Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Peripherals
WD MyBook Mirror Edition: Nothing Says ‘Safe’ Like a Personal 2TB RAID Drive
11:54PM Wilson Rothman | WD just launched a drive that looks awfully familiar: Because the WD MyBook Mirror Edition houses two 3.5″ GreenPower drives—in this case either 500GB or 1TB each—it uses the same case as the networked MyBook World Edition. But this one is just for you, and you alone. The Mirror, which costs US$550 for 2TB version and US$290 for a single TB, has only a USB 2.0 jack on the back. It comes Windows-formatted (though there’s also one for Macs). As its name suggests, it comes RAID 1 (mirror) configured, but it can be set for striping instead, if that’s how your geek flag flies. [Western Digital] More »
Networks
Verizon Pumping FiOS Bandwidth to 50Mbps Down, 20Mbps Up Across Whole Footprint
11:33PM Matt Buchanan | Verizon FiOS’s blazingest 50Mbps downstream/20Mbps upstream package is no longer confined to the pit of the tri-state NY/NJ/CT area and select other locales. Starting next week, it’ll be available across Verizon’s entire, growing FiOS footprint in 16 states. (Though it’ll run US$139.95 a month to NY and VA’s bargain US$89.95/month.) Also, everyone who got 15/15 Mbps now has the option for 20/20 symmetrical (US$64.95 a month), and its lower end packages are getting juiced from 15/2 Mbps to 20/5 Mbps, and from 5/2 Mbps to 10/2 Mbps (uh, why do you people have FiOS?). Overall, a nice day to be a FiOS customer, even more so than before. *Kicks stupid cable modem* [Verizon] More »
Screens
Optoma To Launch ‘World’s First’ Pico Projector in 2008
11:08PM Benny Goldman | Optoma is winning the race to build the world’s first pico-projector, the near-mythical mini projector that can throw up a display much larger than the source device’s—think iPods, digital cameras and smartphones—screen. Optoma’s pico will use the DLP chipset, support composite video quality and run on Li-ion batteries. The projector will make it to market later this year in Europe and Asia, before coming stateside in 2009. No word on pricing. [Optoma] More »
Music
Philips’ SA2840 GoGear PMP is Shuffle-esque, Squeezes in a Screen
10:28PM Gizmodo US Edition | Laughing in the face of the clip-on Coolman MP3 player and almost widdling in the trousers of the iPod shuffle itself is Philips’ new GoGear SA2840 PMP. It’s petite, clip-on and comes with a 4-line screen. Yup, even though it’s just 4 cms square and 1.5 cms deep its got a 128 x 64 pixel OLED and 4GB of memory. There’s also voice recording, a sound-enhancing FullSound system and it sells for around US$80. There’s the SA2825 as well, with just 2GB but an FM radio function, and this’ll set you back about US$45. [Philips via BBGadgets] More »
Screens
LP-XP200L from Sanyo is World’s First Four-LCD Optical Engine Projector
9:50PM Gizmodo US Edition | With its four LCDs, the LP-XP200L is bigger, brighter and more colorful, claims maker Sanyo. With brightness of 7,000 lumens, a Colour Control Device to perk up colours, as well as a built-in Active Maintenance Filter system, the projector will be on sale in Japan from September 24, for a mahoosive US$17,500, but curious buggers can see it at InfoComm 2008 in Las Vegas, which is scheduled for June 18 to 20. Specs are below. More »
Phones
iPhone 3G Could Cost Just US$100 to Make, Say Analysts
9:29PM Gizmodo US Edition | Soon after the iPhone Mark 1 launch last year, we brought you an estimate of its manufacturing cost, and now the same analysts have looked at the iPhone 3G. Portelligent thinks that this time Apple may pay as little as $100 for the components, down from $220 for the original. The saving’s made in engineering advances and Apple’s buying power: the extra 8GB in the 16GB version may cost as little as $20, but you’ll pay $100 for it. “But we’re only paying $199 for the phone, so Apple make less!” you may point out. True, but Apple may be charging AT&T as much as $400 for each unit. And with 70 countries eager to buy iPhones, the analysis suggests it might be Apple’s most profitable device yet. [EETimes via Yankeegroup via Fortune] More »
Gadgets
Clara Kettle from Bodum Clearly Best Boiler Evah
9:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | Tea Drinkers of the Giz unite! And get me a Bodum Clara kettle for my birthday next month, please (I share it with Ringo Starr, useless-fact fans). Made of borosilicate glass, which keeps the water smell-, taste- and taint-free, it weighs less than 500 grams and holds 1.75 litres of water. The Clara has got a blue stopper on the spout which makes it whistle like a horny construction worker, and it can be used on electric and gas stoves, as well as ceramic hobs. You can even put it in the microwave if you remove the lid and whistle, but what is the point of that? Microwaves and tea bags/tea leaves should not even be in the same sentence, let alone the same process. Bodum’s beautiful kettle costs US$60. [Bodum online shop via Cool Hunting] More »
Online
Pool Crashing in the UK Becomes Latest Google Earth Prank
8:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | The latest craze for teenagers with no place to go except Facebook is “dipping,” or gatecrashing someone else’s swimming pool. According to the Daily Mail (commenter djheath’s favourite publication, if I recall correctly) putative trespassers select their swimming pool using Google Earth, and then notify their mates using social networking sites. The would-be revellers often turn up in fancy dress, and are advised to bring a bike (for a swift getaway). Owners only discover their pool has been dipped when they find a bunch of beer cans floating on the surface the next morning. [Daily Mail] More »
Computers
First Recording of Computer Music Found. Verdict: Catchy, But You Can’t Dance to It
8:21PM Gizmodo US Edition | A recent dig around in the BBC’s archives has resulted in an unexpected find: recordings made in 1951 of a Ferranti Mark 1 computer playing tunes. Predating what was thought previously to be the first (on a Bell Labs IBM mainframe in 1957) the tapes were made during a recording of Children’s Hour in Manchester University. The Ferranti was the first commercially available general purpose computer, and can be heard beeping through God Save the King, Baa Baa Black Sheep and In the Mood… slowly, and a bit scratchily since the recordings are 57 years old. Interestingly, the software was written by a chap called Christopher Strachey, a friend of Alan Turing. Click on to the BBC link to hear this bit of History in action, and marvel how far we’ve come since. [BBC via The Inquirer] More »
Software
