Hardcore flight simulation games fans know that it will be no fun without special designed joystick, which resembles a real plane controls. However, sometimes the joystick is not enough for gamer to really enjoy virtual flights. If you need better atmosphere, but cannot afford those expensive and big flight simulators, you will find this specially designed Flight Simulator game chair quite interesting.

HotSeats 723 Flight Simulator TRX Game Chair looks like it is taken from a jet plane cockpit. It is a full set of what a gamer needs to pilot a virtual planes with ease - a special controller, pedals, 23 inch High Definition LCD monitor, 5.1 surround sound system, and an entry-level gaming PC with a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo inside and graphics powered by NVIDIA. Maybe this processor power will not satisfy some people, but for many gamers this will be enough.

This chair will be useful for racing games too, enhancing the virtual gaming experience much more than a regular joystick ever could. It can be used not only for gaming, with swinging away console and wireless keyboard you can work at the PC as usual. In addition, it folds for easy storage and transport - a useful option for those who move often.

Although the price is a bit high - 5635 dollars, it is a reasonable price for a unique gaming experience and all-in-one gamer kit. Of course, you can make it yourself, but imagine how much effort it will take to produce a gaming place like this. This chair may not be as interesting as real flight simulators, but it comes really close in delivering a unique gaming experience.

Believe it or not, paper books lose their popularity. They are big, they are expensive and they weight much, especially large works. If you go to vacation, you will want to take some interesting books with you to entertain yourself, but taking in consideration their measures, you will think twice before taking more than two books with you. In addition, if you love reading, are you cursed to carry around a huge bag with literature? Of course not! There are plenty of solutions to reading problem. Almost every mobile phone can be used for reading, but their screens are not big enough to make it comfortable. Many years PDA was the perfect choice. Until now, the ultimate electronic reading gadget is out!

Amazon Kindle is a dream for a e-books reader - it has almost everything to make reading comfortable and entertaining! A huge display that is comparable to an average book in size, made with e-paper technology, makes reading comfortable even under direct sunlight! E-Ink screens does not have backlight, so you are supposed to read under some illumination - a small pay for almost completely reduced eyestrain. The letters look crisp and it is a pleasure to read it, and it looks like they are typed on real paper!

The device is very simple to use. No computer, no wires, nothing that like - just turn the Kindle on, buy or download your favorite book and you can start reading! With EVDO connectivity possibilities, you are no longer tied to hotspots - have access to the online store everywhere you go (of course, if you are in EVDO zone). More than 90 000 books available from On Line Shop will make your vacation entertained for a long long time. More than 250 top blogs from the world - you will be in touch with all news and events that take place today. Moreover, free access to world's biggest on-line encyclopedia - Wikipedia can be a very interesting feature to all students or pupils. Most brilliant of it all is that there are no monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments - Amazon takes care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.

The battery life is also very impressive – device can operate for a week long with wireless off, and with wireless on it will be begging for recharge after a few days. With such screen size, it is amazing how it can work a week long. All that miracles is done with new display technology, which resembles paper and use less energy than every other display type. Of course, it is limited to shades of gray, but why do you need color display for reading?

Good work has been done to improve ergonomics of this gadget. Number buttons can easily jump you to every page you want, and buttons makes navigating when reading pleasant and easy.

After all, the electronic books are becoming more and more popular nowadays. E-Book reading devices are evolving too. Do not worry about your bag size anymore - this portable library will hold over 200 of titles! Moreover, if this will not be enough to satisfy your reading desire - you can always download some more. The Amazon Kindle is sold for 399 dollars - a reasonable price for a portable library.

Daylight is an essential matter in every look. When the way is taked with white, it is more wide to be or make in it. However, what if your way doesn't have any panels at all? You can site a day light lamp inside, but this is really stock. How can you be new in much simple matters? It is potential with this false panel! This false enthusiastic panel is a best answer to windowless suite. It can be sited everywhere, and looks only like a regular panel treated by venetian irrational. The glowing is produced by electroluminescent sheets and can be ordered by manipulating the sunglasses. This produces a good result of a true panel, just without windowsill.

You can easily trick your guests with this device - they will not see the difference even from small distance. Of course, it produces the needed amount of light to keep room illuminated. You can work or rest in this previously windowless room - the amount of light will be enough.

This window lamp is good design solution for rooms, where usual luminescent lamps cannot be placed due to design, Feng Shui or other reasons. Moreover, this is a good example, how you can make original things with some creativity in mind. Of course, it cannot replace usual windows, but now you will be able to create a nice and cozy room even when there are no real windows in it.

Toshiba ships best notebooks computers featuring rewritable HD DVD drive

Consumers have been healthy to have notebook computers for a piece today with home Blu-ray drives which could too pen to clean Blu-ray disks. Notebooks were too free that would make movies on interior HD DVD drives. Information Week reports that Toshiba will get dealing in Japan this week the best notebook calculator which integrates a rewriteable HD DVD visual driving. A couple of Toshiba notebooks in the Qosmio Series 2 home will admit these HD DVD rewritable drives. One example will be free with a 17-inch cover featuring a 1920 x 1200 cover answer and one with a 15. 4-inch cover using a 1280 x 800 solution.

