After teasing with a foam mockup, Art Lebedev Studios have released the first 3D prototype shot of the in-development Optimus Popularis keyboard. The keyboard is shorter than the original Optimus Maximus, with the extra row of shortcut keys moved from the left of the main keys to above the function keys. However it seems to share the same each-key-a-display setup, although the space key display is now full-length rather than the small square OLED on the Maximus.
If you’re serious about home theatre, you’ve probably skipped past the whole “LCD or plasma?” debate and instead started browsing through projector catalogues. Sound & Vision have been taking a look at Mitsubishi’s HC6000 projector – capable of 1080p high-definition and of taking 24p input and frame-doubling it to luscious 48p – and come away wowed by its impressive visuals and setup flexibility. Priced at $3,995, the HC6000 isn’t exactly a cheap option, but you’d pay a whole lot more for a 92-inch TV.
Seagate has confirmed that it will enter the SSD market, but maintains that demand for traditional hard-drives will continue as users prove reluctant to give up cheap cost-per-gigabyte storage. CEO Bill Watkins has described the upcoming solid-state drives as intended for enterprise use, the only market segment, he claims is willing and able to stump up the premium. Instead Seagate will push larger capacity platter-based drives, with a 2TB model expected sometime in 2009.
Is the tech world set to split into “those who understand the Sony Rolly” and “those that don’t”? No, probably not, but AP’s Rachel Metz would certainly fall into the latter category. In her review of the bizarre twitching, wiggling, flashing PMP speaker – which officially went on sale in the US earlier this month – Rachel’s few good experiences with the device are pretty much overwhelmed by Rolly’s inability to fit into a standard music player niche. Highlights (or should that be lowlights?) include the lack of a headphone socket, the paltry 2GB of storage and the tricky controls.
Onkyo’s latest mini-HiFi system, the X-NX10A, might look pretty mainstream (although that color LCD is on the large size), but its demure appearance hides a few pleasantly up-to-date features. For a start, there’s an 80GB hard-drive that you can rip CDs to or, via a USB port, copy across your existing digital music files. An ethernet port also allows the HiFi to look up track and artist information online, or download (non-DRM) tracks directly.
This dumpy, dusty slab is in fact MSI’s upcoming standalone GPS unit, the MS-5654. Appearing courtesy of the FCC, the device is based around a 4.3-inch touchscreen with minimal hardware controls, and will feature either 1GB or 2GB of internal storage and basic media playback functionality. Under the hood, a 372MHz Centrality CPU keeps things chugging along, while Bluetooth allows the MS-5654 to work as a handsfree kit.
The Wii Fit has been out for a little over a week now and already people are finding alternative uses for it. Wii Fanboy has been throwing random objects onto the Balance Board to see how different things are measuring up and Joystick Division have come up with various alternative uses for after you get bored of the game.
Many of us enjoy our morning cereal, although, as an adult I use it more as a snack than actual breakfast. Why not show your love of overly sugary cereal with a cool overhead light?
Kids have always had a tendency to wander off, no matter how much of a careful parent you are they still like to push their limits. Some parents have had special devices that attaches the kid to them if they are in an overly populated area like the zoo. This little bracelet offers a slightly more chic way to keep tabs on your offspring.
A/V specialists Harman Kardon have announced a bevy of new audio/video receivers in the company’s home theatre AVR range as well as its HK music series. The new models top out at the flagship AVR 354, shown here, with 7.1 channels, as well as the 7.1 channel AVR 254 and 5.1 channel AVR 154; the two new music receivers are the HK 3490 and HK 3390, both stereo. All three of the multichannel receivers have HDMI 1.3a functionality and pass video signals to 1080p.
SlashGear Japan
