Archives for January 2007
Get nostalgic with tube-enhanced audio
Philip Wong | Jan 11, 2007
Tired of the fatigue from those clinical-sounding stereo systems? Check out Philips' latest DVD micro theater enhanced with audiophile-grade vacuum tube technology. Diehard vinyl fans will be familiar with the warm audio characteristics offered by these analog systems, highly sought-after in the current days of A/V digitization.
The above is paired with an efficient digital amplifier piping out clean 150W power to a pair of real wooden three-way speakers. Each of them is endowed with quality neodymium ribbon tweeter, a dome midrange driver and a 5-inch woofer. That's besides onboard DVD and DivX playback via an HDMI terminal capable of hi-def 720p/1080i output.
The Philips MCD908 is now available from S$999 (US$657.24)
Inkless pen
Juniper Foo | Jan 11, 2007
Curse of the leaking ink? Tell us about it. Stained fingers aside, yours truly had a perfectly good bag strap accidentally inked to the point where no ink remover would salvage it. Which is where this little pen makes a great addition to your writing arsenal--since there's no ink involved. Uncapped, all it has is a solid metal tip that actually writes on any paper type. No tricks. Just good, old science which borrows from medieval times when scribes and artists used silver-tipped styli to scribble on specially prepared paper. Silver being too rich for today's humble stationery, the modern version employs a metal alloy that leaves marks on paper much like a pencil. There're tradeoffs, of course. You can't rub those marks off, and you certainly won't be marking papers in red.
Get up close with the writing
Via popgadget.net
Price: US$23.53
Availability: Mid-January at Grand Illusions catalog
Device: Pen
Specs: 8cm long
AMD launches logo: Better by Design
Darius Chang | Jan 10, 2007
AMD engineers are taking a break as the marketing department goes into overdrive, with a skew of new logos coming out in conjunction with upcoming Windows Vista systems.
Better by design. That is AMD's latest moniker to describe PCs based on its processors and optimized for the Vista platform. For systems to merit this badge, they must contain a Turion dual-core chip and an ATI or Nvidia graphics card. Notebooks have an additional requirement in the form of an Airgo, Atheros or Broadcom wireless radio. Better by Design systems should be rolling out in the coming months.
Creative to fight the scourge of blurry Web video
Darius Chang | Jan 10, 2007
Your Webcam videos look like they've been taken in a fog? Creative's latest video-capture device brings autofocus functionality to your table for clearer images.
The 2-megapixel Creative Live! Cam Optia AF may be the first autofocus Webcam in the market. By quickly and quietly adjusting the focal length via the face recognition software, this peripheral puts an end to blurry videos and snapshots. Another notable feature is the audio effects application which allows you to imitate another voice as you are speaking with another person online. The Creative Live! Cam Optia AF will be retailing for US$130 when it hits US stores before June.
Image sensors 2,000 times more sensitive to light
Damian Koh | Jan 10, 2007
If you're wondering like us what's next in line for image sensors, well, we think Planet82 has the answer with a chip that's supposedly 2,000 times more sensitive to light, and 50 percent smaller than current CMOS and CCD sensors.
Shooting at high sensitivity settings with current image sensors usually results in pictures plagued with an obscene amount of noise. In worst cases, this can make your snaps look like they are covered with a layer of sand. So if Planet 82's new Single carrier Modulation Photo Detector (SMPD) technology can get rid of those issues, we're more than glad to see it in our cameras.
Planet82 is showcasing black-and-white, full-color VGA, and 2-megapixel color sensors at CES this year, capable of taking "clearer and crisper images in low-light situations without the distortion or energy drain of a flash". Sounds like a mouthful, but if it's going to allow us to snap some reconnaissance pictures in the dark, hey, we're all for it.
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