Tech News

MSI ships 17-inch GX740 with Core i7 and Radeon HD 5870

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:50:00 +0000

We're sure you've already spent far too many hours browsing your options, but MSI's hoping that it can grab a moment of your time to demonstrate the merits of the GX740. This 17-inch beast measures a full 1.5-inches thick and weighs just over seven pounds, but all that heft nabs you a great deal of potency.

Within, you'll find a 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive, DVD burner, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPU (1GB DDR5), gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) running the show. The panel tops out at 1,680 x 1,050, but you will get an ExpressCard slot, a trio of USB sockets as well as VGA and HDMI outputs. If your mind has been made up, you can get this one headed your way now for the tidy sum of $1,399.99.

MSI Announces U.S. Availability of Powerful GX740 Notebook

Intel i7 CPU and ATI HD5870 GPU Deliver Intense Experience for Gamers and Movie Buffs

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MSI Computer Corp., a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, today announced the availability of its new 17-inch GX740 gaming notebook. Armed with the Intel® Core™ i7 processor and rich multimedia features including 7.1 channel output with SRS qualification, a subwoofer, Cinema Pro technology, and HDMI output , the GX740 is ideal for those who need superior sound and graphics, including gamers, movie buffs and graphic designers.

"The GX740 features some of the most innovative components available, and at just over seven pounds and only an inch-and-a-half thick, it is one of the lightest and thinnest desktop replacements ever designed"

The GX740's powerful ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 graphics card supports DirectX® 11 graphics and teams with MSI's Turbo Boost Technology to ensure smooth game play without lags, while lowering power consumption. The GPU's 1GB of DDR5 memory performs 50 percent better than DDR3 memory.

"The GX740 features some of the most innovative components available, and at just over seven pounds and only an inch-and-a-half thick, it is one of the lightest and thinnest desktop replacements ever designed," said Andy Tung, vice president of sales, MSI North America.

Gamers and movie buffs can manage the GX740's 9-cell battery power to best meet their needs as a result of MSI's combination of the energy efficient Intel® Core™2 Quad plus Intel Turbo Boost Technology and MSI's ECO engine power management.

The GX740 is housed in MSI's stylish brushed aluminum gaming chassis with fire engine red accents. It features a raised chiclet keyboard designed for gamers with increased accuracy and comfort while typing, and clearly marked W, A, S and D keys for quick response while gaming.

The GX740 ships with a 17 inch LCD screen with 1680x1050 resolution, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive 7200 rpm, a 9-cell battery, Bluetooth connectivity and Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

The GX740 is priced at $1,399.99 and is available now at Amazon and Newegg.

For more information and full specifications, please visit http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=135&cat2_no=271&prod_no=1999.

Google adding 'Chromoting' remote desktop functionality to Chome OS?

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:38:00 +0000

Well, this one's come a bit out of left field, but it looks like Chrome OS could be set to get a pretty big new addition: a remote desktop feature dubbed "Chromoting" (at least for now). That word comes courtesy of an apparently authentic message from Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík posted on a Chrome OS

mailing list, which goes on to explain that the feature would let you run "legacy PC applications" right in the browser, and that it would be "something like" Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection. No more details than that, unfortunately, nor is there any indication that the feature will actually be included in the initial release of Chrome OS that's launching this fall, with Kačmarčík only going so far as to say that Google is "adding new capabilities all the time."

[via EnGadget]

Motorola Droid 2 gets some proper spy shots (and spy video!)

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:34:00 +0000

Take that keyboard-only shot of the Droid 2 we saw last week, and the blurry face shot we saw yesterday. Put’em together. What do you get? Proper, mostly blur-free spyshots of the next Droid, keyboard and all.

In addition to unearthing these shots, the folks over at Droid-Life also managed to pull together some specs.

What they’re hearing so far:

Android 2.1
3.7″ Screen
750Mhz OMAP Processor
WiFi (with tethering support)
8 GB internal storage
8GB microSD card included
5 megapixel camera

Alas, it has its caveats: It seems to be running Motoblur — which, depending on your stance, could be a good or bad thing. There’s no front facing camera, which is quickly becoming a pretty standard feature on higher-end smart phones. Finally, unlike the still-only-rumored Shadow, there’s no HDMI output.

All in all, it doesn’t seem like a massive departure from the original Droid, but more of a marginal improvement with some much welcome polish. If nothing else, them getting rid of the terrible D-Pad makes it all worth it.

Droid-Life also got their hands on the nifty little clip below, showing the Droid 2 booting to life — but unfortunately, that’s where it ends.

Adobe expects Flash on 250 million smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:12:00 +0000

While in the midst of fixing a unicorn-sized hole in the security of its desktop software, Adobe has been talking about its future in the mobile space. According to its rose-tinted forecasts, Flash Player will be featured in a quarter billion handsets by the end of 2012, including 53 percent of all smarphones shipped that year.

