Tech News and Reviews
Archive for March, 2010
GigaPan Epic Pro robotic camera mount shipping in April
0795 days
by Raymond.J
in Digital Cameras
We found GigaPan’s Epic 100 robotic camera mount to be an impressive if not entirely practical solution when we got our hands on it back in May of last year, but it’s unfortunately of little use with a full-size DSLR. GigaPan is set to fill that gap with its new Epic Pro model, which it’s just announced will be available in April. This model will accommodate DSLR and lens combinations up to ten pounds, and give you a 7.2V, 4300mAH rechargeable battery (as opposed to the AAs used in the smaller models), along with a few new features like a multiple triggering option to take multiple shots at each image position. Of course, the Pro model also comes with a pro-minded price — $895, to be specific.
Entourage Edge review
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Is it an Android tablet? An e-reader? Just a sweet gadget with two screens? Truth is the Entourage Edge is a little bit of everything, and that’s exactly why we’ve been so intrigued with the “dualbook” since we fondled it at CES. Finally ready to make its shipping debut, the $499 dual screen device is aimed at students, but really it’s for anyone interested in a combination 9.7-inch E Ink reading / note-taking experience and a 10.1-inch Android web tablet. It’s sounded very cool to us for quite a while, but there’s always a difference between hype and reality. Does the Edge live up to its promise or attempt to do too much? The only place to find out is after the break in our full review.
How would you change Nokia’s N900?
0795 days
by Raymond.J
in Cellphones
Maemo 5 didn’t stand on its own for long before being mashed together with Intel’s Moblin, but Nokia’s N900 still stands as one of the best handhelds for web browsing. It’s hardly the world-beater that Nokia (may have) hoped it to be, but that’s not because the internals aren’t impressive. We’re guessing that only a handful of you made the effort to fork over wads of cash in order to pick an unlocked version up, but if you did, you no doubt have some opinions post-purchase. Is the display living up to your expectations? Are you and Maemo getting along alright? How’s that keyboard? We’re eager to know how you’d tweak the N900 if you had the keys to the design kingdom, and with MeeGo already being announced, we’re forbidding you from suggesting the obvious. Or you can, but we’ll be plugging our ears, closing our eyes and humming annoyingly.
Dead iPad battery? Never mind replacing it, Apple just sends another iPad for $99
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Whoa, Nelly! Isn’t this something? Apple has just posted details on its iPad battery replacement service, which is really not a battery replacement service at all. Check out the company’s opening line:
“If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee.”
Now, let’s compare that to the verbiage found in the iPhone’s battery replacement program details:
“If your iPhone requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will service your iPhone for a service fee.”
Dell introduces $339 G2410H 24-inch 1080p LCD monitor, we go hands-on
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Just over a year ago, Dell pushed out its latest and greatest 24-incher, the energy-sipping G2410. Today, the Round Rock powerhouse has introduced that very unit’s successor (complete with a height adjustable stand), the G2410H. Still sized at 24-inches, this 1080p LCD monitor sports a variety of eco-modes, 5 millisecond response time, 160-degree (horizontal) / 170-degree (vertical) viewing angles, a native 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, ambient light sensor, 250 nits of brightness, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and DVI / VGA inputs. We’ve had one in-house for around a week now, and for $339, it’s not a bad replacement to that 21-inch CRT that’s still weighing heavily on your desk. It’s not as sharp and brilliant as the (admittedly more expensive) UltraSharp U2711, but it was certainly clear enough for the average home user. It’s shipping now if you just can’t resist.
World’s first diamond iPad tries to deliver that magical experience
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Get ready for some buyer’s remorse if you’re one of the thousands who pre-ordered an iPad last Friday: your soon-to-be new toy already pales in comparison to the $19,999 diamond-coated iPad from Mervis Diamond Importers. What you have here is a stock unit of undisclosed specifications that’s been coated with 11.43 carats of G/H color diamonds rated VS2/SI1 for clarity — not exactly top-shelf stuff but chances are you’ll be so transfixed with the amazingly beautiful user experience you won’t notice the flaws. This poor iPad is just the latest in a long line of ridiculously expensive gadgets made more luxurious (many of an Apple persuasion) and is every bit as tasteless as the rest.
Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year
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Before the iPad and before the Slate, the most exciting touchy tablety thing in our lives was Toshiba’s JournE multimedia tablet. Now that the Japanese compu-maker has seen what the competition has on offer, it’s proudly proclaimed itself back in the running with an entire family of slate devices it’s planning to introduce near the end of 2010 or in early 2011. “It has proved to be a mistake to underestimate these new categories” is the word from Toshiba’s Jeff Barney, which indicates that not even he sees that much potential in the form factor, but his company is pushing ahead with its plans for fear of being left behind. Also quoted in the Fortune piece is ASUS’ inimitable Jonney Shih, who makes sure to remind us that without multitasking, Flash support, or a webcam for videoconferencing, the iPad leaves plenty of room for devices richer in features to grab market share. All we know for certain is that the major players are falling in line to make 2010 truly the year of tablet — whether or not consumers will place their stamp of approval on this vendor-driven craze, though, remains to be seen.
ASUS Cine5 is ‘world’s most compact’ five-channel speaker, doesn’t forget the blue LEDs
0799 days
by Raymond.J
in Peripherals
Seriously, who told manufacturers that we’re in love with garish LED status lights?ASUS has strapped a glowing orb of unnecessariness around the volume knob of the Cine5 — an otherwise perfectly acceptable and appreciably diminutive PC soundbar. With an array of speaker drivers integrated into that curvy body, ASUS claims the Cine5 produces realistic multidirectional surround sound, but does admit it’s mostly intended for smaller spaces such as study rooms. The announcement also includes a nod to FPS gamers, with claims that the improved positional audio on offer will benefit both gameplay immersion and accuracy when identifying a sound source, though we reckon the biggest boon will still be the elimination of the extra cables and speakers one usually needs to get one’s surround sound on. Price and availability have not yet been made public, but knowing ASUS both should be in the reasonable range of the market.
PlayStation Move: everything you ever wanted to know
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Sony dropped a lot of knowledge on us yesterday, at long last replacing rampant speculation with some cold hard facts — and even a name! — for its new PlayStation motion controller. The PlayStation Move is being described as a “platform” and a “virtual console launch” by folks at Sony, and we think they mean it, so prepare for a motion-controlled ad war later this year, as Microsoft and Sony set themselves up for a real three-way fight with Nintendo for your physical living room activity of the gaming variety. While some of the high-level Wii-like functionalities might be obvious, follow us after the break as we walk through the nitty gritty of everything we know so far about Move.
JooJoo hits the FCC, reveals NVIDIA Ion, 3G card
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Well well. We’d always suspected that the JooJoo tablet was hiding something extra to run HD video and Flash, and it’s just hit the FCC with full documentation and a teardown confirming that there’s an NVIDIA Ion GPU paired with an Atom N270 packed inside. We’re also seeing a 3G card in there, although it’s unclear whether it’ll be active or installed at launch — we’ve been told the 3G version won’t be ready until sometime later this year, but things have been changing fast, so that may be in flux as well. There’s also a picture showing it running Windows, but we’re assuming that’s just for testing purposes — we’d also bet it’d be an easy little hack. But back to Ion for a second: our experience with first-gen Ion netbooks has been one of decreased performance and drastically reduced battery life, so we’re very curious to see how the JooJoo holds up compared to modern netbooks running Intel’s Pine Trail chips and NVIDIA’s Optimus-based Ion 2. We’ll see — it’s supposed to ship in just a few weeks. Two more pics after the break.
P.S.- Oh, and Fusion Garage got back to us yesterday with a list of supported local video formats, and it’s pretty decent: AVI, MPEG-4, MOV, WMV and WMA, FLV (Flash Video), VOB, OGG, OGM and OGV, MKV (Mastroska), DiVX and XViD. We’ll see how the battery holds up, though — our very own Joanna Stern predicts a best case of 3.5 hours with WiFi on and a video playback time of two hours.