Posts Tagged ‘amazon’
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
In very short order, MSI has gone from a faceless manufacturer of other people’s hardware to a recognized brand that makes some very interesting kit. It started with the little Wind netbook, but now MSI’s MacBook Air-alike, the X-Slim, has come to the US.
The X-Slim is, as the name suggests, thin. At just a shade under an inch thick it’s not MacBook Air thin (0.76 inches) but it’ll slide into a bag easily enough. The five-pound machine also has a 15.6-inch screen (1366 x 768), 320GB hard drive and a hefty 4GB RAM. On top of that it doubles the Air’s number USB ports to two, adds an SD card reader and has both Bluetooth and a webcam. In short. everything you need.
But there’s more. Because there is no built-in optical drive, MSI throws an external one into the box, and there’s also a real graphics card in the shape of the ATI HD 4330 and an HDMI port. The only thing that might put you off is the CPU, and Intel SU3500 running at a stately 1.4GHz. All for $900.
If I was ever in the market for a Windows laptop, I would probably take a close look at this one.
Product page [Amazon. Thanks, Mark!]
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Tags: amazon, amp, car, click, computer, google, Hardware, Intel, laptop, MacBook, market, netbook, RAM, shape, USB, usb port, Windows
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
The battle for dominance in the electronic books market is far from settled as new entrants continue to jostle their way in. iRex, a Netherlands-based company, has said it will launch a new e-book reader in the U.S. later this year. The e-reader will have a 8.1-inch touchscreen, stylus-based navigation and 3G wireless connectivity.
iRex has also partnered with Barnes & Noble to integrate the latter’s e-book store into its upcoming device.
Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader have helped turn e-book readers into one of the hottest consumer electronics products. In May, E Ink, which almost exclusively supplies the black-and-white displays that power most e-readers, said more than a million readers use its technology.
Big retail book stores are taking notice. Earlier this year, Borders U.K. introduced a £189 ($276) e-book reader called Elonex. The Elonex will come pre-loaded with about 1,000 books and will support both the open-source ePub and proprietary Adobe formats.
In July, Barnes & Noble launched its own e-book store and said that it will power Plastic Logic’s e-reader targeted at business users. By partnering with iRex, Barnes & Noble hopes to expand its reach.
iRex was founded in 2005 as a spin-off from Royal Phillips Electronics. The company’s name stands for ‘Interactive Reading Experience,’ CEO Hans Brons told Wired.com in an interview earlier. iRex launched an e-reader with a 10.1-inch screen last year. But the company has mostly focused on business users, says Brons.
iRex’s upcoming reader will put it in competition with the larger e-book readers such as Amazon Kindle DX and the Plastic Logic e-reader. iRex hasn’t revealed how much its e-reader will cost in the U.S.
“All 6-inch displays today use first generation technology when it comes to driving the ink particles on the electronic paper,” says Brons. “We have improved on that tech and our customers can see the difference in the brightness of the screen and contrast ratio of the display.”
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Photo: iRex DR 1000s Reader (barisione/Flickr)
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Tags: 3g, aim, amazon, amp, business, ceo, click, electronic, Gadget, google, market, nec, smartphone, source, touchscreen, Windows
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
After Gizmodo’s Brian Lam posted the most eye-opening inside tip yet about Apple’s rumored tablet, DaringFireball’s John Gruber poopooed on Lam’s source because of one detail — the ship date.
I’m almost certain there’s no tablet coming this year. It’s a 2010 thing.
Based on his own piece of hearsay that the ship date is 2010 rather than this fall, Gruber continues to strip Lam’s source of credibility, pointing out the tipster doesn’t know which operating system the tablet runs.
Talk about a trivial pissing contest. If you’ve been following the Apple rumor game for some time, you’ll notice that often times “insiders” only provide selective pieces of information so they can’t be traced. We’re sure Lam’s source has a solid reason to withhold information about the OS.
As for ship date, it’s pretty common for tipsters to get those wrong. That’s also understandable, because an official ship date is among the final decisions for a company to make about a product, and it’s also easy to change. Lam’s source also makes it clear a fall release is just an educated guess.
We can speak from first-hand experience about tipsters being off on ship dates. In December, an Apple employee told Wired.com that a new Mac Mini would be announced at January 2009’s Macworld Expo conference. That announcement didn’t happen at Macworld, but Apple did indeed release a Mac Mini in March — a mere two months later.
Here at Wired.com we’re placing our bets on an early 2010 launch of an Apple tablet, timed to coincide with the Consumer Electronics Show in January, to steal thunder from other companies making their announcements that month. But really, who cares about when? It’s not like we already have Apple tablets and we’re eager to know when we can upgrade to the next Apple tablet. We’re discussing a brand new product here, so the “When?” hardly even matters, especially if we’re talking about a difference of a few months.
It’s the “What?” that we all really care about. As in, what will this rumored tablet do? We call Lam’s rumor report the most eye-opening because it’s been the only one to provide information on the device’s potential purpose — particularly, that one version of the tablet will be designed for education use (our guess: a book reader to compete with Amazon), and the other for “webcam” (perhaps video conferencing). Now that’s interesting.