Those are pretty strident words for a company that has yet to ship Flash Player 10.1 in even one new handset, but we're reminded that Android 2.2's leading position on the issue will be swiftly followed by BlackBerry OS, Symbian, webOS, and Windows Phone 7 supporting the full fat Flash experience. Whether all that momentum will be enough to produce an install base of 250 million, we don't know. What we do know, however, is that people want the blasted thing and Adobe had better start doing a bit more work on its mobile player and a little less talking about it -- that's what we're here for.

Android to get a Playstation emulator thanks to ZodTTD

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:45:00 +0000

We like ZodTTD. He’s a dude who just gets stuff done. Back in the early days of iPhone jailbreaking, he found his niche in building emulators for the platform; within months, he’d ported over pocket friendly versions of the SNES, Genesis, N64, Playstation, while somehow finding time to build things like an iPhone version of the VLC media player.

Now, after much demand by his fans, he’s building things for Android. His first project? An as-of-yet unnamed Playstation emulator.

ShaDenSu of DigitalDisbeliever got a sneak peek of Zod’s product earlier this week. According to her, Zod is collaborating with the author of the already well established NESoid/GameBoid emulators on the project, providing a pretty stable codebase for the stuff that ZodTTD brings to the table.

As you might’ve guessed, the PSX emulator requires some pretty beefy hardware. ZodTTD says it’s already running at a faster clip on the Nexus One than it is on the iPhone, and more optimizations are going to be made before release — but if your handset’s not packing a Cortex A8 or Snapdragon processor, don’t expect a reasonable framerate.

It’s not ready for release just yet, and, as far as I know, it’s ETA is.. well, whenever it’s done. It’s okay to drool in the mean time, though — trust me, you’re not the only one.

[via Mobile Crunch]

Notion Ink Adam delayed until November

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:38:00 +0000

Well, that’s that. We all liked the look of Notion Ink’s Adam, with its hot-pants interface (controls in the back) and Pixel Qi screen, but if it’s not going to hit until November then there’s little chance of its survival. It’s hard out there for a tablet, and with dozens of new tablets making their debut at Computex, it may be too hard for the Adam to differentiate itself five long months from now.

What will be going on in November to thwart the poor Adam? Well, Chrome OS will be coming out, the new iPhone will be in stores, half those new tablets will be shipping, HP will likely have announced its webOS tablet, and who knows what else. It’s too bad, but with a serious delay like this it just doesn’t seem like the Adam will have any kind of pull on the consumer mind around that time. Alas!

The reason for the delay is manifold: hardware scarcity, Flash compatibility troubles, and shareholder meddling are all fingered as partly responsible. Otherwise we might have seen it as early as July — not a possibility now, I’m afraid.

Another watchphone, this time with GPS

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:45:00 +0000

GPS 800G watch phone is here and it’s ready to rumble! This phone has GPRS tracking, an SOS button, and can record how fast you’re moving, allowing alerts to be sent to scared and frightened parents. But don’t take my word on it:

1.SMS & GPRS Tracking: Capable of text message (SMS) tracking & internet (GPRS) tracking 2. A SOS button for emergency help. 3. Have Timing & Positioning function , it can search the signal of GPS automatically ,then set the time according the time of satellites to choose the different time of every country . 4. It can store three alarm phone number . you can press any one alarm number button to get help actively…

Killzone 3 to be “first” full-3D FPS

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:33:00 +0000

According to the latest issue of GamePro, Killzone 3 will be fully in 3D, at least if you have the hertz for it. Props to them for taking the bull by the horns; let’s hope it’s less of a sham than that last Killzone media frenzy. I’ve heard it said that games are the only worthwhile application for 3D — that’s a statement that I don’t agree with, but perhaps Killzone 3 may be a good example of just how good 3D can be.

An FPS is a natural match for 3D, but I really wonder, given how many people have gotten motion sickness and so on from 3D cinema, whether it might be too much at first. I know people who get sick playing racing games — some people are simply susceptible to it. It’ll be an interesting litmus test. The game will also be playable in non-3D for those of you who don’t have the ’spensive TVs it takes to make the magic happen.

Officially Licensed Capcom Street Fighter IV HDTVs

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:30:00 +0000

Google’s Google TV announcement might be making a lot of buzz in the news today, but it isn’t the only interesting TV announcement to make it across the wire. Roundtable Concepts has announced their new series of Officially Licensed Capcom Street Fighter IV’ HDTV’s.

