CrunchGear |  |
- The first USB 3.0 hub controller is here
- Panasonic and LG plasma TVs to offer 720p HD video chats via Skype
- Daily Crunch: Into the White Edition
- Rumor: Verizon orders 400,000 Palm handsets
- Leakage: Six new cameras from Panasonic
- Final Fantasy creator working on an iPhone game
- Samsung outs the IceTouch and MyFit PMPs
- ContourHD firmware update extends configuration options
- CSI has nothing on Mr. Brain
- Lenovo’s U1 is a netbook with removable tablet
- New HourTime Episode: Enjoy Now!
- Meet CrunchMode for Windows 7 power users
- Review: SteelSeries Xai laser gaming mouse
- The Datacolor Spyder3HDMI calibrates your HDTV through HDMI
- New Vaio Z to sport “Quad” SSD in RAID 0?
- New cameraphone sensor to take terrible, terrible 1080p video
- WSJ: Apple Tablet shipping in March
- Believe and you’ll achieve: British Army launches get-fit podcast. Clearly Hulk Hogan uses it.
- Specs and pics of the Viliv N5, S10, HD5, and P3 surface pre CES 2010
- Adventures in Best Buy ‘optimization’
| The first USB 3.0 hub controller is here Posted: 05 Jan 2010 03:35 AM PST
USB 3.0 is just around the corner, with us having reported about more and more compatible devices in the last few months. And now Taiwan-based PC accessory maker VIA has readied the so-called VIA VL810 SuperSpeed Hub Controller, the world’s first USB 3.0 hub controller. It supports data transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/s and features one upstream and four downstream ports. The controller is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, but data transfer rates are up to ten times slower in that case. The five ports support Hi-Speed (480Mbps), Full-Speed (12Mbps) and Low-Speed (1.5Mbps) data traffic. VIA says the controller is ideal for those users who, for example, need to backup HDDs or quickly move HD video files from one device to the other. The company plans to demo the controller at the CES later this week.
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| Panasonic and LG plasma TVs to offer 720p HD video chats via Skype Posted: 05 Jan 2010 02:24 AM PST
TVs with Internet connectivity are nothing new, but this is pretty cool: As the world’s first TV makers, Panasonic and LG are cooperating with Skype to incorporate the software, which will make it possible to video chat in 720p HD quality, into TVs. According to a Japanese media report [registration required, paid subscription], Americans will be able to buy the Pansasonic TVs first (as early as this spring), followed by Japanese and Europeans in the summer. Skype itself, however, speaks of a release in mid-2010 for both the LG and Panasonic TVs. The Skype function, for which the report mentioned above says buyers have to pay “hundreds of dollars” more than for identical TVs without it, will be available in special VIERA models (the picture shows one Panasonic is currently selling in the US) and LG's 26 LCD and plasma HDTVs with NetCast Entertainment Access. Skype says the features include:
The TVs will feature a microphone and a built-in video camera, which – according to Skype – can pick up sound and video from a couch-distance. Skype has set up a dedicated website for those TVs for more information (but the link is currently dead).
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| Daily Crunch: Into the White Edition Posted: 05 Jan 2010 12:00 AM PST |
| Rumor: Verizon orders 400,000 Palm handsets Posted: 04 Jan 2010 10:30 PM PST  Someone's gotta help Palm out. After the somewhat lukewarm response to the Pixi and the Pre, it's rather surprising that Verizon would decide to place a big order. Word is though, that's exactly what they did.
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| Leakage: Six new cameras from Panasonic Posted: 04 Jan 2010 10:00 PM PST
Obviously someone made a mistake and leaked this, but it’s bound to happen now that CES is here. No word on pricing or availability yet, but when we see the official release we’ll let you know. And without further ado:
The original rumor came out of Asia, and was dug up by Photo Rumors.
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| Final Fantasy creator working on an iPhone game Posted: 04 Jan 2010 09:35 PM PST  Legendary RPG creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is working on a new game for the iPhone. In case you don't recognize the name, he helped create a few games you might of heard of: Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Xenogears, and Final Fantasy.
