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Photo: Aidan Jones /Flickr

After only a short courtship, two of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers will come together to build an obscenely large, technologically advanced LCD panel-making factory, and if they’re as successful as they think they will be, they won’t have to suffer the night-after hookup remorse.

Sharp VPs set-up the Sony deal during their CES 2008 keynote by placing the ambitious goal of becoming the world leader in LCD manufacturing, but the scope of the building project, estimated at $3.5 Billion, obviously needed a partner to offset costs.

In addition, matching two large, well-known companies to increase production will help them combat the lower-tiered competitors that are already producing LCDs at a record pace (most of them in Korea). These LCDs are often at the same level of quality, and the cheap manufacturers sell them to upstart companies like Olevia and Vizio, who then sell them to consumers at a cheaper rate. (See Wired’s Top TV from last year.)

According to the Times, Sony will put in about 35% of the amount of the factory’s cost, and will receive about the same percentage of the panels produced.

Sharp said the factory will produce six lcd panels in the 60-inch class, eight panels in the 50-inch class or 15 panels in the 40-inch class on each sheet, and if they make the 36,000 glass sheets per month they anticipate to begin with, that will be a few mil per year.

Why should this deal matter to the consumer bottom line? Well, the sheets of glass to be used to make the LCDs will be larger than ever before, which will save both companies money on a per-inch basis, increase availability, and allow them to continue to bring down the price of their displays (well maybe not Sony’s WXYZ49BLAHDIDDLY 52” premium screen).

If you’ve been following the display market for the last couple of years, you know that the increased performance (and available sizes) of LCD panels has cut deeply into the profits of the generally more expensive Plasmas. Factories like these will lead the boom, at least, until the larger OLEDs start to come out.

In quite possibly the best lifestyle image every by ASUS, here we have an image that begs, “ASUS will put you to sleep.” Or perhaps, “toxic fumes from the Nova will knock you out!” Unfortunately, they were trying to convey how quiet this puppy is.  The unit, unlike the photo, looks very interesting.

The Nova-P22 is a bit of an odd duck: part laptop/part desktop.  It has the built-in speakers, built in connectivity, form factor of a laptop but the Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop processor and super quiet performance of a desktop.  ASUS aims this unit to fit to your space constraints and took some care in making this unit very attractive in either a piano or glossy pearl white.  A docking station is available.

Featuring considerable connectivity, the Nova sports WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0 technology and reportedly capable of downloading a 30-minute HD video in less than a minute.  ASUS uses S-shaped heat pipes, three fans and a heat dissipation module to stay cool and quiet, operating at only 25dB (which apparently we humans can’t hear).  Cool.

Product page [ASUS]

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Having a digital voice recorder around can be pretty handy, especially when you want to make impromptu voice notes in order to remember whatever task you have to do in the future. Sony will be making available its ICD-B600 digital voice recorder this April for approximately $40, bringing 512MB of internal flash memory to the masses. That amount is able to provide up to 300 hours of recording time in long playing mode. Other features include a 12/24 hour clock and a couple of AAA batteries to run it. Looks like this is a suitable addition for college students and those suffering from short-term memory.

Sony is targeting the active lifestyle crowd with its MDR-AS20J headphones that fit over the outer ear with an earbud which is rooted inside the ear canal itself. This makes it perfect fodder for those who love pounding the treadmill at the gym, making a few vigorous runs at the track, or simply trekking through mountanious regions to get away from it all. No matter how rough it gets, rest assured that your music will not be interrupted as the Sony MDR-AS20J headphones will remain in place just like those pesky barnacles stuck at the pier. I just hope that your portable media player or mp3 player will be a tough cookie as this pair of Sony headphones will probably outlast the device.

Lenovo’s X300 notebook, an ultra-thin model arriving just in time to take on Apple’s similarly skinny MacBook Air, received its official nod today. The gates are open, but why spend $2,500 or more on a laptop?

"It’s the best thing we’ve ever done," said Tom Ribble, Lenovo’s director of Thinkpad marketing. He rolled off a list of features that sounded like a denunciation of what Apple’s own new toy lacks: a DVD burner, triplet of USB ports, WWAN, GPS, an easily-replaceable battery and stereo speakers. "You don’t need to trade off. You don’t need to compromise."

