Archive for October, 2005
Eskape Labs, a division of Hauppauge, today announced the release of myTV.PVR, the company’s first combination TV tuner with built-in MPEG encoder designed for Macs.
With myTV.PVR, Mac users can watch live TV on their screen, plus pause and record their favorite TV programs any time they want, on notebook or desktop Macs.
As an external unit connected via USB 2.0, myTV.PVR is flexible and convenient enough to instantly turn any Mac into a full-fledged Personal Video Recorder. Users can watch live TV in a window or full screen, pause live TV with instant replay and schedule TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once-only schedule. myTV.PVR includes a built-in hardware MPEG encoder, so the Mac does not slow down while watching, recording or pausing TV. myTV.PVR also includes composite/S-Video and stereo audio inputs so users can connect to cable or satellite TV boxes, VCRs, camcorders or DVD players. Users can also record home video tapes to disk in an MPEG-2 format.
“myTV.PVR is possibly the most valuable accessory Mac users can buy. With myTV.PVR, the need for separate TV, PVR and DVD recorders are eliminated,” said Scott Naylor, Macintosh Product Manager for Eskape Labs. “College students, business people, even home users will enjoy the way myTV.PVR adds convenience and value to their Macs. For multitasking or simply to conserve space, myTV.PVR is a terrific solution.”
myTV.PVR provides dbx-TV stereo audio for quality TV sound and incorporates an hardware MPEG-2 video recorder for fast video on the Mac’s hard drive without compromising overall computer performance. Video is compressed using a Conexant 416 MPEG-2 chip, compressing TV shows or home videos at a variety of transfer rates ranging from 1 to 12 Mbits/sec.
To ensure programs are recorded when desired, myTV.PVR supports Titan TV, the Internet electronic program guide. Programs can be stored on the hard drive or burned to DVD or CD (writing hardware and software not included), making it easy to transport or store favorite videos.
Eskape Lab’s myTV.PVR is housed in a smooth, clean case that will complement any Macintosh. myTV.PVR is immediately available through the Eskape Labs web site as well as CompUSA and other leading online and offline computer retailers worldwide for $149.00 USB (MSRP). For more information or to purchase the Eskape Labs myTV.PVR USB Tuner/Recorder, visit www.eskapelabs.com.
October 23rd, 2005
We always knew the Swedes were a little bit ‘unusual’ and Dr Walid Elias Kai, a search engine officianado from that fair country, has just proved it by naming his baby ‘Google’.
Baby Google Kai can now look forward to a long school career of being teased about his name and of course, most hilariously of all, being called MSN or Yahoo! or Jeeves or [ that’s enough! Ed. ].
However, Dr Kai seems to have missed this point as he claims he chose the name so that his son would have lots of friends, a Googol being a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Apparently young Google will have no such problems “if he is using Google Search engine and he is building new idea with his friends around The Psychometric and Informational Structural Mind”.
OK.
Read all about exotically-named Swedish babies at Google’s website.
October 21st, 2005
Joytech has announced its new line of accessories designed specifically for the Xbox 360.
Available this fall, Joytech’s product line up will include the first Microsoft-endorsed Xbox 360 audio-visual control center, as well as Xbox 360 racing wheel, controller and faceplates.
Joytech is one of a select group of companies to hold a coveted license with Microsoft for Xbox 360 third-party accessories at launch. Built from the ground up for the new console, the product line has the look and feel of Xbox 360 and will offer the same high-quality, innovative designs at competitive prices that have made Joytech the leader in third-party peripherals in Europe. Other future Xbox 360 console products from Joytech include the Headset Communicator, as well as HDTV compatible digital AV and VGA cables.
“Joytech’s official Xbox 360 endorsement by Microsoft gives us a competitive edge,” said Lee Guinchard, President, Joytech North America. “We are excited to unveil a product line that will allow gamers to immerse themselves in this revolutionary new console. We’ve put our years of expertise designing award-winning, market-leading products into these new and exciting peripherals.”
