Filed under: Displays, Gaming
Price fixing isn’t ever fun — unless you’re the company doing it and expect to get away with it, and then it’s like a total blast, dude. But hopefully that isn’t actually the case with Sharp and Hitachi, whose offices were apparently raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of fixing display prices for the DS; Nintendo’s throw its hands up in the air exclaiming that it was unaware of the supposed screen cartel, and something else about just when they thought were out, they got pulled back in.
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Filed under: Robots
So the military is continuing down the totally inevitable path of computer-controlled autonomous robo-warriors capable of fighting deadly human battles on our behalf — and out come the naysayers like U of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey, who, at The Ethics of Autonomous Military Systems conference in London, decried the bots’ self-determined killing abilities as “a threat to humanity” — especially if they’re captured and re-purposed by terrorists to do their evil bidding. Sharkey exclaimed that he’s “worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies [him],” but — and we’re just gonna throw this out there — what if being oppressed by a race of automatons run amok were actually an improvement over our corrupt governments of men? Isn’t that a possibility, too? We’re certainly going to keep telling ourselves it is, thankful we’ve somehow managed to not be overthrown by our own creations. Thus far.
P.S. -We dare you, commenters, NOT to bust out the welcoming our robot overlords cliché.
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Last week, HD DVD was unceremoniously exiled to the Island of Misfit Toys. This high-definition video format, which movie studios and electronics manufacturers rejected in favor of the competing Blu-ray disc, will have plenty of company there.
Filed under: Digital Cameras
It hasn’t even been a full month since Panasonic’s PMA lineup was revealed, but the folks over at PhotographyBLOG have already had a chance to put the succulent Lumix DMC-FS20 through a series of paces. Upon whipping this shooter out, it was immediately praised for having a 4x wide-angle zoom and and a very pocket-friendly design, and thankfully for those looking into picking one up, the good news didn’t stop there. Small niggles such as the lack of a true optical viewfinder and noticeable noise at high ISOs were overshadowed with buckets of compliments. Put simply, the cam was seen as “almost identical to the FX55” (albeit at a lower price point), and overall, it managed to snag 4.5 out of 5 twinkling stars from the powers that be.
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Filed under: Laptops
As the Penryn updates slow to a trickle, Dell is looking out for one remaining straggler by updating the potent Precision M6300 workstation. Starting today, users can select either the 2.6GHz T9500 Core 2 Duo or the drool-worthy 2.8GHz X9000 Core 2 Extreme, but curiously enough, only the T9500 is listed as an option ($370 upgrade over the base T7500) when entering the US configuration site. Nevertheless, we reckon Dell will have that sorted soon enough, and while you’re ordering, why not indulge in the 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M, too? It’s only an extra $699, after all.
[Via Electronista]
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Filed under: Wireless, Storage, Networking
According to AppleInsider, it sounds like Time Capsule customers’ orders are in the crucial “preparing to ship” phase about now, meaning credit cards are being charged and units will be loaded onto trucks for distribution as early as tomorrow for some. Apple still hasn’t said anything officially about shipping though; just don’t be too surprised units start showing up shortly at your doorstep or in your local Apple store.
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Filed under: Displays
Texas Instruments and
others have been touting mini (or
pico) projectors without hesitation as of late, but it seems that not everyone is quite so excited about them, with some folks now even warning about a number of potential dangers. One of those naysayers is Future Laboratory founder Martin Raymond, who told the BBC that while the projectors (likely to be used primarily in cellphones) are “appealing initially,” he has concerns about the devices causing
“visual pollution,” adding that there could be “inappropriate showing of things that maybe other people shouldn’t be seeing.” Needless to say, he also foresees new laws and legislation controlling the use of the technology. No matter how things shake out, however, the one thing that seems clear is that the humble laser pointer will soon be about as antiquated as the spitball when it comes to juvenile means of public embarrassment.
[Via About Projectors]
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Filed under: Cellphones
Although we’d been hearing that Apple had slowed down iPhone production, the company is still on track to hit its goal of selling 10m units this year, according to COO Tim Cook. Cook, speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor’s conference in Vegas, also said that “Apple is not married to the single, exclusive-carrier model,” and that Apple is open to new ways of selling the iPhone. That’s an interesting change in tone from the usual “we need carrier relationships to make things like Visual Voicemail work” lines we’ve heard, but it’s necessarily out of the blue — we’re tempted to say Apple’s relatively hands-off approach to unlockers and jailbreakers is actually a direct result of that attitude. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything’s going to change in the States soon, since AT&T has that five-year exclusive deal, but it could mean interesting things are in store elsewhere.
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Filed under: Digital Cameras, GPS
While we wait patiently for camera manufacturers to realize that geotagging is a much more compelling feature than yet another megapixel, we’ll be building this DIY GPS attachment for the Nikon D200 instead. Just like the $400 GeoPic II, the box is based on a SiRF Star III chip, but since you’re building it yourself, you’ll wind up shelling out less than $100. While you’ll need a steady hand and a bit of soldering skill, it doesn’t look too hard to put together — so what are you waiting for? Instructions at the read link.
[Via Make]
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Filed under: Laptops
Although we’d been told that the hot Asus U2E ultraportable was delayed so the company could launch several products at once, it looks like the crew at PC Perspective managed to get their hands on one and do the requisite unboxing. No word on how the lil’ scamp runs with that ULV Core Duo, but it looks just as slick as ever, and we’re digging that satchel case it comes with — check it all out at the read link.
[Thanks, Ryan]
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