Computer Gadgets New

George Lucas and co. has confirmed that they plan to 3-Dize the 6 Star Wars movies. Nuff said. Apparently costs between $50k and $100k per minute to convert. Dang.

Fans are divided - some say spend the money on new projects. Others say bring it on. I say, hell yeah, I’ll go see at least 4 of those movies again in 3-D. Actually, I may not have liked the 1st 2 prequels much, but the CGI scenes were pretty stunning.

Posted in Miscellaneous

With the Kindle selling out in just a little over 5 hours after the initial release, its been something of a curious mystery as to just how many Amazon had actually sold. Well it seems that even though Amazon has not offered up any hard numbers, the crew over at TechCrunch are claiming that a “source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers” has given up the details, and that magic number is 240,000.

Still less than a year on the market and roughly about a quarter million sold is certainly is not a bad start, that would place the revenue for the hardware alone at an estimated $100 million, and that is not to include any of the books and other goodies that are available. I was not able to grab a Kindle when they first went on sale, but managed to snag one when the first came back, since then its been a pleasure to use, especially when traveling. I even think that it has encourage me to read a little more often, simply because of the easy access to new books from anywhere I happen to be.

Via [TechCrunch]

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Recent reports are claiming that Nokia has begun to make some price cuts on selected music and media phones, in some cases up to 10-percent. In addition to the selected music and media models, Nokia has also made some smaller price cuts across the rest of their models. The Nokia 5310 and 5610 music phones as well as the 8GB N81 saw the largest cuts.

These price cuts come as a response to increased competition in the mobile phone market, however Nokia still holds a solid 40 percent overall, and this news will just make it a little tougher on some of their competition.

Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight stated that “Nokia has always been extremely tactical with its pricing, pinpointing sweet spots in different segments of the market and making adjustments to wrongfoot competitors.” This means that things may just get a little tougher for rivals such as Sony Ericsson, who already made almost no money during the April-June quarter and actually cut 2,000 jobs in response.

Cheuvreux analyst David Hallden referred to this move as a ‘Crazy Ivan’ and feels that this was just “a way to run away from competition.”

In addition to the cuts from Nokia we have even seen some carriers slash pricing on Nokia handsets. Rogers Wireless recently cut the price of the 8GB N95 in half in an effort to make it more attractive as compared to the newly release iphone 3G.

Read [Reuters]

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Recent reports are claiming that Nokia has begun to make some price cuts on selected music and media phones, in some cases up to 10-percent. In addition to the selected music and media models, Nokia has also made some smaller price cuts across the rest of their models. The Nokia 5310 and 5610 music phones as well as the 8GB N81 saw the largest cuts.

These price cuts come as a response to increased competition in the mobile phone market, however Nokia still holds a solid 40 percent overall, and this news will just make it a little tougher on some of their competition.

Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight stated that “Nokia has always been extremely tactical with its pricing, pinpointing sweet spots in different segments of the market and making adjustments to wrongfoot competitors.” This means that things may just get a little tougher for rivals such as Sony Ericsson, who already made almost no money during the April-June quarter and actually cut 2,000 jobs in response.

Cheuvreux analyst David Hallden referred to this move as a ‘Crazy Ivan’ and feels that this was just “a way to run away from competition.”

In addition to the cuts from Nokia we have even seen some carriers slash pricing on Nokia handsets. Rogers Wireless recently cut the price of the 8GB N95 in half in an effort to make it more attractive as compared to the newly release iphone 3G.

Read [Reuters]

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 2nd 2008 at 2:52PM

We can’t fully express the awesomeness of RoboStool with mere words, but we’ll try. A product of Norris Labs, this robotic foot stool can be navigated in a trio of ways: by using a remote control, by actually tapping into a satnav or by utilizing a thermal sensing system to make it follow its master around. We don’t suppose you need more than one guess to pick which of the three is our favorite, and there’s a nice demonstration video of said choice waiting after the jump. IKEA, you on this or what?

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Filed under: Robots

Nothing could be worse than finding out your bike was nicked when you’re on your way home, or you’re in a hurry to ger some place. Luckily, there’s Immobitag to help you out.

