Video Gadgets & Media Devices: News Roundup
There’s been loads of breathtaking breakthroughs in the video (media) gadgets sphere over the last few weeks I considered to be worthy of acquaintance:
- iPod touch – review. Was this gear really so expected? Rumors reached me and I want to present you this positive gadget’s features:
- Slim profile, lightweight
- iTunes Store well implemented
- 3.5″ display is great for video
- Snappiness of UI
- Built-in web browser
- WiFi support
- iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store delivers
- Estes Digital Video Rocket Spy. It’s a quirky gadget which keeps you informed of everything and everybody who brakes into your backyard? The only thing you have to do is to set the spy camera properly. By means of this rocket enables you to peep at passersby and neighbors, watching them furtively anytime you like. Features of this camera include a built-in video camera that can shoot 640 x 480 resolution video for a maximum of 12 seconds. Video and still images are transferred to your PC via USB.
- Microsoft readies Xbox 360 Halo Special Edition. This version of the Xbox 360 will come in green and gold colors to cater for military style fans and glamour users respectively. By the way, it is the biggest title for the Xbox 360 platform for the year. Features of this special edition console include an authentic Spartan green and gold finish along with a matching Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, a regular 20GB hard drive, a headset for a more intense experience, a Play & Charge Kit, Halo 3 Gamer Pics and Theme available via Xbox Live download.
Dell Latitude D630 and D830 Secure Notebooks. Dell’s the world’s most
secure notebooks is the combination of Seagate Momentus FDE HD and Wave System Corp. EMBASSY. The new laptops feature faster performance and always-on encryption. The D630 features a 14.1-inch wide aspect XGA display while the D830 has a 15.4-inch wide aspect XGA display. The Latitude D630 is priced starting from US$1,189, while the Latitude D830 has a price starting at US$1,249.
- The new face of the notebook market. HP offers a stylish design of laptops that feature worthy specs. It is supposed this new look will change the face of the notebook market. Primae impressionis is both can be deceptive and attracting.
- Flip Video Ultra Pocket-Size Camcorders. The Flip Video Ultra Series is a
combination of the $30 disposable video camera , Pure Digital Point & Shoot Camcorder, and Flip Video digital camcorders, that includes a 1.5 inch transflective, no-glare display screen, 2 GB of memory for the 60-minute model and 1 GB for the 30-minute model. Simple to use, pocket-sized camcorder with one-touch recording and digital zoo. Holds 30 minutes of full VGA-quality video on 1GB of built-in memory; no tapes or additional memory cards required. Convenient USB arm plugs directly into your computer for easy viewing and sharing
Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, upload to YouTube and AOL, and capture still photos from video. Watch videos instantly on TV with included cable
- Lenovo announced the ThinkVision L220x. Lenovo claims that its L220x it the first 22-inch widescreen WUXGA resolution monitor. Features: an integrated USB hub, HDCP support, VGA / DVI inputs, a six-millisecond response time, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 178-degree viewing angles, and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio. Average price: $550.
Screen Performance
- WUXGA
- Recommend Resolution: 1920×1200@60Hz
- Response time: 6 ms (G to G)
- Brightness: 300 cd/m2
- Viewing Angle: 178°/ 178°(H/V, @10:1 CR)
- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (typical)
- Hasselblad rolls out 39 megapixel H3D II DSLR. How many pixels is enough to take superb photos? Amateurs and experts argue that any digital camera in addition to pixels should feature a wide variety of equipment and tools like lenses, tripods, etc. All of the component parts are important and have to be taken into consideration. Anyway, the uberstylish design and price ($37,000) of this DSLR are impressive. Hasselblad’s also introduced the 31 megapixel H3D-31II ($30,000) and the 22 megapixel H3D-22II ($25,000).
- Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet UMPC Reviewed. Wireless performance and endurance are high points for this mini PC that features a 0.3-megapixel webcam and a microphone for videoconferencing, the bright 5.6-inch Crystal View SVGA display, it’s long battery life is around 5 hours.
- World’s smallest, lightest 1080p projector. Just at £18,000 you can get the smallest and lightest projector, which 500 times faster than the nearest LCD equivalent. Features: a 10-bit video processor with HD scaling and de-interlacing, 1080/24p movie playback and two HDCP-compliant HDMI inputs.
