Sunday, September 2, 2007

Hands-on with Venzero's entire vapor-less lineup

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We like to give Venzero a hard time about appearing completely sketch and vaporware-ish in most of its product announcements and subsequent delayed releases, but it turns out the company very much exists and very much is building and releasing the DAPs of which we speak. So very many DAPs. In fact, Venzero just released that WiFi-capable LINQ player we were talking about a week or so back, which is the company's main offering that really has much to unique or ergonomic to offer -- the SLICKR and the mini are a bit of a pain to use in the button department. Unfortunately, the LINQ doesn't support player-to-player sharing just yet, but the internet radio features and home media streaming are pretty extensive, and further functionality is planned for down the road -- along with some other nifty releases we can't mention just yet. Oh, and before you jump into that gallery, Venzero would like us to remind you that the player interfaces are soon going to be getting a significant upgrade in the sub-menu department, so hopefully the players won't look like shady also-rans for too much longer.

 

[via] Engadget

How to stop your PC going up in smoke

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Finding out the hard way how combustible PCs are is a painful experience, especially when it's your extremely overclocked -- and extremely expensive -- gaming PC. Gearlog has a slightly bitter how to for avoiding the mistake of one of their unfortunate writers. We'd add our own personal little tip for preventing a PC fire: don't tempt fate and get a PC with a flamin' custom paint job.

 

[via] Engadget

Hands-on with Sony's nav-u NV-U93T

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Sony's new 4.8-inch Bluetooth-capable NV-U93T isn't just about the exterior looks, we're really digging the interface: call us suckers for anti-aliasing. The unit's also reasonably thin, something most GPS manufacturers have seemed loathe to catch on to. We're not saying go out and buy seven of them or anything, it's just a nice little unit is all.

 

[via] Engadget

Hands-on with GamePark's GP2X F-200

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Confessions up front: we're pretty hot for any device that sports some sort of console emulator, so when faced with GamePark Holding's GP2X, which currently boasts of SNES, NES, Genesis, MAME and quite a few other gems, it's a little difficult to rein in the enthusiasm. That said, the new F-200 could use just a little bit of slimming -- you have to really mean it if you're going to carry this thing around instead of your PSP or DS. Otherwise we found the unit to be quite comfortable to hold and use, responsive enough in the OS department, and completely packed to the gills with features. Video playback is sluggish, but games loaded and performed quite well. We weren't able to test the F-200's new touchscreen, which is the only upgrade of the device over the existing F-100, but apparently it will be implemented as a mouse controller for developers to do whatever they want with the Linux device. And trust us, they will.

 

[via] Engadget

Clockwork model of the solar system is straight out of Myst

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We've seen some far-out personal astronomy devices, but this mechanical "planetarium" from Richard Mille is also one of the most intricate pieces of clockwork we've ever come across. The model, which took 10 years to develop, displays the time, date, signs of the zodiac, phases of the moon, and relative placement of the planets in the solar system, and runs for 15 days once its spring windings are fully tightened. No word on price, but since Mille handbuilt just one of these, we're guessing "not cheap" would be a strong first guess.

[Via Watch Luxus]

 

[via] Engadget

Hands-on with the TomTom GO 920

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If you've used a TomTom device recently, these photos will look shockingly familiar to you. Like a crime scene in a 1980's Charles Bronson flick, there's nothing to see here, folks. You're looking at the TomTom GO 920, sure, but there are pretty much no differences between this and the GO 720, save for a feature which the company refers to as "Enhanced Positioning Technology" (which uses an accelerometer to maintain your course, even out of satellite range). Regardless, we snapped some pics of the little dude, and we'd be hurt if you didn't at least take a peak.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

[via] Engadget

Fleethorse's Naturcar: sometimes one horsepower is all you need

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A carrot on a string is surely a hell of a lot cheaper than years of gas, but we're only getting behind Fleethorse's Naturcar, Naturtaxi, Naturvan, and Naturbus if they can tend to the unfortunate matter of not what goes into the horse, but what comes out.

 

[via] Engadget

Synology Cube Station CS407 does DIY NAS

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Don't fancy picking up a fully configured NAS with a bunch of off-the-shelf drives? Well then, Synology's Cube Station CS407 might be the NAS for you. Coming bare bones with four slots for SATA hard disk drives of your choice, the CS407 includes out of the box support for iTunes serving, a PhotoStation2 image hosting service, and PHP and MySQL support. It has a Gigabit Ethernet port, low power consumption, quiet operation, and came out OK in the performance tests that Hot Hardware carried out. The CS407 ain't perfect though, with its slightly dodgy build quality, standard rack mounts for Hard Drives, and slightly dear price tag of around $649.

