Gadgets - SlashGear

‘Gadgets’ Stories

Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray Burner to Ship in August

Benjamin Nied, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

Well it's nice to see the force behind Blu-ray finally putting out a Blu-ray drive. Sony has announced that its BWU-100A Blu-ray Burner will begin shipping next month. The drive will cost you $750 USD, which is the lowest price we've seen on a Blu-ray drive yet, and will be able to burn both 25GB and 50GB BD-R/RE discs at 2x, meaning it'll take around 30 minutes to burn a 25GB disc and 60 to burn a 50GB disc. Sony claims that their drive will also be able to burn most DVD±R/RW formats as well as CD-R/RW. Read The Full Story

Sony Takes Wraps Off Computerless DVD Recorder

Benjamin Nied, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

For those of us still without a computer with a DVD burner, or those of us who just want to plug in our camcorder and record DVDs directly, Sony has the answer for you. Say hello to the VRD-MC3 and the VDR-VC30, two new DVDirect recorders from Sony which allow computer-less syncing with hard drive-based Sony Handycams. Both units boast an impressive array of features, including a wide array of supported disc and memory card formats. Read The Full Story

Panasonic’s 103-inch Viera Gets Hefty Price Tag

Benjamin Nied, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

Panasonic's HUGE 103-inch plasma TV, which we covered last week, finally has a price tag, though any comments we've jokingly made about second mortgages/selling spare body parts to afford these sets may actually be true for this baby. The TH-103PZ600 will be out this September for the hefty sum of 6,000,000 yen. For those of you playing the home game, that translates to over $51,000 USD; people with that kind of extra coin lying around might be better off spending it as a down payment on a small country or a Lear Jet. Read The Full Story

DS Lite Screen Passes Impromptu Stress Test

Benjamin Nied, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNNNwK2XMzk Just in case you're concerned about your Nintendo DS Lite's screen being on the fragile side (especially after today's story about the hinges on the new handhelds breaking), these guys have decided to show you just how durable these little gaming devices are. Taking the liberty of using a store's display unit (they didn't specify which store, probably to save their asses from getting sued), the stress testers proceeded to press on the screen with both thumbs, trying to see how far the device would go before snapping. Read The Full Story

Wii’s Wireless Capabilities Unveiled

Ewdison Then, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

Read The Full Story

Macbook vs. Dell Latitude: Which is hotter?

Benjamin Nied, Jul 19th 2006 Discuss [0]

We've seen how the Macbook's excessive heat can be used to cook your breakfast (which isn't a good sign as far as computers go). But is Apple's little gem alone with this heat issue, or are other Core Duo-based notebooks running just as hot as Apple's well-publicized stove computer. Brian Krische wanted to know, so he put a Macbook and a Dell Laititude D620 to the test to see which laptop will scold your lap faster. Read The Full Story

DS Lites Can’t Handle the Pressure?

Benjamin Nied, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [0]

Well, with all the good press that Nintendo and the DS Lite have enjoyed thus far, some bad news was going to arrive eventually. Reports are coming in from all over the Internet that the new handhelds have some difficulty withstanding the pressures of opening and closing; specifically, a small crack appears on the left-hand side of the hinge, starting off as a small crack and gradually getting larger as the device is used more. Read The Full Story

Samsung Ships the HL-S5679W LED DLP

Benjamin Nied, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [0]

If you've been waiting with bated breath for Samsung's 56-inch, LED-based DLP HDTV, you need to wait no longer. Samsung has begun to ship this $4,200 set to eager customers all over the world. Being LED-based, the set has a lifespan of 20,000 hours, meaning that the set is only good for 2.28 years of non-stop television. If this doesn't bother you (and unless you leave your TV on nonstop, the lifespan should be a lot longer than 2 years), the HL-S5679W also features 1080p resolution, a 4000:1 contrast ratio, analog and digital tunes, HDMI ports, and energy-saving features. So if you don't mind the limit lifespan, go grab one of these new sets and make your HDTV experience a worthwhile one. Product Page [via HDBeat]

Mobile Compia PDA for Day Traders

Vincent Nguyen, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [0]

Day traders don’t get your hopes up just yet because the MC-700 is probably not going to be available state side. This PDA is designed and built for folks with the need to stay on top of stock tickers. The 3.5-inch touch screen LCD is optimized for displaying stock market information. It’s likely made for the Korean market running on their CDMA network. Other features include 64MB SDRAM, 128MB FlashROM and a miniSD slot for memory expansion. The MC-700 sports a 312 MHz Xscale PXA270 chip set running on Windows CE 5.0 (yuck!). Read The Full Story

Daewoo Lucoms UMPC – The Solo M1

Vincent Nguyen, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [0]

Well if you can’t or unwilling to manufacture your own UMPC, the other solution is to clone someone else’s and slap your name on it. That’s exactly what Daewoo Lucoms has done. Their very own (wink wink) UMPC is called the Solo M1. The heart and soul of the Solo M1 is the Founder UMPC. The Solo M1 features a Celeron 900, 7” touch-screen, MS Tablet PC operating system, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 1.3 mega-pixel video camera, DMB TV tuner and a S-Video out. And it does come with a cradle. I’d have to say that the Solo M1’s list of specs does seem more attractive than the Samsung Q1. Read The Full Story

Digital HERO Sports Wrist Camera

Vincent Nguyen, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [2]

Come on, there’s a little bit of show-off in all of us. Have you ever tried to take a picture while jumping out of an airplane, surf, snowboard or basically anything that requires your full attention yet you still want to capture the moment on photo or video? The Digital HERO Waterproof Sports Wrist Camera by Go Pro is the solution – it features a shockproof case, water-resistance up to 30 feet underwater and weighs less than 3oz. Read The Full Story

Digital shower Grohtherm Wireless

Vincent Nguyen, Jul 18th 2006 Discuss [0]

Wireless is everywhere today. We have wireless remote control, wireless mouse and keyboard and wireless Internet. It makes perfect sense to have a wireless shower. The Grohe Wireless Digital Shower allows homeowner to configure and operate from any room. The system is highly configurable, allowing each members to set the temperature that suites them. For example, I can setup the system to set the temperature to cold in the morning or warm for a relaxing shower in the evening. This is especially nice for those cold winter mornings. Read The Full Story