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Consumer Electronics
The Neo FreeRunner open source mobile phone
By Darren Quick
01:37 July 7, 2008 PDT
While Android, the open mobile platform developed by an alliance of some of the mobile phone and computing world’s biggest names, has attracted a lot of interest and support since it was announced late last year, it wasn’t actually the first open mobile computing platform. That title goes to Openmoko – a project founded by Taiwanese computer and components manufacturer First International Computer, Inc. (FIC), with the combined aims of developing an open source Linux based operating system designed for mobile phones and hardware devices on which the operating system, called Openmoko Linux, runs. The first smartphone released that supported the Openmoko Linux platform was the Neo 1973, which was released in July, 2007 but suffered from supplier shortages. Now Openmoko has announced their follow up – the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner – a mobile device that the company says will help to enable ubiquitous computing in the 21st century. Read More
TrueTouch touchscreen solution
By Kyle Sherer
18:23 June 24, 2008 PDT
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has launched the TrueTouch touchscreen, a single-chip model that can interpret up to 10 inputs from all areas of the screen simultaneously. The “multi-touch all point” feature could be used for inputting multiple locations into a GPS, gaming, keyboard implementations, or the efficient adjustment of sound and video settings. Read More
Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card range
20:13 June 15, 2008 PDT
The makers of the world’s first wireless SD memory card for digital cameras have complemented the original offering with two additional devices tailored to meet specific user needs. The original Eye-Fi (now called Eye-Fi Share) is joined by the Eye-Fi Explore, which adds geographic location tags to each photo, and the Eye-Fi Home, which is aimed specifically at home users. Read More
82-inch, ultra-HD display heads Samsung's SID line-up
By Darren Quick
20:04 May 19, 2008 PDT
May 20, 2008 Samsung has showcased an ultra-high definition, (3,840 x 2,160 pixels), 82-inch LCD panel for 120Hz television sets at the Society for Information Display (SID) 2008 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition which is running from May 18 to 23 in Las Vegas. The world’s largest LCD panel supplier said the panel uses a red/green/blue LED backlight, which has been added to raise true color saturation to 150 percent, based on the NISC standard of 100 percent. It displays ultra-definition (UD) resolution at 120 frames per second, minimizing the blurring that is sometimes experienced at 60Hz. Read More
QPC Lasers demonstrates ultra-compact portable projector technology
By Darren Quick
19:40 May 18, 2008 PDT
May 19, 2008 The miniaturization of technology has brought unprecedented portability to increasingly powerful mobile devices such as PDAs and mobile phones, but the trade off has been the corresponding reduction in screen sizes to an often impractical level. One solution is miniature projectors which let users carry the equivalent of a big screen TV in their pocket. High power semiconductor laser designer and manufacturer QPC Lasers, Inc. is hosting private demonstrations of their high power miniature prototype BrightLase Red-Green-Blue “RGB” laser, which is designed for high resolution miniature projectors in the 100 lumens output region for portable handheld consumer electronics. Read More
Versatile HYmini wind and solar portable charger
By Kyle Sherer
16:49 April 7, 2008 PDT
April 8, 2008 HYmini is a handheld portable electronics charging unit that uses renewable wind and solar sources to top up its power. The device can recharge most 5V appliances, including mobile phones, MP3 players, iPods, PDAs, and digital cameras. Read More
Bluelounge introduces convenient portable electronics charging solution
20:38 April 2, 2008 PDT
April 3, 2008 Most of us have a convenient nook where keys, wallets and other everyday essentials can be stored and located when coming and going from the home or office. These days, mobile phones and portable electronics devices are an important part of this equation, and that's where this simple solution from design studio Bluelounge comes in. The Sanctuary combines a place to throw your loose change with a multi-point charging station for a large range consumer electronics devices so that not only can you find you mobile phone, but it's also on charge. Read More
SlideIt and ThumbKey models offer accelerated typing on PDAs and smartphones
By Kyle Sherer
17:57 March 30, 2008 PDT
Dasur’s line of keyboards for touch screen PDAs and smartphones yields potential typing speeds of up to 50 words per minute – matching the average speed of a professional typist. The SlideIt keyboard for stylus users and the ThumbKey model for hand typing both support all versions of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. Read More
modu: World’s lightest phone underpins new multimedia platform
