Tiny USB Digital Camera

Check out this fun concept camera from designer Sungwoo Park called "Eazzzy". Eazzzy is an 'Easy digital camera' that requires no additional connector for transferring data to other devices. It has no viewfinder, no LCD screen and only one button. Its just a prototype for now and I don’t think it has a good picture quality. The concept is pretty awesome anyway.

A Golden iPod for David Beckham's!!!

To celebrate David Beckham’s 100th contribution to the English national football team, his colleagues got him a 32Gb iPod Touch that’s been personalised just for him in gold. As you can see it is not just your standard Apple product but rather a golden 32-gigabyte personalised version to mark the occasion. Congratulation Becks!


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Samsung SGH E490 : Sleek, Stylish, Sexy

Couldn't help posting a review on the Samsung SGH E490, since I've been using it for the last 10 months and have fallen in love with it...

Personally I'm not a big fan of the 'open and answer' flip or clamshell phone design. To each his own right. But I have to say, quite a few manufacturers have taken it to whole new level, with sleek and stylish designs and dual screens. Let's not leave out the colors. Well, not all of them may be as appealing as the next but most manage to pull it off without a hitch. A good example of fashion and elegance in a flip phone is the Samsung SGH – E490.

Like I said before, the design of the E490 is quite elegant with a smooth metallic color finish and the cool style is only accentuated with the silver linings. It's also rather slim and lightweight for a flip with dimensions like - 94 x 49 x 15.5 mm and it weighs 83g. On the front you'll see a monochrome screen (128 x 32 pixel resolution) that’s just 32 x 8 mm wide, but has a choice of 7 colors in case you'd like to go with one that matches the replaceable panels you may have chosen. Yes the panels are changeable too. Just above the screen is the 1.3 megapixel camera.

On the right hand side is the Hot-Swap microSD slot for external memory and the dedicated camera key is just underneath that. On the other side are the propriety USB/Charger/Earphone socket. Why oh why couldn't they just have another socket for the earphones? Anyways, moving along, underneath that are the volume keys that also double as the zoom keys. Flip her open and you have the clear 176 x 220 pixel, TFT screen with 65K colors. Just beneath the screen are 2 speakers that aren't great but they aren't so bad in speaker-phone mode. I have to admit, I thought the keypad would pose a bit of a problem but thanks to the large keys and the 5 way nav-pad I had absolutely no issues. There are also 3 dedicated keys for the MP3 player, messaging and the browser. Ain't tat sexy... :) My Samsung SGH E490...

Detailed Specifications
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Fly Launches The 'Hummer'

Fly, the flagship brand of Meridian Mobile, today launched its most awaited phone, the Hummer. For this purpose, French handset maker ModeLabs has carried over GM's (General Motors) Hummer license to the mobile phone. This design has been styled after the Hummer car and comes in three colors — Yellow, Military camouflage and Black.


Also present for the occasion was Malaika Arora Khan, who is the brand ambassador of Fly Phones. "When I came to know about the phone first, my first impression was that the phone is obviously for the males. Having used it, however, I feel quite differently now," she said.


The Hummer comes with a 262K color LCD with touch screen, a 2MP camera, 256MB MicroSD card bundled, FM radio and MP3 player. The phone is just one amongst 15 more to be launched in the next quarter itself, as informed by CEO, Rajiv Khanna. "We have plans to get really aggressive in the market, but as of now the strategy calls for streamlining the business channels before we can start work on branding," he said.

The phone will cost Rs. 10,000 in the market and is customized with Hummer paint color.

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Third-gen Zune to hit in 2009, make it to Europe

Seeing how long it took the Zune to make it over the northern border and into Canada, it shouldn't be any surprise that it's going to take even longer to get to Europe -- not until late next year, according to the director of Microsoft France. The wait should be worth it, though: that's when the third generation of Zunes will be released, as well as a Europe-friendly version of the Zune Marketplace. There are also some sketchy rumors that Windows Mobile 7 devices will be able to take advantage of Zune content and services, but it doesn't look like Microsoft has anything to say about that yet -- but if that goes down you know a Zune phone is right around the corner.

