The long overdue Logitech Harmony 1100, first debuted at January's Consumer Electronics Show, has finally arrived in Asia. This handsome tablet is a cut above the competition with a 3.5-inch color screen which offers QVGA resolution, touch control and a customizable user interface. Another major differentiation is the radio frequency (RF) upgradeability via an optional RF extender. This enables remote control through walls and obstacles, though this accessory will not available at the moment. To further simplify installation, this Harmony utilizes an intuitive software wizard linked up to an online IR code repository covering 225,000 products from 5,000 major brands.
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To put it to the test, we "accidentally" dropped this Insignia MP3 player in a fountain. (Photo credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Your friends call you a klutz, Mom calls you careless, and you beat yourself up every time you drop your phone in the toilet or step on your MP3 player. We can't help you with your overall clumsiness, but there may be a solution for your soaked devices.
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The lens-sensor module. (Credit: Screenshot by Leonard Goh/CNET Asia from YouTube)
Modular camera systems are hard to come by, and so far only RED has it, though it'll set you back a hefty US$17,500 for the system's body. Ricoh has, however, taken a bold step in this direction with the GXR. While the company hasn't officially announced this shooter yet, videos and pricing have leaked online and are spreading like wildfire.
According to the YouTube video below, the system consist of two components: The camera body and the lens with a sensor built into it. Yes, you heard right. The image sensor and lens are combined as one module and this slides into the snapper's body where exposure control can be performed. Since the back and front are well-covered, there is little chance for dust to sneak in. Read more »
Reports started spreading this weekend that iPhone users in Australia had been falling victim to "ikee," a worm that replaces default wallpaper with a picture of Rick Astley, the British pop singer whose song "Never Gonna Give You Up" has gained eternal infamy thanks to the mainstreaming of the "Rickrolling" prank craze. The photo is accompanied by the message "ikee is never gonna give you up," and it's apparently quite difficult to remove. According to security firm Sophos, this is the first worm detected that targets the iPhone. Read more »
In case you haven't noticed, "green" is big business. One way for HDTV makers to cash in on the public's craving for efficiency is to label a TV "eco-friendly." Sony's KDL-VE5 series does just that, but unlike a lot of so-called green electronics, this TV can actually save power in a new, potentially very effective way. That's because it incorporates a "presence sensor" that can automatically turn the picture off when it detects nobody's watching.
Amazingly, the feature worked pretty well in our tests, and we hope to see similar automatic turn-offs in future televisions--as long as irate couch potatoes don't flood Sony's customer service call centers to complain of malfunctioning TVs. Otherwise the Sony uses about as much power as a typical LCD--it's nowhere near as miserly as the LED-backlit Sharp's LC-LE700M-series, for example.
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