Gadgets Connect

Posted Feb 5th 2008 3:28PM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Displays After years of promises, it seems that holograms are finally starting to gain a little traction, although the applications for the technology so far have been fairly limited. At least one company thinks that’s about to change, however, with it now touting its retro-styled Holocube as an all-purpose solution for company’s to advertise their products “like never before.” Measuring about 20-inches square, the Holocube packs a 40GB hard drive for storing up to 18 hours of compressed video, which can magically float at 1080i resolution within the cube at the flick of a switch. (Read the full post about ‘Holocube brings 3D projection down to desktop size’…)

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Apple has just made available a new iPhone that comes with 16GB of memory, pushing the price to $499 while keeping the lonely 8GB model company at an Apple Store near you. The latter will still see its price remain at $399, so those hoping for a price cut will be out of luck. It seems that all iPhone models will feature the most up-to-date software enhancements announced last month, including the ability to find your location automatically via the new Maps application. Will you be willing to fork out that kind of money for an additional 8GB of memory? Those who are used to carrying plenty of media files with them will probably find this a welcome addition. (Read the full post about ‘iPhone Gets 16GB Memory’…)

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Samsung’s new top of the range plasma, the series 7 provides the top spot for their plasma line up. Having also announced the lower ranged series 4 and 5, the Samsung series 7 plasma takes the cake. Pioneer ruled last year with their very impressive Kuro line up, and Samsung is fighting back with their new plasma. A common problem with plasma HDTVs is glare and reflection, the new series 7’s features Ultra FilterBright anti-glare technology, which reduces glare and does not effect the image, providing colorful, rich and clear pictures in bright rooms. A new software algorithm helps to reduce false image contouring and enhancing moving picture quality, leading to very impressive quality. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung Series 7 Plasma | PN50A750T, PN58A750T, PN63A750T’…)

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Google is making apparently some big changes to it’s SDK in response to developers reactions and comments to the first version.  Back to code they go making fixes and feature enhancements so when it finally gets to us, we are going to love it.  At least, that is what Google hopes.  In light of the undertaking, they are pushing back the date on their developer challenge so folks are not staying up all night to meet the tight deadline. This is good stuff.  No one likes delays, but better to get it right than to just get it.  Remember, whatever is shown in Barcelona most likely won’t have this update so Android will be even better than what is shown.  Food for thought. (Read the full post about ‘Google busy making Android better’…)

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Posted Feb 5th 2008 10:24AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Laptops If you’ve been wishin’ and hopin’ for a new Dell laptop, you might want to hold off for a little bit. According to a speculative report over at CNET, the company is planning on upgrading laptop CPUs to Intel’s fancy new Penryn chips, though the PC-maker is remaining tight-lipped about just which models will get the spike, if any. (Read the full post about ‘Penryn CPUs coming to Dell laptops?’…)

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Microsoft is being sued due to a Zune owner getting ear damage from the headphones of his Zune. Joel Geddis is claiming that his Zune headphones gave him both an electric shock and also sent a very loud noise through his earbuds. This has since caused blood and fluid leakage from his ear canal as well as a “temporary threshold shift, and incessant ringing and discomfort.” This incident happened when he first bought his Zune back in November 2006. In November of 2006, I received an electric shock through the earbuds of my Microsoft Zune. Simultaneously, the Zune emitted a very loud noise through the earbuds and the device began to reset. (Read the full post about ‘Zune owner suing Microsoft, claiming ear-damage from headphones’…)

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Pocket-lint reviews the Samsung SGH-G800 and writes, “The Samsung G800 is the company’s latest camera focus mobile phone and comes with a 5 megapixel digital camera with the promise that photographers can still get great shots even without a standard compact camera…there are the flash modes; auto, on, red-eye reduction or off, timer options, macro modes, white balance, exposure settings, anti-shake, ISO settings up to 400 and special effects to boot. The options list like a real camera.” Read more about the Samsung SGH-G800. Tags: mobiles, players, cool gear, consumer electronics (Read the full post about ‘Samsung SGH-G800 Review - Pocket-lint’…)

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Posted Feb 5th 2008 9:58AM by Darren MurphFiled under: StorageOne would think that after pushing out an 832GB SSD at CES, the mad scientists at BiTMICRO could afford some time off. Nevertheless, those same gurus have apparently been burning that midnight oil and today are announcing the world’s first Ultra320 SCSI SSD to break the terabyte barrier. The E-Disk Altima E3S320 solid state flash disk arrives in a 3.5-inch form factor and houses some 1.6TB of storage space. Additionally, it promises sustained data transfer rates of up to 230MB/sec, and just in case the aforementioned model is just too capacious for you, the outfit will be shipping versions as small as 16GB in Q3 of this year. (Read the full post about ‘BiTMICRO keeps it real, unveils 1.6TB Ultra320 SCSI SSD’…)

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In a move that surprised many technology insiders, Apple has released new and upgraded versions of two products today: the iPhone (in my previous report) and the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch gets a new 32GB version to go along with the 8GB and 16GB models. From the Apple press release (edited for only the iPod Touch information): Apple today added new models of the iPhone and iPod Touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299. (Read the full post about ‘Apple Adds 32GB Model to the iPod Touch Line’…)

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At last, Apple is selling a 16GB iPhone. It was always a matter of when, not if: the iPhone’s little brother, the iPod Touch, has been sporting 16GB since it was launched. The bigger iPhone is $500, and the 8GB remains at $400

The Touch, though, hasn’t been left out. A new 32GB model showed up on the Apple store a few minutes ago, and will cost the same $500 as the 16GB iPhone. The 8GB and 16GB versions remain at $300 and $400 respectively.

Product page [Apple]

Tags: home cinema, pvr, cable, lcd

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