by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 8:01AM
We're all pretty spoiled in these digital days; not that long ago taking a look at a vacation's worth of photos required a trip to the store, a couple of hours (or days) wait, and then the better part of an afternoon getting fingerprints all over a stack of poorly composed shots that you daren't throw out because you just paid good money to have them printed. Now you pop a memory card into your computer, wait a few seconds for them to fly into an appropriately labeled folder, and then... probably forget you took them. It's so much easier it's hard to fathom the process getting even more simple, but that's what Eye-Fi has done with its line of wireless flash memory cards, which beam pictures directly from your camera. The company's latest, the $149, 4GB Eye-Fi Pro, makes the process even more direct by letting you send pictures straight to a computer, also adding some additional features that pros and semi-pros will appreciate. We put it through its paces after the break.
by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 7:23AM
Sony showed us a lot of things at this year's
E3 -- some
expected, some rather
less-so -- but they didn't show us the primary thing shareholders and fans were hoping for: a price cut. That most expensive of gaming consoles still retails its lead in the brutal MSRP wars, but a Sterne Agee analyst indicates that Sony is just biding its time. According to the always accurate "industry sources," the PS3 will receive a $100 drop sometime in the middle of August, just in time for the launch of Madden NFL 10. That would also coincide with back to school shopping, apparently a popular time for buying consoles by parents who want to give their kids every chance in the world to fail thanks to spending too much time robbing graves in Uncharted.
by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 5:58AM
It's no secret that
we're smitten with Drobo's storage "robots." But they're expensive, especially compared to direct-attached or
NAS storage devices built on a traditional RAID architecture. But if price is holding you back then you'll be happy to hear that for a limited time, you can take 20% off the list price of the 4-bay array. If you're lucky, you already have a handful of loose drives to plug-in else why not stuff it to capacity for 8TB of disk this Father's Day? Granted, still no built-in Ethernet without the optional DroboShare, but at least you've got an extra paper hundie to dry your tears.
by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 4:36AM
Oh look, something other than a Pre or iPhone... it's Samsung's
GT-I8000, or Omnia II / Omnia 2 as it's expected to be known by the time it launches. Spec-counters will want to listen in close 'cause the GT-I8000 comes packing a 3.7-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) AMOLED display (presumably the same display just
revealed by Samsung last week) with an 8.1 megapixel camera lit by dual-LEDs capable of recording VGA video at 30fps. The Lithuanian on-line retailer responsible for leaking the specs (which have now been removed) says we'll see a 1500mAh battery powering HSDPA data with a custom "cubic" UI (looking very similar to the UI on the
S8000 Jet) riding atop Windows Mobile. With a superior spec-sheet it has to be a superior phone right?
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 2:52AM
We have a hard time believing that the FCC's documentation system is efficient and well-coordinated enough to actually reveal documents at the exact date and time that filers want them to -- so who knows, maybe the feds are in bed with Apple on keeping its most prized launches under lock and key until just the right moment. We kid, we kid -- maybe -- but at any rate, you can now peruse hundreds of pages of specific absorption rate plots for GSM, UMTS / HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth in both 16 and 32GB flavors of the
iPhone 3G S. It's not likely going to tell you anything you didn't already know or care about, especially since there aren't any external photos or user's manuals accessible yet -- but if you get really, amazingly bored this evening, it might be worth a look-see.
Read - iPhone 3G S 16GB
Read - iPhone 3G S 32GB
by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 1:26AM
Microsoft might be busy extending and building on the Xbox 360's capabilities with
Project Natal and all manner of
NXE and Live updates, but it sounds like some of their third-party devs think they're running out of headroom -- in an interview with the Official Xbox Magazine, EA senior VP Patrick Soderlund said that "we've maxed out the 360 but we haven't maxed out the PS3." That's an interesting parallel to what Miyamoto was just
saying about the Wii, of course, but it doesn't seem like the situation is entirely dire: Soderlund also said that he's "truly impressed" with the 360 and that he "would have a headache" if he were running Sony. Still, that doesn't bode well for Microsoft's planned
10-year 360 lifecycle if it's true -- we'll see if Redmond has something new for us before 2015 after all.
by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 12:36AM
HP's just kicked out a slew of updates to its laptop lines, and thankfully the biggest news is that they've gotten cheaper. The HP dv2z brings the low end of the
12.1-inch AMD Neo ultraportable down to $599, while the larger Intel-based
dv3t is now $649. The
dv6 gets two new editions, including the pictured $949 dv6z Artist Edition 2 preloaded with a bunch of Corel art software and a $649 dv6t base model that thankfully loses the awful lid artwork. Seriously, we know HP had to use the design after it won the HP / MTV Notebook Design Contest, but we just don't think too many people want to rock the"surfing peacock" look. There are also a bunch of new eco-friendly printers if you're into that sort of thing -- hit the read link for the lowdown.
by Paul Miller, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 12:08AM
It's the feel bad and then feel good again story of the year: bankrupt Ugobe's intellectual property and assets, including the intensely lovable and
yet nearly unloved Pleo, are being snapped up by Jetta Company Limited, which currently manufactures the robotic baby dino. The company plans on re-launching Pleo, and says that all its manufacturing processes for Pleo and related accessories are still intact. Better yet, the company is well established and no stranger to robots: it also builds parts for iRobot's consumer products.
