Gadgets Blog News

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 8:11PM
Just when you think you’ve given your dog everything it could ever want (gold plated water dish, rhinestone collar, a copy of Tegan and Sara’s “The Con” on vinyl) the Japanese go and one up you. A Tokyo-based content provider named Dwango announced today that it would start selling specialized ringtones which can be heard only by dogs. The service, called Inu ni shika kikoenai chakushinon (ringtones only dogs can hear) will make free downloads available to current DoCoMo i-mode subscribers. No word on whether the company will provide Bluetooth headsets and holsters suited to our canine friends, but we understand plans are in the works for a line of bacon-themed wallpapers. (Read the full post about ‘Ringtones for dogs coming to Japanese cellphones’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 12:55PM Heads-up, we’ve got another world’s first coming from the labs at BenQ. The E2200HDA claims to be this planet’s very first 21.5-inch 1080p Full HD lcd monitor, and given that odd panel size, we don’t doubt it one bit. Just to reiterate, this one boasts a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution along with a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 5-millisecond response time, HDMI / DVI / VGA inputs, integrated speakers and a headphone jack. BenQ’s keeping quiet on pricing, but we are told to expect two additional E Series displays (including a 24-incher) later this year. As for this one, look for it to land in China and “select countries in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America” in Q3. (Read the full post about ‘BenQ intros 21.5-inch Full HD E2200HDA LCD monitor’…)

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by Ryan Block, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 2:12PMLooks like that sale at Amazon’s turned into a full blown price cut — Dash has officially lowered the price on the Dash Express from $400 to $300 (not including service, of course). Of course, this can be interpreted one of two ways: they’re selling so well that economies of scale have kicked in, and everyone saves money buying the GPS — or, the fresh-faced company’s sole product isn’t doing very well in the marketplace, leading to this second price drop so far. We’re hope it’s not the latter though, we’re definitely stoked to see where else Dash can take us.Update: Dash let us know that sales are meeting expectations, and they’re capitalizing on the big uptick in new buyers during the last $300 price promotion. (Read the full post about ‘Dash Express now officially $300′…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 10:46AM Leave it to QSTARZ to innovate so dramatically upon the tried-and-true Bluetooth GPS receiver design. Okay, so maybe it just created two new 66-channel ones that are exceptionally small. Up first is the new BT-Q1300, a “miniature” device that’s dubbed the world’s smallest travel recorder. (Read the full post about ‘QSTARZ intros diminutive BT-Q1300 / BT-Q890 Bluetooth GPS receivers’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 1:59PM Onda’s VX777 (or VX777+, as it’s apparently now known) has been popping up here and there for a while now, but it looks like it’s finally nearing an actual release, and MP4 Global has now provided a fairly thorough video overview of the device for the occasion. Unfortunately, it appears that this particular model doesn’t boast the WiFi we had heard about previously, although it does somewhat surprisingly pack a capacitive touchscreen (3-inch, 400 x 240) instead of a more common resistive one. Otherwise, you can expect your choice of 2GB, 4GB or 8GB capacities, with a microSD card slot provided for further expansion, along with a TV-out, a built-in microphone, and support for just about every audio and video format you could want. (Read the full post about ‘Onda VX777+ touchscreen PMP gets detailed, shown off on video’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 9:13AM Yeah, that bench. NVIDIA’s just-announced-yesterday GeForce 9800 GTX+ has already been used and abused for your satisfaction, and the folks over at PC Perspective have the benchmarks to prove it. The 55nm-based card was pit against an 8800 GT and AMD’s extraordinarily fresh Radeon HD 4850, but we’re not going to insert any spoilers in this space (okay, so it fared well… really well). (Read the full post about ‘NVIDIA’s 512MB GeForce 9800 GTX+ hits the bench’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 8:48AM Look out 1366 Technologies, you’ve got yet another solar-based MIT spin-off company vying for business in the alternative energy sector. The company’s name is RawSolar, and in due time it could end up selling solar dish arrangements that could power factories or even heat / cool office buildings. Recently, a team of students and faculty celebrated as a prototype dish proved that it could concentrate sunlight by a factor of 1,000, which obviously bodes well for converting that into useful energy here on Earth. Another standout feature of the dish is its small size, and furthermore, the material required to build it is relatively inexpensive and accessible worldwide. (Read the full post about ‘MIT solar dish holds promise for low-cost energy production’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 8:24AM
e-Detail’s Prezenter PSR was floating around CES a few months ago, but now it seems that the Korean firm has managed to get its atypical tablet into trials here in America and in Europe. In a nutshell, the dual-screen unit includes a 14.1-inch touch panel that ideally gets pointed in the face of your client; the 7-inch touchscreen faces you, giving you clues on what to say next and enabling the traveling salesperson (still you, bub) to give a presentation without being all up in the area of the potential customer. Specs wise, it runs Windows XP Home and gets powered by an AMD Geode LX800 processor, and there’s also a trio of USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, gigabit Ethernet jack, WiFi and a 1.3-megapixel camera. (Read the full post about ‘e-Detail’s twin-screen Prezenter PSR tablet gets detailed’…)

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AMD looks like it is a spent force today, pretty much like how its graphics arm, ATi is compared to Intel and NVIDIA, respectively. Still, kudos to the folks at AMD for keeping some semblance of check and balance in the processor wars. AMD will be working on a processor to penetrate the low-cost PC market which is currently being dominated by the Intel Atom and Via Technology Nano processors. These new offerings from AMD will support 6-bit instructions and based on their previous generation K8 architecture. You will get a capped speed of 1.2GHz in the single-core model, manufactured under the 65nm process. If AMD were to stand any chance of making an impact, they’d best price it just below Intel’s Atom IMHO. (Read the full post about ‘AMD enters low cost PC market’…)

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Chances are the iPod (and now possibly iPhone) would be pretty popular devices to bring along with you while you engage in a form of vigorous exercise (swimming doesn’t count unless you’re rocking to a waterproof case and earphones), but that can result in the earbuds falling out. A minor irritant, but still irritating nonetheless. The BudFits from Innovelis solves this problem as described. Constructed of soft, flexible rubber, BudFits snap onto Apple earbuds and then wrap over the top of the ear. In doing so, they ensure ipod and iPhone earbuds will not fall out and also maximize user comfort by eliminating the need to wedge earbuds into the ear canal to keep the earbuds in place. (Read the full post about ‘Innovelis releases BudFits’…)

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