Various Gadgets

Latest Blu-Ray Laptop From Sony

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:51:30 +0000

Sony will release the next generation of their Sony Vaio NS laptop series that comes equipped with Blu-ray combo drive. Available in blue, gray, and white, the desktop replacement features an Intel 4500 integrated graphics chipset, Blu-ray combo drive, A/V menu, Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz processor, 3GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, and a built-in webcam. The new Sony Vaio NS will be available this Fall 2008 for $650 upwards, depending on the configuration.

Supercool Green Laptop from Sony

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:48:21 +0000

The Z series is another addition to Sony’s ultra-portable PC line. At only 13.1 inches and just 3.4 pounds, it is super convenient to carry everywhere. At the heart of it’s sleek and slim design, lies the latest Intel Centrino 2 processor and DDR3 memory, making it among the fastest laptop in the market today. Sony also employs a revolutionary hybrid graphics system that enables real-time switching between the power-saving graphics chip or the dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS chip for more optimal efficiency and performance. Price will be in the range of $2,500 to $3,500 for Blu-Ray equipped model.

Apple MacBook Air Review

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:41:18 +0000

Apple’s new laptop, the MacBook Air, may not be the true ultraportable that many had hoped for, but it still easily breaks new ground for small laptops. Mimicking the 13-inch silhouette of the current MacBook line, it’s only 19mm thick at its thickest part, and Apple calls it the “world’s thinnest notebook”.

Some nitpickers say an obscure Mitsubishi laptop from 1997 was a hair thinner, but two of the smallest current ultraportable laptops, the 11-inch Sony Vaio TZ series and the 12-inch Toshiba Portege R500, are both slightly thicker, and neither tapers to 4mm as the Air does along its front edge.

As we’ve come to expect from Apple, the design and engineering that went into the MacBook Air is extraordinary, but it’s certainly a much more specialised product than the standard 13-inch MacBook and won’t be as universally useful as that popular system.

The biggest compromises, which have been well-documented, come in its connectivity: the MacBook Air finds room for only one USB port and doesn’t include a built-in optical drive, FireWire, Ethernet or mobile broadband. And as with its other laptops, Apple refuses to outfit the Air with a media-card reader or an expansion card slot. Offsetting its sparse connectivity are genuinely useful new features including new touchpad gesture controls and the ability to wirelessly ‘borrow’ another system’s optical drive.

Choosing the Air over the cheaper, faster standard 13-inch MacBook, or the comparably priced MacBook Pro, will depend on your needs. Travellers who want minimum weight but maximum screen real estate, and who live their lives via Wi-Fi hot spots, with little need for wired connectivity, will find the £1,199 starting price a reasonable investment for owning one of the world’s premier bits of high-tech eye candy.

And while the MacBook Air’s specs are inferior to those found on the cheaper MacBook, they compare more favourably when you look at other ultraportables, where a price premium is always exacted. For instance, the base model Sony Vaio TZ costs £100 more than the basic MacBook Air, while the basic Toshiba Portege R500 costs only slightly less at £1,173 — and those models offer only 1GB RAM and slower processors.

Design
Although it shares a desktop footprint with the standard black and white MacBooks, the first thing you notice about the Air is its aluminium chassis — similar to the one found on the MacBook Pro, and much more fingerprint-resistant than the standard MacBooks. Picking it up, the MacBook Air feels a little heavier than you’d expect from looking at it, even though it’s only 1.4kg.

The MacBook Air’s keyboard lights up, and the touchpad has very useful multitouch functions

At the same time, it feels very sturdy and solid, thanks in part to the aluminium construction, and we’d have no qualms about carting it around with us all day. By way of comparison, the Vaio TZ series features an 11.1-inch screen and weighs only 200g lighter than the Air, and the Portege R500 is 600g lighter than the Air with a 12.1-inch screen.

The MacBook Air includes an iSight camera and mic, and an LED backlit display that works with an ambient light sensor to adjust the screen brightness in response to the light in the room. The keyboard — the same full-size version found in other MacBooks — has backlit keys that are also controlled by the ambient light sensor, although we really had to adjust the room lighting a good deal to see any difference.

Apple MacBook MB403LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:37:23 +0000

Color: White
Media: Personal Computers
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Apple MacOS X 10.5
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Speed: 2.4
CPU Type: Intel Core Duo
Processors: 1
System Bus Speed: 800
System Memory: 2000
Memory Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive Size: 160
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Native Resolution: 13.3
Modem: None
Display Size: 13.3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 8.7
Dimensions (in): 15.2 x 14.8 x 3.4
Warranty: 1 year warranty

MPN: MB403LL/A
Model: MB403LL/A
UPC: 885909214266
EAN: 0885909214266
ASIN: B0013FPYRK

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

The new Ashlee Simpson Karaoke Edition iPod for Pop Stars

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:26:36 +0000

Never Miss A Beat

Like no other, iPod Ashlee Simpson Karaoke Edition stands out. Virgin white, it features the new Apple Fast-Forward Click Button and, on the flip side, complete how to use instructions. Available for just $349, it comes with enough money to use a pay phone for calling your daddy, your agent or both, when you get caught lip syncing live on national television. We have also included some Kleenex for those special times when your entire fan base realizes you’re nothing but a talentless hack.

