think we'll manage. Oh hey, removable battery, too.
[MORE]
Ever since Apple came out with its iFruit (otherwise known as the iMac), designers have been grooving off Apple's color palette. The iMac girl was among the first, a selection of curvaceous and scantily clad anime chicklets in your choice of iFruit colors. Many a night have I stayed up restlessly wishing I could have one of them for my very own. Or one of their costumes, come to think of it.
Now, the iPod Mini has kicked off a new round of third-party products aimed to emulate the designs blessed by the sainted Steve Jobs himself. The sex toy industry is no exception, although they seem to be a bit behind the times. Manufacturer Doc Johnson's iPlug -- a vibratin', gyratin', stylin' butt plug -- comes in your choice of iFruit matching colors. Maybe in a year or two, when the industry gets its head (or something else) out of its butt, we'll see sex toys that match the iPod Mini. The Audi-Oh vibrator, which vibrates according to whatever sound it's exposed to, comes to mind as an excellent candidate.
In the meantime, those of you with fantasies involving iMac girls with coordinating alien probes: your kink is okay. We just don't want to hear about it.
Read - Product Page (No Nudity) [Sediva]
Read - iMac Girl [ToyBoxArts]
Read - Audio Oh Product Page (No Nudity) [Blowfish]
There are very few times that I wish I had a printer, but this is one of them. Paperformers combines paper models, pixel art, and Transformers to create tiny, paste-together bots that actually transform (albeit not in an overly fancy manner). Available in PDFs for easy printing, the site's creator has something like sixty different designs, all free, and all ready for some ink jet lovin'. (Thanks, Ryan!)
Read - Project Page [ProtoformProject]
Related
Future Fantasy Gadget: Soundwave MP3 Player [Gizmodo]
Breakdancing Transformers Video [Gizmodo]
CNet has reviewed the Archos Gmini400, confirming my suspicions that it is indeed scientifically awesome. Sure it has some downsides, like a less-than-intuitive interface and no ability to multitask, but a 20GB player the size of the iPod with the ability to play back video and an integrated CompactFlash slot? What's not to love?
Okay, maybe the sort of crappy battery is not to love, but I kind suspect that CNet flubbed the numbers when they said 10 hours of video and 5 hours of audio playback. I'm hoping they meant 10 and 15. And for once the video is worth watching, if only to watch James Kim spin it around in his hands. (Thanks, Old!)
Read - Archos Gmini400 [CNet]
Related
Archos Gmini 400: Everything But A Price [Gizmodo]
Archos Gmini 400: First Picture, Specs [Gizmodo]
Archos Gmini 400 [Gizmodo]
Update: The Archos site says 5 hours for video, 10 hours for audio. Could be, should be better, but still hot.
Read - Product Page [Archos]
There's a really easy way to tell if you'd be interested in the JetAudio iAudio M3. If you like in-line remotes, give it a shot. If you can't stand them - and I know there are some of you out there - don't bother.
The iAudio makes a claim to be the World's Smallest 20GB hard disk-based music player (there's a 40GB version now, too) and it clearly is, as long as you ignore the inline remote, where the engineers have offloaded the LCD screen and most of the controls. It's not a bad gimmick, really, and for somebody that uses in-line remote (I happen to love them), it really makes a lot of sense. In fact, if there are any serious failings of the iAudio M3, it's in the controls and software, not the atypical form factor.
I write more words about the M3 after the jump.
[MORE]
Over 200 of the patrol officers bussed in as part of the Department of Homeland Security's ramp up to the Republican National Convention will be equipped with wirelessly networked helmet cameras. Each of the helmet cams will broadcast back to a central control room where officials will be able to monitor and compile a bigger picture of what exactly is being seen by the security officers.
The units don't use Wi-Fi, though, so cracking the system used by the security forces might be a little difficult (if that's your thing). Instead, the camera uploads via satellite, which then travels back to the central booth via an encrypted internet stream.
Wouldn't it be great if the public could see those streams, too? Maybe one of the hacker groups will cobble together a free network equivalent.
