In this week’s Wired Gadget Lab Audio Podcast, Daniel Dumas, Brian Chen, and I talk about how the economic recession is forcing retailers to jump start their Black Friday deals on televisions and why this is mainly a good thing for consumers. We also go over the reason why people shouldn’t worry about losing out on even bigger deals down the road if they buy a TV this week. In addition, we discuss the dirty trick that Apple is currently pulling with their new MacBooks. Mainly, they secretly slipped in some copyright protection that prevents people from fully enjoying the use of their port the way it was meant to be used – to push iTunes movies into giant screens. (Read the full post about ‘Gadget Lab Podcast #55: Black Friday TV Deals Come Early’…)
Amazon has slated the next version of its popular Kindle reader for the first quarter of 2009. The second Kindle, which will be longer, thinner and more ergonomically friendly than its predecessor, is tentatively scheduled to go on sale "early next quarter," sources told TechCrunch. Shortly after releasing Kindle 2.0, Amazon will push out a student version of the reader with a larger screen — more suitable for displaying textbooks. The student version will hit stores sometime in the first half of 2009. Previously, speculators predicted an October 2008 release of Kindle 2.0, but Amazon quickly dispelled such rumors. (Read the full post about ‘Kindle 2.0 to Hit Stores Early 2009′…)
Black Friday’s turning into a Black Weekend for Moto and T-Mobile, it seems, with the just-released ZN5 already being discounted to a big, fat goose egg (after rebate, anyway) for the duration of the holiday weekend. That’s down from $99 at launch, and a dang good deal considering that you’re getting a WiFi-equipped phone with a 5-megapixel autofocus cam and xenon flash. We’re still not sure we can forgive the gray / purple scheme, but if we could be reminded of just how insanely little we shelled out for the phone every time we looked at it, we could probably let it slide. (Read the full post about ‘T-Mobile blowing out free Motorola ZN5s this weekend’…)
MSI today introduced the Wind U120 netbook computer that comes jam packed with a 10-inch display and Intel’s Atom N270 CPU running at 1.6GHz. Weighing at 2.2-pound, the Windows XP Home-powered netbook also features a 1GB of RAM, up to 160GB of hard drive space, a 1.3- or 2-megapixel webcam and a 3- or 6-cell battery, depending on model. The display has a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. Other features include 802.11b/g wireless, Ethernet LAN and Bluetooth, three USB ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader, VGA output, and stereo speakers. No word on pricing or availability at this time. (Read the full post about ‘MSI Wind U120 10 Inch Netbook’…)
FROM GAMERTELL - Hori “Classic Controller” for Wii coming Nov. 27 MORE » Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → Tags: gprs, robots, digital, Ogg (Read the full post about ‘Japanese Import: Hori Classic Controller for Wii’…)
Yesterday Sony Europe announced four new model desktop speakers, the SRS-D25, the SRS-M50, SRS-Z50, and SRS-Z100. We’re not sure about their novelty here at Akihabara News because some of them are already available on French websites, like LCDL. Regarding specs, the D25 is a 2.1 speaker system that provides a RMS output power of 25 W (2×5W for the satellite and 10W for the subwoofer).The M50 is a travel type speaker, that provides an output power of 5W.The Z50 features a 38mm Neodymium driver with a reflex port for rich bass reproduction.The Z100 develops an output power of 25Watts. (Read the full post about ‘Sony Europe’s New Desktop Speakers’…)
Hitachi boasts its new AV projector that provides 7,500 lumens of brightness. The Hitachi CP-X10000 also features 2,500:1 contrast ratio, ultra-wide range lens shift, 10-bit full digital video processor, 10,000-hour filter and RS-232 network bridge. This projector comes with the bayonet-style lens attachment that allows a choice of lenses with a variety of throw distances for different size audiences. No word on pricing at this time. [Source] Tags: hdtv, electronic toys, cameras, Ogg Vorbis (Read the full post about ‘Hitachi 7,500 Lumens Projector’…)
