Posted Mar 4th 2008 5:51AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video We’re used to large quantities of “me too” design and product from most smaller manufacturers — with China hosting some of the worst offenders — but Edifier is breaking the mold with a couple of new home audio products. The Chinese company has put quite a bit of thought and design into its “Active IR” Rainbow wireless audio system, which uses a wide IR spectrum for ultra-low-loss uncompressed digital transmission. All it takes is a 3.5mm input and you’re set, with transmissions from the base station to receivers working at up to 15 meters. The sound is supposedly CD quality, and it certainly sounded good to our ears. (Read the full post about ‘Edifier packs 7-inch LCD into iF380 stereo, shows off Rainbow IR audio system’…)

The Optimus Maximus keyboard is but a luxury item that can be purchased only be a select few due to its exorbitant price, but have you ever given thought to a similar layout on a notebook? While there is no official word that notebooks will receive such a treatment, the idea itself is definitely tantalizing - only if the costs can be driven down to a much more pocket-friendly level. After all, I certainly won’t want to pay $4,000 for a notebook where half that amount is dedicated to the keyboard itself. Tags: electronic toys, video, gear, cable (Read the full post about ‘Optimus Maximus For Notebooks?’…)

The Kyocera K323 Bluetooth speakerphone is now going cheap for $15 a pop, and being powered by a cigarette lighter in your car, you don’t have to worry about it ever running out of batteries. Features include voice dialing (depending on your carrier), last number redial, and volume control buttons. Hopefully the K323 will be able to cancel road noise generated by your vehicle, but judging by the price, I have my doubts. I’d say get a Bluetooth headset when you want to drive instead in order to avoid such problems. Tags: digital, CD, cable, lcd (Read the full post about ‘Kyocera K323 Bluetooth speakerphone’…)

Known as a market leader in consumer electronics and world leader in IT technology, Samsung Electronics presented its newest 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) P200 Ultra Portable Laptop targeting at a business uses during CeBIT’08 conference in Hanover, Germany. On the specs department, this Samsung’s P Series-based device is powered by the Intel’s latest chip (Penryn), up to the Core 2 Duo 9500 processor, ATI’s powerful Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics card, follows by 6-cell battery, offers up to 3.1 hours of computing power. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung P200 Ultra Portable Notebook PC’…)

Nokia has just unfurled the new 6124 Classic candybar handset that targets the mid-level market. You will be able to use this as a 3G modem for your computer, providing you with connectivity no matter where you are (as long as there is reception, that is). Features include a 2″ color display, internal memory that is expandable up to 8GB using a memory card (of unspecified type), and a 2 megapixel camera that comes with flash and an integrated panorama mode. This will be powered by the S60 platform and ought to ship to Vodafone networks sometime in Q2 next year. 2009 seems too far away - will the specifications then be considered mid-range? (Read the full post about ‘Nokia Unveils 6124 Classic’…)

Okay, so you’re on a budget, thus you buy the Eee PC and look around for some peripherals. Suddenly the price of a new router and VoIP phone rack up and you’re left tearing your hair out. Fear no more, because Asus has released their new lineup of accessories, featuring the Ai Guru U1 VoIP phone, which plugs in via USB, the Eee AP which is a simple wireless access point, a USB 3.5G HSDPA card and an external DVD-RW drive. This new line of accessories will join the previous group that included a mouse, noise-isolation earbud style headset, power adapter and 6-cell battery they released back in December. (Read the full post about ‘Asus adds a new lineup of accessories for the Eee’…)

Posted Mar 4th 2008 12:47AM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Misc. gadgets It’s funny, no matter how many times we see some poor, hapless reporter getting wave after wave of pain washed over them like a cool summer storm, it really never gets old. We’d argue that this 60 Minutes clip of correspondent David Martin taking on the Air Force’s Active Denial System (aka the pain gun) is possibly the best we’ve seen yet, and not just because this guy actually has some cred to lose (unlike that time Amanda Congdon took a taser). Oh, and a parting note to enemy combatants: bring your mattress into combat. You’ll have a comfy spot to nap on before the pain gun shows up and you use it as a shield. Video after the break. (Read the full post about ‘Video: reporter vs. the Air Force pain gun. Guess who wins.’…)

The ProxMat is a pressure sensitive mat that will automatically send the Windows Key + L shortcut whenever you leave the workstation, automatically locking the computer just in case you forget to do so yourself. It connects to a computer via USB and best of all is, there is no need for any special drivers. Choose from a wide variety of sizes, depending on the amount of working space you have. The ProxMat can also be used to kick in standby mode and save on the monthly power bill as well if you want. Perfect for those who want to make sure their workstation and information within remains secure all the time. (Read the full post about ‘ProxMat Pressure Sensitive Mat’…)

Samsung has announced a new laptop codenamed P200, that doesn’t bring anything new to the market - only a different look and a high price caused by its (fake) ultra portable characteristics.

The Samsung P200 weights 1,8Kg which can’t be considered light. Anyhow, in the inside it features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, tagged with graphics card by ATI - Radeon Xpress 1250. The small 12.1-inch display screen comes with a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and the goodies include a 6-in-1 memory card reader, and the usual bluetooth + USB ports.

Price? $1,500

via UberGizmo

Tags: computers, DAB, AAC, gizmos

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 7:01PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentWe had an inkling that the format war was soon to be over when Warner announced it was going Blu-ray just before CES and HD DVD canceled its press conference, but we didn’t realize how quickly things would come to an abrupt end. It looks like Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida was decisive in ending the battle, telling the Wall Street Journal that hd dvd didn’t stand a chance after Warner left, and that if HD DVD wasn’t “going to win then we had to pull out, especially since consumers were already asking for a single standard.” That’s interesting, especially since Toshiba issued all those jilted-lover press releases as former partners defected and continued to waffle for another month or so and even air a Super Bowl ad, but we suppose PR people can’t go running around saying things like “One has to take calculated risks in business, but it’s also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong,” like the CEO can. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba CEO: HD DVD didn’t stand a chance after Warner left’…)