Archive for January, 2010

Inbrics M1 is a super-thin Android slider

Posted in Android by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

We don’t normally see many Android devices in slider form, the Motorola Droid aside, but the Inbrics M1 is another and it’s extremely thin for a slider. The features are pretty decent as well. It boasts a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3-megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, an 800MHz processor, 16GB of built-in storage, microSD card slot, and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Not too shabby at all. It runs Android 1.5 for now, but by the time it hits in March 2010, Android 2.0 should be onboard. Nothing on carrier or price yet, but you will know when we do.

Lexi E-book reader

Posted in ebooks by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

You’ll notice that they called this one Lexi, not sexy. It is in no way sexy and could never be called sexy no matter how many beers you’ve downed while reading your favorite book. Lexi is from Audiovox/RCA, who showed her off at CES 2010.

She won’t turn very many heads in the crowded e-book reader market. She features a 6-inch display, 800 x 600 resolution, 2GB internal memory, and a battery that will last up to 7000 page turns. We doubt that it will take on the Kindle or the Nook.

Oregan launches Widget Store for TVs

Posted in Television by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

Do you have a connected TV? Would you like an app store to go along with it? Well, you are in luck. Oregan Networks has come up with an applications store for connected TVs. It will allow you to select and download services and applications right onto your TV.

You can select and download services and applications for your television. Content like Twitter, weather, sports and news will al be available, and will come pre-installed with Onyx. You will also be able to access paid content like movies and subscription TV services through the Widgets.

Acer recalls 22,000 laptops

Posted in Acer by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

You might remember that back in October Acer had to recall some Aspire laptops. Well, now the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls on Acer’s AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ, and AS3810TZG laptops.

Those are all 13.3″ models. They are being recalled due to bad internal wiring of the microphone. Apparently three incidents of short circuiting have been reported so far, which causes the laptop’s plastic cases to melt. Hopefully not while on your lap.

Examine Netflix rental patterns neighborhood by neighborhood

Posted in Netflix by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

The New York Times has an interactive Web app that lets you see the popularity of various Netflix titles by neighborhood in a several different cities. It’s a pretty interesting voyeuristic look at who is watching what. But it leaves you with more questions than answers.

For instance Why is The Curious Case Of Benjamin Butler so popular in Chicago? Or for that matter why are any of these people watching Doubt? Don’t they have paint to watch dry?

iPhone gets a full-size QWERTY keyboard

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

Now here’s how you turn your iPhone into a PC. Ion has two prototype full-size keyboards for the Apple iPhone. As you can see you just dock your iPhone in and type away.

One of the prototypes uses flat, MacBook-style keys, and the other uses standard PC keyboard keys. It’s called the iType. The keyboard has its own battery, which can also charge the iPhone. I guess it’s a good idea if you are at home with a million emails to sort through.

$160k Nokia Supreme

Posted in Nokia by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

Stuart Hughes is offering an entry-level alternative to its $3.2 million iPhone 3GS Supreme. The new Nokia Supreme will cost you £99,995 (or $160k).

For that price you get a fairly boring Nokia 8800 loaded with 12.5 cts of pink diamonds, handmade veneers made from 83 grams of platinum, and a navigation button with a single 3 ct diamond. Want one? Only three were made.

Cellphones may protect the brain from Alzheimer’s

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2010

We’ve all heard that cellphone radiation can be bad for you, even if it does remain unproven. But a new study in mice suggests that using cellphones may help prevent some of the brain-wasting effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

After long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves like those in cell phones, mice that were genetically altered to develop Alzheimer’s performed as well on memory and thinking skill tests as healthy mice. So I guess cellphones could be good for us and bad at the same time.

SteelSeries StarCraft II Limited Edition ZBoard Keyset

Posted in Keyboards by Conner Flynn on January 9th, 2010

SteelSeries has teamed up with Blizzard for a StarCraft II Limited Edition ZBoard Keyset. The design is of course based on the upcoming StarCraft II title and features artwork from the game and a layout that will help you kick ass in said game.

Some features include one-touch macros and the ability to customize each key. It will cost you $24.99 when the game itself becomes available. hat’s about all the info we have on this one.

FaceVsion announces TouchCam N1 Skype HD webcam

Posted in Skype by Conner Flynn on January 9th, 2010

FaceVsion, along with dropping the “i” from it’s name is now introducing its first Skype HD-ready TouchCam N1 webcam. It comes packing an embedded H.264 video compression chip to help with 720p video streaming, and it also includes dual unidirectional mics to make sure that the video has some quality audio to go along with it.

It may not be the most stylish design, but you can expect this one to be available next month for just $99. Don’t need a mic? Then it will only cost you $69.

Acer Aspire AS5740 and AS7740 break cover

Posted in Acer by Shane McGlaun on January 8th, 2010

Acer has unveiled a couple new laptops at CES that are designed to run the new Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors. Both of the notebooks use the Acer gemstone style with deep colors and rounded edges. The machines also both run Windows 7 Home Premium.

The Aspire AS5740G-6979 has an Intel Core i5-430M CPU and a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 screen. The machine has 4GB of RAM, ATI HD 5650 RAM, a 500GB HDD and a DVD burner. Other features include a track pad that supports gestures, 802.11N WiFi, Webcam, and a 4400 mAh battery. The machine will sell for $749.99.

Gateway pulls the cover off EC14D ultraportable with DVD drive

Posted in Gateway by Shane McGlaun on January 8th, 2010

When it comes to the lightest, smallest, and most portable notebooks, they often lack optical drives. This isn’t a problem for some users, but those who often need to access data from a CD or DVD can run into big problems.

Gateway has unveiled a new notebook at CES that is small and packs in a DVD drive. The machine is called the Gateway EC14D07u and has an 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 LED backlit screen. The machine uses an Intel Pentium SU4100 ULV processor at 1.3GHz.

Navigon announces GPS navigation apps for Windows Mobile and Android

Posted in NAVIGON by Shane McGlaun on January 8th, 2010

One of the things that I like about the iPhone is that I don’t need a GPS device, music player, or MID — the iPhone does it all. There are other devices on the market that have GPS functionality built-in and the ability to use a smartphone as a navigation device is a popular feature with many consumers.

Navigon has had a navigation app for the iPhone out for a while now and at CES, the company has announced that it has onboard navigation apps coming for phones on the Android platform and those running Windows Mobile.

eStarling TouchConnect digital frame is very cool

Posted in Digital Photo Frames by Shane McGlaun on January 8th, 2010

I am a sucker for a cool digital photo frame. The things keep me from spending time printing the hoards of digital photos that my wife seems to always be taking. eStarling has unveiled its latest digital photo frame at CES and it is very cool.

The frame is called the TouchConnect and uses all touch controls with no remote. The screen is 10.2-inches and it has a 16:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 800 x 480. Onboard memory for the frame is 2GB and it has a SD card slot as well. Firmware updates can be received over the air and the frame can be connected to its own Gmail account.

Samsung intros E6 e-reader, with content from Google

Posted in ebooks by Conner Flynn on January 8th, 2010

Samsung on Wednesday demonstrated the E6 e-book reader. The 6-inch device features a wireless connection, likely Wi-Fi, to share and get your content and it also has a handwriting feature so users can doodle away. The first partner to provide content for the device will be Google, which has digitized many many popular and classic books.

The E6 should be able to compete well with Amazon’s Kindle, not to mention all of the others out there. The E6 will ship at some point later this year for $399.