smartech

A week after the first introduction at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Asus releases more info about the Eee PC 9″ mini lappy. As we all know, the new Eee features an 8.9-inch screen (1024 x 600), bigger trackpad, 1GB memory, 1.3MP webcam and 8GB to 12GB storage size. The news are that XP systems will support up to 12GB of storage while the Linux based models will provide up to 20GB. In addition, WiMAX & HSDPA technologies will be integrated around Q3 and more colors are on the way. The 9″ Eee models are expected to be released in June for $499.

[via gmp3]

After months of speculations, we finally can take a glimpse on the new Meizu M8 mini One. Although it is just an early prototype without any functional features, except the home screen, dialer and media player, we’re able to get a first impression and learn what to expect for. Suspiciously, The M8 looks similar to the iPhone, both from the outside and the inside GUI, it has a TV-output, 3 buttons downside and a touchscreen (not a multi-touch like the iphone’s). The final device will feature a Windows CE 6.0 OS, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 3.4″ display (720 x 480), 3MP camera and many more. Meizu says the final hardware is complete and ready to be launched in China, somewhere around August.

[via engadget]

Check out the videos and the specs after the break.

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Microsoft inflames the masses, announcing games for Zune players, through XNA Studio 3.0. Although it is just an early announcement and most details are concealed, we know the games will be designed for both first and second Zune generation, with stress on trackpad capabilities in second-gen models. Zune owners will be able to play with their friends wirelessly, PSP style, though there are no plans for game sharing. XNA platform provides 2D graphics so don’t expect running Doom 3 or GTA IV on your Zune, but releasing a development kit might broaden the number of titles to offer. More details to be provided in Spring 2008.

[via tech2]

It’s super Tuesday, and Apple has a new announcement to make. This time the company slashes the iPod Shuffle 1GB price to merely 49$ and introducing a new 2GB model for 69$. No other changes concerning specs or colors. The new Shuffle 2GB will be available at the end of this month.

[via Apple]

No doubt, Sony has big plans for its PSP game console. Turns out the company develops a new PSP-style phone, trying to play in the mobile court, as we read in Sony Magazine. So far, these are just speculations and Sony has denied any development of a PSP-based gaming cellphone, but we have learned that Sony is a fond of “hidden-exposed” sales promotions, as we flutter back to the day the PSP-Skype was initially unveiled. Don’t get us wrong, we like to play with the idea of a mobile gaming device with cellular capabilities, but this time we should take the word of Sony Ericsson’s VP, Merran Wrigley, for not believing his company “would be able to create a phone worthy of the PlayStation brand”.

[via phonemag]

Several months after the announcement of the revolutionary Android handset OS, Google releases an updated version of the Android SDK with major improvements and new applications, so you can download it and fiddle around, as long as you want. The latest update includes new user interface, layout animations, geo-coding, new media codecs and updated Eclipse plug-in. If you feel you can help in shaping the platform, let the Android team know.

Available for download here

[via Android]

Yahoo’s board of directors officially decided to turn off Microsoft’s hostile acquisition offer for 44.6$ Billion, price that presented $31 per share, a week ago. The rejection adds 2% to Yahoo’s share, 0.2% to Google’s share and -2% reduction on Microsoft’s share. In a press release, Yahoo says the bid is substantially lower than its real value and refuses to consider any offer under 40$ per share.

…”Yahoo! Board of Directors has carefully reviewed Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal with Yahoo!’s management team and financial and legal advisors and has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders.”

“After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments.”

Read more…

Sony Ericsson announces the release of the XPERIA X1 quad-band GSM/EDGE and 900/1700/1900/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, combined with a full QWERTY keyboard for maximum Windows Mobile 6 operating system control. The XPERIA X1 multimedia mobile sports the following features:

• Display: 3″ TFT VGA touchscreen, 65,536 color (800 x 480).
• OS: Windows Mobile 6.
• Internal Memory: up to 400MB with microSD extension.
• Control: 4-way key plus optical joystick.
• Camera: 3.2MP with photo light and video recording.
• Internet: Internet Explorer Mobile, RSS feed.
• Connectivity: Modem, WLAN, WiFi, aGPS and A2DP Bluetooth .
• Microsoft Outlook Mobile, SMS/MMS and Video calling support.
• Music: Integrated Windows Media Player Mobile with PlayNow support and FM radio tuner.
• Video: Video viewing, Video streaming and 3D games.
• Other Features: Personal organizer, Java support, Speakerphone and more.
• Dimensions: Size: 110 x 53 x 16.7mm, 145gm.
• Colors: Silver, Black
• Availability: second half of 2008.
• Price: Unknown.

