Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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Casio EX-V8 has 16:9 Format, Better Definition
11:50PM Addy Dugdale | The best thing about Casio’s latest Exilim, the Hi-Zoom EX-V8, is the new 16:9 video format, which pumps the recording resolution to 848 x 480 pixels, using the H.264 Advanced Video Codec. Like the previous models, these can send videos directly to YouTube, but now in panoramic format. Specs after the jump. More »
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New Creative Zen Looks Good and Has Good Price
11:40PM Jesus Diaz | Just in time for IFA in Berlin, Amazon has spilt the beans on the Creative Zen, their new flash-based portable media player available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB with full color 2.5-inch display, FM-tuner and SD slot. More »
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HP Intros Two Interesting Printers, Photosmart A826 and Photosmart C8180, Plus Many Boring Ones
11:21PM Wilson Rothman | HP’s Photosmart A826 is that blue egg-shaped printer you may have seen bopping around the web of late. This $250 DIY home photo kiosk with 7″ touchscreen is just bizarre enough to tickle our fancy. The Photosmart C8180 is HP’s most ambitious all-in-one in a while: For $400, you get integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, plus a built-in CD and DVD burner with HP’s Lightscribe laser-etching label technology. And oh yeah, HP is rolling out like 13 other printers, but none that exude quite the same level of sexiness. [Crave] More »
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Air Ray, the Shiny Remote-Controlled, Wing-Flappin’ Critter
11:10PM Charlie White | Here’s a helium balloon with a twist: the Air Ray is modeled after a manta ray but instead of lazily plying its way through the ocean, it floats gracefully through the air. The guys at Festo, a company that specializes in factory automation but seems to have a lot of spare time for fun projects, created a beating wing drive for this lighter-than-air remote-controlled craft, using the “Fin Ray Effect” to make it fly like a sea creature. Better not try flying this outside with any winds blowing—you’ll need lots of space in a swank Eurostyle atrium to pull this one off. [Festo] More »
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Wireless HDMI On the Way, Amimon Ships WHDI Chipset to Manufacturers
10:30PM Charlie White | Amimon showed us its WHDI (Wireless High Definition Interface) working perfectly at last January’s CES and today the company is shipping that chipset to manufacturers of TVs, projectors and other consumer electronics products. The chipset enables uncompressed 720p and 1080i video to be transmitted over the 5GHz wireless band, using 20MHz of bandwidth and reaching distances up to 100 feet with the same quality as HDMI cable. Two of the chipsets ganged together send 1080p video wirelessly, using 40MHz of bandwidth. Amimon officials talked with Gizmodo about the cost of this technology and when we’ll be seeing it roll out to consumers. More »
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Logitech ClearChat Comfort and ClearChat Pro Headsets Scream Out “Sexy!”
6:00PM Wilson Rothman | I lied. Logitech’s newest ClearChat wired headsets are not the sexiest of accoutrements, though they may prove useful in a frantic booty-call situation. The ClearChat Comfort ($40) features plush padded earcups and in-line volume control, plus a noise-canceling microphone. The step-up ClearChat Pro ($50) has a few extra features. On the Pro, SoundSwitch lets you juggle different noisy apps (games, music, Skype) without going deaf, and its headset-based controls for muting and volume take the place of the inline slider. Either one you choose may be useful in making that successful call, but for your own sake please remember to take them off when she comes to the door. galleryPost('LogitechClearChatComfortClearChatPro', 4, 'Logitech ClearChat Comfort ClearChat Pro'); More »
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Monster Announces Cheaper “Speed-Rated” HDMI Cables
2:01PM Wilson Rothman | Monster Cable’s Noel Lee is about to play his next card: His move is to stratify his assorted cable offerings into five distinct categories, starting in the $30 range. Each category will be designated by a “speed rating,” and will deliver “demonstrable difference in high-def image quality.” But as many of you know, Gizmodo research has found that many cables determined too poor to carry 1080p signal in tests nevertheless do fine in real-world scenarios. The five categories are bewilderingly named as follows: Standard Speed – MC 500HD and U3 V500 HD High Speed – MC 700HD and U3 V600 HD Advanced High Speed – M650 HD, MC 800HD and U3 V850 HD Ultra High Speed – M850 HD, MC 1000HD and U3 V1000 HD Ultimate High Speed – M1000 HD My guess is that these cables will all be of decent to high quality across the board, and more importantly, I will bet that even the “Standard Speed” cables will deliver 1080p video over short distances (3 to 6 feet) and perhaps over longer ones (35 to 50 feet) without trouble. Why? Because Gizmodo has already discovered cheap cables that can do this with no problem, so Monster’s would have to be worse than the generics in order to prove the value of the high-end ones. This is my guess, let’s call it my “educated guess,” and I will be happy to test the theory out when Monster feels like sending over some test samples. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the press release: More »
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Planetarium-Tellurium Clock Tells Time, Position of Solar System
1:24PM Gizmodo US Edition | Looking like something Doc would own in Back to the Future, Richard Mille’s Planetarium-Tellurium clock is a beautifully intricate device, able to provide extremely accurate details about the workings of our Solar System. The clock provides not only the exact positions of the Earth, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon (who needs the other planets, anyway?) but the current axis of the Earth, its position relative to the Sun, the rotation of the Moon, and even the current signs of the Zodiac. Mille used a famed astronomer-physicist to help with the exact calculations, and the only data that’s a bit faulty is the current axis of the Earth — which can get off by plus or minus one degree every 7.7 years (just faulty, faulty craftsmanship.) No price or release info just yet, but we’re going to guess it’s going to cost somewhere between a flux capacitator and a human kidney. [WatchLuxus via Technobob] More »
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Vision 20/20 Website Puts Sex Offenders on Map
12:51PM Gizmodo US Edition | Want to make friends with sex offenders but aren’t quite sure where they live? Let Vision 20/20 help you. The free web-based program gives users the ability to find the location of any sex offenders living in their area — including the crimes and the intensely creepy mugshots for each. The program is easy to use — simply input your address, city and zip code, and a flashy map pops up with mustached, Village People-style markers showing you where your local neighborhood creep is. According to the Vision 20/20 website, there’s 650,000 registered sex offenders in the US and they’ve got them all placed neatly on a map for you. Try it — it’s fun for the whole vigilante-loving family. [Vision 20/20 via TechCrunch] More »
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