Those specifications should mean that the 17-inch notebook would be able to output full 1080p movies from HD DVD discs and the 15.4-inch version will be able to show 720p HD content. Both of these systems are far from what would be considered easily portable.

The Qosmio G40/97E 17-inch screen version is reported to weigh 10.6 pounds while the Qosmio F40/88EBL 15.4-inch version weighs 7.7 pounds. Information Week surmises from the size and heft of the machines they are intended to replace a separate computer and TV in cramped apartments in Japan.

Toshiba also says that both the notebooks will be capable of viewing one show while recording another thanks to dual TV tuners. The HD DVD drives themselves will be able to write to HD DVD recordable media as well as writing to normal DVD media with support for HD Rec extension.

The 15.4-inch Qosmio will retail for around $2,600 USD and the 17-inch version will retail for around $3,500 USD.

The HD DVD rewritable drives used in these Toshiba notebooks shouldn’t be confused with the HD DVD drives used in older Toshiba notebooks like the Satellite X205-SLI1 that would play HD DVD movies and write to standard DVD media only. Rewritable Blu-ray drives have been available for a while now on systems like the Dell XPS m1530.

Here’s a lookout searching like it’s meant for great responsibility exterior process; Timberland HT2. Featuring both digital and analogue clocks, four other second zones, altimeter (for the elevation), tachymeter, chronograph, geting bezel, thermometer (in both Fahrenheit and Celsius), barometer (for the weather) and of way a range to clear it away.

Nokia showed the 3110 Evolve at Nokia World in Amsterdam, a greener 3110 example projected for environmentally aware consumers. This cellphone sound sports bio-covers made from more than 50% renewable material, presented in a software made of 60% recycled message and it while shipping with Nokia’s most vitality effective charger even it even consumes 94% vitality than the Energy Star requirements. No sunlight or lead charging abilities though.

Creative's new ZEN serves up 32GB of storage interval

Apple may experience how to tickle the damascene of takeout frequency enthusiasts around the grouping with modern features (i.e., the iPod soupcon), but manufacturers similar SanDisk and Fanciful act to plumbago the way in view and storage susceptibleness.

In tardive Oct, DailyTech provided information on SanDisk's yet-to-be-officially-announced 32GB Sansa Message. The tiny participant can playback audio/video and features a 2.4" QVGA check. Pricing for the participant is a relatively levelheaded $329.99 which rings up $70 lower than an iPod perception.

Original, not one to be mitt out of a content war, is multitude cause with the functionary show of its 32GB ZEN. The ZEN features a 2.5" communicate, an FM receiver turner, a Warranted Digital discussion receptacle for those who hunger still many storage place and includes reenforcement for a mass of file formats (WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5, XviD, MP3, WMA, Hearable 2, 3, 4 and non-protected AAC).

creative says that the built-in lithium-ion shelling is nice for 5 hours of video playback or up to 30 hours of frequence playback.

The new 32GB creative ZEN instrument be priced at around $380 USD in Singapore. The player is priced at $329.99 for the Unified States and is currently obtainable for pre-order on creative's U.S. website.

Here’s the Daylight Projection Clock with Outdoor Temperature Display, a stylish little thing that’ll project the precise atomic time and temperature on any surface and by automatically adjusting the strength of the projection it’ll work in any lighting conditions.

It comes with an alarm too, just wave your hand in front of it to shut it off.

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Vestalife will launch the Ladybug iPod / iPhone Speaker Dock at CES International in Las Vegas in January 2008 (it won the CES Innovation Design and Engineering Award you know). This amplified speaker system sports stereo speakers, a subwoofer, LED volume level indicators, a USB port for synchronization and a remote control

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Everglide DKTBoard is designed with those night crawlers in mind. It features a soft blue backlight, which does not harm eyes when in the dark. A compact laptop design makes it small and easy to place anywhere on the table; in addition, brushed aluminum chassis looks extremely cool.

It is interesting how the desktop keyboard began to look smaller and smaller, sometimes making the typing uncomfortable. However, this is not that case, the typing is fast and easy.

Do not worry anymore about typing in the dark, now it will be more comfortable than ever. Moreover, you will not disturb anyone with bright light. It is a question for us though, why laptops are not usually equipped with such backlit keyboards; this simple addition will hugely help when you are sitting with your laptop all night long. This interesting keyboard can be purchased for only 70 dollars.

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For those who wake up and fall asleep in front of their computer monitor, Chinese engineers are proud to present an astonishing gadget - the 7 inch arm resting monitor with a built in DVD player and a speaker.

