http://www.dlgear.com Latest Digital Lifestyle News. Digital Lifestyle Gear - dlgear.com 60 Thu, 29 May 2008 09:06:03 GMT   Mere weeks after ASUS confirmed it would be loading the quick-launch Express Gate Linux OS onto all of its upcoming motherboards, the software developers behind the distro, DeviceVM, have announced that several ASUS notebooks will also include it. The M70T, M50V and M51Vr multimedia series and the F8Va/Vr series will be the first five models in ASUS notebook range to feature Express Gate. With it, users can be online in seconds, watch videos, listen to music, chat over IM and VoIP apps and share photos. Express Gate includes a browser based on Firefox and the Skype VoIP app, as well as media playing apps. DeviceVM describe it as a “secure web-surfing environment”. However the draw for most mobile users will be the speed at which it loads: literally seconds, which beats even a Vista system returning from sleep mode.       http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,512482451,asus-confirm-5-express-gate-laptops.html http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,512482451,asus-confirm-5-express-gate-laptops.html Thu, 29 May 2008 09:06:03 GMT   This computer sits at 200×290x80 millimeters in size; it only weighs about 3.4kg. It has HDMI out as well as 7.1 audio outputs, so you should be good to go to just plop this in with the rest of your home theater equipment. It has an S/PIDF out for the 7.1 audio and the HDMI comes from that “fully embedded discrete graphics card”. For cooling there is a 2-in-1 thermal module that insulates heat from the cooling fan. Using that cooling process the fan is able to work less keeping the sound output from system operation down to about 23.9dB when idling. So, basically its quiet enough, small enough, attractive enough, and presumably powerful enough to fit right into your home theater system, or act as a really quiet desktop PC, I’m just concerned by how disturbingly similar it is to the designs of the PS3.       http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,665790937,asus-essentio-cs5110.html http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,665790937,asus-essentio-cs5110.html Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:51:17 GMT    Is it just me or does it seems like Toshiba is working hard to make it through the whole alphabet sometime soon? Regardless, Asus has 4 new lines of notebooks to add to the two new ones I told you about yesterday. Starting with the A300, you get an amazing looking exterior, a 15.4” HD screen, and some LED lit Feather-Touch multimedia keys. It has Toshiba’s new Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, a webcam with facial recognition, Harman Kardon speakers, and Dolby audio profiles. It also has Regza Link and HDMI output, you can configure the system with your choice of Intel or AMD processors, and it comes with ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD3650 card with 512MB of VRAM. Base price for this system is $949.99. The M300 is a 14.1-inch mobile computing solution with a similar exterior to that of the A300, has a starting weight of just over 5 pounds, and has the same Feather-Touch media keys as the A300. You also get the Dolby audio profiles, HK speakers, Sleep and Charge USB ports, a webcam and several other features. This notebook is however only available with Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors and integrated graphics. The P300 has almost the exact same feature set as the A300 but in a 17” form factor. You can still get it with your choice of Intel or AMD mobile processors; however on the graphics side you get your choice of ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD3470 with up to a gig of shared VRAM or their ATI Radeon X1250 with close to a gig of shared graphics memory when needed. Lastly, the U300 is the smallest of all the new notebooks, but still maintains a lot of the same features as the A300, but adds in a flush mounted touchpad, 13.3” screen and you only get Intel processors with this one. It also comes with the usual array of security features including a fingerprint scanner, and webcam with face detection.         http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1933022314,toshiba-a-m-p-and-u-300-series-notebooks.html http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1933022314,toshiba-a-m-p-and-u-300-series-notebooks.html Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:46:06 GMT   Summertime is right around the corner and for those who love to take pictures at the beach, you are probably afraid of dropping it in the ocean never to be seen again or perhaps you’re afraid it will becoming totally waterlogged. But those worries are over with the Olympus 850 SW - it’s not only Waterproof, it’s also freezeproof, and shockproof. It also comes in variety of colors, which is something we always appreciate. It’s available in either pink, black, yellow, blue, and silver. Te 850 SW retails for $299.99 and is definitely the camera for those outdoorsy types. The camera features an 8 megapixel CCD, a 1.5″ LCD and 3X zoom, which is all very standard. So the relatively high price tag is due to the fact that you’re paying for its durability.       http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,860864474,olympus-850-sw-digicam.html http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,860864474,olympus-850-sw-digicam.