Month: February 2008

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Apples iPod Shuffle Now Only $49

Ipod
Apple has announced that its iPod shuffle is now priced at $49 and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69.

The iPod shuffle is half a cubic inch in volume, weighs half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors – silver, blue, green, purple and a RED special edition.

“At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The new 2GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle.”

The $49 1GB iPod shuffle is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while the 2GB iPod shuffle will be available later this month for a suggested price of $69.

source:tech2 

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New Acer’s SFF Desktops

Acer

Acer Aspire L5100and Acer Aspire L3600 designed for home users for the Indian market.

The new, steel black, ultra small form factors are 1/10th the size and 1/4th the weight of a conventional tower desktop and come with rich multimedia features, a 19″ TFT Display and a multimedia keyboard.

Aspire L3600 is part of Acer’s initiative of providing customers with both a performance packed computer experience and design excellence on the same platform at the best available price. With the Acer Aspire L5100 and Acer Aspire L3600, we have once again pushed the boundaries of digital lifestyle with advanced product features and eye-catching style.”

The Acer Aspire L3600 is powered by an Intel dual-core E2140 (1.6 GHz) processor whereas the L5100 is powered by AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ (2.1 GHz) processor.Both the systems are equipped with a system memory of 1 GB DDR2 RAM and 160 GBSATA 7200 RPM drives.

The desktops also have 16XDVD-R/W Super-Multi Drive and a multi-format card reader. The bundled OS on both these desktops is Linux. The Acer Aspire L3600 is available at a price of Rs. 26,999 and Acer Aspire L5100 is available at Rs. 24,999.

source:tech2 

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PDA phone the P527 in the Indian market

 Asus-mob

Asus India along with IDLDPL, (India Digital Life Style Distributors Pvt. Ltd.) has launched their latest PDA phone, the P527 in the Indian market. Among the host of functions, Travelog and Location Courier have been crowned as the most unique features on the P527. While Travelog enables users to record travel routes and export data to Google Earth, Location Courier serves as an S.O.S. device to send a user’s GPS position to five preset phone numbers. In such cases of emergency, SMS messages will be delivered to the preset receivers with a touch of a button.

The P527 can record and share users’ traveling pictures, routes, Points of Interests (POIs) and memos with the built-in Travelog feature. This xfunction supports the Google Earth satellite maps format – allowing users to create a diary of events during their travels. The timely GPS navigation with GPS Catcher allows users to find their location xwherever they are in the world – allowing them to navigate to their next destination with ease. The Location Courier feature of the P527 will also help prevent users from getting lost by accurately and periodically reporting their position to their pre-defined friends’ contacts. Even in locations with vast, open country, the global GPS network will be able to locate the user.

Additionally, the new station feature allows users to receive the latest news reports and website information through RSS related settings. The Business Card Recognition feature also makes it easy to capture the details of a business card without tediously keying in the data. With the built-in FM Radio Receiver, a 2 Mega-Pixel Camera (Auto-Focus) and Windows Media Player, users will be able to enjoy more multimedia enjoyment; while the built-in Windows Live function allow access to Hotmail, MSN, Spaces and. The P527 is a slim 15.4mm handset with a silver-gray aluminum cover. It’s equipped with 8 dedicated hotkeys and 5 directional front jog dial with a 3 directional side jog wheel. It’s 2.6 inch TFT, touchscreen display has a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. It supports microSD cards for external memory. The con about this phone is it only supports EDGE connection.

Utilizing the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Operating System, the P527 provides Office functions and synchronizes Outlook emails, edits Word and Excel documents and views PowerPoint slides.

The new ASUS P527 PDA phone is priced at Rs. 17,900 and is now available in India through IDLDPL.

 

source:tech2
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8GB T.sonic 650 digital music player

Transcend

Transcend Information is now offering an 8GB version of its T.sonic 650 digital music player.

Transcend’s T.sonic 650 has dimensions of 75×31×13mm and weighs 30g (Li-ion battery included). The unit features a built-in FM radio, A-B repeat and variable playback speeds, and supports MP3, WMA, WAV and WMA-DRM10 subscription music formats. The T.sonic 650 also has a dual-color OLED display that can be seen from any angle, and in any lighting conditions, according to the company.

The 8GB T.sonic 650 is available for a suggested pre-tax retail price of US$114 in white.

source:digitimes 

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Intel May Launch Its Low-Cost PC Platforms Soon

Intel

Intel has decided to speed up the launch of its Basic Platform for low-cost PCs from the originally planned third quarter this year to May, according to sources at PC makers.

Shelton’08 for desktops will offer two 45nm Diamondville processor options; the 230, a single-core CPU running at 1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB and 512KB cache, and a dual-core CPU whose specification is not yet available, said the sources.

Shelton’08 for notebooks will include a single-core Diamondville-based CPU, the N270, that is able to execute two threads per cycle, the sources revealed. Other key components of Shelton’08 are the 945GSE northbridge and ICH7-M southbridge.