Technorati Tags: video gadgets, media devices, digital video, news, camcorders, digital cameras, tv projectors, dell laptops, tablet pc, ipod touch, xbox 360, hp laptops
Bizarre & pretentious laptops bags (part 1)
We let you know about different kinds of laptops you may give preference in order to look up-to-date being on the go all the time. Admittedly, loads of gadgets require for housings and bags as well as need care and surveillance to be save and sound all the time.
Laptops come and go. With the course of time they can become worthless. Those years have gone never to return. However, their form and design are rarely changed essentially. To begin with, we can cover them somehow specially and nobody will make out whether it your old device or the one you bought recently. Shortly, we have power over times.
Laptops’ bags and cases are the things we are talking today. People give preference to one or another weird and wonderful bag. Our choice depends on means, gadget’s features and taste.
Synthetic Human Skin Laptop Bags. HumanSkinBag is a synthetic human skin with a creased appearance giving an organic aspect to the range of clothing and accessories. Laptop bags made of human skin…think over! “The bags dedicated to electronic machines are waterproof and protective jackets and become autonomous organisms. They anticipate the fusion between the digital and the organic.” It measures approx. 39 x 29 cm or 14 x 11 in. and doubles as a regular carrying bag. I believe that $600 USD justifies the means.
Functional Boombox Messenger Bag. Let’s mix boombox with a laptop! What will we get? Of course, something awesome and strange. The designer, Cereallad @ Craftster, says - “Basically I hollowed out the boombox, added hinges and clasps, created a foam interior, created a strap attachment, and… well, attached a strap. Now it holds my ibook and one or two other books. With rudimentary electronics skills, I wired the boombox to play music from the laptop or from any ipod/walkman/etc that you place inside. I added a small amplifier that I found on some toy speakers to increase the sound volume and quality. Don’t worry, I respect others when I play music. It’s my school backpack first and foremost.”
Lenovo ThinkPad. The notebook features a dedicated blue-button for remote support via instant messaging. The leatherwork is done using the traditional Chinese saddle stitching techniques to ensure durability. The salient specs include a12.1-inch ultra-light screen, Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 processor, WWAN, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, external 80 GB USB hard drive, and about 7 hours of battery life. Superb!
Camouflage Bag. See nothing special or original?! Don’t take a gloomy view of thing! Surely, a military man will appreciate this olive bag at its true value. Golla Camouflage bag has foam-padded nylon sleeve inside, PVC-coated nylon with nylon lining and closes with a full-length front flap.
Buddhist Swastika Messenger Bag gladdens the eye due to a felicitous combination of swastika (well-being from Sanskrit) and yellow color (happiness and peace). Conceived a wish! I like other kinds of goods Buddhist offer us: hats, caps, tote bags.
Cedar Laptop Case. I hope Greenpeace won’t condemn this invention. Anyway, gourmets will see it in proper perspective. It’s not a secret that currently people show preference to old and rare devices. Such lovers of the antique decorate their offices and houses using various antique items. Wooden PCs, latops, PMPs, mobile phones spring up all over.
ISS Soyuz Laptop bag. You never know what you deal with. This company made this laptop bag that feature bits of landing parachute fabric from the 1990 Soyuz TM-8 Space mission, or the latest International Space Station Soyuz mission in April 2004. Have a look at other goods.
Chrome Domo Bullet-Proof Case. Wow, I’m not sure whether you have to buy this case or a shotgun for full safeguarding. Anyway, this bag is constructed with carbon fiber, kevlar and ballistic nylon. The bag will absolutely become an example of order and self-assertion which is the reason why it comes with a lifetime guarantee.
Keep in mind, no matter what bag is better or of higher quality, because you are the only person who decides which one suits him or her entirely!
Technorati Tags: laptops, bags, cases, sleeves, human skin bag, boombox bag, bulletproof bag, wooden case, video gadgets, pmp, video devices
If You Don’t Get to Know More About Flexible Displays & Bendable E-Papers Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later
Progress doesn’t stand still. Scientists and inventors pass through various barriers, meeting many obstacles in their path that nature and people put. Every day designers invent new methods and modes of operation, contrive extraordinary gadgets, upgrade those devices that were made before in order to leave behind all the previous discoveries and make your life easier and eventful.
