July 8th, 2008
Acer announces $499 home theater-friendly mini PC
If your geek tendencies have ever desired to shoehorn a computer into your home theater, now’s the time to give in.
Acer introduced the Aspire X1200 this morning, which for $450 includes on-board NVIDIA GeForce 8200 graphics, an AMD Athlon (remember those?) X2 2850e processor and, thankfully, a HDMI port. The company expects full 7.1-channel audio support as well as enough oomph under the hood to handle H.264, VC1, and MPEG2 and output 1080P.
The entire package comes in a rack-ready 10.6 x 4.0 x 14.4-inch enclosure. Though it starts in the $400s with a 320GB SATA II drive, prices extend to $699 based on your needs — in this case, a 22-inch display.
Would you install this thing in your living room? Tell us in TalkBack.
July 7th, 2008
Pioneer ups Blu-ray discs to 16 layers, 400GB capacity
Pioneer’s scientists have reportedly upped the Blue-ray ante with a 400GB optical disc.
The capacity is stretched by manufacturing discs that are 16 layers deep, to be played with a player advanced enough optically to pick up the light scattered by all 16 layers. Conveniently, the player is also compatible with standard Blu-ray, but for now it’s limited to playback only, designed to demonstrate the new disc advancements.
It goes without saying, then, that the future holds the ability to burn a 400GB Blu-ray disc. You know, if people even burn discs anymore in the age of flash media.
July 3rd, 2008
The ToyBox presents: Top 10 Summer Gadgets 2008
It’s high time you left the office and got some sunlight.
You hear me? It’s the Fourth of July weekend, for Pete’s sake!
…what’s that? You’ll have to leave all your gadgets at home?
Not if we can help it.
We here at The ToyBox have compiled a list of the Top 10 gadgets you’ll need in your toybox this summer. And here’s a hint: most, if not all, can be brought outside or on the road for the holidays.
Well, what are you waiting for? View the gallery!
Got any better ideas? Any gadgets missing off the list? Leave ‘em in TalkBack. (Image courtesy Popgadget)
July 3rd, 2008
Weekend Gadget Guidance: Sync files between computers over the Web, free
Freeware application and Web service Dropbox instantly backs up and syncs your files over the Internet and to any Windows or Mac computer.
Once you install the application, it will create a Dropbox folder on your hard drive. Any file you put inside that folder will sync automatically and be monitored for changes. Each time a change is made (and saved), it backs up and syncs the file again. Dropbox also does revision history, so if you accidentally save a file and wanted to revert to an old version, Dropbox can recover any previous version.
Any file synced with Dropbox is available on any computer you sync it to or through the Dropbox web interface.
Dropbox is currently in closed beta, and I’m currently working to get Toybox readers some exclusive invites. In the meantime, Lifehacker has 500 invites for for people to try it out (beta code is “lifehacker”). I’ve got 200 exclusive invites for ToyBox readers: go to http://www.getdropbox.com/beta/zdnet and use code “zdnet” to access. If the invites run out, all new users get 10 invites of their own, so keep your eyes peeled — then post your invites here in TalkBack. (Thanks, Jon!)
During the beta, Dropbox is limited to 2GB of storage space and syncing. Afterward, the software and service will remain free of charge, but if more than 2GB of space will require a premium account. Dropbox is currently Windows- and Mac-ready with a Linux client on the way.
Would this be a useful service to you? Tell us in TalkBack.
July 2nd, 2008
Linux-based cell phone drops July 4
The Openmoko Neo Freerunner, a Linux-based cell phone that “will help enable ubiquitous computing in the 21st century,” will be on sale starting July 4, with shipping to begin July 7.
According to company specs, the phone utilizes GNU/Linux and comes with core software for dialing, SMS and recording contacts. Openmoko will supplement these features with periodic downloads beginning with a software suite that takes full advantage of the phone’s hardware platform. The new software, debuting at Linux World in August, is expected to provide location-based applications.
Two versions of the phone will be available: 850MHz or 900 MHz Tri-band GSM, to match frequencies in different countries. Black, oval-shaped and tipping the scale at 6.5 ounces, the Neo FreeRunner features a 2.8″ 480 x 640 VGA touchscreen, Wi-Fi (802.1 1b/g), AGPS, GPRS 2.5G, Bluetooth 2.0, two 3-axis motion sensors and comes with 128MB WSDRAM and 256MB NAND Flash.
The Openmoko Neo FreeRunner will retail for $399, and the phone will be sold directly from the Openmoko webshop at www.openmoko.com and via distributors in the EU, India and North America.
July 1st, 2008
Adobe makes Flash searchable, crawlable
It’s not gadget news per se, but if you consider Adobe Flash a tool in your arsenal, this is big news.
