Cool toys and Gadgets

 

LG has revealed a new stylish looking 3.5-inch hard drive to please their home crowd. The XD4 is graced by a nice glossy black aluminum finish and features a one touch backup button, enhanced durability and a cooling system to keep the heat levels at a minimum. The drives will come in capacities of 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. No word when on the pricing as well as the release date.

[Via Aving]

Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Tracking minute steps of the Korean Giant

If I keep coming on PS3 superiority on handling Blu-ray materials, I might get flamed with fanboyism. May be it is better if I state the opposite first. Why PS3 is not a good standalone? PS3 is loud, the noise tops my projector runs at high beam mode. Bluetooth remote sucks, additional IR dongle requires to add PS3 on Universal remote control. Hardware constraints; no multichannel audio support on analog output, advanced audio codec limits on LPCM though HDMI. Last but certainly not least, it’s awfully ugly!

But truth hurts; we’ve seen how PS3 leads loading time in a small group test, here’s another victory for PS3 fans – An exclusive Blu-ray player benchmark test from Blu-ray.com - The dreadful beast once again crowns the best in system booting, disc loading and operation. It is not only stands out among 12 Blu-ray players in test, but performance trumps contestants in Blu-ray Disc Java department by a large margin.

No surprise there, the results reflect the superiority of cell power processing in comparing with hardware-based units. The best-equipped standalone can’t even come close to the level of PS3 achieved; on the other hand, user has to deal with cooling noise works against the excessive heat resulting from the cell processor.

Test in question didn’t cover audio quality or image reproduction in legacy DVD upscaling or blu-ray disc, but unit’s ability to handle intensive Java content and interactive menu. You can visit Blu-ray.com to see more information on how the test was conducted and categorized.

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The Huawei U121 is a brand new entry-level handset from Huawei Technologies. It features some high-quality materials like stainless steel casing. Despite being entry level, the phone comes with a 1.3MP camera that supports video calls, an integrated FM radio, microSD memory card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Audio and video playback, miniUSB port and 3G connectivity. The Huawei U121 is currently only available only in Russia.

[justamp]

We’re live in Milan today, covering Sony’s latest announcement. In fact, Sony showed off a brand new marketing campaign today that’s intended to demonstrate their latest technology behind their BRAVIA televisions. The tech is called Motionflow 240Hz and in order to show off what the latest in motion picture technology is capable of, Sony resorted to the oldest method of creating motion pictures: the zoetrope.

A zoetrope is a device that uses static images but when spun at high speeds, create the illusion of movement. The Sony BRAVIA-drome feeds off of this 19th century technology to make for a device that is 10 meters across and spins at over 40 kph.

The subject of BRAVIA-drome is soccer, and this acts as the perfect way to show off how Motionflow works. In actually gets rid of jerkiness and shows the ball traveling in the air smoothly. This reproduces the feeling of being there live at the game. The new ‘drome is the subject of a commercial that will be used worldwide. Filmed in Venaria, which is near Turin, Italy, it shows a soccer star within the images in the BRAVIA-drome.

The commercial itself shows the faces of those in the audience standing in awe of this massive device. And it’s no wonder people were impressed. The BRAVIA-drome is capable of reaching speeds of over 50kph, requires two 40-foot trucks to transport it and weighs in at ten tons. It’s believed to be the largest zoetrope ever built!

The Motionflow 240Hz technology helps smooth out the jumpiness experienced on a normal television set. This works by significantly boosting the number of images, thus the frame rate. A “transitional picture” is placed between images in fast-moving parts of video, providing for smooth picture that is more pleasing to the eye.

This transitional picture is actually created by this Motionflow tech. It works by examining the images that precede and follow a particular image–especially during fast moving parts of a sports event or during an action sequence in a movie. All of the quick cuts and fast movements can cause a problem with how the sequence is subsequently viewed. By examining the prior and following image, Motionflow then adds an image in between that can make that car chase–or the movement of a soccer ball, in the case of the new ad campaign–look natural without any noticeable gaps in movement.

