The new Pogoplug: More USB ports for extra hard drives, very pink.
(Credit: Cloud Engines)X
Just recently we reviewed Cloud Engines' Pogoplug, a very affordable US$99 solution that effortlessly turns any USB hard drive or memory stick into an online-connected makeshift server. We really enjoyed playing with the original, although its blocky white look wasn't exactly eyecatching. We take that back--and perhaps even long for the minimalism--with Cloud Engines' new Pogoplug, available in December. Read more »
Will 3D gaming help the PS3, or is it a gimmick? (Credit: Kotaku)
Sony has a strategy for upping the quality of its content and providing an incentive for gamers to upgrade their home entertainment systems next year, and it involves the PS3 going 3D.
A presentation to investors yesterday underlined that the PlayStation 3 will be a fully 3D-capable game console by the end of 2010, and that a firmware update would share this upgrade across all existing PS3s. A few demos of PS3 3D gaming have been shown previously, but the news of an across-the-board firmware update is new. Of course, a gamer would still need a 3D-capable Bravia HDTV and glasses, the latter of which haven't been announced yet.
We're curious how the quality will be--Nvidia's 3D game technology, now being embedded into laptops, looks great, but requires a 120Hz monitor for fluid motion. But it's a smart idea, if manufacturers want anyone to adopt 3D tech, to include it as a Trojan horse inside laptops and game consoles. And we hope it works on HDTVs other than specific Bravias. It doesn't sound like the PS3 will double as a 3D Blu-ray player, but we certainly hope that's the case.
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(Scott playing Left 4 Dead 2 on the Asus 3D laptop.
(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET))
Earlier this week, Asus unveiled a 15-inch laptop with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology built in. The US$1,699 Asus G51J 3D has a 120Hz LCD panel, an Intel Core i7 CPU, and a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU, and comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia's active glasses and the USB-powered IR emitter required to make the glasses work. Read more »
Sales of the Nintendo Wii have been flagging lately, and the number of quality titles coming out for this generation's bestselling system seems to be getting thinner every month. What better to fix everything than Mario? New Super Mario Bros. sold over 19 million copies for the DS, and now the Wii sequel has arrived just in time to give a breath of life into the little white box. We've been quite bullish about this new game after multiplayer hands-on and single-player sessions earlier this year. Now, after playing the final boxed version all weekend, did it live up to our lofty expectations? Our takes are below.
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The Vega tablet: Killer Android device?
(Credit: ICD)
As if Apple and Microsoft didn't already make it clear, 2010 looks like the Year of the Tablet. First viewed sitting on a table of an Nvidia executive, the Vega tablet will try to beat Apple's tablet, Microsoft's in-process Courier concept, and the semievaporated Crunchpad to the punch.
ICD, the manufacturer of the Vega, has confirmed the existence of the tablet as a real product, whose details will be more fully revealed at CES. Vega...Vegas...it seems appropriate. Read more »