Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Report claims 14.6 million netbooks shipped in 2008, further growth expected

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/report-claims-14-6-million-netbooks-shipped-in-2008-further-gro/

While any number of total netbooks shipped or sold is bound to be a little suspect, given that many folks can't even agree on what a netbook is, this latest report from research firm DisplayBank at least gives us a decent impression, and confirms what many likely thought. According to the report, the total netbook shipments for 2008 reached an impressive 14.6 million, with Acer and ASUS leading the way with a 37.3% and 33.2% market share, respectively, and HP a distant third with 7.5%. Those numbers, however, represent just 11% of total laptop sales, although DisplayBank sees that share increasing to 18.9% by 2012. As you might have guessed, to arrive at the number, the folks from DisplayBank also offered up their own definition of a netbook, which they describe as "as having similar functions as NotePC, supports networking and have retail price lower than US$650. Especially, products are narrowed with screen size of 7 - 10.2 inch and with Linux or Microsoft Windows operating system equipped." Yeah, that'll settle things.

[Via China Times]

Filed under: Laptops

Report claims 14.6 million netbooks shipped in 2008, further growth expected originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Silicon Mountain debuts Atom-based Allio Lite LCD TV-PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/silicon-mountain-debuts-atom-based-allio-lite-lcd-tv-pc/

It's just been a few months since Silicon Mountain rolled out its first Allio LCD TV-PCs, but it looks like the company has already found some room for expansion courtesy of everyone's favorite cost-reducing processor. While the TV portion of the 1080p 42-inch model and 720p 32-inch model each remain identical to their predecessors, the innards have taken on more of a netbook/nettop flavor, with each packing a dual-core Atom 330 processor, along with a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and a DVD drive (no Blu-ray option, it seems), plus Windows Vista Home Premium for an OS. That, as you might expect, lowers the cost of entry a tad, with the 42-inch model now demanding $1,599 (the same as the full-featured 32-inch model), while the Atom-based 32-incher will run you $1,299.

Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs

Silicon Mountain debuts Atom-based Allio Lite LCD TV-PC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nikon unveils eight new Coolpix cams

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/nikon-unveils-eight-new-coolpix-cams/

Nikon just dropped the refresh bomb on its Coolpix line, adding eight new point-and-shoots like the P90 here to the family. Here's the rundown:

Coolpix S230 and S220: 10 megapixels with a touchscreen that lets you write and draw on your photos. Both have four-way VR image stabilization, blink detection, and are available in several colors; the $229 S230 bumps the screen to three inches from the $149 S220's two and a half and adds ISO 2000 sensitivity.
Coolpix S630: 12 megapixels with a 7x optical zoom and an 11fps burst mode, a 2.7-inch LCD, four-way VR image stabilization, blink detection and ISO 6400 sensitivity. Available in five colors for $279.
S620: 12.2 megapixels with a 4x zoom, 0.7-second startup time, subject tracking, four-way VR image stabilization, blink / motion detection and ISO 6400 sensitivity. Also available in five colors for $269.
Coolpix P90: 12.1 megapixel zoomer with a 24x 26-624mm zoom and 15fps burst mode, 3-inch tilt screen, four-way VR image stabilization, blink / motion detection, distortion control and ISO 6400 sensitivity. $339 in March.
Coolpix L100: 10 megapixel with a 15x 28-420mm zoom and a 13fps burst mode, 3-inch screen and four-way VR image stabilization. Only comes in Bright Red for $279 in March.
Coolpix L20: 10 megapixels with a 3.6x zoom and a 3-inch display, motion detection and auto scene selection. AA-powered, will come in Deep Red for $129.
Coolpix L19: 8 megapixels with a 3.6 zoom and a 2.7-inch display, motion detection and auto scene selection. AA-powered, will come in Bright Silver for $109.

Not bad at all, but you've got to wonder why all these companies insist on cranking out so many minior variations on the same theme -- the average consumer has no chance of keeping up. Pictures of all the new shooters in the gallery.

Gallery: Nikon unveils eight new Coolpix cams

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Nikon unveils eight new Coolpix cams originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic Z1 plasmas bring WirelessHD to Japan first

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/panasonic-z1-plasmas-bring-wirelesshd-to-japan-first/

Interested in obtaining Panasonic's 1-inch thick first-with-WirelessHD Z1 series 1080p plasma -- before this summer? Hope you've got a good connect in Japan, because this baby is touching down April 20, complete with YouTube and 2.4GHz remote. Thanks to the slim 40,000:1 contrast ratio NeoPDP panel and ability to work without the usual assortment of cables it was born for stylish wall mounting in your appropriately adorned apartment as pictured above. Throw in half the power consumption of last year's PZ800 model and you've got a very attractive package. Checking in with ¥700,000 (about $7,835) 54-inch, ¥600,000 (about $6,715) 50-inch, and ¥550,000 ( about $6,156) 46-inch models our jealousy extends far across the Pacific, but until these get a U.S. ship date and pricetag, your closest look lies within our CES gallery.