Read - Helmet cams will eye GOP confab [NYNewsday via LostRemote]
So because I keep forgetting our sponsors, which really is an awful thing of me to do, I'm going to avoid putting them off and give them a quick shout out now. If you'd like to become part of our crack team of sponsors - and I use the term 'crack' liberally, here - we have a fancy internet page and everything.
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Trusted Reviews has taken the MSI Mega 516BT Bluetooth flash player out for a spin, yet despite a load of improvements over the previous models, like the addition of an SD/MMC expansion slot and the hard-to-miss Bluetooth, they still find it to be overall a dud. It's not that the potential isn't there. When it works, features like the ability to record calls into the player while using it as a Bluetooth headset are pretty great, but an uneven user interface and spotty success with some of the phones they tested it with make it look as if this player might be one to pass over unless you're in dire need of the handful of unique features it offers.
Wireless in music players isn't a bad idea. Why, according to The Register, even Apple thinks so.
Read - MSI MEGA 516BT - Bluetooth MP3 Player [TrustedReviews]
Read - Apple iPod team seeks Wi-Fi engineer [TheRegisterUK]
It's far from being the world's smallest desktop PC, but I do think it's interesting to see what IBM cooks up when it designs a PC for the Japanese market. Here it is (again) - the ThinkCentre S50, which despite being powered by only four tennis balls, manages to eke out speeds mysteriously close to a 3.2GHz Pentium 4.
And that's it, really, just a tiny PC with not much in the way of an upgrade path (single PCI slot, and you'll be glad to have it, you ungrateful wretches), all crammed into a box with a footprint smaller than an A4-sized notebook (which I presume is larger than an A4-sized piece of paper, but then again, I'm American, and we use God's Own Imperial Paper Sizes).
Unless they were saying that it's smaller than an Audi A4. I'd definitely buy that.
Read - TBM preps sub-notebook desktop PC [ElReg]
Related
IBM ThinkCentre S50 Ultra Small Desktop PC [Gizmodo]
Holy shit.
I can only imagine the scene at the New York Times a few days ago, as a team of Circuits section editors gathered around a table in a room lit by only a single lamp, shining down at the stupefying gadget known as... iPod.
Beads of sweat gathered on the brows and backfat of each one as they gazed unflinchingly at the white devil, unable to unlock its hermetic secrets; a group of men and women - elevated masters of the occult tradition of tech journalism - their minds broken and laid bare on the tiny aluminum altar that Apple had raised in their midst.
An intern slammed open the door, his silhouette framed by the light from the rest of the Gray Lady's offices, pushing a wave of nauseating synchronicity with the iPod's famous ad campaign into the room.
"Sirs, I've got dozens of great leads about technology being used during the upcoming Republican National..." He was silenced by an upturned palm from the Arch-Editor.
"You fool," gasped the AE, as he fell to one knee, black fluid running from his ears, "Have you not heard? This iPod can play music... at random."
Read - Tunes, a Hard Drive and (Just Maybe) a Brain [NYTimes]
Related
Circuits Discovers USB [Gizmodo]
Circuits Discovers MusicPad [Gizmodo]
Circuits Discovers Dodgeball [Gizmodo]
Related
NYT' Exposes The Elusive iPod [Gawker]
PhoneMag is reporting that Nokia's scaled-down Communicator 9300 will be unveiled in New York on September 8th. The 9300's big brother, the 9500, has many of the features the 9300 will forgo, like Wi-Fi and integrated camera, but don't let that fool you into thinking it'll be cheap. Nokia's Svenska Dagbladet (!) has been quoted as saying the 9300 will sell for around $860.
It's sounding as if the 9500 and 9300 will be launched at the same time, although I don't know if that means September or way later. The release date on the 9500 is stil "Q4."
Read - Nokia 9300 soon to unveil in New York on September 8 [PhoneMag]
A couple of my delicious Swede readers have informed me that "Svenska Dagbladet" is not a person, but a newspaper, which is awesome, because I had planned on choosing that name for my firstborn, and now I know it isn't taken! Thanks, Emil and Roger!