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Photo: Gadgets Guy/Flickr
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Tags: aim, amazon, apple, car, cat, click, dell, electronic, eye, Gadget, google, Intel, mac mini, opera, operating, operating system, source, Thunder, touchscreen, video, Windows
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
Do you use your kids’ names? Your pet’s? Your favorite color? We all use some dumb passwords that are too easy to guess. Worse, we use the same ones for lots of Web sites. So if one site gets compromised, or an employee there is dishonest, someone could start trying out that password on other sites where you have accounts, like Amazon or PayPal, and you’ve got trouble. Browsers help out a bit by offering to remember your passwords, but that does little good if you are on a different computer or want to try a different browser.
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Tags: amazon, computer, news, security, TechNewsWorld, Windows
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
Microsoft has officially launched its war against the iPod touch, announcing that the new Zune HD is available for pre-order online at various sites. The Zune HD will hit the shelves Sept. 15, Microsoft said. Like the iPod touch, it is available in 16- and 32-GB models. It has WiFi, a touchscreen, HD Radio and high-definition video. With all that, will it be able to take on the iPod touch, still the clear market leader? As of Friday, consumers will be able to pre-order the Zune HD at the Microsoft store as well as at the Amazon.com, Best Buy, and Wal-mart Web sites.
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Tags: amazon, ipod, ipod touch, market, Micro, Microsoft, news, radio, TechNewsWorld, touchscreen, video, Windows
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Streaming media provider Vudu has partnered with LG to include its software into upcoming LG high-definition TVs. The move will get rid of the intermediary set-top box and allows consumers to directly watch on-demand content from the internet on their TVs.
“Smart TV’s are part of an exciting new industry trend,” says Alain Rossmann, CEO of Vudu. “Vudu is partnering with leading consumer electronics vendors to embed the new Vudu service directly into the TV, eliminating the expense and hassle of purchasing, installing or connecting another device to the TV.”
The new Vudu service delivered through LG TVs allows consumers to discover and watch high definition movies on-demand. The service will be available on upcoming models of LG’s broadband TVs later this fall.
Licensing Vudu’s software to consumer electronics makers such as LG though is a strategy that allows Vudu to go out of the box and focus on delivering the service. It’s a strategy similar to what GPS-navigation devices maker Dash had adopted. Dash started out by producing standalone GPS boxes with its software that offered services such as local search. But the company soon abandoned the hardware-based GPS systems and instead focused on licensing its applications and services to run on other products. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion acquired Dash earlier this year.
In the last two years, streaming media boxes that bring online movies, TV shows and content to the TV have become popular with consumers, though they are still a small fraction of audience that rents movies. Apple launched its Apple TV in 2007. Meanwhile, Roku, a company that started by offering $100 boxes in partnership with Netflix included access to content from Amazon.com earlier this year. Netflix rival BlockBuster also has a streaming video box available.
Vudu says its service differs from rivals in that it can offer movies in 1080p definition and high resolution Dolby Digital surround sound. Vudu also offers features such as instant fast forwards, rewind and instant start for all its movies. Customers can instantly buy or rent from the company’s library of movies with no monthly fees.
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Tags: amazon, apple, application, audience, BlackBerry, car, cat, ceo, click, electronic, Gadget, google, Hardware, iPhone, navigation devices, nec, netflix, news, Service, solution, video, Windows
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Digital book clubs could become the next big thing. Over the next few months, electronic book readers are likely to add the ability to access Facebook and Twitter, share book recommendations and rate e-books, says Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps in her latest report. And at least one company is already moving towards the idea.
“Buying and reading books is an inherently social process and the lack of robust sharing capabilities on the (Amazon) Kindle is an obvious weakness that competitors will address,” says Epps.
Txtr, a Germany-based e-book reader startup, is doing just that. Txtr hopes to introduce a new device at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October that will put social networking and sharing at its center.
“Txtr is to focused on the idea of connected reading,” Andreas Steinhauser, founder and CEO of Txtr told Wired.com. “You can create collections of web pages, documents or images and give friends access to it.”
E-book readers have turned into one of the hottest consumer devices of the year. So far more than a million E Ink displays, which powers most e-book readers, have been sold worldwide. (E-paper manufacturer Prime View Technologies announced Monday that it would be acquiring E Ink, potentially increasing the latter’s capacity to deal with large production volumes.) Companies such as Amazon, Fujitsu, Sony and Samsung are vying to grab a slice of the e-books reader market. And as the competition heats up, e-book reader makers will have to innovate.
E-Readers will need to sport applications that connect people through recommendations and ratings, says Epps. And that means integration with communities like Facebook and Goodreads. E-readers are also likely to evolve to provide a way to recommend and buy content for others, says Epps.
“We anticipate that some households will have multiple eReaders and the devices will have to support
content sharing within a household to a greater extent than the Kindle’s Content Manager currently does,” she says
Txtr’s Steinhauser agrees that for new e-readers social features will be important as they seek to differentiate themselves from their peers. “We think it is necessary to allows users to sync their device with friends over Wi-fi or Bluetooth,” he says.
