Sony Bloggie Touch – captures in full HD, gets sociable

Sony first revealed the Bloggie camcorder at the CES earlier this year, less than a year later though Sony have now revealed the new Bloggie Touch. Boasting a three-inch capacitive touchscreen, the new Bloggie Touch MHS-TS20K packs either 4GB or 8GB of internal memory, and will capture full HD 1080p video as well as 12.8-megapixel still images courtesy of the F2.8 wide angle lens and Exmor CMOS sensor.

Along its slick, stylish thin body, you’ll find a built-in USB connector and an HDMI output port. Other features on the so-called snap camera include options to easily share your photos and videos on various social networking sites and 360 degrees panoramic video and photo capture.

Here’s the official word for those of you who are interested…

It’s brilliantly easy to grab great-looking Full HD video clips and still photos with new Bloggie™ Touch by Sony. A radical evolution from first-generation Bloggie™ models, the all-new HD snap camera boasts gorgeous new looks with its slim, rounded body and finely brushed aluminium finish. It’s also the perfect ‘all-in-one’ solution for shooting and sharing life’s special moments, wherever you are.

Available in a choice of vibrant pink, silver and black finishes, the Bloggie Touch is a stylish partner for day-trips, weekend breaks or fun-filled nights out.

The camera’s cool, clean lines are dominated by a big, bright 7.6cm (3”) LCD touchscreen that gives a brilliant view of your photos and video clips. A sleek new user interface simplifies intuitive ‘touch and flick’ enjoyment of your clips and pictures.

Operation is equally straightforward. Just point and shoot to catch the moment: you can even grab still images while video recording continues uninterrupted.

The sensitive Exmor™ CMOS Sensor captures sparkling Full HD videos and crisply-detailed still photos. Picture quality is enhanced further by the bright, high quality lens with F2.8 maximum aperture for clear, low noise images – even when you’re shooting indoors or on overcast days.

Bloggie™ Touch features a versatile autofocus lens with wide angle function. There’s also a new auto macro mode to focus sharply on objects as close as 10cm away. It’s ideal for snapping the menu of that unforgettable restaurant meal or a beautiful flower discovered on holiday.

Bloggie™ Touch also records amazing 360-degree panoramic videos and photos to capture everything that’s happening around you – just clip on the supplied lens adaptor. 360 Videos are now twice the resolution of previous-generation Bloggie™, and low-light video quality is also improved thanks to the Exmor™ CMOS sensor. In addition to fun 360 Video, Bloggie Touch features “free-style shooting” which allows you to capture movie both in landscape and portrait.

Despite its slim, compact size, Bloggie Touch allows nearly 4 hours HD movie shooting time (1280 x 720/30p mode) on its 8GB internal memory. (Continuous maximum shooting time: approx. 29 mins).

After shooting, it’s never been easier to share your favourite photos and clips on the web. Bloggie™ Touch connects instantly to any PC via its flip-out USB arm that also charges the camera’s battery. There are no fiddly cables or software CDs to worry about: hook up Bloggie™ Touch and built-in sharing software launches automatically.

Just drag and drop to upload your favourite moments without fuss to social networks and popular sites like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. While you’re on the move, it’s easy to tag content with a new ‘Share-it-Later’ function for simple uploads when you’re next online.

Built-in Bloggie software also allows easy uploads to Personal Space, the brand-new online service by Sony for sharing content safely and securely. Once you’ve uploaded your pictures and clips from Bloggie™, just email invited members of your own Sharing Group with a link to your Personal Space. It’s easier and quicker than sending big file attachments via email. Viewing options are widened further by an HDMI port that connects Bloggie™ Touch to any HD television.

The new Bloggie™ Touch MHS-TS20K mobile HD snap camera by Sony is available from the beginning of November 2010.

Thanks to Vivienne for the tip!

Video: Orange HD voice – its that crystal clear!

With mobile phones these days so heavily focused on new features like applications and mobile platforms, it seems many have forgotten the sole purpose of mobiles, for talking. Orange though haven’t, in the video below, the network provider demos their new technology which aims to provide noise reduction but with improved voice clarity – Orange HD Voice. Orange will be the first in the UK to launch this service. Enjoy the video below as opera singer Pamela Hay tests the clarity of Orange HD Voice.

Here’s the full press release…

Orange today announced the first major advancement in UK mobile voice calling for 20 years with the launch of mobile High Definition (HD) Voice. Providing crystal clear sound quality for calls, mobile users will see the service set a new consumer benchmark, with today’s move testament to Orange’s continuing focus on innovation.