Intel is planning to invest US$1 billion over the next three years in Asia to support PC makers to push low-cost PCs in order to help promote and standardize such products in the emerging markets.

source:digitimes 

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Offbeat Next-Gen PC Designs

Next-Gen-PC

Microsoft recently announced the 35 or so finalists in its 3rd annual Next-Gen PC Design Competition. The PCs are judged on their innovativeness, aesthetics, and user experience.

 A total of five (5) winners will be selected from among the qualified entries, as well as up to 5 honorable mentions may be chosen by the Judges:

     * Judge’s Award 1st – Prize $10,000 US

    * Judge’s Award 2nd – Prize $5,000 US

    * Judge’s Award 3rd – Prize $2,500 US

      Selected by a distinguished panel of IDSA-member judges from the International PC and industrial design community.

    * Chairman’s Award – Prize $10,000 US

      Selected by Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, with the assistance of his advisory committee.

    * Public’s Choice Award – Prize $2,500 US

      Selected via public vote. In the event of a tie, the judging panel will make the final determination based on the criteria set forth above.

    * Educator Award

      If a student entry wins 1st or 2nd place Judge’s award, or Chairman’s award, the faculty adviser named in the entry will receive a $2,500 US prize, or a $2,500 US grant will be awarded to their school, in compliance with public sector gift rules.

 All prize values in U.S. Dollars. Any applicable taxes on the prize or expenses not listed herein are the sole responsibility of the winner(s). Prizes may be subject to U.S. withholding taxes and non-U.S. winners may be required to complete an IRS W8-BEN. No barter, transfer, or assignment of any prize permitted, except by Sponsor at its sole discretion.

You can cast your vote at the competition Web site.

 

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New Laptop-Protection System “BackStopp” Can Automatically Wipe Hard Disk

Laptop

A U.K. company has come up with a nifty laptop-protection system that can automatically wipe hard disk data on machines taken from authorized locations.

Sold as a hosted service, Virtuity’s BackStopp server monitors a protected laptop using any medium available, including the Internet, or locally using Wi-Fi or GSM.

If a laptop is reported stolen — or even just moved from a designated space – the system can reach out and execute a file deletion routine that clears the laptop of all important data.

For laptops stolen while switched off, the location system can use RFID tags to make a judgement about whether that movement is within allowed parameters. A full log of all deletions is sent back to the service center once completed.

Its makers even boast that BackStopp can use a webcam, if one is installed, to take pictures of the thieves, sending these back for analysis without the offenders knowing.

Data destruction routines met standards set down by the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, the company said, ensuring that it could not be resurrected. An important aspect of the system is that a thief would not know it was in operation until after data had been wiped, making it extremely hard to circumvent.

Prices for BackStopp start at $19 per month for each laptop being protected.

source:pcworld 

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Microsoft Plans To Authorize A Proxy Fight To Oust Yahoo

 Micro-yahoo

Microsoft plans to strengthen its pursuit of Yahoo this week when it authorizes a proxy fight to get rid of Yahoo’s board, meaning the 19-day-old acquisition attempt will soon turn a darker shade of ugly, according to The New York Times.

The proxy fight will cost Microsoft between $20 million and $30 million, much less than having to significantly up its offer for Yahoo, The Times reported Tuesday morning, quoting anonymous sources.

The aggressive move would be reliable with Microsoft’s statements hinting that it’s willing to acquire Yahoo via unsympathetic means if necessary. Yahoo’s board rejected unanimously Microsoft’s offer, calling it too low.

source:pcworld 

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Water [H2O] Cell powered Motorola L7 prototype Unveils

Moto

Right around a month ago, we heard that Angstrom Power had managed to stuff some of its sophisticated hydrogen fuel cells into a MOTOSLVR L7. That prototype, Unfortunately we’re no closer to realizing when this stuff will actually escape the proverbial beta stage, and for whatever it’s worth, but the concept is certainly interesting. Imagine, all you’ll need to do is fill up your cellphone with water – and voile, it’ll start working again.

Angstrom has already developed an LED flashlight that runs on a similar concept of a hydrogen fuel cell. The good thing is perhaps we can look forward to a cleaner planet in the not-so-distant future.

source:tech2 

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Intel Revives Centrino Brand Name for Montevina platform

Intel

Intel is planning to rename its brand name for the upcoming notebook Montevina platform to Centrino 2 in order to clear up confusion for consumers, according to sources at notebook makers.This new platform will be launched at Computex 08 which will be held in June in Taipei.

This new launch will mark the transition of Intel’s notebook processors to a 45nm platform, with the launch of 6 new CPUs all running at a 1066 MHz FSB. The core-speeds for each of these processors will range from 2.0 GHz to 3.06 Ghz. These will be further followed up by the release of an astonishing, seven SFF (small form factor) 45nm processors similar to the one that have been used in the Macbook Air.

source:digitimes