Archive for September, 2008

30
Sep

Sharp’s tegakichat concept phone brings the purikura booth to girls’ pockets

By Joshua Fruhlinger 0 Comments
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Japan is drenched in arcades with female-only purikura (photo booth for you gaijin) corners in which aflutter girls take pictures, bless them with sparkly decorations, and print them to book cover friendly stickers for all to see, for better or worse, to the horror of their moms, to the delight of their potential boyfriends. Let's say Sharp was to take the purikura phenomenon and fuse it with to the teenage girl's number one obsession: the cell phone (keitai for our Japanese readers). That's exactly what it did with this concept phone and software, complete with a shared art space that can be collectively decorated over wireless networks. Scary? Perhaps. Cool enough to snap some video in awesome disbelief? Most definitely.

Gallery: Sharp tegakichat

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30
Sep

Pandora pre-orders go live

By Nilay Patel 0 Comments
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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Pandora_pre_orders_go_live'; We still don't really believe it, but the Pandora pre-order page is now live and accepting orders for the open-source gaming handheld. Only 3,000 units are being delivered this time around, so you'd better act fast -- $329 is all it takes to be a part of history, kids.
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30
Sep

Dell rolls out S1909WX, S1709W LCD monitors

By Donald Melanson 0 Comments
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Enticed by Dell's new, slightly less hard-edged 22-, 23-, and 24-inch LCDs but looking for something a little easier on the wallet (and your desk)? Well, it looks like you're in luck, as the company has just let loose some matching 17- and 19-inch models that each come in under $200. From the looks of it, the $199, 19-inch S1909WX is by far the better bargain of the two, with it boasting a 1440 x 900 resolution, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, a 300cd/m2 brightness rating, and an HDCP compatible DVI port. The 17-inch S1709W, on the other hand, packs the same resolution and will save you twenty bucks, but you'll have to make do with a 600:1 contrast ratio, 250cd/m2 brightness, and nothing more than a plain old VGA port, not to mention just 17-inches of screen real estate. Sold? You know where to get 'em.

[Via Electronista]
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30
Sep

AMD’s 45nm Shanghai enters production, next stops are Deneb, Istanbul

By Tim Stevens 0 Comments
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AMD's 45nm Shanghai enters production, next stops are Deneb, Istanbul
Let's not beat around the bush: AMD's oft-delayed Barcelona quad-core processor was a flop. It arrived late and buggy, an undesirable reception that helped to drive the company's $1.2 billion Q2 loss this year. AMD can't afford another flub like that and is hoping that processor's successor, Shanghai, finds more success in the server market. It's a 45nm quad-core chip with three times the cache (6MB) and HyperTransport 3, apparently equating to a 20 percent boost in speed and even thriftier power consumption. AMD is saying the chip is already under production and will be available for sale before the year is out, actually beating expectations for once. That should be shortly followed by the release of 45nm Deneb processors for desktops, then six-core Istanbul chips sometime late 2009. Meanwhile, Intel's six-core, 45nm server chips are now shipping.
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30
Sep

WiMAX tested in Reno, doesn’t work in cars

By Nilay Patel 0 Comments
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Sprint may have just launched the XOHM WiMAX network in Baltimore, but would-be merger partner Clearwire has been running its version of the mobile broadband service in Reno for a while, and InfoWorld went down to test it out and give us a taste of what to expect. Performance was good while not in motion, with downloads speeds around 1.5 to 2.0 Mbps and uploads hitting 275 to 325Kbps, but actually getting mobile broadband seems to be out of the question -- the system simply couldn't connect to a laptop moving in a car or on a train. That seems like a dealbreaker to us, but we'll give it a pass for now since it's so early in the game -- we'll see if Sprint can do better.
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30
Sep

Nintendo getting into the pedometer game? This will all end in tears

By Paul Miller 0 Comments
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Bad / good news, folks: Nintendo is / isn't working on a pedometer peripheral that will / won't integrate with its Wii / DS console. The company has famously stated that it doesn't plan to release "a whole lot more" accessories for the Wii, which means we've got at least one or two to look forward to, and this could be one of 'em. The images surfaced on a European trademark registry site with very little supplemental info, but we do know it's a pedometer of sorts. If we're lucky, this is something that'll integrate into the existing Wii Fit setup, perhaps alongside a software update to manage more info about our unhealthiness than just how far we can jump on a pair of imaginary skis, but it's probably just as likely that we're looking at a Wii Fit sequel, or perhaps a DS version (a handy companion to that new DS?) designed to lure us out of the house. No telling, really, but the peripheral does appear to be wireless... and wholly evil.

