CrunchGear |  |
- New Toshiba HDD Withstands Extreme Temperatures, Can Be Used 24/7
- FLEPia Lite: Fujitsu Shows New Color E-Book Reader (Video)
- Viewsonic Releases Rebranded 3M Camcorder-Projector, 3D Camcorder
- Altec Lansing’s Octiv Stage iPad Dock, For The Dock Lover In Your Life
- Schmidt: Gingerbread Sooner, Chrome OS Later
- Why We Care About Apple And The Beatles
- Kinect Hits One Million Sold
- Review: AOC Edge Monitor Series
- Diablo III Coming To Consoles? (Update: Nope)
- Steam Causes Game Publisher To Run Out Of Product Key (But Everything’s OK Now)
- Tool/Belt: For When You Positively Have To Have To Turn a Hex Bolt Right Now
- After Most Exciting Season In History, Video Game Publishers Realize F1 License Is Worth A Lot Of Money
- The Boxee Box: Sizing Up The Competition
- Will Apple Kill The MP3 Tomorrow?
- The Ergonomic Workstation That Looks Like It Can Break You
- Hello, Boxee Box
- Plasma TVs Ready To Fight, Out Grew LCDs Last Quarter
- Apple Teases Huge iTunes Announcement
- Marshall Releases Major and Minor Headphones
- MOTOPAD Tablet Selected To Show Off Android 3.0 — Or Something Like That
| New Toshiba HDD Withstands Extreme Temperatures, Can Be Used 24/7 Posted: 16 Nov 2010 04:45 AM PST
Toshiba announced [PDF] the MK1060GSCX today, a 2.5-inch SATA type HDD with 100GB capacity that’s designed for use in “rugged operating environments”. The company says the hard drive can be used 24 hours a day in computing, industrial and other non-conventional environments (i.e. in ATMs, ruggedized computers, factories etc.). The device boasts a "case temperature" range of -15 to +70 degrees Celsius, which is the world’s highest for a hard drive. According to Toshiba, the MK1060GSCX also offers an expanded operating altitude range and better resistance to vibration and shocks. It features 12ms seek time and spins at 4,200 rpm. Toshiba says the new hard drive, along with another model featuring 80GB capacity and 16ms seek time, will begin mass production next month (no word yet on pricing).
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| FLEPia Lite: Fujitsu Shows New Color E-Book Reader (Video) Posted: 16 Nov 2010 02:22 AM PST
When Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, Fujitsu started showcasing the first version of its own e-book reader, the so-called FLEPia. Back then, Fujitsu marketed the FLEPia as the world’s first such device displaying pages in color. We covered the device a few times until it actually went on sale in Japan with a $1,200 price tag [JP] last year. And during a recent tech exhibition in Tokyo, our friends at Diginfonews Tokyo were able to shoot a video that shows the new FLEPia model in action: dubbed FLEPia Lite, the device is based on a “cholesteric LCD”, which reflects only specific wavelengths of light and boasts superior brightness. According to Fujitsu, the FLEPia Lite features:
Fujitsu claims we will see the FLEPia Lite in stores (probably in Japan first) as early as next year. By the way, E Ink Inc. showcased their color e-readers, Triton, at the same exhibition without giving details on release dates. Here’s the video (in English):
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| Viewsonic Releases Rebranded 3M Camcorder-Projector, 3D Camcorder Posted: 15 Nov 2010 10:03 PM PST
They also released a 3D camcorder, the 3DV5. I know, I know, all camcorders are 3D. I mean this one records 3D anaglyph images using two sensors. Strange-looking thing, isn’t it! You can preview the images in 3D on the rear LCD, or watch them on your computer with the usual 3D accessories. It’s an NVIDIA-branded product, so you’d do best to stick with them. Interestingly, the 3DV5 is only $180, which is pretty cheap for a 3D camcorder — not that there are many, but that’s about what a high-end pocket cam runs. Probably means you can’t trust the quality. What, it’s true! [via Electronista]
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| Altec Lansing’s Octiv Stage iPad Dock, For The Dock Lover In Your Life Posted: 15 Nov 2010 09:46 PM PST
It costs $150, which seems a bit much, but it does allow you to dock your iPad in either portrait or landscape mode, and it looks like it provides decent oomph in the audio department. I think it would be pretty practical in a kitchen or office environment, where you can just plug it in, let it stream a show or two, and hear it clearly from across the room while you get dinner ready. Then again, most docks are practical that way. You can pick it up wherever quality Altec Lansing goods are offered, or at their website.
