Archives for March 2008
It's a phone, it's a UMPC, it's...an HDPC?
Erica Ogg | Mar 25, 2008
That basically includes writing my blog posts and going through mounds of e-mail and auto-deleting the stuff I don't want. Otherwise, the HDPC from Korean manufacturer MIU does almost everything I want to do during the day.
The list of its purported functions: Internet phone, MP3 player, UMPC, digital camera, voice recorder, e-book reader, Wi-Fi, navigation, camcorder, and portable video game player. It also runs dual operating systems: Windows XP or Windows CE 5.0 and Linux QPlus. The screen measures 4 inches, and the keyboard is a full QWERTY setup, and to top it off, its starting price tag is around US$500.
Sounds great, but there are several things to quibble over. First, in the looks department... it probably has a good personality. I mean, I want to like it, but the photos reveal it to be bulky, and the design is really lacking. If I actually used this as a phone I'd look like I teleported from 1994. (To see why, check out this photo of the phone in someone's hand.)
While the ability to have a phone replace that many devices is a fantastic idea, it will run into in the same problems in the US (if it's ever released here--so far it's on track for Korea only) as every other in-between-categories UMPC device: The display and keyboard are too small for a computer, and its too big for a properly portable device.
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GreenPeace, GreenPeace on the roll, who's the greenest of them all?
Darius Chang | Mar 25, 2008Green seems to be the new black, as more companies discover the importance of an environmentally friendly image to their profit margin. But it's just too easy to give lip service or start half-hearted initiatives simply for the sake of good press. GreenPeace, a non-profit environmentalist group, dug deep into the green initiatives of various tech companies to discover which brands actually walked the walk.
The top winners are Samsung and Toshiba, though both companies would have taken second place if it wasn't for the fact that Nokia lost a point due to corporate misbehavior in its taken-back and recycling scheme, as well as the fact that its Russian and Indian staff were not informed of such a scheme at all. Though Sony sits in the fourth place, it's VAIO TZ laptop series has been declared the greenest laptop of them all, as it is totally free from beryllium.
If you feel strongly that all companies should adopt a strong environmentally friendly stand, vote with your wallet and walk away from the worst offenders (Philips and Nintendo) in the tech business.
Via Wired
Pioneer's ICE, ICE, baby
Philip Wong | Mar 25, 2008
ICE or In-Car Entertainment is what separates the kids from the men with exquisite taste in soulful music and engaging movies. To transform your hot ride into a full-fledged mobile home theater, Pioneer has lined up a series of new in-car A/V entertainment systems: The AVH-P6050DVD, P5050DVD, P4050DVD and DVH-P6050UB. Designed for young car enthusiasts, their standard features include iPod support, USB connectivity, parametric audio equalizer, multicolor backlighting and DVD-R/RW compatibility.
The higher-end AVH-series also comes with LCD touchscreen (motorized and retractable 7-inch for 6050/5050 and 6.1-inch for 4050) and value-added rearview camera display function. As for multimedia playback, the 5050 and 4050 will readily accept MP3, WMA, AAC, as well as DivX files recorded on CDs and DVDs. Singapore pricing for these new entries ranges from S$799 (US$542.43) to S$1,899 (US$1,289.21). Details for the rest of Asia aren't available as yet.
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Photo credit: Pioneer
The latest weird phone from Toshiba
Mike Yamamoto | Mar 25, 2008
Toshiba may not be the best-known manufacturer of mobile phones, but it certainly keeps things interesting. When it's not making Transformer wannabes, it's churning out peculiar combo devices with strange circular dial pads.
So it really should come as little surprise that its latest offering is anything but conventional either. The Cosmic Shiner is a luxury handset with diamond accents presented in a handmade lacquer box, but that's not the unusual aspect of this phone: "Buyers will be required to purchase the April issue of Seven Hills magazine to get the required unique ID codes that will initiate the credit-card only purchase process for the US$4,000 luxury cell phone," according to BornRich, "which will include various agency arrangements such as hotel and restaurant bookings as well as other special privileges."
Call us difficult, but we don't think anyone should have to jump through hoops to pay US$4,000 for anything. For that kind of money, they should hand-deliver the thing and cook dinner while they're there.
Via CNET Crave | Picture credit: BornRich
Polaroid's kiddy attempts
Leonard Goh | Mar 24, 2008
Kids can use either the 2.4-inch LCD to frame their shots or the two viewfinders located above the display. We think the camera looks like a mask when kids bring it up to look through the viewfinder.
The pixie digital camera comes with 2x digital zoom, 16MB of internal memory and SD flash memory expansion slot. It is powered by two readily available AAA-sized batteries.
Available in two color schemes: Yellow/pink for the girls and orange/blue for the boys, the pixie digital camera is available online for US$79.99.
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