 

[via] Engadget

Route 66 unveils MINI / MAXI navigators for Europe

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It's been a hot minute since we've seen anything noteworthy from Route 66, but the firm is using IFA as a launchpad for four new Euro-only navigators. The MINI * EUROPE, MINI * REGIONAL, MAXI * EUROPE, and MAXI * REGIONAL devices touts ultrathin designs, traffic / safety camera alerts, free map updates until 2008, and a built-in media player. The MINI comes with a 3.5-inch screen, while the MAXI packs a 4.3-inch widescreen display, and both units include an integrated TMC traffic receiver and the ability to support handsfree calling when paired up with the Wireless Car Kit accessory. Currently, no pricing information has been loosed, but all of the aforementioned systems should be widely available in Europe this October.

[Thanks, Gene S.]

 

[via] Engadget

Cowon unveils iAudio U5 DAP at IFA

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Those impressed with the looks of the iAudio 7 are likely to warm up just fine to the newest digital audio player from Cowon. Reportedly unveiled at IFA, the presumably flash-based U5 looks to be aimed at lower-end customers, and touts an ultrathin enclosure, 1.8-inch 160 x 129 resolution LCD, FM tuner / recorder, voice recorder, USB 2.0 connectivity, MP3 / WMA support, up to 20-hours of battery life, and built-in equalizer presets as well. Apparently, the U5 will land in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB flavors, but pricing and availability details have yet to be divulged.

[Via PlayerBites, image courtesy of CNET]

 

[via] Engadget

Hands-on with Fujitsu Siemens' new laptops and LCD

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IFA hasn't really been heavy on the computers from the bigger names, but Fujitsu Siemens thought it'd take a crack with its AMILO Xi 2428 and 2528 laptops. The two are certainly decent in the looks department, if nothing stellar, and shouldn't turn many heads for good or bad reasons in a crowded room of consumer laptops. We found the new SCALEOVIEW Q22W-1 display to be a bit distractingly shiny, but it does seem to match up nicely with Vista.

 

[via] Engadget

Sharp cranks out new XL2E and X20E AQUOS HDTVs

Not wanting to be outdone by all those other guys loosing LCDs at IFA, Sharp has stepped up and unveiled two new lineups of AQUOS sets in Berlin. The XL2E series, which includes models 42-, 46-, and 52-inches in size, will all offer up 100Hz technology, be Full HD ready, and will even support 24p. Moreover, the trio will tout a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, a built-in DVB-T tuner (and an analog one, too), VGA input, integrated speakers, and three HDMI connectors to boot. As for the X20E series, you'll find 32-, 37-, 42-, 46-, and 52-inch flavors, all of which support 1080p24, feature three HDCP-compliant HDMI ports, and "a slot for CI cards to receive pay TV." The new AQUOS members are slated to land in Europe sometime before the year's end, but pricing details look to still be up in the air.

[Via Pocket-Lint]

 

[via] Engadget

Toshiba announces HD-EP30 / HD-EP35 HD DVD players for Europe

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While there's certainly been quite a few new Blu-ray players to emerge from IFA, Toshiba is making sure the HD DVD faithful (at least those in Europe) aren't slighted by launching a new duo for that crowd. The standalone HD-EP30 and HD-EP35 players will both tout "REGZA-Link (HDMI, CEC-Link) connectivity and native 24 frames per second playback support," and moreover, the HD-EP35 also supports High Bit Rate Audio and Deep Color via HDMI. Additionally, both October-bound units play nice with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS HD formats, and while the lower-end iteration is set to launch between €349 ($477) and €399 ($545), the EP35 will demand between €449 ($613) and €499 ($682).

[Via TechDigest]

 

[via] Engadget

Version three of the Atlas rope ascender goes commercial

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We were impressed with Atlas Devices' Rope Ascender when we saw it earlier this year, but the company, run by 23-year-old Nathan Bell, has refined the original design and is ready to start marketing the third generation of the device. Hack A Day got to play with one and they found that the new version is not only easier to use and less damaging to the rope, but also lighter and more efficient. Atlas is initially pitching these at the military, but we can see these being huge hits with the high school gym class market.

 

[via] Engadget

Hands-on with the Navigon 2100 at IFA

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Engadget hit the GPS section of IFA in a major way today, scoring some serious face time with Navigon's new bargain-basement 2100 GPS. Our thoughts? For the price, this is a pretty tight little package. While the screen isn't quite as big as some of the competition, the interface and build quality put this in a class that you would think would break slightly more bank... but no. Check the gallery for a vast and varied selection of photos.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

[via] Engadget