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Digital Photography Review on the EX-Z3, a three megapixel version of Casio’s superslim Exilim that comes with a 3x optical zoom lens. Read Amazon
Toshiba is working on a low-cost blue laser DVD called the Advanced Optical Disc with a storage capacity of 36GB: Toshiba’s new disc is read using a short wavelength blue laser, focused through a lens comparable in numerical aperture to current DVD drives. That ensures backward compatibility with today’s CDs and DVDs, Toshiba claims. Remember…
Speculation that TiVo might be Apple’s next acquisition target, or at least should be: [I]t’s time for Apple to step in. Steve Jobs is the only man in techland who can stand up to the content companies on his own terms. Not only does he understand the entertainment industry — his other company, Pixar, is…
NEC’s new cellphone doubles as remote control for a television or VCR, it’s the perfect thing for those who can’t be bothered to get up and find the real remote. The N504iS has a 1.9-inch color LCD screen, a built-in digital camera, and is only available in Japan. Read
The price for calling directory assistance on a cellphone is grossly inflated, but now it looks like AT&T Wireless subscribers will have the option to save a little money by getting phone numbers and address by text messages instead. AT&T Wireless charges $1.25 to call 411, but the fee will be just 50 cents to…
A couple of pieces of TiVo-related news today. A new DVD/DVR from Toshiba that combines a progressive scan DVD player with an 80GB hard drive TiVo digital video recorder. The SD-H400 will also be the first TiVo to use the company’s new Basic service, a stripped down version of its full service that doesn’t require…
The first production run of that new wristwatch cellphone from NTT DoCoMo, the Wristomo I-mode, sold out in 20 minutes when it went on sale in Japan on Wednesday. Read
Some joker from New Zealand got busted at an Australian tech trade show for selling scented faceplates for Nokia phones that smell like pot smoke and have an image of marijuana leaf emblazoned on the front. He didn’t do anything illegal, just offended the sensibilities of the Premier of New South Wales, and so the…
New line from Memorex of Disney-themed home entertainment gear for kids. The line, which was created by Frog Design (the same people behind the original Mac computer), includes a 13″ color television, a DVD player (pictured at right), a digital radio, a CD boombox, and a clock radio. Read [Via BoingBoing]
Paranoid that someone’s freeloading on your wireless network or at least trying to? If you’ve got $2,500 to spare, you might wanna pick up the Segue Wifinder, a Pocket PC outfitted with special software for picking up “unwanted subscribers.” Read
Anil Dash spots a rather desperate sign in the window of a Manhattan shop that develops film: I noticed this sign in front of a camera shop here in Manhattan a few weeks ago and remembered to take a picture of it the last time I walked by. “Digital Cameras Can Cause Blindness”. It’s of…
OS Opinion on the legacy of the original iMac: The iMac’s influence persists in a variety of consumer products that sport the computer’s groundbreaking translucent hues. Its impact “still blows me away,” says Bryan Chaffin, editor of The Mac Observer. Non-computer products influenced by its look include such items as hair curlers and George Foreman…
Buried in a piece in the Seattle Times about the recent WinHEC trade show, Tablet PC Buzz catches a mention of a previously unannounced covertible-style (laptop with a screen that swivels around) Tablet PC from ViewSonic. No details on when it might come out or any other details. Read
Step by step guide to updating the WiFi in a Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC from 802.11b to the faster 802.11g standard. Read
News of the world’s first bionic eyes. Artificial retinas were successfully implanted into three patients who had lost their sight: Each patient had an operation to have the implant fitted over their own damaged retinas. They wore spectacles fitted with miniature video cameras, which transmitted signals to the implanted device… Each implant measures 4mm by…
CNET on Gateway’s plan to shift away from selling mostly PCs and launch a whole new line of electronics gear like PDAs, home theater equipment, and networking gear. You might remember that 42-inch plasma television they introduced last year, looks like that was just the tip of the iceberg. Read
New 160GB version of Sony’s CoCoon digital video recorder. The CSV-p500 can record up to 110 hours of video, and comes out in Japan on May 17th. Read
Review over at the Wall Street Journal of Nokia’s new 6800 cellphone, the one that flips open to reveal a keyboard: The keyboard seems awkward at first, especially because it’s divided by the screen. But in my tests over the past few days, I quickly got used to it. Holding one side in each palm…
It’s about a year late (Slate had a better article about this last summer), but the New York Times has a piece today on retail sites like Dynamism and Japan-Direct which import the latest Japanese gadgets and sell them months or even years before they hit the US. Read
We’re pretty sure that widescreen laptops like the PowerBook G4 and the vpr Matrix 200A5 are the future, we just didn’t think that budget PC maker eMachines would also be one of the first to go wide. Its new M5305 has a 15.4-inch widescreen LCD with a 16:10 aspect ratio, a 2.2GHz processor, 40GB hard…