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| Samsung outs the IceTouch and MyFit PMPs Posted: 04 Jan 2010 08:20 PM PST
We’re sure to see a ton of small portable media players this week at CES and these from Samsung are just two of them. The Samsung MyFit is aimed at fitness junkies, while trendy kids will probably opt for the IceTouch. They both are candybar-type devices and playback media, but that’s where the similarities end. The MyFit is a fitness machine — well, not really a machine, more of a fitness gadget. It features monitors that measures stress and fat levels, along an accelerometer to track calorie burned during the workout. The device also comes equipped with a fitness manager and a calorie intake guide for those mid-day snack attacks. The IceTouch, however, are for those that are already beautiful. These are the kids that will appreciate the sleek, glass look of the transparent AMOLED touchscreen and would never think of actually getting sweaty while holding it. This 16GB PMP can playback various video files, has an FM radio, and can even function as a portable storage device. Too bad Samsung doesn’t care enough to release the pricing details for these models yet. The company wants to play the PR game and wet out taste buds with the specs and then issue another release later on to announces that info. Fun.
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| ContourHD firmware update extends configuration options Posted: 04 Jan 2010 08:01 PM PST
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| Posted: 04 Jan 2010 07:28 PM PST
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| Lenovo’s U1 is a netbook with removable tablet Posted: 04 Jan 2010 06:12 PM PST
Here are the specs, broken down into tablet and dock portions: Tablet:
Dock:
One other major difference: the U1 starts at a thousand dollars. I get the feeling Freescale might be the more attractive proposition to most people. We’ll see ‘em both at CES, though, so we’ll let you know. [via PC Magazine]
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| New HourTime Episode: Enjoy Now! Posted: 04 Jan 2010 05:49 PM PST
A new HourTime watch podcast for your edification. Admit it. You really like it. Right? Guys? Right?
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| Meet CrunchMode for Windows 7 power users Posted: 04 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST
“CrunchMode” is really easy to set up: just create a new folder and then rename it to CrunchMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and then double click it and you’re rocking. This trick won’t work on 64-bit Vista, but it works like a charm on all the different versions of Win7. [via HardOCP] *To be fair, “CrunchMode” is just what we call it. The code is the important part, so you can call it whatever you like, like “IDDQD” for instance.
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| Review: SteelSeries Xai laser gaming mouse Posted: 04 Jan 2010 04:30 PM PST
Pros:
Cons:
Full Review: The fun thing about mice is that there are so many of them. From the tricked-out megamice like Logitech’s MX Revolution and Razer’s Mamba to the slim and elegant Arc Mouse, there’s a huge range to choose from. The Xai sits comfortably in the middle, being a sort of secretly fancy mouse clad in a modest body. Back to basics Almost exactly a year ago, at CES, I saw a milled body prototype of this mouse. SteelSeries’ Kim Rom explained that they were going back to basics, and were seeking a kind of fundamental mouse shape. I think they’ve succeeded; the gentle arc and symmetrical design of the Xai are pleasing to both the eye and the hand. While some people will understandably prefer a strongly handed design like the G500 or Imperator, there is something about keeping things basic that is appealing to me. It reminded me of my old Intellimouse 3.0, which I adored.
The downside of the design, a shortcoming the Xai shares with all its ambidextrous ilk, is that a button that is perfectly placed for your thumb will necessarily be in danger of being pressed by your grasping fingers on the other side. Whether you want to disable the buttons or just be careful about it is up to you, but it’s something to consider. If you absolutely need more than four buttons within easy reach, you’d better take other mice into consideration. I find too many buttons counterproductive, but that’s just me. The buttons are extremely sensitive, and it took me a while to adjust after using the G500 and Mamba, which have a much deeper click. It led to a few accidental selections here and there, but Semi-freedom from drivers The configuration of the mouse can be done mostly in the mouse itself, via the little LCD on the bottom. You can switch profiles, set your high and low sensitivities, and adjust the settings like FreeMove and ExactAim, which are movement adjustment settings that reduce jitter and such, if you’re into that. It’s not exactly quick and easy to configure, but it’s all on-mouse and you don’t have to worry about drivers. If you want to set up macros and customize buttons, however, you’ll need the actual configuration app. The number of commands built in is a bit small (no double click? no minimize window?) but you can easily create those and others in the robust macro editor.
