2008 December - SlashGear

Archive for December, 2008

HDI Dune BD Prime: media streamer & Blu-ray deck in one

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

If you're looking for a dual multimedia player and Blu-ray deck, your options are pretty limited; however HDI will happily sell you their Dune BD Prime. Available in four variations, each with different connectivity, the HDI Dune BD Prime has HDMI 1.3, optical and coaxial digital and 7.1 analogue audio outputs together with composite, component and S-Video video outputs; it also has three USB 2.0 ports to connect external hard-drives containing video and audio files. Read The Full Story

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry now available

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

As promised, the SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry Beta is now available to download. The software, confirmed on December 18th, allows BlackBerry users to watch streamed SlingBox content over their 3G or WiFi connections, and is - while in beta, at least - a free download. Officially the app supports the Bold, Curve 8900, 8820, Curve 8320, Pearl Flip 8220 and the Pearl 8120. Read The Full Story

Samsung S8300 AMOLED touchscreen 8MP cellphone coming March 09?

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

Details of an AMOLED touchscreen slider cellphone from Samsung have emerged, complete with an 8-megapixel autofocus camera and GPS. The Samsung S8300 has a 2.8-inch WQVGA 16m color AMOLED touchscreen and a widget-based interface; external hardware controls are limited to a D-pad and call/end buttons, although there's a full numeric keypad on the slide. Read The Full Story

Alesis MasterControl audio interface & control surface launches

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

Audio-specialists Alesis have released their latest combination audio interface and control surface, ideal for musicians looking to incorporate real-life instruments with computer-based synths and mixing software. The MasterControl connects via FireWire and offers 44.1 to 192kHz recording via multiple inputs, as well as dozens of assignable controls including nine 100mm motorized faders, a jog-wheel, and eight 360-degree pots. Read The Full Story

LG Trumotion 480Hz LCD panel set for CES 2009

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [2]

LG's 1,000,000:1 contrast HDTV isn't the only LCD wonder they're planning to demonstrate at CES next week. Unable to keep it to themselves for another seven days, the company has announced the world's first "Trumotion 480Hz" panel, a combination of LG's existing 240Hz technology with a new backlight capable of being rapidly switched on and off. Read The Full Story

MSI U115 Hybrid dual SSD & HDD netbook official

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

MSI have officially announced the U115 Hybrid netbook, which they're calling the world's first with "hybrid storage". While the MSI U115 Hybrid might be powered by the usual Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, where it differs from the mainstream is in its duo of storage: both a standard hard-drive (either 120GB or 160GB) and a solid-state drive (either 8GB or 16GB). The benefit, according to MSI, is battery life and speed. Read The Full Story

Sony VAIO Netbook keyboard photos emerge

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [1]

Sony Japan's 'VAIO New Mobile' teaser campaign - otherwise known as "this is the netbook we're announcing at CES 2009" - has added two new images for us to obsess over. Both detail the upcoming netbook's keyboard, which appears to bear a strong resemblance to that on the VAIO TT/TZ only with the addition of a trackpoint control stub. Second picture after the cut Read The Full Story

Tokyoflash Giveaway: And the winners are…

Chris Davies, Dec 30th 2008 Discuss [0]

SlashGear's Tokyoflash Radio Active Giveaway ended yesterday, and we now know the three winners. Taking away first prize - a limited-availability Radio Active Active Reactor watch, no longer officially on sale - is Kathy Schreiber; our two runners-up got to pick a timepiece from the current Tokyoflash catalog. M.J. Coward, our first runner-up, selected the Pimp Star Performer IP Black, while our second, Andrea Woodworth, chose the Nekura Progression. Congratulations to all three winners, and thanks again to Tokyoflash for sponsoring this giveaway!

Star Wars Battlefront III renders leaked by former Free Radical developer

Staff Editor, Dec 29th 2008 Discuss [2]

One of the many employees of Time Splitters developer, Free Radical, That were laid off recently as the company underwent administration has posted a few images from his modeling work on Star Wars Battlefront III on his very own personal blog. Read The Full Story

Heath didn’t want a Wii for Christmas, so he beat his girlfriend up

Staff Editor, Dec 29th 2008 Discuss [1]

We talk about video game violence as a very controversial subject, but what about violence from getting a video game system? Apparently 26-year-old Heath Blom did not want the Wii that his grandparents bought him for Christmas so we went nuts on family members. Read The Full Story

Hualu, Panasonic-made Blu-ray Players launched to counter CBHD in China

Daniel Lim, Dec 29th 2008 Discuss [0]

The Format War might have ended many moon’s ago, but Blu-ray never took control of the world’s largest market, and in fact, China has its own HD format (China Blue High-Definition) to counter foreign license fees from BDA. Darn CBHD is much more resilient than HD-DVD despite having zero studio endorsements. Nevertheless, recent setback; the Taiwanese pullout, and now the China made Blu-ray for Chinese market could finally put this issue to rest, or could it? Read The Full Story

Sony PS3 sales dwindling this holiday season

Staff Editor, Dec 29th 2008 Discuss [1]

Just as the Playstation 3 starts catching up to its competitors the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, it sees a sudden slowdown around the holidays. The early results of this holiday season were not in Sony’s favor as they fell 19 percent from last year. Read The Full Story