HD Voice offers a proven improvement in the sound quality of traditional mobile voice calls. The service eliminates the distance between friends, relatives and colleagues to make callers voices sound like they do when communicating face to face. Reducing the background noise, hisses and crackles of normal mobile calls, HD Voice also excels in noisy environments, so whether you’re at a football match or concert, on a building site or next to heavy traffic – HD Voice gives louder, clearer, sharper mobile calls. This will come as a relief for a third (32%) of Brits who blame background noise including road works or noisy chatty friends as the biggest disturbance in conversations*.

Orange HD Voice is available at no extra cost to all Orange mobile customers who take a HD Voice enabled handset. From launch, new variants of the Nokia 5230, Nokia X6, Nokia E5 and Samsung Omnia Pro will be HD Voice enabled with further manufactures expected to offer HD handsets in the coming months. All HD Voice enabled handsets will be labelled with the Orange HD Voice logo, helping customers to easily recognise those devices that support the new Orange HD Voice service. HD Voice demonstration units will also be available in Orange shops.

Tom Alexander, Chief Executive of Everything Everywhere, the company which runs Orange UK, said: “Although what we use our mobile handsets for has evolved significantly in the past few years – the way we make mobile calls hasn’t changed a great deal since the 1990s. So we’re proud to be the first telecommunications brand in the UK to change this and offer customers a revolutionary new calling experience. With mobile HD Voice – hearing really is believing”.

HD Voice also opens up new opportunities for better ways of working in business. The arrival of HD Voice is hotly anticipated by the broadcasting industry, which believes that the service could reduce its reliance on expensive ISDN lines and the need to ferry guests to studios for interviews. Other industries that will benefit significantly from HD Voice include those with significant background noise like the construction and manufacturing industries.

Thanks to Paul for the tip!

Apple’s fourth gen iPod Shuffle will have physical keys and VoiceOver control

Apple is in the spotlight this morning with its new generation of iPods. After the amazing iPod Touch 4G and iPod Nano 6G here comes the latest version of the Apple’s smallest iPod, the iPod Shuffle. Like all other iPods this one has changed as well and it has several new features to offer to its users so let’s check it out.

As already mentioned, iPod Shuffle is the smallest from all Apple’s iPods, but despite its size, this device can offer some amazing performances. We’ve already seen three generations of iPod Shuffle and now we finally got the forth version.

As you remember, the previous version of iPod Shuffle didn’t have any buttons for navigation and instead of buttons it was using the VoiceOver feature. Now Apple has decided to bring back the buttons to the latest version of iPod Shuffle and that way we’ve got playback and volume control back on the miniature iPod. However, VoiceOver feature is still available as well to all users that prefer it. Interesting thing about iPod Shuffle 4G is that it looks like a smaller version of iPod Shuffle 2G, and just like its predecessors, it’ll have a clip.

iPod Shuffle 4G might be the smallest iPod on the market, but it will provide you with the same great music experience. It comes with 2 GB of internal memory and the built in battery will provide 15 hours of playback time. iPod Shuffle 4G will be available in five different colors and it come with a pricetag of $49 or £39 if you’re here in the UK.

[via iTechNews]

Hannspree 10.1-inch Android tablet only weighs 790g

The Taiwanese developer known for their LCDs, TVs and netbooks is now jumping on the trend wagon by launching their own tablet, so here’s some information about it.

Hannspree will be another Android tablet running on Android 2.2. Besides Android OS 2.2, this tablet will provide powerful hardware specifications, allowing you to enjoy your multimedia to the fullest. This device comes with a fast 1 GHz Tegra 2 processor, dual ARM Cortex A9 and co-processors that will provide maximum performances.

As for the screen size, this tablet comes with 10.1-inch backlit LED display that is capable of showing 1024×600 pixel resolution. As for the storage space, this device comes with 16GB of internal storage space that will be more than enough for all of your multimedia files and applications. Of course, storage space can be expanded with additional Micro-SD card.

In addition, this device features motion and light sensors as well as mini HDMI output. As for the connectivity, this device offers WiFi and bluetooth support. The selling point of all the spec? This Android tablet will only weigh 790g, not far behind at all from the iPad which weighs 700g.

Although we don’t have the name of this device we know that it will sport Android OS 2.2 and therefore flash support and if you combine that with great hardware specifications you’re looking at one decent tablet. We’re expecting to see this tablet in November with a pricetag of 399 Euros or $505.

