Stealth launch: Casio EX-Z8

This is the fifth camera that Casio is announcing this fall. However, number five seems to lack the PR publicity that the Japanese firm had allocated to the earlier four.

While Casio gave us few details, it's plain to see that the EX-Z8 is meant as a replacement for the EX-Z75. And like the previous quartet, the 8-megapixel Z8 will have a YouTube video capture mode (low-res) and upload software.

A Casio Singapore spokesperson reported that the EX-Z8 will not be retailing in the island republic.

 Read our review of the first Casio YouTube camera

     

Wave TV

We all knew that one day TV would fry our brains. Now apparently it's come true. Taking a leaf out of LG's book of Internet fridges, the Holland Electro/Marcel Wanders Wave TV turned up at IFA Berlin recently. The Wave, as it's oddly called, features a 10.2-inch LCD with DVD player built into the oven door of a microwave. Yes, microwave. So now we can watch television on our microwave while the food cooks. If you don't mind paying US$680 for it, you can get popcorn fresh out of the "oven" to have with that comedy playing on your microwave tube. Hopefully, the neighbors won't be peering through their kitchen window just as you're laughing insanely at your microwave appliance.

Via Gizmag

Price: 500 euroes (US$680)
Availability: N.A.
Device: Integrated kitchen appliance

Casio lets YouShoot and YouTube your videos

Casio's new compact camera is lauding YouTube, and it's not necessarily a strange thing since digital stills and videos are becoming increasingly common bedfellows in most electronic devices.

The deal

The Japanese camera maven also announced an agreement with YouTube the same time it launched the EX-S880. Casio calls this its effort to directly engage the YouTube community. We took that as a hint that there's a viral video of the EX-S880 running round on the video-sharing site, but we were wrong.
Read more »

New HP desktops shine, want you to buy more stuff

HP announced the first product of its joint design efforts with Voodoo PC this evening. Our review of the HP Blackbird 002 is up, and it achieved the highest rating we've ever awarded a desktop. We'll let the review speak for itself, but we'll only add here that while we wrote about a custom config that won't be available until October 1, you can buy a similar, fixed-configuration system today for US$5,500 that looks like this:

Overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850

Two Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards

Windows Vista Ultimate

2GB 800MHz DDR2 Corsair SDRAM

160GB 10,000 rpm hard drive

500GB 7,200 rpm hard drive

Two 16x dual-layer DVD burners

HP also announced its new Pavilion Elite line of digital-media-oriented desktops. They look basically the same as the Pavilion Media Center systems from earlier this year, with a few tweaks to the glossy case. We're still working on our review of the higher-end Pavilion Elite m9040n, but we can tell you so far that we're perplexed by the fact that it has bays for two different kinds of removable HP hard drives. This feels like a serious waste of space design-wise, and also like a transparent upselling tactic. The good news is that this system no longer has the superfluous "Media Center" designation in its name, as all PCs with Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate include Microsoft's Media Center interface.

This post orginally appeared in CNET Crave.

HP updates business, consumer notebooks

At an evening press event in New York, HP announced a much-needed new look for its business laptop line. With a silver finish, drop-hinge panel and scooped-out keyboard, the new models look more modern than the boxy corporate HPs of yore, though they'll still blend in with traditional business environments. Inside the redesigned cases you'll find all the component options you'd expect from a business laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo processors, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, DVD burners with LightScribe, and HP's ProtectTools support software. The three new models announced today include the 14.1-inch HP Compaq 6520s (price varies by region), the 15.4-inch HP Compaq 6720s (starting at US$649) with a choice of antiglare or BrightView screen finishes and the 17-inch HP Compaq 6820s (starting at US$999) with ATI Mobility Radeon X1350 graphics as well as a full keyboard and 10- key number pad. All three models are currently shipping in the US.

In other business news, HP announced that it will begin offering 64GB solid-state drives on its professional laptops and mobile workstations. Specific models to have this option include the HP Compaq 2710p, 2510p, 6910p, and 8000 series workstations.

It's not all business, though; the consumer-oriented Pavilion line will also see a few updates. Users who want always-on connectivity will have the option of adding built-in 3G/HSDPA to their 14.1-inch Pavilion dv2500. New consumer laptops include the dv2500z, dv6500z, and dv9500z, which are AMD-based versions of existing Pavilion models. And the company announced a new variation on the existing 15.4-inch dv6500 model. The HP Pavilion dx6500 includes only Intel CPU and GPU options, as well as dual hard drives up to 320GB; it also lacks the fingerprint reader, HDMI support, and modem found on the dv6500 model. The Pavilion dx6500 will be available at US retail outlets in October, at a starting price of US$949.

We may be seeing the refreshed consumer models in the coming HP Big Bang launch in Asia next week, though it's unlikely that the new corporate laptops will make it here so soon.

This post orginally appeared in CNET Crave.

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