Panasonic has a pair of dash-mountable devices that will finally let you toss aside those old school DVDs. The first is the CN-HX3000D Windows-powered device, sporting a 7-inch, 1280 x 720 display and also offering GPS, Bluetooth, a 40GB hard drive, and iPod/iPhone compatibility.

The second device is the CY-BB1000D in-car Blu-ray player (Not BD-Live compatible). Both are set to arrive this fall for an unknown price. Whatever it is, you’ll gladly pay it, just to keep the little ones happy and sedated.

If you haven’t jumped onto the 3D bandwagon yet, you’ll want to very soon if this year’s NAB show is any indication. Meet Panasonic’s latest conceptual camcorder, which will take P2 memory cards. For the moment, Panasonic’s 3D Full HD Camera Recorder is just a prototype, but it’s pretty clear that they intend to bring it to market asap. It looks pretty awesome.

The device will feature a twin-lens system for capturing 3D footage natively in 1080p, and the video streams will be stored on P2 cards. Will it be able to be used for 2D shooting at all? It doesn’t look like it right now. Either way, this is a step in the right direction for Panasonic. Everybody else is doing the 3D thing after all.

Panasonic has announced a batch of 16 heat pump water heaters that will save energy and keep your water temperature constant by using a human presence sensor. The mechanism is able to reduce power consumption by up to 35% in winter, which is when you use the most.

If you’re in Japan, you can get one by July 10. Just don’t expect it to be affordable. The HE-KU37CQS model has a tank capacity and hot water supply pressure of 370L and 280kPa and retails for about $8,211. Seems like a cruel joke, but at that price they are selling you the remote control separately.

Panasonic has announced its W8 Premium Edition laptop. These are tough laptops that sport an 80GB Intel X-25M SSD with 250MB/sec reading speed and 70MB/sec writing speed.

The notebook comes in three different lid cover flavors including Black, Silver and Pink Splash. No info on pricing or availability just yet. Panasonic simply wanted you to notice them.

Panasonic unleashed a slew of new digital camera announcements yesterday. We covered one of them already, the FX580. Along with that camera also came several others, one of which gets an obligatory world’s first claim.

Panasonic claims the TS1 is the world’s first waterproof, shockproof and dustproof digital camera that features AVCHD Lite HD video recording capability. The camera is built to withstand drops from five feet, dust and it is water resistant to 10 feet. That means you can shoot video and still shots underwater.

Panasonic has unveiled its new Wireless Home Theater System, the SC-ZT1, which is specially designed to do away with the trouble of speaker cables. The system sends uncompressed audio data over a wireless 2.4-GHz frequency band to ensure high-quality sound.

The SC-ZT1 will give you a lifelike virtual Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD 7.1 channel surround sound from its four ultra slim antenna looking speakers, which come with an integrated subwoofer for generating sounds from the low-frequency range. You can purchase the Panasonic SC-ZT1 when it is released in Spring 2009.

Panasonic fans have some new gear to get excited about. Here’s the new SD compact camcorder from Panasonic. Weighing in at just 300grams, this video recorder features a 60GB HDD, and a SDHC port so you can easily record video on both the HDD or SD Card.

You’ll be able to record 14 to 54 hours of video on it’s 60GB HDD (in XP to LP mode) or 1 hour 40 minutes in XP Mode on a 8GB SD Card.
 The Panasonic SDR-H80 also boasts Panasonic’s O.I.S Image Stabilizer with 70x optical zoom, face recognition software, and a YouTube Video mode. You’ll also get a 2.7-inch LCD monitor.

Back when I had a real job I worked in the health care field. I can tell you from experience that the hospital is one of the roughest places on the planet for a computer. Machines are dropped, stepped on, bled on, pooped on, and crushed between walls and heavy gear very frequently.

The trick is to have computers rugged enough to withstand frequent cleanings and the perils of hard use. Panasonic has announced its latest fully rugged computer system called the Toughbook H1 that is designed specifically for the medical setting. The machine uses the Intel Atom Z540 CPU and runs Windows Vista Business.

When electronic devices break and are no longer usable many people, don’t realize that you can’t simply toss them into the trash and send the devices to the landfill. Many electronic devices have varying amounts of hazardous substances inside them.

That leaves many consumers with no way to dispose of electronics in a safe and convenient method. Panasonic announced this week that it would be launching a nationwide electronics recycling program for Panasonic branded electronics items.

This isn’t the first time we’ve told you about fuel cell technology in laptops. Back in July Lenovo was trying their hand at a prototype laptop using fuel cells. But Panasonic’s latest fuel cell breakthrough is the world’s smallest designed for notebooks. At 270cc, it’s about the same size as the existing lithiums. The key is that they use highly concentrated methanol, similar to what the military uses. Just 200cc will give you 20 hours of power. The prototype weighs just 320 grams.

If you prefer to charge your gadgets by fuel cell, they have a paperback-sized device that will get the job done. The company is expecting both to be available in 2012. Don’t worry, we shouldn’t need to carry around tanks of methanol.

Not too long ago my dad had his old TV go out after a lightning strike, so he asked me to head to the local Best Buy with him to get a new TV. I realized two things straight away. First, the vast majority of employees at Best Buy are morons. Then I realized most Best Buy TV salesman use the lower lifespan of plasma TVs compared LCD TVs to talk shoppers out of going plasma. Personally, I prefer plasma to LCD because you usually get more contrast and a brighter picture.

Panasonic has announced new plasma TVs in its VIERA 1080p line that will make the lifespan argument against plasma TVs a moot point. Panasonic says its new 1080p plasma HDTVs are rated to last for up to 100,000 viewing hours before they dim to half brightness.

When you say plasma display most of us immediately think of a big flat panel TV. In the home theater realm plasma is losing ground to LCD displays as LCDs improve in contrast and brightness. For years now LCD has been the dominate player in the cell phone industry for displays.

Panasonic and AbleComm announced today that Panasonic would be building a cell phone that uses a small plasma display to operate on the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV service. The small screen will require only 1.5 volts to operate and will require no special wiring or power supplies.

That’s right, another device that looks like a tasty candy bar. This is Panasonic’s D-Snap SV-SD870N, and it’s a bit slick looking with the display giving it a 2 tone design. It’s a digital player that offers over 100 hours of audiophile quality audio play using noise canceling technology.

It supports most audio formats and you can even record directly to a 2gigabyte SD card. Panasonic will start to ship the SV-SD870N in 5 colors starting April 18th in Japan.

Panasonic is unveilng this week a new entry level digital camera designed for those who seek “advanced, yet easy-to-use settings.” The camera is called the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LS80 and it is priced at around $150.

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LS80 is an eight-megapixel model using a newly developed LUMIX DC VARIO lens system. It offers up 3x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, auto ISO settings and quicker auto focus.

We thought this image does a pretty good job giving a general idea to the relative size of Panasonic’s 150-inch plasma that you have probably been hearing so much about at this years CES event. Pictured here, the ginormous TV is next to a real person and the huge Panasonic 103-inch plasma from CES last year.

Panasonic calls it the “Life Panel” and it has a resolution of 4 x 1080p (4k by 2k).

[Image Credit: Gizmodo.com]