This unbelievable gadget is convenient for long distance trips. Those who adore the back car seats will find this gadget perfect for movie or music clips watching.

Its 7 inch TFT LCD display features a 1440 * 234 resolution, has a PAL/NTSC color system and a 15.5 – 21cm adjustable distance for all armrests all over the world.

In addition, it includes a built in speaker, a full remote control function and a FM audio output.

It is easy to install as the installation distance is 15 – 21 cm and there are 2 fixing sections included.

It has a CD/ VCD/ CD-R/ CD-RW/ MP3/ MP4/ DIVX. And all this you get in a small gadget that can be installed on any seat.

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There are so many modern weather stations nowadays. Which one to choose? I know just one very original model of weather station which can be both a cool gift and pretty object of interior. It attracts with its simplicity and nice creator's idea. A girl on the display dresses or undresses depending on the weather outside. She shows you visually what you should wear. Imagine only: she wears bikini when it is hot outside and puts on some clothes when it is cold.

Every man would like to have such weather station at home or at work. But I am afraid men won't get it from their women.

The creators should have thought about this fact. This gadget would be bought by girls for their boyfriends if there was a possibility to put in their photo instead of the girl's face. It seems to me that would be really nice.

In that case this station can become an irreplaceable gadget at work. Photo frames? Not actual anymore. This nice weather station with stripping girlfriend would be much more desirable. Nice idea, huh?

The gadget displays all the necessary things such as temperature, humidity, precipitations. But the girl will explain you in terms of her example what clothes you cshould wear.

The gadget has already won a lot of customers' attention. I guess you should consider for a moment why. At first, it is really original gift for anybody. It is a nice souvenir and remembrancer and at the same time the gift that makes smile. It was made especially for people with nice sense of humor, so surprise your favorite friends. Secondly, weather station - an important and useful gadget anywhere.

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Every mobile phone user knows about short message system called SMS. It is very popular among teenagers and young people. They are accustomed to the phone text input method and can write messages up to 150 symbols per minute! If you are a person who prefers to write an SMS instead of talking, and you do it often, then take look at this interesting gadget.

This keyboard, called cre8txt was designed specially for SMS users. It has a familiar button set, just as the average mobile phone, so it will feels just as if you are typing an SMS. It is also bundled with predictive text input software – widely known T9 will help write long texts with ease.

In addition, it can translate SMS slang, which is a way to save space on the restricted 160 character per message, to normal English! So no misunderstanding now even when you are talking to your parents.

Additional buttons with Copy, Cut and Paste functions, Alt+Tab, Shift and Enter will aid in controlling your computer, and with a long USB cord it can be used as a remote controller. Wired, which is not good, but if the cord is long enough to reach your bed or chair, who cares? Be careful not to catch it when moving though.

It is an interesting product, but we doubt it will be more comfortable than a normal keyboard. Moreover, thinking of its price, which is not small – 105 dollars (way too pricy even for a wired remote controller), we advise you to learn to type on normal QWERTY keyboard rather than throw your money on this SMS inspired gadget.

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YelloMosquito is proud to introduce the Qingbar Gp300 - the
world's first wireless LCOS video glasses stunners with built-in media
player and Divx support.

This state-of-the-art device combined with LCOS display and media
player, allows you to enjoy a big cinema screen experience through a
pair of sleek and funky video glasses with hi-fi audio through high
quality earphones in one tiny device eliminating the distraction of
wires. It is totally hands free, mobile and private.

The Qingbar GP300 features a sleek, light weight design with LCOS micro
displays, which deliver crisp, vivid-color, QVGA video image simulates
the image of a 50" display from a distance of 2M away. You just insert a
mini SD card into the slot, and then you can entertain yourself with
your favorite movies / videos, MP3 music, JPEG photos, or e-book text.

Specifications and Compatibility

* DSP Chip : TI
* Memory Card Slot : Support Mini SD Card (Hot plug and play)
* EQ Mode : Rock/Classic/Normal/Bass
* Language : Support multi-language; ,Chinese & English version (optional)
* Playback Mode : Normal/One/All/Shuffle/Repeat Shuffle
* Interface : USB
* Press key : Power on, volume +, -, forward, backward, play/pause, and menu
* Screen Option LCOS Micro display, 50" Virtual Screen
* Remote control Yes
* Audio File Format : Support MP3, WMA9, IMA,and AAC
* Video File Format : MP4/MPG/AVI/ASF(MPEG1/2/4 ( Divx3.x/4.x/5.x & XviD)
E book : Support E book .TXT file
* Photo : Support JPEG/BaselineJPEG+MP3
Power : Battery re-chargeable lithium battery (750 mAh) Adapter :voltage
in 110v-240v; Voltage out: 5V,500mA
Sample Rate : 8 ~ 96 KHz SNR >90 dB
* Frequency Response Range : 20 Hz-20 KHz
* Display resolution : QVGA 432x240 ?
* Image size 50" at 2 M away
* Field of View 22 degree
* Contrast 200:1
* Ambient Temp -10~+70
* Unit Dimensions (LxWxH) 180x175x40 (mm)
* Weight 100g

Currently, YelloMosquito is taking pre-orders for the Qingbar GP300. It
is expected to ship during the first week of December 2007.

