Thursday, August 28, 2008
Home
Philips Cinema One Squeezes Home Theatre System into Tiny Round Box
11:59PM Kit Eaton | As mentioned in the liveblog, Philips has stumped up a new home theatre system that’s as small, and almost as round as, a soccer ball—for those of us bored of boring, standard rectangular entertainment gadgets. Though it’s tiny, it fits in an iPod dock, a five-channel amp, six speakers and a subwoofer built into the base. It must be pretty cramped inside, since it’s just 27cm across, and only 17cm high. The DVD player can cope with DivX, MPEG-4 and WMV, and upscales to 1080p over HDMI and the CD player can read MP3 discs, and it’s got USB-in. If that’s whetted your appetite, you’ll have to wait as there’s no info yet on timing or price. But the press release is below. More »
Online
Aircell Responds to In-Flight VoIPers: Just Don’t Do It
11:40PM John Mahoney | It’s a rule as old as time: tell a bunch of geeks they can’t do something, and they will find a way. Any way. Thus the Flash-based Phweet trick to get around Aircell and American Airlines’ ban on VoIP using their Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service. Now, Aircell has responded with a light wrist-slapping statement. More »
Computers
LG X110, A Netbook That’s Actually Ready for the Net
11:25PM Mark Wilson | While Wi-Fi is nice, what mini-notebooks need to reach their potential (and be more functional than the average smartphone) is 3G data. The LG X110 appears to be a pretty standard 8.9″ mini-note, but it’s packing HSDPA so you can browse [fill in crude meme of choice] almost anywhere. In addition to the wireless data, it’s got the 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and integrated webcam that we know so well, along with a 160GB hard drive. The LG X110 arrives in Europe this October for a pretty reasonable €399/US$589. [Register Hardware] More »
Gadgets
Live from Philips Press Conference at IFA
11:10PM Jesus Diaz | We are at the Philips press conference and it has started with… a Senseo coffee machine that can make latte macchiatos? Apparently, the new home appliances part of IFA is big. But there’s more, here comes their first TV, called Essence. More »
Screens
Sharp Aquos XS1 is Crazy Concept No More
11:05PM Mark Wilson | Sharp showed off an impressively anorexic concept display at IFA last year, and this year they’ve turned it into production reality. In 52- and 65-inch sizes, the Sharp XS1 LCD TV is a hair less than an inch thick (23mm 0r .9 inches) and displays 1080p, 100Hz (this is Europe) and a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. Slated for release in the UK this October, we still don’t know the price and/or whether or not chubby Americans will be allowed to be seen in the same room with such a svelte TV. More »
Phones
BlackBerry Storm Has Multiple Personalities: is BlackBerry Thunder
11:00PM Kit Eaton | So after much to-ing and fro-ing, it looks like BlackBerry Storms are BlackBerry Thunders (”…and violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I” as a schoolyard song used to go.) The same device will bear two names: Storm for Verizon, Thunder for others like Rogers and Vodafone. It seems like there’ll be an 8GB microSD card along with the phone, which has a 3.5mm headset jack, and pre-installed SIM card, though the box suggests there’s no Wi-Fi. [Engadgetmobile via BoyGeniusReport] More »
Screens
Sony Z4500 Motionflow 200Hz HDTV Gives Ultra-Smooth Video Action
10:47PM Jesus Diaz | Another First today has been the Sony Z4500 with 200Hz Motionflow technology, which uses a special processor to interpolate frames from the original source, delivering 200 frames per second for ultra-smooth, I-wanna-rub-my-butt-against-a-giant-english-pudding smooth video action. I saw the demo, right next to a normal 100Hz TV and the difference was extreme, even for a half-blind bat like me. More »
Home
Panasonic Drops Sleeker DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Decks
10:39PM John Mahoney | We just saw the DMP-BD50 a few months back, but now at IFA Panasonic has made official two new BD-Live 2.0-compatible players, the BD35 and BD55. The only discernible difference between the two, at the moment, is the BD55 supports analogue 7.1 channel audio output. On top of that, they both share a slimmed-down chassis (just 4.9 cm high for the BD35, 5.5 cm for the 55), Uniphier image processor just like in the BD50, SD-slots, all the audio formats you would expect, and of course Blu-ray profile 2.0. No pricing or availability for the US yet. Check out a full spec chart comparison after the jump. More »
Screens
Sony ZX1 9.9mm-Thick TV Gives Me a Large Hadron Collider Right in My Pants
10:00PM Jesus Diaz | I just had a hands-on and ears-on and pants-in with the Sony KDL-40ZX1, which I declare as the first official superdupercool product to come out at IFA 2008. The 9.9mm screen picture quality is really amazing, crisp, and ultra-light. The design, while it’s not OLED thin, is the best I’ve seen on any TV so far, sleek, simple, and absolutely lickable. The best thing, however, is that this is not a prototype but a real product. The lighting technology is smart and surprisingly effective. Updated with expected price. More »
Screens
