Devices Site

Posted Feb 9th 2008 8:01PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: GPSIf you’ve bought a GPS unit in the past year or two there are decent odds it’s based on the SiRFstar III chipset, which has been about as good as it gets since it arrived on the scene a few years ago. Now there’s a new chip on the block, SiRFprima, which could have GPS aficionados kicking those SiRFstar III units to the curb. The unit boasts “industry leading” GPS performance, and is the first of its ilk to be able to work with GPS and Galileo signals simultaneously. InstantFixII — which promises 5 second start times — is built in as well, along with 3D acceleration for the fancy new maps hitting the scenes, and the capability to work with external devices like touch screens, DVD players, video cameras and so forth. While no one feature is revolutionary, the fact that SiRFprima will be wrapping up all these features into a cute little package for GPS manufacturers to slap into their units without a worry — which should start happening in the second quarter of this year — is surely cause for celebration.

Posted Feb 9th 2008 4:10PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops
It might be a bit early for us to be talking Windows 7 feature cuts, but that said, isn’t it a bit early for Microsoft to be talking Windows 7 feature cuts? If The Inquirer’s “reliable sources” are to be believed, Microsoft is giving DirectX 11 the boot from its next version of Windows to keep hardware requirements down — apparently the DirectX 10 requirements of Vista were enough of that sort of trouble for one decade. Obviously there’s no official word on Microsoft at the moment, so we’ll reserve judgment for the time being — and hey, maybe no DirectX 11 wouldn’t ruin our year — but with the endless quantity of features cut from Vista still fresh in our memory, this is certainly not an encouraging sign if true.

[Thanks, Isaac]

Posted Feb 9th 2008 1:58PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Given the sheer bulk of press Meizu’s M8 has received over the course of its young, controversial life, it’d seem likely that even the slightest trickle of units onto Chinese store shelves would lead to unboxing shots, videos, and reviews within hours, wouldn’t it? Reports are starting to flow across the ‘nets that M8s are now being made available through several of Meizu’s suppliers, but without a single in-the-wild picture of a fully functional, final spec unit — from Meizu, much less a paying customer — we’re not buying it. For one thing, there aren’t any “zomg I just picked up my m8!” posts on MeizuMe; secondly, MeizuMe’s Err0r says that his site will be the “first place” we read about a release (and frankly, we believe him); and third, after the trials and tribulations the handset has gone through on its long journey to retail, you’d think that we’d at least see it at a trade show before it hit the streets. So, anyone want to prove us wrong by posting shots of their M8?

Sometimes looking at the great variety of all those high-end cell phones it seems that nothing more can be designed. However the creativeness of modern designers and engineers shows that the previous statement has nothing common with the reality. Thus, according to the latest news NEC will produce absolutely innovative liquid-powered cell phones in the near future.

At present given gadget is just a prototype, so there is no possibility to mention all the novelty’s features. Yet, this NEC liquid flask cell phone seems to be the combination of being liquid-powered and touchscreen. It means that the liquid inside will drain as you are using the phone, allowing you to see just how much power left. It sounds incredibly, isn’t it? As usually, nothing said about the future price of the concept, but as NEC informs it is going to be released sometime in 2008. Of course it’s hard to imagine what functions this phone will be able to perform but according to the given picture it won’t have even a usual digital camera. If so, this will be a “slight” disadvantage of this gadget.

In case all the mentioned features are true, the demand for this flask phone will be very impressive, because quite a significant amount of people will want to buy such an original and unusual device. At the same time all those who like this concept should hope that it will not be a Japan-only release.

