Archive for March, 2007

Yahoo provides OneSearch for mobile users

Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Yahoo has launched an Internet search system for users of internet-enabled mobile phones. The service will start in the US, but will be rolled-out to international markets later in 2007. The service, called OneSearch, which was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show in January, will focus on providing local information rather than just a list [...]

Smart fabrics to take the pulse

Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Advanced textiles that record data about the wearer - on display at Cebit - could soon be used by US soldiers.

Samsung’s F200 music phone stays slim and trim

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

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Your options for a slim music phone are nearly limitless, and if you dig the sliders of the world, you've probably eyed Samsung's X830 a time or two before. The handset has apparently went over fairly well, as now we're seeing a very similar successor hit the market with a trimmed down feature set. The F200 touts the same elongated design, a 1.46-inch 220 x 128 resolution external display, support for MP3, WMA, OGG, DCF, and SMP file formats, and a paltry 5MB of internal storage versus the 1GB found on the X830. Thankfully, Samsung included a microSD slot for toting more than a tenth of an album at any given time, and you'll also find a hold switch and headphone jack to compliment the musical abilities. Per usual, there's no word just yet when this sucka will hit the market nor how much it'll run you when it does, but judging by the lackluster feature set, it'll shouldn't hurt too bad. Click on through for a few extra views.

[Via Slashphone]

Continue reading Samsung's F200 music phone stays slim and trim

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Parrot intros A2DP-enabled MK6100 handsfree Bluetooth car kit

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

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Our favorite French Bluetooth gurus are readying yet another in-car handsfree kit, but unlike the run-of-the-mill offerings already crowding store shelves, the Parrot MK6100 adds a bit of musical delight as well. Aside from giving users the opportunity to hear conversations through their stereo system, this two-piece system boasts a built-in microphone in the horizontal display (which just so happens to be a svelte OLED), and also plays on the emotions of audio lovers everywhere. The A2DP-enabled kit features a separate wireless remote that can be used to cycle through the tracks on your handset, play and pause the tunes, and easily fit into your glovebox when you exit the vehicle. Additionally, users will be graced with DPS, automatic phonebook synchronization, text-to-speech capabilities, and voice dialing, and while we're not quite sure of the pricing deets just yet, you can probably expect to find out for yourself in Q2 of this year.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Hands-on with the Albatron’s Nano Abox 2.0

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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When we first caught wind of Albatron's Nano Abox V2.0 a few weeks ago, we knew we'd have to stop for a look while here in Germany. Afterall, this mini PC brings along its own monitor for use in a pinch. We'll tell you what we told them, it looks like a home-made case-mod with an astoundingly thick LCD simply bolted onto the box. Fortunately, the unit on display was just an engineering prototype, albeit the final rev before production begins. Let's hope they can clean the design up a bit 'cause we like the idea of a mini display on a portable mini -- just not this one.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Hands-on with Samsung’s slick, sliding glory, the F700

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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More Ultra Smart love was on parade for us today and it came in the form of the glorious SGH-F700 from Samsung. Many things immediately stand out when playing with this device -- but first and foremost, it's a stunner. The rear of the phone is made with a glossy material that is reflective, like plastic chrome (think Sony Ericsson Z610i, then scale up the beauty) that really bumps this already classy device up a few notches. The F700 is a tri-band device with 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz GSM, EDGE, and HSDPA. It is definitely worth noting that the F700's HSDPA is the 7.2Mbps variety; no word on 3G frequencies, but we are all praying for some North American salvation. The screen is huge, taking up 2.78 inches of the touchscreen face (yes, it has that too), which is almost all of the front surface. The 440X220 resolution is ideal for mini-widescreening your favorite flicks using the native support for MPEG4, H.263, H.264, and real video. A quick slide and the bottom half hops out to reveal a pretty tight, but ultimately useful keyboard. The F700 seems to cover it all, follow the link to see some pics, we even popped a TyTn down for some comparative magic.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Hands-on with Amex’s “Touch Sense” Keyboard and Skype dual-phone