[via Ubergizmo]

New Apple iPod Nano 6G comes with touchscreen

As you might have heard or read, Apple is releasing the latest generation of its iPod devices. We’ve already seen what new iPod Touch 4G will be capable of, and now next on our list is, what I think the most drastic change / improvement – the new sixth generation iPod Nano.

The new iPod Nano, or iPod Nano 6G if you prefer, gets a completely new look with a new LCD display. That’s right, you can say goodbye to the click wheel because iPod Nano 6G is all about multitouch display. With the new 1.54-inch 240×240 multitouch LCD display, the iPod Nano looks even smaller and it resembles the iPod Shuffle in many ways.

Since the click wheel has been removed, this version of the iPod Nano has a minimal design consisting only of volume buttons and sleep/wake button. In addition, iPod Nano 6G gets a clip so now you’ll be able to attach it on your clothes.

Besides that, this device comes with FM radio and accelerometer, it will feature VoiceOver and will be fully compatible with Nike +. Interestingly this device will come with icon-based UI that will look similar to that seen on iOS.

iPod Nano 6G went through design changes and although its a shame that this version won’t have a camera it will boast changes that makes it once again unique from many PMP currently on the market, a characteristic that continues to define Apple’s products. Two models will be available, the 8GB model will cost $149 and 16GB model $179 if you’re in the US and £129 and £159 respectively if you’re in the UK.

[via iTechNews]

Apple announces new iPod Touch 4G with Retina Display and HD video recording

The iPod Touch being the most expensive as well as most sophisticated iPod of them all, we’re not surprised to see Steve Jobs have this device updated at all. The New iPod Touch, now in fourth generation since the announcement yesterday, will feature both front and rear camera. The front camera will be used for video calls and it will allow you to enjoy FaceTime video conversation with your friends just like the iPhone 4. On the other hand, rear camera will be capable of recording 720p HD video. The new iPod Touch is very similar to the iPhone 4 and it will feature also 3.5-inch 960×640 Retina Display. Connectivity has always been an important factor for Apple’s devices and therefore the latest iPod Touch will feature bluetooth 2.1+EDR and WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity.

In addition, this device features 3-axis gyro, accelerometer and ambient light sensor. Of course, you’ll won’t run out of battery power since this device is equipped with lithium-ion battery that will provide you with up to 40 hours music playback and 7 hours of video playback.

The new iPod Touch is only 7.2mm thick and it comes with iOS 4.1 and GameCenter, Apple’s way of convincing you that the iPod Touch can be a handheld gaming device just like the PSP. There will be several models of the iPod Touch 4G on the market which will boast 8GB, 32GB and 64GB storage capacities. Pricing will be $229, $299, and $399 respectively if you’re in the US and £189, £249 and £329 respectively if you’re in the UK.

[via iTechNews]

Samsung announces Samsung Wave 723 GT-S7230E

The latest full touchscreen phone to be launched by the Korean phonemaker is the Samsung Wave 723 GT-S7230E, and will be based on Samsung bada platform. According to the manufacturer, this phone will bring application-centric interface that will allow us to access their applications with ease and directly. In addition, this phone will have Social Hub feature that will allow you to stay in touch with your friends and family at all times. As for the hardware features, Samsung Wave 723 GT-S7230E comes with 3.2-inch touchscreen and with 5-megapixel camera with flash. In addition, this phone offers A-GPS support, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity.

Of course, Samsung Wave 723 GT-S7230E will have full access to the social networking sites and access to the Samsung Apps Store. Just don’t get this phone confused with an Android phone, because this was never Samsung’s intention. The Wave723 comes with 90MB of internal memory but you can easily expand its storage space with a microSD memory card. In addition, it will be able to play MPEG, H.263/H.264, DivX and XviD video files.

Overall, the Samsung Wave 723 GT-S7230E is a phone for those whom have been interested in Samsung’s own app store venture, we should see it first in September 2010 in Germany while we expect to see it arrive the rest of Europe, Asia and African market thereafter. Price remains undisclosed for now.

[via iTechNews]

Daily gadget deal: $50 coupon HP ENVY 14 Beats edition laptop

Here’s LogicBUY’s latest gadget deal of the day for a HP ENVY 14 Beats edition laptop. This special edition is equipped with high-performance Beats Audio technology developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre, which provides the optimal sound experience. To enhance this premium sound experience, HP has included a set of Beats Solo Headphones, with each HP Envy 14 Beats Edition.

