Filed under: Cellphones
What do you get when you cross LG’s Shine slider and Viewty full touchscreen candybar? If you guessed the “Vine” or the “Shewty,” well… no, you’d be wrong. If this ad posted over on Howard Forums turns out to be legit, you’d actually end up with the “Glimmer,” a phone that appears destined for Alltel (of all carriers) that combines a 2.8 inch capacitive touch display, numeric slider, 2 megapixel cam with flash, microSD slot, Bluetooth, and EV-DO. It’s unknown when the rather attractive metal-clad piece might launch, but the existence of prepared advertising leads us to believe it could be sooner rather than later, putting Alltel in the rare and enviable position of one-upping its larger counterparts with unique hardware. The Venus proves that the touch / slide hybrid concept can work, so don’t be shy, Alltel, bring it on.
[Thanks, Bradley]
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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
When CES 2007 came around, a good portion of the US stopped and thanked their lucky stars as MediaGate’s fairly well-spec’d lineup finally came stateside. Now, the same firm is introducing the MG-350HD’s (pictured) successor, the MG-450HD. Said entertainment server enables owners to wirelessly stream HD video, music, and other media to an HDTV or stereo from their PC, and it also fetches content from networked hard drives and locally attached USB drives. Unfortunately, this one caps out at 802.11g, but it does include HDMI, optical / coaxial digital audio outs and Ethernet to boot. At $249, it’s still a bit more expensive than Popcorn Hour’s highly praised A-100, but loyalists probably won’t mind.
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Filed under: Gaming
This hack is neither cheap nor easy, but if for some reason you just have to pull off a feat of
Guitar Hero virtuosity but lack the necessary skill, the folks at SYSTM have now provided details on how to automate the controller so you never miss a note. At the heart of the hack is a so-called “show control system,” which runs a hefty $210 but will let you program all the necessary strums and button presses with some seemingly not to difficult to use software. Of course, there’s also the little matter of cracking open the guitar and wiring everything up, but we’re guessing that won’t be much of a problem for anyone actually still considering the hack. If that includes you, you can get the complete rundown in video form at the link below.
[Via Hack n Mod, thanks Nick L]
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Filed under: Desktops
There’s certainly no shortage of companies out there touting their own ready-made green PCs, but if that’s not your thing, the ever-helpful folks at Ars Technica have now let loose a guide for building your own. As you might expect, there’s no shortage of compromises involved in this particular endeavor, although Ars has at least laid out a pair of different options to accommodate different needs, including a Green Gaming Box and an Extreme Green Box. All told, that former option will run you just over $1,000, with one of the biggest energy-saving trade-offs coming from the video card (a Radeon HD 3850) which, as we all know, is one of the biggest power hogs in any system. The Extreme Green Box, on the other hand, pushes things up past the $1,400 mark, and includes no-comprise options like a VIA C7 processor, integrated graphics and, of course, a 32GB SSD drive (which is obviously responsible for a huge chunk of that total cost). Needless to say, Ars thinks you’ll have to make fewer such compromises in the not too distant future, what with things like cheaper SSD drives and VIA’s low-power, high-performance Isaiah processor on the horizon.
[Via Slashdot]
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Filed under: Desktops
If Stealth Computer’s LPC-450 was just a bit too diminutive for your tastes, you’ll be thrilled to know that the latest flavor has been opened up a bit to make room for a PCI card of your choosing. As was the case with the LPC-350PCI Little PC, this iteration includes PCI expansion slot capability along with a Core 2 Duo processor and an anodized aluminum chassis that could probably be dropped from the rear of a moving truck sans issue. Additionally, you’ll find Ethernet, USB (x3), FireWire, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, a 160GB hard drive (or an SSD, if you choose) and an optional DVD burner to boot. Seems as if these are made to be customized, so feel free to give Stealth a ring if you’re interested in claiming one as your own.
