Best Gadgets World

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 8:05PMThe folks at EFiX don’t exactly have the best record of sticking to promised release dates, but the company’s CEO and lead engineer, Wilhelm von Vnukov, now tells us that the V2 edition of the OSX-installing device for desktop PCs will be available on Monday (July 7th), “I think,” with the V1 version set to follow three to four weeks later (still no word on the promised device for laptops). According to the website, the only difference between the two is the addition for support of “several motherboards” on the V2, as well as “experimental support for some prototype motherboards.” What’s more, the company has also now confirmed that the price for the initial batch will be €80 (or about $125), although availability seems to be confined to Taiwan and Bulgaria at the moment, with a number of other countries (including the United States) listed as being “in negotiation.” The company is also promiising that the price will be substantially lower once the device enters mass production, although it’s unsurprisingly not making any promises as to when that might happen.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

If you haven’t yet voted for our latest coolest gadget of the week, now would be a good time, as many regular readers took a day off yesterday so the odds are more in your favor to win the $50.

If you need to keep any door open here’s likely the most appropriate door stop, a giant key, simply ingenious (that may be going a bit far).

You can buy the key doorstop for ~$13 from Latest Buy.

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by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 5:44PM
Engadget HD has gotten the latest on the highly anticipated update for Vista Media Center and it doesn’t look good. The first release candidate made it into testers hands recently and they weren’t happy to see that the most anticipated features — support for a DirecTV HD tuner and native H.264 support — got pushed to Windows 7. So head over to Engadget HD for more details (screen shots included).

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Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 4:06PM
Don’t deny it — you totally blew the original Duct Tape Server off as some one-off project created after a hard night of truth or dare, but the DTS team is out to prove that this here is no fad. Just this week the DTS II (that’s Duct Tape Server II for those who prefer things broken down) was introduced shortly after DTS I came unglued. Reportedly, this unit will be on server row at MillionManLan and will pack a 2.2GHz Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a few fans to keep things breezy. Hit up the read link for a slew of build shots, and click on through for a quick video.

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Filed under: Desktops

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 4th 2008 at 6:09PM
An external graphics card that’s actually nearing release? Be still our hearts! Fujitsu Siemens’ recently leaked external unit, which will be based on ATI XGP technology, is actually really, really close to hitting retail — according to a piece over at Fudzilla, anyway. Slated to be titled Lasso, the RV670-based device should be more than enough to handle basic tasks, but unfortunately, benchmarks were off limits. On the upside, digital photography was not, so head on down to the read link for a few more snaps.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Asus has officially unveiled their latest netbook in the Eee PC lineup, the Eee PC 904, however although it is expected to be available soon, they have not announced a specific date.

The 904, seems at least to me, just another small notebook to wear the Eee brand. The specs are pretty much what we have been seeing before and nothing really stands out all that much. The Eee PC 904 will feature an 8.9-inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 900MHz Celeron M processor, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive and running Windows XP.

There is one nicer feature on the 904, and that is the keyboard, which is the slightly larger layout that is taken from the Eee PC 1000.

The Eee PC 904 will retail for £269 (around $535 US) and will be available in mid-July.

Via [TechRadar]

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Asus has officially unveiled their latest netbook in the Eee PC lineup, the Eee PC 904, however although it is expected to be available soon, they have not announced a specific date.

The 904, seems at least to me, just another small notebook to wear the Eee brand. The specs are pretty much what we have been seeing before and nothing really stands out all that much. The Eee PC 904 will feature an 8.9-inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 900MHz Celeron M processor, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive and running Windows XP.

There is one nicer feature on the 904, and that is the keyboard, which is the slightly larger layout that is taken from the Eee PC 1000.

The Eee PC 904 will retail for £269 (around $535 US) and will be available in mid-July.

Via [TechRadar]

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Filed in archive Tip by jim on July 05, 2008

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Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Mark Goddard

Taking baby pictures is something I haven't done very often and, in fact, the last time I did it was with a film camera.

So it's time to check out what others are doing with their digital cameras and babies.

The article I found has quite a few very innovative ideas in it including the use of "macro" for baby pictures.

Now I know that babies are tiny, but I never would have thought of using the macro setting for people pictures, but this digital photographer has some great ideas for using macro.

Check out this article about digital baby pictures and then find, or make a baby, and try these techniques.

It should be fun.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Another newly leaked Sony Ericsson handset, this time it is the successor to the W580, which is dubbed the W595 and comes with a codename of Linda has just surfaced courtesy of Le Journal du Geek.

The W595 is a slider style Walkman handset and will feature an FM radio, the Walkman 3 player and will be running the A2 software platform. Similar to some other recent Sony Ericsson handsets the W595 will include Google Maps pre-installed and also have a 3-dimensional accelerometer.

While SE has been quite on the release date for the W595, it is rumored to be announced during July. Aside from the model pictured, it is also expected that it will be available in a red and white colored model.

Read [Le Journal du Geek] Via [se-nse]

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For many people just getting into digital photography, the world of photo editing can seem a tad overwhelming. Hewlett Packard offers some help in the foray through the forest of editing your precious snapshots and helping you turn them into all they can be, even if it didn’t happen exactly the way you wanted right from the camera.

The Adobe Photoshop program, a perennial favorite among many photographers is rather tried and true. It’s used by everyone from magazine layout staff and professionals to the Joe Schmoe who captured his son playing flag football at the weekend game. However, if you are first wading into the waters of photo editing…granted, the program may seem a little daunting, especially for those not familiar with any kind of editing or publishing software.

The capabilities of Photoshop are amazingly wide-ranged. You can do the simple crop/adjust color/brightness/contrast etc, all the way to applying different photo filters to your pictures after you shoot them. Layer photos, create collages, Photoshop even offers something called “PS Actions” which is just full of nifty little photo tricks. And the best thing about taking the free online course is that you don’t have to figure out all the buttons on your own. You have an instructor walking you through it showing you how to use the program’s features.

Right now, HP is offering a totally free class on Adobe Photoshop.  Enrollment runs from July 4 through July 31, and the class ends August 8, 2008. Previous students ranked the course 4 out of 5 stars. You can sign up for the course by going to the HP website.

Read [HP]

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