SlipperyBrick.com

Motorola Crush touchscreen phone announced

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:07:18 +0000

The evidence continues to mount that Motorola is getting their act together. Here comes the Crush. The Crush is an EV-DO Rev.0 device that features a 2.8” touchscreen (240 x 400 pixels), a 2 megapixel camera, virtual on-screen QWERTY keypad, Stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm handsfree port.

Looks like the controls are located at the top of the screen which is a bit weird, but the Crush also incorporates a few other functions like a Tap to silence feature, a pedometer, microSD card support for up to 16 Gigs of additional memory and a 950 mAh battery. Motorola claims 4.5 hours of talk time.

Nothing on pricing or availability yet.

[New Launches]

ArcherMind unveils Android-based Car Navigation System

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:46:21 +0000

ArcherMind has just unveiled the result of their collaboration with Chinese hardware makers, the first in-car navigation system based on Google’s Android operating system. Embedded with an ARM core processor, the system was shown off at the Embedded Technology 2009 event in Japan.

It’s exciting because we’re talking Android, but some other features include an 800 x 480 resolution 7-inch screen, a navigation system that allows you to surf the web, write and receive SMSs and to play audio books. Using 3G Wi-Fi and Bluetooth the system also features a hard disk drive, and an SD card slot for storage.

[Gizmowatch]

Wiitality for hands-free Wii-fit play

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:36:58 +0000

Man, playing games on the Wii can be hard. You are expected to do stuff like move your arms, hold them up, push buttons… All while holding the Wiimote. Add an exercise game to that, like Wii-Fit and it can be brutal. What, do they think we are superhuman?

Well, Talismoon’s Wiitality accessory can help. What we have here is little more than a neoprene band that holds your Wiimote in place, securing the controller on your arm with Velcro straps. At least they aren’t trying to charge a ton of money for it. The Wiitality will cost you $3 at Amazon.

Which I guess beats losing your grip on the Wiimote and having it smash your television.

[Technabob]

USB Panda Speakers look sad

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:25:38 +0000

Are you in desperate need of a giant animal head on your desk? One that has large black eyes that hold sadness like an abyss? It’s just what it appears to be, a giant honking Panda head with speakers in it’s eyes.

Why you would want one, we can’t begin to guess. How you interact with it, we don’t want to know. It will cost you $27 if you want this USB-powered speaker. He looks pretty depressing to me. As if he’s begging you to save his dying species.

Definitely not a peppy guy, this Panda.

[Technabob]

Google’s new Search Sidebar could streamline searches

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:58:30 +0000

Google is doing just fine in the search business, so no one would blame them if they just left things as they were and kept raking in the dough. But it’s nice to see that the search giant is still paying attention to details and willing to try some new things.

Google’s vice president of search product and user experience recently stated that Google will soon begin testing of a new permanent sidebar on its results page. The new version allows you to narrow a search to specific categories, and is more attractive. Plus, the sidebar will be, conveniently and permanently displayed on the left side of the page.

It seems like a welcome addition to us here at the ‘brick and it would help to filter through the gigantic pile of crap data that often comes up.

[Switched]

Motorola Droid Prototype on Ebay?

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:48:21 +0000

Looks like Ebay’s latest interesting thing is this Motorola Droid prototype, if turns out to be the real thing. The seller says that the phone is a “limited edition,” and one of only five prototypes produced. Not that we automatically take this guy at his word.

However there are some differences that indicate that this phone differs from the standard Droid. Like the keys being silver instead of gold, the bezel is chrome and the LED lighting on the buttons is enhanced.

The phone is fully operational and just awaiting activation. Bidding starts at $485. Do you trust this dude?

[Ebay] VIA [Gizmodo]

HD Radio now standard in all Rolls-Royce cars

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:27:13 +0000

Rolls Royce. The name is all about luxury, elegance and an expensive price tag. So normal radio simply will not do in their automobiles. That’s why they’ve gone and made HD radio standard on all of the vehicles they offer. Well, let’s be honest, it’s the least they can do at those prices.

The move makes Rolls-Royce one of just two car manufacturers to offer HD radio standard. The other is Volvo. Audi and Mercedes-Benz will be playing follow the in 2011, when they offer HD radio themselves.

Are you excited? Sorry you bought the Rolls too soon? Indifferent?

[Gizmodo]

Atlona’s HDAiR Wireless USB-to-VGA / HDMI adapter gets audio

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:19:36 +0000

The Atlona HDAiR Wireless USB-to-VGA/HDMI Adapter launched earlier in the year, but it was missing one crucial ingredient: Audio. Well, now it has audio in this latest incarnation.

It’s the same exact product, but now with audio output in 3.5mm analog and embedded HDMI. The $219 device is available now and is also compatible with both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

So let there be audio. If you didn’t order it before, now is the time to go for it.

