Best Gadgets World

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 8:36AM
As the camera / camcorder world continues to embrace video sharing sites, it’s no surprise to see this little critter emerge from the labs of JVC-Victor. The pictured dual codec LSI chip handles both MPEG-2 and H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC formats, theoretically cutting out the painful encode process from YouTube uploads. Granted, most of the technobabble behind the thing is lost in machine translation, but we do get the idea that it’ll start showing up in the outfit’s Everio line shortly.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

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Filed under: HDTV, Portable Video

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 11:29AM
The Commodore 64 did a lot of things right: the right price, the right graphics, the right games, and the right 8-bit audio chipset that allowed 12 year-old programmers to POKE and PEEK their way into analog music bliss. Modder and musician “TK” saw an opportunity in all of this for an analog synthesizer, and he went for it. Fitting it with potentiometers, LEDs, and an additional 8 SID sound chips (for a total of 8), he is able to get 4 stereo pairs of sound and 4 voices out of what he calls the Midibox SID. If you hadn’t figured from the name, he did add MIDI control to the little beast. And, no, you cannot play Doom on it. Video after the break.

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Filed under: Desktops, Misc. gadgets

Seeking permission from the Federal Communications Commission (an no doubt buying … er … lobbying for the right to do so) the Motion Picture Association of America has requested a hearing from the FCC to determine if the MPAA has the right to allow video distributors to block digital video players from recording movies on television. Swell.

The practice, known as “Selectable Output Control,” is currently banned by the FCC. But with the deadline for HD broadcast rapidly coming in February, the MPAA is seeking a waiver to protect the Hollywood community, and DVD sales, when a movie is broadcast prior to DVD release.

The FCC proceeding, which includes a public comment period through July 7, was very quietly opened Friday. The MPAA, working on behalf of all the major studios, retained the services of former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy to clear away the red tape and keep their intentions hush hush until the public comment period had nearly expired. Fortunately, this quiet request has perked the ears of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRCC) who both oppose the waiver request.

The reason for the request is that the studios want to speed up their broadcast release schedule by releasing films through multichannel video programming distributors before DVD. Ordinarily, a movie’s three year distribution life goes from theaters, to airline and hotel pay per view, then DVD distribution about three months after that. The MPAA has assured the FCC that once films have run through the DVD sale/rental stage it’s blocking of a broadcast film will cease.

One has to appreciate the MPAAs position to a certain extent since High Definition movies, plus DVRs plus DVD burners equals a prescription for piracy. But it’s profoundly disturbing that Hollywood seeks the power to determine when we can and cannot use our own video property.

Hat Tip – Ars Technica

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 11:07AM
The last time we saw this downsized Atom-based laptop, it was looking staid and proper in a press shot. Finally someone has gotten their hands on this thing, and we’ve got to say — it looks pretty handsome (even if it is a rebadged, recolored MSI Wind, and a dead ringer for the Mini-Note). Specs seem unchanged, with a 10-inch 1024 x 800 display, 80GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and the price appears to be holding at €399 (or about $630) as well. Still no word on when or if this is going to hit the states, but we’ve got our fingers crossed.

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Filed under: Laptops

Us geeks seem to be a magnet for accumulating electronic crap. As we keep buying more and more gadgetry, our stockpile of unused electronic equipment becomes higher and higher. And of course, we can’t just throw out the excess. It would be way too much of a waste.

The good news is that if you have a bit of an arts and crafts edge to your geekiness. there are some pretty cool ways to use the old electronic equipment to create new pieces of recycled art. These awesome animal sculptures are all the proof we need to excuse our pack-rat ways.

Designer Anna Smith has mastered the art of taking broken and left-over electronic equipment and creating something beautiful and innovative. The techy feel of these animal sculptures gives the art pieces a undeniable Steampunk edge which is hard for any geek to ignore.

We don’t have to resort to the trash bin for our unused treasures. There are other ways to go about it. And these sculptures are a perfect excuse to use when our housemates display their dismay with our ever growing collection of junk treasure. You can grab your own sculpture over at Etsy for varying prices depending on the model.

