Gadgets Blog

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 30th 2008 at 9:14AM

CNET Asia has apparently received word that not only will ASUS’ Lamborghini-branded ZX1 smartphone be canceled (as we mentioned earlier this month), but the company will also be putting the brakes on its forthcoming P560 and M536 phones as well. In a statement issued presumably to CNET, the company claims that the project has been postponed due to the “technical immaturity of a key component from one of our suppliers,” though they seem to have left the door open for a reboot. We know one thing for sure — it’s clear that the P560 and M536 weren’t those “more important devices” the company made reference to previously. They probably need the resources for another 25 versions of the Eee PC.

[Thanks, chauco]

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It looks like good things come to those will a little patience when it comes to a US-based 3G capable Touch Diamond. We had recently seen a home-brewed ROM update that enabled the 850Mhz frequency on the euro-spec’d Touch Diamond, only to have HTC issue an official update that offered EDGE support over the 850Mhz band. That by itself was good news, but still not what many had been hoping for, however that has recently surfaced at the FCC.

That’s right a US 3G capable Touch Diamond has recently been given the seal of approval from the FCC. Of course we are still not sure when this will make its way to an available status, or even how much it will retail for, but that should all come in time. For now at least we can be sure its coming.

Just to recap some of the features, the Touch Diamond offers a 2.8-inch VGA (480 × 640) touchscreen display, a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera on the rear with a VGA camera on the front, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi, eGPS, orientation sensor and an FM radio. It is powered by a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM 7201A processor and is running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with the TouchFLO 3D interface. The Touch Diamond also has 256MB ROM / 192MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSDHC card slot for additional storage.

Via [IntoMobile]

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T-Mobile has unveiled the latest model of the Sidekick, once known as the Gekko, it has been dubbed the Sidekick 2008 and is retailing for $149.99 along with a two-year agreement will be available beginning today.

The Sidekick will feature a decent set of specs which include a 2.6-inch 400 x 240 WQVGA display, 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support and a microSD card slot. The handset also ships with a 512MB memory card. The phone itself measures in at 4.7 x 2.3 x 0.7-inches and weights 5.3-ounces, and as expected it also maintains the standard, easy to use IM, text messaging and email capabilities.

In addition to the nice price, this Sidekick also marks the first to have user customizable shells, which sell for $14.99 each and are available from sidekickshells.com.

Read [T-Mobile] Via [Hiptop3]

T-MOBILE TAKES CUSTOMIZATION TO A NEW LEVEL WITH THE LATEST T-MOBILE SIDEKICK

The new T-Mobile® Sidekick® lets customers change the look of their device as often as they change their clothes

BELLEVUE, Wash. – July 30, 2008 – A picture from high school graduation, a favorite sports team logo or a vibrant splash of the hottest fall color – whatever you want to express, you can design it on the new T-Mobile® Sidekick®. Available today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. has added the latest edition to the Sidekick family providing customers with the opportunity to create shells for their Sidekick with the images, colors or designs they choose.

The new Sidekick will ship with two shells: black and metallic green. A variety of pre-designed shell patterns and colors also are readily available for customers to purchase at T-Mobile retail stores or online. Of course, for true individualization, customers can design a completely unique shell unlike any other using a dedicated online Sidekick site via SkinIt at http://www.sidekickshells.com. Doing so is as simple as uploading a personal photo or graphic design, or selecting your own text, shapes, icons or logos. The final design is custom-printed onto the shell, then shipped. Once the design is complete, customers can share their work of art in a public gallery that will be hosted on http://www.sidekick.com.

“There is perhaps nothing more important than someone’s individual style and personality. The new

T-Mobile Sidekick, with its customizable shells, lets our customers easily express that unique style directly on their phone,” says Sajal Sahay, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Providing our customers with options to stand out from the crowd and show a true expression of themselves is what makes this Sidekick such an intriguing, fun device.”

