Author: jitheshb

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Kingston SD Card Now Hits 16GB

Kingstone

Kingston Technology has introduced a new 16GB SDHC Flash memory card for digital cameras and other devices.

The new entry is the largest-capacity SDHC card Kingston makes. It costs US$231.

Kingston rates the 16GB card as a Class 4 memory card, which means it has a minimum sustained data transfer rate of 4MB per second. It’s compatible with SDHC-compatible host devices and writes data in FAT 32 file format.

Kingston said the new card can store up to 7,500 full-resolution images from a 6 megapixel digital camera, or about 5,000 images from an 8MP camera.

source:pcworld 

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New 8x DVD-R Fits to MacBook Air

macbook

MCE Technologies on Friday announced the release of a new slot-loading DVD-R “SuperDrive” designed to work as a replacement for the optical drives found in 15-inch MacBook Pros and MacBook laptops.

The new drive supports DVD+R DL (Double Layer) and DVD-R (Dual Layer) media, so it can burn up to 8.5GB per disc (on supported media). It replaces the 4x and 6x drives found in these machines, matching the same form factor. It costs US$199.

The drive is 9.5mm high, compared to 12.5mm tall for some other mechanisms. It writes standard DVD-R and DVD+R media at up to 8x speed, and DVD-RW and DVD+RW at up to 4x speed (dual-layer and double-layer disks are written to at up to 4x speed). It can also write to CD-R media at up to 2x speed.

The drive is natively compatible with Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5, and works with iTunes, iDVD, Finder burning, iPhoto and DVD player. It’s bootable, as well.

source:pcworld 

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Easy Music Solutions for Your Car

car-play1 Dock Stations

Portability is in, especially in music. Almost anyone can afford an MP3 player of some sort today. But we’re not here to talk about portable MP3 players… well, not quite. What we’d like to talk about are alternative solutions for music on the go. In your vehicle, that is.

Most people who have cars may not necessarily be able to afford expensive music players, so what we’ve outlined here are four items you can pick up from any car accessories store. These are cheaper alternatives to an expensive CD player. All you need are a decent set of speakers and perhaps a lighter for charging. You can invest in any cheap cassette player that has a radio.

MP3 players have become very affordable, but we are NOT suggesting that you use earphones while driving, under any circumstances. A good alternative would be to buy a dock station, which can also be used as a portable speaker that runs either on batteries or current supplied by your car’s cigarette lighter socket. If you have an iPod, there are plenty of choices from big names like Creative, Logitech, and even Bose.

Most come equipped with 3.5 mm pins that fit into your MP3 player’s earphone socket (you can get a converter if you player has a 2.5mm socket). Just make sure you choose one that isn’t too big or you may have a problem with space in a small car. You could also connect your mobile phone to most of these docks, provided you have the required cable. You won’t even need in-car speakers.

play-car2 Intex EUP-802

Simply put, this is a modulator targeted at people who own an old cassette stereo system in their car, and don’t have plans to upgrade in the near future. It’s as simple as it can get: just plug it in and you are ready to go.
play-car3
The device works using radio frequencies. You need to choose the frequency on the modulator and it will transmit the music on that particular frequency, which will be picked up by the FM radio on your car stereo system. The modulator comes with a USB slot, a 2.5mm jack, and an SD card slot. It works using the cigarette charging socket in your car, and costs only Rs 2,000.

source:tech2 

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B&O unveils new TV complete with innovative robotic arm colour management device!

B&O

Bang & Olufsen has unveiled a new TV proposition: the BeoVision 4 plasma screen combined with the dedicated BeoLab 10 loudspeaker, delivering what B&O is calling ‘a new experience in home cinema, featuring the latest Bang & Olufsen Automatic Colour Management technology’.

Available in both 50-inch and 65-inch plasma, the Beovision 4 provides Full HD resolution pictures with the natural effects of aging on a plasma screen apparently countered with Bang and Olufsen’s new Automatic Colour Management technology, which claims to maintain long lasting colour quality.

