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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Sonos Remote Goes Touchscreen; New System Bundle On Its Way [Sonos]

It's fair to say that everyone would've loved it if the last remote for the Sonos wireless media systems, the $400 C100, had a touchscreen. It didn't. Years later, the CR200 does, but it might be a bit late.

Oddly enough, this is Sonos' fault in every possible way. We don't have any specs, price or features, but given how close to perfect the free iPhone app for Sonos is, this wireless controller may have a hard time competing as an add-on product, especially if it's priced above the $229 baseline iPod Touch. In bundles, I suppose it'll do fine.

Speaking of which! Automated Home says the CR200 will be part of a spruced up Sonos system bundle:

The BU150 now changes to the BU250 which includes the CR200. There also is a slight colour change with the zoneplayers hardware to match the new controller but there are no technical changes & will still be named the ZP120 & ZP90

If that means anything to you, you probably know that this is a good thing. If not, then it's time to read up. [Automated Home via Engadget]

Cheap, Thin Laptops Suffering From Cheapness, Thinness [Notebooks]

The new litter of thin, cheap laptops, as we've seen from Lenovo and Dell, is inherently charming, making the experience of using a cheap, portable laptop bearable for people put off by netbook tininess. There's just one problem.

CNET caught up with Doug Freedman, an analyst for AmTech who has been speaking to device manufacturers:

Early production units being built in plastic, with the bottom case being plastic, are cracking...So, to get that really thin form factor that they're after, they're probably going to have to go with a metal case.

The obvious issue here is that they can't go with a metal case, or else they'll almost certainly cease to be "budget" laptops. As Mark noted in his review, the MSI X340—on the high end of this particular category already—suffered from an alarming flimsiness. Switching the case to aluminum would solve this problem; it would also push the laptop's price even closer to the MacBook Air, effectively eliminating its entire reason for existence.

To be fair, most of the laptops announced in the category haven't even started shipping yet, and problems like this could conceivably be conquered with some clever industrial design wizardry. Sometimes, though, there's a reason a pa! rticular product niche—especially an obvious one like this—hasn't been cracked before. [CNET]

AMD's RS880 integrated graphics chip could make netbooks usable

Tired of hearing that your next favorite netbook / nettop is hamstrung with one of those woefully underpowered GMA950 graphics chipsets? Eager to see what all AMD is going to do about it? If The Inquirer is to be believed, an up and coming integrated chipset should elevate the multimedia prowess of low-end machines, as the RS880 would actually be based around the new Radeon HD 4200 core. In theory, at least, this chip would be around 15 percent faster than similar alternatives out there now, giving future netbooks just enough power to churn through 720p video without st, st, stuttering. Needless to say, the suits are refusing to comment on the matter, but we're definitely holding out hope for this one.

Filed under: Peripherals

AMD's RS880 integrated graphics chip could make netbooks usable originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dr. Augustine Fou is group chief digital officer of Omnicom's healthcare consultancy group, specializing in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Fou helps clients develop digital marketing programs or improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness existing campaigns via advanced analytics, social marketing, and digital strategy. You can follow him on Twitter @acfou. He has over 12 years of Internet strategy consulting experience and client service. Fou completed his PhD at MIT at the age of 23 and served with the New York office of McKinsey & Company. He is an adjunct professor at New York University in the Integrated Marketing Department of the School for Continuing and Professional Studies.

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Zen Audi

When I first learned to ride a horse, I was told that I needed to move with the horse, as if of one mind. I was bucked off twice before I finally let go and learned to let go and move with “Davis” the horse, as opposed to trying to force her to bend to my will. That lesson seems to be apparent in Designer Andrea Mocellin’s latest “EXO- AUDI” concept. Andrea feels that the best way to drive is to be at one with your machine.

By “Taking advantage of the exoskeleton and nanotechnology evolution, we can create a potential energy source and produce a new generation of human powered vehicles: faster and stronger.” Inspired by sports equipment, footwear design and human instinct, this design uses the owners own kinetic energy to power your way down the street. Though it is not quite clear if Andrea is talking about pedal power or full body motion, this design not only re-imagines power train options but also makes us look deeper into the obvious inefficiency of modern human conveyance systems. No wonder GM is having a hard time finding a buyer for HUMMER.

Designer: Andrea Mocellin

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