18:25 March 25, 2008 PDT
March 26, 2008 The diminutive modu has taken the title of "World's lightest mobile phone" with the 40.1 g (1.41 oz) handset's claim made official by the Guinness World Records. Although it's a great talking point, the record is secondary to the innovation offered by the multi-tasking phone that will launch in Q4 this year. As the name suggests, modu is designed as a modular device that will be complemented by a range of "ecosystem partners" - interchangeable add-on enclosures that transform the appearance and user interface of the phone, as well as dedicated consumer electronics devices such as MP4 players, digital photo frames, car stereos and cameras that directly integrate the modu. In other words, modu is a mobile phone that also acts bit like a SIM card with a brain to form the basic building block in a potentially wide ranging personal communications and entertainment system. Read More
myGreenElectronics: website initiative to reduce impact of electronics
By Emily Clark
17:53 March 17, 2008 PDT
March 18, 2008 Promoting the four R’s of green electronic use (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Rethink), the ‘myGreenElectronics’ website is dedicated to minimizing the impact consumer electronics have on the environment. A simple, clean design, myGreenElectronics provides basic information to help consumers on their path to thinking, buying and acting ‘green’. Read More
Meridian releases MF10 High-Def Projector
By Darren Quick
17:34 March 16, 2008 PDT
March 17 , 2008 High-end projector specialists Meridian has released its latest high-definition video projector, the MF10, which offers extraordinary black reproduction capability, with 30,000:1 native contrast ratio achieved without the use of a dynamic iris, thus ensuring true black reproduction without loss of brightness. Read More
SpaceStation laptop cable organizer
By Kyle Sherer
16:02 February 24, 2008 PST
February 25, 2008 No matter how sleek your laptop looks, it will inevitably be surrounded by a tangled knot of cables and peripheral devices spread messily around your desktop. The latest solution to come to our attention is Bluelounge’s SpaceStation - a docking port for laptops that manages connections with an internal 4-port USB hub, keeping wires tangle-free and out of sight. The US$79.95 unit provides connections for peripherals where needed, and has an ergonomic slanted surface for keyboards. Read More
Ionhub's six port multi charger
By Darren Quick
15:24 February 11, 2008 PST
February 12, 2008 One of the biggest problems for travelers who love their gadgets is carrying around all the chargers to keep their mobile devices powered up. Even many a home desktop is covered with a tangle of cords leading back to an overtaxed power point or power board. Recognizing this IonHub has released the Ionhub multi charger, a charger that can simultaneously charge multiple devices including mobile phones, iPods, iPhones, Sony PSPs, Nintendo DS Lite, Canon and Sony camcorders, PDAs, GPS, digital cameras, Zunes, Sansas, Zens and Blackberries, to name a few. The patent pending Ionhub is a palm sized, multiple output port, multiple output voltage, universal multi charger hub that is capable of simultaneously charging up to six portable electronic devices from a single wall outlet, car or airplane outlet. Similar to the recently reviewed IDAPT, the Ionhub connects to the charging devices using interchangeable and self-locking charger tips called IonTips, which are sold separately. Read More
MWg and Splashpower to deliver wirelessly powered smartphone in 2008
By Kyle Sherer
22:53 February 10, 2008 PST
February 11, 2008 MWg and Splashpower have announced that a new wirelessly powered smartphone will be available in the second half of this year. The MWg devices will be equipped with Splashpower’s technology to enable inductive charging, a process that involves using electromagnetic induction to wirelessly charge the batteries of a handset. Read More
Sony Ericsson announces XPERIA X1 Slider-phone
21:21 February 10, 2008 PST
February 11, 2008 Headlining an array of new releases from Sony Ericsson, the XPERIA™ X1 marks the launch of a new brand for the company, one which it hopes will gain traction in the brave new world of mobile convergence where the term "phone" just doesn't cut it anymore. Featuring a 3-inch clear wide VGA display, media player and 3.2 mega-pixel camera housed in a metal-finish, slider-design body, the XPERIA X1 offers multiple navigation options from touch screen interaction to a 4-way key, full wide-pitch QWERTY keyboard or optical joystick with seamless switching promised between input modes. Read More
Infinitely Charged built-in cell phone charger
22:51 February 6, 2008 PST
February 7, 2008 Now here’s a solution that really does have a significant problem to solve. Everyone who owns a cell phone has found themselves somewhere with a low battery without their charger, usually in the least convenient place at the most inconvenient time. In today’s anytime, anywhere communications environment, being without a working cell phone is the equivalent of being technologically naked – it’s not a good look and it can can lead to all manner of collateral problems. Infinitely Charged is a patent-pending design that enables a cell phone to plug directly into a powerpoint. Read More
