Sony Ericsson has introduced a new Bluetooth car speakerphone, the HCB-150. Offering up to 25 hours of talk time with a whopping 700 hours on standby the HCB-150 has a text-to-speech feature that will announce your calls. The HCB-150 will be availably globally beginning in Q2 2008.
Via [SlashPhone]
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Don’t be too smug with your HDTV just yet - the Astro Systems DM-3400 could be the future even as America starts to warm up to high definition TVs. This 56″ behemoth looks like a standard LCD display at first glance, but it actually offers 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, making it meant to be used in digital cinemas, editing studios and broadcast facilities. Features include a quartet of DV-D inputs and an equal amount of HD-SDI inputs. There is no word on pricing as at press time, but one thing’s for sure - this ain’t no living room solution and will probably remain the domain of professionals in the meantime.
Source: Digital Trends
Posted Feb 13th 2008 8:56AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless
With the likes of Apple and Garmin taking their respective expertise and pointing it toward the mobile phone world, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Archos is doing something similar. Unfortunately, it’s fairly impossible at this stage to figure out what that thing is. All we know is that Archos has struck a deal with France’s SFR to integrate 3G+ HSDPA data modems into its players — a deal that was rumored late last year — but whether that means beefed up mobile surfing and VoIP, or an all new phone product has yet to be seen.
[Thanks, Marien]
Posted Feb 13th 2008 7:02AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
In the oddball acquisition of the day, Dell just swept up email services provider MessageOne in a $155 million cash deal. How odd? Get this, MessageOne was co-founded by Michael Dell’s brother Adam who now manages investment funds — the very funds with partial ownership of MessageOne which Michael and his genetic crew are investors in. As such, Michael, his wife, and kids will receive $12M from the deal, Adam about $970k, and their parents about $450k. For Michael’s part, Dell says that he will donate his family’s proceeds direct to charity and was excluded from negotiating the acquisition. Still, we can’t help but question the merits of such an acquisition when the only comparison that comes readily to mind is Apple’s dot Mac service — a service Apple is rumored to be shifting to Google in order to focus on core business. Don’t get us wrong, we get Dell’s whole Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business strategy, but do they really expect to compete directly with Google and MicroHoo while staying true to their PC roots?
[Via New York Times]
I’ve tried a number of different iPhone cases, and when I first saw the The Titan Clear case from GizMac, it didn’t shout out at me in any way. I’d seen lots of clear cases before, and this one didn’t look that different to me from the box. But when I put it on my iphone, I immediately saw that this simple clear case has a number of elegant features. It has a built-in stand that folds out in two ways, but because they’re flush with the back of the case, it doesn’t add any additional bulk. You can also get it with a removable holster (which is something I’ve never used, so it’s good that it’s optional). The plastic also seems less flimsy than other clear cases I’ve tried, it just feels very solid. The only thing missing is something to hang a lanyard on (this is just one of my pet peeves about the iPhone - no little doo-hickey to feed a strap into).
Available in clear, as well as Smoke and Pink, the Titan Clear sells for $25 (or $35 with the holster).
by Mr. Alex of Geekfoolery
Just six weeks ago, Christmas gifts were opened, and gift givers gauged the reaction of their giftees–was that a polite smile, or a genuine, “Wow! That’s cool!” Despite the vast array of product research available to any consumer with an Internet connection, it’s still a tough call to know if gift is going to get used and enjoyed, or is it going to end up on a shelf in the back of the closet, or exchanged, or worse–regifted.
That’s why this post-Christmas review is coming in mid-February. I picked up a Rubik’s Revolution for the kids almost as an afterthought. I wasn’t 100% of what it was, but the kids had asked for Rubik’s Cube, and this looked OK and was only about $13. In the shopping cart it went as continued searching for the kid’s “main” gift.
Unlike the original Rubik’s Cube, which requires a learning or discovering a fairly complex series of moves to solve the puzzle, Rubik’s revolution is simplicity itself. It looks like a shiny Rubik’s Cube, but the sides don’t rotate. Instead, the center square on each face is a lighted recessed button. The instruction sheet describes six different variation on the same game of simply pushing the button that is lit. That’s it, basically… a face lights up, and you have to spin the cube around, find the lit square and press it. Allowable time between presses gets shorter and shorter, and pressing the wrong button ends the game. There are two person variations, other similar themes.
What’s fascinating about it is how compelling this simple game is, for pretty much anyone who picks it up. Kids, of course love anything that beeps and lights up, and the fascination derives from rules simple enough to follow and succeed at. Older kids I watched play the game derive different strategies for turning the cube to get to the lit face faster. Get on the two person game with adults and it’s as compelling as eating potato chips. It can get a little noisy and exciting, but that’s all part of the fun.
We’ve taken the cube to friend’s houses, and their kids master the game in seconds and remain fascinated for… well, maybe not hours, but a long time, anyway.
There were more expensive, more complicated, more involved toys under the tree, but I have been amazed at the lasting appeal of this thing. At $13, it’s a bargain anyway–the fact that it will get used is icing on the cake.
Very cool and yet it somehow strikes me as post-apocalyptic. Designed by artist Benedetto Bufalino.
Via textually.org and OhGizmo!
In case you’re one of the many converts to Apple’s vision for cell phones, namely the iphone, then you will definitely be interested in this nice collection of links (with succinct descriptions). It is literally 100 links - 42 applications: productivity, real-time info, entertainment and of course, games; 26 tools: like SSH, development, more; 32 web guides with tips, tricks and howtos to get the most out of your iPhone. Definitely worth a bookmark itself.
We’ve raved about the PicooZ R/C helicopters before, I also bought my self daughter a pair of the battling helicopters for Christmas (they are still very cool), this next release from PicooZ looks to continue the coolest R/C toy tradition, the Tandem Z, a remote control Chinook.
The helicopter has super wide infrared control, a built-in Li-Poly battery, trim control and durable body. It has sophisticated gyroscopic effect for stability and twin rotor blades that work in Tandem. It also has a unique roto-blade system for steady take off and it’s a 3 channel helicopter (forwards, backwards, left, right, up and down).
A normal charge of 20-25 minutes should give you a flight time of around 10 minutes, and this is done directly from the remote control (requires 6xAA batteries).
The only thing lacking is you can’t shoot down other Chinook’s maybe that’s planned for the next release (hopefully), you can buy the PicooZ Tandem Z for £40.00 (~$82) from Red 5.
Based on recent reports, HotOrNot is about to be purchased for $20 million dollars by investors connected with Avid Life Media. Avid Life is reportedly interested in setting up a larger HotOrNot media company and might be in the buying mode for a few other similar properties.
HotOrNot was originally founded back in 2000 by James Hong and Jim Young and has consistently generated enough traffic to attract interest. HotOrNot makes most of it’s money from advertising and premiums charged to their user base of nearly 5 million. Their annual revenue is estimated to be around $5 million, with $2 million in profit. Hong and Young will no longer be operating the business on a day to day basis and seem pretty happy with that.
“We’ve been working on HotOrNot for seven years now,” said Hong, adding “It’s time to break up with this girlfriend.”
Via [Tech Crunch]
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