Reg Hardware

21st April 2006 Archive

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  • Blu-ray another Betamax - MS Xbox exec

    HD DVD support news coming at E3

    The Xbox 360 will be able to play HD DVD movies, Microsoft's European console business chief, Chris Lewis, has apparently confirmed. "It will give people access to HD DVD," said this week. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel, Lewis dismisses Blu-ray Disc as another Betamax. "Blu-ray right now reminds us of another …

    Consoles 21 Apr 2006, 00:02

  • Toshiba tweaks Gigabeat P players

    New colours and more

    Toshiba has updated its Nano-esque Gigabeat P digital music player family, adding an tweaked FM radio, a choice of three new colours and a fancy new face to the player's clock application. The new models are available with either 512MB of 1GB of Flash memory, just like past Gigabeat P machines, though they now go by the …

    Media players 21 Apr 2006, 00:02

  • Seagate readies 750GB desktop hard drive

    Barracuda boost

    Seagate is on the verge of announcing a 3.5in desktop hard drive with a capacity of 750GB - increasing the Barracuda 7200.10 line's maximum storage space by 50 per cent. Seagate hasn't formally announced the 750GB model, but it is already beginning to appear on the company's marketing material. The drive runs at 7,200rpm and …

    Bits 'n' Chips 21 Apr 2006, 08:41

  • Japan offered micro Mac Mini rival

    Third Wave launches compact desktop

    Japanese consumers will be able to buy one of the world's smallest PCs next month when local vendor Third Wave ships what it calls the Prime Super Mini - a desktop machine smaller than a 12in notebook computer. The compact machine takes up a little more space than Apple's Mac Mini - it's 17.2 x 22.6cm to the Mini's 16.5 x …

    PCs 21 Apr 2006, 09:01

  • IO Data preps pricey Blu-ray Disc writers

    Drives support all CD, DVD, BD formats, though

    Storage specialist IO Data has said it will ship internal and external Blu-ray Disc writers in just over a month's time. The company said it will launch the two products in Japan and the US simultaneously. The internal drive is dubbed the BRD-AM2B, an ATAPI unit capable of reading BD, DVD and CD media, and of writing all …

    Bits 'n' Chips 21 Apr 2006, 09:20

  • Sapphire renames water-cooled graphics card

    Drops 'Blizzard', adopts 'Toxic'

    Sapphire is to rename its water-cooled ATI Radeon X1900 XTX-based video cards. Out goes the 'Blizzard' moniker, replaced by the less appropriate 'Toxic', the graphics card company announced this week. Britney Spears may like it, we guess... How come? Sapphire isn't saying, but it's being whispered that games developer …

    Bits 'n' Chips 21 Apr 2006, 09:36

  • Mobile phone shipments to hit 1bn in 2006

    Nokia and Motorola swallow even more of the market

    The number of mobile phones shipped worldwide rose by 31 per cent during the first quarter of 2006, according to new figures. Strategy Analytics' latest study reveals that 229m mobile phones were shipped in the first three months of 2006. This marks the first time sales have passed the 200m mark in the opening quarter of the …

    Phones 21 Apr 2006, 09:42

  • RCA HD DVD player due 18 May

    So says Wal-Mart

    The US' second HD DVD player looks set to be a machine from RCA. According to Wal-Mart's website, RCA's HDV500 machine will ship on 18 May, almost a month after Toshiba's HD-A1 and HD-XA1 players launched in the States. RCA demo'd the HDV5000 at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but the machine appears to have …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 21 Apr 2006, 10:02

  • Panasonic to ship Blu-ray writer in June

    Doesn't come cheap

    A Panasonic internal Blu-Ray Disc writer will ship in June, the electronics giant has said, but like the similarly spec'd models announced by IO Data, the LF-MB121JD isn't going to come cheap. The Panasonic unit will read BD, DVD and CD media, and be capable of writing BD-R, BD-RE, DVD±R/RW (single and dual-layer), DVD-RAM …

    Bits 'n' Chips 21 Apr 2006, 10:20

  • Netgear Wi-Fi Skype phone to ship June?

    US buyers get $250 pre-order offer

    Netgear's answer to Linksys' CIT200 Skype phone is due to go on sale in two months' time, according to the online supplier the company has chosen to handle pre-orders for the product. Amazon.com's website has the $250 handset down to ship on 30 June. There's no official word yet on UK and European availability, but our …

    Phones 21 Apr 2006, 10:51

  • HTC 'Star Trek' to lift off on 10 May

    Qtek 8500 gets ship date

    HTC's 'Star Trek' handset - the Taiwanese smart-phone maker's answer to Motorola's Razr - will ship in the UK on Wednesday, 10 May, as the Qtek 8500. At least, that's what UK supplier Expansys' website says, which is offering the phone on pre-order for £360. Curiously, the same page says June is the ship date, so presumably …

    Phones 21 Apr 2006, 11:08

  • HP Compaq nx6125 biometric laptop

    Review AMD's Turion gets its first HP business notebook outing

    With IBM gone from the business notebook market, the old ThinkPad cachet is changing, and this seem to be an opportunity HP is trying to cash in on with its Compaq nx6125 range of ThinkPad look alikes. But it's only at first glance that the nx6125 could be mistaken for a ThinkPad - there are some major differences. The most …

    PCs 21 Apr 2006, 11:33

  • Your Nokia phone catches the dog raiding the dustbin

    Mobile stealthcam

    You leave your Nokia smartphone casually lying somewhere - like, watching the unattended dinner on the table - and when you suspect the culprit is there, you send a text to the phone. And it takes a picture! And then the software sends the picture - or the video - back to you, automatically, via MMS. Of course, ICamU (designer …

    Phones 21 Apr 2006, 16:55