We have already got accustomed to see easy-to-use gadgets like slim displays and monitors. All-in-one LCD (OLED) displays can boggle our mind hands down in spite of the fact that traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used for computers and flat-screen TVs are rigid since they use backlights to light up images on the their screen. Nevertheless, e-papers use a plastic substrate, giving it flexibility. The following bendable displays and e-papers are worthy of seeing because:
- really thin and small
- flexible
- allow to read textual and video messages
- but expensive
Imagine this quirky invention in your hands! What would you do firstly? Read the last Harry Potter’s novel? Watch the last Born’s trilogy? Look through the latest world news, or probably have many irons in the fire?! Sure thing, you could do everything your heart desires. That’s why let me present several observable displays that fill the bill.
- Samsung’s thinnest AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) color display. Just 0.53 millimeters thick, and the initial panels are just 2.2-inches diagonal, featuring 262,000 color output and boasting 240 x 400 pixel resolution. Such systems can be used in television screens, computer displays, portable system screens, advertising, information and indication. OLED displays are highly popular and in demand.
2. Sony’s LCD rolling out video display features only 0.3-mm inch in comparison with Samsung’s one, and probably is capable of holographic video messages. The device is very thin and it’s a 2.5 inch one. Designers now can create any size due to this technology: this display will open a new era of cell phones, GPS navigators and all the portable media players. Expensive? Of course! Video.
3. It’s not a secret that bendable e-paper displays will probably pop up on many other electronic gadgets. You must be seen wireless rolled or folded pieces of paper or books that look like scrolls while watching sci-fi movies. One of them is Conceptual Stereo Yoga mat that allows you to relax your inner being and place yourself in all sorts of awkward positions as well as enables you to partake in yoga class remotely thanks to the built-in display. Also it has speakers built in, a flash-based music player and streaming video features (thanks to a WiFi antenna). The video is being played right on the mat, there are no additional screens whatsoever, which makes it very portable.
4. Plastic Active-Matrix SVGA flexible e-paper display is the world’s largest flexible organic active matrix display. No need to present a 2005 year device. Just keep in mind, it looks stylish as well as the new gadgets. The display is 10″ diagonal SVGA (600 by 800) with 100ppi resolution and 4 levels of greyscale. The thickness of the display is less than 0.4mm.
For the latest high-resolution images of the displays go to www.plasticlogic.com. Plastic Logic operates from the world’s first plastic electronics Prototype Line on the Cambridge Science Park. There are loads of product concept images and videos. Among these products are menus, flash cards, boarding passes, display belts, digital music scores, etc.
5. HP Mobile Innovations. The gadgets showcased at the “HP Mobile Innovations Tour” include a personal wireless gateway device - in a wearable watch-like form factor; a flexible, portable, personal size display mat; and a thin-client device in a tablet form factor. Display mat is ‘always on’ and ready to connect to the wireless hub/watch. A larger mat can be used to access services such as games or content better suited for a larger display. With laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, and digital cameras continuing to add more features, options, and wireless technologies, the current mobile environment is getting increasingly complex, and is a key strategic growth segment globally.
Technorati Tags: flexible displays, bendable displays, e-papers, video gadgets, video messages, OLED, AMOLED, LCD, monitors, color display, PMP, portable devices, cell phones, mobile phones, samsung, streaming video, digital video
Have a Portable Convergent Media Gadget and Use Digital Media Stuff on Your Own (part 1)
Music amateurs and video lovers gave preference to portable media players ages ago. First off, it’s easy-to-use and very convenient when you are on the go. Secondly, these gadgets enable to load, play, watch and listen different media material, including various audio and digital media formats (MPEG, DivX, Xvid, AMV, SMV, MP3, WAV, JPEG, GIF, BMP).
Portable convergent gadgets can feature several functions in one. The like all-in-one devices meant quality for in-car and on the go use. A portable multimedia player (including iPods, PSP, walkmans, palm computers, etc.) is an astounding little piece of technology catered for us. We can’t do anything without it. Such devices supersede mobile phones over several reasons:
- memory capacity
- wide screen
- long battery life
- wide variety of formats
- TV & video downloading, watching, etc.
- and the most recent trend is addition of a camera function in media players
All of these features do for a PMP in the whole, except for some multimedia models and brands like multifunctional XCUTE DV2 that can be used as a phone, 6 megapixel CMOS camera and PMP (AVI, MOV, ASF) in 1 device. XCUTE’s DV2 is a multi-functional device with serious capabilities and only a semi-serious retail price of $412 US.
