Gadget Access

Some of you might remember the 7 inch LCD Wii Screen that I reported on yesterday, so I felt it only just to report on an LCD screen for the PS3. I have to tell you, these two products are so alike, that someone probably got sued.

Both of these screens are similar in the way they can conveniently attach to your console and play your favorite games. The screens are exactly the same size at seven inches, but it appears this PS3 screen is concave in contrast to the flatscreen for the Wii.

The Wii Screen can plug into a cigarette lighter or wall outlet, but the PS3 screen is plug-in only. I suppose that makes the PS3 screen not as portable as it should be, but hey, portable technology for video game consoles is relatively new. I suppose you could get yourself a PSP if you really want portable playstation gaming.

Despite its lack of portable power, you have to admire the tiny speakers on the PS3 screen, something that the Wii Screen doesn’t appear to have.

You can purchase the PS3 Clearvision 7 inch LCD Screen at Shenzhen Madcow, but I found the site is slightly dysfunctional. Right now, I can’t even get a price for it. Maybe I should look into a portable screen for the Xbox 360 next.

Source

Another phone coming with details courtesy of the FCC. This time is comes with a little more detail and some good news for HTC fans here in the US. According to the FCC website the handset is called the HTC NEON300, but it appears to be the HTC Touch Dual with a slide out (from the bottom) 20-key QWERTY keyboard.

This handset has also come with not only a few good images, but also some details as well. The HTC NEON300 will feature 2.6-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth 2.0, a microSD card slot with 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM. The NEON300 is powered by a 400Mhz processor running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The really good news is that the NEON300 will offer support for US 3G coverage on the 850/1900Mhz bands.

Typical with FCC information, we are still unsure of a release date, pricing or just which carrier the NEON300 will be headed to.

Via [IntoMobile]

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GPS navigation systems hasn’t exactly fallen to affordable levels to date, which is where Navigon sees an opportunity, releasing the Navigon 2100 max and Navigon 2120 max personal navigation devices (PNDs) in the US as well as the Great White North. In short, Navigon hopes to market these two devices as the sweet spot of GPS systems, offering top-of-the-line features without breaking the bank. Among the features include NAVIGON’s new DirectHelp which pinpoints a user’s location and provides instant links to nearby services such as hospitals, pharmacies and roadside assistance. More common features can be found after the jump.

• DirectHelp: provides instant access to directions and phone numbers of emergency services at the touch of a button. Finds the nearest hospital, police station, tow truck company or pharmacy, and indicates your exact location to help these services locate you.
• Reality View: exclusive and available only on NAVIGON devices, Reality View provides 3D, photo-realistic virtual reality views of complex interchanges, complete with road geometry and actual road sign text.
• Text-to-Speech: provides specific, clearly spoken driving directions and actual street names in a variety of languages.
• Lane Assistant: offers simple to view lane guidance to assist drivers in making the correct upcoming maneuver.
• Automatic Speed Warnings: indicates posted speed limit and notifies driver with visual and verbal warnings when speeding.
• Route Planning: allows users to plot a route with multiple waypoints - a feature found only on high-priced competitor devices.

Each purchase of the NAVIGON 2100 max will come with maps of the continental US, while the NAVIGON 2120 max will also throw in maps of Canada in addition to the US map. The former will retail for US$299 while the latter will set you back by CAD$329. What’s the price point where you won’t mind picking up a GPS device?

Press Release

Strap this wristband on and pretend to be the rock and roll god that only you see yourself as being as you virtually play the Air-Musician Virtual Guitar. Once you’re strapped in you only need to push a button to select a song then you strum away.

Every time you move your wrist you automatically play the next chord in the song. With a bit of rhythm you’ll be playing so well your friends will think you took a crash course with Steven Tyler and bought yourself an invisible guitar.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $19.99

Posted in Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day

While I’ve managed to finally rid my entire house of CRT monitors (with as many monitors as I have, it seemed like quite an accomplishment when I did) I still haven’t upgraded to a flat-screen TV. I’m hoping to pick up a nice LCD TV in the next few months, however, even it would look gargantuan when compared to this latest OLED display from Sony.

This screen is by far the thinnest ever created, measuring in at just 0.3mm thick. It’s really hard to comprehend a number that small, so here’s an exercise for you. Go to your printer and grab three sheets of paper. Now stack them on top of each other and hold them up, that’s roughly the same thickness as this display. Crazy, no?

