Futurelooks spotted a newpremium netbook from MSI that looks a lot like the Apple MacBook Air but with more functionality. The MSI X320 is just 1.98cm (roughly 0.78") thick and weighs only 1.3kg. The netbook has a 13.3" LCD display with 16:9 aspect ratio, is powered by a Intel Atom Z520 processor with 2GB DDR2 memory and runs Windows Vista.
First and foremost, MSI has added quite a few more connectivity options to their X320 including more than one measly USB port, VGA out, Ethernet and an SD card slot. There are also separate headphone and microphone jacks.
Garmin has introduced a new GPS for bikers: the zümo 660. This ruggedized and waterproof unit features a 4.3" sunlight readable and customizable touchscreen, a glove-friendly design with left handed controls and oversized touchscreen buttons. The Garmin zümo 660 will ship later this quarter for $799.99.
“The zûmo can change your entire experience of touring or everyday rides because it helps you find amazing places to explore,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Whether you’re charting your own course or you plan your trip from your computer and download the route to your GPS beforehand, your ride will be more enjoyable and stress-free because you’ll have peace of mind knowing the zûmo will help you find your way home.”
Ideal for a weekday ride or weeklong trip, the zûmo 660 has features motorcyclists will appreciate like a 4.3” sunlight readable and customizable touchscreen display, glove-friendly design with left handed controls and oversized touchscreen buttons. The ruggedized and waterproof (IEC 529 IPX-7 standards) device comes loaded with detailed, street-level maps of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico that have over six million points of interest including gas stations, lodging, restaurants, attractions and more. The zûmo 660 speaks street names so riders will receive turn-by-turn, voice prompted directions, such as “turn right on Main Street,” via the built-in speaker or through a compatible Bluetooth helmet or headset.
The zûmo 660 also comes equipped with advanced routing capabilities. Lane assist with junction view guides riders to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, and realistically displays road signs and junctions on the route along with arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation. In some major metropolitan areas, surrounding buildings are displayed in a 3D transparent view. A new multiple routing feature customers can see a map preview of the proposed fastest route, shortest route and off road route prior to choosing to navigate it. This capability gives riders additional situational awareness before they begin their journey.
The zûmo 660 also has enhanced Bluetooth Wireless Technology (A2DP) that amplifies audio for a crisp sound, and makes it possible to receive and place phone calls as well as receive navigational cues wirelessly to Bluetooth enabled headsets or helmets. The zûmo supports over 200 Bluetooth enabled phones so riders can retrieve and dial numbers using a supported phone’s contact list or from the phone’s call history log. A user can also make calls from zûmo’s huge points of interest database.
While riding, it is easy to access trip information directly from the zûmo’s trip information page like speed, heading, altitude, and a customizable fuel gauge that can be modified to the motorcycle’s maximum fuel range. If a rider wants to leave the pavement for the trail, the zûmo accepts Garmin’s MapSource® U.S. Topo maps for off-road navigation. Sharing rides with others or keeping a detailed log of trips is also easy thanks to zûmo Connect, an online community of routes and riders. Zûmo owners can also plan routes online through Google or MapQuest and send the routes or points of interest to the zûmo before they begin their journey. In addition, riders can swap routes and waypoints with other zûmo owners via the unit’s microSD card slot.
Like other members of the zûmo family, the zûmo 660 has many security features. The mount is designed to withstand the severe vibration environment commonly experienced in motorcycle riding. The zûmo also includes Garmin Lock®, a unique theft prevention system that disables the zûmo from performing any functions until the user types in a specific 4-digit PIN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location. If the user does not know the PIN or secure location, the zûmo will be inoperative.
Garmin rolled out its new GPS navigation flagship, the nüvi 885T. This unit packs a 4.3" touchscreen with 480 x 272 pixel resolution and costs a whopping $799. There's also the $699.99 nüvi 885, that difference is that this model lacks MSN Direct services and Bluetooth. MSN Direct access is available for free for three months, afterwards it will cost you $49.95 a year, or a one-time charge of $129.95.
“Combining two of Garmin’s most popular features – speech recognition and lane assist with junction view – the nüvi 885T lets drivers keep both hands on the wheel and takes the guesswork out of navigation,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “And with enhanced MSN Direct services, the nüvi 885T provides much-needed travel information like traffic updates, flight status, Doppler radar, gas prices, news and business headlines and a wireless ‘send to GPS’ capability.”
Critically acclaimed for its accuracy and clarity, Garmin’s speech recognition technology has set the industry standard and is considered the ultimate safety and convenience feature. After mounting a push-to-talk wireless remote to their steering wheel, users can effortlessly program the nüvi by speaking words that correspond to the buttons on the touchscreen display. Drivers can keep their eyes on the road – almost any common task can be performed without ever touching the unit. Speech recognition is available for American English, British English, European French, European Spanish, German, Italian and Netherlands Dutch languages.
For a clear picture of the road ahead, the nüvi 885T features lane assist with junction view that details upcoming maneuvers and specific driving directions, including road sign detail and arrows indicating the proper lane for navigation. At any time, drivers can also speak the phrase, “where am I?” and their device will display its exact latitude and longitude coordinates, closest hospitals, police stations, gas stations and nearest address and intersection. Drivers can also associate their favorite images with saved locations using Garmin Connect Photos – where users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community.
Drivers will also benefit from receiving next-generation dynamic content from the MSN Direct network that’s faster than before.
Dell added two new notebooks to its lineup: the 13.3" Studio XPS 1340 and 16" Studio XPS 1640. Both models are leather-wrapped.