It’s really rather impressive and the whole BRAVIA-drome effort shows Sony is serious about promoting their newest technology. Check out our video from the press event below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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It seems you will soon be able to enjoy vastly improved Bluetooth speeds by the middle of next year. According the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the 10x and 100x Bluetooth standards will be released by mid-2009.

The 10x standard is intended for WLAN. This will allow for much improved transfer rates for data up to 30Mbps. On the other hand, 100x, will boost Bluetooth to USB level speeds, which clock in at around 300Mbps.

Bluetooth 2.0 right now is only capable of 3Mbps. So, these new standards would be a vast improvement. What do they mean, exactly? Well, Bluetooth speeds such as these should make video streaming wirelessly and printing from mobile devices a breeze. It is believed that the 10x standard will appear first in handsets that currently have Wi-Fi modules. However, the 100x standard will not be able to be used until more handsets feature UWB radios.

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A lot of people who own MacBooks tend to want to show them off. However, if you’re finding you need to protect your precious MacBook Air from bumps and scratches, you might be interested in the U-Suit Case.

The U-Suit covers up your MacBook Air and keeps it protected. However, it looks remarkably like a Dell Inspiron, doesn’t it? Kind of strange, don’t you think? But hey, at least you can still see the Apple insignia poking through the clear part.

Make by Uniea, the U-Suit Premium is available in both red and black color options. It is resistant to scratches and can hold up against most impacts. You can get this case now for $69.95, which is quite expensive, but most computers are an investment, so this can just go toward securing it further for you.

[via Chip Chick]

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This is truly an odd combo. An iPhone charger paired with that age old way of keeping monsters at bay, a night-lite. It’s a great idea. Should the lite fail for any reason, you can call for help with the monsters. They should have had this when we were kids.

The reviveLITE will certainly make you feel confident enough to sleep with your foot out of the covers and danging over the edge of the bed. It was developed by Scosche Industries, and will charge any and all iPods and iPhones. All you have to do is plug it into a wall outlet and you are safe. The darkness coming from your open closet is a whole other story.

You can get the reviveLITE in black and white models for $39.99.

[Slashgear]

Samsung has a brand new luxury cellphone in the Samsung Ego GT-S9402. The body of this handset is made of a “liquidmetal” composite alloy developed by Caltech, which is said to be three times stronger and can withstand 1.8 times the pressure, 1.6 time more flexible then, with three times better vibration absorption, and 100% lower termal conductivity then titanium. That’s quite a claim.

The Ego GT-S9402 is a DuoS phone that works with 2 SIM cards. Some other features include 2 inch 262K color QVGA AMOLED display, 5MP camera (with autofocus, image stabilization, smile detection, WDR and LED flash), an FM Radio with RDS, 1 GB of built-in memory, microSDHC memory card slot (up to 8 GB), Bluetooth 2.0 and USB, and 960 mAh battery.

[Techfresh]

Even though it was announced last month, the Cosmos Black case bundle from Cooler Master just got an addition that is definitely worth mentioning. In fact, it got a HyperZ600 CPU cooler added to the package, which suddenly makes it much more worthwhile.

This new case is, of course, all black and the HyperZ600 CPU cooler is meant to keep the latest high performance processors running cool without drowning you in noise. The cooler itself features a 120mm fan capable of 800 to 2200 rpm. It also has a spacer that goes between the fan and the top of the cooling fins to better channel the air. This also has the benefit of reducing noise greatly.

We don’t know what CPUs this cooler would be compatible with, but it does seem to be rather universal. If the HyperZ600 cooler sounds interesting to you, then you should take note that it is only available as a part of the Cosmos Black bundle.

[via SlipperyBrick]

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Google’s open-source Android cell phone operating system can be found on the T-Mobile G1, but soon the G1 will no longer be alone. The Agora from Australian cell phone maker Kogan will be the next to feature Android.

Sure, it looks like the lovechild of a Blackberry Bold, and a Samsung Blackjack, but that just means that phones are getting smart enough to mate and swap good genes. It will feature a 2.5-inch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, and a nice Qwerty keyboard.

Expect a January 29, 2009 ship date, but it’s now available for pre-order.

[Obsessable]