Gadgets Base

by Richard Lawler, posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 2:13PM
We can’t really see the logic in releasing a Blu-ray player without BD-Live in 2008 — and neither can Samsung, which just announced its fourth generation BD-P1500 will be BD-Live Ready. The bad news is the May release date announced earlier has slipped to June, and the formerly comfortable $399 MSRP is now a less promising TBA. We’re not sure if that “ready” tag means it will be BD-Live enabled out of the gate, however DTS-HD “High resolution” is confirmed on the way in a future firmware update. A slight delay for a significant upgrade in features? We’ll allow it.

Update: Samsung let us know the press release was in error, the MSRP will remain at $399.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 3:43AM
In a move meant to, uh, distract investors from its announced 48% profit downturn (compared to Q1 of the previous year), Sony Ericsson just announced a pair of mid-range handsets. The Z780 clamshell — now official — is the global sister to the announced Z770 for Europe. As such, she comes packing UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radios. While it comes loaded with Google Maps for Mobile and aGPS navigation, you won’t get much use from it on that itty bitty 128 x 160 pixel display of unknown dimensions. Hell, that bezel chews up an equivalent amount of real estate. The G502 candybar also features Maps but lacks aGPS. No worries for US Americans though as it’s likely to stay put in Europe with UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 radios. Both will feature M2 memory expansion, Bluetooth, and 2 megapixel cameras when they launch in “selected markets” come Q2. Sorry Sony Ericsson, but we’re not seeing a lot here to distract investors (or consumers) for very long. Xperia X1 please?

Update: Sony Ericsson has published conflicting information about the Z780’s resolution. It’s 2.2-inches and 320 x 240 pixels in the press release but 128 x 160 pixels on the product page.

Read — Profits
Read — Phones

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Filed under: cellphones

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 9:02AM
It’s clear that everyone is looking for a way to game the system these days. The video game system, that is. In the vein of that Guitar Hero cheat-mod we saw the other day, four undergraduate students at Texas A&M University have built a Guitar Hero playing robot that can shred with the best of them… no hands required. The system — dubbed Slashbot — works as a completely standalone process, using a converter box to translate specific pixel information from the screen intro note presses and strums on the mechanical contraption. On average, the bot is achieving 90 percent accuracy in expert mode, and has yet to be defeated by a human challenger. Next up? It plans to eradicate all human life on Earth, of course! Check the video of Slashbot playing — what else? — Cliffs of Dover after the break.

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Filed under: Gaming, Robots

After creating a buzz at this years CES, the MediaGate MG-450HD wireless media server has now been official released to the eager public. The MG-450HD is a highend HD media server / streamer designed to be an essential component of your digital lifestyle. With wired and wireless home entertainment options you can bring video, music and photos directly to your HDTV from your computer in HD.

The MediaGate MG-450HD works on 802.11g wireless and can support attached USB devices such as digital cameras. You can also add a hard drive to the MG-450HD for extra onboard storage. You will get HD resolutions all the way upto 1080p via the HDMI connections, there are also composite, s-video, stereo analog sound, and also optical / coaxial SPDIF digital audio for full 5.1 audio.

You can also use the networking to access and transfer data to the MG-450HD using the FTP server and client protocol from home or away. Use the MediaGate MG450HD to store your DVD movies, photos and music all in one place from your living room, or stream other content over the network from other sources.

With great working, and HD connections with digital audio, the MediaGate MG-450HD, at around $230 seems like a great deal, bringing your digital computer media direct to your HDTV in a simple and graceful manner.

More info: MediaGate
Supported video formats: AVI: MS-MPEG4v3/XviD/WMV9 (XviD with GMC option applied not supported) WMV: WMV9, ASF: WMV9, MP4: MPEG4 Video, DAT: MPEG1, VOB: MPEG2, MPG/MPEG: MPEG1/MPEG2, TP/TS/TRP: HD-MPEG2/SD-MPEG2.

HD outputs: HDMI (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p), COMPONENT (480p, 720p, 1080i) S-Video, Composite.