Posted Mar 4th 2008 1:40PM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Misc. gadgets
As CeBIT continues to struggle with its enterprise vs. consumer identity, one thing remains constant: it’s always a freak show. Alligator girl knows it even as she schleps it. See what we mean after the break.
Posted Mar 4th 2008 3:38PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
If you were already curious as to where AMD would be using its newly announced 780 Series motherboard GPU, lookie here. During a CeBIT press event held today in Germany, AMD solidified details of its looming Puma mobile platform, which will be based on the outfit’s Griffin CPU and RS780M chipset. In order for laptops to sport the Puma branding, it must house a Griffin CPU (officially named Turion Ultra), RS780M chipset and a WiFi adapter. According to AMD, Puma-fied lappies will begin shipping at the close of Q2 2008 and will range from $699 to $2,500 (at least initially), but we’ve no idea which manufacturers will be on board.
Posted Mar 4th 2008 2:25PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Transportation
Tesla Motors sure has been doing a lot of explaining about its all-electric Tesla Roadster since it first announced it way back when, and it’s now aiming to clear up what it says is another common misconception about the car: that it’s a converted Lotus Elise. According to Tesla’s Darryl Siry, the total number of shared parts between the cars is actually “under 7%,” and that “if you were to try to convert an Elise to a Tesla and started throwing away parts that aren’t carried over what you would basically be left with a windshield, dashboard (complete with airbags!), front wishbones and a removable soft top.” He does admit, however, that the remaining pieces (particularly the dashboard and steering wheel) are so noticeable that they give drivers the impression of an Elise, as we’ve seen in some of the road tests of the vehicle. If you’re still not convinced, you can find Siry’s full, lengthy explanation at the read link below.
Following earlier rumors and reports about this mysterious metallic slider, Sony Ericsson has officially announced that it will be the T303, a low-end, quadband GSM/GPRS slider-style phone that’s best for that not as “tech friendly” person in your life. With features such as Bluetooth, FM radio and a 1.3-megapixel camera, this new metal and chrome finished slider won’t be something to phone home about. It’s best bet for trying to win the hearts of those in the mid-level market is its proficiency with basic phone features. But isn’t proficiency with the basics something all phones are supposed to have? Well, at least Sony Ericsson is on the right track.
The Sony Ericsson T303 is really a low-end phone, but still offers classic SE features such as TrackID, Speakerphone, USB Mass storage profile and USB connectivity. These features could easily make it the handset of choice for those who want a no-frills, just-gets-the-job-done kind of phone. Shimmering Silver and Shadow Black are the official available colors as of the initial release, although this might change depending on local availability.
One thing I don’t understand about this semi-great phone is why they offer USB connectivity as one of the phone’s features, considering the built-in memory is only a paltry 8MB. And no, it doesn’t offer any support for external memory cards. You think maybe they overlooked this teensy flaw? The T303 will be available in mid-2008.
Read [Sony Ericsson]
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Posted Mar 4th 2008 10:49AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Displays, Features
Hard to go wrong with a little bit of DisplayLink, and ASUS giving its VW223B the full USB treatment. The 1680 x 1050 display can accept a VGA plug, but the real magic happens over USB. You can plug up to six of these monitors into your PC and run them at full resolution, and the VW223B even includes a few USB plugs to help with the daisy-chain. The 5ms response time and 3000:1 sweeten the deal. No word on price or availability just yet, but we’re starting to get a serious DisplayPort hankering up in here.
Gallery: ASUS does DisplayLink with VW223B 22-inch LCD
We have already mentioned the USB Humping Dog, remember? This one is its little brother that is capable of exercising instead of humping.
As you can imagine, the USB Exercise Dog is just a gadget to fill the USB ports that you don’t use, and at the same time, provide a comic moment. The plastic-made-dog goes all the way to have the perfect abs, and that means non-stop exercise as long as it is plugged-in.
Don’t look at this USB dog as something useful, just appreciate it as entertainment - $15 and is yours.
Product Page
via
When Asus launched their Eee PC, they took the industry by storm. While the tiny notebook was too small to suitably replace most people’s laptops, the low price and portability made it tempting to people of all walks of life. Asus knows that they hit gold with the Eee PC, and will be announcing what can only be described as its big brother later today.
The new notebook which is rumored to be called the Eee PC 900 will feature a much larger 8.9-inch screen, which will look absolutely gargantuan next to the 7-inch screen of the original. The other rumors peg this new machine at having 1GB of RAM and up to 12GB of storage space. Of course the biggest question on everyone’s mind is price. We’ll have to wait until the official announcement later today for that info.
Source: CrunchGear
Electrolux has a brand new 36″ induction hybrid cooktop to decorate your home - and this time it features a couple of induction zones as well as three electric elements. This means you’ll benefit from precise temperature control with a peak power of 3.2 kW that boils water in just 90 seconds, while the 6″ induction cooking zone has maximum power of 1.5 kW. Other features include Power Assist function, Sabbath Mode and Hot Surface indicator lights - no idea what Sabbath Mode is, does it mean it will just shut down throughout the entire Sabbath to ensure that no work gets done? This 36″ hybrid cooktop will retail for $2,000.
Source: Appliancist
With quite a bit of excitement about the recent release of the Cloudbook, Everex has also released another low-cost notebook. The VA1500V, and while its not an ultra-portable it is still is very nicely priced at just $399. The VA1500V features a 15.4-inch display with a 1440 x 900 resolution, 512MB RAM, a 60GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, a DVD/CD-RW combo drive and weighs in at 5.3 pounds. Also included is a full range of ports to include an Ethernet jack, three USB ports, VGA out along with microphone and headphone jacks. One item that seems strangely left off is a card reader, which is found on the Cloudbook. With the VA1500V looking sort of like the big brother to the Cloudbook, it is also running the Linux-based gOS V2, but for $399 I am not sure what else you would expect. The VA1500V is currently available at online retailer NewEgg.
Product [NewEgg] Via [Laptoping]
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Nine Inch Nails has released their latest collection of music in a very web friendly format. Giving current fans and potential new fans a wide variety of choices to purchase the music in just about any way that you would like to get it. The new music is a 5 set collection that includes 36 tracks in total, and Trent Reznor is giving you options ranging from purchasing the whole collection as a fancy box set down to getting the first nine-tracks as DRM-free MP3’s for free.
The available options include:
The $10 option will be shipped as of April 8, 2008 and the $75 option will begin shipping as of May 1, 2008. Sadly the $300 Ultra-Deluxe package was limited to 2500 copies and has already sold-out.
It seems Trent Reznor and NIN are set to take over the music industry and release music the way the fans (and they) want. Whether you love or hate NIN you have to respect the decision to offer this collection this way, it just means that it will show other artists that this is possible and could hopefully lead to more bands and artists doing a similar release in the future.
Download or Purchase [Ghosts] Read [NIN.com]
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