Weighing only 5.25 pounds and measuring 1.16-inch thin, the Envy 14 Beats edition laptop is one of the thinnest and lightest quad-core laptops for its size. The laptop is powered by a choice of Intel Core i5 or Core i7 quad-core processor. The base specs include a 14.5-inch BrightView Infinity LED Display, 4GB DDR3 memory, 500GB Hard Drive and 1GB ATI MObility Radeon HD 5650 graphics (or switchable).

Other features of the ENVY 14 Beats edition laptop includes slot-loading DVD burner, HP TrueVision HD webcam, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, wireless, bluetooth and Beats Solo Headphones from Monster with ControlTalk.

This deal offer $50 off the listed price plus free shipping.

[via LogicBUY]

Toshiba Folio 100 tablet unveiled

The latest tablet from Toshiba is called Folio 100 and will be using Android OS 2.2. This tablet will provide 1024 x 600 pixel resolution via a 10.1-inch multitouch widescreen WSVGA display. As for other hardware specs, this model will use Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and come with 16 GB of internal storage space. However, if the internal 16 GB of storage space isn’t enough for you, you can easily expand your space to an additional 32 GB thanks to the SDHC card support. The Folio 100 tablet comes with a 1020mAh battery which Toshiba has claimed to provide enough power for seven hours.

As for networking, Toshiba Folio 100 supports WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, and 3G. Additional features include 1.3 megapixel camera, two stereo speakers, HDMI support, USB 2.0, and USB 2.0 mini standards.

Toshiba Folio 100 seems to boast powerful hardware specs in combination with Android OS 2.2. In addition, this tablet will use Opera Mobile and will have Adobe Flash support. Besides that, this tablet will come with feature an PDF reader and ebook app. So far, information about release date and pricing are not yet available.

[via Techfresh]

Free gadget giveaway: Creative ZiiSound D5 bluetooth wireless speaker system

Time for another free gadget giveaway. This time, we’ve got a stunning prize, we’re giving away the Creative ZiiSound D5 bluetooth equipped wireless speaker system which we reviewed last month! If you read our review, you’ll know that we thought the ZiiSound was a pretty awesome piece of kit, superbly elegant and stylish yet packed superior sound quality with all the connectivity options you’ll ever need. The best thing about the ZiiSound D5 speaker system in our view is probably the fact that its so convenient to use, you can link it up with any A2DP bluetooth compatible device and you’ll be up and running.

As you can see, the Creative ZiiSound D5 is an all in one speaker system which means no wires or cables tangling everywhere. It also comes with an iPod / iPod Touch / iPhone adapter if you have previous generations of these devices, then it will help bring you wireless bluetooth connectivity for seamless music play. If you run out of battery, just connect the adapter to the speaker for a quick charge.

The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive the Creative ZiiSound D5 in brand new condition and untouched with all the accessories needed to get you going (iPod not included). So if you’re interested in a chance to win this new speaker system which currently retails at £279, read the instructions below thoroughly on how to enter our two-week contest…

How to Enter

Anyone, anywhere worldwide can take part. Please participate according to the rules below so that everyone will have a fair chance of the random draw at the date specified below. Everyone will have an equal chance of winning no matter when your entry is placed. Late entries will not be counted and ignored. To enter into the giveaway all you need to do is:

1. Subscribe to our newsletter for free and stay up to date with us for news and future gadget giveaways!
2. Leave a comment below with a valid email address (your email won’t be given out), this will allow us to get in touch with you ASAP if you’re the chosen winner.
3. Leave a comment and tell us one fact about the Creative ZiiSound D5 from their product page here.
4. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook, we’ll contact you via Twitter in the situation that we can’t get in touch with you through email, we will also be announcing our future contests / giveaways via both Twitter and Facebook! (Any retweet love will be greatly appreciated!)
5. That’s it!
6. Optional – if you’re a blogger yourself and have abit of free time, do a quick post about this giveaway, it will be much appreciated!
7. Optional 2 – each participant may enter up to 10 times, do this by providing us a maximum of 10 comments during the period of the contest, you do not need to enter all 10 at the same time, you can spread them out however you like!

This giveaway will end on the 15th of September at 20:00 GMT, winner will be directly contacted following random draw the next day so please remember to leave valid contact details!

