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Sony has long been claiming that all its consoles have a 10-year life cycle. Its claims of console longevity seemed inflated at first, but once you take into account the life cycles of its past consoles, those claims hold some merit. In North America the PSP reached its third anniversary on March 24, 2008, and if John Koller, senior marketing manager for the PSP, is to be believed then even the handheld is supposed to have a 10-year life cycle. Read more [Gamertell] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → (Read the full post about ‘Can the Sony PSP still live on for 7 more years?’…)

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Posted Mar 29th 2008 4:52PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Peripherals, Portable AudioChances are that if you do your duties on Vista and rely on one of Creative’s sound cards to get your dance on, you may have become frustrated by the firm’s inability to offer up a driver package that lived up to those loosed for Windows XP. ‘Course, if that rings a bell, you’re probably not too concerned — you know, thanks to those unofficial (but totally functional) drivers brought to you by Daniel_K. Unfortunately for users suddenly excited to gain some extra utility from their device, Creative has hopped on the offensive and is forbidding said compiler from distributing the firm’s technology / IP (not to mention collecting donations), and it’s also scouring the ‘net to remove other links to the software. (Read the full post about ‘Creative halts unauthorized distribution of homegrown Vista drivers’…)

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Posted Mar 29th 2008 1:18PM by Paul MillerFiled under: cellphonesHaving some blackberry troubles? You’re not alone, we’ve been receiving some sporadic tips on the subject, and some forum users have reported outage trouble as well, though for other users it seems just fine. Let us know how your service is doing. Or don’t — this might be just the chance you were looking for to ditch work email and get a start on that spring tan. We won’t tell a soul. (Read the full post about ‘BlackBerry service outages keeping your weekend interesting?’…)

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If the Sanyo Xacti CG9 was just not right for you, check out the Vivitar DVR565HD—the company’s first camcorder to venture into the HD realm. Rocking a rather slim and compact form factor, the DVR565HD uses SD cards as its recording medium, capable of recording video in H.264/MPEG-4 in full 720p glory at 30 fps. Interestingly, the camera can “upscale” the video playback to 1080i if connected to a TV via an HDMI cable. Little else is known, but the camcorder will feature a 3-inch flip-out LCD display, digital still functionality, and a maximum SD card capacity of 4GB. (Read the full post about ‘Vivitar’s DVR565HD does 720p video recording’…)

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We first heard the news that Asus was planning a desktop model for their Eee series lineup a while back, and while details still remain a mystery, we now have what are claimed to be a leaked picture showing what the upcoming Eee Box could look like. According to Hot Hardware, the above pics are in fact the upcoming Eee Box from Asus, although they make it clear that these are not official pictures and cannot comment on the source. Overall, at least since the introduction of the Wii, theses images look to be more like a game console than a desktop computer. Either way they are sharp looking, be certain that we will keep you updated as soon as we can find out some more details. (Read the full post about ‘Asus upcoming desktop Eee Box leaked pics?’…)

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Levi’s has updated its line of mobile phones with the limited edition, “Red Tab”. As its name suggests, the new phone’s top section features Levi’s signature red tab to go along with its exclusive etched rear design. Spec-wise, the limited edition packs the same muscle power as “The Original” which is a 2-megapixel camera with flash, mp3 player, and Bluetooth with A2DP (which allows you to stream music to a Bluetooth equipped audio device). The phone still sports the same stylish, black-steel metal casing as its predecessor. Only 100 Red Tabs will be made available, costing 549 Euros (around $870 US) at the very chic online French retailer Colette. (Read the full post about ‘Levi’s limited edition “Red Tab” launched’…)

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Anyone who wants to visit the famous Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington can now do so without having to set foot in the US capital as a new interactive website was recently launched this week. Footnote.com, in cooperation with the National Archives and Records Administration, came up with the website as a project for historical document. The site serves as a virtual version of the memorial honoring almost 8,000 American military men who fought in the Vietnam War.  Searching for a name on the real 246 foot National Monument may take some time but with the virtual website, the name would come up in a few seconds. So it’s more like a database of the heroes’ names. (Read the full post about ‘Vietnam Memorial Wall goes online’…)

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Goodbye hd dvd, hello Blu-ray. Standalone Blu-ray players used to cost a bomb (some of them still do, which was what made the Sony PS3 all the more attractive if you were looking for a firmware upgradeable Blu-ray player instead of a gaming machine first), and laptops that came with Blu-ray drives actually required you to sell off a kidney in order to own one. With the pseudo format wars behind them and Blu-ray emerging the victor in their tussle with Toshiba’s HD DVD, it is easier for companies to make a commitment as to include the winning format’s technology into their products. Take Dell, for example. (Read the full post about ‘Dell Inspiron 1525 dives into Blu-ray market’…)

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Finally! Dell customers can now get a Blu-ray laptop for under a $1,000. Available today we can pick up the Inspiron 1525 with optional Blu-ray disc playback starting at $879. As retailers and video rental companies expand their high-definition offerings, Blu-ray is the new “must-have” technology to help get the most out of your viewing experience. The Inspiron 1525 laptop features a 15.4-inch high definition wide aspect display with 720p resolution. It also includes an HDMI port for easy connectivity to high resolution displays and HDTVs. The Blu-ray player disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. (Read the full post about ‘Affordable Blu-ray Laptop’…)

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USB devices are dime a dozen these days, and it can get pretty tricky trying to get all of them hooked up to your computer or notebook which has extremely limited USB ports. If you happen to want a USB port of sorts, why not consider the USB Star Hub II? Here’s the product description, in completely broken English (I’ve left it unedited to contribute to the quirkiness of the entire device). USB Star Hub II allows you to connect 4 different USB devices at the same time. Each port can turn 180° that make you more convenience to use and the colourful design can help to decorate your desk. The USB Star Hub II retails for $12 a pop. (Read the full post about ‘USB Star Hub II’…)

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