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Filed under: Digital Cameras
Oddly, it turns out the photos floating around of the DSC-W300 really don’t do the megapixel-packing slim point and shoot justice. That finish actually looks pretty good in real life, although the lens protrusion was a little puzzling. And, of course, the DSC-H50 is a hefty, solid feeling bugger, not unlike what you’d expect from the H-series. Hit the photos below, it shouldn’t be too long before the camera sites post their reviews.
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Filed under: Desktops
While one generally associates “Everex” with “bargain basement,” we can’t exactly see the incredible value in the gPC mini. Hinted at late last month, this minuscule desktop is now getting all official on us and comes loaded with a 1.83GHz T2130 processor, 120GB hard drive, 512MB DDR2 RAM, a DVD writer and Intel’s GMA950 graphics set. Furthermore, it’s packin’ gigabit Ethernet, DVI / S-Video outs, FireWire, four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 multicard reader and audio / in out. Granted, you’ll have to deal with the gOS that comes loaded in, but hey, maybe that’s not such a thorn in some folks’ sides, anyway. Don’t worry, you’ve got until March 1st to mull it over, after which you can (hopefully) place your order at NewEgg.
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Filed under: Laptops
HP apparently wasn’t kidding when it said it expected people to buy that hot new UMPC 2133 sub-notebook “without a thought“: DigiTimes is now reporting that the company has contracted Wistron to crank out two million units this year. That’s an astonishingly high number — almost 10 percent of HP’s worldwide laptop sales last year — and even wilder compared to the EeePC, which completely blew away expectations by selling 350,000 units worldwide last quarter, or Samsung’s Q1, which has only moved a couple hundred thousand in two years on the market. Sure, the 2133 looks sexy as hell, but at a rumored $630, HP’s going to have to put some serious sales muscle behind this guy to move that many — it’s just slightly too expensive to be an accessory, and probably way too underpowered to be your primary machine. On the other hand, while this is just a rumor and could be totally wrong, we’d actually like to think HP has a product so good it’s going to to roll the dice a little. Guess we’ll find out soon enough, eh?
[Via jkOnTheRun]
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Filed under: Laptops
Just in case you feared that Walt Mossberg was out on some sort of limb when he proclaimed that the X300 would satisfy road warriors everywhere, we’ve sourced some other reviews from across the intarwebz to ease your mind. Lenovo’s über-stealthy ultraportable, which officially went on sale today, managed to impress one critic after another, with the biggest complaints coming from the high starting price tag, omission of a DVI port and somewhat sluggish performance — which are pretty much expected given the form factor. Outside of that, everyone was practically in love, with praises addressing the delightful keyboard, integrated WWAN and overall usability of such a minuscule machine. But hey, don’t take our word for it — check out the reviews below in full before you cough up your $2,500 (or more), cool?
Read - PCPro (5 out of 6 shiny stars)
Read - CNET (8.5 out of 10 golden trinkets)
Read - Notebook Review (”big thumbs up”)
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A year ago, we featured a prototype for Emotibles in our ‘hot pick’ (http://www.thecoolhunter.net)
section and boy, were they ever a hot pick! Following the buzz,
husband and wife team Jonathan and Kate Hall - the brains behind
the product - decided to roll with the project. They have not looked
back since. Even the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12wwln-consumed-t.html?_r=2 oref=slogin oref=slogin) featured them based on the impact we created.
So what is the hype all about? Huge with the teenage market, Emotibles (http://www.emotibles.com/) are
essentially accessories for accessories. We all love to customize so
think of these as the Spokey Dokes for the screenager generation.
Emotibles are marketed as “expressive charms to snazz up those boring,
white, everywhere-ad-nauseam iPod earbuds.” The Halls based their
emotive characters fittingly on emoticons and have expanded the line by
featuring them on baby tees and post-its.
As with all popular ideas, other players quickly pop up. So, now we introduce to you Budclicks (http://www.budclicks.com/).
It is essentially the same concept, this time aimed at a slightly
broader demographic. The team at Budclicks has thought of everything
from cutesy flowers, to indie-kid skulls, to representing your
candidate with ‘polito-clicks’, because campaign buttons are soo last
year, baby. By Brendan McKnight