It’s my own fault for hyping up that angle in our conversation. I couldn’t resist: though Ribble said the X300 has been in development a long time, it’s hard to ignore comparisons. Both models have custom-shrunken processors from Intel, though the 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100 LV in the X300 isn’t as beefy as the one in the Air.

Nor is it as thin: the X300 is a third of an inch thick at its sharpest point, whereas the Air is only 0.16" thick. And that classic IBM styling is more Cayce Pollard than Cupertino.

"We think the Thinkpad does look good," Ribble said. Business travelers, however, might prefer to slip out the DVD player and slip in an extra bay battery for 10 hours typing time.

With 4GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD and a 1440×900 13.3" display, the X300 weighs about 3lbs with the optical drive and has wired gigabit ethernet.

Ribble confirmed there’ll be no hard-drive option at a lighter price. This is, he said, simply a matter of not compromising.

It strikes me as a wise decision, albeit one that sets the entry level too high for most consumers. Looking at previous superthins, like the Sony X505 and Sharp Actius MM20, the killer was often poor performance — it’s easy to imagine an impatient business user quickly becoming frustrated with those pretty but puny machines.

This leads us to what both the X300 and macbook air share: a strict marketing mantra of "no compromises." What counts as compromise to a Mac user clearly differs from what counts as such to an IBM/Lenovo grognard, but both companies are singing from the same sheet. Announcing the Air last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was careful to point out that the new machine was not a subnotebook, as many expected it would be. It has a full-size keyboard and a mid-sized 13.3" screen.

Given the slow growth of genuine ultraportables, is thin the future for portable PCs?

Notebook drives seem to be catching up to desktop disks as portable computers become the default choice for most people.

Fujitsu’s forthcoming MHZ2 BT series will cram half a terabyte into your lap, albeit at a leisurely 4200rpm. The 2.5″ drive consumes 1.8 watts in use, which, according to Fujitsu, makes it one of the least power-hungry drives out there.

Fujistsu has yet to announce a price, but the drive will ship in May, allowing you to put all your precious data in one precarious, portable place.

Press release [Fujitsu]

The Breast Massage Robot is truly a hoot (pun not intended), and I can see all those coy smiles and snickers already. Apparently, this device claims to stimulate the massager’s hand movements for a comfortable, human-free massage session. It is smart enough to automatically adjust itself to cater for various breast shapes - perhaps Victoria’s Secret management could learn a thing or two from this robot in order to ensure that their lingerie fits perfectly each time? There is a variety of massage programs to choose from - guess we husbands seem to be getting more and more obsolete these days. Sigh.

Peter Molyneux and his studio Lionhead Studios are taking a slightly different approach to using Xbox Live in the run up to the release of Fable 2. Rather than releasing a demo of the game to whet our appetites, they are going to release parts of the game early.

The announcement was made during the Game Developer Conference held last week in San Francisco. Fable 2 contains a number of mini-games that the player will be able to play to earn money. It is Lionhead’s intention to make these games available via Xbox Live prior to the launch of the full game so players can earn money in advance.

Two things are not clear from the announcement. The first is when exactly Fable 2 will be released and secondly, will the mini-games on Live cost the player anything to download? It was stated, however, that the mini-games would definitely be available this year.

Read more at Kikizo.

Matthew’s Opinion

I think this is an interesting experiment Lionhead is trying. By allowing players to download mini-games and make money before the release of the full game, they could be ensuring more sales. It may also be a novel way to cut down on piracy, as the game will be linked to an Xbox Live account–if the player wants to take advantage of the extra money he or she could earn.

Posted Feb 26th 2008 3:01AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio
Apparently Sony found out they just don’t make ‘em like they used to and whipped up a belt-driven USB turntable: the PS-LX300USB. It’ll export your 33s and 45s through Sound Forge Audio Studio (bundled) and has its own pre-amp, but Sony, you’re living in the past, man. It’ll go for $150 next month — just sell off a Northern soul single or two to cover costs.

Posted Feb 26th 2008 3:01AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Laptops
While no product should ever have a five word name, the 1,200-piece limited edition VAIO Graphic Splash Expression Collection throws branding 101 to the wind and, like a few other lines before it, pairs Core 2 Duo-based Vaio FZ laptops with three patterns (Victorian lace, flora, and leaf) and three colors (pink, blue, and black). That’s a grand total of nine possible looks, starting at $1,300.