Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Netbooks

What do you get when you put a smartphone’s innards into a netbook chassis? A Compaq Airlife 100, of course! Except that HP decided to call it a “smartbook”, which seems to suggest the smartphone-netbook hybrid nature of the Airlife 100. It is said to feature a Snapdragon processor (rumored), a 16GB SSD, 3G and WiFi connectivity, and a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. It even runs on an Android OS. HP also added that the battery has enough juice for up to 12 hours of continuous usage, and up to 10 days in standby mode! Scary, I know. My cellphone doesn’t even last that long on standby.

For now, it will be rolling out in the Europe and Latin America only. According to rumors, it may be placed under the HP Mini line of netbooks, which is quite a reasonable assumption, when it begins shipping in the US. No words on the price, though.

Via [Engadget]

Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Ceramics artist Tsang Cheung Shing created this double-take-inducing piece entitled "Ying Yeung," referencing both a beverage of mixed coffee and tea and the idea of love and marriage. [Thanks, Joe!]

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!

Details of an upcoming ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) graphics card have emerged, complete with some early photos, and it seems the company have taken an ATI Radeon HD 5870 and overclocked it.  The fettled card cranks the GPU from 850MHz to 900MHz and doubles RAM to 2GB of 4.9Gbps GDDR5 memory.  Meanwhile ASUS are apparently making it straightforward to overclock the ROG card a little more again, with up to 1080MHz possible from the GPU and 5.2Gbps from the memory.

Connectivity is DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI, and the ports share the backplate with a Safe Mode button.  Pressing this reverts the ROG HD 5870 to a stable configuration, just in case your experiments leave everything inoperable.  There are also exposed contacts for multimeter voltage monitoring and a pair of eight-pin PCI Express power connectors.

So that you don’t waste any of your system grunt running an overclocking app in the background, ASUS’ software will save the settings to the ROG card and then shut down.  According to Chinese site Zol the ASUS Republic of Gamers Radeon HD 5870 will be “available immediately”, though there’s no sign of a price tag.

[via The Tech Report]

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Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• ATI Radeon HD 5850 X2 pics leak
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• Asus shows their take on the Radeon HD 3870 X2
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• ASUS G73JH-X1 gaming laptop on sale now for $1,450

Early details of Intel’s next-generation mobile processor platform, codenamed Huron River, have emerged well ahead of its expected launch in Q1 2011.  According to Fudzilla, Huron River will be based around the 32nm Sandy Bridge process silicon, and be made up of dual- and quad-core processors supporting Intel Turbo Boost.

In addition to the main cores, the Huron River chips will integrate various forms of wireless connectivity too.  Bluetooth is one such technology, as well as WiFi and even WiMAX on certain models.  There’ll also be support for Intel’s wireless display technology, too.

Intel are expected to position Huron River processors as suitable for both regular laptops and ultrathin models.  It will replace the Calpella platform, first launched in 2009, as the seventh-generation Centrino.

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Section: Computers, Gadgets / Other

LG’s CEO KW Kim has recently begun spilling details about an upcoming product. Sadly though, in this case the details are more of just a tease than something to truly look forward to seeing. So far, what we can tell you is that Kim told Emirates Business that they (LG) “will soon launch a new product, maybe by April.” And that the new product will be able to compete with Amazon and Apple.

Based on that one would, and really can only assume that it will be a tablet style device that also serves as an ebook reader. That said, this news, while interesting should not be all that surprising considering LG has been showing off ereader technology such as a solar powered ebook reader and solar illuminated LCD displays for a little while now.

Read [Emirates Business] Via [E-Reader-info] and [Engadget]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks

The last time we heard rumblings about a free Kindle, it was really nothing more than a gimmick that allowed select “pre-qualified customers” to purchase a Kindle and then request a refund should they not like it. The gimmick here was that, once they admitted they did not like the Kindle, they were still allowed to keep it. Strange perk considering you hated it enough to want a refund. Anyway, this latest offer seems to be a little more legitimate. Of course, at this point it is nothing more than the word of a “reliable source” of TechCrunch.

But putting that aside, the story suggests that Amazon is looking for a way to give ALL Amazon Prime customers a free Kindle. The catch here is that Amazon is said to still be working on a way to do that without losing a bunch of money.

As far as Amazon Prime, for those unfamiliar, it it a subscription service that costs $79 per year and allows customers to always get two day shipping for free.

The theory here is that if they give a free Kindle to those customers they can make up for any upfront loss with future purchases. The part that makes me question this is that regular Kindle readers may not need Amazon Prime. Personally, I have been reading about 2 or 3 books per month on my Kindle. By itself that is a decent amount, but I also do not need the free shipping perk that comes with Amazon Prime because I use the Kindle for delivery.

Read [TechCrunch]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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FROM GAMERTELL - MacSoft and MacPlay are gone. Aspyr is around, but they focus largely on PC and console titles. Where does that leave me? Wandering aisles at Macworld 2010 looking for Mac gaming goodness.
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Hand-powered chargers are nothing new, but Fame LLC claims that their product, YoGen, delivers as much power per second as the chargers for your mobile device. In other words, if it takes a couple of hours for your device to be fully charged via its power adapter, it will also take you two hours to fully charge your device using the YoGen.

Watch Fame LLC Vice-President of Sales/Husband of CEO/Dentist Robert F. Morrison repeat what I just said on video:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The YoGen weighs a mere 98 grams and is under an inch thick. It charges via mini-USB, but it also has cables or connection tips for various other devices such as iPods, digital cameras and even Bluetooth headsets. An iPhone 3GS-compatible connection tip will soon be available. Just for kicks, let’s watch good ol’ Vice-President of Sales/Husband of CEO/Dentist/Commercial model Robert F. Morrison one more time:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order the YoGen on its online store for only $40 (USD). And as we always say here on the Web, check out the product’s website for more info. Are there any proud (or enraged) YoGen owners out there? Maybe you could share your impressions with us.

[via AVING]