What’s really amazing is that Sony was being praised last year for unveiling the thinnest display, which measured in at 3mm thick. That’s a lot of fat trimming in just a year’s time. Unfortunately we can’t expect to see these on the market for at least another 2-3 years.

Source: Boy Genius

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 17th 2008 at 11:02AMOh Lee Kun-hee — if you keep this up, you’re going to make the Enron CEOs look like choir boys. The latest episode in the unending shame-game that is Samsung’s corporate improprieties comes in the form of a an actual indictment against the electronic-maker’s top man… for fraud. According to a report out of Australia, prosecutors in Korea have formally charged Kun-hee (who has admitted guilt anyhow), but say they won’t arrest him because it would cause “enormous disruption” in the company’s operations. Authorities said instead they plan to send him to a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to a luxurious spa, and hope that a deep tissue rub will rid him of his lawbreaking ways.

[Thanks, Hussain]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Chris Ziegler, posted Apr 17th 2008 at 11:17AM
Okay, so we know of at least two HTC devices codenamed “Neon” that the friendly bureaucrats up in the FCC have been forced to go through with a fine-tooth comb. Now we have a third — the descriptively-named NEON300 — and this might be the money version. As we’ve pointed out before, the Neon series appears to represent a line of Touches with different guts for different carriers and locales, and the NEON300 possesses something that’s music to the ears of the yanks in the audience: HSDPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands. Along with the recently-announced US Touch Dual, this should be quite a gem in, say, AT&T’s lineup — and with Sprint and Verizon both rocking the same device, can they really afford to turn the other cheek?

Update: Pictures of the unit being poked and prodded can be found deep within the test documentation, and sadly, it turns out this is nothing more than the US Touch Dual after all. But come on HTC, seriously, you know you want to make a straight-up Touch with North American HSDPA, too. Thanks, uofmrapper1!

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

The FCC was kind enough to show off another mobile phone today, this time it was the Pantech UTStarcom TXT8010, which just happens to be going by the code name of Elvis.

Elvis will be a dual band (850/1900Mhz) CDMA handset with a slide out (from the bottom) QWERTY keyboard. Other features are expected to include Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel camera and a microSD slot. Based on the image from the FCC, Elvis appears to be very short and wide, but a slightly wider phone may make for a slightly better keyboard. As usual with details found courtesy of the FCC website, there has not been any mention of a release date, pricing or carrier that will pick it up. Keep reading for more one pic of Elvis…

Read [FCC] Via [IntoMobile]

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Everybody seems to be making their own kind of blogging platform, although most of these are really based on old principles. And sometimes even existing blogging software. Such is the case with the new online service, BayWords.com, launched by the same guys who are responsible for The Pirate Bay, and enabled freeloaders to have a virtual home on the Internet.

And now, they’re all set to set you free through your words, with an uncensored blogging service that’s really just a Wordpress-powered blog deep inside. But it’s the thought that counts, they say, and with BayWords, there will be no limit to what thoughts you can publish. From the most recent blog post on their own BayWords blog, Brokep had this to say: “Many blogs are being shut down for uncomfortable thoughts and ideas. We will not do that. Our goal is to protect freedom of speech and your thoughts. As long as you don’t break any Swedish laws in your blog, we will defend it.”.

Could this be the end of censored blogs and limit in the freedom of speech on the Internet? Will this pave the way for a new generation of fearless bloggers who are inspired to write about the truth like no other, carefully taking the principles of true pirates to heart, who take everything, and I mean everything, sparing no prisoners just to do what they think is good? It’s possible. Especially taking into account the huge user-base of The Pirate Bay, who I believe are all very eager to have their own say about piracy cum freedom on the Web. BayWords.com will have basically the same features as the old version of WP, personalized of course with their own logo and styles. This new feature could be a hit, I think. They’re displaying ads on their pages? Ok, I take that back.

Via [Torrent Freak]

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Microsoft announced that its acquisition of Danger has been finalized. Although the current employees of Danger will continue to work in their current offices, Danger will be integrated into the newly formed Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) Team of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business unit. Roz Ho, corporate vice-president of Danger said that joining Microsoft’s PMX Team will enable Danger to continue delivering cool, new and fun mobile experiences to its costumers. Let’s just hope that statement proves to be true, otherwise we are going to see lots of angry Danger fans. Other details of the terms and conditions for the acquisition have not been disclosed by either of the two companies, it was however previously speculated that Microsoft paid $500 million.

Read [PR Newswire]

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