Separately, Amazon announced Monday that it will start shipping the Kindle DX, a 9.7-inch screen size e-book reader, on June 10 for $489.
See also:
Why E-Books Look so Ugly
How to Choose an E-book Reader
Hands On: New Cool-er E-book Reader Turns up the Heat
Photo: Txtr
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Tags: amazon, amp, application, business, cat, ceo, click, electronic, Gadget, google, images, market, nec, network, networking, news, wi-fi, Windows
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Panasonic is proud to announce that they have released their first portable Blu-ray player from their stables, although it definitely isn’t the first in the world. Known as the Panasonic DMP-B15, this model aims to offer the definitive High Definition Blu-ray experience for those on the go, coming with a high quality 8.9″ WSVGA LCD display that will feature Panasonic’s very own VIERA CAST Internet accessibility and BD Live functionality, in addition to an SD memory card slot. More on the DMP-B15 in further detail right after the jump.
Don’t be fooled – just because it is portable doesn’t mean it is gimped in any way. The DMP-B15 will come with virtually all the technology found in its stand-alone counterparts, notably the DMP-BD60, DMP-BD80 and the VHS-Blu-ray dual player DMP-BD70V. You can expect top image quality courtesy of its PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus technology that was specially developed in collaboration with Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. What is the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus? This is but a high quality image-processing technology which is capable of processing each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc video signal in the vertical direction. This results in color data reproduction at twice the accuracy of conventional systems, giving your eyes the enjoyment of faithful and sharp colors.
Similar to the trio of stand-alone Blu-ray players from Panasonic, the DMP-B15 will come with VIERA CAST functionality. This special application allows users to access selected Web sites such as Amazon Video-on-Demand, where streaming video service like that will be able to be enjoyed instantly by offering consumers over 40,000 titles to choose from, YouTube; Google Picasa Web Album; Bloomberg and a weather channel. Expect the Amazon VOD to be rolled out later this month. Interestingly enough, the DMP-B15 is self-sufficient as there is no need for an external set-top box, and you won’t have to fork out an additional cent for it. Inside, you get a 2.5 hour rechargeable battery, HDMI connectivity and an optional headrest mounting bracket to complete the package.
Press Release
Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
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Panasonic DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player copyright by
Coolest Gadgets ]
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Tags: accessibility, aim, amazon, amp, application, car, cat, click, court, digital picture, eye, frames, functionality, Gadget, gift idea, google, memory, nec, news, players, processor, RAM, Service, video, video service, weather, Windows
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Finding ways to store gaming accessories can at times be a bit of a chore. For various reasons, like the plastic guitars are large and awkward. Then there are the regular controllers that usually get stashed in a drawer somewhere. To top it off, if you have a 360, you have to be careful about the type of entertainment center you use with it, for fear that it might overheat and get the wretched RRoD. Well this storage system from GameOn solves all of those common issues.
It mounts to the wall, meaning it’s not going to take up any of your floor space. It will store up to 4 different hand controls and guitar accessories. At the top it can hold various games and then the bottom shelf is where the console or consoles can be stored. To make sure the console stays cool there are vents on either side of the shelf. It comes in 6 different colors, black, white, green, red, blue and yellow. You can purchase the GameOn Video Gaming Console Storage System for $59.99 on Amazon.
Source: SlipperyBrick
Introducing
Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool
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The GameOn Video Gaming Console Storage System copyright by
Coolest Gadgets ]
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Tags: amazon, amp, car, click, Gadget, guitar, hp, images, playstation, solution, source, video, Windows
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Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
These rather blurry pictures come to us by way of the folks at Engadget, and to them from an anonymous tipster. They show the new Kindle, which will probably be announced tomorrow.
The details: a 9.7-inch display, bigger than the six inches of the regular Kindle; a PDF reader (at last) and a new “annotation” function, which is added to the the notes and highlighting features of the current model. As I speculated yesterday, this doesn’t look like the saviour of newspapers as much as a way for Amazon to clean up in the textbook market. Textbook sized pages? Check. Note-adding capabilities? Check. Support for standard e-documents (PDF)? Check, check, check.
We don’t have long to wait now, as the Amazon announcement, whatever it may be, is tomorrow. A textbook Kindle, though, could be a huge hit. Lighter than the books it replaces, possibly even cheaper than those books and targeted at a consumer who neither cares for the “romance” of dead trees nor for endlessly flipping through paper pages to find their notes. This, we think, could be the real tipping point for the e-book.
Still unknown: What this large-screen e-book reader will actually be called. Engadget refers to it as the “Kindle DX,” but without citing any sources, so we assume that they’re making up names, same as everyone else. GigaOm’s Om Malik calls it Kindle HD, and we prefer the more direct and American Kindle XL. What do you think, readers?
Amazon Kindle DX to feature 9.7-inch display? Update: Pictures! [Engadget. Thanks, John!]
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Tags: amazon, apple, car, click, Gadget, google, market, news, source, wii, Windows
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