[Via engadget]

Check out the video after the break.
Read more…

Samsung unveils the Soul, a new 12.9mm quad-band GSM HSDPA slider, combined with a Magical Touch interface. The Soul sports the following features:

• Display: 2.2″ QVGA.
• 5MP camera with image stabilizer and Power LED flash.
• Features: FM radio, Bluetooth, microSD slot,Google search icon and Gmail accessibility.
• Availability: April 2008.
• Price: Unknown.

[via engadget]

Almost 2 months after Creative released the upgraded Zen 32GB, the company decided to cut down the prices from 349$ to merely 299$. This move was meant to remind us there is a cheaper alternative to the very expensive iPod Touch 32GB model, and we say: let the competition roll…

[via Creative]

Super Tuesday is a big US political celebration but also Apple’s announcements day. As we speak, the Cupertino company unveiled the rumored 16GB iPhone for retail price of 499$ and the surprising 32GB iPod Touch for the same price of 499$. Both devices are available immediately worldwide and no other changes were reported. I guess we should be wondering if a 32GB iPhone is coming out this year.

[via Apple]

Super Tuesday is a big US political celebration but also Apple’s announcements day. As we speak, the Cupertino company unveiled the rumored 16GB iPhone for retail price of 499$ and the surprising 32GB iPod Touch for the same price of 499$. Both devices are available immediately worldwide and no other changes were reported. I guess we should be wondering if a 32GB iPhone is coming out this year.

[via Apple]

Rumors come true, Microsoft submitted an official offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion, price that presents $31 per share, 62% over Yahoo’s closing price, 19.18$. Microsoft is making tremendous efforts to carry out this deal, in order to stay a major internet player and to be able to compete Google in the growing online advertisement and searching markets. Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer said: “We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.” The bid was submitted after Yahoo announced the cutting of 1,000 jobs and reported 8 consistent quarters of dropping shares value. With the anticipation for a difficult year, Yahoo’s board of directors might accept the offer, though we hear the company is not in a rush. Yahoo shares responded with increasing of 47.9%.

Update: Google is reluctant with current developments. Senior VP for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, has just posted a preliminary comment in Google’s official blog, attacking Microsoft for the hostile bid to acquire Yahoo and raises troubling questions:

“Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies — and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.”

And more:

…”Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions — and consumers deserve satisfying answers.”

Garmin announces the release of the Nuvifone, a new 3.5G GSM HSDPA smartphone, combined with a media player, full GPS navigation system, proprietary OS and many advanced elements. The Nuvifone sports the following features:

• Display: 3.5″ touchscreen.
• 3 major icons: Call, Search, Maps
• Built-in camera with longitude / latitude tagging system.
• Full GPS navigation system, loaded with North America and European maps.
• Google local search capability.
• Garmin Online Service: an online updates information service, including weather, traffic, stocks, news, sports, hotels, etc.
• WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
• Email, SMS/MMS and IM support.
• Nuvi navigation service, providing “Where Am I ” function, for an accurate location info, on and off the road.
• Integrated media player, supports MP3 and MPEG4/AAC .
• Availability: Q3 2008.
• Price: Unknown.

I’m definitely looking forward to snack one of those and see it in action.

[via gizmodo]

More pictures after the break.

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Following the enormous success of the Eee PC, Asus announced a new line, including 8/9/10 inch display. The most interesting model, should be the one with the 9 inch screen, as we hear it might be released with a touchscreen. Price is not going to be much higher than regular models, since adding a touch panel, is a matter of 15$ in the manufacturing cost.

Update: ASUS will not be offering a touchscreen panel, their market research shows limited demand.