[Via AV Watch]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Panasonic Z1 plasmas bring WirelessHD to Japan first originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM's Sequoia: 20x faster than the world's fastest supercomputer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/ibms-sequoia-20x-faster-than-the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer/

Roadrunner? Pfff, your chart-topping 1.105 petaflops are laughable. IBM just announced its 20-freaking-petaflop Sequoia supercomputer due for delivery by 2012. While supercomputer speeds have steadily increased year-over-year, a near 20x jump in calculations per second since the last world ranking is unheard of, even if the system has yet to come on-line. Slated to spend its life simulating nuclear explosions, Sequoia will use 45-nm (PowerPC, presumably) processors with 16 cores per chip for as many as 4,096 processors per rack. That's a total of 1.6 million cores assisted by 1.6 petabytes of memory. Perhaps all this processing power might help IBM understand the futility of its Lotus Notes strategy.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

IBM's Sequoia: 20x faster than the world's fastest supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iriver SPINN spotted in the wild wearing all black attire

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/iriver-spinn-spotted-in-the-wild-wearing-all-black-attire/

We're not going to bother asking this here SPINN if it's headed to a funeral, but we will ask iriver if it has any plans on shipping an all black variant to the US of A. Currently, the only hue Americans can find is the tried and true silver, but based on a smattering of photographs posted on the Korean iriver forums, we get the feeling a dark, dark version is in the works for at least some sections of the globe. Let's all cross our fingers in unison and hope our homeland is included in that bunch, yeah?

[Via DAP Review]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

iriver SPINN spotted in the wild wearing all black attire originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Acer-branded smartphone a Glofiish DX900 rebadge?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/first-acer-branded-smartphone-a-glofiish-dx900-rebadge/

There's bound to be more, but the first leaked Acer handset expected to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress is no more than a rebadge of a device obtained through its acquisition of E-Ten. The Glofiish DX900 was announced in mid-2008 with dual-SIM support, GPS, a 3 megapixel camera, and a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen riding a Windows Mobile 6.1 OS -- that all stays the same. In other words, if the leak is accurate, then this particular device will see a new logo and that's about it. Still, the MWC invite specifically said "smartphones launch" so we're not corking the fat lady just yet.

[Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Cellphones

First Acer-branded smartphone a Glofiish DX900 rebadge? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world's first Snapdragon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/toshiba-tg01-with-4-1-inch-wvga-touchscreen-a-worlds-first-sna/

Finally, an honest to goodness Qualcomm Snapdragon device is about to land in the form of the Toshiba TG01. The 9.9-mm thin handset will feature a 4.1-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) touchscreen display, HSDPA data, GPS, WiFi, a microSD slot, and custom Tosh 3D GUI to hide the Windows Mobile 6.1 uglies within. Most notable is that 1GHz Snapdragon chip that Toshiba claims makes the TG01 considerably faster than any device currently on the market with the promise to "revolutionize the mobile entertainment world." Perhaps that's where the DivX support comes in? We'll see when the TG01 is unveiled at Mobile World Congress in less than two weeks followed by an expected summery launch. One more picture after the break.

Update: Oh man, the hands-on photo galleries from the London launch are coming up over at Pocket-Lint and Electricpig, the latter with head-to-head pics of the TG01 against the 12.3-mm iPhone 3G chubster and BlackBerry Bold. She's definitely a slim-lined beauty but we have our doubts about that stripey UI. Hey Tosh, where's the Android OS we saw running on Snapdragon at CES?

[Via Pocket-Lint and Stuff.TV]

Continue reading Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world's first Snapdragon

Filed under: Cellphones

Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world's first Snapdragon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate's 2TB Constellation ES is rife with potential space puns

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/seagates-2tb-constellation-es-is-ripe-with-potential-space-puns/

It's been a long time coming, but Seagate's finally unveiled its first 2TB hard drive, the 3.5-inch Constellation ES. The hefty spinner also comes in 500GB and 1TB varieties and runs at 7,200RPM, which should make it a bit faster than Western Digital's behemoth, according to reviews for the latter. It'll be out calendar Q3, which we take to be fancy schmancy business talk for "this Summer." Meanwhile, the 2.5-inch ES-less Constellation line sports 3 Gbps SATA and SAS 2.0 interface. Look for this one in 160GB and 500GB sizes sometime this quarter, with Dell said to be one the first companies to offer the drives. Check out one more out-of-this-world promotional image after the break.

