I’m surprised that someone hasn’t already covered this particular gadget yet, because it is definitely one of the coolest gadgets that I have seen in quite a while. We have covered stories on Microsoft’s Surface, a touchscreen mounted on a coffee table frame. The Sphere is the next step up from the flat display, as the user interacts with something round, for a change. The Sphere is prepared for the next generation of 3-D interactivity and viewing. It is the perfect viewer for watching footage from cameras with a 360-degree view. The user can then “spin” it to view it from any angle. The user can also “spin” the globe function, just as they could a real globe. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft Sphere Proves the Computer World is Round’…)
NVIDIA has just taken a huge charge of up to US$200 million for dealing with a problem regarding faulty die/packaging used in some of its GPUs. We are now seeing the fallout from manufacturers who are suffering with those faulty graphics chips and Dell seems to have been hit hard.
A posting on the Direct2Dell blog has acknowledged that some of the company’s laptops contain these GPUs.
(Read the full post about ‘Ten Dell laptops suffer NVIDIA GPU problems’…)
Dell has let slip a new lcd monitor in the form of the 24″ S2409W, switching from the 16:10 aspect ratio to a wider 16:9. While this results in a lower resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, it makes it perfect for folks who want to catch movies on the Blu-ray format using their PC (which is obviously equipped with a Blu-ray drive). An HDMI input also makes this a mouth watering proposition to hook up your Xbox 360 or PS3 directly, letting you enjoy High Definition graphics without forking out the dough for a new TV. Other features include DVI and VGA connectivity, a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 and a 5ms response time. The Dell S2409W will retail for an extremely affordable $379. (Read the full post about ‘Dell S2409W LCD Monitor’…)
We’ve covered VIA’s Nano processor a few times already, but so far we have had nothing but big claims from VIA and some information about the processor architecture. Today is the first time that the Nano processor (formerly known as Isaiah) as put head-to-head against it’s main rival, Intel’s recently released Atom.
HotHardware summed up their testing nicely:
It’s clear from our limited testing of the VIA Nano that the company has a strong product at the ready.
(Read the full post about ‘VIA’s Nano finally faces off against Atom’…)
Palm is back? Perhaps. Today, Palm announced they sold their two millionth Centro smartphone. The $99 beauty is showing the world maybe Palm was just charging too much to gain some lasting market traction…perhaps that is too harsh.
Indeed, Palm seems to have a hit on its hands: Admob Mobile Metrics shows the Centro making the list of phones accessing the mobile internet (#7 for June). Palm is psyched to be on the list:
“Consumers are ready to do more on their mobile phone, and Centro has struck a chord around the world,” said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc.
(Read the full post about ‘2 million Centro owners can’t be wrong about Palm’…)
Cafetière (or, as you might say, French Press) meets Victorian deep-sea diver’s helmet in the Freud coffee plunger. Switch the stainless steel for brass and you’d have the ultimate steampunk coffee-pot (there’s also one for tea). One vendor site shows the dearth of imagination present in gift marketing departments. While this should obviously be bought for you favorite top-hatted tinkerer, Fabstuff suggests that it is: A perfect gift for a 4th wedding anniversary, as silverware is the traditional gift of this event! At least they added an exclamation mark to make it sound more exciting! The Freud gets its name from the café which designed it: Frevd in London’s Neal Yard (no, that’s not a mistake. (Read the full post about ‘Beautiful Wood and Steel Steampunk Coffee Maker’…)
NeuroVista from Seattle is currently working on a new device that can predict the onset of an epileptic seizure by using EEG brainwave monitoring. The system will be implantable, but if successful, it will provide a viable means for epileptics to take the necessary measures in reducing the severity of an attack as well as exercise precaution to prevent accidental trauma. NeuroVista gathered hundreds of high-resolution EEG readouts from patients who had severe enough epilepsy that they were hospitalized for more than a week and continuously monitored. NeuroVista’s computers mined the massive reams of data to detect statistical abnormalities that can’t be spotted by a neurologist’s eye, and built them into its algorithms. (Read the full post about ‘Seizure Predicting Device’…)
Nintendo has had a long standing feud with firms that play a role in providing a means for propogating original software the illegal method - through ROMs, and this time round, their hugely popular DS platform (both the Phat and Lite versions) are under fire by hardware that allows illegal ROMs to be played. Five Japanese firms will fall under this lawsuit, and they will be accompanied by 54 other Japanese software makers. Surely the M3 and R4 (read our review) will fall under the jurisdiction of this lawsuit. It takes great discipline not to download illegal ROMs if you happen to own any of either hardware, but how many people actually buy them for homebrew purposes? (Read the full post about ‘Nintendo Going After Japanese Firms’…)
Folks who are looking forward to the Samsung i800, touted to be “the world’s first smartphone based on Access Linux Platform (ALP)” will have to end up disappointed since the handset will not be manufactured. What went wrong? Well, digital forensic evidence have shown that LiMo, the Linux Mobile Foundation and its pet project, has issued a statement, “just so you know the Samsung i800 has been withdrawn. Since the original project was defined back in February there have been a number of advances in mobile technology. As a consequence the Samsung i800 has been withdrawn in order to take advantage of these to prepare a more competitive Linux mobile. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung i800 Cancelled’…)
This nifty looking device you see above is known as the DVD Zabady VD-J713CW, and it will be perfect for those who just cannot tear themselves away from the TV even while taking a bath. Since large screen waterproof displays are expensive, the VD-J713CW comes in a much smaller 7″ display at 480 x 234 resolution which makes it way more manageable. Features include an integrated DVD player and a 1Seg TV tuner to accompany an SD memory card slot and multimedia support. It is not waterproof indefinitely, as leaving it underwater (less than 1m) for more than 30 minutes will result in seepage, making it turn off permanently. (Read the full post about ‘DVD Zabady VD-J713CW’…)