What happens is that after every 100 hours of viewing, or as often as you choose, a short robotic arm with a camera eye at the end swings down from behind the aluminium frame and measures a test picture that appears on the screen. In a matter of seconds, the colour temperature is analysed and adjusted to ensure consistent colour reproduction even after thousands of hours of use.

Other features of the TV include:
* Automatic Picture Control sensors which constantly measure light conditions and adjust brightness and contrast accordingly.
* the new BeoLab 10 speaker, which works with the BeoVision 4 as a dedicated centre loudspeaker. The flat triangular BeoLab 10 is wall mounted below the screen and apparently performs to the same high standards as Bang & Olufsen’s most powerful loudspeakers.
* Bang & Olufsen’s Acoustic Lens Technology, which spreads sound from the BeoLab 10’s centre channel 180 degrees in the horizontal plane while simultaneously controlling vertical dispersion
* A curved brushed aluminium frame which contrasts with the dynamic triangular BeoLab 10.

The 50in is available now in silver and black, with colour options due in the summer, while the 65in will be available in silver and black from March, with colour options again coming on line in the summer.

source:home 

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Google and Dell to announce gPhone hardware?

gphone

Marketing Week reports that “speculation is mounting that Google is plotting the launch of a mobile phone in partnership with computer giant Dell”.

Citing “senior industry sources” the site says that the two companies are due to reveal their plans to the world at next month’s 3GSM event in Spain.

The first handsets are expected this year running Google’s “Android” mobile phone operating system, but Dell has not previously been hotly tipped to be one of the first manufacturers to market.

Pocket-lint will be attending 3GSM and will bring you all the news from the event as it happens.

source:sky 

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Garmin launches ne-3G touchscreen mobile and GPS

Mob

As was predicted they would, Garmin has announced its grand entrance into the mobile phone market with the “ne”, that they describe as “an all-in-one, sleek and slim, touchscreen device that combines a premium phone, mobile web-browser, and cutting-edge personal navigator”.

The ne, an all touchscreen device, is the first of its kind to integrate 3.5G phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and full personal navigation functions in one device.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen display has three main icons — “Call”, “Search”, and “View Map”. When the ne is docked into its vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, and enables hands-free calling.

The GPS side of things has preloaded maps of North America or Eastern and Western Europe, or both, and contains all that you’d expect from a full-featured PND, as well as a few sweet extras.

The ne is Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability, which means users can search for locations like “coffee shops” and Google will sort the results based on the user’s current location and relevance.

For the forgetful, the phone has Garmin’s “Where am I?” feature as well as the ability to help drivers find their car by automatically marking the position in which it was last removed from the vehicle mount.

Borrowing from Navman’s Navpix feature, the built-in camera allows users to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact lat and long references of where the image was taken, which means the user can save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to someone else.

The ne also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site that can be used similarly.

Other multimedia functions of the ne include a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC player.

Garmin “anticipates” that the ne will be available in the third quarter of 2008 when specific details about pricing and sales partners will be announced.

The ne is going to be on show at 3GSM in February, Pocket-lint will be attending this event, so will bring you more info – and hopefully a hands-on – with the exciting new device from the show floor.

source:sky 

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Intel MacBook Air Chip on Offer

Intel-mac

Seems Apple’s recent launch of its ultra-thin “MacBook Air” has gotten other PC makers into a tizzy. They’ve obviously set themselves an agenda of coming up with a design as innovative if not more than the MacBook Air.

Especially so after Intel announced that its special Core 2 Duo chip — so far used only in the MacBook Air — will now be offered to the rest of the PC industry if interested. The company said that most of the technology used in this chip would become part of mainstream offerings after introduction of the Montevina platform later this year.

It’s now learnt that PC makers the likes of Lenovo and Fujitsu are already in the process of developing systems based on Intel’s special chip. While these laptops are expected to be available shortly, there’s no word on the specifications yet.

Meanwhile, in case of Lenovo’s existing ThinkPad notebooks and Fujitsu’s LifeBook notebooks, these typically deploy ultra-low voltage versions of Intel Core 2 Duo chips so as to fit into the tight spaces afforded by their ultra-portable designs. Intel’s special Core 2 Duo processor is expected to work around this problem and reduce the load on processing power.