Neo Se Controller
Joytech’s Neo Se Controller offers style, comfort and unmatched feel, plus instant access to movies, music and games on Xbox 360 via the back-lit Xbox Guide button. Ergonomically designed left and right shoulder buttons give an unprecedented level of control, while high-intensity dual-vibration feedback, two analog pressure point triggers and an eight way directional pad provide an incredibly realistic gaming experience. The controller also features an expansion port and a ten-foot break-away controller cable. MSRP is $29.99.
Nitro Racing Wheel
This aggressively styled wheel provides a driving experience guaranteed to maximize and intensify popular racing games. A full rubber wheel head provides a secure, comfortable grip and precise steering. Additionally, four wheel-mounted paddles, sequential stick-shift, high-intensity dual-vibration feedback and four preset steering sensitivity modes allow gamers to customize the experience to suit their personal taste. The wheel is Xbox Live online game service compatible and includes a back-lit Xbox Guide button for instant access to digital music, game and movie libraries. MSRP is $79.99.
Control Center
The first Microsoft-endorsed audio-visual control center for Xbox 360, Joytech’s high tech control center allows users to organize and customize their gaming experience. A high-quality removable faceplate provides the option of customization, while a backlit LCD screen shows the name of each input channel for simple navigation on the programmable display. The control center’s LCD characters rotate automatically, allowing the center to be used horizontally or vertically.
The system also includes electronic switching and remote control, connections for HDTV ready component video, S-Video and composite AV, four digital optical inputs for digital sound and a removable faceplate. For reliable Internet connection, the center features a built-in five port 10/100 Ethernet switch. In addition, advanced signal technology regulates the output channel and automatically compensates for weak signals. MSRP is $99.99.
Faceplates
Interchangeable faceplates for customization of the Xbox 360 and the Joytech Control Center make it easy and fun to change the look of the console. With several designs to choose from, gamers can tailor their setup to match their personality, mood and unique sense of style, creating a one-of-a-kind entertainment center. The faceplates are created for easy switching and allow gamers to maintain full functionality of Xbox 360 and Joytech’s Control Center. MSRP is from $9.99 for the single pack and from $14.99 for the double pack.
October 20th, 2005
Maxtor today announced its new Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition external storage solution that takes the complexities out of RAID and delivers a simple-to-use, easy-to-understand solution for the consumer mass market. Backing up all those (legally owned) DVDs in your collection may now be a reality.
With capacities up to one terabyte (1,000GB), the new Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition integrates Maxtor’s award-winning automated backup and restore capabilities for Mac and PC users, allows users to easily configure the solution for either RAID 0 or RAID 1 and includes new software tools to synchronise data between two or more computers and to help repair PC systems after a damaging spyware or virus attack.
Building on Maxtor’s years of success as a leader in external storage, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition also sports a completely new customer experience, including a cool new industrial design, an improved software user interface and redesigned retail package from award-winning consulting firm frog design inc. The solution’s new industrial design provides added reliability and robustness, while being soft to the touch and easily stackable.
The improved user-friendly interface creates a level of consistency and ease of use, and the redesigned retail packaging system protects the product during transit. Built to last, the new high-capacity, dual-drive Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition solution is aesthetically appealing for either a home or office setting. It features improved acoustics, a self-adjusting cooling system and an inner disk drive casing and shock mounts for additional drive protection, underscoring Maxtor’s commitment to providing durable and innovative storage solutions.
“As a leader in consumer storage and backup solutions, our job is to help protect our customers’ digital lives. We’re thinking about the difficult things so our consumers don’t have to. We want data backup and protection to be virtually effortless,” said Stacey Lund, vice president of marketing, Maxtor Branded Products Group. “We’ve designed our new Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition to be the easiest, most trustworthy way to reap the benefits of RAID, and to back up and store photos, videos, games, music, business data and personal information in the most demanding environments. Whether you’re a consumer, creative professional, mobile warrior or small business owner, you can use our trusted, intuitive storage solutions in safeguarding your digital life or life’s work.”