Lenovo all-in-one laptop and mobile device charger
By Emily Clark
17:27 February 6, 2008 PST
February 7, 2008 High-tech travelers often end up with more plugs, cords and cables than they care to carry, just to charge their suite of mobile devices. Lenovo's latest effort aimed at lightening this load is an all-in-one adapter designed to charge laptops and other electronic devices such as cell phones, PDAs and mobile music players. Read More
Intel and Micron unveil world’s fastest NAND Flash memory
23:49 February 5, 2008 PST
February 6, 2008 Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. have developed a high speed NAND Flash memory technology targeting data-munching consumer electronics applications that's five times faster than conventional NAND. Read More
Cellwatch M500 wrist-watch phone
20:41 January 31, 2008 PST
February 1, 2008 The wrist watch phone is one of those inventions we thought we would all be wearing by now, but despite the appearance of numerous designs in recent years seeking to make the Dick Tracey style communications device a commercial reality, the idea is still a long way from reaching its potential. The latest example to cross the Gizmag desk, and one of the most impressively designed and specced units we've seen to date is the Cellwatch M500. Billed as the world's smallest mobile watch, the M500 incorporates a 1.5-inch (128x160) color OLED touchscreen, 128 MB Memory, 80 hours standby time, plus web-browsing, Bluetooth, MP3 and video playback capabilities. Read More
Texas Instruments pico-projector technology on show
22:17 January 21, 2008 PST
Texas Instruments is moving steadily towards commercialization of miniature projection devices with Sypro and Young Optics showing manufacturing prototypes of their pico-projection systems based on TI's Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology at the 2008 CES. The company sees the future for DLP pico-projectors in either a standalone format or as integrated modules in handheld devices. Read More
3M announces micro-projector for mobile devices
19:22 January 21, 2008 PST
January 22, 2008 Miniature projection modules are seen as the answer to the problem of combining "big-screen" convenience with ever shrinking mobile device platforms and, in the same way that mobile phone cameras seemed to become commonplace almost overnight, consumers can expect highly-effective projection to become standard in phones and other handheld equipment in the not-too-distant future. The latest development from 3M gives a clear indication of where the emerging field is headed. Designed for integration into virtually any mobile platform and now available to manufacturers, the company's LED-illuminated projection engine is capable of throwing a 40-inch or larger VGA image from an ultra-compact module that's less than half an inch thick. Read More
Voxred announce PowerBuddy portable charger
By Kyle Sherer
17:15 January 6, 2008 PST
January 7, 2008 Voxred, the company behind the Turbo Charge, iTurbo and TC2 lines of portable chargers, is launching the PowerBuddy at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A compact, self contained device which uses lithium ion batteries to charge up to two electronic devices simultaneously, the USD$40 PowerBuddy comes with 11 adapters for cell phones, personal media players, PDAs and portable gaming units. Read More
PS3 gets DivX/XviD playback - we put it to the test
By Tim Hanlon
17:29 December 19, 2007 PST
The PlayStation 3 firmware update 2.10 arrived yesterday, adding Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1 support, and more importantly, XviD and DivX playback. We recently brought you the low down on XviD/DivX playback on the Xbox 360, and now we've spent another strenuous morning watching videos - here's our report on Sony's implementation. Read More
CSR announce low cost Bluetooth enabled MP3 player design
23:06 November 19, 2007 PST
November 20, 2007 The falling cost of consumer electronics devices is showing no signs of letting-up with the latest example coming from the UK, where based wireless component manufacturer CSR has today announced the world’s lowest cost Bluetooth enabled MP3 player. Read More
Helios Labs takes the PC out of network media centers
By Darren Quick
18:23 October 22, 2007 PDT
October 23, 2007 Looking to improve the usability of networking media hubs while retaining their flexibility and functionality, Helios Labs have taken the PC out and kept the media center with the announcement of the Odyssey. The Odyssey is a networking media hub capable of streaming content to multiple network media players, such as Helios Labs X-Line players, as well as any UPnP-enabled devices. The Odyssey supports up to 1TB storage capacity, features a fan-less, passive cooling design and will be the centerpiece of the company's focus on a PC-free home entertainment solution. Read More
John M
- November 25, 2009 @ 17:19 UTC
