The USAF and Boeing will launch the X-37B–the first military orbital space plane if you discount the secret military shuttle–on top of an Atlas V rocket in November. They want to test its flying features in space and during atmospheric reentry. And probably its anti-matter rays and nuclear bays and hyperspace engines too (but of course, they are never going to tell you that). However, there seems to be a conflict with the civilian space program which may push one of the Moon exploration missions to 2009.
Meridian’s 810 projector boldly claims to be the Reference Video System, and after seeing it for myself I think that’s a fair assessment. The US$185,000 box (that’s right!) uses specially calibrated JVC D-ILA light engine panels to deliver a resolution of 4096 x 2400 pixels, or put simply, 10-freaking-megapixels. Compare that to 1080i’s one paltry MP of resolution, or 1080p full HD’s skimpy 2MP. So how does the 810 do its magic? With a very unique scaling engine.
Current gadget design tends to favour minimalism… but that’s simply not true for this Thermaltake V1 cooler. Ohoho no. The Thermaltake designer who came up with this must’ve been an artist in a former career. Just look at it: so detailed, organically-shaped and glittery it’s an artwork. And one you’d surely have to show off if you chose to mount it to your CPU. It’s got a 12v fan, operates between 1,300 and 2,000 and is around 12.7cm tall and 10.1cm wide and will cost you around US$60. [BBG via DVice]
Sanyo’s HD700 Xacti was the then smallest 720p camcorder in the world, and we liked it. Time’s moved on and Sanyo has a new Xacti, the HD800, and it’s apparently a great leap in video quality. The new cam has an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor, and shoots 720p video at 30fps in MPEG4 format. It’s also got “three-dimensional noise reduction” for improved image sharpness, can track up to 12 faces in the scene for optimum image settings, a 5x optical zoom and can shoot down to a minimum of 3 lux. The SDHC-recording cam comes this time in whacky 70s-esque colour schemes, and is available August 22nd in Japan at first, for around $460. Press release below.
Remember Dell’s DJ Ditty MP3 player? Probably not, since Dell shut its PMP shop a while back. But over at the Wall St Journal, there’s a rumour that Dell is planning on re-entering the PMP market with a new device that’s been under development and testing. The device, name unknown, has a screen and simple navigation controls and would “connect to online music services via a Wi-Fi internet connection.” This would tie in with a new online media service, allowing downloading of music and movies which could also be played on PC. Key in this is software developed by Zing (which Dell bought last year) which would come installed on PCs and PMPs, and manage the media movements. There’s mention of a potential fall launch, and costs for the PMP of less than US$100. [WSJ. Subscription warning.]
The N78 tears me in two. On the one hand, it does everything. It’s packed from the bottom of its shiny black chassis to the top of its gorgeous screen with features like HSDPA, FM Transmitter, GPS and a really solid 3.2 megapixel camera. It even looks the goods – the shiny black is as fingerprint-worthy as the iPhone in every sense.
But when it comes to actually came to using the N78 – well, in a nutshell I hated it. The controls felt more awkward than my high school formal – the three raised ridges that replaced the traditional numeric buttons were like pressing against the back of a knife, which may suit some people, but did nothing for me.
You know what I find most frustrating about the new iPhone? It’s not the battery life – Careful planning can help with that. It’s not the phone crashing, either – so far, I haven’t had a problem.
the biggest problem is that pretty much every accessory I own that docks an iPod doesn’t actually work with my new iPhone. My desktop iPod dock. My Harman Kardon iPod speaker. My Logitech portable iPod speaker. My Yamaha iPod dock connector for my Yamaha receiver. They all refuse to cooperate when I stick in the iPhone.
So for me, the announcement from Australian JBL distributor Conexus that they’re launching the On Stage IIIP for iPhone has me clamouring for one of my own. The original On Stage speaker was one of my favourite iPod speakers – it’s unique design and sound quality impressed me for such a compact unit. I expect no less from this model designed to work with iPhones as well as iPods.
The only downside is the price tag: $299 isn’t cheap for a small speaker this size. But considering it can run off the mains and battery power, has an IR remote and a USB 2.0 connection so it can connect directly to your PC or Mac for easy syncing, I may still drop the cash on this anyway.
[Conexus]
The Gadget: The Sidekick 2008, which follows up the Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide as a “main” unit (read: not low-end like the iD) in the Sidekick series. It’s got improved features like a 2.0-megapixel camera, 2.6-inch display (400×240), video recording/playback, stereo Bluetooth, custom “shells” and most importantly, a smaller body.
Sunday morning, Philippe Kahn of camera phone fame and Richard Clarke successfully finished their double handed record attempt of the Transpac Cup. The sleep deprived two man team survived squall after squall, cuts and bruises, waves the size of small buildings, exploding rigging, and fishing nets wrapped around their keels to arrive from SF to Honolulu in 7 days, 20 hours and 50 minutes. They not only beat the old double handed record by about a full day, but they were the fastest boat to cross the finish line, beating many longer, better crewed boats. [Pegasus, previously]
The 2.42 firmware release for PS3 is now out, and you can go grab it now. You might want to wait until tomorrow morning to install it, however, since we all remember what happened with the 2.40 update. We recommend waiting until other people have canaried the situation out for you. As a side note, we really wish Sony would put out changelogs with this thing to let everyone know what’s been added and fixed. Seriously, c’mon.
