Gadgets Base

The fact that GPS are becoming more and more ubiquitous on cell phones does not seem to hinder companies like Garmin from churning out navigation units by the dozen. After all, there is a big difference between navigating on your cell phone versus a full-fledged GPS device, which not even the NuviFone can bridge just yet. Fresh off the block from Garmin are four new units in their Nuvi 200 lineup, the “2×5” series, to be specific. Along with MSN Direct for traffic info, these four devices now sport the “HotFix” feature, similar to TomTom’s offering of QuickFix, which enables faster satellite signal acquisition.

Of the foursome, the Nuvi 205 and 205W will come loaded with maps of “contiguous” United States with the Nuvi 255 and 255W provide maps for United States and Canada. A TMC cable can be utilized with all the Nuvi 2×5 units to hook up with traffic services, an option usually found only on higher-end Garmin devices.

These new GPS units will hit the stores in the next couple of months at the following prices; the 205 will retail for $213.32, the 205w for $266.66, the 255 for $319.99 and the 255w for $373.32.

Read [GPS Review]

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Summary

Home theater systems sold as packages can be pretty dull in the looks department. However, KEF unveils its aesthetically pleasurable and fascinating KHT1005.2 Series 5.1 home theater speaker system. The most exciting feature of this home theater is its egg-shaped surround speakers.

Features

The KHT1005.2 series 5.1 theater system includes oval satellite speakers and cubic Kube-1 subwoofer. The satellite speakers come in a high-gloss black finish, and mounting brackets are included in the package. You can place them on a wall and save even more space. The sub comprises of an 8-inch driver and 150-watt Class D amp including cubic dimensions of 11.5 inches tall, deep and wide. The small-footprint satellites have the newest version, of KEF’s Uni-Q drivers used in higher-end products by the brand too.

Price

KEF KHT1005.2 series Egg-Shaped Speakers are available at an ERP of 850 USD.

Source

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Gigabyte has unveiled their latest UMPC, the M700, at CeBIT 2008. While there is no shortage of available UMPC’s right now, there aren’t too many that can combine good looks with decent power. Packing specs that could make even the Cloudbook pale, the device manages to look pretty good in and out with a whopping 2GB of RAM along with a 1.2GHz C7M Via processor. It has a nice 7-inch touchscreen display that can put out resolutions of up to 1024×600 and 40-60GB of disk space, which is more than adequate for something that is supposed to be ultra-mobile. Other than these details and the little tidbit that it runs Vista Home Premium, not much else is known about the M700, but these things don’t usually stay under the wraps for too long, do they? Look for us to bring you more details as they come available.

Read [ubergizmo]

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The Motorola U9 offers a 2.0 megapixel, 8x zoom camera with multi-shot feature as well as the following features:

* Quad-Band (GPRS Class 12/EDGE Class 12)

* 2.0”, QVGA, 262K TFT interior display
* 1.45”, 128 x 160, 65K OLED exteriro diplay
* Touch sensitive music keys
* Music synchronization compatible with Windows Media® Player 11
* Integrated music player
* Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
* USB 2.0
* 25 MB on-board user memory
* optional microSD memory card for up to 4GB of media
* CrystalTalk technology
* Video capture and playback, MPEG 4 3GPP, h.263
* Airplane mode
* Messaging via MMS, SMS, WVIM, EMS 5.04

Google’s got a new potential ace up its sleeve, proving yet again that they really have no intention to step down from the online search game any time soon. While most web masters and blog owners may be familiar with Google’s generosity in lending codes (via customizable Site Search boxes for any web site), this time, the company is taking the concept back to its roots and will give something that’s straight from their heart. Which is, a built-in Site Search feature within the Google search page itself. Above is a screenshot of how it looks like.

Basically, every time you Google a website, such as Wikipedia, the topmost result will have a search box right underneath it (aside from the Google search box on top). And from that little search box, you can type any term or keyword and search the contents of the already Googled web site. For example, let’s say I Googled “wikipedia” and from the search box underneath the topmost result I search for “david.” This will give me results for the keyword “david” from within Wikipedia.org. The syntax for this feature is as follows: [ “keyword” site:”URL or web site address” ]. You can type that up directly in the Google search box right now and you will see similar results with those from the built-in search feature. Confused? You shouldn’t be once you try it for yourself. Scoot on over to Google to go ahead and give it a try. This will be a great new feature once it becomes available for all web sites on the Internet. Currently it looks to be limited to a select few to include “amazon,” “wikipedia” and the “new york times.”

Read [Search Engine Land] Via [CNET]

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Most HDTV buyers know that to receive HD / HDTV channels you need to be able to receive HD programming. Simply owning an HDTV will not enable you to watch HD channels / programming, you can buy a blu-ray player or hd dvd player to watch HD content from discs, but it you want HDTV channels you need to be able to receive them, and apparently only 5% of European HDTV owners receive HD programming.