In addition to enhanced personalization, the T-Mobile Sidekick is sporting a slightly smaller, thinner and lighter design than previous Sidekicks. It also comes fully loaded with the latest Sidekick features including video capture and playback ability, so customers can record and watch spontaneous and memorable moments, whether at a football game or a music concert.

The new Sidekick also features an integrated Spanish user interface - the first for a Sidekick device. Other features include first-rate messaging with IM, text and e-mail, as well as stereo Bluetooth® for easy photo and file transfers and a 2.0 megapixel camera. The Sidekick also is equipped with customizable Web surfing and more internal memory for storage of ringtones and multimedia messages.

T-Mobile Sidekick Features Include:
· Exterior shells that can be personalized
· Capability to record, play and share videos: record videos using the camera; receive video attachments from e-mail, picture messaging, or side load videos to the microSD card; play video using the built-in media player; share videos via e-mail, Bluetooth or picture messaging
· Horizontal swivel screen and full QWERTY keyboard (manufactured by Sharp)
· WQVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology
· Enhanced Web surfing: PC-like, full-size layout or standard Sidekick screen-size layout to scroll and read a page; use Mini Page to zoom out on an overview of an entire Web page; save images from Web pages to the microSD card
· Customizable IM experience: create and join group chats, set custom status messages, search for friends in a buddy list and see who is logged into IM to immediately start a conversation
· Easy download capability: install and use downloads without the need to restart the device; set a theme as the device’s default instantly
· Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP supports stereo Bluetooth and Bluetooth file transfer to other Bluetooth devices including Bluetooth photo printers
· 2.0 megapixel camera
· Included 512MB microSD memory card
· More storage: Up to 25 ringtones, add up to five slides to multimedia messages, and up to 60-second voice messages
· Quick Find to search across all applications
· T-Mobile myFaves® enabled
· Dimensions: 4.7” x 2.3” x 0.7”, 5.3 oz.
· 2.6-inch display, 400×240 pixels
· Quad-band world phone 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; GSM,GPRS,EDGE
· 1030mAh Lion battery

The new T-Mobile Sidekick is available today at select T-Mobile retail stores and online at http://www.t-mobile.com. Please visit http://www.sidekick.com for T-Mobile Sidekick news and updates.

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FROM APPLETELL - Word on the street says Apple is contemplating releasing the 4th generation ipod nano in a slightly wider size than its first three generations.
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Sky Link has yet another phone for us to look at - the Ubiquam U800. This targets a more business-oriented crowd, where one will be able to take advantage of its EV-DO Rev. 0 support to stay connected no matter where they are, while GPS navigation capability helps you get to your meeting destination faster without getting lost. Other features include :-

• 240 x 320 resolution display
• QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Brew 3.1 support
• microSD memory card slot
• MP3 playback

There is no word on pricing though.

If you think you’ve got a top notch projector in your home, chances are you haven’t stumbled upon the Meridian 810 projector. Touted to be the Reference Video System, it features specially calibrated JVC D-ILA light engine panels that are capable of throwing a resolution of 4,096 x 2,400 - that translates to 10 megapixels. Now that’s a whole lot of pixels by any standards, but it doesn’t justify the jaw-dropping $185,000 price tag. The 10 megapixel number is achieved by stitching a quartet of 1080p scalers together with DVI connections, cranking up digital sources (480i to 1080p) up to a full 10 megapixels. Truly mind blowing stuff.

While thumbing through Time Magazine, I ran across a tiny mini-article about a functional postage stamp (with self-adhesive that be stuck on an envelope) that has an embedded CD-ROM containing videos commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Bhutan monarchy. The CD also contains a link to a website that provides updated content. Shipping and handling actually takes place in the US. So, it appears that it is actually cheaper to buy the stamps from within the US than anywhere else.