Daily gadget deal: 25% Coupon Dell Precision M4500 Mobile Workstation

Here’s LogicBUY’s latest gadget deal of the day for  a Dell Precision M4500 Mobile Workstation. Dell Precision series are Dell’s highest-performing and most scalable systems, specifically designed for graphics-intensive professionals in engineering, product design, animation and digital imaging. Dell refers Precision M4500 as “the world’s most powerful 15.6″ mobile workstation”.

The Precision M4500 supports Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Quad Core processors, up to 8GB DDR3 memory, optional NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M 1GB graphics card, 1080p LED-backlit LCD and more. The M4500 laptop is equipped with Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB DDR3 memroy, 250GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M 1GB graphics card, Windows 7 and more.

This deal offers a 25% coupon for the Precision M4500, which mean you are paying only $1,521.

[via LogicBUY]

MySpace adds Facebook sync feature

As you know, before Facebook, MySpace was the leading social networking website but times have changed and MySpace lost its popularity. According to the statistics, Facebook’s popularity rose for 70 percent while MySpace’s popularity dropped for 25 percent in the last year.

As for MySpace, it has 61 million monthly users while Facebook has 146 million users on monthly basis. It seems the MySpace is losing the war and even recent changes to the profile layouts cannot stop the MySpace’s defeat. Therefore, MySpace has decided to add a new feature that will allow MySpace users to send status updates directly to Facebook.

It seems that MySpace is following Twitter’s example since this feature will allow you to send status updates from your MySpace account on the similar way that Twitter users send status updates to the their Facebook accounts. So far, Facebook hasn’t developed a feature that will allow you to send status updates to your MySpace profile but we’re hoping that we’ll see it in the future.

This feature will come handy to Facebook and MySpace users, but will it be enough to keep MySpace alive and appealing to its users?

[via TG Daily]

The most sustainable mobile phone: Sony Ericsson Elm

The new Sony Ericsson Elm phone has been awarded by the O2 as the most sustainable handset on the market. The UK’s first sustainable rating system for mobile phones, O2’s Eco rating, awarded the Sony Ericsson Elm phone 4.3 out of 5 for its green credentials and the companies’ good sustainability work.

The Sony Ericsson Elm phone is the latest addition to Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart range of mobile phones. The GreenHeart portfolio spearheads Sony Ericsson’s commitment to making a real and substantive impact to green innovation, which will see benefits brought to the environment, consumers and mobile operators. By 2015 Sony Ericsson is committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 20 per cent and greenhouse emissions by 15 per cent from its mobile phone’s full product life cycle.

The Elm arrives with integrated social networking Facebook and Twitter widgets, GPS, high-speed mobile network data capability, built in WiFi, a five megapixel camera and many other multimedia features. The Sony Ericsson Elm’s eco credentials include a much smaller packaging, a digital instead of paper manual and a power-friendly charger. It’s partly made from recycled plastics, and less hazardous chemicals have been used during the manufacturing process.

The Elm is priced at an affordable £15 per month on a two-year contract, or for around £120 on a pay-as-you-go deal. You can also pick it up for around £170 SIM-free.

[via Sony Ericsson press release]

Leaked: Radeon HD 6870 screenshots are worth a look

With the advent of high end gaming the graphic card industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Gamers are running towards faster and more killer graphics cards in order to attain desired seed. The market is hot and if anyone wants to take lead then that particular graphics card has to be marvelous. With the screen shot of AMD Radeon HD 6870 released around the internet one can easily confirm that AMD Radeon HD 6870 is ready to give a strong fight to its competitors.

We should actually be thankful to a Chinese website that was brave enough to leak an image of the AMD Radeon HD 6870 thus helping everybody understand the current specifications of this yet to be launched graphics card.

The image depicts the 3D Mark score of 11,500 for the graphics card which is 2500 above the original specification of the graphics card in the same lineup (namely Nvidia GTX 480 HD 5870).

The performance increase in the new graphic card will surely place AMD ahead in the drivers seat. Watch out competitors!

The HD 6870 graphics card is actually a dual GPU graphics card which is responsible for literally every possible speed that AMD Radeon HD 6870 will be boasting of.

We are not sure if the current leak of information for AMD Radeon HD 6870 is 100% true but we can assure you that it is way too much for any other graphics card in the same lineup. Gear up competitors.

[via PC Per]

Facebook is pressing lawsuits against Teachbook

As the leading social networking website, Facebook is quite strict about the usage of the word 「book」. In fact, it seems that Facebook is ready to sue almost anyone who tries to mimic its name and use the word「book」in it.