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| Schmidt: Gingerbread Sooner, Chrome OS Later Posted: 15 Nov 2010 07:00 PM PST
Gingerbread, as they are calling Android version 2.3 (apparently not 3.0, said to be Honeycomb), was shown off on what appeared to be a Nexus S, which would make sense as the first phone to roll out with the update. New features include near-field communication and potentially face recognition, in addition to the resolution compatibility improvements and other under-the-hood changes. Schmidt outed Gingerbread and the Nexus S as being forthcoming within the next few weeks, which suggests we’ll have a solid date soon. I’m guessing a joint press conference with Samsung, who will trumpet, as usual, the super AMOLED and impressive specs of the Galaxy series of handsets. If nothing else, the Nexus S will likely be rid of Samsung’s troublesome Android skin, which will alone put it ahead of its carrier-branded brethren. As for Chrome OS, well, it’s not the news we wanted to hear. November was supposed to be the big debut, but that’s looking mighty unlikely, as Schmidt put the release at sometime in “the next few months.” No holiday release then, I suppose. He also noted that the OS was orientated towards netbooks rather than devices that “involve touch.” That’s a big disappointment for me, since I don’t particularly enjoy Android as a tablet platform, and have been looking forward to Chrome OS as a replacement for some time. That said, Google products have a habit of metamorphosing after release, usually for the better and broader, so I’ll hold onto my hopes for now. [image: FreeFoto.com]
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| Why We Care About Apple And The Beatles Posted: 15 Nov 2010 06:30 PM PST
Being that the Beatles MP3 holdout is emblematic of the recording industry’s resistance against modern distribution methods, the way in which the Beatles discography will be made available should be telling. Here was a situation in which the labels and distributors have millions of sales at stake, and though to be fair Beatles records have been selling just fine without the benefit of legal downloads over the last decade. The powers that be must know that by agreeing to MP3 distribution, they are shifting the fulcrum. But how far? Details of the deal will likely leak out over the next few weeks; negotiations might have been going on right up until last week, if the WSJ’s source is accurate. I doubt Apple’s announcement tomorrow will go beyond the basic “The world’s favorite band. Now on iTunes.” —with links to albums, some extra material, and so on. They probably had a whole presentation ready to go, high-res artwork and special pages and everything, and have been waiting to pull the trigger for a couple years. Every week this is on the market around the holidays is another week everyone involved gets to print money.
What will fall out? Whom will the terms favor? Who was holding out, really? The balance of power has shifted dramatically, and it’s conceivable that either party might have had the drop on the other. Apple, after all, is happy without the Beatles, being far and away the leader in the market, and may have set its terms years ago and waited for the other guys to come around. Apple Records, however, could easily offer an exclusive to Amazon or the like, or even set up a proprietary “Beatles Store” that would be resented by all but probably very popular. On the whole I think the balance of power lies with the record companies in this case, because the demand is there and iTunes is simply one way of meeting it. On that note, then, I wonder what sort of conditions have been set? And I wonder where Apple, sensing where accommodation ends and capitulation starts, has drawn the line? For instance, I doubt that they would agree to any limitations like those Pink Floyd attempted to place on their discography. But Apple also couldn’t be too picky about exclusivity, I’m guessing, since in the end this digital rollout of the Beatles will be a global affair, Apple has a seat at the table but not at the head of the table. So why do we care? Because this is one of the last times you’re going to see the recording industry in a position of power. It’s like seeing a majestic Dodo in action for one last time. The obstinacy that has led to doing things the same way since the 50s (there are likely LPs that have been in print that long, being sold the same way, like produce) at last is running out of steam. The last barriers between old and new distribution are beginning to be dissolved, and the staunchest objectors (in this case, those in charge of the Beatles discography) are being forced to act. So while there will be dissections of the deal done by industry lawyers, agents, and musicians, any advantages gained now will be eroded over time; the distribution power struggle is forcing out obstructionists and inefficiencies, and how far that will go, nobody knows. This is all, of course, assuming this announcement does happen tomorrow as expected. If not, sorry to have wasted your time. I’ll repost it in a year when it actually happens.
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| Posted: 15 Nov 2010 06:13 PM PST
With a million sold and likely another million to be bought before the holidays, the market for effective hacks is going to be quite large. I was impressed by the capabilities of the Move, but people are already blowing my mind with Kinect stuff as well. The future is here, though it’s not necessarily the same future Microsoft was advertising. The limitations and dangers of the system have been discussed ad nauseum, but it appears that the average consumer just finds the idea compelling. It is something of a concession to the growing casual gaming crowd, but I think we’ll also see some blockbuster games on it once developers get a feel for what can and can’t be done. All right, no more Kinect sales numbers posts for a while. It’s selling well, that’s all you need to know, really.