As a person who shifts between Windows PCs to Macs daily, I wonder how Mac users can use the mini-CDs which are only 5 square inches in area though. It would probably need some kind of custom adapter for use in the trayless Macs.

Read more at: BhutanPostageStamps.com

VMware’s virtualization products let you run multiple operating system instances (and multiple instances of multiple operating systems) on a single physical server. This is a huge win in terms of reducing physical server sprawl, optimizing hardware resources, and reducing electricity consumption. VMware has been challenged on the low-end workstation market by Microsoft’s free Virtual PC, SUN’s free VirtualBox, and the low costs Parallels products for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. However, VMware’s high-end and high-cost (thousands of dollars per physical node) enterprise ESX and VMotion products have been unchallenged until this summer’s release of the essentially free Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor for Microsoft Server 2008.

VMware introduced a lighter weight and lighter cost ESXi product that is embedded with certain servers from a variety of server manufacturers last year. The new ESXi Installable version is now free for download (after registering with VMware). However, there are a couple of things you should be aware of before registering and downloading the 238MB ISO file. ESXi, like the full ESX product, is a server product and the list of compatible products are all server class machines. The supported list of servers for ESXi Installable is a subset of the servers compatible with the full ESX product. You also need to pay attention to the processor model as well as the server model involved. Finally, in order to really make use of ESX or ESXi, you need a separate server running some edition of VMware Infrastructure 3 to take full advantage of virtualization management.

That said, if I were in an enterprise work environment, I would definitely evaluate ESXi Installable.

Read more in the press release: VMware ESXi Hypervisor Now Free

The RIAA taking individuals to court on file sharing charges is becoming quite a common event. What’s less common is the defendant admitting to the charges, but then challenging the actual law those charges were brought under.

Denise Barker is doing just that at the moment in a New York federal court. She has been accused of sharing 8 songs via Kazaa in 2004 and could face a fine of up to US$150,000 per song or US$1.2 million. But rather than settling out of court for a few thousand dollars as many do, Denise has admitted to the file sharing and then challenged the size of the fines as being excessive.

Through her attorney Ray Beckerman they are arguing that the fines brought under the Copyright Act are in excess of what the U.S. Supreme Court rules as fair. The Supreme Court states that a fine exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio is unconstitutional and Beckerman is going to challenge the cost to the music industry of a pirate track being downloaded.

Beckerman believes the actual cost to the industry per track is around US$3.50, meaning under the Supreme Courts guidance the maximum fine per track can only be US$31.50 and therefore Denise only owes a total of US$252 in fines.

He is now using the case as an opportunity to litigate the damages amount and hopefully bring down the huge fines people are being awarded on recommendation by the RIAA.

Read more at the Wired Blog

Matthew’s Opinion
Can you imagine if Beckerman actually managed to prove that file sharing cost the music companies just US$3.50 a track? It would means the RIAA are pretty much dead in the water in terms of scaring people with huge fines that literally ruin lives.

I doubt it is as easy as that though, and even if he did prove the lost revenue other damages may come into affect for the actual crime being committed and the fees of the RIAA battling the case. Still, it will hopefully bring the fines down to a more sane level.

One thing it has to do is force the RIAA to prove exactly how much lost revenue piracy causes. I can’t see them giving evidence of how a single 99 cents track downloaded can end up costing them US$150,000 in lost revenue, can you? It’s not just a case of saying a track was downloaded X number of times on a file sharing network, it’s also proving those downloads replaced legitimate sales of the song.

Lenovo is well-known for its slim ThinkPad X300, but now the Chinese company is preparing itself t launch a low-cost laptop similar to the Asus Eee that started it all. Usual contract manufacturers are probably in-line to get this contract. This is not a rumor, Lenovo has confirmed this itself: “the company is considering launching a netbook product designed with consideration for both consumer and enterprise markets” (Ken Wong, general manager of Lenovo Taiwan). That’s great, with even more players coming in, I think that we might reach a $100 NetTop even faster.