Read - Nokia överraskar med datorlik mobil [SvdSE]
If there is a sexier term in the world than "neck ring designed to withstand multiple cycles in an autoclave," then I don't know want to hear it. This Amron Oxygen Treatment Hood even has an optional "pneumatic entertainment system" that allows the wearer to listen to monaural music or video sources "in complete comfort." Take the fun of hyperbaric treatment anywhere you go! (Thanks, Enlarged Ponies!)
Read - Product Page [AmronIntl]
Ego Systems has announced the release of a new digital audio amplifier that, instead of sitting outboard like most ampls, rests in a conventional PCI slot. This ~$130 USD card, which can output 500mW to headphones (which a goon informed me isn't that great, but sounds pretty good to me), and 25W to each speaker channel. But alas, the PCI bus alone is not enough to power something like this - you'll need it to connect one of those plugs in your case (you know, the ones that you plug into a hard drive - Molex, like your watch).
I've become a big proponent of amplified headphones of late, if not, obviously, an expert. I wonder, though, if Ego Systems uses a different audio profile for the headphone out and the speaker outs. What does that mean? I'm not sure; I'm just sort of making up terms as I go.
Read - Press Release [Ego Systems]
When I first saw "Canon" in this press release, I expected some sort of new printer or scanner, naturally. But no, it's one of these USB keypad things - they're of particular use for people on laptops who miss the conventional 10-key of a full sized keyboard, and I'm sort of in love with them.
Canon has, for "the first time in the world," integrated a 10-key keypad, USB 2.0 hub, and calculator into one device. Judging by the solar cell pictured on the calculator, I'm going to go ahead and assume you can disconnect the thing and still use it as a normal calculator. As is often the case, though, convenience isn't cheap - nearly $85 USD. For that much, you could buy more than 200 frozen burritos, or 6 unfrozen ones.
Read - Press Release [Canon]
NetStreams has a new version of their Musica Keypad coming out, this time adding in a built-in FM tuner. The Musica systems are pretty slick, basically working as physical front ends - sort of like musical light switches - to a networked audio streaming device that can broadcast up to four different streams at a time over regular Cat-5e networking cable. The Musica plates even do smart things like recognize doorbells or incoming telephone calls (through a microphone, presumably) and quietly mute the volume of the streaming music and then ramp it back up 30 seconds later.
Each Musica panel can (and should) connect to its own set of speakers, and can receive an additional input per-panel, so you could plug in the inputs of something like a TV or videogame unit.
As is common with higher-end integrated systems, though, they don't mention the price. I found a used two-room system on eBay for around $2,000, though, so that should give you some indication.
Read - Home Page [Netstreams]
Say, that is a lot of cameras. This "Olympic Game" must be pretty popular.
Read - Photo Gallery by Vincent Thian [PBase via BoingBoing]
Related
AT&:T Wireless Gets Olympic Samsung e316 [Gizmodo]
Samsung's Olympic Gold Phones [Gizmodo]
Samsung's Heart Swelling Olympic Reminder [Gizmodo]
Liam the Intern writes: According to the results of a study released by Nomura Research Institute in Japan on the 24th, there are 2,850,000 people considered "otaku" in Japan, with a combined market power of around $2.6 billion.
"Hey, bitchin," will probably be the response of many anime fans here in the USA who call themselves "otaku" as though it were something good, despite sometimes less-than-favorable connotation. In Japan, however, "otaku" is by no means a badge worn proudly by fans who suffer the consequences of being dubbed "maniacs," as the Japanese put it. "Otaku" can also mean "my house," but hey, that's completely off the subject.
NRI broke down the term "otaku" into five different categories - anime, idols, comics, games, and PC assembly. I've created a handy dandy pie chart above that outlines the distribution for your convenience, but mostly to justify that damn freshman Management Science class I had to take.
Read - Press Release [NRI]
Japan's Matsushita Corporation announced today that they will be releasing the "SJ-MJ59" MiniDisc player under the Panasonic brand come October 1st. Since you can't just go and release a normal product these days (and expect to make a profit), this time's cheesy "MD players are going out of style in our own country, we need to get people's mind off the iPod" gimmick is light-up speakers on the cradle.
