Gadgets Base

Posted Feb 28th 2008 2:33AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Displays, GamingPrice 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.

The humble cylindrical shape of the soda can has for many years ‘done what is says on the tin’ (excuse the pun). But fortunately some smart people at Neux Corp have decided that it can now be used to contain the wonder of portable audio. The NXMP324 supports MP3, WMA, WMV, WAV and ASF file formats with ID3 tags and lyrics display.

Other, perhaps unexpected features, as any “feature” would be expected from a tin can, include an FM radio, voice recorder, OLED screen and 7 EQ settings. The device comes with either 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of memory and is available in your choice of blue or red.

Via [PMP Today]

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Asus is launching their ZX1 touch screen phone which will be branded by Lamborghini. It will run the Windows Mobile 6 Pro (probably 6.1) when it arrives and feature a full touch screen which will be a completely flat display integrated in to the housing just like an iphone. On the connectivity side we will see 3G data support, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and it will be powered by a 520MHz Qualcomm processor.

With the ZX1 being branded by Lamborghini this means you will see the regular Lambborghini colours for the casing of the phone which I assume will be yellow and black. However, I do hope that an equivalent of the ZX1 will hit the market with out the Lamborghini brand as it seems that the
famous badge is only there to increase the price for no real reason.

The phone will be launched in Europe during the summer and without a contract it will set you back 650 EUR ($981 USD at today’s exchange rate). With contract you can expect the price to be greatly reduced.

There are no actual picture of the Asus ZX1 yet. The one up above is just a mock up from an older Asus phone.

Via: Unwiredview

Guest post by Matthew of Gadget Venue

How many of you US citizens have actually traveled the length and breadth of your huge country? Not too many hands, I see. Well take the Glowing Pegs US Travel Map as an indicator of all the states you have visited (or have yet to).

This is the wall map that uses multi-colored translucent pegs that glow when inserted into the maps back-lit surface, dramatically illuminating your cross-country family drives and dream destinations. The map is lit by a 32-watt bulb inside a black hardwood frame and light box that only extends 3″ from a wall. The map is made by Rand McNally, renowned cartographers since 1856, and depicts a 1″:1,000 mile scale version of the US. Color-matching relief show topographical changes. The map comes with 60 light pegs (10 each in six colors), allowing for a variety of different location classifications, such as places traveled, desired vacations, and more. Includes a hole punching tool and two white pegs to patch mistakes. 6′ cord plugs into AC.

Well, this is definitely a visual reminder of letting you know just how many states you have left to visit, or visited - depending on what you want the lighted pegs to represent. $249.95 to show off to visitors on just how well-traveled you are.

Okay so you may think your new 42-inch LCD with HD is the cream of the crop, but Samsung’s new commercial monitor sports a whopping 82-inch display. The Syncmaster 820DXN comes with ‘ultra-high’ brightness settings, a 5000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and their own technology to ensure it is like nothing you have ever watched a movie on before.

Best of all, it has an onboard computer with a 1.6GHz Athlon4 X2 3400+, 4GB flash storage space, 512MB RAM, ATI graphics and runs Windows XP. Not bad, I hear you say? Well quality doesn’t come cheap. Yes the $76,999 price tag may send shivers down people’s spines, but this wasn’t designed with the average consumer in mind, actually we are not sure who it was designed with in mind. Perhaps it will justify buying a Goldmund DVD player to complete the set-up.

Via [Engadget]

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Posted Feb 27th 2008 9:46PM by Ryan Block
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.

Posted Feb 27th 2008 11:41PM by Darren Murph
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.

Posted Feb 27th 2008 8:26PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: cellphonesAlthough 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.

Let’s face it, most cellphones are now marketed with strange and wonderful features (making calls is barely even mentioned anymore), and the Fly MC100 is no exception. While you may have thought the games on cellphones have not advanced recently, this handset will prove you wrong. It is like no other because it can emulate the old-school consoles to run NES, SNES, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color games. Now Mario, Sonic, Streetfighter, Tetris and Pokemon can be loaded onto the same device that offers you a QVGA display, Yamaha audio chipset, multimedia player, email, 2-megapixel camera, microSD expansion and an FM radio.

Okay I’m not 100% sure whether the emulation of Nintendo games is exactly legal or going to cause copyright infringements but there’s no doubting that the phone looks very charming. It retails for around $270.

Product [Fly-Phone] Via [Mobile Mag]

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Sony seems to be dipping their fingers in just about every segment of consumer electronics, including the personal navigation device (PND) market. The Japanese company has just announced a couple of new models known as the NV-U73T and NV-U83T which are readily available at retail and online stores for approximately $300 and $400, respectively. If you have used any type of PNDs before, you would notice that they all offer pretty much the same features, and it is no different with these two Sony offerings. They feature text-to-speech voice commands and real-time-traffic capability and a super suction cup mounting system that is said to provide added safety - by not dropping down while you drive I guess.

More on the suction cup according to Sony’s press release.

Sony’s new super suction cup comes with both models. It is easy to mount on the windshield or dashboard, providing a tight, stable attachment. Made with a flexible non-adhesive gel, it grips the rugged surface of the dashboard so the touch screen can be mounted closer for an easier reach. Designed to stay put even in the most extreme temperatures, the super suction cup can also be easily removed and transferred to another vehicle.

The high end NV-U83T model also ships with Bluetooth connectivity that enables you to handle incoming calls on your cell phone without having to lift your hands off the steering wheel. The built-in microphone makes it a snap to carry out crystal clear conversations, while drivers will be able to use voice commands to initiate calls through compatible Bluetooth-enabled cell phones. Don’t worry about configuring the connection since the nav-u system is smart enough to do so automatically, leaving you to concentrate on more important stuff such as navigating through traffic safely.

Press Release