SlashGear Week In Review - Week 37 2010
Welcome to the latest edition of the SlashGear Week in Review. This week Fujitsu showed off a really cool new wireless charging system that is able to charge multiple devices at one time. The system is very efficient and can adjust to what each device needs automatically. Panasonic unveiled a cool new camcorder that uses micro four thirds lenses. The camcorder is called the AG-AF100.
A Twitter leak from a product designer claiming to have designed some accessories for the Nintendo 3DS claims that the launch date for the portable console is November 20. The person who posted the Tweet later edited it and Nintendo has made no official statement on the launch date at this point. BPG Werks unveiled a new rideable device for soldiers that looks part tank and part Segway called the Shredder. The device can be ridden by a rider or controlled remotely.
Nintendo is celebrating the 25th birthday of Super Mario. Fans in the UK can enter a video contest to win a special Wii bundle to celebrate the birthday. Kensington pulled the wraps off a new iPad accessory this week called the PowerBack. The PowerBack is a case with a kickstand and a battery inside that extends the battery life of the iPad by five hours.
An awesome rubber band gatling gun debuted early in the week that is crazy expensive at $499. The thing weighs 20 pounds, is made of CNC machined aluminum parts, and will hold 64 rubber bands. Nokia officially unveiled the C6 and C7 smartphones Tuesday. Both of the devices use a ClearBlack display that promises better viewability in direct sunlight.
Microsoft released Halo: Reach this week and to promote the pending launch early in the week the company had a person dressed like a real Spartan flying around wearing a jetpack in London. Canon debuted a few new cameras this week and among them was the new PowerShot G12. The camera can records HD video and has HDR settings among others.
Nokia unveiled the E7 4-inch QWERTY smartphone early in the week with a capacitive touchscreen. The phone has 720p video recording and lots more with a price of about $636. Nikon unveiled a new D7000 DSLR camera with 16.2MP and full HD video shooting. The camera has some other nice features like continuous autofocus when recording that video and will cost right at $1500 in kit form.
New phones from HTC leaked mid-week and we snapped a couple pics of them when an exec left them sitting out for a potty break. The devices were unveiled on stage later in the HTC presentation. If you are the sort that likes to build things, Nanodots debuted this week and they are really cool. The little magnetic balls stick together and you can build all sorts of cool designs using them.
A new design for Twitter was launched with endless scrolling and in-line media. It sounds pretty much like that iPad app that launched a few weeks back. HTC will launch an Android tablet in Q1 2011 according to DigiTimes. The tablet will reportedly run Android 3.0.
HTC has a Media Link wireless adapted set to land in Q4. The device will work with some HTC handsets for streaming media to sets without DLNA support built-in. We went hands on with the mophie juice pack powerstation for the iPad, iPhone and any other USB device. The station has a 3600mAh battery inside and a pair of USB ports.
We learned on Thursday that the update for the PS3 adding support for 3D gaming and movies was coming on September 21. The update will bring the PS3 to v3.50. A cool wearable webcam for life casting and other uses called the Looxcie surfaced late in the week. The camera combines a Bluetooth headset with a 480 x 320 resolution 15fps camera with 4GB of storage.
Incipio launched a watchband case for the iPod nano called the Linq. The case protects the nano and lets it be worn on the wrist like a watch. A rumor surfaced that claims the PSP2 is in the hands of developers right now. A developer from Netherrealm Studios let it slip that his firm had one of the portable devices in house.
Thursday Samsung's Galaxy Tab went official and the thing will be coming in four versions to major wireless carriers. That means that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint are all getting their own version of the tablet. A cool net-slate thingy surfaced from Dell that has a prototype device with a screen that swivels leaving the fixed frame in place for conversion to a tablet. It's strange looking but pretty cool, Dell offered no details on the device.
Olive unveiled its cheapest media streaming device last week that sell for $1000, which is nearly half the price of some the 4D. The new server is the 03HD and it has a 500GB HDD and CDR drive inside along with support for lots of media formats. Intel unveiled its plans at IDF this week for 15nm Atom processors. The catch is that there is no time frame offered so the 15nm processors could be decades away for all we know.
Best Buy's CEO announced this week that the iPad is stealing as much as 50% of the laptop market. The iPad is certainly selling well and the statement was made along with the announcement that the iPad would be coming to Best Buy this month. HP unveiled a new camcorder that is pocket size and can record 1080p resolution video. The camcorder is called the V5020u and will ship in October. Thanks for reading this week's edition!