IT Reviews has a review of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 and writes, “While RIM is certainly hoping to open up new markets with the Pearl 8120, the 2-megapixel camera is likely to be a little underpowered for many consumers’ tastes, and the lack of hardware-based music playback controls will be a turn-off for those with access to more consumer-oriented media playing mobiles. The absence of 3G may also be an annoyance, though fast e-mail download and browsing is helped by the support for EDGE which we tried on O2’s network.”

Tags: gizmos, cool gear, Ogg Vorbis, dvr

This is $20,000 of love-themed hot tub, the Walker Signature Special Edition. Special features include seating for six, tacky red hearts, fountains, Valentine-red colors, a “playground area” (ooer) and MP3-ready stereo. Our ideal use for this tasteless jacuzzi is in the video after the jump. (Read the full post about ‘Amoré Bay Is Most Hideous Jacuzzi Ever Created [Jacuzzi]’…)

Posted Jan 28th 2008 9:48AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio iPod surround bars are nothing new, but iLive’s hoping to catch a few eyes that normally gloss over these type things by blessing its iT188B with an oh-so-attractive $99 price tag. This iteration sports “dual built-in subwoofers,” an AM / FM radio, obligatory iPod dock and an on board clock to boot. It also comes bundled with a remote control and an auxiliary input to complement the twin video inputs, video output and subwoofer out for connecting an external thumper. As you’d expect, this one’s built for use underneath a flat-panel HDTV, but it shouldn’t have any problems perched up on a countertop, either. (Read the full post about ‘iLive cranks out iT188B iPod speaker bar’…)

Posted Jan 28th 2008 9:19AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Displays All geared up to start your work week with a trio of hu hum NEC monitors? If so, we won’t delay any longer in doling out the nitty-gritty. Up first is the 17-inch LCD174WXM, which features a 1,440 x 900 resolution panel, DVI / VGA (x2) inputs, twin one-watt speakers, a headphone jack, 250 nits of brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio. As for the 19-inch LCD194WXM and 22-inch LCD224WXM, they each share a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness and 176-degree viewing angles. Still, the 19-incher gets stuck with a 1,440 x 900 resolution while the 22-inch sibling gets blessed with 1,680 x 1,050. (Read the full post about ‘NEC intros 17-, 19-, and 22-inch LCD monitors’…)

Posted Jan 28th 2008 5:46AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: HDTV, Home Entertainment var Gartner, the fat lady of research firms, is singing HD DVD’s swan song this morning. Hiroyuki Shimizu, Principal Research Analyst in Japan, says in Gartner’s Semiconductor DQ Monday Report that, “Gartner believes that Toshiba’s price-cutting may prolong HD DVD’s life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format.” He goes on to call the recent price cuts “useless resistance” in avoiding the inevitable. What’s that, you coyly ask? (Read the full post about ‘Gartner: Blu-ray to win in 2008, HD DVD price cuts are “useless resistance”’…)

FotoNation will incorporated its FastTrack technology into the next generation of Milbeaut chips of Fujitsu, capable of offering accelerated image processing in its face tracking hardware. Guess future digital cameras will not only tout Face Tracking as a normal feature, but will also have varying standards of performance. Those interested in a live performance can scoot over to FotoNation’s suite at PMA. Tags: buyers guides, Gadget, camera, tech (Read the full post about ‘FotoNation FastTrack Tehcnology’…)

Asus has a new tiny PC available for folks who want more space in their homes for other more important things, like a full gaming console set up (the Holy Trinity of an Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PS3) and a nice, large flat-screen TV. The Asus Nova P2 could fill that niche pretty nicely, since it is extremely tiny in size, somewhat encroaching on the Mac Mini’s territory without sacrificing on style. Specifications include :- 1.8GHz processor 1GB RAM 120GB hard drive DVD writer 4 x USB ports DVI portDepending on your preference, you can leave it standing vertically or horizontally - pretty much everything does that these days anyways. Is the £450 asking price a wee bit too much to ask? (Read the full post about ‘Asus Nova P2′…)

Everyone loves a clean butt - especially folks at Toto who has made it their business to ensure that everybody’s rear end remains pristine and odor-free after a plumbing session. The Neoflush 600 comes with the following functions to ensure that the porcelain throne you sit on really makes you feel like a king. Automatic lid raiser Jet wash with heated air dry function Heated seat Multi-function wireless remote CycloneSiphon Jet flushing systemClass had never been cheap, and the same goes with the Toto Neoflush 600 which retails in the region of $3,500. Tags: AAC, technology, Gadget, tests (Read the full post about ‘Neoflush 600 - Utopia for Butts’…)

Posted Jan 28th 2008 1:53AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Gaming Holy Teraflops gamers, AMD just launched the Radeon HD 3870 X2. Their new flagship card previously known by its R680 codename features a pair of RV670 GPUs with CrossFireX built-in to a single card. According to HotHardware’s performance testing, The 3870 X2 was “usually the highest performing single-card in the group.” Yes, that group includes the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX. Here’s the rub though, according to HotHardWare: the X2’s performance is determined by how well the card’s drivers scale in a particular game — a new game without appropriate support renders the card’s performance to that of a single-GPU HD 3870. (Read the full post about ‘AMD’s Radeon HD 3870 X2 launched, benchmarked and back in the race’…)

Evergreen caters to the Goths with this combo of a mouse, mousepad and keyboard. Rest assured, there are skulls aplenty to drive even the most battle-hardened pirate away. With bumps appearing all over the mouse, it makes me wonder just how comfortable using this combo peripheral set for prolonged periods of time would feel like. I suppose being a Goth, you aren’t supposed to feel comfortable or happy anyways, which is pretty much the whole point there is to it. Tags: toys, game, wi-fi, mobile phone (Read the full post about ‘Goth Peripheral Set’…)