Archives for February 2008
V=stand stands tall
Juniper Foo | Feb 04, 2008
Turns out some firm has been trying to market its made-in-Singapore V=stand to companies. Measuring 2.5 x 5.2cm, this little gizmo sticks onto the back of any portable device--be it your MP3 player, mobile phone or PDA--to give it instant "prop up" status. The adhesive is quite strong, having seen a demo of its sticking power. And once applied, it protrudes from the back of the device which may not be to everyone's liking.
But otherwise, those without a docking cradle for their device may find this a cheap and neat solution, with eight adjustable angles to play with. There's just one catch. I.Q. Innovations is retailing this wholesale only. Bummer. (Update: The company is in talks to put this on shop shelves after the Lunar New Year, so that's a bit of good news)
Samsung's tiny trackball mouse
Mike Yamamoto | Feb 04, 2008
Its M30 Duplus Mouse is "a pocket-size trackballer with a wireless USB connection system, a laser pointer, and remote controller capabilities", according to Everything USB. As we noted more than a year ago, earlier versions already looked too small to be used comfortably, even without such additional features. In the new M30, it's the trackball that appears particularly tricky, though maybe it's just because we've never been
As far as the multiple features are concerned, we really shouldn't be surprised. It's been clear for some time now that Samsung's R&D labs are completely out of control.
Via Crave CNET
Microsoft indecent proposal to Yahoo
Darius Chang | Feb 04, 2008
Will the marriage between two giants be enough to take on a mammoth? When it comes to search engines, Google is the undisputed leader, with Yahoo and Microsoft playing second and third fiddle to the Mountain View company. However, Microsoft's buyover bid at US$31 per share for Yahoo did come as a surprise.
With flagging profits and a rather bleak outlook in 2008, some say the software giant's offer was way overpriced and meant to blow any competing bids out of the water. Moreover, the corporate culture between Yahoo and Microsoft is so different that many critics speculate that this will go the way of Hotmail, whereby Yahoo becomes a mere subsidiary of the Redmond corporation without providing much, if any, benefit. Moreover, Microsoft has huge anti-trust hurdles to cross in Europe and the US even if Yahoo agreed to the offer.
On the other hand, proponents of the deal believe the consolidated customer base will increase the collective benefit from economics of scale, though whether this will work out depends strongly on how the details of the deal. Nonetheless, unless Yahoo manages to perform a small miracle and turn its business around, this may be Yahoo's final hurray.
SanDisk takes SDHC memory card to 32GB
Stephen Shankland | Feb 04, 2008
The company announced its 32GB Ultra II SDHC card Thursday at the Photo Marketing Association tradeshow in Las Vegas, a model designed with the needs of flash-based video cameras.
It will cost about US$350 when it goes on sale in April, the company said. A US$180 16GB Ultra II card will be available in March, and both come with a MicroMate USB card reader.
In addition, SanDisk announced a US$100 8GB Ultra II Plus card. It hinges open to reveal a USB plug that lets the card be directly connected to a computer.
All the new cards can write data at 15MB/sec, a notch up from the 9 or 10MB/sec of earlier Ultra II models, SanDisk said. However, that's not as fast as CompactFlash models, where SanDisk's top-end Extreme Ducati cards reach 45MB/sec.
SanDisk spokesman Ken Castle wouldn't comment on when the company's 32GB CompactFlash cards might reach the market. Competitors PNY and Transcend announced their 32GB CompactFlash cards in January.
"We've chosen to go with the SD first. That's where the momentum has been," Castle said. "Camcorders with HD (high-definition video) can eat memory pretty quickly."
SanDisk in 2007 sued 25 flash-card competitors, including Transcend and PNY, alleging patent infringement.
Via Crave CNET
Solar hats are making headway, unfortunately
Mike Yamamoto | Feb 04, 2008
Like its counterpart, this is a functional piece of headgear that makes use of the sun's rays to impress your friends, but for entertainment purposes as well as protection from melanoma and heat stroke. The visor has a speaker on each side, Gearfuse says, piping in tunes from a built-in AM/FM tuner.
It just goes to show that being green is no guarantee of immunity from the dreaded Date Repellant Syndrome.
Via Crave CNET
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