Posted Apr 9th 2008 2:48AM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Peripherals, StorageThe 1394 Trade Association is already talking up FireWire S3200, but Symwave is taking baby steps, demonstrating a 1.6Gbps system known as S1600 (shocking) that’s backwards-compatible with FireWire 800 and 400 this week at a conference in China. That’s great and all — transferring 1000 four megapixel images in five seconds sure sounds like a good time — but speeds like that probably aren’t going to cut it when FireWire 800 devices are already thin on the ground, everyone’s looking forward to S3200, and the 4.8Gbps USB 3.0 spec is already making appearances on schedule for a launch in 2010. (Read the full post about ‘Symwave demoes FireWire 1600 gear’…)

Behind its rather un-catchy name, the Egoman MP810RSTD-43 offers more than just your average media file playing capabilities. Aside from supporting a wide array of music file formats like MP3, WMA, WAV, and FLAC, it will also play WVI and RMVB files at 30 fps, as well as photos in JPG, BMP, GIF formats. And you can be certain you’ll have a good view of your photos on its 4.3-inch screen, because it supports a 480 x 272-pixel resolution and up to 16 million colors (clue: that’s more than what you’ll find in a rainbow). And if you get tired of watching your movies on its screen, then simply hook it up to your telly to give your clips some maximum exposure. (Read the full post about ‘Slim Egoman PMP does all the basics’…)

SRS Labs and Logitech have come together, and the result of their union is the Logitech Z Cinema Advanced Surround Sound System which features SRS Labs’ TruSurround HD technology. This new speaker system targets consumers who plan to utilize their computers as the main source of entertainment at home. The inclusion of SRS TruSurrround HD surround technology claims to immerse consumers without going through the hassle and trouble of installing extra rear channel speakers. Sounds like the perfect solution for small apartments, doesn’t it? Let’s read on more about the Z Cinema speaker system after the jump. (Read the full post about ‘Logitech and SRS Labs team up’…)

Pinnacle Systems has launched two new PC TV Tuners – the PCTV HD Stick and the PCTV HD Stick Pro. Both TV Tuners provide free digital HD and SD TV over-the-air plus unencrypted digital cable through ClearQAM channels. For $69.99, the PCTV HD Stick will give you up to 1080i resolution digital HD TV goodness as well as an analog and digital TV tuner. The PCTV HD Stick also includes the TV Pro software bundle for PVR capabilities to easily watch, time shift or record SD and HD TV programs, full-screen and scalable viewing modes and a guide for locating programs and scheduling recordings. (Read the full post about ‘Pinnacle intro’s two HD TV Tuners; the PCTV HD Stick, PCTV HD Stick Pro’…)

Pictures of the Nokia Tube have appeared on the web. As expected, it looks like an iphone clone (or Killer, depending how much you love Nokia). The good news is that ‘Tube” is only a code-name (phew). Also, it looks like the device is running Symbian OS (as expected). (Read the full post about ‘Nokia Tube – Live Photo, Specifications’…)

Compal computers, a contract manufacturer for Dell said that it has received an order of 200k to 300k units of a “low-cost” notebook to be sold sometimes this year. This confirms that the demand for cheap sub-notebooks is at an all-time high (well, yes, who doesn’t want a cool and cheap sub-notebook?)

Our recent favorite has been the HP 2133 (read first impressions), but who knows what will come up next?

There’s one thing that we know fore sure: the average selling price (ASP) of the sub-notebook is going to plunge. And that’s why many people are afraid the Asus EEE (or the idea of it).

Tags: gprs, computers, gps, wireless

It turns out that last week when Bill Gates was quoted as saying that the release for Windows 7 would come “sometime in the next year or so” he was not entirely accurate. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, Windows 7 is still in the “planning stages” and is on track for a January 2010 release. Further comments speculated that Bill Gates may have been referring to early trial versions, but not the general release. So it looks like Windows 7 is going to remain on the original schedule, which means all you Vista haters will have to continue to use XP for a little while longer or just learn to deal. Read [Information Week] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Windows 7 not coming in one-year; Bill Gates just loosing his mind?’…)

No one in the media has touched the actual device yet, but an image was shown during a recent developer presentation held in Redwood City (Silicon Valley). Of course, everyone will point out that it does look like the iphone (well, anything that has only a display would more or less look like it). It is Nokia’s first Touch-only device, and the company is confident that it will be able to compete with Apple’s iPhone. It might run the Symbian OS, which was ironically designed for touch devices… RelatedFuture of Nokia Smartphones, Will the iPhone Continue to Dominate? (Read the full post about ‘Nokia Tube, the Anti-iPhone’…)

Why it took so long for someone to emblazon a Super Mario Bros. Piranha Plant on the crotch of some underoos, I’ll never know. From Nintendopedia: “A Piranha Plant is an enemy in the Mario Series. The enemy is a large plant with a round head and a mouthful of teeth that will pop out of a pipe usually. His first game was in Super Mario Bros. where he would pop out of a pipe, and if Mario was right next to the pipe, he wouldn’t come out. (Read the full post about ‘New Underoos Highlight the Untapped Phallic Potential of Mario Bros.’…)

Think Geek, purveyor of nerdwear and gimmicks, has a history of April Fool gags turning into good business. Last year it was the 8-bit Tie, which was originally a joke product but saw such demand from readers that Think Geek put it into production. This year, the bogus apparel was the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt, a T-shirt with an embedded speaker which would play sound effects to brighten up your dull, dull life. Again, readers demanded that Think Geek make it real: The Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt was originally an April Fool’s Prank… (Read the full post about ‘Fake T-Shirt Gag Turns Into Real Product’…)