Creative gets official with Vado cheapcorder
Creative’s offering comes packing a lowly-but-YouTube-friendly 640 x 480 resolution, along with 2GB of built-in memory (with no expansion options), a 2-inch display, a flip-out USB connector, and a promised two hours of battery life on a charge. Not exactly the most feature-packed camera out there (even for a budget model), but the $100 price tag is certainly right, and you can get it in your choice of silver or hot pink.
Posted in Digital CamerasPosted by Ilyas
Terrafugia hopes to showcase drivable airplane this summer
Make no mistake, Terrafugia’s outlandish airplane / motorcar hybrid has been on the drawing board for years, but it looks like the rubber is about to hit the proverbial road (or take to the skies, whichever) this July. A team of ten is working feverishly to ready the Transition for its debut at this year’s AirVenture, where it hopes to catch more than a few eyes with its zany “roadable aircraft.” As you can likely guess, this thing is meant to both fly and drive, and yes, that means it’ll have to pass safety regulations from both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If all goes well, the startup expects to deliver its first vehicle to a customer in 2009, while mass production isn’t scheduled to happen until 2012. We’re no experts in the field, but it seems like it’ll take a Christmas miracle for either of those feats to actually be accomplished.
Posted in TransportationPosted by Ilyas
Plextor offers up StorX PX-NAS500L / PX-NAS1000L NAS drives
The StorX PX-NAS500L / PX-NAS1000L drives offer up 500GB and 1TB of capacity, respectively, and each unit includes a gigabit Ethernet port, one-touch USB back-up button and the ability to grow thanks to a pair of USB 2.0 sockets. Beyond that, you won’t find much else special about the new duo, and your guess is as good as ours on pricing / availability.
Posted in StoragePosted by Ilyas
SuperTalent bolsters SSD lineup with cheaper options
SuperTalent’s wide lineup of SSDs got a little bigger today, with the addition of some low(er)-cost MLC flash-based gear. Like the company’s earlier “world’s thinnest” 256GB drive, the three new models are external units, and you’re looking at capacities of 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB for $299, $449, and $699, respectively. That’s actually not all that bad, considering a bare 64GB SLC SSD can run an easy grand.
Posted in StoragePosted by Ilyas
Verbatim’s new SmartDisk HDD
Verbatim leased the 500GB 2.5-inch SmartDisk HDD. Verbatim says this marks the first available 9.5mm Z-height 2.5-inch hard disk. The drive is made up of three 166GB platters striped with Perpendicular Magnetic Recording at 5400RPM. With enclosure, it weighs in at less than 6 ounces and measures 3.38-inches by 5.38-inches by 0.63-inches in both USB and USB / FireWire combo versions. Expect it this summer for under $300.
Posted in StoragePosted by Ilyas
Genius introduces G-Pen M712 / M609 pen tablets
The G-Pen M712 and M609 both arrive with Vista / Mac-compatible software, sport 4,000 LPI resolutions and come with rolling pads at the top for scrolling, zooming and adjusting volume. As for the M609, expect a screen size of 9- x 5.5-inches (wide) / 7.25- x 5.5-inches (standard) and 26 hot keys, while the M712 offers up a bit more real estate at 12- x 7.25-inches (wide) / 9.5- x 7.25-inches (standard) and includes 34 hot keys. Look for ‘em both to land real soon for $195 and $249, respectively.
Posted in UncategorizedPosted by Ilyas
Wacom reveals touchscreen technology
Wacom has just made known its plans to reveal “a major innovation in capacitive touchscreen technology” at next month’s International Society for Information Display Exhibition. The tech, dubbed Reversing Ramped Field Capacitive (RRFC) touch, relies on “reversing ramped electro-static fields” to bring unprecedented precision and “drift-free performance” to touchscreen users. Reportedly, it can be integrated into dual-input applications with the firm’s EMR pen-input solution or can operate on its lonesome on devices that require just a finger touch interface. Of course, there’s way more pizazz to the whole thing than we can cover in this space, but feel free to don your nerd suit and hit the read link if you’re thirsty for more.
Posted in UncategorizedPosted by Ilyas
Intel to debut Anti-Theft Technology to deter laptop theft
Laptop LoJack’s number might be up, Intel’s apparently gearing up to start pushing its so-called Anti-Theft Technology for laptops. Details are still sparse, but apparently it provides boot-time lockout of unauthorized users (presumably among other things) upon occasion of theft, and is being picked up by partner companies like Lenovo, Fujitsu, Phoenix, and McAffee for release later this year. It’d be really nice if we could get some connected GPS to phone home when your laptop takes off without you, but it’s nice to know the industry’s finally starting to take this stuff on instead of leaving hapless theft victims to fend for themselves.
Posted in LaptopsPosted by Ilyas
Logitec’s Bluetooth 2.1+EDR adapter offers 300 foot range and 5x more battery life
We know what you’re thinking: Jeebus, not another Bluetooth adapter Engadget, slow news day? But if you check that snark for a moment, you’ll notice that this ¥2,280 (about $22) Logitec adapter is a Bluetooth 2.1+EDR + Class 1 device. That means an operating range up to 300 feet and all the goodies that come from 2.1. In other words, easier pairing and up to 5x longer battery life for like-speced Bluetooth keyboards and mice. It also supports 15 different Bluetooth profiles (9 on Macs) including your favorites for stereo audio and handsfree devices.
Posted in Peripherals, UncategorizedPosted by Ilyas
LaCie’s latest Neil Poulton external HDD does eSATA, too
In typical LaCie fashion, it’s latest external hard drive isn’t even mentioned on the outfit’s own website, but nevertheless, it most definitely exists. The tried and true Neil Poulton HDD has been refreshed with two new ports to coexist alongside the USB 2.0 socket: FireWire 400 and eSATA. Outside of the two new holes flanking the rear, the drive looks essentially the same, and is available as we speak for $139.99 (500GB), $187.99 (750GB) or $276.99 (1TB).
Posted in StoragePosted by Ilyas
