Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, June 03, 2010

HTC EVO 4Gs flooding into Best Buys, some Radio Shacks opening at 6AM on Friday

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/htc-evo-4gs-flooding-into-best-buys-some-radio-shacks-opening-a/

EVO fever -- have you caught it? Things are seriously starting to ramp up in preparation for Friday's festivities, the day that Sprint's EVO 4G hits shelves (though most will likely be sold before they even touch a shelf, truth be told). Radio Shack hit us up with the knowledge earlier today that it'll be opening some locations as early as 6AM -- and what's more, they claim to have "specifically set aside" some units for folks who didn't pre-order, so that might be your best chance. We're also getting a bunch of shots from tipsters who say their Best Buy locations have started taking delivery of the retail units, so at least you'll know they'll be in stock on Friday -- but for how long is another question altogether.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in!]

Gallery: HTC EVO 4Gs flooding into Best Buys, some Radio Shacks opening at 6AM on Friday

HTC EVO 4Gs flooding into Best Buys, some Radio Shacks opening at 6AM on Friday originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ reveals consumer-level RevoDrive PCIe SSD, blazing fast HSDL data interface

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/ocz-reveals-consumer-level-revodrive-pcie-ssd-blazing-fast-hsdl/

OCZ has a penchant for doling out new kit at trade shows, and this year's Computex is no different. The star of the new-release show was the RevoDrive, a PCIe card with between 128GB and 480GB of SSD onboard. The unit we saw here in Taipei was near-final, with a pair of SandForce SF-1200 controllers, a daughter board expansion slot (for possibly combining two in a RAID scenario) and a promised starting price of around $400 to $600 (not to mention read / write times of nearly 540MB/sec). Obviously, this hits well below the multi-thousand dollar PCIe SSD options from Fusion-io and company, and it's the first time we've seen PCIe SSD become even remotely affordable. If all goes well, the RevoDrive will start shipping within a few months. In related news, the company also announced that the Vertex 2 line of solid state solutions will be slimmed down for the 1.8-inch form factor (like you'd find in an iPod classic), but details on pricing or availability were nowhere to be found. Lastly, and potentially most importantly, the company revealed a fresh-out-of-the-lab prototype that could significantly enhance transfer rates from PCIe devices. Codenamed HSDL (high speed data link; shown above), the solution combines an industry standard SAS connector with an OCZ-built PCIe board in order to enable transfer rates as high as 20Gbit/sec. The company said a final product is at least six months out, but it's already toying with the idea of selling a single and quad-slot card in due time. Peek the gallery below for more of what's to come.

Gallery: OCZ RevoDrive and HSDL data interface hands-on at Computex 2010

Continue reading OCZ reveals consumer-level RevoDrive PCIe SSD, blazing fast HSDL data interface

OCZ reveals consumer-level RevoDrive PCIe SSD, blazing fast HSDL data interface originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASRock AIWI turns your iPhone / iPod touch into HTPC motion controller (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/03/asrock-aiwi-turns-your-iphone-ipod-touch-into-htpc-motion-cont/

You may not think to look at ASRock when considering a new pre-fabricated HTPC, but the company had two new SFF boxes at Computex that could certainly suffice. The Vision 3D (available in black / silver and with or without a Blu-ray drive) was the sleeker of the two, with a minuscule form factor that could easily be tucked beneath your cable box and a Core i5-520M CPU at the helm. Other specs include NVIDIA GeForce 300 / 400 series graphics, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 2.5-inch 500GB hard drive, slot-loading optical drive, 7.1-channel audio (with a fancy THX certification logo, to boot), gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a bundled remote. The other guy (Core 100 / 200 series) looks an awful lot like the S330 that we spotted at CeBIT last year, offering a Core i3-330M CPU, integrated Intel graphics, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a Blu-ray combo drive and the same general port arrangement as the Vision 3D. Both units will ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, though no pricing or release date information was available.

In related news, the company was also showing off its newly released AIWI solution, which consists of an iPod touch / iPhone app and a lightweight application that runs on ASRock motherboards in order to allow for motion control gaming with an iDevice you already own. The demo that we saw here in Taiwan was perfectly seamless, and the responsiveness was on par with Nintendo's Wiimote. Apparently this is designed to be used exclusively with ASRock mobos (whereas similar alternatives from Sixense can work with any setup), but it's still a solid addition for those who tend to end up with ASRock-labeled gear. Enough yappin' -- head on past the break to catch the action yourself.

Gallery: ASRock HTPCs and AIWI motion control system at Computex 2010

Continue reading ASRock AIWI turns your iPhone / iPod touch into HTPC motion controller (video)

ASRock AIWI turns your iPhone / iPod touch into HTPC motion controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 tablet prototype preview

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/03/microsoft-windows-embedded-compact-7-tablet-prototype-hands-on/

So, there may never be a Windows 7 Phone tablet, but that device above looks pretty darn close to what one may have looked like. In actuality that's just the tablet that Microsoft has been using at Computex to demo its new Windows Embedded Compact 7 supporting Silverlight for Windows Embedded, Flash 10.1, and multitouch within the browser. We caught a few minutes with the NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered, 8.9-inch slate and found ourselves drooling over the Zune / Windows Phone 7-like interface that had been built by Microsoft. But before we tell you to jump past the break to check out the short demo, we want to break the news to you that this UI was created just to show off the capabilities of the new CE platform -- there's no plan to bring it to market as is on Microsoft's end at the moment. Instead manufacturers, like ASUS and others, have to do their own engineering with the preview release and then the RTM build that will come later this year. But we certainly wouldn't object to one of those companies creating something similar to what you are about to witness in the gallery and video below.

Gallery: Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 prototype tablet

Continue reading Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 tablet prototype preview

Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 tablet prototype preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy S launches in Europe, hitting US 'later this year'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/03/samsung-galaxy-s-launches-in-europe-hitting-us-later-this-year/

So that simultaneous global launch isn't going to materialize quite as we were told, but Samsung is indeed bringing the Galaxy S to the widest possible audience. The Korean giant has made its 2010 flagship official in Europe today, meaning you should be able to sign your life away to your favorite carrier in exchange for it very soon indeed. We're told the 4-incher will be making its American debut later in the year, though a protracted delay appears unlikely. Pricing on the Galaxy S might not turn out to be all that democratic, but its comprehensive choice of more than 100 global carriers sure will be, and might suggest we'll get a choice of networks when the phone finally makes its way Stateside. Hang tight, gringos, not long to go now.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S launches in Europe, hitting US 'later this year'

Filed under: Cellphones