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One of the pitfalls to using a notebook exclusively is that it tends to have speakers that are not that great for those wanting to listen to music and watch movies. One of the other problems is that notebooks tend to lack the USB ports important to users with lots of gadgets and peripherals.

Logitech has a new item called the AudioHub that aims to remedy both of these common notebook shortcomings. The AudioHub is a 2.1 speaker system designed to sit behind your notebook. The two satellite speakers are width adjustable allowing you to position them to the sides of your notebook rather than having them behind the computer where some of the sound is blocked.

In addition to having movable satellite speakers, a built-in subwoofer offers improved levels of bass and the speakers use a three-chamber design. A three port Hi-speed USB hub is built into the AudioHub as well to provide more connectivity options for USB devices. One single USB connection from the AudioHub to your PC powers the speakers as well as the USB hub.



The AudioHub is slightly more than 3.5-inches tall and has a pair of 2-inch tweeters and one 3-inch woofer. Another nice feature is a built-in web cam stand that extends from the top of the AudioHub. The USB hub is powered via an included AC adapter, allowing the use of high-power USB devices. A pair of USB cables is included with one 2-foot cable and one 4-foot extension. The AudioHub is compatible with Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista as well as Mac OS X and higher. Logitech covers the device with a 2-year warranty and the device carries an MSRP of $99.99 with availability in October, 2007.

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Logitech announced an updated version of their Cordless MediaBoard for PS3 called the Cordless MediaBoard Pro today. The original MediaBoard used a matte silver finish, which did nothing to go along with the looks of the PS3.

With the updated Cordless MediaBoard Pro, Logitech uses a glossy black chassis for the keyboard that looks like it came with the PS3. The main difference between the new MediaBoard Pro and the old MediaBoard is in the connection of the keyboard to the PS3. The original MediaBoard uses a USB transceiver plugged into one of the PS3’s front USB ports.

The new Cordless MediaBoard Pro uses Bluetooth connectivity just like the Sony Sixaxis controllers so no USB adapter is required. If you are using your PS3 for media playback, you will be glad to hear that the MediaBoard Pro has a 10-meter wireless range. An integrated touchpad eliminates the need for a mouse.

Logitech also included an assortment of media keys to make accessing the web browser and movie menus easier. Power for the keyboard is via a pair of AA batteries that provide up to 200 hours of use. A two stage battery light shows when battery power is getting low.

The Cordless MediaBoard Pro will be available in October for $79.99.

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SuperTalent today announced its new Project X DDR3 memory kits, which it deems the most advanced DDR3 memory kits available. The new Project X DDR3 modules feature a large passive cooling solution that provides more surface area and aluminum mass. The Project X cooler somewhat resembles Corsair’s DOMINATOR cooler, found on DDR2 memory modules.

"These kits support obscene clock speeds, carefully tuned latencies, and incorporate an advanced thermal dissipater that makes them as sexy as they are fast," Super Talent Marketing Director Joe James said.

SuperTalent offers two Project X kits, which the company hand tests with ASUS P5K3 Deluxe motherboards, in dual channel configurations. The available Project X modules come in 2x1GB kits with speeds of DDR3-1800 and DDR3-1600. Timings for the DDR3-1800 kit is 7-7-7-21 and requires 2.0-volts, while the lower speed rated DDR3-1600 kit has 7-6-6-18 timings and requires 1.8-volts.

Expect to pay $599 for the DDR3-1800 and $549 for the DDR3-1600 “sexy” modules. The modules should arrive at retailers in the next week or so, as Super Talent is shipping the modules out today.

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HP and Voodoo PC are set to unveil the fruition of their efforts after the acquisition of Voodoo PC in the form of a new enthusiast oriented gaming machine next week – the HP Blackbird 002. The new HP Blackbird 002 sports a completely new chassis design, built from the ground up for looks, performance and versatility.

The new Blackbird 002 chassis features a completely aluminum chassis sporting a wedge-shaped design. HP’s Blackbird 002 features a hover design, where the chassis sits on a cast aluminum stand for a hovering look. The cast aluminum stand raises the chassis off the ground to provide airflow to the system’s 1100 Watt power supply mounted at the bottom of the chassis. The stand can also support up to 600 pounds, allowing users to stand on the system or set a couple concrete blocks on it.

HP touts the Blackbird 002’s superior thermal capabilities. The Blackbird 002 features a sealed, maintenance free water-cooling system. The water-cooling system cools the processor and graphics cards while keeping the system quiet. HP also touts the chassis’ isolated design, keeping every component chamber isolated and preventing hot air from contaminating the cool air stream.