And it must be mentioned also the smallest PMPs by Thomson. The THOMSON F1 & A1 has a 2.4-inch & 3-inch QVGA High-Def screens respectively that support AVI, MP3, WMA, JPEG, TXT, BMP. I believe you can afford it at the low price ($75 – A1, $106-$120 – F1).
We can’t but mention how PMPs are becoming more like mobile phones. One of them is Neonumeric’s NPMP F1. PMP features 2.4-inch QVGA screen with 262k colors. Supports AVI (320×240) and AVI, WMV, MPEG, MPG, MOV, MP3, WMA, WAV, JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG formats. The built-in 2 MP camera acts as a digital camera, video camera and a webcam! Convergent media player is the 6-in-1 multimedia gadget. Features a MPEG4 video camera (15 hours of VGA and XVGA movies), digital still camera (24,000 high quality images), TV/video recorder, digital photo frame, MP3 player (and voice recorder in a compact and stylish device. Storage capacity with 20 Gigabytes of onboard memory gives great satisfaction to everybody who has it at hand.
3-in-1 media portable device iRiver NV with a 1.3-megapixel camera, mobile TV tuning and large 7-inch screen play the role of GPS receiver. Music, video, and photos are playable from SD cards, including DVD-quality clips in MPEG-4 or XviD formats. iRiver is offering the NV today in Korea for $536.
Digital media is ubiquitous, portable media players have exploded into the mainstream, and cameras are converging onto mobile phones, and vice versa. But the battle for consumer favor continues, as the market has not yet established the right balance of form factor and functionality for how all these devices will integrate.
Technorati Tags: PMP, media gadgets, video gadgets, digital media, portable media players, portable convergent gadgets, iPods, PSP, walkmans, palm computers, memory capacity, wide screen, video downloading, cameras, XCUTE DV2, THOMSON F1, thomson A1, Neonumeric’s NPMP F1, iRiver NV
Who Else Wants to Use Laptops & Tablet PCs on the Go?
Laptops can’t surprise users anymore because these devices became a part of our consuming activities and closely associated with our everyday life. You got into the way of using computer at home and at work on the go. Entrenched habits don’t vanish.
We call your attention to stylish and eccentric ideas placed for your consideration and put into action with your consent. There are loads of weird and wonderful wireless video products that are worthy of seeing and using. Have a look at some worthwhile ones:
- Now compare tablet PC made of wood with Dell laptop. Looks different, doesn’t it? All the same designers of this device took care of best decorative appearance not taking into consideration its performance like weight, heat conduction, etc. Catering to business users, the S-series is a tablet PC powered by Windows Vista.
- The well-off may choose “Otazu Ego NoteBook” incrusted with diamonds (470 in total). Price: $350.000. The computer features a 12.1-inch WXGA LCD widescreen and CD/DVD.
- Want to be always on the go and have an access to recent news? Cario Notebook On The Go by Anna Lopez is created specially for you and your biz. Fits the interior of your car in full. This notebook gives the user possibility to use it without a notebook bag.
- LG laptop. An ecological e-book that uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. The batteries of the LG e-Book use natural gas, methanol, and other eco-friendly liquid fuels.
- Designer Felix Schmidberger created a Compenion computer of an OLED-touchscreen slider form. It is controlled per hand or via a “senstylus pen”, that you can use like a normal pen or twist it and use it as a 3d-sensor remote, with a sensor field under the thumb for precise menu controls.
- Designer Yann Le Coroller knows how to change the spirit of your workplace. Ultra portable Mactab is the complement to MacBook. Laptop? Why not?
And it must be mentioned Microsoft’s virtual reality table. Both video evidence (or video of Bill Gates showing off his expensive table) and pics are at your service. Check this out! It looks pretty nice and I eager to touch it! I consider it as a laptop somehow. The table has universal media options, therefore you can spend too much time exploring it gingerely! Price: $10,000.
What would happen if you put a cup of coffee on it…or spill it?
Technorati Tags: laptops, ebooks, table pcs, video gadgets, devices, computers, designers, monitors, lcds, screens, pics, microsoft, compenion computer, dell laptops, media options, cario notebook