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Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time Hitachi has long been a respected member of the plasma posse, so it was pretty wild to learn today that it was adding some high-quality Korean-built LCDs to its lineup. (Does this mean the end of plasma is nigh?) All told, Hitachi added three new series of flat panels. The funny thing was, the LCDs and plasmas were mixed together, arranged not by screen type, but by distinct features.
Here are all of the new 1080p flat-panel TVs, with pricing and features:
Heavy weather and an unexpected overnight stay in Pittsburgh gave Newsweek tech whiz Steven Levy ample time to play around with the iPhone. How’d he spend his time? Doing what anyone would do, really: e-mail, get help negotiating downtown, check the weather, keep tabs on some sports, listen to music, and, of course, check out YouTube. And all on a single battery charge. He did find some faults, but not much that the other guys hadn’t also caught.
Those of you in the San Francisco area may be familiar with CBS 5′s partnership with the makers of the Slingbox. Since late April they have been Slinging live footage from the field to the station, and now that cozy relationship is getting hot and heavy with Sling/3G wireless webcams going up all over the city.
The current cam count is at 27, covering expected areas like the Golden Gate Bridge and major highway interchanges around the Bay area. At this point, privacy worries seem minimal at best; most cameras overlook their targets from distant, lofty perches. When Sling starts grabbing hold of the security cameras outside shopping centres or grocery stores, put on your tinfoil hats.
Sling/CBS Partnership Press Release [Via Gearlog]
See the cams at CBS 5′s site
Agreeing pretty much with Pogue and Mossberg, Ed Baig of USA Today says the iPhone’s keyboard (or lack of one) was so good that he “rarely made a mistake”.
In addition, he loved the visual voicemail, didn’t miss the scroll wheel found on actual iPods, and enjoyed picture and video viewing on its screen.
Complaints: not being able to fit his Shure headphones into the iPhone headphone slot, not being able to wirelessly download songs over the air, not being able to view any streaming video other than YouTube, and the inability to hook up his USA Today email with the phone.
Apple’s iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s worthy of the hype [USA Today]
If you didn’t know about it already, anyone looking to pick up a really unique and inspired watch looks no further than Tokyoflash. Barcode Black, now available to the rest of us outside of Japan, is no exception to Tokyoflash’s standard of rethinking how to tell the time. Could be that you’re sitting there right now trying to piece together how exactly you could derive the time from this watch, but it’s actually one of Tokyoflash’s easier systems.
• Songs as Ringtones • Games • Any flash support • Instant Messaging • Picture messages (MMS) • Video recording • Voice recognition or voice dialing • Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP) • One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Zune fanatics, keep your eyes wide open as July approaches. Word on the web is that Microsoft is getting ready to roll out an 80GB model of the Zune, codenamed Scorpio. Precious little information is currently available, but it seems that Microsoft is gearing up for a holiday release. Whether or not Europe will get the Scorpio just as fast as America, or, at this rate, as fast as they get the original Zune has yet to be seen.
New Zune Codenamed Scorpio [Zunescene]
Pogue’s review in the NYT had a slideshow on the iPhone’s camera. What were his findings? Well, if there’s plenty of light and little to no movement, the iPhone’s cam works wonders. If you’re in the dark or the subject is in motion (even you’re outdoors), pictures turn out blurry. Seems pretty similar to other cellphone cameras to us.
Mossberg gets Steve Jobs to talk iPhone. Except when he asks about version 2.0. Those questions are forbidden. The rest of the questions are important ones. Like will we see this on other carriers? Why no 3G? Will you include GPS? Will there be lower cost versions? Aaaaand, Jobs dodged those, too. An old lesson, learned again: Mossberg may have the power to command a Steve Jobs interview, but he can’t make him answer questions. [All Things D]
Mossberg’s lost the funk in the intro, and compared to Pogue’s video, he’s all business. The interesting bits are here, like, in regards to the keyboard, “I wanted to throw it out the window after 3 days”. (Of course, he came around eventually, comparing it in speed to a Treo’s keyboard.) [All Things D, Thanks John P.]