Posted on Slashdot today is news that Adobe has figured out a way to make Flash crawlable by search engines:
Today Adobe systems made an announcement that it has provided technology and information to Google and Yahoo! to help the two search engine rivals index Shockwave Flash (SWF) file formats. According to the company, this will provide more relevant search rankings of the millions pieces of flash content. Until now, developers had to implement workarounds for exposing text content using in Flash to search engine spiders and other bots such as using XHTML data providers. While the Flash content is exposed, it is not yet clear how it will be utilized by the search engines, as they have not revealed their algorithms. The SWF specification is openly published.
For anyone who publishes on the Web, this is big news — that means there’s less of a tradeoff between creating a site entirely in Flash and creating one that uses HTML as a crutch to help it along in search rankings.
What do you think, readers? Does that make Flash more appealing for site design, or is it still problematic? Tell us in TalkBack.
UPDATE: More information from the guys n’ gals at TechCrunch: “Michele Turner, Adobe’s VP of marketing for its platform business, explains: ‘We are releasing technology to Google and Yahoo that enables them to crawl and index SWF files. They are now searchable. This will open up millions of Flash files to search.’ Adobe has created a special Flash player for the search engines that acts like a virtual user going through each application. It actually goes through the runtime of each Flash application and translates it into something the search engines can understand. So all of those fancy interactive Flash Websites and other rich Internet applications that have been invisible to search engines, can now be seen by them…Google is already rolling out the SWF-indexing technology, while Yahoo still ‘has some work to do,’ says Turner. Even so, this won’t solve all the problems with Flash content showing up on search engines.”
June 30th, 2008
Rumors: New, bigger Asus Eee PCs in the pipeline
According to today’s DigiTimes, Asustek Computer is planning to launch new Eee PC models, the 904 and 905 — which have an 8.9-inch panel but use a similar chassis and keyboard as the company’s 10.2-inch models, according to the Times’ vendor sources.
The major difference between these two and the previous 901 model is that the new models feature a bigger keyboard (you know, for less T-Rex-style typing). The Eee PC 904 and 905 are also reported to adopt Atom processors. Asustek is supposedly still evaluating whether to make changes to the two models’ battery and storage capacity.
The company is reported to release the Eee PC 904 and 905 at a similar price range as the current 900 and 901, eventually replacing them altogether. The sources also noted that the company is also considering whether to drop prices for the 900 and 901 to clear inventory, or simply leave them in the market to defend against Acer’s Aspire One.
June 27th, 2008
Weekend Gadget Guidance: Put some pizzaz in your presentations with free Keynote Objects
There are a lot of ZDNet readers out there who have to give presentations at the office — and any way to distinguish yourself from the monotonous pack is worthwhile.
Thanksfully, iPresentee recently released free Keynote Objects, a package of 100 images suitable for use in Apple Keynote, iWeb and Pages documents (as well as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, for that matter).
The objects are resizable TIF images with transparent backgrounds, and include common icons like stars, flags, speech bubbles, signs, and computer-related symbols like folders and hard drives.
(Windows users: If you’re having trouble converting, try downloading them here.)
Your slideshows and documents will never be the same. Thanks, Macworld!
June 26th, 2008
Digital Experience! NYC 2008, in photos
Last night, Pepcom’s Digital Experience! came to New York City, and this reporter attended, Nikon D40X in hand, to photograph the festivities for you, our dear readers.
Plenty of vendors were on display showing their wares: Nokia, Sony, Panasonic, Linksys, Kingston, Samsung, Nikon, Lexmark, Palm…the list goes on.
Want to experience this year’s “Digital Experience!”? Click the image or text below to see this year’s gallery, shot by yours truly for your gadget-y edification:
Pepcom Digital Experience! NYC 2008
Reactions? Comments? Leave ‘em in TalkBack.
June 25th, 2008
Play with gadgets in private using $100K isolation chamber
No, it’s not quite like the “cone of silence” thing in Get Smart — hell, it probably costs more — but it’s certainly in the same vein.
In this week’s offbeat news, the Ovei isolation pod, reportedly launched this week in the UK, will let you scream how “so happy!” you are all you’d like while you’re watching Get Smart on DVD. For the rough exchanged sum of $100,000, you get a unique capsule designed by Lee McCormack and made by McLaren Applied Technologies (of exotic sportscar fame), custom-built exactly how you want: media center, gaming rig, interior, exterior…for all I know, you might be able to get a CONTROL decal plastered on the thing.
For city dwellers who watch home videos punctuated by ambulances, horns and drunken revelry, this seems like an interesting solution (short of, you know, covering the whole apartment in ultra-dense, recording studio-quality foam). On the other hand, you might not hear the fire alarm when your building is burning down.
The “ultimate personal entertainment experience” indeed. Because nothing’s more entertaining than yourself.
Andrew J. Nusca is an assistant editor for ZDNet.com. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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