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| Review: AOC Edge Monitor Series Posted: 15 Nov 2010 04:30 PM PST
Pros:
Cons:
Full review:
The display itself is only about half an inch thin, and the base is seven inches from front to back. It has a nearly circular footprint, something you may or may not like, but it’s simply and elegantly formed and I think it’s attractive. The controls are touch-sensitive buttons that light up when you touch the front of the base, which isn’t really conducive to constant tinkering, but on the other hand, they disappear almost completely when not in use, and there are no distracting LEDs on the bezel of the display. Hook-ups are at the back of the base instead of on the display proper, which I feel makes for a cleaner look. There’s also a power brick instead of a straight three-prong port, which takes even more bulk off your desktop. While it feels stable on its round base and rubberized feet, the display itself seems but loosely connected to the elevating arm. It’s not really a problem since you don’t actually need to touch it at all, but it’s a little disconcerting when setting up. There’s little leeway for height or angle customization, though the base is a standard VESA mount, so you can put it on the wall if you like.
The monitor comes with drivers and extra software (in a bothersome Flash app) for configuring the monitor, but all essential functions are also available through the OSD. Color was, I found, extremely cool by default, perhaps due to the balance of their LED backlighting. I’m used to a slightly warm picture on my main Dell display, and I had to reduce the blue and green to 52 and 75 respectively to get anything like a warm picture. Your mileage may vary, and you may prefer a cool picture, of course, but I felt the cool was a little off the charts on this one. Viewing angle is great horizontally, but pretty poor vertically. I can see a definite color shift just moving my head up or down a few inches. From below, it gets visibly warmer, and from above it gets cooler until a dark shadow passes over the whole image, giving way to a rather solarized look as you get out of the reasonable viewing angles. This kind of effect is visible in most monitors, but I found it pronounced in the Edge series. The contrast ratio of 50,000,000 is, of course, an absurd exaggeration, like all dynamic contrast ratios. Turning off dynamic contrast and adjusting your color and gamma correctly will make for a better image. That said, it does have great contrast, with extremely bright whites and fairly dark blacks, both of which tend to run a bit cool. Despite the quoted 5ms response time, I found there was some chroma lag in some situations, like when I moved my black-and-white cursor over the dark-grey window bars in Windows 7. There was also some trailing with black text on white backgrounds when dragging windows or moving a cursor, but nothing alarming. Conclusion:
This is a slim and attractive monitor that would do well as a secondary display but isn’t up to snuff for a primary. While sharpness and contrast are good, response time artifacts are present and I found the coolness distracting, though to be sure that is a personal bias. The design of the thing is nice, and I liked the power brick and rear-mounted ports. It’s an attractive space-saver, but image quality buffs need not apply. Product page: AOC Edge series     
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| Diablo III Coming To Consoles? (Update: Nope) Posted: 15 Nov 2010 02:04 PM PST
Blizzard never actually said Diablo wasn’t coming to consoles, but they also never said it wasn’t coming to Macs, and Linux, and Atari 2600. All we know is there is loot involved, and floating health orbs. Apart from that and some skill trees, that’s pretty much the extent of the world’s knowledge about this game… except that now we also know it’s coming to consoles. Will it be worse? Better? Is it a port? Have they been developing with consoles in mind the whole time? How will you manage your inventory? I like managing my inventory. Don’t take that away from me, Blizzard. Update: Blizzard has issued a statement saying that they are hiring for a “Diablo-related concept,” but not Diablo III proper. Phew!
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| Steam Causes Game Publisher To Run Out Of Product Key (But Everything’s OK Now) Posted: 15 Nov 2010 01:30 PM PST
A funny thing happened at the weekend. One of the Steam deals was for Risen, an RPG that came out in 2009. I hear it's pretty good, actually. Well, at least the PC version was OK. Anyhow, the game was on sale for $14.95 (50 percent off its regular price, in other words), and so many people bought the game that its publisher, Deep Silver, ran out of activation keys! Yes: Steam sold more games than the publisher was even prepared to sell! There's really no point in saying "Steam is nifty" anymore, since we all know that to be true. It's not a perfect service, no, but, for example, how many brick-and-mortar retailers could you walk into today that still has something like Risen in stock and on the shelves? Not many, correct. Deep Silver says the issue has already been sorted, and that you should be able to play the game just fine now. So, publishers: ready yourselves for the upcoming Steam holiday sale. Come on, Civilization V!