Could this be love?
by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 11:24PM
Listen up,
steampunkers: Have you been having a hard time finding an appropriate USB thumb drive to wear on a gold chain next to your pocket watch? Artype's 16GB Mechanical Memory Key is a handcrafted beaut, with materials that include Purpleheart for the case and twenty-six rubies. When this device is drawing USB power it glows green from beneath the gears, taking you back to your days as a hacker during the reign of Queen Victoria. Sadly, the device pictured above has already been sold, but at $165 a pop we're sure this particular artisan has plenty more of these guys in the works. Two more glamor shots for you after the break.
[Via
Boing Boing]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 10:40PM
It won't be available en masse until the 17th of the month, but the
gold build of iPhone OS 3.0 is now available to developers -- a promising sign that apps taking advantage of a wide variety of 3.0's new features (push notifications, in-app payments, and the like) will be available by the time it's released to the general public. We've been toying around with the latest cut here and have noticed a few small changes from
beta 5; nothing groundbreaking, but notable nonetheless. Most importantly, iTunes is now offering movie, TV and music video downloads directly from the phone, which has caused the bottom navigation bar to be rearranged a bit. We also noticed that the App Store's nav bar was rearranged a bit to accommodate a "More" button where you'll find Top 25 and Redeem links. The Store screen in Settings now shows a nicely-formatted account information screen -- nice, we suppose -- but unfortunately, MMS configurability is still missing, so it's unclear whether AT&T will need to push an update once it flips the switch. Dive into the gallery for a closer look.
by Paul Miller, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 10:02PM
Sure, we feign a lack of bias, but deep down in our hearts we only have one love:
Symbian Foundation's robo-duckie mascot. Unfortunately for Symbian, it's going to take all the charm it can muster to win over the iPhone App Store's crop of cash-flush developers. Symbian was apparently at WWDC today, doing its best to woo, with all-day festivities involving coffee, food, a "hackathon," prizes, and free Nokia 5800 handsets for attendees. We're expecting Ovi Store to fill in with some solid €1.00 beer drinking simulators and Zippo lighter apps any second now.
by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 9:33PM
The may not be quite as
energy efficient as some of NEC's offerings or as
jaw-dropping as some others, but the company's new MultiSync LCD2490WUXi² and LCD2490W2-BK-SV displays will no doubt be just the ticket for at least a few graphics professionals out there. From the looks of it, the two 24-inch monitors are mostly identical, and pack an IPS panel with a 1,900 x 1,200 resolution, along with a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 320 cd/m² brightness, 96.7% coverage of the sRGB color space, and NEC's AmbiBright ambient light sensor with automatic backlight adjustment. The big difference is that the LCD2490W2 model comes bundled with NEC's
SpectraView color calibration sensor and, of course, a slightly higher price tag. Look for it to run you $1,299, while the SpectraView-less LCD2490WUXi² will set you back $1,099.
[Via
Electronista]
by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 8:57PM
Sure, Apple didn't really shock anyone with the announcement of the iPhone 3G S this morning at WWDC, but there was no shortage of news at the Moscone Center -- we also got new MacBooks, final Snow Leopard details, and a release date for iPhone OS 3.0. On the other hand, it wasn't all good news either: AT&T's iPhone upgrade pricing and service levels leave a lot to be desired, and Apple's unfortunate penchant for sealed-in batteries has finally hit the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Apple's
posted its stream of the keynote if you want to relive things in real-time, but here's a quick rewind in case you missed anything:
The good The bad
- As usual, iPod touch owners are going to get dinged $9.95 for the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade. Hey Apple -- maybe switch these guys over to subscription accounting as well?
- Let's face it, "iPhone 3G S" is a pretty clunky name.
- Sure, it's nice that the MacBook Pros now have an SD card slot, but losing ExpressCard hurts. And why not a multicard reader? Pro DSLRs still use CF.
The ugly
- Sure, new customers and qualified upgraders are getting some sweet pricing on iPhone hardware, but AT&T's basically flipping existing customers the bird -- they'll have to pay anywhere from $399 to a whopping $699 to get an iPhone 3G S. You'd think they'd have looked at how many people went from a first-gen iPhone to a 3G and realized those same people would want a 3G S, but apparently not.
