Gadgets Base

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 5:29AMToshiba just bested its own 320GB hard drive with a 400GB offering in the same 9.5-mm height form factor favored by most thin laptops. That’s as good as it gets unless you can track down Sammy’s elusive 500GB Spinpoint M6. The MK4058GSX spins just 2 platters which means the disk sports an impressive 477Mbit/mm2 (308Gbpsi) areal density while consuming 20% less power (0.0015W/GB energy consumption efficiency) and 2dB less noise than its own 320GB predecessor. Rounding out the specs are a 12-ms average seek and 8MB cache. Toshiba also boosted the rest of its 9.5-mm, 2.5-inch, 3.0Gbps SATA disk lineup to 7,200rpm including the 320GB MK3254GSY. Mass production of the 400GB slab is expected to begin in September while the 7,200 HDDs will hit the market in August. No prices announced.

[Via I4U]

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Filed under: Storage

Filed in archive Software by jim on July 16, 2008

<!– <rdf:Description rdf:about=”http://www.digital-shot.com/50226711/piclens_a_new_way_to_view_online_photos_and_videos.php” trackback:ping=”http://www.creative-weblogging.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.pl/128869″ dc:title=”" dc:identifier=”http://www.digital-shot.com/50226711/piclens_a_new_way_to_view_online_photos_and_videos.php” dc:subject=”Software” dc:description=” If you like taking and displaying your pictures then chances are you also like looking at and critiquing other people's pictures. The problem with searching for images and videos of interest to you is that are just too many…” dc:creator=”jim” dc:date=”2008-07-16T00:00:07-08:00″ /> –>

If you like taking and displaying your pictures then chances are you also like looking at and critiquing other people's pictures.

The problem with searching for images and videos of interest to you is that are just too many of them to find what you're looking for quickly and easily.

But now there's a new, free, easy to use software application that speeds up the process and assures that your searches will return more accurate results.

"Piclens" will make your visits to YouTube, Flikr, Facebook, MySpace Smugmug Google Images, and other sites more enjoyable, so check it out.

Source:www.piclens.com

Love model racing cars? You probably are, and chances are that if you are anything like me, you don’t have the money to go out and buy the ones that you lust after. I came across this awesome little Remote Controlled Lamborghini and fell in love with it.

I am actually a child at heart, despite my age. As soon as I saw the Lamborghini it took me back to the elementary age when I was outside with my big brother creating dirt ramps for our remote controlled cars. How much fun was that? I don’t care how old you are, this is for folks of all ages!

One thing to keep in mind is that this car does come in a variety of colors. I’m sure the paint color doesn’t impact the way the thing drives though. They look to be a lot of fun!

Gimme!

Price: $47.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 1:25AM
Tech firms seem to have this uncanny ability to significantly boost functionality while significantly reducing cost with each new generation of a product — and you’ll never believe this, but it looks like Apple is no exception. The teardown and bean-counting experts over at iSuppli are at it again with the iPhone 3G, finding that the whole kit and kaboodle tallies up to just $174.33 (give or take) for the 8GB model in material and manufacturing costs. That works out to about $53 less than iSuppli’s estimate for the original 8GB model back in June of last year, an amount saved in part by moving to a single 10-layer circuit board (versus a pair of 6-layer boards). The firm figures Apple’s shelling out about $50 in royalties for each iphone 3G that rolls off the assembly line, leading to a grand total of $224.33 in costs. Offset that with a healthy AT&T subsidy, and all told, we’re looking at something like a 55 percent margin to help Steve finance his next round of black turtlenecks.