[Gizmodo]

All PS3 units will be firmware upgradeable to 3D

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:48:45 +0000

Looks like it won’t be long before you are gaming on the PS3 with 3D technology. According to Sony, your current PS3 can support 3D with a firmware update. Sony wants into the 3D market and they are not just dipping a toe in either.

They will be offering 3D tools to developers making games on its platform. Not sure if we’ve heard anything about what Nintendo and Microsoft plan to do about 3D technology, but now that Sony has weighed in, they will likely speak up soon. The Xbox 360 could probably take the firmware route as well.

The Wii? Does it even have the power?

[Gamasutra]

Limited Edition Deanne Cheuk Dell Netbook

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:36:18 +0000

Netbooks are all the rage right now as any ‘Brick reader knows. But it hasn’t been easy making yours stand out up until now. Well, Dell is aiming to cure that with its limited edition netbook design by Deanne Cheuk.

Deanne Cheuk has previously been commissioned for work with such companies as Nike, Swatch, Target, MTV, American Express and the New York Times. The netbook will be available in a total of 5250 units. Each will be individually numbered.

You can get one at Best Buy and exclusively at Best Buy for $379.

[Chip Chick]

Sewell USB-to-DVI / VGA / HDMI adapter does 2,048 x 1,152

Conner Flynn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:14:21 +0000

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a truly useful display adapter. Sewell’s latest will come in handy if you need to forcefully push high-def signals through USB. The Minideck USB-to-DVI / VGA / HDMI (video only) adapter uses the DisplayLink DL-195 chip, which gives you support for resolutions as high as 2,048 x 1,152, so 1080p and 1,920 x 1,200 LCD monitors are taken care of.

Pretty cool. And it doesn’t matter if your PC is new or old. Since it doesn’t require a newer Core i7 rig to operate, so your old laptop should be able to handle powering a 24-inch LCD via a standard USB socket.

Only $99.95.

[Engadget]

PlayStation 2 launches in Brazil 9 years late, for $462

Conner Flynn — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:59:36 +0000

Let us be the first to welcome Brazil into the year 2000. The world’s gamers have been enjoying Sony’s PlayStation 2 since that year, but it is just now arriving in Brazil. Sure it’s been available to Brazilians by unofficial means, but not in any legit way.

If you live in Brazil, you can now enjoy last-generation’s game console champion for just 799 BRL, which translates to roughly $461 in US coin. We don’t see this flying off of Brazilian shelves. Do you?

Now instead of paying outrageous black market prices, they can pay Sony an outrageous price directly.

[Joystiq]

Pantech Impact hits AT&T network

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:47:39 +0000

Pantech and AT&T have announced that the cool Pantech Impact feature phone has hit the AT&T wireless network. The handset is available in blue and pink colors and has a new form factor for the AT&T line.

The device has a touchpad for the number pad that has haptic feedback technology with vibration when the buttons are pressed. The phone also has a pair of LCD screens with one on the outside for dialing and one on the inside for videos and web surfing.

The device connects to the AT&T 3G network and has a fill flip open QWERTY keyboard for sending emails and texts. The handset also has AGPS and can use AT&T Navigator for turn-by-turn driving directions. The Impact will sell for $99.99 after mail-in rebates.

AT&T

Imation SSD Upgrade Kit makes your old drive useful again

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:46:34 +0000

The price of SSDs keeps coming down and as they get cheaper, they are getting more and more attractive to me. I would like to put one in my work computer to speed things up. The things that I worry about when upgrading a HDD is getting data off the old drive and onto the new one and then what to do with the old HDD after the SSD update is complete.

Imation has unveiled a new SSD Upgrade Kit today that includes an external enclosure for your old drive so you can use it as an external storage device after the upgrade. The enclosure requires no power supply, which means it can be powered by USB.

The SSD in the upgrade kit is the Imation M-class SSD featuring 10-bit ECC. The SSD has sequential read speed of 230MB/sec and a 170MB/sec write speed. The SSD is a 2.5-inch unit and the upgrade kits start at $194.99 for a 64GB SSD and a 128GB version is available.

Imation

Imation unveils Pro WX, world’s first wireless USB external HDD

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:45:21 +0000

The economy and slow adoption haven’t been kind to many companies in the wireless USB market. These facts have forced many of the largest out of the market altogether. Long after we first heard of wireless USB, we are finally getting the first HDD to use the tech called the Imation Pro WX.

The drive uses wireless USB connectivity with a 30-foot range. The computer the drive connects to has to use an included dongle for connectivity. Imation claims the wireless connectivity is good for data transfer speeds up to 15MB/sec.

The drive has 1.5TB of storage space and it is compatible with both Mac and Windows computers. The drive is available now for $449.99, which is a premium over a standard external drive. The wireless connectivity is certainly a cool feature though.

Imation