Recently, Facebook has pressed charges against the upcoming site called Teachbook. Many schools don’t allow their teachers to have MySpace and Facebook accounts so Teachbook is designed as an alternative for teachers that will allow them to exchange lesson plans and advices with other teachers.

Facebook claims that Teachbook has promoted itself as an alternative to Facebook with its slogan and it’s one of the main reasons for the lawsuit. It seems that Facebook doesn’t like competition and copycats but you have to ask yourself, how can a company such as Teachbook with only two employees be a threat to the multimillion company?

In addition, Teachbook hasn’t even been launched yet, and from information on the official site we find out that the site will be officially launching in Fall 2010. If you compare the number of users, Facebook has 500 million users everyday while Teachbook gets barely 50 users a day.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook is suing another company for using the similar name. As you might remember, PlaceBook had to change its name to TripTrace after the Facebook’s lawsuit. It seems that Facebook won’t be taking any chances despite its popularity and it will do anything to protect its trademark and so its likely that Teachbook will change its name soon.

[via Ubergizmo]

Daily gadget deal: $50 off Dell Vostro 3700 17.3-inch Laptop

Here’s LogicBUY’s latest gadget deal of the day for a Dell Vostro 3700 laptop. This 17.3-inch notebook supports Intel Core i7 Quad-Core processors, up to 8GB DDR3 memory and 1GB GT 330M discrete graphics for near-workstation-class performance. The Vostro 3700 gives you powerful specs and build quality without the high-end price tag.

The Vostro 3700 is 1.06-1.35-inch thick and 5.95 pounds in weight.  The base specs include Intel Core i3 Quad-dual processor (choice of Core i3, i5 or i7 processor), 2GB DDR3 memory (up to 8GB DDR3 memory), 250GB Hard Drive (up tp 500GB), GMA HD graphics, DVD+/-RW, 2MP webcam, WiFi, 6-cell battery and pre-installed Windows 7.

Other key features of the Vostro 3700 laptop include 17.3-inch widescreen-LED (WLED) screen with optional NVIDIA GeForce discrete graphics, amazingly solid build quality, full sized desktop-style keyboard with a separate numeric keypad, optional backlit keyboard and  8-in-1 card reader.

This deal offers $50 off the listed price plus free shipping.

[via LogicBUY]

Super Mario sweaters worth $425 come with official Nintendo license

Remember those old days when you used to spend uncountable number of hours helping Mario save his girlfriend. After fighting through various daemons and jumping around weird creatures you would finally let Mario enjoy his time with his princess while you would be busy jotting down the time that you took to complete the game.

I remember beating myself and creating records on regular basis. Well, those were the days of DOS based gaming when game companies won’t usually indulge in heavy marketing. But, nowadays its a different story all together.

Hand knitted Super Mario sweaters are available all around Japan for Mario fans. All you got to do is shell out $425 to grab a piece. Well, I agree that $425 is way too much for a sweater but they are purely hand knitted and they come bundled with an official Nintendo license. This hidden benefit makes the price reasonable and the sweaters a delight for every Super Mario fan.

We aren’t sure if the sales are picking up but we know that these sweaters are available in four different colors for the fans to opt from. And, they do look worth wearing so do try it and share your experiences.

These can be bought from the online store 1101.com thus removing any middle men and letting you connect with the maker directly. Mario Fans outside Japan can take help from the e-commerce service Flutterscape that searches and sends you the sweater for a minimal fee.

[via Crunchgear]

Leaked: Nikon Coolpix P7000 and DSLR D7000 launching soon in September

Nikon fans (or the so called anti – Canon group), we have something hot for you. Though news have been heating up that Nikon will soon be adding the P7000 to their Coolpix lineup and bring in D7000 (which was tagged as the ‘actual’ successor of D90), nobody had the remotest idea about the launch dates of these cameras.

Speculations were being made as expected but nothing was concrete until recently when Nikon Rumors pushed in the exact release dates of D7000 and P7000. The dates, 8th of September for P7000 are exact as per Nikon Rumors only and not officially announced by Nikon. No doubt why we didn’t find even one good image of the D7000 around the internet.

The P7000 will boast a ten megapixel resolution sensor with RAW shooting features. Video shooting will be possible at 720p and the camera will have 28-200 mm equivalent zoom lens with a 3 inches LCD screen. Though least amount of information is available on the DSLR D7000 yet Nikon Rumors had suggested that the new DSLR will have 100% viewfinder coverage with dual memory card slots.