[Via Joystiq]
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30
Sep

OLPC’s Give One, Get One returns to Amazon on November 17

By Paul Miller 0 Comments
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We knew we'd be seeing a comeback of the Give One, Get One program this year, and now OLPC has confirmed a November 17 date -- just in time for the holidays, how convenient for everyone! We're still not certain on a price, but $399 is quite likely. It's not like they're doing the volume right now to drive those costs down, and the component-reduced XO 1.5, which is supposed to actually get close to hitting OLPC's $100 laptop goals, won't be landing until next spring. Dual-booting to XP is still unconfirmed.

[Thanks, Charbax]
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30
Sep

LG introduces “attractively-priced” KP500, doesn’t say how attractive

By Tim Stevens 0 Comments
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LG introduces
Got touchscreen envy but don't have the pair of Benjamins required to get yourself into a celly without a keypad? LG has a solution: the KP500, a nearly button-less and stylus-bearing handset that sounds rather like another recent cheap smartphone. LG's not giving many details about this one beyond its 3-inch display, a 3 megapixel camera, motion sensor, and availability in black, brown, silver, or gold (though based on the pic above we'd stay away from that last one). There's a short video of the TouchFLO-like UI to whet your appetite just below, but that's all we have to share until this phone hits Europe in a month, with a worldwide release to come afterward.

[Via Unwired View]

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30
Sep

Emblaze Mobile’s iPhone competitor detailed, hitting Russia next month

By Tim Stevens 0 Comments
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Emblaze Mobile's iPhone competitor detailed, hitting Russia next month
We don't hear too much from Emblaze Mobile around these parts, just the occasional boastful proclamation about revolutionizing mobile communication. So, color us surprised when we got wind of an entirely new and impressive sounding handset due to ship in just a month. The Edelweiss (named after a flower representing purity) is a 3G, touch-screen handset with internal GPS and either 8 or 16GB of storage. That may sound familiar, but what this has over the competition is a massive resolution of 854 x 480, more than twice that of the iPhone and greater even than the previous high-res handset king, HTC's Touch HD. Right now Herr Edelweiss is due only to release in Russia, but if it lives up to it promise we'd certainly expect to see it elsewhere. Oh, and that other project to revolutionize mobile communication? They're still working on that too, dubbing the Linux-based device "Monolith" and promising release sometime in the first half of next year.
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30
Sep

So long, September

By Tech & Gadgets Editors' Blog 0 Comments
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Posted by: Jane Douglas

As we watch the end of September whiz by, it's time for another virtual rummage in the Tech & Gadgets (e-)mailbag.

First up, there's been rumbles of discontent over the lack of HTC handsets in our selection of the world's hottest mobiles.

The HTC Touch HD (image (C) HTC) "Where was the mention of my HTC TyTN II?" asks Christopher. "HTC keep getting ignored in these types of polls because they are not one of the big boys but the TyTN is being marketed through Carphone as a designer model!"

JohnM, meanwhile, wants to know: "How come there is no mention of the HTC Touch Pro or the HTC Touch HD?"

Good points, you two. The TyTN II and Touch Pro can hold their own with the best Windows smartphones out there - scoring 8.3 and 8 in their respective reviews on T&G. And the Touch HD looks very promising indeed.

But there's really no bias against HTC phones here. Hey, HTC designed the T-Mobile G1, which did feature in our pick of hot new mobiles, of course.

Secondly, the feature on soon-to-be-extinct gadgets accompanying our interview with futurist Richard Watson met with a certain amount of skepticism.

Alan, for instance, scoffs: "All these things are going to happen in the next 40 years??? roflmao don't be so stupid man!!! lol you would be lucky to be right on one of these never mind all of them..."

In fact, the predictions in question were not made by us but come from Richard Watson himself. As for whether they are accurate or not - let's get together in a few decades' time and see, shall we?

Finally, some podcast love from over on the message board.

"Very funny podcast," says Kilidath, "and brought back some good memories of old games."

"Loving this podcast, guys!! Always look forward to it!!" says Tom, AKA Tommy-Gun.

Elmo_joypad and Man_with_idea also had nice things to say, though both point out that one month is too long to wait between casts. Could we be looking at a more frequent podcast in the future? With feedback like this, it's certainly a possibility.

At any rate, Iain's popping by for a podcast recording later this week. Until then...

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