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Monday, April 14, 2008

Silence Your Hard Drive with Elastic Suspenders [Weekend Project]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/268559383/silence-your-hard-drive-with-elastic-suspenders

When they're in use, hard drives vibrate, and that means they can get noisy—unless they have the right shock absorbers. In an oldie-but-goodie article, the folks at the Silent PC Review rigged up a hard drive bay with thick elastic bands they picked up at the local crafts store. The resulting setup suspends the drives in space with the elastic, which absorbs vibrations and gives the drives plenty of breathing room. Writer Mike Chin says:

As a simple test, when I touch the drive while it was running, I can feel a fair amount of vibration. But when I touch touch the case right next to the hard drive—or any part of the case, there is NO vibration from the drive. None at all.

When I showed one of my suspended drive systems to my favorite local dealer, it was the complete absence of vibration in the case that amazed them the most. They could not tell when the PC was turned on by the usual vibration of the case. They found it eerie.

You can also use a small piece of rubber in between the drive and its case to quiet things down.

Hard Drive Silencing: Sandwiches & Suspensions [Silent PC Review via Hackszine]

IOGEAR extender takes DVI signals 100-feet over Ethernet

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/270398037/

Filed under: Peripherals

Granted, we've cast our glances upon DVI Extenders before, but IOGEAR's latest comes in just south of the magical $500 price point and is apt to warm the hearts of digital signage professionals everywhere. The simply titled DVI Video / Audio Extender Kit consists of a pair of DVI units, a local transmitter and a remote receiver, which owners connect with a CAT5e / 6 Ethernet cable. You'll also find an analog 3.5-millimeter jack for hooking up stereo speakers, and the three-year warranty should help you rest easy all the while. Available as we speak for $499.95.

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RED Launches 5K RED EPIC Flagship Camera [Video Cameras]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/270179844/red-launches-5k-red-epic-flagship-camera

RED just announced their new RED EPIC flagship video camera at NAB, which uses a new, full-frame S35mm Mysterium X sensor. The Mysterium X matches the quality of 35mm film at 5k resolution and one ups the 4k Mysterium sensor found in the RED ONE. The EPIC can also shoot framerates up to 100 FPS.

Other features of the Aluminum-framed beast include full size, dual-link HD SDI, 2 XLR audio inputs, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Firewire 800 and USB 2.0. It also weighs 6 pounds. And if any of you happened to purchase the $17500 RED ONE, you can exchange it and receive full credit towards the RED EPIC (which currently has no price tag). RED currently plans on an early 2009 release for the EPIC. [RED]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

SPECIFICATIONS:
* FULL FRAME S35MM NEW MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
* 1-100 FPS
* UP TO 100 MB/SEC. REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO REDFLASH
* FULL SIZE DUAL LINK HD-SDI, 2-XLR AUDIO INPUTS AND HDMI
* WI-FI CONTROL
* FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
* 6 POUND FULLY MACHINED ALUMINUM BODY WITH HYBRID STAINLESS PL MOUNT
* COMPATIBLE WITH MOST RED ONE ACCESSORIES
* FULLY UPGRADABLE SENSOR, BODY, BOARDS AND MOUNT.

SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE... COUNT ON IT.

RED RAY Drive Plays 4K, 2K HD Video from RED Disc, RED Express and CompactFlash [Red Ray]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/270187802/red-ray-drive-plays-4k-2k-hd-video-from-red-disc-red-express-and-compactflash

RED's last announcement for the day is the RED RAY disc drive, which looks like Darth Vader's optical drive of choice. It plays 4K, 2K (Epic's insane 5K looks like it's off the table, but what about Scarlet's 3K?) and 1080p video down through standard-def off of RED Disc or RED Express, plus native RAW R3D files off of a CompactFlash card. It's due early 2009 with Epic and Scarlet, but again "specifications, delivery dates and design are subject to change...count it." [RED]

NVIDIA and Ageia: GPU Physics Engine Nearly Complete [Gaming]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/270364113/nvidia-and-ageia-gpu-physics-engine-nearly-complete

We knew it was coming, and now it appears that NVIDIA's acquisition of PhysX maker Ageia is about to pay off. NVIDIA has told analysts that that the conversion of Ageia's physics application interface to CUDA is nearly complete—so if you are running GeForce 8000+ you will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of a physics accelerator via a simple software download.