The chassis also features a completely tool-less design, allowing owners to remove or replace all components without the needs of any tools. HP equips the Blackbird 002 with plenty of lighting. The chassis features accent and task lighting, according to Mark Solomon, lead designer, HP Gaming. Accent lighting highlights certain aspects of the Blackbird 002 such as the stand and front grille while task lighting highlights helpful portions of the case such as the chassis interior and rear ports.

The company claims it will equip the Blackbird 002 with industry standard components and the best components available. The chassis will accommodate standard off the shelf components such as motherboards, video cards, hard drives and memory. The system will also come with standard BIOS, allowing users to tweak and overclock the system to their liking.

Expect the HP Blackbird 002 to show up on HP’s online store immediately, ready to take on Dell’s XPS 720 H2C. Pricing can vary from $2,500 to $6,500 depending on configuration.

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If you are a gamer, graphic designer or just like to work from a large screen monitor, 24-inch displays are coming down in price and going up in features. HP is set to unveil its latest 24-inch LCD display on Wednesday.

The new HP w2408 24-inch LCD display features BrightView anti-reflective technology for a wide viewing angle – 160 degrees vertical and horizontal. The monitor is HDCP compliant for viewing protected HD content such as HD DVD or Blu-ray, when paired with an HDCP compliant graphics card.

The display has a 92% wide color gamut making it appropriate for graphic designers and others wanting the most accurate color display. Under the display is a keyboard parking area. HP also integrates a four-port USB hub, speakers and a headphone jack. The integrated speakers are rear facing and output 2-watts per channel.

HP equips the w2408 with rotational capabilities and includes software that automatically adjusts the screen orientation as the display is rotated. The display also features a detachable base and a standard VESA100 4-hole mounting pattern.

Like all 24-inch displays the HP v2408 features a 16:10 aspect ratio with a 1920x1200 native resolution at 60Hz. The display features a 400 nits brightness rating with a 1000:1 contrast ratio. The panel has a typical response time of 5ms, on-off. The display features traditional CCFL backlighting and not LED.

HP integrates the power adapter is internally into the display, removing the need of an external power brick. The w2408 is Energy Star compliant as well.

Expect the display to show up in retail this month with included VGA and DVI cables.

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Wireless is certainly the way to go for many computer users. Many users strive to shed wires from everything from network connections to headphones. It stands to reason that many want wireless mice and keyboards as well.

Logitech makes some of the most desirable wireless keyboards and mice around, but has lacked a wireless desktop that used its Revolution series mice. Logitech’s recently announced Wave keyboard was even left out of the loop when it comes to the Revolution mice. Today the company rectified that misstep with the announcement of a new wireless desktop called the MX5500.

The MX5500 combines the popular MX Revolution wireless mouse (with its hyper-fast scroll wheel) and a new wireless keyboard with LCD display. The LCD display can be used for different functions like a calculator, date, time or current music track info. Connectivity is accomplished via a Bluetooth 2.0 and Vista users will even find that the keyboard has several shortcut keys for Vista gadgets.

The MX5500 is priced at $170 and will be available in early 2008.

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Dell is one of those company's lots of people love or hate. They put out lots of high tech devices at good prices that make your average consumer happy. Then when stuff goes wrong with their gear they have some of the worst support on the planet.

When you couple that animosity, with some fudging of financial numbers not too long ago; you have a recipe for lack of trust in Dell products. Dell isn’t known to be that much of an innovator when it comes to their products, but recently they have been changing that notion with the introduction of the XPS M1330 and XPS M1730 notebooks.

Dell is also getting ready to announce a new 20-inch LCD display that has a webcam built-in. The display is called the SP2008EFP and it has a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, a 2ms response time, 300cd/m2 brightness and a 2000:1 contrast ratio.

Connectivity options include DVI with HDCP for protected HD content and a VGA D-sub. Too bad Dell doesn’t equip their displays with dual DVI ports for those running multiple computers. The display also has four USB ports with two of them on the side and two on the rear.

No speakers are built-in, but an optional sound bar is available for those wanting speakers on the display. The built-in webcam is a VGA fixed focus design with an array microphone. The release date is set for September 12 and no pricing information is available at this time.
Anyone who was young in the 80’s will immediately think of the big, square cassette tape players when they hear the words Sony Walkman. The younger geeks will be glad to know that no longer is 80’s tech alone associated with the Walkman moniker.

Sony today announced its new NWZ-A810 Walkman video player. The A810 series features three different size capacities – 2GB, 4GB and 8GB allowing it to store a goodly bit of music. Sony equips the A810 series with a 2-inch QVGA display sporting 320x240 pixels.

Everything seems to be going pink these days, with self-defense weapons taking on the feminine hue, the female readers will be glad to hear that Sony offers the A810 series in pink as well as black, blue, silver and white.

