Archives for May 2008
Wafer-thin: Samsung's OLED laptop prototype
Matthew Elliot | May 20, 2008
What a translated-from-the Korean Samsung page does reveal is that it's an AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) laptop prototype that Samsung's display division developed for the Society for Information Display's gathering in Los Angeles next week. According to Samsung, the prototype features a 12.1-inch screen with a 1,280x768 resolution. Perhaps we'll be able to glean more information next week when the display scientists, engineers, and manufacturers get together. As for when we might see this product on store shelves, Samsung has previously stated it'll start rolling out OLED TVs, monitors, and laptops in 2009.
Via Crave CNET | Source: Engadget
Dell has the first 320GB 7,200rpm laptop drive
Dan Ackerman | May 20, 2008
Desktop types are always kicking their laptop counterparts around, stealing
their lunch money, and making fun of their slow and undersized hard drives.
Most laptops have slower 5,400rpm or even 4,200rpm hard drives, usually between 120GB and 250GB in size. For high-end types, there are 320GB laptop hard drives, and also 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but you couldn't get both of those specs in the same laptop drive [dramatic pause...] until now.
Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate have all recently announced 320GB 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but Dell is the first to stick them in a consumer laptop, using the Seagate drive in the massive 17-inch XPS M1730.
"Laptop users want every bit of capacity, performance, and durability that desktop PCs deliver," says Michael Wingert, Seagate's executive vice president and general manager, Personal Compute Business, in a press release.
We checked out the Dell Web site and the 320GB drives are available right now, for US$50 more than a standard 5,400rpm 320GB drive. Look for these to show up in Alienware laptops next, followed by desktop replacement systems from other manufacturers.
Via Crave CNET
A Vista theme for iPhone? Yes, really
Jessica Dolcourt | May 20, 2008
The object of hilarity and defamation is VistaPerfection 2.0, a theme by developer Spec-Works that plops the Windows Vista GUI onto the iPhone. To run it, you'll need a jailbroken iPhone (see video), the SummerBoard app, and a wicked sense of humor.
Spec-Works reports that the application took "a couple days" to create and includes more than 90 icons, wallpaper, and sounds, including the Vista log-in and log-off chime and a revamped taskbar.
Quite a few tech bloggers have been happily jabbing away at the oxymoronic theme. Technabob, for instance, recommends it for those who are "ready and willing to deface [their] glorious chrome and glass iPhone with Microsoft's bloatware user interface."
The general consensus excuses VistaPerfection as a hack created for its own sake, though Zach Epstein of The Boy Genius Report charitably concedes that it might be useful for "a Vista addict [who has] begrudgingly picked up an iPhone but always loathed its clean UI."
It's true that design currents carry the visual style of Apple products into third-party Windows themes and apps, like ReadAir, ObjectDock, and the Macfox Firefox theme, and not the other way around. But that turning of tables is what makes the theme so deliciously amusing. VistaPerfection 2.0 does not come bundled with an installer, and those who want to play with the stuff of Steve Jobs' nightmares should consult ModMyiFone for the installation guide and tips.
Via The Daily Download | Credit: ModMyiFone
Panasonic details Neo PDP launch 
Philip Wong | May 20, 2008
You may have read about Panasonic’s Neo PDP plasma technology. You may even have caught a glimpse of the prototypes at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Well, we now have news that they could be coming to an electronics store near you as early as June 2009, according to a spokesperson at a recent Panasonic Tokyo/Osaka tour that CNET Asia was invited to. The global release follows an initial May production from the Panasonic P5 plant, its latest plasma panel manufacturing facility currently undergoing construction in Amagasaki, Japan.
The lineup includes a petite 24.7mm-thick 50-incher and its life-size 150-inch sibling. The latter also offers four times better image details over standard full-HD TVs with a native 4,096 x 2,160-pixel resolution. Size and picture quality aside, there is the FX or Double Efficiency technology. This eco-friendly feature delivers the same level of screen brightness at only half the power required by current flat panels.
Watch this space as we bring you more exciting coverage on Panasonic Center Tokyo and its Amagasaki plant tour.
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Photo credit: Panasonic
Shortages might bog down Wii Fit launch in the US
Nicole Lee | May 20, 2008
First Nintendo told us the Wii Fit would launch on May 19, but
the company neglected to mention that was applicable only to the Nintendo
World Store launch in New York--the rest of the country still has to wait
until May 21 to get their hands on the Wii Fit balance board and video game combo. But wait--if you neglected to preorder a unit, you might not be
getting one this May 21, either. Gamestop's online store has a temporarily-out-of-stock warning, and Amazon
halted online preorders as early as May 6, with 2.5 units sold every minute.
So if you want a Wii Fit, you should plan on heading out to your local
video game retailer bright and early this Wednesday in the US, because it looks like units
will be in short supply.
The price hike on eBay has already begun. From a preliminary search through the auctions, it looks like Wii Fit buyers from the New York Nintendo store have started hawking brand new units for two to three times more than the retail price of US$90. (As of this writing, the highest asking price of a brand new Wii Fit on eBay is US$360.) It looks like the Wii Fit is following the Wii's history of supply and demand. Who knew an exercise video game would be so popular?
Via Crave CNET
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