Until very recently, a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) – which can increase data safety, performance or both – was only found on very expensive servers.
But now even mainstream computer users can easily take advantage of these benefits by using the new Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration. RAID 0 divides a data stream and writes pieces of it to both drives at once, a process called striping. This process enables significantly faster write and read times for speed-hungry applications like streaming video. RAID 1, also called mirroring, simply takes everything that gets written to the primary hard drive and creates a copy of it on the second drive. That way, if calamity hits the first drive, the second one swings into action so the user does not experience data loss or downtime.
Maxtor has also added Sync – a feature with the ability to automatically synchronise files between two or more systems on the same operating platform – to its newest external storage solution. Increasingly, customers want to share data easily and automatically between home and office, syncing files and folders in both computers. Also, to combat spyware, adware and viruses that can slow a system to a crawl or even a screeching halt, the new Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition includes a System Rollback feature that reverts a PC system to a healthier point in time while preserving current data. All of these features are easily accessed through Maxtor’s completely redesigned graphical user interface.
All Maxtor OneTouch external storage and backup solutions come with a data security feature called Maxtor DriveLock, providing a password protection option to safeguard contents if the drive is ever lost or stolen. If the Maxtor OneTouch solution falls into the wrong hands, special firmware embedded on the hard drive restricts data access. Even if the internal hard drive is removed from the casing and attached to another computer, access will be denied without the correct password.
The Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition comes in a 600GB or 1TB capacity and features a triple USB 2.0/FireWire 400/FireWire 800 interface for easy connection to a Mac or PC. Availability begins in December at major retailers and distributors. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for the 600GB is approximately £410 and aproximately £684 for the 1TB. Please visit www.maxtor.com for local distribution channels and retail outlets.
October 18th, 2005
Dirty discs can damage consoles, so PSP gamers need the MaxCare UMD Cleaner. The MaxCare UMD Cleaner cleans your UMD discs thoroughly and safely, and also repairs scratched PSP UMDs. In fact the makers claims it’s the greatest PSP disc cleaner around.
If you need to clean your PSP game or clean a PSP movie, MaxCare UMD Cleaner is for you. It’s easy to use. Just slot it into the unit, which is powered buy batteries or your main PSP power lead, and press a button. It’s as simple as that!
MaxCare UMD Cleaner and scratch repairer cleans away mucky fingerprints, fixes minor scratches and generally gets your PSP games and movies into tip-top shape. This not only prevents the discs from sticking or misreading when in use, but it also prevents potential damage to your PSP itself. Dust and dirt can accumulate on the disc and damage your console’s inner workings, but MaxCare UMD Cleaner keeps them pristine clean!
* Includes cleaning unit, cleaning fluid and two special cleaning pads.
* Powered either by batteries or your PSP mains power lead.
* Easy to use.
* Environmentally friendly
MaxCare UMD Cleaner is out now, and costs a mere £14.00, + £2.95 p+p. For more information, head for www.max.tv
October 18th, 2005
Sony Ericsson today adds its first UMTS handset to the Walkman range of music phones bringing the total number of phones in the range to four.
The W900 is a high quality fully specified music player, phone and imaging device capable of super-fast downloads of all types of multimedia – music, video and graphics. It follows the highly successful global market launch of the W800. Two previously announced Walkman phones are also about to launch, the W600 in the Americas and W550 in the rest of the world, meaning there are now Walkman phones meeting a broad spectrum of mobile music needs and price segments.
As a music player, the W900 makes it easy to import, transfer, manage and play music from operators’ over-the-air (OTA) music download services, allowing tracks to be downloaded directly to the phone while on the move and, from a PC when tracks have been copied from the owner’s CD collection.
