Gadgets Base

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 10:27AM
Those kind, gentle Canadians have been oh-so-politely demanding a few heads on sticks ever since Rogers’ super-spendy iPhone 3G price plans were announced. Well, apparently their cries have been heard, and now Rogers is launching a promotional offer along with the iPhone of 6GB of data for $30 a month — not quite unlimited data, but close enough — which can be added on top of any regular voice plan. The promo will be available for iphone buyers who activate with a three year contract before August 31. Also, perhaps in a bid to dispel some nasty rumors about a major iPhone shortage, Rogers will be hosting 8AM launch day events at six Rogers Plus stores in major Canadian cities, complete with a free breakfast. Mmm, breakfast.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: cellphones

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 12:45PM
On top of a piano, no less. China might be a bit late to the party by now, but they’ve sure got class. Taiwan retailer ePrice has unboxed 3’s Hong Kong version of the iphone for your viewing pleasure, and they even did a bit of Chinese handwriting recognition just for kicks. There’s video as well (we embedded one after the break), so you really can’t go wrong with this one, we promise.

Update: For the record, this is a Hong Kong version of the phone, running what is purportedly a Chinese Traditional (Taiwan’s language of choice) UI, unboxed by a Taiwanese retailer. We update the post to reflect those facts, conspiracy theorists can return to their daily lives.

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by Darren Murph, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 2:01PMRemember the day you drooled all over your keyboard when Hitachi introduced a 1TB internal hard drive? Yeah, like a year and a half ago? The outfit’s most recent HDD announcement isn’t likely to have nearly the same effect, but those who skipped the first-gen version in order to get a more refined product the second go ’round will surely be delighted. Today marks the debut of the 1TB Deskstar 7K1000.B, which goes down as “the world’s most energy-efficient 7,200RPM one-terabyte hard drive.” Said drive features a new three-disk design which improves idle power consumption up to 43% over its 1TB predecessor, but unfortunately, there’s no telling how long you’ll have to wait to actually buy this currently unpriced overlord of storage.

[Via PCLaunches]

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Filed under: Storage

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 1:32PM
We’ve seen multi-platform console mods before, but none quite like this whimsical creation by one “Bacteria,” which effectively turns each console into a cartridge that can be swapped out at will. That was apparently done to make the system portable although, as is often the case, “portable” can be a matter of opinion. It also falls a bit short on the “multi-platform” part of the equation, as Bacteria has so far only managed to turn an N64 into a cartridge, but he promises to create carts for plenty of other systems in the next few months, including the SNES, GameCube, playstation and, yes, even the Jaguar. Be sure to hit up the read link below for a video of the system in action, as well as a detailed account of the building process.

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Filed under: Gaming

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 10:27AM
Those kind, gentle Canadians have been oh-so-politely demanding a few heads on sticks ever since Rogers’ super-spendy iphone 3G price plans were announced. Well, apparently their cries have been heard, and now Rogers is launching a promotional offer along with the iPhone of 6GB of data for $30 a month — not quite unlimited data, but close enough — which can be added on top of any regular voice plan. The promo will be available for iPhone buyers who activate with a three year contract before August 31. Also, perhaps in a bid to dispel some nasty rumors about a major iPhone shortage, Rogers will be hosting 8AM launch day events at six Rogers Plus stores in major Canadian cities, complete with a free breakfast. Mmm, breakfast.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: cellphones

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 9:15AM
Rugged and industrial applications are one market where tablet PCs have really done fairly well, but they’ve always looked pretty chunky, which is why we’re somewhat impressed with Handheld US’s latest entry, the Algiz 10. The 10.4-inch tablet manages to meet the tough MIL-STD-810F military standards for shock, vibration, and moisture and can operate in temps from -4 to 140 Fahrenheit in a housing that’s not entirely ugly, and still pack in a ULV 1.2GHz Core Duo, 80GB drive, 2GB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, an EDGE / GPRS radio and a beefy nine-cell 7800mAh Li-on battery that can run Windows XP for seven hours. No word on pricing, but if you’re the type who actually needs one of these, we’re guessing it’s worth it.

[Via PDA Today, thanks Bill]

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Filed under: Tablet PCs

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 9th 2008 at 3:34PM
As if it wasn’t already clear enough, Voodoo is really going all out with its new Envy 133 laptop (and Omen desktop), and it looks like that extends right down to the packaging as well, as evidenced by this latest batch of shots provided by Voodoo founder Rahul Sood himself. As you can see above, the company has even gone so far as to include a microfiber sleeve with the laptop to add one more layer of anticipation as you unbox the thing. Be sure to hit up the read link below for the rest of the pics, including a peek at the acessories and some close-up shots of the keybaord.

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Filed under: Laptops

Ikea is one of those stores that I can’t help but love, especially being young and broke enough that my living space tends to be a bit cramped.  Just about any storage or furniture issue I have Ikea has some kind of a solution for.  The unfortunate thing is that I’d like to buy about half the things at their store, which adds up to a small fortune in furniture.  Well if you don’t have room for a full desk and would like a little corner to park your laptop and work for a few hours Ikea also has a solution for that.

They have the Ikea PS, which mounts to the wall and just looks like a small locker when it is closed up.  When opened it has a small tray to set your laptop on.  As well as a couple of nooks for speakers or any other small gadgets you might want to use.  The workstation comes in both white and red.  The desk would also be great for teens with small rooms or one that they have to share, to give then a designated work space.  It is being sold for $59.99 and can be bought either in store or online.

Source: chipchick

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For those of you who aren’t into the camera scene, the Hasselblad company has been making some of the best cameras for many proud generations. In fact, these guys have been making cameras since photography was invented. If Hasselblad cameras are gourmet food, then all other cameras are like McDonalds. 

The company’s newest flagship camera is the H3DII-50. It is so named because it has 50, count ‘em, 50-megapixels. It also features Kodak’s 36 x 48mm sensor which is about twice the size of the largest 35mm sensors. 

Other features are improved controls and functionality, better sensor cooling, a new and more intuitive interface, plus a bright 3-inch display. It also has a terrific assortment of large and bright viewfinders, and a wide range of HC and HCD lenses. 

Like I said, Hasselblad cameras are the gourmet of cameras, and this is the high priced food that you would get at a high-priced restaurant. Hasselblad cameras are definitely “for professionals only”, and the best photographers will probably trying like mad to get their hands on the H3DII-50 when it comes out in October. They probably pay top dollar for it, too. 

Via [Engadget]

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The US netbook market has never been as active as it is today. While MSI and Asus are busy with their head on battle, some other companies are on the side waiting for the right moment to come into the fray. For ECS, September seems to be the right moment to release their own netbook, the ECS G10IL.

Having to follow some seriously tough competition, ECS had to make sure that their netbook would offer something new that others don’t offer. For the ECS G10IL it has to be the 3G network capability as it will have EDGE, HSUPA, and HSDPA mobile broadband support. It will also come with either an 8.9-inch or a 10-inch LCD display. In addition, this netbook will either have the 8GB SSD with Linpus Lite Linux OS or an 80GB hard drive running Windows XP.

ECS is planning to release a white version of the G10IL in September while the black model will come at a later time. The G10IL is expected to have a tentative price tag of $399 and is geared more for business use rather than for educational purposes.

Product [ECS] Via [LaptopMag]

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