[via gmp3]

It’s here, rise and shine, the new MacBook Air, world’s thinnest laptop ever made. We all been waiting for this one, and Apple delivered big time. With a super light, super thin and super glowing look, the MacBook Air features:

• Display: 13.3″ LED backlit, TFT glossy widescreen.
• Built-in iSight camera.
  
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz.
• Memory: 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2.
• Storage: 1.8″ 80 GB 4200 rpm hard drive, or SSD 64 GB optional (for extra 1300$).
• Micro-DVI adapter.
• WiFi integrated AirPort Extreme.
• Trackpad with a multi-touch support (like the iPhone).
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor, 144MB RAM.
• Height: 0.4-1.94 cm
• Width: 32.5 cm
• Depth: 22.7 cm
• Weight: 1.36 kg
• Battery life: 5 hours.

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This is not a new hardware, just a free extensive software upgrade to the Apple TV. The Take Two features AirTunes support, for a complete direct streaming, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, HD movies (4GB Size), movie preview, photo browser, computers-free usage, direct movie rental (priced 2.99$ for older versions, 3.99$ for new ones and 4.99$ for HD movies), and more.

[via engadget]

Check the video after the break.

Read more…

This wireless drive will backup all your Leopard OSX Time Machine Macs through your wireless network. The Time Capsule features a full Airport Extreme base station with 802.11n wireless and a server grade hard drives, allowing you to backup your data from anywhere, in your wireless network area. You will be able to choose two storage capacities, 500GB for $300 and 1TB for $500. The product should be available next month.

[via gizmodo]

Macworld’s opening day answered all our anticipations, with 5 major announcements from El Stivo. The keynote introduced us as follows:

• iTunes Movie Rentals Service.
• iPhone & iPod Touch Firmware Updates.
• Time Capsule.
• Apple TV Take Two.
• MacBook Air.

It’s not that we were strangers to most of the new announcements, on the contrary, most of them already leaked weeks before, and you could read about it in this blog. Lets view some of them in a nutshell:

iTunes Movie Rentals Service

As we already posted, a week ago, Apple teamed up with all major film studios, such as Paramount, Lions Gate Entertainment, Walt Disney, Miramax, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and more, to bring the top movie titles into iTunes, and to enable users renting a film directly from their iPhones or their iPod touch devices, for 3.99$ per 24h.

iPhone & iPod Touch Firmware Updates.

iPhone – As we reported several weeks ago, Apple officially announced on Firmware update 1.1.3 which includes:

• GoogleMaps application is able to pinpoint your location.
• SMS can be send to multiple people, at once.
• Bookmark add-on for web sites.
• Re-arrangement of home screen icons.
• Video chaptering.
• Music lyrics display.

iPod Touch - This one wasn’t known to us up till yesterday. Apple released some new add-ons to the Touch players. The new update features Mail program, Maps, web clips, stocks, weather and notes. BUT, this is not a free update, this one will cost you 20$.

Time Capsule

To make it simple, this is a wireless backup server. To make it complicated, it is a full Airport Extreme base station with 802.11n wireless and a server grade hard drives that enables to backup all Leopard OS Macs in your network. The Time Capsule comes in 2 configurations:

• 500GB for $300.
• 1TB for $500.

Apple TV Take Two

The major improvements in Take Two TV is that it requires no computer, renting movies is much easier and you can have them in HD Dolby 5.1 format. The Take Two edition supports audio, video and photo browsing via Flickr. To upgrade your Apple TV to a Take Two version, you will have to update the software. It is free of charge and will be available in 2 weeks.

MacBook Air

This is the big one, that everyone was expecting to hear about. MackBook Air goes live with the title of the thinnest notebook on earth, just 4mm (!). It features:

• 13.3″ screen display with ambient light sensor.
• A black keyboard with a LED backlit.
• A multi-touch pad (like the iPhone).

Further details will be available in the next posts.

Apple is about to announce on a new movie rental service at the MacWorld conference, next week. The service will be available via iTunes and the price should be around $3.99 per 24hr. Apparently, this announcement gets fruition, after Apple managed to team up with the biggest movie studios , such as Paramount, Lions Gate Entertainment, Walt Disney, and the newcomers, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox.

[via engadget]