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| Tool/Belt: For When You Positively Have To Have To Turn a Hex Bolt Right Now Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:07 PM PST |
| Posted: 15 Nov 2010 11:05 AM PST
Sebastian Vettel is your new Formula One champion. Who saw that coming? Conventional wisdom last weekend said that Red Bull made a mistake by not issuing so-called "team orders," telling Vettel to make way for his Australian teammate, Mark Webber, in his quest to win the F1 driver's championship. As it turned out, lady luck was on Vettel's side (that, or Ferrari forgot that Vettel was also in the running to win the championship!) and he went on to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and thus the F1 driver's championship. It was, by many accounts, the single most exciting Formula One season in history. Quite the season, then, for me to begin following the sport closely! A video game based on this season, F1 2010, was released by Codemasters (the same people who make Grid and Dirt) in September, and has sold a tremendous number of copies. I bought mine on Day One from Steam, thank you very much. In fact, Codemasters has sold so many copies that other publishers are said to be knocking on Bernie Ecclestone's (often referred to as the "F1 supremo") door, offering giant sacks of money for the rights to create F1 games.
I have no information to this end, but I'm going to assume the publishers in question are the usual suspects. You know, EA and Activision. An EA-produced game could be fine (Need For Speed Shift was one of the best racing games of 2009), but I shudder to think what an Activision-produced F1 game would look like. Lord knows they'd probably demand the inclusion of the Daytona 500 in order to "make the game more palatable for American consumption." That, and they'd throw someone like Danica Patrick on the cover for no reason at all. Codemasters has sold 2 million copies of the game, and that's largely without any American sales whatsoever. Pro-rata, that would be more than 4 million copies sold.
Not to say that the game is perfect—players have long complained about the limitations that come with being developed for a five-plus-year-old console, such as not being able to see whether or not your opponents have pitted or not, which is pretty vital information in a real race—but Codemasters has proven its racing bona fides long ago. I just grabbed these screenshots a few minutes ago. The original resolution was 1920×1200 with 8X AA, AF to the max, and Ultra graphics settings. It runs at around 130 frames per second in DX11 mode, sometimes dropping into the 90s when a lot of cars are onscreen. Not bad for a console port!
One more!
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| The Boxee Box: Sizing Up The Competition Posted: 15 Nov 2010 10:42 AM PST
The Boxee Box is tiny. Most of the Internet knows that. But when compared directly to standard A/V devices, its tiny stature really sinks in. (ha) It has about the same footprint as a new Roku or Apple TV, but the sinking box design makes the actual space it takes up a bit larger. Still, it’s smaller than either one of the Google TV boxes and just about every other AV device. The same goes for the remote. I’m not sure if this is a good thing though.
My main annoyance with it is that it’s hard to pick up the remote and know without looking that it’s in the correct orientation. There’s only really three buttons on the remote with the play button above and a back button below a navigational pad. Since there’s no marker or nub on either of the buttons, often I’ll pick up the remote and hit the play button when I really mean to hit the back button. Frustrating. Sure, it’s small, but the sinking box form factor nullifies a lot of advantages. You can’t stuff it away anywhere. It’s been said that’s exactly why it’s designed as such. You know, so people have to show it off. I guess that’s noble, but it will surely turn off some potential buyers. I don’t have a space for it in my office. My AV rack is a re-purposed printer cart shoved under the table shown in the pictures. Both of the Google TV units, along with nearly any other media streamer, slide nicely on top of my receiver — not the Boxee Box. tl;dr The Boxee Box is small but the strange form factor sucks. Full initial impressions coming in a bit.        