Posted Feb 9th 2008 3:14PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
We’re fairly certain we haven’t heard the last of this Microsoft offer to buy Yahoo! — or Google’s plans to intervene — but it looks like round one has Yahoo! saying “no thanks” to Microsoft’s $44.6 billion buyout offer. Apparently some of the number crunchers inside Yahoo! feel like the number is too low of a valuation, while others want to get tied up with Google to improve search revenues — which some seem to think might have some antitrust implications. Pah, “antitrust implications.” At least Microsoft remembers when men were men, and monopolies were monopolies.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

While we still are yet to see an official announcement from Lenovo, the X300 ThinkPad has now been confirmed. Once again the leak and confirmation comes courtesy of Best Buy with a listing for the Lenovo “Topseller” x300 that will retail for $2,743.99.

The X300 features an LED backlit 13.3-inch display, 2.0GHz Santa Rosa Dual Core processor, 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD and running Windows XP Pro. While the X300 appears to be a legitimate model that will be available for sale, it is still unclear as to when it will ship.

Via [SlashGear]

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I don’t use an umbrella because 1) I live in Southern California and it generally only rains 3 days a year, 2) I might poke someone’s eye out, and 3) Where do you store the thing when it’s wet?

Hironao Tsuboi, a creative designer, solved the third problem by creating anumbrella that stands on it’s own. That wasn’t as easy as it sounds; apparently he had to determine the center of gravity by a complex process by casting aluminum into different clay molds. Further series of tests were carried out to determine the optimal spread of the three legs.

Made of ABS synthetic resin (plastic), the umbrella remains steady but also handy when you need it, say if a spontaneous water pistol fight breaks out or in case you’re unlucky enough to live somewhere where it rains all the time.

Don’t run out to buy it quite yet; it still remains a concept project.

More on umbrellas:
Weather forecasting umbrella, plan for puddles
Almost unbreakable umbrella: Senz
Music in the Rain
NanoNuno umbrella featured in Time’s Best Inventions 2006
Protect your camera with the Popabrella

For the first time since its launch, controversial social networking site Facebook is now befriending non-English users with the launch of its own Spanish language version. Kick off is on Monday. Facebook users situated in Spanish-speaking countries will view the site in their native tongue. In case you prefer Spanish, visit your account page, click on the “language” tab, and set it to be Español.

Today, more than 2.4 million active users are living in Spain and Latin America. By breaking the language barrier, it can attract new users and convert users of other social networks in Spanish version such as MySpace, hi5 and Orkut. This is just the beginning of the company’s expansion to international territories. Facebook’s strategy and operations vice president Matt Cohler confirms that French and German versions will be launched in April. All these efforts are geared towards expanding its audience and keep up with its archrival MySpace which is already available in 13 different languages such as Japanese, Italian, German, French and Spanish.

via [Mashable]

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Yep, you read that right. This automobile is missing one tyre, but it can run faster than a fancy Porsche…

…granted the car company actually finishes the design. Manufactured by ZAP with the help of the British company, Lotus, this three-wheeled car named “ZAP Alias” can accelerate from rest to 60mph in an astonishing 5.7 seconds. The sports car is powered by two electric wheel motors, located on each of the two wheels at the front (it’s the back that only has one wheel as you can see on the pic) which, together, produces 321.85 horse power and a top speed of 156mph. The same power seen on conventional cars is demonstrated by the Porsche 911 Carrera which costs 60,000. The ZAP Alias, on the other hand, costs only 15,000.

ZAP chief executive Steve Schneider said: “Everyone who has seen the Alias says they want to buy one.”

Do you? Then you’ll have to wait until next year for its launch, although speculations abound that it’s going to take even longer than that.

via

I still have my old Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears metal lunch boxes somewhere at my parents’ house. I’ve thought about tracking them down before, as they’d probably be rather retro chic these days, but now I think I’ll keep them where they are.

They’d have nothing on this multi-level hamburger-shaped lunch box. Look at it. Not only is it microwaveable and in the shape of a hamburger, but it’s got three compartments and comes with a fork and spoon! My old lunch boxes only came with a thermos and are probably rusted shut by now.

Available for $9.99 from Shop Happy Trails.

Via Nerd Approved.