It can be a bit time consuming to test out lots of different combinations of these things. I don’t like anything interfering with my mouse’s movements so I knew to put them all at zero, but you’ll find there are more than enough settings to keep the tweaker in you occupied. One thing that I did not actually try out, but which sounded fun, is trying pro gamers’ mouse configurations. The idea is great: you download the profiles used by champ gamers and try their settings. Maybe it’ll make you a better player, maybe you’ll just be entertained, but it’s a fun idea and I’d encourage people to try it out. It’s getting to the point with mice that tracking is pretty much expected to be excellent, so I won’t waste your time here. The Xai tracks very well. I tested it on one of their thin, hard mouse pads as well as on a cloth Razer Goliathus, and lastly on my desk, which is brushed but reflective steel. No problems on anything. The sensor is placed dead center on the mouse; I prefer it forward and to the left a bit, but since it’s ambidextrous they had their hands tied.
The thing I found myself wishing was more sensitivity settings. There’s something to be said for the simple high-low switch, and of course you can configure those settings to a very precise degree, but sometimes you feel like you want something in between. What if I need to do some pixel-by-pixel movements in an image editor? I can’t just zoom down to super-low sensitivity like with a Razer mouse. I’d have to switch profiles or something. I like the Xai. It’s compact, elegant, unpretentious, and effective. While I personally prefer a wireless, right-handed device, I found the straightforward design of the Xai refreshing, and of course its performance is beyond reproach. At $90 it’s a bit expensive, though it’s far from the most pricey out there. While for a real tweaker I have to recommend going with one of the many mice with more bells and whistles, the Xai is really an excellent choice for almost anybody.
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| The Datacolor Spyder3HDMI calibrates your HDTV through HDMI Posted: 04 Jan 2010 03:00 PM PST
The older models required you to hook a sensor to the front of the HDTV or project screen and then connect it to a computer. A DVD player then provides the HDTV a series of color patterns and while the user adjusts the TV’s display settings step-by-step. I have one. It works well, but it’s definitely not a system that an above-average Luddite could handle. The whole process takes about 25 minutes, but the results are worth it. The new system at least sounds like it takes a lot of the guess work out. The process probably isn’t automatic and users will likely still need to adjust the TV’s settings manually, but at least a computer isn’t involved anymore. Stay tuned for more details. (bad pun courtesy of Datacolor’s PR flack)
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| New Vaio Z to sport “Quad” SSD in RAID 0? Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:55 PM PST
Of course it’d be fast whether they designed for it or not, but if they made sure to have the right motherboard, fast RAM, special storage controllers and so on, it could blow away the competition. Laptop had drives are traditionally low-power 5400RPM HDDs, though SSDs are becoming more common, and this multiple SSD setup could be the next step in luxury mobile computing. It’s unclear whether the “64GB/128GB x 4″ quoted is, for instance, four 32GB drives making up 128GB or four 128GB drives making up 512GB. I’d lean towards the former, since the latter would be incredibly expensive. Sure, SSDs are already expensive, but four high-capacity drives would put the raw storage cost at over $1500.
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| New cameraphone sensor to take terrible, terrible 1080p video Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:30 PM PST  I'm sure this is a very grand advance in miniaturization, but I'm afraid the results may be questionable. Omnivision has announced a new sensor for mobile phone cameras that will take 14MP photos and do 1080p video at 60FPS. As far as I'm concerned, this is bad news. Cameraphone lenses are slow and of very low quality, and the tiny sensor size means both bad low light performance and bad clarity due to insanely small pixel pitch. And the video will have to be low bitrate to accommodate the lack of storage on most phones. 1080p video at 1Mbps? It'll be like watching an HDTV smeared with vaseline.
