Best Gadgets World

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 10:19AM
Intel is looking to simplify things by adding more processors. Yeah, doesn’t sound all that sensible to us, ether, but stay put. Okay. Ready for some acronyms? Their just-announced EP80579 Integrated Processor features a system on a chip design that integrate the Pentium M core with a Memory Controller Hub (MCH), I/O hub (ICH) and data path acceleration engines (among other things dependent upon model). They believe these new Integrated Architecture (IA) chips will simplify consumer electronics like set-top boxes and MIDs due to their consolidated design that will reduce incompatibility issues. Intel also says portable devices will benefit from the new processors’ energy efficiency. Speeds run from 600MHz on up to 1.2GHz and all sport a 256KB L2 cache. As for when this new tech will end up in your cable box or MID, no news on that just yet. In other words, don’t call your provider just yet.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops, Media PCs

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 1:22PM
We’ve already gotten word of most of the details of Samsung’s i8510 INNOV8 (get it?) smartphone, but things just got a whole lot more official for the device in Europe and, coincidentally, a number of sites recently got to spend some time with the phone in NYC (despite the lack of an official US release). Of course, there’s not a whole lot of surprises to be found, but it certainly seems like the phone will get the job done and then some, with its built in camera not only boasting an impressive 8 megapixels, but auto-focus, image stabilization, and a flash as well. The rest of the specs aren’t too shabby either. Head on past the break to check out one video of the device courtesy of MobileBurn, and be sure to hit up the Laptop Mag link below for a second, higher-quality look at it.

Read - Press Release
Read - MobileBurn, “Samsung’s i8510 Innov8 S60 smartphone”
Read - Laptop Mag, “Hands-on with the Samsung i8510″

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Filed under: cellphones

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 8:54AM
While Sony’s Reader has never received the enormous press or enjoyed the supposed whirlwind sales of Amazon’s Kindle e-book, and is certainly lacking in, erm, EV-DOness, the Reader is about to get one trick the Kindle doesn’t have yet: openness. Sony will be shooting out an update on Thursday to allow the Reader to use purchased books in the protected EPUB format from whoever is peddling them, instead of being tied to the Sony’s e-book store, or just DRM-free text and PDF documents. That openness should help Sony beef up its selection — which is lagging behind Amazon’s — and will hopefully mark a bit of a turning point in the e-book market to more standards and, more importantly, more books.

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Filed under: Handhelds

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 2:59PM
Baby steps. When it comes to Palm’s mainstream businessphone line, that seems to be the name of the game, and the new Treo 800w is certainly no exception to the rule. So is it new enough, advanced enough, and badass enough to do the duty while still being sufficiently incremental to satisfy even the most easily-agitated suit? Engadget Mobile reveals all in the full review, so click on!

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 12:25PM
We’re almost totally over the whole netbook craze, but Toshiba’s latest prototype shows there’s still interesting things possible, even if it isn’t a traditional laptop. The 5.6-inch touchscreen handheld runs Vista on Intel’s Atom processor with a 64GB SSD and a GPS chip — which like an awfully expensive setup, but Toshiba says they’re aiming for netbook pricing. Of course, that means almost nothing, since netbooks are all over the map — and that probably explains why Tosh says it’s identified “six or seven” segments of the netbook / UMPC market, and that it might not compete directly with Eee-class machines. Sure — but isn’t an expensive handheld touchscreen netbook just a straight UMPC? Nice try, guys.

[Thanks, Pete]

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Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

There’s nothing that I love more than covering new concept gadgets, and this is one of the coolest that I have ever seen.

Introducing the ball-shaped PC from designer Apostol Tnokovski. This PC ball is a 6-inch orb, that is said to be the smallest PC ever made. This is assuming that it has been made. Some of these pictures that I’ve seen of it (including the one here) look a little CG to me, but these days, you can hardly tell.

The PC ball has legs that fold out, and remind me of the droidikas from Star Wars: The Phantom Menance. (Speaking of CG) As for the keyboard, it is one of those laser keyboards that I have seen before on other applications. As for the mouse, it is a pop-out job that affixes to ball.

The display is a projector that can put the screen on any flat surface. In fact, there is a holder that can clamp onto a piece of paper, in case a flat surface is not available.

I always like it when new concepts come out, but I always wonder how they will change things if they ever become reality. For example, how will this change laptop cases? Perhaps people will carry around cases that look like bowling-ball carriers.

Source

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Pretty much all of us have heard that we should really unplug our electronics when they aren’t in use.  Several issues arise with that, one of them being later you have to search around for the plug and pray your cat didn’t use it as a toy.  Well this design by Paulo Oh addresses that specific issue.  They have designed the Hang On outlet to keep your plug up against the outlet even when it’s  unplugged.  Which means less hassle for you.