- On top of that insult, AT&T isn't supporting all of iPhone OS 3.0's features out the gate: MMS is coming "later this summer," and tethering has been promised but there's no timeline and no pricing information. Thanks, AT&T.
- Sure, it's grand that the 15-inch MacBook Pro's battery now lasts for up to seven hours on a charge and won't lose capacity for five years, but a non-swappable battery on a workhorse professional machine just doesn't cut it for us.
So all in all we'd say that the good outweighs the bad, although AT&T really disappointed here. Of course, that's just scratching the surface -- check out the rest of our coverage after the break and let us know what you think!
by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 8:31PM
Viliv's
X70 Series MID already looked like a pretty solid option for anyone wanting an
S5 with a larger screen, but things have now gotten even more interesting, as US retailer / importer Dynamism has put up a product page listing a starting price of $599. That, as
jkOnTheRun points out, is the same price as the S5, which packs a smaller 5-inch screen compared to the X70's 7-incher (though both are WSVGA). Otherwise, the two are fairly similar, with each sporting the usual Atom processor, Windows XP for an OS, built-in GPS, optional 3G, and 1GB of RAM. The X70 also mixes things up a bit with your choice of 32GB or 64GB SSD drives, while the S5 packs a standard 60GB hard drive. Still no word on a release date, but Dynamism will gladly take your email now and your order later.
[Via
jkOnTheRun]
by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 8:02PM
Sorry,
preorderers -- you've once again gotten gamed by the quick-draw Nokia flagship stores in New York and Chicago who've received stock of the black version of the
N97 today. You can't buy the units just yet, but they'll be available tomorrow morning -- the only catch is that there are established waitlists at both locations, so you might have to wait for those folks to burn through stock before you get your own. It'll run $699.99, so, you know... do what you've gotta do tonight to make sure those funds are available by sun-up tomorrow.
[Thanks, Shoham]
by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 7:28PM
Apple wasn't totally clear about this earlier, but it turns out
all the unibody MacBook models are now MacBook Pros -- the only remaining "MacBook" is the white plastic number. That's definitely a big change from Cupertino's usual rigidly-maintained product matrix -- we'd say that the lower-end Pros with GeForce 9400M integrated graphics definitely blur the line between consumer and professional machines. Still, it's not hard to tell one from the other on the outside, at least: MacBooks are plastic and MacBook Pros are aluminum. We all straight?
by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 7:04PM
It may not seem quite as impressive now that
Microsoft and
Sony have shown off their visions of a
motion-controlled future, but Nintendo's
Wii MotionPlus is still as good as it gets when it comes to consoles
today and,
as promised, it's now finally shipping alongside the latest Tiger Woods game. That may not be exactly what Nintendo had in mind when it first unveiled MotionPlus way back at last year's E3, but the first-party wares won't be too far behind, with its own
Wii Sports Resort title (and requisite bundle) still on track for a launch late next month. If you're up for a little golf in the meantime, however, you can pick up the Tiger Woods game bundled with Wii MotionPlus for $59.99, or the standalone game (still playable with the standard Wiimote) for $49.99.
by Paul Miller, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 6:24PM
As of late Sunday, the new Palm Pre became the fastest starter ever for Sprint, setting records both for best first day sales and best first weekend sales, according to a Sprint press release. Unfortunately, Sprint doesn't mention a specific number of devices sold (the
best estimate so far is around 50,000), or what device the Pre knocked off the top spot -- we'd say the Instinct, if we had to guess. The rest of the effusive PR is spent on extensive self praise, with CEO Dan Hesse calling the launch "the coming out party for the new Sprint." In between plugs for the Ready Now experience, however, unfolds the bizarre story of a groom-to-be standing in line 15 minutes before his wedding. We don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say it's got "feel good romcom of the summer" written all over it.
by Paul Miller, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 6:01PM
Sure, you think you've learned all there is to know about Apple's new
iPhone 3G S, but have you had its every feature explained and demonstrated for you by an unrealistically calm, factory-fresh ApplePerson over the course of 14 minutes in one of the company's trademark guided tours? Trust us, it's like taking a bubble bath in
technology. Hit the read link for video.
by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 5:45PM
LaCie's back with another addition to its
steadily growing LaCinema family. The Classic Bridge ships for $99, including an HDMI cable and that iconic blue light, yet forgoes the hard drive -- perfect for all you crazy kids who already have plenty in the way of storage, but still need a way to get your media files onto the TV screen. Either install your 3.5-inch SATA HDD (FAT32 only, folks) or plug in an external USB drive, and you'll be watching re-runs of
B. J. and the Bear in no time. Supports "flawless" 1080p HD resolution and all of the formats you depend on for your pop-culture fix, including: MPEG4, MP3, JPEG, and HD-JPEG. Not yet available for purchase, but in the meantime feel free to check this bad boy out in the gallery below.
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