As the D7000 is being considered as the successor of D90 henceforth one should be rest assured that this DSLR camera will have functions that can give fight to any of Canon’s new entry level cameras. Though it would be very unprofessional of us (wink, wink) to compare Nikon to Canon in such a when, lets face it, it is hard to resist!

[via Electronista]

Toto smart toilet analyses your poo and checks your health

Undoubtedly, Japan is the land of technology and future and over the years we have seen all sorts of latest inventions from the Japanese. After many different robots and smart vending machines with touchscreen displays, we now have a smart toilet that will give your body an MOT check as you use it.

This smart toilet comes from Toto and it will perform various tests while you’re using it. For example, this toilet will check your urine, blood pressure, weight and body temperature as you use it, and you’ll get all those information on the display mounted next to you while you’re sat on it.

Ok, so this isn’t the sort of information one would expect to have their eyes on while sat on the loo but in addition, test results can even be sent automatically to your laptop.

The device that is mounted inside the toilet will check sugar levels in your urine and included armband will check your blood pressure. In addition, inbuilt floor scale checks your weight as you use the toilet. This high tech toilet looks interesting enough and it seems the elderly population will be making the most of it.

The smart toilet will also store data for up to five different users, and it costs between $4,100 to $5,850. Smart toilets might become the future someday but until that happens they will remain available only in Japan.

[via Ubergizmo]

Daily gadget deal: 25% Coupon Dell Precision M6500 17-inch Mobile Workstation

Here’s LogicBUY’s latest gadget deal of the day for a Dell Precision M6500 Mobile Workstation. Dell refers this laptop as “the world’s most powerful mobile workstation”, meant for gaming and multimedia.

The Precision M6500 supports Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Quad Core processors, up to 16GB DDR3 memory and optional RAID storage. The base configuration includes Intel Core i5 processor, 2GB DDR3 memroy, 17-inch display with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, 250GB Hard Drive, 1GB ATI® FirePro M7820 graphics, WiFi, Windows 7 Professional Bonus (XP Pro downgrade) and more.

This deal offers a 25% coupon for the laptop, which mean you are paying only $1,581.75.

[via LogicBUY]

How to choose proper microphones for your home studio

A studio or recording booth revolves around microphones, they are needed to record instruments, vocals, and almost everything. They are vital and are a must buy for any home studio.

In retail stores there are many microphones to choose from, condenser microphones, dynamic and a lot of different brands and prices. You may get overwhelmed with the decision you have to make when purchasing microphones. When at the retail store try to get an employee to help you pick the best microphone for you. They will ask you questions like what do you plan to record? What style? What instruments? How much are you willing to spend? These are all required to find out the best microphone for you.

I can tell you that spending more money on a microphone is better than going with any cheap microphone. You will see a huge difference from a $50 microphone compared to a $300 microphone sound wise.

When recording vocals many will use condenser microphones because of the sound quality. I like the Rode NTK, but you can pick any microphone you want. A good dynamic microphone would be a SHURE 58. You can check out those brands and most of there microphones are fairly well priced with great sound quality in return.

If you’re interested in recording an instrument like a drum set, then you could pick up the Audix FP7 Fusion 7 Drum Microphone package. This is a set for $479 and includes seven microphones and cables. They offer great sound quality and are meant for a Drum set. They come with a steel carrying case to protect the microphones.

Not dead yet: New Commodore PC64 announced

Commodore 64 was one of the legendary home computers in the 80’s that had a huge impact on the world market but other computers such as PC replaced it soon after. However, Commodore 64 isn’t dead yet and it seems that Commodore will hit the market once again.

As you know, Commodore 64 was discontinued in 1994 but after being dead for more than 15 years, it seems that Commodore will rise again. We’re not just talking about the Commodore 64 laptop that Master Ben Heck created but the actual thing!

The latest news shows that Commodore USA will release improved version of the popular 8-bit computer called Commodore PC64. The new model, Commodore PC64 won’t be a 8-bit machine like its predecessor and it will use the latest hardware instead.

Intel Atom processor will power this computer and it will use up to 4GB DDR3 RAM. With those components Commodore PC64 will be able to achieve amazing performances, but that’s not all. This computer will use SATA 1TB hard drive that will provide you enough space for all your needs. As for the multimedia, Commodore PC64 will have HDMI output so you’ll be able to connected it with a HDTV and enjoy in multimedia to the fullest. Optical drive is included and you can choose between DVD/CD and optional Blu-ray.