“The W900, along with the rest of the Walkman phone family, will establish a new life-style habit of enjoying superb quality music and video and a full internet web experience on the move from a single mobile device,” says Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President, Product and Application Planning of Sony Ericsson. “In our first UMTS Walkman phone we have combined fast download speeds with superb sound quality and crystal clear 30 frames a second video recording and play-back in a really simple and easy to use device. The W900 will not only appeal as a music phone. The superb communications, multimedia and imaging functionality will appeal to all those wanting a true multi-media capable device.”
One of the most appealing features of the W900 is how easy it is to import, transfer, play and manage music files. Tracks can be imported from a variety of sources, either over-the-air direct to the phone if it supports an available operator music download service, or via a PC.
Transferring digital music files from a PC to the phone is a simple ‘drag and drop’ and the W900 is also fully compatible with user-copied content from all leading music management software packages. This is particularly useful for consumers already owning another type of digital music player who want to transfer tracks that originate from their CD collection on to the W900.
The supplied Disc2Phone PC software allows the user to easily transfer music to the phone from audio CDs and a PC music collection. Disc2Phone can transfer music based on playlists and has a fun and easy-to-use shuffle functionality. The W900’s large internal 470MB user free memory provides space for between 120 and 240 songs. The storage capacity is easily increased however by inserting a Memory Stick PRO Duo, currently available in retail outlets at up to 2GB, giving space for up to 1,000 tracks. Music files can be stored in all the key formats: MP3, AAC or AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF.
The versatile swivel design makes it easy to multitask between the W900’s many functions, a feature which gives the phone an advantage over dedicated music players. The direct music buttons get the user swiftly into the Walkman player where it is possible to scroll through play lists, artists or individual songs. Users fed up with missing calls because they are listening to music will love the fact that the phone’s ringtone cuts into the audio and pauses the track while the user takes the call.
The phone swivels open automatically with the lightest of touches, revealing a large keypad. Virtually all functions can be performed with the phone closed, and users can read messages or search through their music library without opening the phone.
More than a fully featured music player, the W900 is a highly advanced imaging and multimedia device with broadband-fast download speeds, smooth, responsive browse capabilities and a large, 2.2 inch QVGA 262K TFT screen, one of the brightest ever seen on a mobile phone.
The 2 Megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash- or picture-light is perfect for capturing priceless moments and, thanks to the Sony Ericsson dual fronted design, is operated with both hands in a horizontal position for maximum stability. The camera also shoots video at up to 30fps (frames per second), double the speed of most conventional imaging phones and the playback quality threshold for television.
With the supplied Adobe PC software, pictures and videos can be easily imported to a PC as soon as the phone is connected using the fast USB connection. They can then be edited, printed and shared using the easy-to-use and powerful Adobe software, and videos can be played back using Apple QuickTime Player.
As an entertainment device the W900 exploits the UMTS-delivered capabilities to the full, delivering fast and smooth download and browsing of video, games, sound and graphics. The high performance 3D Java gaming engine is put to the test with the embedded Asphalt Urban GT 3D from Gameloft, where users can experience the thrills of extreme racing at the wheel of the ultimate sports cars.
The W900 is the first Sony Ericsson phone to be supplied with a Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-80 with remote control, that allows the user to operate the Walkman player without removing it from their pocket. A USB cable and Disc2Phone PC software for transfer and management of music files are also included in the box.
W900 Availability
The W900 UMTS Walkman phone is available in black or white and will be commercially available end Q4 2005. The variants will be:
* W900i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
* W900c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services.
October 18th, 2005
Shuttle, known for its Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs and accessories, has today expanded its multi-award winning XPC product range with a new system specifically tailored for the growing digital entertainment market. If you’ve avoided buying a Shuttle system because you didn’t like cubes, then this may be the chassis for you.
“The Shuttle XPC Media Center combines advanced power and noise reduction technologies, industry leading audio and video capabilities, and a powerful yet easy to use software interface to create an entertainment-focused home computer ideal for the living room” announced Ken Huang, chief designer and architect of the XPC.
