Reg Hardware

7th January 2008 Archive

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  • CES 2008: Complete Coverage

    News Round-up All the stories, all the best kit

    The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) brought a bumper harvest of gadgets and goodies to Las Vegas. Here are all of Register Hardware's CES 2008 stories, brought together for your reading and viewing pleasure... CES on Video •MS demos smart-cam phone software •Crucial solid-state drive passes vibrator test •OpenMoko preps …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 00:19

  • Samsung enhances Q1 Ultra UMPC performance

    CES Premium model gets longer battery life too

    Samsung has upgraded its Q1 Ultra UMPC, adding 'Premium' to the machine's moniker and boosting the handheld's processing power and its battery capacity. The Q1 Ultra Premium sports the same 7in, 1024 x 600 display as the Q1 Ultra, but behind it beats a 1.33GHz Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Intel Core Solo U1500 CPU. The new model …

    PCs 7 Jan 00:46

  • Toshiba remains upbeat about HD DVD

    CES And launches Low-def models

    Today’s Toshiba press conference at CES saw an unprecedented queue hundreds of metres long as hacks lined up to hear Toshiba's take on Warner Home Video's recent announcement to opt for the Blu-ray format. One UK reporter was even offered $50 for her press pass. Inside, Jodi Sally, Marketing VP of the digital A/V Group, …

    HD 7 Jan 01:28

  • Samsung spins 128GB SSD

    CES Half-a-terabyte laptop hard drive too

    Samsung isn't the first manufacturer to take the wraps off a laptop-friendly 500GB hard drive - take a bow, Hitachi - but it did claim today to be the first to announce a 9.5mm-high unit. It also touted a 128GB solid-state drive for notebooks. Samsung's SpinPoint M6: half a terabyte The SpinPoint M6 follows the standard 2. …

    Storage 7 Jan 01:29

  • CES moots move from expensive Las Vegas

    CES Playground of the rich too expensive

    The organisers of the Consumer Electronics Show - where most forthcoming products are announced for the year - are scouting for a cheaper US city to stage the annual convention, the Las Vegas Sun reports. Exhibitors have complained that the increasing cost of hotel accommodation, food and drink are threatening to price show …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 01:44

  • Sony revamps Mylo mobile internet device

    CES More teen friendly

    Sony has revamped its Mylo - My Life Online - internet access handheld, enhancing the Wi-Fi gadget's support for teen-friendly social networking sites and the like of YouTube. Gone is the toy look of the previous Mylo, replaced with a more serious look that might almost appeal to business users. The slide-out Qwerty keyboard's …

    Phones 7 Jan 02:13

  • Sony ships 11in OLED TV in the US

    CES Yours for $2500...

    Want the very latest in flat-panel technology? Then book yourself a trip to the States – Sony's just launched its XEL-1 OLED HD TV over here. Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV: now available Stateside The telly doesn't come cheap, mind. It may only be 3mm thick, but it'll set you back $2500 (£1300) – the cost of three decent-sized …

    HD 7 Jan 02:35

  • AmigaOS 5 surfaces... sort of

    CES Amiga launches AmigaAnywhere 2

    AmigaOS 5 made a covert appearance at an event outside the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), turning up in the guise of a version of Space Invaders running on a Windows Mobile 6-based smartphone. Amiga – the company – was ostensibly showing AmigaAnywhere 2, the new version of its virtual machine technology. But taking Amiga …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 06:21

  • How can I get better browsing with a smartphone?

    Q&A

    Most, if not all, smartphones fall short on the web browsing experience as they cannot display minimum 800-pixel-wide pages. How can I improve that experience and still use a compact, pocket-friendly phone that's good for phone calls? I'd like to make a quick check of emails and do short replies using the phone. But for more …

    Q&A 7 Jan 10:02

  • Sony launches low-price Blu-ray drive

    How low can you go?

    If you're strapped for cash following Christmas, Sony has unveiled a sub-$200 (£100/€135) internal BD-Rom drive which could help you recover from the festive season by staying in and watching Blu-ray movies on your PC. Sony's sub-£200 Blu-ray drive The BDU-X10S drive has a 2x BD-Rom read speed, together with an 8x and 24x …

    Storage 7 Jan 11:48

  • Samsung ML-1630 laser printer

    Unwired Video Review Sexy, sure - but is it any good?