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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If you're coming here to find out if Amex was able to deliver on the promise to "deliver the ultimate in feel and response" from a touch-sensitive keyboard, well, you'll have to check back later. They showed up at CeBIT with plastic mock-ups, not working prototypes -- still, that's more than we can say for others. The visit wasn't a complete waste, however. We now know that "Touch Sense" equates to a Cypress developed haptic interaction solution whereby each key-tap triggers a brief flash of light and sound. Although we knew that the TSK-VX7 keyboard has small, we were still surprised to see just how crazy small and slim the device plastic mockup really is. Even the price is small at something like $25 when it ships. That makes the pear-shaped TSP-VS501 all the more chubby in contrast. My, my what sneaky marketers you use for your product shots Amex. See 'em all in the gallery below.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Rock to roll out 22-inch all-in-one Meivo HTPC

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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"Xtreme" laptop OEM Rock has just announced its upcoming Meivo all-in-one PC, a Vista-powered 22-inch monster that features Core 2 Duo processors and several internal tuner options. Coming at the end of April for an even £1,000, Meivo is built around a 1,680 x 1,050 panel sporting side-mounted memory card slots and USB ports, with WiFi, Bluetooth, 7.1 output, and a pair of drive bays rounding out the specs. As far as tuners go, you get your choice of analog, digital, or hybrid -- all MXM compliant for easy expansion and upgrades. Probably not the best machine for power computing, but for watching the full season of Jericho so far on CBS Innertube from bed, this would make a good choice.

Read - Press release
Read - "Teaser" site
[Via Shiny Shiny]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Acer releases new xSeries LCD monitors

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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Acer's recently carpet bombed the US with no less than five new LCD monitors in its entry-level xSeries lineup, with models ranging from 17- to 24-inches that are rather obliquely said to be designed for "multimedia, gaming and video applications." Since the specs on these two standard and three widescreen displays are average at best, we're not sure that pros in any of the above mentioned fields would really be interested -- but with prices ranging from $180 (17-inch x171s) to just $600 (24-inch widescreen x241Wsd), they could certainly give Dell, Samsung, and friends a run for their money. Specifically, the two square models (the 17-incher and 19-inch x191sd) share the exact same configuration save for maximum viewing angles, with both displays offering up 1,280 x 1,024 resolutions, eight millisecond response times, 700:1 contrast ratios, and 300cd/m² maximum brightness. The widescreen models do just a little bit better: the 19-inch x191Wsd and 22-inch x221Wsd rock 1,440 x 900 and 1,680 x 1,050 resolutions, respectively, along with five millisecond response times, 800:1 contrast ratios. and the same max brightness as their buddies; meanwhile, the 24-incher steps up the resolution to a pretty standard 1,920 x 1,200, contrast ratio to 1000:1, and brightness to 400cd/m², but retains the five millisecond response time of the other widescreens. Should be in stores now, so go nuts.

[Via PC Launches]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

G-Tec’s thought control hat

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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Hey you. Yeah, you, listen in close; we've seen the future here at CeBIT. If you thought that the idea of controlling your gaming rig with only your mind was just a bit too Tomorrowland, then you haven't laid eyes on the "brain-computer interface" developed by Austria's Guger Tecnologies (g.tec). We're happy to report that in a game of thought-control vs. Engadget man-editor, we were totally pwned at Pong. 10-to-4 if you must know. Our competition sat smug in his stool thinking about where he wanted his paddle to go, as we flailed about helpless with mouse and keyboard in a wake of alpha waves. At least we didn't have to smear gel on our scalp and wear a funny hat -- ha! The system works by cleverly measuring fluctuations in electrical voltage in the brain and then translating them into computer commands. The technology has already been commercialized into the size of an iPAQ Pocket PC for hospitals and research institutes. It costs about $5,000 with a 99 - 100% level of accuracy for "trained subjects." We had our hat handed to us by a person who just started using the system, yesterday. Hell, that's a shorter learning curve than Graffiti. Although the technology shows great promise in controlling prosthetics and assisting the disabled with communications, we found ourselves (and our new best scientist friends, Christoph Guger and Ingo Niedermayer) eagerly discussing its use as a Second Life controller and of course, in robotics. Be sure to click the read link below for all the details; check the gallery for the gore.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!