Just last month ProSieben HD and Sat.1 HD in Germany were shut down untill 2010 due to lack of interest in the HD service. Over here in England the only real way to get HD programming / channels is via Sky HD.

Sky HD box will cost you a one off cost of £199, and £10 a month for the HD programming plus the normal subscription charges. I have recently got Sky HD and am very impressed with the 1080i broadcasting quality.

The same report also suggests that 20% of European homes will have and be watching HD programming by 2012. If you own a HDTV and want to get real HD channels, I suggest you sign up to Sky HD.

Mvix have released their new and improved HD media streamer / media center with the Mvix MX-780HD media center. The new Mx-780HD is much more suited to HD media and HDTV with the inclusion of a HDMI output (1080p) and also a SATA port for connecting up hard drive space.

The Mvix MX-780HD looks very nice with sleek styling and a LCD display on the front, and tons of outputs on the back. There is HDMI 1.2, component, s-video and composite for the video, and RCA, digital coaxial and optical for the audio. Inside the Mvix MX780HD is space for your own 3.5-inch hard disk, and support for wired Ethernet for wireless 802,11b/g/n.

File support of the Mvix MX-780HD is very good with support for many audio and video codes, such as DivX, XviD, AVI, MPEG, MP3 etc. You can use the MX-780HD to stream media from your computer via Ethernet or WiFi, or transfer files via USB, MSC, or set up as a NDAS network drive, and add media to the internal IDE or SATA drive.

A great feature of the Mvix MX-780HD is it’s ability to decode locally so you can have 1080p quality jitter free. There are also two USB ports for connecting up extra external hard disk, flash USB sticks or even a DVD-Rom.

Video Formats: DivX, XviD, DVD (ISO/VOB/IFO), MPEG, VCD(DAT), WMV(WMV-9), ASF(WMV-9), TP, TS, TRP
* Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PMC, AC3, M4A, DTS decoding.
* Image Formats: BMP, JPG, PNG
* Subtitle Support: SMO, SRT, SUB
* Video Out: HDMI, Composite, S-Video, Component
* Audio Out: RCA, Digital Coaxial, Optical
* TV System: NTSC, PAL, Auto
* HD Support: 720p, 1080i, 1080p
* Networking: 802.11b/g (WEP/WPA), 10/100 Ethernet, NDAS
* Internal Disk: 3.5” IDE or SATA

Posted Mar 5th 2008 11:19PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
So it seems the X1 being shown off at CeBIT following its MWC debut last month is equipped with a particularly curious panel in its software load. Anyone care to take a guess? No cheating and looking at the one we’ve circled now. Yeah, okay, it’s that big AT&T logo front and center, which makes an appearance in several of PHONE Magazine’s shots of the interface. We’d like to believe that means that AT&T is a lock to pick up one of the hottest Windows Mobile devices ever manufactured, and indeed, it probably does — its 3G radio is certainly ripe for the job — but it’s entirely possible to think that Sony Ericsson is still in the process of selling carriers on the device, and is simply trying to get ‘em to crack a smile by loading their logo. Keep your fingers crossed, ladies and gentlemen.

[Thanks, Jake]

Posted Mar 5th 2008 4:51PM by Richard Lawler
Filed under: Displays, HDTVWhile the world waits for official word on the fate of Pioneer’s plasma HDTV operations, The Nikkei offers an analysis of the state the company is in, and how it got here. The problems started with Sony’s choice of LCD over plasma back in 2005, leaving Pioneer without a partner to sell its plasma panels (the way Samsung and Sharp sell Sony LCDs), and unable to reduce prices by boosting production. Now the company is caught between its top shareholder Sharp — an LCD manufacturer, that wants to put Pioneer’s speakers in its TVs and sell Pioneer LCDs — and its new plasma supplier Panasonic (fear not, Panasonic hopes to exceed even the Kuro’s contrast ratio in its upcoming displays). The Nikkei expects Pioneer to announce it will sell 40- to 50-inch LCD & plasma HDTVs at its press conference March 7, but we just want to know what happens to Project Kuro.

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Instead of going to a pub to play darts, the other option is to play at home with the Electronic Dart Board. It might be a bit expensive - $800 - but in the end it is well worth it.

The board has all the usual features that can be seen on this kind of device - laser effects, sound effects, and even voice scoring. It can also keep track of all the scores, be it on a multiplayer competition with a limit of 4 players, or playing against the computer itself in which there is a limit of 8 levels.

As for the different type of dart games, the board offers Cricket, and 301 to 901.

Automatically subtracts bounce-out dart values

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