Gadgets Future

Lucky Joanna Stern (you may know her from such blogs as Laptop Mag) received a rather exciting package from the mail man this morning: a shiny new Samsung NC10 netbook, bought from a store in its native Korea and popped in the post by a generous friend.

The $500 netbook features all the usual internals (10″ screen, 1.6GHz Atom processor, Bluetooth, b/g wireless, 160GB hard drive and a gig of RAM) but it also comes with some extra Samsung Appeal — the added build quality we expect from the Korean manufacturer.

As Joanna unpacks the box, we see a rather neat looking machine with clean, sharp lines, in contrast to the Wind’s more curvy shape, along with the essential six-cell battery (a lot of earlier netbooks shipped with a three-cell, with hilarious consequences — an ultra portable that lasted less than two hours). Find the video at the link below.

We’re sure that, once they get past the Korean keyboard and Korean install of Windows XP, the folks at Laptop Mag will find it a capable machine. We have but one question: Can you hack it ?

Our Samsung NC10 Arrives and Gets Unboxed [Laptop Mag]

The 65-inch Mitsubishi LaserVue L65-A90 is a special HDTV, a very special HDTV.  You will probably know of LCD HDTVs, Plasma HDTV and maybe also OLED HDTVs, but do you know of a laser HDTV?

The Mitsubishi LaserVue L65-A90 is the world’s first laser powered HDTV, no LCD or plasma displays here.  Using laster beams to provide an extensive range of rich detailed colors with clarity and impressive depth of field. The laser light surpasses the other current HD display technologies, and provides 2x the color detail by reproducing a color gamut in excess of 200% of the standard, current HDTVs.

Another benefit of The Mitsubishi L65-A90 is it’s power consumption, using just one third of the power of a similar sizes LCD or plasma HDTV, at just 135Watts.

So we have better colors, and lower power consumption, what else does the Mitsubishi LaserVue L65-A90 have to offer?  We full HD 1080p screen, Plush 1080p engine, Deep Color / x.v Color, “High Contrast” , Smooth 120Hz high frame rate, and a number of image enhancing features.

The Mitsubishi LaserVue (Laser view, as some way) L65A90 is aso 3D ready, allowing you to view true 3D content via the supplied 3D glasses.   It’s far from one of the cheaper HDTVs, but it’s also a world’s first, providing some stunning images, which are noticeably improved over typical LCD and plasma HDTVs.

When compared to a Sharp LCD and the impressive Pioneer Kuro plasma HDTVs, the colors were reported as noticeably more impressive, with blacks almost as good as the world leading Kuro, and also better at maintaining details during high motion better.

Lastly, the Mitsubishi LaserVue L65-A90 is a good investment as the set will not suffer from color degradation over time, as some other technologies do.

Whenever one country receives a highly anticipated piece of technology first, many other countries get jealous and find ways to illegally obtain that device.  Currently, T-Mobile’s G1 was only released several days ago in America and hasn’t been released elsewhere at this time.  Some Chinese are desperate to try out the first phone running Google’s Android and so they have begun buying G1s from American consumers for big bucks, or should I say big renminbi. 

For about RMB 3,999, about $584, you can purchase your own G1.  If you wish to purchase an unlocked G1, then it will cost an additional RMB 500, or $73.  It looks like the price of the G1 will remain high, until T-Mobile officially introduces the G1 to China, even though China is receiving a lot of illegal phones.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of other countries began to follow suit.  The G1 is such a hyped phone many people outside of the U.S. can’t wait to see how good it is and how Google’s open source Android works.

Read [Pacific Epoch] Via [mocoNews]

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Reigncom will be making available its new portable navigation device known as the iriver NV mini in Korea, and it will be powered by the Gini map software to help you find your way around Mt. Sorak. Features of the iriver NV mini include :-

• 3.5″ touch screen display at 320 x 240 resolution
• GPS navigation support
• Audio and video playback
• Photo viewing capability
• 4GB internal memory
• Expandable memory up to 8GB
• 2.5 hours battery life

You will be able to pick up the iriver NV mini for about $130 after conversion.

