08-Jun-07 07:35:00
Filed under: Cellphones
Although this certainly won't go down as the first attempt to integrate cellphones into discrete marketing, Japan's largest online shopping mall operator is apparently taking advantage of the country's oh-so-superior handsets and offering up tantalizing "promotional videos" for consumers who snap pictures of ads. Rakuten is reportedly set to hand out thousands of pilot issues of a magazine, Zero90, in hopes that mobile-wielding readers will snap photos of certain articles in exchange for a free commercial intellectually stimulating media clip. While this sounds an awful lot like QR codes, the actual technology used in the pages isn't mentioned, but we do know that Japan-based Clementec is behind it -- and you thought print media had too many plugs as is.
[Via Physorg]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 06:31:00
Filed under: Desktops, Displays
They may not boast a name like the "F-Bomb," but Eurocom's new all-in-one LV190 and LV220 ViiVA systems look like they should be able to garner a fair bit of attention on their own. Boasting 19- and 22-inch widescreen displays, respectively, the systems can be configured with your choice of Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme processors, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics, a max 4GB of RAM, up to two 500GB hard drives, and an internal TV tuner, among other options. Knocking things down a notch, however, is the somewhat lackluster 1680 x 1050 resolution on the 22-inch display, and an even lower 1440 x 900 on the 19-incher. If that's not a deal breaker for ya', you can get your order in now, with systems starting around $1,500 and going up considerably as you pack on the upgrades.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 05:47:00
Filed under: Cellphones
For those in the audience enamored with the iPhone -- especially those willing to look past the lack of 3G and requisite 2-year service agreement -- there's really only one x-factor left: the touchscreen keyboard. We've all seen it done, but no one's ever seen it done right -- and Steve seems to think it's going to be off the chain. So why is Dvorak, noted tech pundit, and goader of Mac users and iPhone fans, reporting that he's got insider information that the iPhone's keyboard is complete crap and "people are going to return the phone in droves"? Well, that might have something to do with the fact that he's Dvorak (really, what else would he say?), but we did consult a well trusted and connected source who, as it turns out, has heard the very same thing from multiple iPhone users, and who noted that an accessory keyboard to go with the device may become necessary if the touchscreen keyboard doesn't cut the mustard. Of course, we can only reserve ju...
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 04:12:00
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Peripherals
Our brothers-from-another-mother over at Engadget Chinese have spotted some more nifty gear at Computex: the first webcams from ASUS. The 2-megapixel cams interpolate still shots up to 8 megapixels, and can fold up into "business card mode" for quickly scanning in all the digits you'll be picking up, you sexy bastard. The auto-focus AF-200 is scheduled to drop in mid-August, while the manual MF-200 should follow afterwards. A full gallery awaits you at Engadget Chinese.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 03:05:00
Filed under: Storage
Just a day after Hitachi and Philips boasted about its newest external 1TB offerings, Seagate is up on its own soap box clamoring over the "industry's first 250GB-per-disc, 3.5-inch disc drive." Touting the second-generation of perpendicular magnetic recording technology, the newest Barracuda 7200.10 stretches areal density limits by stuffing 180Gb per square inch, and also manages to "set new benchmarks" for power consumption, acoustics, and performance. The drives will feature a 3Gbps SATA interface and should pop up in future external models, but for now you can probably grab one in a retail box as Seagate has reportedly achieved worldwide volume deployments.
[Via TGDaily]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 02:14:00
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking
Although we'd caught glimpses of it in the press photos for the SlingLink Turbo 4 Port, the existence of a 1-port version of Sling's 85Mbps powerline networking adapter was strictly rumor until today, when the eagle-eyed placeshifters over at SlingCommunity noticed that the $99 box was up for sale on Sling's website. You're looking at basically the same HomePlug 1.0-compatible box as the SlingLink Turbo 4 Port, but with only one Ethernet jack -- and no need to blow an extra $50 on three extra jacks at the head-end of a powerline setup. No word on whether these things actually pump bits at 85Mbps, but it's not like we can replace our rat's nest of CAT-5 at this point anyway.
[Via SlingCommunity]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
08-Jun-07 01:01:00
Filed under: GPS
We'd heard about the TomTom GO 520 before, but now it's looking a little more official -- so all you Europeans looking to get in on TomTom's new Map Share action but not willing to drop the coin on the new GO 720 can cheer up. Apart from trading in the 720's 2GB of flash and all-Europe (or North America) maps for 512MB or 1GB of your local European region, the 520 is basically the same piece of kit -- 4.3-inch WQVGA display, 400MHz CPU, 64MB of RAM, SD card slot, FM transmitter, Bluetooth, optional RDS-TMC traffic information receiver, and the aforementioned Map Share feature, which lets you edit maps and share them with other GO users online. Europeans should see this one drop in the third quarter of this year, for something like €400 ($537).
[Via NaviGadget]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
07-Jun-07 23:46:00
Filed under: HDTV, Laptops, Media PCs
Intel's Santa Rosa mobile platform will get a high definition upgrade in the second half of this year when it integrates dedicated hardware decoding from Broadcom to support HD DVD and Blu-ray playback. The extra processing power will let notebooks keep running their Windows Vista Aero experience -- which currently takes a major hit -- while playing high-def discs without relying on more expensive GPUs from NVIDIA or ATI. We know Toshiba is going all HD DVD in its laptops later this year, and we won't be surprised to see more manufacturers throwing in blue laser options across the line. The manufacturer told Ars Technica that future upgrades to the Santa Rosa chipset should include driver updates later this year, and DirectX10 support in 2008.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
07-Jun-07 22:56:00
Filed under: Displays
The antique-minded modder over at Steampunk Workshop had it right: what good is a brass-clad mouse and keyboard with a 21st century monitor destroying the mojo? Fret not, as a Dell 1907FP was torn apart, blasted with gold Krylon, and decorated to the hilt with flashy pieces that your great (great) grandmother would surely love. Best of all, this here creator went above the call of duty by dressing up the monitor with gilded triggers to depress the monitor adjustment buttons underneath the panel. Trust us, you need to see this one to appreciate the passion behind it, so feel free to visit the read link for a plethora of photographs and even a few vids.
[Via Digg]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Source: Engadget
07-Jun-07 22:26:00
Filed under: Cellphones
Stock up on those 3G handsets, folks -- they could become very valuable commodities here in the next few weeks. As part of an ongoing series of spats between wireless giants Qualcomm and Broadcom, the US International Trade Commission has ruled that handsets containing Qualcomm 3G chipsets (and that's a whole heck of a lot of handsets) that are manufactured starting today may not be imported into the US. By all accounts, this appears to be much more than legal posturing on Broadcomm's part -- a ban is a ban -- and we've gotta believe this'll resolve itself right quick. But if for whatever reason it doesn't, get ready for an eBay free-for-all in a gloomy, scorched-earth future where the only high speed handsets are pawned for thousands of New Dollars on the black market. [Warning: subscription required]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!...
Source: Engadget