Not stopping at speakers that light up, though, because god knows that's been done before, Matsushita went and developed the world's first transparent light up speakers. Basically, they just took out the oscillation board of the speaker and put some air in airtight ("airtyte") casing, and named it the "AIR DRIVE."
Read - Press Release [Panasonic]
TIME reviews CVS's new "disposable" digital cameras, the $20 system where you basically rent a camera, take up to 25 pictures (deleting out the bad ones), and return it to CVS, who provides you with prints plus a CD for permanent storage. They were pretty pleased with the overall quality, and I can't find any issue with their main complaint - that 25 pictures isn't quite enough for $20, and that maybe twice that would be better. It would cost just a few more dollars to double the camera's capacity, and doubling the number of prints should be negligible.
I'm proud of CVS. Between this and the cameraphone print-outs, they're really doing their best to move a dying film industry into the future.
Plus they are named "CVS" and have a slash in their logo. I've always suspected there was some serious geekery happening behind the scenes there.
Read - CVS Digital One-Time-Use Camera [Time]
Related
CVS Checks Out Cameraphone Printing [Gizmodo]
Alcoa has teamed up with Pittsburgh Brewing Company to produce and package Iron City beer in a new aluminum bottle. They're pushing it as "unbreakable," which is certainly true compared to glass, and harping on its ability to keep a beer cooled for up to an hour longer than traditional bottles - all for only about $1 more per case. In addition, the new bottles are resealable, so if you want to enjoy that flat beer in sips throughout the week, now you've got the technology.
Aluminum bottles aren't new, exactly - the Japanese have sold metal bottles of hot coffee, I'm told - but it is the first major regional brewery to make the transition. I wouldn't expect most beers to move to the new bottles, though, simply because the various colors and shapes of glass bottles are as much a part of the brands as the beer itself. But if Iron City sales go up markedly, I wouldn't be surprised to see BUD STEEL in the near future. (Thanks, Travis and Jeffrey!)
Read - Iron City Home Page [PittsburgBrewingCo]
Read - Press Release [Alcoa via Travis.Servebeer]]
Read - Beer in Aluminum Bottles on the Way [AP (Yahoo)]
If the d_skin Protective Disc Skins work as advertised, they look like an indispensable product. The idea is simple: the d_skins are clear, thin discs that clip onto the outside of CDs and DVDs with a "Liplock Seal," guarding them against oil smudges, stains, and scratches. The cool part, though, is that you don't have to remove the d_skin to play the disc in an optical drive, meaning you can abuse the disc as much as little as you like, and it will remain readable. If the d_skin gets screwed up, it's a simple fix - just throw away the old one and put on the new one.
My only issue is price, because I'm a penny pinching bastard, and because I tend to think of things in all-or-nothing terms. Right now the MSRP is $6 for 5, which isn't horrible, but still a little too expensive to use on all of my discs. I'd like to be able to buy 50 at a time for less than $20, and then treat them like the little data condoms they are.
There's only one review online that I see that's worth a damn - it's on UGO, though, so when I say that I mean "appears to be in English" - but they say they work, and that's all I need to know.
Read - d_skin review [UGO]
Read - Home Page [d-skin]
HP Korea has officially announced the rw6100, a no-holds-barred - wait, that's stupid - a really nice slider phone with almost every cutting edge feature you could possibly want, including a 1.1-megapixel camera, high-speed EV-DO cellular networking, Wi-Fi, and a 520MHz processor. But if as you are reading the specs, seeing almost everything you could possibly want in a smartphone being listed, a cold tingling sensation starts to melt up your spine, you are probably some sort of gadget telepath, or at least sufficiently pessimistic - HP has absolutely no plans to offer the rw6100 anywhere outside of Korea.
But hey, it doesn't have Bluetooth, so maybe that's some consolation, right?
There's no reason to be ashamed. I'm crying a little, too.
Read - Product Page (Korean) [iPaqKR via iPaqAbilities]
Read - Press Release (Korean) [HP]
So Sony revealed a bunch of nerdy details about its upcoming handheld PSP gaming system yesterday, and while there's plenty of stuff to chew on in there if you want to try to figure out exactly how powerful the PSP will be (rough estimate: in the Playstation 2 neighborhood), the most important bit for most people are rumors that the PSP might not make it out in the States until June. Sony, however, is still on point saying the PSP will ship in the U.S. in "early 2005."