Diamond-studded iPod shuffle to be auctioned in London

Yeah, there's a lot of good, civically-minded things you could do with your cash... but wouldn't it be more fun to blow it on a 1GB iPod? If you're dying to prove how little £20,000 (or around $40,000) means to you, here's your chance. A jeweler named Thomas Heyerdahl has created an 18 karat, diamond studded, white and pink gold iPod shuffle, meant to be auctioned at a charity in London. We've seen an almost identical version which appeared to be selling just for the heck of it -- at least this one seems to be going to good cause.

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Intel launches super small Atom processors

Intel Corp. is launching a branding campaign for a forthcoming family of ultra-small chips, hoping to drive demand for two emerging categories of computing devices. The company will use the name Atom in marketing a new microprocessor line that has two variants. One chip, previously known by the code name Silverthorne, is designed to be the calculating engine for pocket-sized gadgets that Intel calls MIDs, for mobile Internet devices. The other chip to carry the Atom brand, code-named Diamondville, is designed for low-end laptop and desktop computers expected to cost around $250.Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., also plans to introduce the brand Centrino Atom for a “platform” of technologies for mobile Internet devices, including a Silverthorne chip and a companion Intel chip that includes graphics functions.

The phrase extends the Centrino brand that Intel introduced in 2003 for technology used in laptop computers. The chip measures less than 25mm square and is packed with 47 million transistors. “This is our smallest processor built with the world’s smallest transistors,” said Intel Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney. “This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry.”

Source: Intel, WSJ

Apple launches MacBook Air

THINNOVATION

"Thin and airy fairy"

STEVE JOBS IS usually full of hot air, but this time it might be of use.

Jobs revealed the aluminum-bodied MacBook Air is 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, 0.76 inches at its thickest point and weighs just 3.0 pounds.

"When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is," said Jobs.

Oddly we fully believed it.

The MacBook Air features Intel Core 2 Duo power (1.6GHz standard, 1.8GHz optional), 2GB of memory, Intel GMA X3100 graphics, a 13.3" LED-backlit display and an 80GB, 1.8" HDD for storage.

A 64GB SSD (Solid-State Disk) is also an option on the MacBook Air.

The screen has a standard resolution of 1280 by 800, running on an Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory.

To keep its thin form-factor, the MacBook Air contains only one USB 2.0 port, a micro-DVI port and an audio-out jack, choosing to remove the usual optical drive and ethernet ports.

Other features include the usual iSight web-camera and backlit keyboard. Apple includes 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 as standard.

As rumours suggested, the new MacBook also comes with a multi-touch trackpad, allowing owners to use the same gestures that iPhone and iPod touch users have grown accustomed to.

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Microsoft’s 2Q profits through the roof

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday posted a second-quarter profit that surpassed analysts’ estimates on sales of its Xbox 360 game console and Windows programs for personal computers. The world’s largest softwaremaker reported a 79 percent jump in net income, to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents a share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. The most recent result surpassed estimates by 4 cents a share. Sales climbed 30 percent, to $16.4 billion. In the year-ago quarter, Microsoft deferred $1.64 billion in sales, cutting revenue and profit. PC sales rose more than Microsoft forecast, bolstering orders for Windows and Office programs. Holiday purchases of the Xbox 360 also fueled revenue, as shoppers bought the console to play the “Halo 3″ shooting game, unavailable on rival systems such as Nintendo Co.’s Wii.

“Halo 3″ became the best-selling game in the U.S. last year after its Sept. 25 debut, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. In the Windows business, the Redmond, Wash.-based company gained by persuading PC-makers to install pricier versions of its Vista operating system. PC shipments rose 15.5 percent in the quarter, according to researcher IDC. Microsoft had projected an increase of as much as 13 percent. It looks that Bill sticks to the old saying and leaves his company at the best time…

Source: Chicago Tribune

Corsair introduces first 32 GB flash drive

The capacities of USB flash drives are constantly increasing and Corsair achieved another milestone with their latest product: they are rolling out two 32 GB drives. The Flash Voyager and its more studier cousin, the Flash Survivor, both sport 256-bit AES encryption. The drives are also bootable. Coated in rubber, the Flash Voyager is fairly sturdy in its own right, but Corsair claims the aluminum-encased Survivor is shockproof and waterproof up to 200 meters.

The Flash Voyager and Flash Survivor are commercially available now for $230 and $250 respectively. Both drives come with a 10-year limited warranty. Early adopters are reporting the drives have fairly respectable 21 MB/sec read and 7 MB/sec write speeds. Get rid of your 128 meg crapdrive, this is the future!

Source: TG Daily