    When you think of laser printers you don’t exactly think ’sleek and sexy’ - more like ‘beige and bulky’. But this new model from Samsung, the ML1630, is something that’s really quite different. Taking its design cues from Samsung’s range of TVs and laptops, this is glossy black and wouldn’t look out of place in a fashion …

    Gadgets 7 Jan 12:02

  • Logitech touts armchair keyboard

    CES Never leave the house again

    If you’re into all things sofa-based, then a miniature wireless keyboard from Logitech that bridges the gap between PC and TV should have your fingers tapping with excitement. Logitech's diNovo Mini: handy The palm-sized diNovo Mini is a bit like a mobile phone, with your thumbs doing all the typing on its full QWERTY …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 14:14

  • BT Vision targets Xbox gamers for growth

    Philips ditched for next gen set-top boxes

    BT is hoping to put a rocket up its slow-starting broadband TV service Vision, by making its movie and TV rentals available on demand to the UK's Xbox 360 owners. BT has what it calls a "medium term" target of two to three million Vision customers. Since launching in late 2006, it has attracted about 100,000, and looks set to …

    Consoles 7 Jan 14:43

  • Logitech touts Harmony One remote control

    CES Direct touch? Wires? Pah!

    Logitech has expanded its universal remote control range and launched the Harmony One universal commander, sorry, remote. Despite looking like something that God might use to control his TV, its most unique feature is a 2.2in colour screen. It has numerous options, such as for playing a DVD, but responds to tiny electrical …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 14:48

  • One loves the Wii

    Wii are quite amused

    There’s nothing like a royal crest to give your product that certain je ne sais quoi, and Nintendo’s Wii console has finally got one - sort of. According to the online arm of newspaper The People, a source at the Palace recently revealed that the Queen became hooked on the console over the Christmas break, after her grandson …

    Consoles 7 Jan 15:30

  • Belkin wireless HDMI box spied at CES

    CES Cable-free link for HD TVs

    Belkin's experimentation with running HDMI connections wirelessly will finally bear fruit this coming summer when the accessory maker ships FlyWire, a wireless video connectivity box for HD TVs. FlyWire operates in the 5GHz wireless band to stream signals from a transmitter hooked up to, say, you Blu-ray Disc player over to a …

    HD 7 Jan 17:39

  • Sony drives back into sat navs

    Find your way, with style

    Sony has found its way back into the sat nav market and unveiled two GPS devices which it claims offer an extra position finder over established GPS technology. The NV-U73T and NV-U83T both feature Position Plus which, Sony claims, uses pressure sensors, gyro sensors and acceleration sensors to help calibrate the driver’s …

    GPS and Satnav 7 Jan 17:41

  • CES Linksys ships sleek Wi-Fi routers, ExpressCard

    How do you make a wireless router more consumer friendly? You stick it in a sleek, shiny casing. That's Linksys approach if its latest offerings are anything to go by. Linksys' WRT160N: antennae inside The WRT310N and WRT160N both sport slick wedge-like designs unspoiled with external antennae – the 160N has two, the 310N …

    Networking and Wireless 7 Jan 19:59

  • CES GorillaPod guys slide out boom-equipped Bluetooth headset

    Here's Zivio, the upcoming Bluetooth headset from Joby, the company that brought you to GorillaPod bendy holder-cum-tripod for digicam's. It not only looks swish, but it's light, compact and incorporates a novel pull-out microphone boom. Joby's Zivio: slide out mic boom The boom's positively wire-thin, but it's rigid enough …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 7 Jan 20:33

  • Napster looks to de-tether downloads

    'We hear the kids like these MP3 things'

    Napster will once again deal in the scourge that are MP3s now that the major record labels have decided that MP3s are not evil but rather their future. The music vendor will allow customers to purchase DRM-free songs and albums in the MP3 format. However, those poor souls subscribing to the Napster music rental service will …

    Media players 7 Jan 20:53

  • Sling reschedules, redesigns SlingCatcher

    CES SlingPlayer-for-TVs finally coming in Q2. Hopefully...

    Sling Media has finally named the date when it will ship SlingCatcher, the SlingPlayer-for-TVs box it announced at last year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Sling's new SlingCatcher: SlingPlayer for TVs Based on the distinctive design of the Slingbox series - though the original look has been dropped - SlingCatcher can …

    Media players 7 Jan 21:36