Hitachi has just rolled out a new W63H clamshell handset which will feature the following specifications :-

• 3.1″ OLED display at 480 x 800 resolution
• 1-Seg support
• 123 grams
• 50mm x 110mm x 17.4mm

No idea on how much it costs though, but you can get it in orange, black and white shades.

The Cowon O2 is a highly desirable portable media player, and it is already beginning to ship in the US. Features of the Cowon O2 include :-

• 4.3″ widescreen display at 480 x 272 resolution
• SD/SDHC memory card slot
• JetEffect audio processing
• 10-band equalizer
• 720p HD video playback
• Support for a wide range of audio/visual codecs
• Audio recorder in FLAC format
• PDF, Word, PowerPoint file reader

Available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB flavors, the Cowon O2 will retail for $219, $249 and $299, respectively. Sounds as though the 32GB model offers the most bang for your buck!

Hop-on is a name synonymous with extremely entry level handsets, and this time round they fulfil that pledge yet again with the HOP1811 that will sell for a mere $13.99, and it will be accompanied by a Graffiti Wireless Airtime Plan. Those living outside of the US can also pick up the HOP1811 assuming their carrier picks it up. This pre-paid handset is meant to be the ideal backup phone whenever you travel abroad, as it performs both calls and text messaging without any problems. Features of the HOP1811 include :-

• Dual-band 850/1900MHz (US)
• Dual-band 900/1800MHz (Europe and Asia)
• 4 hours talk time
• 150 hours standby time
• Polyphonic ring tones
• Optional MP3 playback capability

Once you’re done with the HOP1811, you can always return the phone for a $5 rebate as an effort to encourage recycling.

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Oct 27th 2008 at 1:42PM
Once more it looks like Johns Hopkins has taken humanity a step closer to full-blown Borg-hood. A research team at the school has created water-soluble electronic materials that spontaneously assemble themselves into wires some 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, for potential uses that include regulating cell-to-cell communication, re-engineering neural networks, repairing damaged spinal cords and transforming individuals into cybernetically enhanced drones. The researchers also point out that the self-assembly principles used to create the nano-scale wires are based on those of beta-amyloid plaques (which have been associated with Alzheimers), so the research may someday lead to a better understanding of the disease. This is definitely good news, but we can’t help but think that once we’ve been assimilated into the hive mind Alzheimer’s will be the least of our concerns.

[Via TG Daily]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

One main disadvantage about the Eee PC is its relatively short battery life, but then again you can’t really have unprecedented levels of portability without sacrificing something, right? At least not until engineers manage to come up with a battery solution that is compact, long lasting and light. In the meantime, you will have to settle for a 12,000mAh (yes, twelve thousand!) battery that works with both Eee PC 901 and 1000 series, retailing for a mere $61.87. This battery is able to last nearly twice as long as a regular 6-cell 6,600mAh battery, making 10 hours of non-stop use a very real possibility. The main drawback would be the extra weight you have to lug around as this 10-cell monster adds in 9.05 ounces more compared to the aforementioned 6-cell battery.

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 27th 2008 at 8:14PM
We already knew RIM’s blackberry Bold would sell for a stiff $299.99 on contract with AT&T, but if you’re one of the many AT&T users who’d rather not sign a new agreement (or renew your current one), you’ve probably been patiently waiting to hear an unsubsidized price. Here is it, but we’re warning you, you might want to sit down. The contract-free Bold is listed at $679.99 at Best Buy, and fittingly enough, the product page offers a convenient link for seeking financing. At any rate, it also tells us that pre-orders will typically ship out within one to two weeks, though we’d be hesitant to bet the farm on that. After waiting for, like, ever, for this handset to finally hit shelves, are you still so anxious to drop nearly seven bills to claim one as your own?

[Thanks, Christen]

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Filed under: cellphones