Both machines are (oddly) hitting at the same $1,199 pricepoint, with Core 2 Duo processors and the typical smorgasbord of options. The base model of the 1340 includes a P8400 processor, Vista Home Premium, a 13.3-inch WXGA LCD, 2 megapixel webcam, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 320GB 7200rpm SATA drive, slot-loading DVD burner and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G graphics, while the 1640 is similar, but with ATI Mobility RADEON M86XT graphics.
EE Times writes Mitsubishi teamed up with NVIDIA to show off the capabilities of its 3D-ready digital TVs at CES 2009:
At the Consumer Electronics Show, Mitsubishi showed its big-screen digital TVs using a new $199 stereoscopic 3-D package from Nvidia to play computer games. The Nvidia 3D Vision product, announced earlier this week, uses special drivers to generate stereo 3-D images of standard computer games written for the Microsoft DirectX application programming interface.
Mitsubishi has had 3-D-ready versions of its large-screen Digital Light Processing (DLP) TVs on the market for some time. Until today they lacked content except for a handful of movie trailers Hollywood studios provided in a format suitable for the DLP set.
The TV uses the micro-mirror technology of Texas Instruments to support stereo 3D using either a checkerboard pixel or side-by-side (left and right image) format. Samsung has released similar 3-D ready TVs using plasma displays that can also support a checkerboard pixel format. >/i>
Toshiba has presented its 17" Qosmio X305-Q725 gaming notebook, this model features the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2GHz processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX 1GB GDDR3 graphics, 4GB DDR3 memory, Intel GS45 chipset, 17" screen with 1680 x 1050 pixel resolution, 64GB SSD and 320GB 7200RPM SATA HDD, Harman Kardon stereo speakers and much more. It's now available for $2,699.
SanDisk announced 16GB Mobile Ultra microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) memory cards, these will be available for $119.99 and $129.99, respectively. The cards are bundled with the SanDisk MobileMate Micro Reader that plugs directly into a USB 2.0 port.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory products, today announced that it will be shipping its 16 gigabyte (GB)1 SanDisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) mobile memory cards - the world’s largest removable storage capacity for mobile phones – in January. This increased capacity, coupled with the high performance of the SanDisk Mobile Ultra line, allows consumers to further take advantage of the many storage-intensive features offered by today’s portable handsets such as music playback, photo and video camera functions, gaming and GPS applications.
A must-have product for consumers who embody the digital lifestyle, the SanDisk Mobile Ultra high-performance cards are “best of breed” premium cards that provide fast side-loading speeds. This means that users will experience accelerated transfer rates of digital files to and from their mobile memory card and computer. For added convenience, the card is bundled with a MobileMate Micro Reader that plugs directly into a USB 2.0-compatible port, enabling quick transport and easy management of digital content without the need to purchase additional equipment.
DivX unveiled version 7 of DivX for Windows, the new release of the popular video software is based on the H.264 video compression standard.
The new release of the popular video software is based on the cutting-edge H.264 video compression standard, which allows for high-performance, high-quality digital video at up to 1080p HD resolution. The software is available in two versions, the free DivX for Windows download which supports DivX video playback, and the DivX Pro for Windows download which enables DivX video creation.
The DivX Player, which is included in all versions of the DivX software download, offers free support for H.264 files that use the popular .mkv file extension. The DivX Converter, which is available in the DivX Pro package or as a 15-day free trial in the free DivX for Windows download, enables easy one-step conversion of digital video files into the new DivX Plus(TM) format, which is based on H.264 video and the high-quality AAC audio format.
The Company also announced the launch of the DivX Plus(TM) Certification program, which will enable consumer electronics manufacturers to add support for the new format to a variety of devices, including DVD players, Blu-ray players, digital televisions, mobile phones and more. The first DivX Plus certified devices are expected to ship from major consumer electronics manufacturers by the end of 2009.
"The release of DivX 7 for Windows marks a true milestone for digital video users everywhere," said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. "Eight years ago, the first DivX video software helped create the market for high-quality video on the PC. We then worked with a global ecosystem of licensees to extend that support beyond the PC to a variety of devices so that consumers all over the world could enjoy their videos anytime and anywhere."
"H.264 has now emerged as a powerful new standard for digital video," Hell continued, "With the release of DivX 7 and the DivX Plus HD certification program, we're primed to extend the digital video experience even further by making it easy for anyone to create, play and share true HD H.264 video and play it back on the PC, in the living room and on-the-go."
Sony Insider reports Sony will debut a wearable W-series Walkman player at CES 2009. This digital audio player will feature 2GB of storage, a great battery life and a price tag of $50-75. The site says three minutes of charging will give you a ninety minute charge, while thirty minutes will give you twelve hours of continuous playback.
Sony is set to offer a completely different Walkman than ever before, this time aimed at the budget conscious consumer who wants something to match their active lifestyle. This upcoming W-series Walkman is a phenomenal offering from Sony, with incredible aesthetics, 2GB storage, and a low price point ($50-75). What’s most surprising is the design, which is a very sleek wrap around earphone that has magnetic connectors on each end to keep it bound together when not in use, forming a very distinctive heart shape. There is no separate unit - what you see is the entire player. The earphones are 13.5mm EX quality, and currently supported codecs include MP3, AAC, WMA (w/ DRM) and PCM.
ASUS unveiled they're working on a convertible tablet PC named Eee PC T91. This model weighs just 2 pound, it will have a 8.9" LED-backlit touchscreen and the Intel Atom Z520 processor. Other features include built-in GPS and a TV tuner. Availability and pricing is still unknown.
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