[Via AppleInsider]

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 15th 2008 at 11:54PM
Sure, Guitar Hero and Rock Band have fake plastic Gibson and Fender controllers, but cheap plastic ain’t exactly rock’n'roll — which is why this new StarPex PS2 / PS3 guitar controller looks pretty sweet. The ersatz Strat features a hardwood body and neck crafted by “a leading guitar manufacturer” (we’d bet $100 it’s made by Samick), as well as solo buttons, an Overdrive / Star Power button in addition to the tilt sensor, and both wired and wireless capabilities. On top of that, the electronics are modular, so you’ll eventually be able to swap parts and build your own custom axe. Sounds great — but you better start singing in the subway, since this thing’ll set you back $179 when it goes on sale late next month. Yeah, maybe we’ll stick with the plastic axes after all.

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Filed under: Gaming

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 2:10AM
Leave it to Asus to bust out a nice laptop that we can’t have — yet. The new F8Va, released in Korea only for now, packs an Intel Core Duo T9400 at 2.53GHz, 4GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM, a 320GB SATA spinner, ATI Radeon HD3650 GPU, and a 14-inch WXGA screen at 1440 x 900. To top it off, the F8Va includes a Blu-Ray combo drive, 1.3 megapixel camera, and HDMI out. It’s hitting Korea in July, but if / when it comes to the US, we’re probably looking at a $1299 price based on early reviews. Early test scores came in at 4103 3DMarks, an SM2.0 score of 1349, and a HDR/SM3.0 score of 1819. Drool over the info in the read links if you must.

Read - Asus F8Va Laptop
Read - Asus F8Va Montevina platform laptop review

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Filed under: Laptops

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 1:02AM
Leave it to Radiohead to do something twisted, innovative, and defiantly futuristic to the art of the music video. Instead of going with underwater singing, fully animated epic, or a mysterious series of “blips,” the band decided to forgo the use of cameras altogether for their latest single, House of Cards. Using 3D video acquisition systems from Geometric Informatics, and 64-element, 360-degree LIDAR from Velodyne, the band was able to create a clip that eschews traditional video recording for haunting, complex data visualizations. You can watch the video after the break, or you can get your hands dirty with a real time, interactive version you’ll find by following the read link. Either way, your mind should be thoroughly blown.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 3:07AM
Hey Dell Latitude XT owners — multi-touch is now yours. The 15MB update is available to download for 32- and 64-bit Vista or Windows XP tablet users. Direct2Dell even posted a video hosted by a real live Texan to walk owners though the installation and calibration process. Yeehaw!

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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 15th 2008 at 8:42PMSamsung’s been jacking megapixel counts all over the place lately, and the Korean giant’s latest digital cameras are no exception — the new NV100 HD (pictured) packs in a ridiculous 14.7 megapixels, and the new compact NV9 tops at at 10.2 megapixels. That’s probably a little ridiculous, but we’re not going to argue with progress, and the cameras seem pretty nice: the NV100 HD has a 3-inch touchscreen, a 3.6X Schneider Kreuznac lens, face, smile, and blink detection, 720p video recording and ISO3200 sensitivity, while the NV9 sports old-school analog battery and storage meters, as a well a 2.7-inch display, optical image stabilizer, and smile and blink detection. Both go on sale in August — check out the NV9 after the break.

Read - NV100 HD
Read - NV9

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Recently, a company known as Das Keyboard, who made a name for themselves back in 2005 for introducing completely blank keyboards, introduced two new keyboard models. 

The first is the Professional model, which include some terrific gold-plated mechanical key switches.  They have also added some new blue LEDs that are “Darth Vader approved.” I took that from the Das Keyboard website, honest. 

The Ultimate is, of course, the ultimate.  All the keys have that Das Keyboard blank look.  That is, all the keys are unlabeled.  The company says that it is “easy” for a typist to get used to these blank things. 

The Professional and Ultimate both have a USB hub.  Speaking of USB, there is an extra long USB cable that will insure proper connection to your computer.  I’m not certain if anyone cares about this, but the Das Keyboard has an n-key rollover function which will allow simultaneous pressing of up to 12 keys. 

I don’t know if the blank keyboard look is going to catch on, but I don’t see why not.  I mean, we all know our keyboard keys by heart, right? 

Product [Das Keyboard]

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