Gadgets Blog News

by Nilay Patel, posted May 16th 2008 at 8:31PM
Dell’s plans for Alienware and the XPS line are getting a little clearer, even as rumors swirl — a post on the company’s Direct2Dell blog today says that the XPS and Alienware dev teams are going to be integrated, and that the XPS line will go in “new directions,” hinted at by the m1330 and XPS One. Furthermore, you can now buy the Area-51 m9750 gaming laptop direct from the Dell website in addition to the Area-51 m15x, which doesn’t seem all that wild to us — we’re more interested in why Dell picked the super-geeky XPS brand to be its “premium” line. (Read the full post about ‘Dell to integrate Alienware and XPS dev teams, take XPS line in “new directions”’…)

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It looks like June is going to be another big month for the ultra-mobile PC market. In addition to the MSI Wind dropping on June 3, we will also be getting the Eee PC 901. The Eee PC 901 will retain most of the same styling and features as the 900, except the 901 will feature an Intel Atom processor, built-in Bluetooth and have some metal allow parts added to the keyboard and hinge. The touchpad will also receive a metallic border. It was also confirmed, as we noted from the last images that the 901 will loss the Asus logo in favor of an Eee logo. DigiTimes is also reporting that the notebook will be “at a price below” $650. Which would mean its pretty safe to say that it will retail for $649.99. (Read the full post about ‘Asus Eee PC 901 gets priced, official availability date’…)

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While we have already seen the blackberry Bold announced as a soon-to-be AT&T and Rogers handset, up till now we just knew that the Bold would be available “beginning this summer.” It seems the answer to the release date as well as some other interesting tidbits have just been leaked. While the Rogers release date is still unclear, we can tell you that AT&T will make it available in July for $300. However, in a little more interesting news it seems that the Bold is also headed for T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint just a few months later. They are all set to offer up the Bold beginning in September. Verizon and Sprint customers will have to shell out the same $300 as AT&T customers, however T-Mobile seems to be a slight bit higher coming in at $350. (Read the full post about ‘BlackBerry Bold; Leaked pricing, availability’…)

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Finally here’s something that actually does what it advertises. Ubanana’s uCan - a waterproof MP3 player that you can actually wear in up to 10 feet deep water. But the best thing about this uber-cool looking gadget is the fact that all the essential parts that you normally get from a normal MP3 player are actually integrated within the gadget itself. Yes folks, that means no dangling wires that connect the earphones to the body of the mp3 player, its all integrated into the player itself. The uCan has 1GB of memory which can store around 250 MP3 or 500 WMA files and gives out up to 15 hours of battery life. (Read the full post about ‘Ubanana intro’s the uCan; world’s smallest waterproof MP3 player’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 16th 2008 at 5:45PM Considering that you’ve already spent way too much on that totally over-hyped Killer NIC, why not humor yourself further by snagging a sound card with Johnathan Wendel’s prints on it. Proving once again that everyone does indeed have a price, famed gamer Fatal1ty has placed his highly respected seal of approval on a new duo of sound cards from Creative. The PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series and PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series devices boast the X-Fi enhancements you’ve come to expect, vivid new designs, unmistakable packaging and the assurance that the latter is the “official sound card of the CGS.” As for pricing, the Pro edition is available to pre-order for $149.99, while the CGS model adds in an internal I/O drive and demands $199.99. (Read the full post about ‘Creative reveals Fatal1ty-approved Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium’…)

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Rollout still won’t happen until later this year, which really means late this year if not next, as no dates have been announced. Anyway, Sprint who has been working with Samsung on this say it’s ready.

There’s a collection of companies (Clearwire, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks) that will bear the brunt of the cost of getting WiMax out to over 120 million customers by the end of 2010. That’s just a year and a half. I can’t wait.

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: pvp, dvr, gps, cameras

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Remember that awesome looking Acer Aspire Gemstone notebook we covered last March? Well, that baby finally arrived in Acer authorized resellers and retailers all over the US. If you already forgot about it, let us give you a little refresh, the Gemstone Blue boasts of 18.4 (Aspire 8920) and 16-inch (Aspire 6920) LCD displays with fully functional HD cinematic features. If you’re seriously considering getting The Aspire Gemstone Blue 8290 which retails for $1,299 or the 6920 which retails for $849, here’s a brief recap of their features.

(Read the full post about ‘Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue notebooks now shipping in the US’…)

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The world of computer/network security and encryption owes a lot to Bruce Schneier. Not only was he a pioneer in designing some of the early algorithms for protecting data, he has also helped to shine a light on the arcane world of cryptography for a mainstream audience through his writings, media appearances and overall advocacy, which has included Congressional testimony. So anyone who travels with a laptop would do well to heed the advice he offers in an op-ed piece in the Guardian. Schneier writes about a recent federal court ruling that allows customs agents to search all electronic devices, including laptops, when traveling to the U.S. (Read the full post about ‘Laptop traveling advice from a security legend’…)

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Whoa.  Hold it right there.  Is everyone drinking fouled cool aid or just gone straight to the rock?  What happened to our little cottage industry this week?  Let’s play “Who’s on Crack” shall we: Microsoft. Says they hope to earn a 40% marketshare by 2012.  They were at 13% in ‘07.  Verdict?  Crack. Amazon.  Analyst says the Kindle will sell like hotcakes, er iPods and be a $750 Million business by 2010.  Um, the same Kindle I’ve been making fun of for a while now?  Sorry.  Crack. CBS buys C|Net. (Read the full post about ‘Time for Gadgetells “Who’s on Crack” game’…)

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One week ago, we reported about how Google added new features to its translation service, like new languages and language detection, but back then it still had not even been announced by Google yet. The day for that has come, though, and that day is today. Google now officially announces the addition of 10 new languages to its translation service, including Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian and Swedish. Also, as noted in our earlier post, there is a new feature called “Detect Language” that saves you from having to figure out the language of origin of the text or web page you’re translating. (Read the full post about ‘Google officially announces new features of Google Translate’…)

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