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| Will Apple Kill The MP3 Tomorrow? Posted: 15 Nov 2010 08:40 AM PST
Apple has posted a cryptic message on its Web site, teasing the world about an "exciting" iTunes announcement that’s coming tomorrow. What could it be? I saw that someone had suggested The Beatles were finally coming to iTunes, but really, who cares? If you want The Beatles on your iPhone you can grab the newly remastered albums that came out last year, "rip, mix, burn," then off you go. Not very exciting, no. What could be exciting, though, is a streaming music service. In an instant, Apple would have killed the MP3 once and for all. You hear that? That’s the sound of the RIAA thanking Apple over and over again. A streaming music service would make all kinds of sense for Apple, and it wouldn’t be too bad for us consumers either. Streaming services have already seen much success, chiefly with Spotify in Europe and Rdio here in the U.S. But an iTunes Streaming service, probably given a slick name like "iTunes Stream," would instantly take the idea of streaming from something only techie geeks care about to something the whole family can enjoy. Think about it. Every song ever (deals with record labels permitting, of course), right there on your iPhone, your iPad, your Apple TV, your MacBook, on-demand and always at the ready. If you can access the Internet ("the Cloud"), then you can listen to your tunes. And just like that, your MP3s are worthless. Why would you maintain a giant collection of hard drive-eating MP3 and AAC (the file format iTunes uses) files when you can access the same songs from a handy App? Let’s see… gigabytes upon gigabytes of music files versus a single App that can stream any song with the touch of a button. Well, the touch of a screen, as it were. It’s a no-brainer, and everybody wins. Apple collects $10 per month (or whatever) from you, you get access to an entire Cloud’s worth of music, and the record labels no longer have to worry about pesky kids "trading files" any more. Not because illegally trading iTunes-purchased music was ever a problem for the record labels, but that iTunes Stream would represent a very clear change in the culture of music consumption. Kids wanting to listen to Kanye West’s "Monster" won’t think to look for an "MP3," they’ll grow up learning to fire up iTunes Stream on their iPhone. I can see audiophiles not particularly caring about any of this, complaining about the compression used in the streaming, never thinking to listen to music on a phone, but the number of people who listen to 24bit lossless vinyl rips (give me FLAC or give me death!) using Foobar2000 and $500 headphones is non-existent compared to people who are cool with listening to Nicki Minaj on YouTube (read: rubbish quality) using $10 earbuds. And now we play the waiting game, waiting for Apple to kill the MP3 once and for all. Hopefully.
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| The Ergonomic Workstation That Looks Like It Can Break You Posted: 15 Nov 2010 08:22 AM PST While this looks more like a Rolfing system than a chair, what you see before you is the Lauritzen Ergonomic Workstation (LEW), a chair that reduces pressure on your back, legs, and trunk and allows you to use your computer in almost any position. It looks like Mr. Lauritzen himself is selling these things all by himself for $995 plus shipping and, better yet, he appears to be building them himself and shipping them out of the Bay Area. Ah, California, your crazies are so productive!
One more video after the jump.
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| Posted: 15 Nov 2010 08:06 AM PST
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| Plasma TVs Ready To Fight, Out Grew LCDs Last Quarter Posted: 15 Nov 2010 07:58 AM PST
Quixel Research notes that the 720p plasma segment did particular well with 42-inchers up 27% and 50-inchers up 64%. Why you ask? Well, 720p plasma TVs are a good deal less expensive than LCDs. Plus, when compared to the bottom-feeder LCDs sold at similar prices, the plasmas sets often have a lot better image quality and brand recognition. I’ll recommend a plasma over an LCD any day of the week unless glare is a major factor. Screen resolution doesn’t even come into play unless the shopper is looking for something larger than a 50-inch and actually plans on watching Blu-ray movies. Otherwise, plasmas kick the crap out of similarly-priced LCD’s contrast ratio and viewing angle. It’s a no-brainer in my mind and I’m glad to see my display type of choice is doing well in the free market. Yay for plasma TVs!
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| Apple Teases Huge iTunes Announcement Posted: 15 Nov 2010 07:19 AM PST
Apple rarely goes this crazy with a pre-release announcement. Rumor and innuendo usually rule the day when it comes to things like this and for them to post a huge “Guess what we’re doing!” on the front page is a big deal. I personally haven’t heard much out of Cupertino this week but we’ll do a little digging to figure out what’s going on here.
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| Marshall Releases Major and Minor Headphones Posted: 15 Nov 2010 07:12 AM PST
Back before kids had earbuds or earnodes or whatever, you used to listen to your Robert Plant on big studio cans, man. You’d just sit back with a J and just let the music wash over you while your mom and dad totally spaced out to Reagan in the living room and you were totally in the zone. Bam! Guitars! Boom! Drums! Like you could see the colors of the music, man. So that’s what Marshall is trying to create here, amigos. The released two headphones, one called the Minor which are basically like earbuds or whatever and then there’s the Major with a curly pigtail cable and enough ear stuffing to keep out the sad sounds of your old lady telling you to get the Firebird into the garage so she can get the minivan up in that piece and you’re like “Fine, after this lick from D’Yer Mak’er.”     Product Page [Minor]
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| MOTOPAD Tablet Selected To Show Off Android 3.0 — Or Something Like That Posted: 15 Nov 2010 07:12 AM PST
Google choose MOTOPAD as a first device to show Android 3.0 – 7 inch version
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