Looking at the images of the A810 it is not going to win any awards for style, but it packs in some decent specifications. Audio formats supported are MP3, WMA, AAC-LC, and Linear PCM10. MP3 should make it compatible with the Wal-Mart DRM-free store and LimeWire’s upcoming store.

Also included is a five band equalizer and playback of MPEG4 and M4V video playback along with JPEG image support. The device charges via USB and needs three hours for a full charge and 1.5 hours for 80% charge. Playback time is around 33 hours for music and 8 hours for video.
Although the PlayStation 2 is clearly a last-generation gaming system, it is still capturing the playtime and dollars of present day gamers. Sony knows that the PS2 is still hot item, and is bringing out a limited edition console that is ceramic white in color.

Coming this November will be a special white PS2 bundled with SingStar Pop and two USB microphones. SingStar Pop, the American take of the immensely popular SCEE franchise, features tracks from Alicia Keys, U2, Rihanna, Ashlee Simpson, The All-American Rejects, The Clash and more.

The bundle will will be available in the U.S. for a suggested retail price of $149.99. The package will also be offered in Canada for $159.99.

"With our expansive library of titles for PlayStation, led by social gaming experiences such as SingStar, and Buzz!, we have an incredible offering for first-time gaming families," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. "At $149, the limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2, bundled with the family-friendly social gaming title, SingStar Pop, is an unbeatable value that will provide fun for everyone this holiday."

The latest sales data from NPD Group show that the PS2 is still considerably outselling the newer PlayStation 3 by a considerable margin, even after the recent PS3 $100 price drop. During July, the PS2 sold 222,000 units while the PS3 sold 159,000 for the month.

A report from Nielsen GamePlay Metrics finds that as much as 42 percent of all console use was on the PS2, showing that console’s continued relevance.

According to Sony, the PS2 has an installed base of more than 117 million worldwide with 44 million in North America alone. A further 10 million PlayStation 2 units are expected to be sold worldwide by the end of March 2008.

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Phones are the one device that most everyone tends to have on their person at all times. The ability to whip out a phone and play games while sitting on the bus or waiting on an appointment is appealing to many people.

Market intelligence firm iSuppli says that the mobile gaming market is set to reach a whopping 184 million users per month by 2010 up from 38 million users in 2005. iSuppli also says that mobile gaming revenues increased by a full 80 percent in 2005 so game developers and publishers are flocking to mobile phone game development to capture some of the lucrative market.

The original Nokia N-Gage didn’t exactly take off; however, Nokia is coming back with games and devices looking to grab a portion of the swiftly growing mobile gaming market. The new N-Gage mobile gaming service allows everyone with a compatible Nokia handset to try all N-Gage games for free.

If customers like the games they try, full versions can be downloaded on a Nokia handset or on a PC. Multiplayer gaming is also supported via the N-Gage Arena.

Nokia says the N-Gage service will be available globally in November and when the service launches users will be able to download the free N-Gage application. The N-Gage application will be embedded in future devices such as the Nokia N81 and the Nokia N95 8GB. N-Gage games sold through the N-Gage Store will retail for between EUR 6.00 and EUR 10.00, or $8 USD to about $14 USD.

A few of the game publishers that will be selling N-Gage games are EA SPORTS, Capcom and Vivendi. Nokia Publishing will also be making games for the N-Gage platform.

The Nokia N81 slider will be one of the first N-Gage devices and will support HSDPA, though Engadgetsays the N81 HSDPA won’t work in America. Other features include integrated speakers, a headphone jack and the phone has 8GB of storage that can be expanded with a microSD card. The N81 also supports video and music files as you would expect. The N81 will retail for about $585 USD.

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Creative Labs today launched its latest portable media player: the ZEN. The new Creative ZEN drops all suffixes from previous models such as the Zen V Plus, Zen Vision and such. Creative plans to offer the ZEN in three different sizes: 4GB, 8GB and 16GB.

Creative’s ZEN features a 2.5-inch display with 320x240 pixels. It features a 2.17 inch x 3.27 inch x 0.4 inch form factor and weighs in at 2.29 ounces. Creative claims battery life up to 25 hours of audio and 5 hours of video with the ZEN.

It supports audio and video playback of MP3, WMA, AAC, WMV, DivX, Xvid, MJPEG and TiVo to go formats. Other notable features include integrated FM tuner and voice recorder.

Expect the Creative ZEN to release into retail channels next month with a $149 cost of entry.


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The Mercury News’ Dean Takahashi reports that the first Xbox 360 CPUs manufactured on the 65nm process are now on ships in the Pacific bound for North America. Should the consoles, which are made in China, arrive soon, then they could be on retail shelves sometime this fall.

Last month, Takahashi reported that the 65nm Xbox 360 chips would come in a revised hardware version that Microsoft has coded “Falcon.” The new chips are not only smaller and roughly 50 percent cheaper to produce than their 90nm counterpart, but they are also cooler – and presumably less prone to the Red Ring of Death defect.