Intel’s chip — that was designed on request by Apple while they were putting together a blueprint for their MacBook Air — fits into a package considerably smaller than the packages typically used by Intel in its notebook chips.

The chip is meant especially for notebooks of the ultra-portable (weighing less than 3 Pounds) variety, and consumes less power than Intel’s standard Core 2 Duo processor.

source:techtree 

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Kodak Launches 10MP High-zoom Digicam

kodak

At the Photo Marketing Association Show (PMA), Eastman Kodak Company announced the latest addition to its line of Kodak Easyshare consumer digital cameras. The Kodak Easyshare Z1012 IS Zoom Digital Camera – with 10-megapixel resolution and 12x optical zoom with optical image stabilization – marries an advanced, high performance feature set to a compact size.

“With the newest addition to the EasyShare family, Kodak makes it even easier for consumers to capture life’s high-performance memories,” said Pierre Schaeffer, chief marketing officer, Kodak’s Consumer Digital Imaging Group. “The smart technology found on the Kodak Easyshare Z1012 IS enables consumers to capture important moments and seamlessly bring pictures to life on vivid prints, HD displays, and wireless picture frames.”

The Easyshare Z1012 IS boasts a suite of exclusive features that capture detailed pictures in the most challenging settings, yet its compact body can fit in the palm of your hand. Some of the smart features that make great picture-taking simple include:

* Click-to-capture speed (0.14 sec) and auto-focus accuracy.
* Kodak’s smart capture technology automatically identifies the scene and adjusts the settings to deliver a great picture in almost any environment.
* Capture the details in low light conditions and fast action situations with high ISO (up to 3,200).
* Advanced settings including program, aperture and shutter priority, as well as full manual mode (PASM).
* Face Detection locates faces and automatically adjusts camera settings.
* Multimedia slideshow feature combines your pictures with music and transition effects right on camera.

The Easyshare Z1012 IS will retail for US $299.95 (MSRP) and will be available in the US in the first half of 2008. Pricing and availability in India have not been announced yet.

source:tech2

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Halo Wars Coming to the PC?

Halo Wars

Remember Halo Wars, Microsoft’s upcoming Real Time Strategy game set in the Halo universe and developed by the same dudes who made Age of Empires? As you all know it was poised to be an Xbox360 exclusive, but just today I stumbled on this article at The Angry Pixel who claim (from inside sources obviously) that Ensemble Studios are working on a PC port of the game.

If that wasn’t enough, Halo Wars will even offer cross-platform play, which means both PC as well as Xbox360 owners will be able to play against each other. Do head here for the rest of the story.

source:tech2 

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FaceBreaker to Arrive Soon

FaceBreaker

For some reason I keep finding myself glued to EA’s Fight Night Round 3 (Xbox360) from time to time.

While a part of me keeps wondering how awesome a Fight Night Street would be, EA Chicago, the studio behind this series is apparently working on a brand new boxing game; only this time it won’t concentrate on realism and photo-realistic visuals.

They’ve gone the Team Fortress 2 way and come up with a first of its kind, cel shaded boxing game called FaceBreaker that (as the name suggests) will allow you to “rearrange your opponent’s face” in a multitude of hilarious ways.

Created by the same team that developed the award-winning Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker offers irreverent fun, immersive gameplay and eye-popping stylized graphics. In this in-your-face, arcade world full of ego-wielding characters, each boxer comes to life with unique attributes and distinct personal style, including Romeo, a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty. Add a little personal motivation to your fight by uploading a photo of your face to create a realistic likeness using Photo Game Face, and go toe-to-toe with a real-life friend or foe.

Laugh out loud as you pummel your opponent with a barrage of blows to the face and watch in satisfaction as your progress is illustrated by real-time facial deformation. With haymakers, face shots and body blows, wait for the right moment to drop a super punch to make your presence known. Taunt your adversaries and flaunt your talent, by tying one hand behind your back to add ultimate humiliation to your bout. In FaceBreaker, it just feels good to rearrange your opponent’s face.

FaceBreaker will be released for the Xbox360, PS3, and Wii in 2008.

source:tech2