Granted this does nothing for the fact that the plug-in is located in the hardest to reach spot.  The one where you end up practically throwing out your back to actually get to it.  Those are the ones that we end up deciding maybe it’ll just kill off the bad parts of the environment.  Like maybe it will end up heating the world up so that all the poison ivy dies off.  Whether or not it’s true is besides the point.  As of now, this outlet is still a design, so no word on pricing or availability.

Source: yanko

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Samsung aims to launch a serious assault in the world of LCD HDTVs (not that they already aren’t trying their darndest best at the moment) with the new Series 9 LED LCD HDTVs. This flagship line is the second generation LCD HDTV from Samsung to utilize LED SmartLighting technology which merges both LED and 120Hz technologies for some truly stunning specifications and performance in the living room. More of these features will be listed down in detail after the jump, but to kickstart the entire new range, we will cover a couple of models - the 46″ and 54″ in this post.

As Samsung’s second generation LCD HDTV to use advanced LED SmartLighting with local dimming technology, the Series 9 LCD HDTV is able to achieve dramatic contrast levels and express “actual black levels” by completely shutting off a pixel’s light source, eliminating the grayish black picture plaguing many LCD HDTVs. Conversely, groups of pixels can be locally controlled to produce more light increasing the brightness of the Series 9’s picture when necessary. Furthering the Series 9’s ability to show deeper black levels, Samsung’s improved Ultra Clear Panel technology eliminates ambient light reflection that may affect picture quality, ensuring perfect picture clarity even in bright viewing surroundings. By enhancing color reproduction level, Samsung’s Ultra Clear Panel technology also lets consumers enjoy the detail and vibrancy of colors. Adding to the superior picture quality in the Series 9 is Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology that reduces the motion blur caused by fast-paced content. It’s ideal for diehard sport fans, avid gamers, and movie mavens alike.

Specifications of the Series 9 950 LED LCD HDTV include :-

• 46″ and 55″ screen sizes
• Full HD 1080p resolution
• 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
• 4ms response time
• LED SmartLighting technology
• Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology
• UltraClear Panel
• Wide Color Enhancer 2
• DNIe Pro (Digital Natural Imaging engine) technology
• 46”: 10-watts per channel, 2 channels
• 55”: 15 watts per channel, 2 channels
• 4 HDMI (HDMI-CEC) version 1.3 inputs (3 rear, 1 side)
• 1 side USB 2.0 port (WiseLink Pro)
• 2 component inputs
• 1 composite input
• 1 S-Video input
• 1 PC input
• 1 Headphone jack
• 1 Ethernet connection (for InfoLink, and DLNA connectivity only)

You can pick up the 46” and 55” models for $3,199.99 and $4,199.99, respectively.

Press Release

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In spite of the fact that I do tend to favor modern technology, I also do miss those times when I used to write notes in class to pass around or send letters to friends in other countries. The Zpen can provide some sort of a hybrid between personalization and technology.

Zpen has the capability to record your pen strokes right down to the dot in the letter “i.” All you have to do is clip the received on top of a pad of paper where you will write on and everything gets recorded. By everything, I meant even doodles and drawings, not just words or letters. You just plug the device onto a free USB port in your computer ans transfer your heartfelt letter onto the computer to be emailed or shared with the world. If you just use Zpen to scrawl ideas or parts of your novel while away from your computer, and your handwriting sucks, you can transform it into ordinary computer text once transferred. Great isn’t it? Too bad you have to pony up 99.99 for it, but hey, if you really have a need for it, it might be worth the hole in your pocket.

Zpen @ I Want One of Those

Hitachi has announced the new, full HD-capable DZ-BD10H camcorder for the Japanese market. This camcorder touts a built-in Blu-ray recorder as one of its major selling factors.  But in addition, it also comes equipped with a 7-megapixel 1/2.7 CMOS sensor complemented by a 10x optical zoom. It has a 2.7-inch LCD screen, a 30GB hard drive, HDMI output, face detection functionality and a much needed SD/SDHC slot for storage expansion.

When recording video, users can select from the following five modes of the DZ-BD10H; HX (1920 x 1080) at 15Mbps, HF at 11Mbps, HS at 7.5Mbps, SX at 9Mbps and the LF at 6Mpbs. We also learned that the DZ-BD10H is a the successor of the DZ-BD9H camcorder which was released early this year.

The DZ-BD10H will set you back around $1,480, no word yet on whether or not Hitachi plans to release this camcorder for the international market.

Via [Akihabara News]

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