It can’t exactly prevent bike thefts from happening, so don’t expect Immobitag to come with a couple of men dressed in black to stand guard over your precious bike. Nevertheless, if anyone ever grabbed your bike, you’d want to get them caught, or at least get your bike back, right? ImmobiTag is a radio frequency identification device. Basically, when your bike gets stolen, it’ll show up on the National Stolen Property Database and Second Hand Trade Stolen Property Register. So when the police gets your bike, they can scan the tag and you’ll get your bike back–hopefully whole and without a missing tyre. Of course, since it cannot stop no do-gooders from doing their thing, the ImmobiTag comes with menacing stickers to delude them into believing your bike is traceable: that is, of course, unless they’re reading this.

via

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Aug 2nd 2008 at 1:29PM

If you’ve been waiting for Gateway’s P-7811 FX gaming laptop, the wait is almost over: it will begin shipping August 14, that is, if an open-lipped Best Buy is to be believed. As for specifications, you’re looking at an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 cache with 1066MHz FSB), PM45 Express chipset, 15-inch WUXGA display at 1920 x 1200, Nvidia GeForce 9800M-GTS with 512MB GDDR3, 200GB 7200RPM spinner, 8x DVD burner, HDMI 1.2, eSATA, a 5-in-1 media card reader, 1.3MP camera, and a 9-cell Li-ion battery. The $1,499 machine weighs in at 9.2-lbs and will be ready for your Crysis, Spore, etc. in a couple weeks.

[Via NotebookReview]

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Filed under: Laptops

Aside from the recently announced and fashionably stylish EX310 laptop, MSI has also unveiled the ultra-lightweight PR201 laptop PC. And when we say lightweight, we mean 3.97-pounds including battery with its clean and sleek-looking magnesium alloy casing. But of course, aside from beauty, this portable powerhouse also carries with it several features and specs to compete with the rest of the current Core 2 Duo-powered laptops available in the market today.

The MSI PR201 boasts of features such as a fingerprint reader for data security, HDMI capability for high-quality video output, Al Array Microphone and a built-in 2.0 megapixel webcam. For its technical specifications, the PR201 would give us a powerful machine with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Intel GM 45+ICH9-M chipset, a 12.1-inch TFT WXGA display, up to 4GB RAM, up to 320GB of hard drive space, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, a DVD super-multi drive and several standard I/O ports to include a memory card reader, mic-in/headphones, USB 2.0, RJ11/RJ45 and Dsub.

Similar to the EX310, pricing and international release details about the PR201 are yet to be announced. But with its specs and features, the MSI PR201 laptop is a piece of hardware that we all should look out for in the coming months.

Read [MSI News]

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 2nd 2008 at 10:28AM

We already had a glance at NVIDIA’s newest low-ender, the GeForce 9500 GT, but the outfit clearly wasn’t done. In case the previously mentioned card was just a tad too weak for your needs, you can also check out the GeForce 9800 GT and / or 9800 GTX+, which feature 112 / 128 stream processors and support for HybridPower and PhysX. Both cards can be found just about everywhere right now for $149.99 and $199.99, respectively, with 512MB of RAM on board.

[Via Hardware Revolution]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Hawking Technologies is proud to present its new HRGZ1 HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System. This affordable and compact system plays a vital role in your home and office security. The HRGZ1 HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System acts as a portal between the Internet and your home enabling you to control lighting and appliances. You can view live video even from your cell phone or an Internet web browser.

Features

• Easily create Scenes for the controlling multiple devices with one click.
• Link multiple lights and appliances to a single module.
• Customize the HomeRemote interface to match the exact layout of your home.
• Keep track of all recent activity in your home.

Setting up HRGZ1 HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System at home or office is an easy affair. In fact this product provides you with an intuitive setup wizard that first asks you a few simple questions about your home and then automatically sets up the connection to your network. The fact that Hawking HRGZ1 HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System has been chosen as one of the Electronic House Magazine Product of the Year is proof enough for its efficiency and popularity.

Price and Availability

HRGZ1 HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System is available at a price range between $ 198.38 and $ 220.99.
Source: Hawkingtech

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