New Home Gadgets

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 4:07PM No frontin’ here: this is the most excited we’ve been about in the wild shots in quite some time. Not only do we have a veritable plethora of Envy 133 shots to glance at, but each one is high resolution and sharp as a tack. If you think your heart can handle checking out this slab of sexy from all angles, head on down to the links below and give it a go. (Read the full post about ‘Voodoo Envy 133 photographed gloriously in the wild’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 10:00AM
It’s official, MVNO lone survivor Virgin Mobile is picking up the struggling Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for a cool $39 million in Virgin Mobile USA stock. They expect the deal to close in Q3 2008, pending regulatory approval. The acquisition comes as no surprise, but it’s still sad to see the one true innovator in a mostly doomed MVNO space fall to that pesky little “completely failing to make money” thing. The good news is that it while the Helio brand will be phased out, Virgin Mobile isn’t just in this for the 170,000-ish subscribers it’ll be picking up. (Read the full post about ‘Virgin Mobile to buy Helio for $39 million in equity’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 12:06PM
Never mind those fancy BD-R critters, how’s about a 42GB DVD? Researchers with a good deal more intelligence than us over at Tohoku University have reportedly figured out a way to “multiply the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD or CD by 9.” Based on our best guess at translating a foreign language (we kid… sort of), the achievement was realized by shaping the pits on a DVD’s surface like Vs, essentially making the disc more capacious in the process. (Read the full post about ‘Japanese researchers devise method for cramming 42GB on a DVD’…)

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Folks looking for the LG Dare can now sign up with Verizon Wireless, bringing yet another touch-based handset to the masses before the 3G iphone hits the market. It will retail for $199 - the same price point as Apple’s magical soon-to-be runaway success, but that price tag comes with a 2-year contract. Other features include :-

• Proximity sensor
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• EV-DO Rev A
• HTML web browser

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The new office tower at 77 King Street and the store on George Street were buzzing with not just customers, but with media, Mac geeks, and more. Yes, the first Australian official Mac Store was opened on at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday June 19, 2008, last week. The Apple Store Sydney has more than 80 Macs and 60 iPods available for customers to experience hands-on, as well as an incredible range of third party products. The store’s staff includes more than 125 locally hired Specialists, Creatives, and Geniuses. The Apple Store Sydney also brings Pro Labs to Australia, offering free, in-depth training on Apple’s professional creative applications for digital photography, music production and video editing including Final Cut Pro. (Read the full post about ‘Australia’s first official Apple store opens’…)

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Sony Ericsson won’t be rolling out its P5i and G702 handsets after all - just in case those model numbers are unfamiliar to you, perhaps the words Paris and BeiBei ring a bell? It seems that these two handsets were not up to par according to Sony Ericsson’s standards, hence shelving any plans to release them. Could this be due to the fact that the general reception from the tech blogosphere pressured Sony Ericsson executives into arriving at such a decision? If so, that’s a brave move on their part, proving that purposely leaked images could be used as a gauge for customer sentiment.

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Duck Image Studio decided that both lights and water, important devices in an emergency system, should not be in separate components, hence coming up with a unified ceiling sprinkler system that boasts an LED light as well. The light will bean from the nozzles, helping rescuers with their work. Water which flows through the turbine will power the blades, generating electricity in turn so that the LEDs will be able to light up. Isn’t it a whole lot more sexy compared to what we have today?

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We’ve reviewed the HTC Touch Diamond in the past, and while it’s a great device, one thing noticeably absent was a keyboard. HTC doesn’t try to make one device to fit all personalities, so we were told that a device that uses TouchFlo 3D and also sports a keyboard would be coming soon in the name of the Touch Pro.

A number of sites have gotten a first look and have put it through its paces. It’s apparently thicker than the Diamond (we expected that) but otherwise seems to be just as solid an experience.

According to Vincent over at Phonemag.com, the Diamond fits perfectly in your front pocket but the Touch Pro should be carried in the back pocket or a separate case.

(Read the full post about ‘HTC Touch Pro shows its stuff’…)

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HP has recently rolled out a couple more color laser printers in the form of the Color LaserJet CP1215 and CP1518ni. Both of these models are now available in Taiwan, with the former retailing for $328 while the latter is going for $460. Both of these models boast HP’s in-line printing technology and third-generation ColorSphere toner, making it suitable for small business and SOHO users. The CP1518ni will support PictBridge photo print format, offering a much lower average printing cost compared to color inkjet printers. Has anyone tried it out to prove those claims?

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Today’s news about the iphone, starting with the rates: Rogers has announced plans in the $60-$115 (Canadian) range. In Sweden, plans will start at $50 and in Norway they’ll be as high as $80 (link).

Launch preparations: Apple as reportedly ordered 17M handsets, which is huge of course, but given the anticipation and the much lower price point, it’s likely that they will sell all that.

MMS support: For those who care, it’s rumored to be in the works.

Universal Remote Control: Not surprisingly, the idea of a display-only universal remote control makes sense: you can program any remote and mimic exactly its functionalities.

(Read the full post about ‘17M iPhone 3G ordered, Rates, MMS Coming and Remote Application’…)

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