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| WSJ: Apple Tablet shipping in March Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:03 PM PST
This just in: the WSJ is reporting that an Apple Tablet device thinger will ship in March after a January announcement. The announcement should come on the 27th or the 28th, according on various sources.
The device should sell for under $1000 and come in multiple finishes and may come with a nationwide Wi-Fi subscription similar to Boingo. Our own sources believe that the tablet is well on its way. More as we get it.
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| Believe and you’ll achieve: British Army launches get-fit podcast. Clearly Hulk Hogan uses it. Posted: 04 Jan 2010 12:45 PM PST
Absolutely brilliant. The British Army has produced a series of podcasts (hence the story’s appearance here) designed to get you, the average loaf-about, into tip-top shape. Let’s give ‘em a listen, shall we? So the podcast is free, of course, and is called Army Fit: Personal. The podcast is divided into several levels, and I’m listening right now to level one, beginner. Oh god yes, there’s a dance beat in the background. It sort of sounds like Menu music from Wipeout for the PlayStation. I guess that’s the difference between the Brits and their American cousins: whereas the U.S. Army would have used something like Metallica in the background, the Brits are skipping along to pop-trance. Plus 200 DKP. There’s a British man yelling at me. “Every minute counts!” and “You can do it!” and “I can see your sweat!” and “Believe and you’ll achieve!” See, if I had a video camera I could have made a fun two-minute video out of this. Jogging around in the snow and whatnot. Yes, we’re sorta in a holding pattern till CES starts up tomorrow and Wednesday. Recent pic of Hulk Hogan from the WrestlingObserver message board. He’s on TNA tonight! (But Bret Hart is on WWE. What to watch?!)
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| Specs and pics of the Viliv N5, S10, HD5, and P3 surface pre CES 2010 Posted: 04 Jan 2010 12:29 PM PST
To be honest, most of this info was out previously. The S10 Blade debuted over the summer and then Viliv somewhat announced the N5 a couple weeks back. But no matter, the rest of the specs are here for your enjoyment.
Viliv P3
[Blog.Naver.com via UMPC Portal]
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| Adventures in Best Buy ‘optimization’ Posted: 04 Jan 2010 12:00 PM PST
This is what happens when there’s no competition in an industry. Best Buy was the subject of Consumerist/Consumer Reports investigation re: “optimization.” Best Buy tries to sell computers to an unsuspecting public that have been “optimized” by the Geek Squad. And while the motives of the individual Geek Squad guy is probably on the up and up, the big bad corporation behind the guy in skinny black tie? The Almighty Dollar reigns supreme. So Consumer Reports sent a bunch of folks to various Best Buy stores throughout the country to see what the deal was. You see, Best Buy advertised laptops for, say, $600, but you could only buy the laptop at that price provided you buy “optimization.” And what exactly is “optimization”?
Basically, you know how when you buy a computer from a retail store and it’s loaded with all sorts of trial applications that clutter up the desktop? Best Buy will get rid of all of that. In other words, Best Buy wants $39.99 to uninstall a couple of apps. Neat. The investigation hots up when the detectives start asking questions like, “Can I buy a non-optimized laptop?” only to hear “Uh, we’re all out of non-optimized models, sorry.” This is a long way to say that Best Buy loves upselling you on things you patently don’t need. Now, I’d recommend that people skip all of this nonsense by, say, also buying an OEM copy of Windows 7 with the purchase of your shiny new PC so you can install a pristine copy of the operating system. It takes maybe 20 minutes to install Windows 7, and you won’t have any annoying trial applications mucking up your system. Happy now that Best Buy is the only game in town? Not me: the chain violated my civil rights, and I shan’t be going there ever again. I hold grudges. Plus, I just use Newegg like everyone else on the Internet in 2010.
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Nothing official yet, but this looks like a pretty good leak. Panasonic loves to do this kind of thing, announcing several cameras at once to distract from the other manufacturers.
Want a one stop access point for all those extended control panel settings in Windows 7? Well, it’s easy: just use CrunchMode*.
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