PhysX technology has yet to take off, but with GPU integration, it is poised to breakout in a serious way. In fact, there are around 140 games that are supported or currently in development that utilize the technology. It may also go a long way to silence critics that say GPUs may not be necessary in the future given the increasing power of multi-core CPUs. [TG Daily via Slashgear]

Blackmagic USB Recorder Captures Direct Video For iPods, YouTube [Gadgets]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/270390271/blackmagic-usb-recorder-captures-direct-video-for-ipods-youtube

Blackmagic's new USB compatible video recorder promises to simplify your video recording process by utilizing the H.264 format for playback on the iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, YouTube, IPTV, and the Web. It also features analog component, NTSC, PAL and S-Video inputs as well as simple software that should make it easy to get your video into the appropriate size. The recorder will ship this July in standard and SDI versions for $119 and $299 respectively. [Blackmagic via ecoustics]

Fukato's Eee-ish Datacask enters your life in May

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/269620768/

Filed under: Laptops

Like the Eee? If you're enthusiastically shaking your head in the affirmative, perhaps you'll want to check out Fukato's low-cost Datacask (cheery, right?). Like the Jisus before it, the computer-maker hopes to garner some of that cheapo laptop market with this black and white number, which sports an 8-inch, 800 x 480 display, a 500MHz AMD Geode CPU, a ~~20GB~~ 60GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, and a (surprise!) Linux-based OS. The little dude will be hitting European shelves sometime in May for €279 (or about $440).

[Via Liliputing]

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MSI's 8.9- to 10-inch Wind breaks in Q2 for less than $500

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/269824228/

Filed under: Laptops

Good news: the price of those 7- to 9-inch ultra-portables are in free-fall as Dell, ASUS, HP, Everex and others race to the bottom. Bad news: your $500ish wad currently takes home a thick, boxy slab. Fortunately, MSI is looking to change all that when it ships the sleek Wind laptop in Q2. In other words, June when Intel ships the Atom processor. Prices are expected to range from $470 to $1,099 for your choice of 8.9-inch and 10-inch panels with 1,024 x 768 pixel resolutions, 2.5-inch hard disk or SSD drive, processors ranging from 1GHz to 1.6GHz, and 1GB of memory. At least that's the last we heard. Word to the wise: wait until summer for your ultra-portable purchase -- competition will be fierce and the waves will be tasty.

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Willcom's D4 MID pumps Vista on Intel Atom, into our hearts

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/269866107/

Filed under: Handhelds

Check it out, 'cause you're looking at what must be the world's smallest QWERTY device capable of running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1. At least it will be when it makes its debut in Japan come June. Measuring just 188 x 84 x 25.9mm and 470grams, all that power / battery conservation / smallness of the Willcom D4 (aka, Sharp-built WS016SH) comes courtesy of a 1.3-GHz Atom processor pumping away beneath that sliding / tilting 5-inch, 262k color, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen hiding a 64-key QWERTY keyboard. Inside you'll find 1GB of memory, a 1.8-inch 40GB disk, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microSD slot, HD audio codec with mono-speaker, and Opera browser riding atop Japanese PHS (W-SIM) or 802.11b/g WiFi. Hitting Japan for ¥128,600 (about $1,254) -- a lot less with 2 year contract. And with Willcom experimenting with Android, don't be surprised to find this released in an alternate form later in the year or early '09. Engadget Japanese is at the launch event with plenty of hands-on images in the gallery below.

Update: Whoa, weird. Our Japanese colleagues are telling us that there's an optional Bluetooth, companion handset for making calls over W-SIM. Gallery updated with new pics.
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[Via Engadget Japanese]

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