Those expecting the 65nm die shrink to affect the two main chips inside the Xbox 360 will be disappointed to learn that only the console’s main processor will be the manufactured on the new process.

“Falcon is the name for the board that houses the 65-nanometer microprocessor from IBM,” wrote Takahashi. “The board does not include a 65-nanometer version of the ATI graphics chip for the Xbox 360. That version of the graphics chip is coming later.”

The new 65nm chip from IBM will work with both the current 90nm and the future 65nm iteration of the 65nm ATI GPU, according to Takahashi.

Oddly enough, it appears as though the main culprit behind the Xbox 360 reliability woes may be linked to the ATI GPU rather than the IBM CPU. As part of a recent fix to all 90nm-based consoles, Microsoft has been adding additional cooling measures into the Xbox 360. Found first in a repaired European Xbox 360 was a new heatsink with a heatpipe that leads to a secondary “daughter” heatsink helps to further cool the GPU.

The latest Xbox 360 Premium consoles with the HDMI-enabled “Zephyr” motherboard also features the extra heatsinks, providing further evidence that an overheating GPU is the main cause behind the Red Ring of Death.

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VIA today announced the world’s most power efficient x86 processor, in a mere 1-Watt envelope, the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor. The new 1-watt processor operates at 500 MHz and optimized for fan-less operation. At idle, the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor only requires 0.1-watt of power.

VIA targets the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor for industrial, commercial and ultra mobile applications. The 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV is a small processor, measuring in at 21 mm x 21 mm and packaged in a NanoBGA2 package.

The processor operates on VIA’s V4 bus clocked at 400 MHz. It has 16-stage pipeline with 128KB of full-speed L2 cache. VIA also integrates the PadLock Security Engine for hardware encryption algorithms such as AES, SHA-1, SHA-256 and Montgomery Multiplier.

“Giving our customers the building blocks to create innovative systems and driving PC technology into new markets defines our ‘Small is Beautiful’ strategy,” said Richard Brown, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With its performance, energy efficiency and compact size, our new VIA Eden ULV processor provides a way for embedded developers to add real value to their systems and push the market forward.”

VIA recommends pairing the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV with the CX700/M chipset for a system that only draws 3.5 Watts, at a maximum, storage devices not included. VIA expects a system powered by the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV and CX700/M with storage and connectivity options to consume no more than 10-watts of power.

Expect the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor to show up in embedded systems.

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Several years ago Microsoft had a line of several gaming peripherals that all were sold under the SideWinder name. From gamepads to joysticks the gear was typically pretty good and worked well for most gamers -- until Microsoft cut the entire line.

Microsoft has pulled the derelict SideWinder name from the shadows and shined it up for a new gaming peripheral called the SideWinder Mouse. This is the first Microsoft gaming peripheral to be built from the ground up at Microsoft.

Gamers familiar with the Microsoft Habu gaming mouse and the Microsoft Reclusa keyboard will know that those two products are little more than re-branded Razer gear. This new mouse has some interesting features, one of the most notable being a Quick Turn macro button that turns your character 180 degrees at the touch of a button. A rapid about face has saved more than one geek in a hectic death match.

Microsoft has also integrated the first ever LCD screen into a production mouse. The screen doesn’t show you game details like the Logitech G15 LCD does, but is used to show the sensitivity the mouse is running at and allows you to see the macros bound to mouse buttons.

Internally the SideWinder Mouse is your standard 2000 dpi gaming mouse fare. This means it will give up some of its luster to the Logitech G9’s 3200 dpi sensitivity for gamers looking for raw speed. Microsoft did give the mouse on-the-fly adjustable sensitivity control via three buttons behind the scroll wheel. All five of the mouse buttons are customizable via included software.

Taking a page out of Logitech’s book, the SideWinder Mouse has weights that allow you to vary the feel of the mouse by adding up to 30g of weight. Microsoft also ships the mouse with three sets of feet, made from different materials, to allow you to further customize the feel to your mousing surface and preferences.

Any gamer who plays for a long period of time runs into issues with too much cable lying on the desk at some point. Microsoft addressed this problem with a built-in cable management system. The system is basically a place to coil up the excess USB cable and stuff it inside the mouse. The compartment can also double as a place to store the extra mouse feet and weights. The Microsoft SideWinder Mouse will be available in October for $79.95.

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Hot on the heels of the LifeBook U810 UMPC announcement is Fujitsu's new LifeBook T2010 Tablet PC. Fujitsu’s latest offering will be available with Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

The 12.1" LED-backlit WXGA device weighs just 3.5 pounds and features a slim 1.3" magnesium-alloy chassis design. The LCD features a bi-directional hinge design which allows the T2010 to be used in a traditional notebook configuration or as a "slate" tablet.

The T2010 can be equipped with either a Core 2 Duo ULV U7600 (1.2GHz) or U7500 (1.06GHz) processor while graphics duties are handled by the integrated Intel X3100 GPU. A maximum of 4GB of DDR2 memory is supported and 1GB of Intel Turbo Memory is optional.

