Gadgets Device

Posted Feb 27th 2008 4:19PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: LaptopsSo at Sony’s Open House we were having lunch with Mike Abary, Sony’s US SVP of Information Technology Products Division, who oversees Vaio computers (among numerous other things). Of course, the inevitable question came up about the Eee PC’s success thus far, and what that means to computer companies on the higher end of the spectrum, like Sony. Mike’s response was a little surprising, but certainly sensible enough: if consumer expectations begins to weigh too heavily toward the $300 end of PCs, he believes that kind of consumer adoption would have a profoundly negative impact on the industry, referring to its effect as “a race to the bottom.”We know there are a lot of Eee fans in the house, but the man makes sense. (Read the full post about ‘Sony exec sees Eee-like PCs as having potentially negative impact on industry’…)

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Posted Feb 27th 2008 3:43PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: cellphonesWe don’t usually take much stock in proposed legislation — Schoolhouse Rock left out the part where lobbyists gut all the good bits — but we’re willing to root for the Wireless Consumer Protection and Community Broadband Empowerment Act, currently on the floor in the House and Senate. The bill, sponsored by Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, would require carriers to sell contract-free phones, provide rate plan information in a “clear, plain, and conspicuous manner,” disclose any phone subsidies hidden in the plan’s price, and offer price-comparable plans with no subsidy or early termination fee. (Read the full post about ‘Proposed law would require carriers to sell contract-free phones’…)

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Perhaps the European Commission feels that Microsoft’s song of interoperability is all talk. That’s why it did not hesitate to fine the software giant with a hefty 899 million Euros or $1.35 billion for failure to comply with its antitrust decision. Apparently, Microsoft had abused its dominant 95% market share in the EU market by using high prices to block software competition. There are also allegations that it tied its Windows Media Player and web browser Internet Explorer to Windows. In 2004, Microsoft had failed to comply with EU’s order to open up its key software to competitors. To date, this is the first and the biggest penalty for such violation. (Read the full post about ‘EU slaps Microsoft with $1.35 billion fine over antitrust case’…)

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iTurbo ipod Charger You can have this for ?19.99 Tags: video, wi-fi, PDA, computers (Read the full post about ‘iTurbo iPod Charger’…)

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Posted Feb 27th 2008 11:25AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Features, Gaming Dare we say it, the tide is turning. With some hot numbers projected for 2008, the PS3 is seeing a lot of wins lately, most notably that little format-war scuffle you may have heard about. Now that we’ve (finally) got wind of a release date for the DualShock 3, and an SKU that includes MGS4 sweetening the deal, the still-pricey PS3 is looking mighty alluring. So, what’s your story, what’s it going to take? What’s it going to take to make you buy a PS3?I already own one, so I guess I’m ahead of the curve. Suckers.The Blu-ray win settled it, just trying to clear space on a few credit cards.I’m going to need a couple more rounds of price cuts. (Read the full post about ‘Poll: What’s it going to take to make you buy a PS3?’…)

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Posted Feb 27th 2008 9:59AM by Richard LawlerFiled under: HDTV Engadget reader Raheem spotted this cheap shot on the door of Sony Centre in London, just in case anyone’s not sure of the latest developments in the high definition format war. Ouch, still, they may want to fax that over to Dreamworks Animation, cc: Jeffrey Katzenberg. Check after the break for another pic of the atrocity..Tags: digital, technology, tech, audio (Read the full post about ‘Sony Centre UK celebrates Blu-ray’s victory’…)

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In the fight for the living room, many companies are skipping the optical disc battle altogether and are instead focusing on downloading or streaming services. One of these companies is Matrixstream, which is based in San Mateo, and it offers instant live TV and video on demand streaming in 1080p over low bandwidth, through the PC and a new IP set-top box. Matrixstream offers services to large businesses, mostly in Europe so far, but there are two main ones for regular people to check out: The new Matrixstream MX-1 set-top box and their XMS PC HD service, which is best represented through the Joost-type player MyTVPal that has been around awhile. (Read the full post about ‘Matrixstream Set-Top Box Offers 1080p Video On Demand, Lacks Content’…)

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This week, Verizon is giving away one of these gorgeous pink blackberry Pearl 8130 smartphones to one of our email subscribers. If you’re not subscribed, sign up here. Read more about the pink Pearl. Take a peek at some of our past easy-on-the-eyes emails: Popgadget Drop: Giveaway - Belkin Rockstar ipod Hub Popgadget Drop: Giveaway - The Amazing Logitech Air Mouse Popgadget Drop: Zamzar file conversion now bigger and better Tags: equipment, technology, dap, Gadget (Read the full post about ‘BlackBerry Pearl 8130 smartphone - giveaway exclusively for email subscribers’…)

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Posted Feb 27th 2008 8:47AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Laptops We’d love to tell you that during AnandTech’s dissection of the “new” MacBook Pros they made a shocking discovery about the internals of the systems that brought into light significant changes and / or upgrades to the computers. We’d like nothing more then to say that it appears Apple has completely reworked the architecture of these machines to be harder, better, faster, and stronger. But honestly? They’re exactly the same as the old models, save for those little Penryns, and as a result, kind of boring. Don’t believe us? (Read the full post about ‘New MacBook Pros get dissected, look like old MacBook Pros’…)

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PC World reviews the HTC Touch and writes, “The Touch’s camera was a tad slow to snap photos–I noted a 4.5-second shutter lag per shot at the high-resolution (2-megapixel) quality setting–but I appreciated being able to change the camera settings (resolution, effects, and so on) via the touch screen. Call volume and sound quality on the Touch were adequate, though I (and the people I called) noticed slight background noise through both the earpiece and the speakerphone. In our lab tests the Touch’s talk-time battery life was a poor 5 hours.” Read more about the HTC Touch. (Read the full post about ‘HTC Touch Review - PC World’…)

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