Sing As Pretty As A Song Bird

Unlike other members of the iPod family, iPod Ashlee Simpson Karaoke Edition makes lip syncing to music sheer delight. Taking a cue from our one-button computer mice, we have eliminated the confusion of five buttons and trimmed it down to a fast-forward. Just click the large button and you’re on to the next song! And you can certainly keep plenty of your music on this 20GB iPod. In fact, after purchasing and downloading “The Complete Ashlee Simpson,” you’ll still have enough room for as many as 4,996 other songs.⁽¹⁾

No matter how much music or how many Audiobooks (you still read right?) you bring with you, however, iPod Karaoke Edition remains small and light enough to carry in your pocket: it’s no bigger than a pack of playing cards and weighs just 5.6 ounces. No one will ever see an unsightly bulge when you use the iPod Karaoke Edition to “sing” “live” again!

It also offers up to 12 hours of battery life, so you can sync to music practically all day, after all you’re not really using your voice at all so why not?.⁽²⁾And thanks to 25 minutes of skip protection, you can do a hoedown just like Ashlee without skipping like Milli Vanilli.

What’s more, with iPod Karaoke Edition, you enjoy the best auto-sync in the industry *wink*. Just connect iPod to your Mac, PC or a Sony My First Computer, and iTunes takes care of business, keeping both iTunes and iPod in perfect harmony. Harmony? Webster’s says it’s “simultaneous combination of notes in a chord”. Don’t fret, we had to look it up too.

Apple:Ipod TouchFirst Mainstream Wi-Fi Mobile Plateform

beinzingolympics2008 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:24:25 +0000

The iPod Touch is Apple’s next generation iPod, right? Wrong.

During the company’s Q1 earnings conference call, Apple executives finally let the cat out of the bag and admitted publicly what they’ve known and I believed all along: the iPod Touch is potentially the “first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform, running all kinds of mobile applications”, not just music, video and casual web browsing.

Two words stick out: platform and mainstream.

We already know that Apple is releasing an official Software Developer Kit (SDK) for the iPod Touch next month, which will enable third parties to develop new software for the device. So that’s the platform part taken care of. But going mainstream with a pocket sized WiFi tablet is a much harder nut to crack and something others have tried and failed. PDAs from Palm and co. have long added WiFi, and yet the PDA is all but dead (overtaken by smart phones). More recently, companies such as Nokia have tried to sell pocket sized Internet tablets (the N810 being the company’s latest attempt) with modest success.

However, by marketing the Touch under the iPod unbrella, along with cashing in on iPhone inertia (since the two devices not only look alike but share the same multi-touch interface and underlying OS), might Apple have positioned itself as the first company capable of taking the WiFi mobile device mainstream? Let us know what you think in the comments.

New laptop incorporates split keyboard

beinzingolympics2008 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:54:53 +0000

With more people struggling with the effects of carpel tunnel, it’s become more pressing for computer designers to provide more ergonomic options for users. This is also been a problem with laptop designs which struggle with ergonomic design and lightweight function, and the user usually loses the battle as laptop makers keep designing laptops with smaller, standard QWERTY keyboards. But this company not only decided to give users more room with which to type, it also figured out a way to give the user more screen real estate, very much like the Nintendo DS does. And it’s an idea that’s been around for nearly ten years and never capitalized on … until now.

Read the rest of this entry »

D-Link goes green with new Wi-Fi routers

beinzingolympics2008 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:53:10 +0000

D-Link wants to do their part for the environment with a new range of Wi-Fi routers that are actually smart enough to help you save up to 40% in power usage – this is made possible as the routers are capable of detecting cable length as well as link status, adjusting power accordingly instead of running at full steam all the time as most of the other routers currently do. Heck, the routers can also be programmed to shut down the Wi-Fi radio when it is not in use so that power can be saved. The three Wi-Fi routers to feature D-Link’s Green Ethernet technology are the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router DIR-665, Xtreme N Duo Media Router DIR-855, and the Xtreme N Gaming Router DGL-4500. The routers alone are not new, but they’ve been updated with such green technology, they’re practically reborn.

Source: Slippery Brick

WL-308 Wireless 300N XR Gigabit Gaming Router

beinzingolympics2008 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:52:18 +0000

There is a new router in town, and this one caters to the gaming crowd. The WL-308 Wireless 300N XR Gigabit Gaming Router is touted to offer low-latency online gaming, lag-free local network gaming and uninterrupted VoIP use. I’m still rather skeptical of the claims and will believe it only when I’ve used this, but obviously for a company to be this bold in their marketing, there must be some semblance of truth in it (no matter how skewed). Have any of our readers out there tried solutions like this, and do such devices live up to the hype and claims? This Gaming Router is said to be uniquely developed and designed for gamers and hardcore users, merging both innovative design and a supposed ‘evolution’ in networking.

Read the rest of this entry »

Portable Touchscreen Blackjack Game

beinzingolympics2008 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:50:26 +0000

Are you missing the Venetian and Bellagio so badly but you don’t have the dough to book the next flight to Vegas? Well, get your Blackjack fix with the Portable Touchscreen Blackjack Game.

This video blackjack games color touchscreen LCD allows fast, casino-style game-play, and the entire unit is smaller than a laptop computer, ensuring ease of use when traveling. You can employ authentic blackjack strategies to take down the house; splitting aces, taking insurance to guard against a natural 21, and doubling down when youre holding an ace or a ten require only the touch of the screen. You can late surrender to cut your losses, and games can be played with one, two, or six decks to limit the effectiveness of card counting. The screen folds down and the device stores unobtrusively in a backpack or carry-on bag. Operates using three AAA batteries (not included) or the included AC adapter.

Of course, you won’t be able to make a quick killing on this and one thing’s for sure – you’ll end up $119.95 poorer after buying this, but at least you managed to stave off the Blackjack monster but for a moment.