Wireless connectivity is handled by the Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN or an Atheros Super AG Wireless LAN adapter while a Bluetooth 2.0+EDR adapter is optional.

Fujitsu lists the battery life of the T2010 at nine hours with its standard 6-cell 5800mAh battery. That figure jumps to 11 hours with the optional 9-cell 8700mAh extended battery.

The Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 is available today at a starting price of $1,599.

AMD today silently resuscitated its 90nm Windsor core with a bump in clock speed in the form of the Athlon 64 X2 6400+. The latest Athlon 64 X2 runs at 3.2 GHz – higher than any available Core 2 Duo offering. Each core has access to its own 1MB of L2 cache.

AMD labels the new Athlon 64 X2 6400+ as the Black Edition, in matching black packaging. The new model does not have the lower 89 watt TDP as the upcoming Windsor refresh. Instead, the processor carries a 125 watt TDP rating, nearly three times higher than the Athlon X2 BE-series.

Since AMD is aiming for a silent launch with the Athlon 64 X2 6400+, it will not make it into reviewer’s hands. AMD will not offer the processor to PC manufacturers either, according to Scott Wasson, Tech Report. The only way to get a hold of the Athlon 64 X2 6400+ is through the channel.

AMD prices the Athlon 64 X2 6400+ at $239, per unit, in 1,000 unit quantities. At that price point, the processor will have to take on Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6750.

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The enthusiast angle is still a strong driver for DDR2 development, but manufacturers are basically trying to achieve better performance through radical cooling designs (such as OCZ's Flex-XLC hybrid cooling memory) and hand picking chips to ensure overclocking capacity. You can find enthusiast DDR2 memory in the speeds of 1200MHz, but the last real DDR2 specification to meet the JEDEC standards was DDR2-800. Every other high-speed DDR2 memory you see today above DDR2-800 can be considered custom factory-overclocked memory. Their speeds, timings and voltage requirements can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, the JEDEC standard for DDR2 specifies operating voltage of 1.8V. However, all DDR2-1000 and above memory modules run outside of the specifications anywhere between 2.1V to 2.35V in order to function properly.

Then in May this year, Micron announced sampling and production of the first DDR2-1066 chips that are actually able to run at a stock voltage of 1.8V through their 78nm fabrication process. This is the first big announcement for DDR2 memory as it could possibly see the setting of a new official JEDEC standard for DDR2 memory and running into favor with AMD, which will not be moving to DDR3 till 2008 at the very earliest. Micron's new DDR2-1066 chips operate with a CAS Latency of 7.0 however, which may very well cripple its performance advantage seeing that standard DDR2-800 memory have dropped to CAS 4.0 and even 3.0, while regular enthusiast DDR2-1066 in the market run at CAS 5.0.

This is where Micron's German rival Qimonda AG comes into play. Through their AENEON brand, Qimonda has essentially beat everyone to the punch by launching their new AENEON XTUNE DDR2-1066 memory into the retail channels. The XTUNE is the performance model of AENEON's memory lineup and this DDR2-1066 memory is not only guaranteed to operate at a stock 1.8V at 1066MHz, it also runs at CAS 5.0 latency and carries NVIDIA's Enhanced Performance Profile (EPP) timings. That's a triple bonus in a single stick of RAM and we intend to put the AENEON XTUNE DDR2-1066 through its paces to find out just how well Qimonda's newest DDR2 wonder-RAM will fare. In this review, we will be testing the AENEON XTUNE DDR2-1066 2GB dual channel kit (AXT760UD00-19D).

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News on the solid state disk (SSD) front has been rather quiet in the past few weeks, but Ridata is making news today with the announcement of its new 32GB 2.5" SATA SSD.

The new 32GB SSD is aimed at the mobile sector -- as its 2.5" form factor suggests -- and has a MTBF of four million hours. Read speeds for the new drive are listed at 60MB/sec while the write speeds are pegged at a meager 48MB/sec.

The performance fares favorably with Samsung's mainstream 64GB SSD which offers read/write speeds of 65MB/sec and 45MB/sec respectively. Mtron’s outrageously priced SSDs, on the other hand, put both to shame with read speeds of 120MB/sec and write speeds of 90MB/sec.

"Our new Ridata SSD offers exceptionally consistent high performance in all environments," said Advanced Media President Harvey Liu. "Compared to a traditional HDD the Ridata SSD is smaller; uses half as much power; is ultra lightweight; offers incredibly fast boot and access times; and operates at a low temperature with no mechanically moving parts. It is the ideal HDD replacement for OEMs, ODMs and system integrators as well as consumers."

The 32GB model will be available in the coming weeks, while a 64GB variant will come to market in late November. Pricing for the 32GB part is listed at $999 while the 64GB model will be priced closer to launch.


Source from DailyTech