Product Page via The Design Blog

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Featuring 3-phase operation with three automatic cycles of 60/70/120 seconds, Electrolux Hood Type WT65 Series Ware Washer eases you off the tiring dish cleaning task in the kitchen. Unlike other dishwashers, this dishwasher from Electrolux cleans your dishes with hygiene. Its electronic controls can be adjusted according to your needs. Electrolux Hood Type WT65 Series Ware Washer is just perfect to be used in homes, nursing homes or restaurants.

Features

• 2 HP wash pump.
• Automatic self-cleaning after use.
• Heavy-duty stainless steel construction.
• Maximum capacity of 60 racks per hour.
• Double skinned hood construction with sound insulation for quiet operation.

Electrolux Hood Type WT65 Series Ware Washer comes with built-in booster heater sized to raise incoming 120 degree F water to 180 degree F minimum for sanitizing rinse. Moreover, it equips automatic drain pump, built-in detergent and rinse aid dispenser. Electrolux Hood Type WT65 Series Ware Washer requires only 1 gallon of water per rack. Its specially designed stainless steel nozzles provide superior cleaning action.

Source: Electrolux

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LG Electronics, world’s leading makers of cell phones, has come up with an amazing cell phone that offers advanced look as well as features to die for. As the name suggests, LG Verizon CHOCOLATE - BLUE ICE sports an attractive blue color body to give you a stylish look. Capture great images with the 1.3 mega pixel camera of LG Verizon CHOCOLATE - BLUE ICE that can be zoomed up to 2x.

Features

• Navigation Wheel.
• Touch Keypad with Vibration Feedback.
• Bluetooth Capable.
• Music Player with Dedicated Key.

LG Verizon CHOCOLATE - BLUE ICE lets you choose customizable sound effects and player themes. It comes with powerful speakers for music and also has a dedicated music key for easy access. LG Verizon CHOCOLATE - BLUE ICE comes with microSD Memory Port and enables you to store all your favorite music, photos and games.

Price and Availability

LG Verizon CHOCOLATE - BLUE ICE is available at a price of $ 299.99.

Source : LG

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We saw those demo pages come up recently for both of the new E-series devices from Nokia, which told us nothing more than to expect a release announcement coming soon. While the official word coming from Nokia is still limited to a solid no comment, industry sources are calling for a release as early as June 16, which is next week.

Both the E66 and E71 will feature a GPS as well as a 3.2-megapixel camera. The E66 is a slider style handset, while the E71 has a more traditional smartphone style with a full QWERTY keyboard.

Also, as we expected, the E66 and E71 demo pages have already been pulled, but save those links because they are likely to be up in time for Monday’s expected release.

Read [Yahoo! News]

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Although hd dvd has conceded defeat in the race to become the high definition successor of the DVD, and left the path open for Blu-ray, its still not been an easy going to convince consumers that they need to invest in this next generation disc format. In a situation that is reminiscent of the DVD growth over VHS, only 1 in 10 people are currently intending to invest in a Blu-ray player.

After news that Blu-ray players are becoming significantly cheaper, the news also surfaces that only 9% of HD TV owners are planning to buy a Blu-ray player. This is nothing if not surprising, as one would have thought that if you were to spend $2000 on a new HD TV, you would want to be able to play HD movies.

This is following comments from Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD, that not only stated the above, but also stated that 6% of people without an HD TV are considering buying a Blu-ray player. Although this does not sound like much, it is a bizarre figure if you consider that those 6% wont be able to use their new Blu-ray player to its intended capacity.

Having said that, the figures are much higher than the DVD was at this stage in its development, and if 9% of the 40 million HD TV owners in the US invest in this new technology than a cool 4 million units will be sold in the next year, not a bad figure by any stretch of the imagination, but still not anywhere near that total they were hoping for.

Read [NPD]

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FROM APPLETELL - Starting today at around 9:45 a.m. PST (12:45 p.m. EST), Appletell will be running a live blog with commentary on the announcements coming out of the Moscone Center. We’ve covered the Mac OS X rumors, we’ve analyzed the iphone leaks, and now our team’s ready to go with the real… MORE »

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