Gadgets Device

AMD gave the official nod today to its mid- and low-range Radeon HD 3000-series video cards, which will be available imminently at rock-bottom prices. The 3400, at $49 for the passively-cooled 3450 or $65 for the meatier 3470, aims to be a no-brainer plug-in for people who own cheap PCs with grim integrated video, but who want 1080p HD video: at that price, it’s about the same price as a couple of next-gen movies. It’s low-profile for lovers of old-school desktop form factors and has the newfangled displayport. It has a 64-bit memory interface, runs at 800/950Mhz, and has 256MB of RAM.  The 3450 model is passively-cooled, but clocked lower. (Read the full post about ‘AMD Radeon 3400 and 3600 Fire Up Ultra-Cheap HD Video, Gaming’…)

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When your company earnings nose dive 84% in the fourth quarter and you issue a warning that the recovery will take longer than expected, It is not all that surprising that the reaction on Wall Street will be swift and brutal. To put that into perspective, Motorola’s net income amounted to 4 cents per share, which was down from $623 million, or 25 cents per share a year earlier. Sales also fell from $11.79 billion to $9.65 billion. If that wasn’t enough, Motorola’s global market share is down 13 percent from 23 percent at the end of 2006—and it hasn’t bottomed out yet. As mentioned back in October, the most serious losses have come from their handset division. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola Stock Plummets On Huge 4Q Loss [Money, Money]’…)

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Gizmondo, the portable game console designed to appeal to investors rather than gamers, is back. Or it will be in the bizarre fantasy world of whoever is behind this website, based on a $66 flash template, claiming the $400 slab is coming for another attack run. This act of brand necrophilia coincides with the release from jail of Stefan Ericksson, who was behind the whole thing in the first place. The makers burned through millions pitching the GPS-equipped, kid-tracking Gizmondo, now held to be a kind of VC shakedown scam rather than a viable product. Once more around the block, Stefan? Don’t take the Ferrari. Gizmodo, the blog whose name was stolen to market this worthless piece of junk in the first place (Read the full post about ‘Gizmondo Not Rising From Its Grave’…)

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Posted Jan 23rd 2008 12:05PM by Ben DrawbaughFiled under: HDTV, Home Entertainment While we’ve become accustomed to Blu-ray players being released every six months, it’s a little ridiculous when we’re forced to wait for a new player longer than it’s on the market. Eventually we expect the cycle to slow down — like when BD Live players are out for example — and many believed that the Samsung BD-UP5000 could be one of those players based on promises when announced. Once you have an Ethernet port for internet content, REON video processing, internal decoding and bitstream support for every codec, discrete analog output, as well as HDMI 1.3, what else could possibly warrant a mid year revamp? (Read the full post about ‘The Samsung BD-UP5000 to be discontinued in May’…)

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Sony’s W series cameras are their midline point and shoots in feature and size. Best feature: Like the T300, it has a smile shutter mode which snaps the show when the subject grins. The W170 has a 10.1mp rating with 28-140mm 5x Carl Zeiss lens. They’ll come in lots of colors, with a few minor variations between each model. The W150 has an 8.1MP rating and a 30-150mm lens. Both have a 2.7-inch screen. The W120 has a 4x optical zoom (no Zeiss), 7.2MPs, and a 2.5-inch screen. Each have ISOs of 3200, and steady shot. They’re available in a few colors, too. Respectively, they are priced at $300, $230, and $200. The W170/150 have iSCN tech for automatically switching between scene modes. (Read the full post about ‘Sony DSC-W170, DSC-W150, DSC-W120: Regular Point and Shoots [Product Spam]’…)

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This range of USB flash drives does not come in the form of sushi, but the different animal forms are appealing as well in a strange sort of way. Available in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB versions, they’re somewhat like the USB Sushi flash drives, so expect to fork out a premium for it. In a more precise manner of speaking, the 1GB, 2GB and 4GB models retail for 275 Euros, 375 Euros and 475 Euros respectively. I would like to see humping versions to keep the USB Humping Dog company. Hanging out on a USB port all by yourself can get pretty lonely, you know. (Read the full post about ‘Funny USB Flash Drives’…)

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The International Trade Commission has agreed to investigate a complaint of patent infringement made against Sharp Corp. Samsung claims that Sharp has infringed on 4 different patents for LCDs. Samsung is attempting to block imports of products using Sharp LCDs. These products include HDTV’s and the Motorola RAZR2. The companies are suing each other in various federal courts and in Seoul, South Korea. A decision is not expected to come for about 15 months. Read [Bloomberg] Tags: AAC, tech, Ogg Vorbis, digital (Read the full post about ‘ITC agrees to investigate patent infringement complaint against Sharp’…)

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Move over Optimash Prime and Darth Tater, because here comes Indiana Jones in Mr. Potato Head form factor: the Tater of the Lost Ark, complete with whip, fedora, leather jacket, gold idol and Harrison Fords’ Very Own Cheeky Smirk™. It will be announced next month, at the Toy Fair 2008 in New York. [Star Wars Blog] Tags: DAB, gadgets, gaming, consumer technology (Read the full post about ‘Lucas Whores Out Indy into Tater of the Lost Ark and We Love It [Toys]’…)

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Check out the Jook from China - this little device that could is capable of streaming songs among different portable media players, doing away with battle lines drawn up by the iPod, Zune and others. Once the Jook is connected to your PMP, it allows you to broadcast your music to other Jook-equipped devices that are within range. This social networking tool even allows users to create personal profiles which can be shared with other listeners. This is one idea that would take off, only if the adoption rate goes up - way up. I suspect one of the reasons why Zune’s music sharing capability did not capture the imagination of everyone - nobody knows anybody else with a Zune to begin with. . (Read the full post about ‘Jook From China Streams Songs’…)

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iPhone and iPod Touch owners who love retro videogames, rejoice! There is now a SNES emulator in the works for both Cupertino devices, although it is still in beta and not freely available for everyone. Folks who are interested in getting first dibs can always join the forums and drop some coin as a donation to get a free copy. I think the final version definitely warrants some sort of thank you note in the form of money to show the developer your appreciation. Soon touching will be done in a new way, and not on a Nintendo DS. Tags: dvr, laptops, home cinema, mobiles (Read the full post about ‘SNES Emulator On iPhone’…)

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