Everex will start selling their mini-computer named gPC on March 1st, 2008, according to the product web site. The gPC is a small-form PC that packs a dual-core Intel Pentium Mobile processor running at 1.86GHz and 512MB DDR2 SDRAM. Moreover, this mini computer comes with a 120GB HDD, Ethernet port, USB 2.0 ports and many others. The gPC runs gOS which is an open source operating system. It also comes preloaded with a large number of open source and free applications designed for web browsing, email, instant messaging, word processing, presentations and spreadsheets; the latter applications are part of Sun’s Open Office open source office software suite. At any rate, don’t expect to play the latest video game on the Everex gPC but if you are like the vast majority of people who use their computers to access the Internet and do some basic word processing and calculation using spreadsheets then this mini computer may be a good investment. The Everex gPC will cost $499 when it goes on sale next month.
on February 26th, 2008 7:08 PM on February 26th, 2008 1:16 PM
Sony announced today the NWZ-S710F, NWZ-A720, and NWZ-A820 Walkman players capable of playing video and music stored in MP3 (also WMA, linear PCM, AAC and others) format. The three models differ slightly in the size of their LCD screen and their maximum storage. Screen sizes vary from 1.8 to 2.4 inches and storage from 8 to 16GB. The higher-end model (the NWZ-A820) adds Bluetooth wireless headphone support. Speaking of headphones, Sony for the first time is offering their noise canceling headphones to the North American market; according to the company, the technology removes up to 75% of ambient noise. I haven’t used this particular noise canceling technology but I have used others and I have to admit that if you are interested in high quality playback then this might be a gadget worth investing in. Sony’s new Walkman players will cost you anywhere from $150 to $320 depending on the model and extras that you purchase.
on February 25th, 2008 6:27 PM
Sony announced today a new digital camera for their Cyber-Shot line of imaging products. The DSC-H50 digital camera will offer high-resolution, high-speed, and 15X zoom capabilities to consumers starting in May, 2008. The new high-end camera comes equipped with a 3-inch LCD screen and lots of advanced imaging features including an advanced sports shooting mode, long distance flash (operational for objects up to 55 feet away from the camera,) face detection, NighShot technology for photo taking in dark conditions and infrared remote access. The Sony DSC-H50 is definitely a nicely designed digital camera with enough features to justify its $400 price tag.
Tags: digital camera, DSC-H50, sony
on February 25th, 2008 5:03 PM
Vancouver-based video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts is making another bid to purchase New York-based Take-Two Interactive makers of the very popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. According to the announcement, EA has offered $26 per share of Take-Two increasing an earlier offer by $1. EA is interested in getting a hold of Take-Two before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV while Take-Two prefers to wait until after the release to negotiate with EA. The truth is that if GTA IV is successful then Take-Two can ask for a higher price from EA although the latter have made an offer that places a 65% premium on Take-Two’s stock price at closing last Friday.
The video game market is worth $18 billion making it a more lucrative market when, for example, we compare it to the movie industry. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end but I hope that gamers are not hurt from all this with delays in new releases and low quality/rushed games.
Posted in GamingTags: Electronic Arts, Grand Theft Auto IV, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
on February 25th, 2008 2:34 PM
After the death declaration of the HD DVD format (after everyone, including Toshiba gave up on it) showing preference for Sony-backed Blu-ray, Microsoft seemed determined to continue support for HD DVD especially considering that a $130 drive was available for their XBox 360 game console. Last weekend, even Microsoft announced that they will stop selling the HD DVD drive for the XBox. The company said that they will continue to provide technical support for the units already sold. They have said nothing about supporting Blu-ray while they announced their confidence that the sales of their game console will not be impacted by this turn of events. All I have to say is the Playstation 3 owners will certainly be out on the Internet in force celebrating their victory over hated Microsoft.
Tags: blu-ray, format war, hd dvd, microsoft
on February 23rd, 2008 12:56 PM
The school bus may be one of the most hated vehicles by children on Earth; I know I was not particularly excited when it showed up to pick me up every morning. Every now and then, the winter weather would prevent us from being able to go to school and those days were probably the sweetest of the year. The children of La Pointe, on Madeline Island, defeat the winter storms to attend school by riding in what they call a windsled. The 9,000-pound sled is powered by two large fans and it carries 20 students to school over the frozen Lake Superior. In this case, having access to the windsled provides students with a safe transport to school so it is a very much liked home-grown solution. The windsled’s construction shows the ingenuity of humans when nature presents us with difficult obstacles to overcome. I can definitely imagine myself enjoying the ride to school every morning in the windsled.
Tags: school bus, Windsled
on February 22nd, 2008 9:28 PM
If you are looking for a stylish and limited edition USB Flash drive that will earn you the respect of your colleagues and friends then look no further than Mimoco’s mimobot Star Wars Flash drives. The drives coming in capacities of 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. Each drive is modeled after one of the most popular characters in Star Wars including Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader, and R2-D2 among a few others. Finally, since these are limited edition USB Flash drivers, you better hurry if you want to own one. Some have already sold out!
Tags: Limited edition, mimobot, USB Flash drive
on February 22nd, 2008 9:15 PM
Mobile handset maker Fly has introduced a new mobile phone, the MC100, that has built-in support for Nintendo NES, SNES, and Gameboy games. The company that has mostly targeted the Eastern European market has essentially produced a handset that I would love to own. The games are playable using specialized keys on the handset so it is not certain how playing a game on the MC100 compares to say playing the same game on a Gameboy but considering the age of the game platforms emulated it should be no worse. Anyways, the phone does look nice and considering Fly’s promise to also include an MP3 player if the MC100 makes its way to North America I will definitely consider buying one.
Tags: Fly MC100
on February 21st, 2008 10:30 PM
The nicely designed OLED Optimus Maximus keyboard has started shipping to those who placed their orders first. The keyboard is equipped with a small screen on each key that displays the character currently corresponding to each key. The beauty of the Optimus Maximus is that using software the keyboard can be reconfigured for use in many different languages and the labels on the keys will illuminate accordingly. According to the official web site “Optimus’s customizable layout allows convenient use of any language including Cyrillic, Ancient Greek, Georgian, Arabic, Quenya, hiragana, etc. as well as of any other character sets: notes, numerals, special symbols, HTML codes, math functions and so on to infinity.“ Other than the great functionality the illuminated keyboard also looks very cool and stylish so it can definitely impress your friends if found on your desk. The Optimus Maximus will cost you a steep $465 making it into a peripheral that only few will be able to afford for the time being.
Tags: keyboard, Optimus Maximus
on February 21st, 2008 7:25 PM
Get ready to relive the years past. Those of us who are old enough to remember the glorious days of computing partly dominated by the Commodore 64 will be happy to know that Nintendo will be making a number of original games available via the Virtual Console service. The service will first be available in Europe and the games will cost 500 Wii points which is a little bit over $5 each. Nostalgia will certainly generate a few sales for Nintendo although I doubt that many will rely much on the Commodore 64 games for entertainment using their state of the art game console. It will be fun to play some of the oldies once more including International Karate, Test Drive and Maniac Mansion.
Tags: Commodore 64, Virtual Console, wii