Read - Sony Details PSP Chip Specs [ExtremeTech via PSPRumors]
Read - Sony reveals some specs for PSP handheld [ZDNet]
Related
More Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Information at Austin Game Conference [Gizmodo]
Sony Considering PSP, Cellphone Hybrid [Gizmodo]
Analysts Cautious About Sony's PSP Success [Gizmodo]
Sony's PSP: Available in Black, Black, and Black [Gizmodo]
Sony PSP Accessories, Entertainment-Assisted Cyborgs [Gizmodo]
We're getting ripped off, people. You can get Om Malik all over the place, magazines and the like, but when you head over to GigaOm it's only reasonable to expect maximum Om. I mean, it's in the goddamn name.
So who's this Matt Maier and why is he writing perfectly capable reviews on GigaOm, like this one about Samsung's A790 CDMA/GSM phone? Sure, I wanted to know what kind of performance to expect out of the first global-roaming CDMA phone (it uses CDMA here, and GSM overseas, albeit at a $1 a minute roaming charges), but how can I possibly accept his explanations of the A790's poor battery life when I know that out there somewhere, somebody is getting more Om than me? In fact, by reading Matt's article on GigaOm, aren't we actually losing potential Om time?
I demand a refund.
Read - Samsung SCH-A790 Review [GigaOM <- see?]
I keep a close eye on personal cooling technologies, because I have become over the last few years, sort of as a hobby, a real fatass. And while New York has had a mild summer all around, I still seem to be the only one who is standing in the humid subway stations, soaking in sweat; the single sloppy, dripping loser amongst an army of perfectly coiffed, impossibly thin hipsters.
But as much as I'd like to remain cool, I don't think I'll be wearing anything like Hammacher Schlemmer's Personal Portable Misting System, even if it does claim to lower temperatures by 30 degrees. Perpetually walking through a mist of water sounds sort of pleasant, but I can cover myself in liquid just fine via a variety of all-natural methods.
The best bet for me is likely to continue my atypical hibernation throughout the rest of our cruel sun's season, building cities from donuts and bacon. When the winter comes, I will rule over this land of coked-out, shivering hipsters.
Read - Catalog Page [Hammacher via GadgetryBlog]
There's an old saying in the journalism business: "Poop stories come in twos." So when I saw on BoingBoing that someone had compiled a story on the wide range of toilet paper roll holders, I immediately checked my email, where I was pleased to find this little nugget from Jeff Palylyk. Radio Shack Canada is selling this toilet tissue holder with built-in AM/FM radio, which even has a Help Alarm Siren for "bathroom emergencies."
It's like laptops and Wi-Fi never happened.
Read - Catalog Page [RadioShackCA]
Read - Toilet Paper Roll Holders for Fashionistas [DevCabal via BoingBoing]
Casio has announced five new cameras today, ranging from the slim Casio Exilim Card EX-S100 with a 3.2-megapixel sensor, up to the Casio Exilim Pro EX-P700 [pictured], a 7.2-megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom and something called "Business Shot," which is sort of post-processing "image straightener." Digital Photography Blog has a good round up of all the models being released - most of them are set to hit in October.
Darren also has some information on two new Pentax cameras being released soon, too, one of which - the Pentax Optio X - looks pretty killer.
Read - Front Page [LivingroomAU]
Ah, sweet slumber. This morning I was your naughty plaything. I dedicate this post to you, sugar.
So you know that Nintendo DS "mystery port?" The one where I went out on a limb and seat it was for an Eyetoy-like camera? I was almost completely correct; it's for a microphone headset. See, except for the camera and the inclusion of a microphone and speakers, that's almost exactly the same.
How was this mystery unveiled? Someone looked at a picture that showed a headphone next to the port. Oops! It's too bad, too. I was looking forward to weeks of "mystery hole" headlines.
Read - Secret Hole - revealed [N64Europe]
Related
Nintendo DS Mystery Port Still Revealed, Now Acknowledged [Gizmodo]
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