Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
A ton of supposedly-leaked pre-E3 game info apparently hit the net today; we’ll be directing you to Joystiq for the full skinny, but of particular interest to Engadget readers:
- It looks like Microsoft might be finding some middleground between Nintendo’s Miis and PlayStation 3’s Home personages. Dubbed Avatars (above), they appear to literally look like the result of a tawdry tryst between your Home character and your Mii. For shame!
- That “Lips” project you may have heard about from Microsoft is starting to resemble a Singstar-like “music and singing game,” with two wireless, motion-sensitive mics, an online store, and the added ability to sing to music from CDs or MP3s.
- The Guitar Hero World Tour instrument bundle could go for $180, and might include a “touch-sensitive neck slide” (rockin’). It’s going to take more than that to top Rock Band (and Rock Band 2), though.
- A new Tony Hawk title might just land on Xbox 360 and PS3 with a board-like peripheral (perhaps akin to the Balance Board). We’re hoping you’ll be able to do more with it than faux-skate.
Of course, all of this is still strictly in the rumor pile, so keep your pants on until we hit up E3 and have a chance to sort the fact from fiction.
Read - Xbox 360 Avatars
Read - “Lips” project to take on Singstar
Read - Guitar Hero World Tour gets touch-sensitive guitar
Read - Tony Hawk board incoming?
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Filed under: Desktops
AMD’s second generation FireStream 9250 just broke the single-precision teraflop barrier at the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany. The proc takes advantage of AMD’s GPU expertise to augment the processing power of your rig’s CPU with an additional 8-gigaflops per watt of processing from this 150 watt processor. A 55x performance bump, say developers, when compared to crunching financial analysis code, for example, on a CPU alone. The 9250 Stream fits into a single PCI slot and includes double-precision floating point hardware performing at more than 200 gigaflops. The processor and supporting SDK are due for release in Q3 for $999.
Update: According to TGDaily, the 9250 features ATI’s upcoming RV770 GPU at its core — the foundation of future 4800-series graphics cards. So 4x cards setup in Crossfire X should be capable of offering your next gaming rig an additional 5 Teraflops or power. You know, in theory.
Read — press release
Read — TGDaily
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless
Sony’s new DR-BT140Q A2DP cans look to be Japan-only for the moment, but that won’t stop us from pausing a moment to take a peek. Apparently they get about 12 hours battery life, and their 30mm drivers have a frequency response of 16Hz - 24KHz. White, pink, black, or silver, which will it be?
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Filed under: Cellphones
If you’re apt to believe it, supposedly a regional HTC GM by the name of Kevin Chen flapped his lips about the first Windows Mobile 7 devices launching in Q109 — so between six and nine months from now. We reached HTC, which had no (further) comment on the matter, but everything we’ve seen about 7 so far kind of leads us to believe that 7-based devices launching before next year’s Mobile World Congress sounds a bit premature, even if that doesn’t necessarily jibe with the MWg roadmap (which promised devices possibly even later this year).
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Filed under: Cellphones
According to some slides unearthed over at TreoCentral, it looks like the Verizon Treo 700wx could be an unlikely candidate due for the Windows Mobile 6.0 (not 6.1) treatment. Usually carriers like Verizon won’t bother upgrading devices as old as these with newer versions of their mobile OS — partly to induce future handset purchases — so we’ll have to remain a touch skeptical until such time as the upgrade really does launch.
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Filed under: Cellphones
According to some slides unearthed over at TreoCentral, it looks like the Verizon Treo 700wx could be an unlikely candidate due for the Windows Mobile 6.0 (not 6.1) treatment. Usually carriers like Verizon won’t bother upgrading devices as old as these with newer versions of their mobile OS — partly to induce future handset purchases — so we’ll have to remain a touch skeptical until such time as the upgrade really does launch.
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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming
Hey Mac users, tired of looking longingly at that PC-lovin’ ATI Radeon HD 3870? AMD has teased you long enough, and at long last, the Mac & PC Edition has arrived. This card is optimized for use within Apple’s Mac Pro systems and includes 512MB of GDDR4 RAM, 320 stream processors, PCI Express 2.0 support and twin dual-link DVI ports for treating that pair of 30-inch Cinema HD displays like they ought to be treated. Check the read link for the full list of specifications, and get set to drop $129 when this one lands later this month.
[Via TUAW, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Filed under: Laptops
While Dell is still readying their new Inspiron Studio line of laptops, we’ve gotten a little more on what they’re up to. Although we caught a glimpse before in the roadmap, we now know that personalization is a big push for them; the first line will feature options for permanent “Pictaflex” prints of art by Mike Ming (shown after the break), as well as multiple colors (orange, red, green, purple, pink, blue, etc.) We also know they’ll have higher end features like HDMI, and eSATA in the 1536, as well as WWAN options for Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, hybrid and dual drive options (in the 1735), ATI 3450 and 3650, and NVIDIA 8600M GT graphics (depending on the model).
As for the Studio line itself, it sounds like what we heard before was about right: Dell’s fast-tracking it to be their new higher-end consumer brand (more here and here). Check out their internal description:
“The Studio line is a more feature rich version of the existing Inspiron line. This series of computers features more multimedia functionality, better processor offerings, and more personalization options than the Inspiron series. Dell continues to sell Inspiron systems, but these are now considered our value series computers for customers who prioritize cost above features. … Being able to choose from a series of color options and a wide range of hardware offerings helps personalize each system to the buyer. The Studio series is expected to be the best selling line of notebooks for the Consumer segment.”
Continue reading Even more on Dell’s Studio 1535 / 1536 and the Studio brand
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Filed under: Cellphones
There’s still plenty of emerging details and news on the iPhone 3G kicking around, but here’s what you need to know from the minor bits floating around over the past few days:
- Jobs also told NYT that Apple’s acquisition of PA Semi was, in fact, intended to reduce Apple’s reliance on third-party chip makers. Specifically, he said, “PA Semi is going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods.” So, guess that’s that.
- Per the feature showing up missing on a number of Apple’s international iPhone 3G product pages, iLounge compiled a list of carriers which may or may not planning on implementing visual voicemail. Vodafone in Europe, for example, will not have it at launch, and will delay its rollout until later this year.
- A video of a new iPhone beta build running on live hardware shows videos now in portrait or landscape modes, and includes video playlists. We’ll take it.
- Although DT’s iPhone page reads differently, German paper Welt has it that that T-Mobile Germany will be selling it for €1 — so basically free, not unlike O2’s iPhone 3G launch in the UK.
[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
Read - Jobs mentions PA Semi plans
Read - Visual voicemail support varies from carrier to carrier
Read - Beta build with portrait-mode video
Read - DT releasing it for €1 (see also their iPhone page)
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Filed under: Digital Cameras
We don’t have much to go by, but the image above image might just be the Nikon D90, successor to the well-received D80 — then again, it might be a photoshop, too. (The more we look at it, the more the area in/around the D90 badge looks pretty sloppy.) According to Nikon Rumors, it might be due as early as tomorrow; we’ll let you know if the kit goes from rumor to reality.
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