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:07:19 GMT   The BlueLounge Sanctuary is a product that is shaped/styled a lot like a Mac Mini, but its used to store your daily fare. Below the surface of this gadget there are integrated charging tips for charging up to 1500 mobile devices and then a USB port for the fifteen hundred and first one that isn’t covered. This way you don’t have to worry about buying this device and then having to spend another $100 on tips that you are likely to lose, they are all already built in. There is also space enough to hold your spare change, money, wallet, keys, etc. alongside your iPod, cell phone and Bluetooth headset as they charge. Personally I’d love to have one of these as I’m constantly charging 2 mobile phones, a Bluetooth headset, and my iPod, and occasionally a pair of Bluetooth Headphones, and currently I use whatever fitted hat I wore that day to throw it all in, so this would definitely be a more organized method of temporary storage and charging. If you want one they will cost you $129.95 and are available from BlueLounge, FrontGate, and BlueLounge retailers this spring.       http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,756726820,bluelounge-sanctuar-recharger.html http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,756726820,bluelounge-sanctuar-recharger.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:48:04 GMT   For starters, it has HD video capabilities as well as a 10.2MP image sensor. All that is recorded through a 24mm wide Schneider lens with a 3.6x optical zoom, so far this camera seems pretty mediocre, but I assure you its not. On top of those features, it has an HDMI port for connecting to your HDTV so you can view that video you just shot at 1280×720 at 30fps. Then you can disconnect it and go back to shooting while previewing all your shots on the 2.5” AM-OLED display on the back of the camera. The fact that its AM-OLED means it will react a lot faster than a standard LCD, it also means that there is no backlight to distort the preview of your pictures so you’ll have a lot better idea what your shots will look like. This camera has all sorts of other features including Optical Image Stabilization, Digital Image Stabilization, Auto Contrast Balance, Red Ey Fix, Blink Detection, the Dream Engine, and Smile Shot, all of those features come together to make it possible to get the perfect shot whether its your first time using a camera or you are a seasoned pro. Along with the release of this camera Samsung upgraded the NV40 and NV30 and pushed out the NV4 with some features that make it useable every day. The NV40 and NV30 have 10.5 and 8.1 megapixel sensors respectively, they are both really small and light, they both got equipped with Samsung’s new Dream Engine which automatically corrects your photos, and they also got the DIS, OIS, and ACB features of the NV24HD, but they still have TFT LCD screens, and there was no mention of HDMI being added to these two. The NV4 adds some features, it is a 17.5mm thin camera to start with but it also has an 8.2MP shot with up to a 3x optical zoom inner lens and offers up digital image stabilization. With the NV4 though, you also get all the functions of a modern day PMP such as MP3 playback, Video Playback, a Text Viewer, and more, this way you are motivated to carry it everywhere with you so you never miss that perfect shot due to not having a camera. The NV24HD is available now for $349, the NV30 can be found for $229, the NV40 can be picked up for $279, and the NV4 can be had fro $229, all are available right now.       http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,83226018,samsung-nv-24hd-digital-camera.html http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,83226018,samsung-nv-24hd-digital-camera.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:15:10 GMT   This new digital camcorder from Vivitar isn’t giving up the goods, so we don’t have much information. However we do know that it’s an SD card recorder working with up to 4GB SD cards and it can record in H.264 at up to 720p. At the 720p recording size you get 30 frames per second and can choose to play it back at up to 1080i resolutions using the included HDMI cable. There is a 3-inch LCD display that flips out so you can see what you are recording.       http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,997245513,vivitar-dvr565hd.html http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,997245513,vivitar-dvr565hd.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:08:55 GMT   This LG XNote P300 notebook is aimed to compete with the MacBook Air and X300 in size and weight, but knocks both of those out of the park when it comes to performance. It weighs in at 1.6 kilograms, that’s less than both the MacBook Air and the X300, and it has a 13.3-inch screen. Where it beats the other two out of the top spot is in terms of performance where it offers up a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA’s GeForce 8600M GS graphics. All of that alongside 2GB of RAM and a proper 250GB SATA hard drive packed into a case that also doesn’t skimp on ports. It also has the LED backlit LCD display, Bluetooth 2.0, stereo speakers, and an integrated 1.3MP webcam. Sure, the battery life will probably never be able to compete with the MBA or the X300, but for such a thin and light notebook to offer up near desktop-replacement performance capabilities, it’s simply amazing. No word on price or availability right now, but I’m sure it can’t be cheap.       http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1244507939,lg-p300-notebook.html http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1244507939,lg-p300-notebook.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:00:24 GMT   Asus is well-known for a lot of things, their soundcards not among them, but that might be about to change. They just recently started manufacturing these little buggers, and I don’t know personally how they sound, but specs wise they seem fairly on par with most of Creative’s offerings. This new Xonar DX utilizes a PCIe card slot and outputs up to 7.1 channels and has a low signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 116dB. That means the SNR is 35 times cleaner than most, if not all, on-board/integrated audio solutions. As for the ever-popular Dolby technologies, its got’em too, here’s the list as follows: Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx. No word on pricing or availability, but that will come when the card is officially announced at CeBIT.       