The Shuttle XPC Media Center comes fully loaded with the latest advances in PC hardware, packaged in a stylish case that merges elegantly within any home entertainment center. A performance video graphics accelerator and up to 2 digital or analog tuner cards allow movies, TV shows, online video content and games to be enjoyed on any TV or monitor, while Creative’s leading Sound Blaster Live! audio processor delivers 7.1 high-definition surround sound. Built-in industry standard USB and FireWire connectors allow high-speed transfers to digital cameras and music players, and fully integrated LAN and wireless networking capabilities enable content to be shared with other Media Center compatible devices around the home.
The launch of the Shuttle XPC Media Center has been timed to coordinate with the release of Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. When developing the Shuttle XPC Media Center, engineers worked closely with Microsoft to ensure the system would work flawlessly with the new features added to the operating system, including Away Mode, dual tuner support, and compatibility with new Media Center Extender devices and Xbox 360.
The Shuttle XPC M1000 will be available in Q4 2005 and carries a MSRP of 1,770 Euros plus VAT.
Source: Media Center PC World
October 17th, 2005
Samsung today introduced a 3GB HDD embedded phone, model SPH-V7900. This is Samsung’s latest model equipped with a hard disc drive following the world’s first mobile phone equipped with 1.5GB hard disc drive, model SPH-V5400, which Samsung introduced in September of last year.
The V7900 allows users to store two or three full-length movies (at 1.1-5GB each) or more than 700 music files (at 4MB each).
The V7900 also supports the latest multimedia compression technologies -MPEG-4/H.264 (for video) and MPEG-4 AAC/AAC+ (for audio). High-performance dual speakers are mounted on the exterior folder to provide 64-polyphonic stereo sound.
This model comes with harmonic color, a new feature that converts all musical elements such as scale, octave, tone and volume into visual images in a variety of colors and patterns.
It also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that includes 2x optical zoom, MP3 player, and document viewer functions.
“The major increase in memory will position the mobile phone as a key multimedia product that enables users to watch movies and listen to music. We will continue to apply the latest technologies and innovative designs to remain at the forefront of the global market for premium mobile phones,” said Kitae Lee, President of the Samsung Electronics Telecommunication Network Business.
The phone is available in Korea at around $700 USD.
October 17th, 2005
It sounds like a weird idea, but the scientists behind the latest security device for mobile phone claim it is effective and cheap. Finland’s Technical Research Centre has unveiled a gait sensor that checks the peculiarities of motion as the mobile phone is carried and only allows you to call if you match a preset type of walk.
The researchers behind the device claim 90% effectiveness, putting it on a par with voice-regnition, but behind fingerprint technology. However, at only 1 Euro per unit it is much cheaper.
If the user’s gait fails to match the prerecorded settings then the phone will lock and only allow calls after a passcode is entered.
Now the only problem is what if you developed a limp?
October 15th, 2005
Following on from Sony President, Howard Stringer’s announcement that the PSP was going to be equipped to stream video from your home PC while on the road, Sony Japan has released a firmware upgrade that makes it possible.
With ‘LocationFree’ you can stream TV or movies from your home over broadband internet to your PSP - virtually anywhere in the world (as long as you have a WiFi connection).
At home you connect your AV components and broadband internet to your LocationFree Base Station. Yes, unfortunately you have to fork out around $350 for some extra hardware.
On the road, connect your PSP to a wireless hotspot and click on the LocationFree icon to start streaming your favourite TV programmes. Change channels, pause or record on your components at home with the onscreen universal remote.
For the record, the other changes with the 2.5 firmware (which is currently only available in Japan) are:
- [Text Size] and [Display Mode] settings of the [Internet Browser] can now be saved.
- The input history of online forms accessed through the [Internet Browser] can now be saved.
- Copyright-protected video can now be played under [Video].
Source: Media Center PC World
October 14th, 2005
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