Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset was good enough to make even Vincent look twice at his Jawbone PRIME, and it remains the SlashGear choice if you’re looking for a sturdy, long-lasting hands-free kit with excellent audio quality. Now Plantronics have announced European availability for the Voyager PRO, with the headset going on sale for £79.99.
The plus side to Amazon’s attempts to differentiate ebook hardware and content is being able to read content on more than one device. However, when one arm of the company is pushing customers to buy more Kindle hardware, and the other has cautious publishers insisting on layers of DRM, confusion is bound to happen. According to Gear Diary’s Dan Cohen, that confusion is already upon us: he’s spent his weekend and several long calls with Amazon customer care trying to figure out how many times he can download ebooks he’s purchased, and being told different things by different employees.
After the MSI X-Slim X340’s recent frankly awful review, we’ve been waiting for a third-opinion and hopefully some indication that the ultraportable’s poor showing was a one-off aberration. Unfortunately, many of the critique points from that review – poor build quality, “cheap and nasty” trackpad and “tacky” keyboard – also crop up in NotebookReview’s piece.
This enthusiastic man is holding what could, with a little more R&D and a big marketing budget, be the next big peripheral in first-person shooters. The handiwork of “The Redneck Techie“, the Game Gun is a modified keyboard, stuffed into a gun peripheral, with motion-sensitive tracking and an LCD display mounted on top.
Video demo after the cut
LG and NComputing have announced a new range of “Network Monitors“, LCD displays with integrated thin-clients that can be used as virtual desktops or with cloud computing systems. Unlike most thin-client systems, however, LG’s looks straightforward enough for home or SOHO implementation, requiring just an X550 PCI card to be installed into the server PC, the included vSpace virtualization software installed and then up to five N-series monitors hooked up via ethernet cable.
The surprise is perhaps diminished thanks to their joining the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) back in December 2008, but according to Taiwanese industry sources Toshiba are currently developing an Android-based cellphone. No details regarding the smartphone have been disclosed, and Toshiba themselves are yet to publicly announce any Android intentions.
One possibility, however, is that Toshiba are considering a Qualcomm Snapdragon based Android device. The company’s TG01 Windows Mobile smartphone already uses the Snapdragon chipset, and Qualcomm themselves demonstrated Android running on a reference prototype back at CES in January. Such a handset could have significantly improved AV capabilities, with various Snapdragon processors supporting anything from integrated WWAN and GPS to high-definition support, mobile digital TV, HSPA+ and WiFi.
We’re gearing up to cover HTC’s press event this coming Wednesday, where the company is expected to unveil their third Android-powered device, the HTC Hero. That’s now looking even more likely, after the Global Certification Forum (GCF) reportedly approved the smartphone as the HERO100.
If carrying your computer like a plastic handbag appeals, and you’re also a fan of pen-computing, then Daewoo’s latest netbook may be the best thing for you. The SOLO C920-mini starts from humble netbook beginnings – an Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 60GB 1.8-inch 4,200rpm hard-drive – then throws in an 8.9-inch touchscreen and nifty carrying handle.
Samsung have taken the wraps off of their latest pocket-projector, the P410M, and while you’d certainly need reasonably-sized pockets to carry it, it perhaps makes up for things by offering higher than usual specs. The P410M boasts up to 800 x 600 resolution and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, together with inputs that include VGA, composite and a USB port.
It’s Monday morning, so what better way to start the day than with two netbooks most people can’t officially buy. Sharp’s Mebius NJ70A is one such device, complete with a touchscreen display in place of a traditional trackpad and Intel’s Atom N270 CPU, while the 1.86GHz Sony VAIO P25G has the faster Atom Z540 processor currently unavailable through official channels in the US. After the cut there’s a boot race video, plus more details on that surprisingly clever touchscreen.
Video demo after the cut
JP