http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,316535140,asus-xonar-dx-soundcard.html http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,316535140,asus-xonar-dx-soundcard.html Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:48:27 GMT   Apple announced today that they are dropping the price on their Shuffle, the one gigabyte model, to $49. They also announced that they are rolling out a new 2GB model later this month for $69. As a reminder, the shuffle is the small, interface-less MP3 players that Apple produces. They are so small they clip onto your clothing and very, very easily can be concealed within your palm. I don’t know if I’d be able to use an MP3 player that didn’t have an interface, let alone one that had such low storage space. It would be nice if I was in a situation where I needed music but the size and/or weight of my Touch was too much, but I don’t see that happening, however, if you want to get a friend an MP3 player, or a kid who is likely to break it, at $50 its about as disposable as a decent MP3 player gets.       http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,2067902389,ipod-shuffle-price-dropped.html http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,2067902389,ipod-shuffle-price-dropped.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:39:38 GMT   So the front of this card reader, when closed, shows just the display for the digital clock, the back holds the analog thermometer. Then you slide it open for access to the card reader slots, clock controls, and presumably the USB port for connecting it to your PC. It works with USB 2.0, the slide close design makes it relatively dust proof, and it supports SDHC cards up to 32GB as well. It will work with Windows ME and up as well as Macs. The cards it supports are really handy as it supports all the trans-flash cards without an adapter, those would be the M2, MiniSD, and microSD cards that many mobile phones and PDA’s use. It also supports SD, MMC, RS MMC, MS, MS PRO, MS Duo, and MS PRO Duo. For some strange reason I don’t see CompactFlash on that list which could be a big detractor for this device considering the number of higher-end digital cameras that use CF cards. If you want one, its $15, so, even without the CF reader, the price alone makes it still worth it.       http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,912819998,usb-card-reader-also-has-digital-clock-and-thermometer.html http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,912819998,usb-card-reader-also-has-digital-clock-and-thermometer.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:35:43 GMT   Their new DHX or Dual-Path Heat Xchange technology has allowed them to bump up the speeds of their DDR2 and DDR3 memory. By the end of February they’ll be shipping two 4GB DDR2 kits with the technology, and later this year, 4 new DDR3 kits. The 2 DDR2 kits each have 2 sticks of 2GB each. The first kit is running at 1066MHz or PC2-8500 and the second is running at 1142MHz or PC2-9136. The DDR3 kits will have 2GB modules running at 2000MHz or PC3-16000. The DDR3 kits will be shipping by the end of this quarter and will be from Corsair’s DOMINATOR line. No word on price or availability right now.       http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,1107761035,corsair-dhx-technology-has-high-memory-speeds.html http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,1107761035,corsair-dhx-technology-has-high-memory-speeds.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:28:43 GMT This is apparently the company’s first foray into this market. It’s a really tiny camera that should be mountable just about anywhere on the rear of the vehicle. Even better yet, it should be fairly easy to integrate into any existing display or navigation system. They also took it a step further, and made it so that if you use it in conjunction with some of their TravelPilot units it will automatically activate the backup camera when the vehicle is shifted into reverse which is a feature you usually have to have professionally or factory installed. The kit comes with the camera and both 2 and 8 meter cables with 3.5mm jacks at the end so you can connect it to just about anything that will accept an external video source. No word on price or availability yet, other than some time this quarter.       http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,623015424,blaupunkt-introduces-micro-rear-view-camera.html http://www.dlgear.com/cameras/detail,623015424,blaupunkt-introduces-micro-rear-view-camera.html Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:43:41 GMT Someone called this thing a UMPC, but with a Core Duo processor The Core Duo processor is operating at 1.2GHz and you can have up to 2GB of RAM paired with that. There is a 60GB HDD and 802.11 in all three official flavors (a/b/g for those that like to argue). and a 12.1-inch screen, it’s far from it. The screen has an XGA resolution, an active digitizer, and a resistive touchscreen.        