As you can see, Commodore PC64 will have great hardware specs but the most interesting thing about this device is that it will come with the original chassis of the old Commodore 64. So far, no information about pricing is available but we’re expecting to see this computer before the end of the year.

[via Ubergizmo]

Mass effect M8 avenger assault rifle for just $28

Well, though it cost the maker just $28 yet please be rest assured that he won’t be selling you the same for $28 only as lot of hard work and planning has gone by before he could come up with something like Mass effect M8 avenger assault rifle.

Harrison Krix decided to use all the crap available in his garage to come up with something killer and he has surely designed something that can even kill though Krix hasn’t revealed if the Mass effect M8 avenger assault rifle fire piercing rounds or just shredder rounds.

If 95% of the material used for the construction of Mass effect M8 avenger assault rifle was crap from his garage then I must say that Krix is one genius engineer who can come up with projects that can truly save lot of money for organizations.

Krix started of by sketching the complete project on a board. The idea was to have a spine into which all other components re about to slide. Every part was precisely trimmed and measured so that no errors occur later on. MDF was to serve as center section on which rest of the above parts were glued together. You will be surprised to know that all the edges that you are about to enjoy on this amazing rifle were chiseled by hand and no machinery was used. Simply a classic piece of art work!

[Mass effect M8 avenger assault rifle via Engadget]

Create your own music: M-Audio fast track ultra audio interface

Many people think that to record great professional sounds and recordings that they need to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to a professional studio, this is not the case.In fact, most of us can create great sounding music from our own home. How you may ask? To accomplish this you need to buy some equipment and if you are really interested in creating a home studio then you would want to set a budget and try your best to stick to it. Most recording equipment are very expensive, so most people will start out with the necessary items to get started and then start to gradually purchase more equipment and upgrade the current items they have. Many home studio’s are now “mixerless”, basically that means they don’t use an actual mixer, they may however have a mixer on their DAW (Digital Audio Work station) we will learn more about a DAW in another article later.

To plug in your microphones, instruments many will use an Audio Interface. These come with various data connections like USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and Firewire. An audio interface has built in preamps which make your sound on your recording a lot  more clean and crisp sounding. The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra is a good starter interface, it has many features for the price. It connects to your computer via USB 2.0 and it’s compatible with both PC and Mac.

The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra has 4 microphone ports in the front which all have a preamp’s. The two on the left (1,2) are for both microphones and you can also plug in 1/4″ jacks from say your guitar patch cable, electric drums, keyboards or amplifiers. The other two to the right of those are standard microphone jacks for only microphones. This audio interface also has phantom power for condenser microphones! The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra also has Midi in and Midi out on the back. It has jacks for your reference monitors and other 1/4″ jacks. One of the reason’s I like this audio interface is because it has two separate headphone jacks on the front of the console. They both have their own volume control as well!

This unit itself sells for $349.99 which is a great price for the amount of different features you get with it!

Now this just makes your instruments sound good and a center to plug everything into and monitor the sounds, there is plenty more equipment needed for a home studio and recording. To actually record your instruments, vocals, sounds or whatever you need a DAW or recording program this will be covered next!

[via M-Audio]

Leaked: Unnamed 8 MP HTC-Verizon handset image

Well, once again unethical publicity is being used to promote a yet-to-be-named HTC phone that should be launched in partnership with Verizon.

Though the least amount of information is available with us about this phone at this time but the images surely give it a look that is worth a try. With the amount of leaked information we can confirm that HTC’s new phone will be an eight mega pixel camera with flash and a front facing camera too. It will have 4.3 inches display screen with a headphone jack plus a kick stand. Though we are not sure how we call this super unique but Verizon is planning a huge launch this year’s fall for its Android phones and one can be rest assured that this phone will cash upon the river of crazy fans that will pop up during that period.

People are guessing that this unidentified phone could be the Merge that is about to be launched during the same period mentioned above. If this is true then this new phone could well have a 1 GHz processor.

Also, the upcoming phone might end up using HTC Sense UI. You might not be aware with Sense UI from HTC (and we understand why) as it isn’t a Google baby like Android is. There have been rumors about Sense UI slowing down when load was increased on the same thus bringing it down when compared to Android. For now, let us ignore the fight between HTC sense and Android. Better concentrate on the unnamed phone.

[via Boy Genius Report]