Continue reading Seagate's 2TB Constellation ES is rife with potential space puns

Filed under: Storage

Seagate's 2TB Constellation ES is rife with potential space puns originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New iPhone in June? Somebody seems to think so

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/new-iphone-in-june-somebody-seems-to-think-so/

Apple has a habit of refreshing its iPod and iPhone-type products on a pretty regular schedule, so a new iPhone in June really wouldn't be the surprise of the century, but now we've got word to that effect from the United Arab Emirates. Etisalat is picking up the iPhone 3G over there, along with providing support for existing iPhones sold on the gray market, but the writeup in Business 24/7 makes mention of a brand new iPhone hitting in June, which Etisalat will also get at launch. This could easily be a misunderstanding on the part of the reporter, a misquote, or a combination of signs, portents and omens, but it's certainly an interesting little tidbit. We'd have to think that anyone liable to get this story right would also be aware that a brand new iPhone would be worth more than a passing reference, but we suppose we'll just have to wait and see. Apple Insider also mentions rumblings of an upcoming iPhone having a fairly significant architecture overhaul -- that's mostly conjecture at this point, but might make sense (or room) for an iPhone nano. And you know how we love the iPhone nano.

[Via Apple Insider]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

New iPhone in June? Somebody seems to think so originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is AT&T prepping to launch the LG Neon?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/is-atandt-prepping-to-launch-the-lg-neon/

We have to admit, we're all kinds of excited to see AT&T's LG Neon pop up this morning, and while dressed in a new green suit, it looks strikingly like LG's KS360. While we've nothing official to go on, the pics speak volumes -- and if we were betting types, we'd gamble it's quite likely the real deal. Featuring a sliding QWERTY keyboard, 2.4-inch touchscreen display, and if it lines up with its twin, a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, and FM radio should be in the package. The LG KS360 lacks 3G, but with just about every AT&T set in the stable featuring that connectivity, we're hoping there's been an upgrade. No words or thoughts on the when or the how much, but phoneArena has a pile of pics if you want to see more.

Filed under: Cellphones

Is AT&T prepping to launch the LG Neon? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, February 02, 2009

Dell's Mini 12 dissected for your viewing pleasure

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/01/dells-mini-12-netbook-dissected-for-your-viewing-pleasure/

It's taken quite awhile for someone to gather up the courage to do it, but at long last, Dell's cutesy Mini 12 has been stripped of its dignity and dissected for the world to see. Honestly, there isn't much in this netbook that you haven't already seen in similar alternatives, but those unable to resist the allure of undressed gadgets will still want to give the read link a visit. Or two, depending on your level of self-restraint.

Filed under: Laptops

Dell's Mini 12 dissected for your viewing pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/01/video-stimulants-xray-mobile-app-brings-secondlight-to-any-ol/

Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface

When Microsoft demonstrated Surface we were impressed. Then, when they later showed off SecondLight, we were even more impressed -- and then were sorry for anyone who had made the considerable investment in one of the earlier, singularly-lighted tables. We're feeling better now (thanks for asking) after seeing a video demonstration of XRay, a mobile app from Stimulant (who earlier blended a Wii Balance Board with a Surface) that provides similar functionality; letting you effectively see secondary images on the touch-table. The app relies on the ability of the Surface to detect where the phones are, communicating that position to tell them what to display and in what orientation. First up was the iPhone, as seen above, but the app has apparently already been ported to Windows Mobile and Android, meaning most-anyone can get in on the action -- assuming they have both a smart table and smart phone. A-ha-inspired video included below for your '80s flashback amusement.

Continue reading Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface

Filed under: Cellphones

Video: Stimulant's XRay mobile app brings SecondLight to any 'ol Surface originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon softens the blow, offers $200 rebates on VAIO P wireless broadband activations

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/01/verizon-softens-the-blow-offers-200-rebates-on-vaio-p-wireless/

Yeah, $900 for the netbook, and a hefty chunk of change for Verizon data -- you're not made of money, right? Verizon Wireless is making things a little easier on VAIO P buyers hesitant to activate 3G service, and offering $200 rebates, in the form of a debit card, if they sign up for a two-year data contract. Hopefully Sony's working up a similar rebate program to help with the uptick in eye care due to that impossibly high resolution screen.

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

Verizon softens the blow, offers $200 rebates on VAIO P wireless broadband activations originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix considering premium price tiers for additional streaming content?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/01/netflix-considering-premium-price-tiers-for-additional-streaming/

Look, some people are perfectly content to swap a DVD with Netflix once a millenia and watch Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawke on their Xbox 360 -- other people demand something a bit more "hip" on their Instant Watch queue. Netflix is apparently investigating the possibility of an additional $10 monthly fee to watch HBO shows and movies on the streaming service, or at least has a poll to that effect. For people that keep cable around just for things like HBO and Showtime, it's an attractive proposition, and perhaps a bit of an inevitability, but at $10 a month we'd expect Netflix to toss in a bit more premium content than just what one channel has to offer. What's clear is that either way, people are going to find a way to watch this stuff online, and the first provider to figure out the right way to monetize and distribute it wins. This seems like a tentative step in the right direction, if it comes to pass.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Netflix considering premium price tiers for additional streaming content? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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