http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1466417728,amtek-itablet-t221-umpc-isnt-a-umpc-at-all.html http://www.dlgear.com/laptops/detail,1466417728,amtek-itablet-t221-umpc-isnt-a-umpc-at-all.html Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:17:21 GMT The made ready home media center solution is getting quite popular these days with the predominant of Ipod, digital imagines, streaming video and media in a networked environment. Passive Technology presents the true meaning of one box solution with LifeStation hd. Packed with latest AV technology in a handcrafted passive cooling aluminum case, LifeStation not only provides you both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray playback; it also reprocesses all sources to full scale of 1080p output       http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,529670481,audiophile-networked-media-center-with-hd-and-blu-ray-playback.html http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,529670481,audiophile-networked-media-center-with-hd-and-blu-ray-playback.html Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:06:34 GMT   So first, the Zen Stone came out from Creative, and the fact that it wasn’t an Apple product, combined with the fact that it was the same size, with similar functionality as the Shuffle, and it was slightly cheaper, well that was enough to help the original model sell a good number of units. Well now it appears Creative is besting Apple’s Shuffle in more areas than price. In fact they are fixing one of the few flaws of the shuffle, the lack of a screen for navigational purposes. Then they are upping the storage to iPod Nano levels with 4GB for the Zen Stone Plus. They are also adding FM radio functionality. The best part, its all going to fit in the same package as the regular model, and the screen is an OLED screen, which means the battery life won’t suffer a drastic loss. No word on price or availability, but it was kind of a leak anyways.       http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,1940941550,creative-zen-stone-plus-giving-apple-even-more-troubles.html http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,1940941550,creative-zen-stone-plus-giving-apple-even-more-troubles.html Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:25:07 GMT   According to C-Net and the sales from Amazon, the ASUS Eee is the must have gadget of the year. Not the iPod Touch, not the iPhone, the Asus Eee. In fact, its pretty much sold out everywhere you go. Even school corporations are buying them for use in the classroom, which they are perfect for, they don’t have hardware that’s powerful enough to allow the teachers or the students to FUBAR things, but they have just enough hardware for it to act a lot like a portable thin client if you wanted.     http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,43436621,asus-eee-pc-most-wanted-gift.html http://www.dlgear.com/pc/detail,43436621,asus-eee-pc-most-wanted-gift.html Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:20:24 GMT   It has become increasingly popular to place a computer in one’s living room. No, I’m not talking about the times when you sit on the couch with your laptop, but home theater PCs (HTPC) that give you all of the functionality of a TiVo, and then some. These new CX series HTPCs from Okoro Media Systems come packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6650, up to 4GB of RAM (2GB standard), up to 4TB (320GB standard) an Nvida 8500 GT with HDCP output and an ATI Digital Cable Tuner. It’s a little strange to see someone actually build a machine that uses an Nvidia card and an ATI tuner, but I guess that shows how ATI still needs to step up their game in the GPU realm.       http://www.dlgear.com/video/detail,1617851371,okoro-oms-cx100-monster-htpc.html http://www.dlgear.com/video/detail,1617851371,okoro-oms-cx100-monster-htpc.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:02:46 GMT     It looks weird, but in a good way, like it could transform into iPodimus Prime at any point. Anyways, the thing perched on its edge are the speaker portions of the device, the front section is the clock and the media selector/controller. A grand total of 20 watts of output isn’t bad for a clock radio, my Altec Lansing 2.1 system only puts out 12 watts, and I wouldn’t have traded it for a thing, until one of the satellites blew. So there are four quarters if you will to the front of this device, the top right is the iPod dock, top left is the media selector/controller and the bottom two is the clock. There is a remote that can control just about everything that is included with the system. There are buttons on the side of each of the squares that control each respective square’s functions. The iPods can be synced and charged at the same time, meanwhile other audio sources can be connected via an auxiliary line in. No price or availability right now, so that’s that.       http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,1427882925,ipod-boynq-wakeup-clock-radio.html http://www.dlgear.com/audio/detail,1427882925,ipod-boynq-wakeup-clock-radio.html Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:02:54 GMT   Clearly, making a single cup of coffee isn’t all that new of a concept, but how you do it can win you awards. Such as the 2007 Red Dot award the creators of this coffee maker won. I am not a coffee drinker, I give it a go every so often just in case my tastes might have changed, but they never do, but I am a big fan of highly attractive consumer appliances such as this one. There is a single cup, and it takes a pre-measured 1-cup’s worth of coffee filter. It comes with the mug and you get your choice of one of the 4 accent colors. Now its meant to set on a table, counter, maybe desk, but I think it would look absolutely amazing if someone could figure out how to build it into the wall. Its only available in Europe with their 220-volt plug so you will have to buy a travel adapter, but first you have to come up with the $198 bones to buy one of these things.       http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,703174021,wmf1-coffee-pad-makes-just-one-cup-of-java.html http://www.dlgear.com/gadgets/detail,703174021,wmf1-coffee-pad-makes-just-one-cup-of-java.html Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:57:21 GMT