This launch comes after the success of their Officially Licensed Marvel Comic HDTVs and their Officially Licensed Collegiate HDTVs. There is no word on pricing yet, but our guess is that the series will include a 22″, 32″, 42″, and 55″ LCD HDTV, along with a 40″ and 46″ LED HDTV, just like with their previous series. Now before you go knocking the idea of defaming a perfectly fine LED TV frame with video game art, you have to cut them some slack. After all, we can see the potential here to put a TV like this in a kid’s room, but if you ever meet an adult with one of these in their living room [Chipchick]

The Viliv P3 Prime shows up as expected

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:19:00 +0000

The Viliv P3 made its first appearance at CES 2010. The company even had a demo unit for everyone to play with but it was just that, a demo. We couldn’t see the Windows CE/Android dual booting or if the unit could actually play back 1080p content like Viliv states. Maybe now that the PMP is featured on Viliv’s site,

its launch is right around the corner. But then if Viliv follows its own trend, we’ll have to wait months for the unit to be imported to the States from South Korea. So we wait. [ via Engadget]

Sony portable DVD player with LED backlight and 7.5 hours of battery life

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:02:00 +0000

We have numerous super-light laptops, a plethora of netbooks, and the iPad to choose from. But some companies still produce portable DVD players. One example is Sony, which yesterday in Japan announced [JP] just that, the DVP-FX950. The player has two selling points: a 9-inch LCD screen that features an LED backlight and a battery life of 7.5 hours (up 25% from the previous model).
Other than the LED backlight, the screen features a resolution of 800×480 and a viewing angle of 180 degrees. Next to DVDs and CDs, the player also has a USB port, meaning you can plug in a USB stick to view JPEGs or listen to MP3s (other formats aren’t supported through USB). The player, which is sized at 227×170.8×34.4mm and weighs 0.88kg, also has an internal speaker.

Sony plans to start selling the DVP-FX950 in Japan on June 16 (price: $390). The company hasn’t said yet whether the device will go on sale in other markets as well.

LaCie’s Rugged Safe external hard drive is both rugged and safe

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:58:00 +0000

LaCie wants to ensure that your data is safe. Like really safe. The company took its Rugged hard drive line, added a fingerprint scanner and 128-bit AES encryption and in turn, made what might be the Mad Max of hard drives.

The drive comes in both 500GB and 1TB flavors, but alas neither USB 3.0 or eSATA is available although the drive does rock Firewire in addition to USB 2.0. All the extra security and manly toughness costs a bit more with with the 500GB version retailing for $189 and the 1TB costing $299. It’s obviously up to you if you need the equivalent of the A-Team protecting your data.

MIT creates technology that lets you use the Force

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:34:00 +0000

This might be the display you are looking for. The MIT media lab just published a demonstration of a new display technology that will read your hand gestures in order to manipulate images on the screen. While it’s not *technically* the Force, it’s still pretty cool.

The new display uses something called a BiDi (short for bi-directional display interface) that reads your gestures to allow you to control objects displayed on the screen. The display has optical sensors which track the location of your hand, and can tell when you move or flick your fingers or whatever.

There’s a real description in the video. Better to watch that than try to make sense of my confused scribblings.

Get a peek inside Toshiba’s Dynario fuel cell

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:31:00 +0000

The Toshiba Dynario fuel cell was made official in late October and surely some people jumped on them right away. But this is the first teardown of the next-gen recharging device I’ve seen. Check it: mysterious electronic parts none of us understand.

via CrunchGear

Sony getting closer to seeing a profit on PS3 sales

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:27:00 +0000

When the PS3 was first launched, Sony was losing about $200 for every console sold. As time has passed, Sony has worked out cheaper ways to manufacturer the console, but they are still losing money on every sale.

Now, with the release of the PS3 Slim, the amount lost has dipped down to an estimated $31.27 with each console sold. Not a huge amount, and definitely an improvement over the $200 they started at. Still a loss, sure, but assuming they sell a few games and accessories, it’s becoming a much more realistic loss leader.

TomTom wises up, releases $49.99 USA-only GPS app

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Most agree that the original TomTom iPhone app is a tad overpriced at $99 for just the app. That doesn’t include the $119 windshield mount. Esspecially now that Google has made its mark on the GPS market with the free Google Maps Navigation app. And so that brings us to the latest TomTom GPS app. This one is US-only, but only costs $50.

Actually it’s somewhat of a smart marketing move by TomTom. The company probably didn’t plan this from the start, but at least now there is some justification thanks to the international maps as to why the $99 app costs so much. It’s like the company is stating buy the cheap app if you don’t plan on leaving the States.

Even at half the price of the original app, $50 probably still carries a hefty profit margin and now more folks *might* be more likely to spring for the expensive mount. Although those people should still be reminded that standalone options can be had for less and come with a larger screen. Just saying.

[App Store via Mac Rumors]

Motorola Milestone sells out in the UK in three hours

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:08:00 +0000

After more than a month of listening to their U.S brethren blab about how great the Droid is, folks in the UK finally got the chance to nab its European-doppelganger, the Milestone. Well, for about 3 hours anyway.

eXpansys, reigning handset online retailer kings of the UK, managed to lock in an exclusive distribution deal on the launch of the Milestone. They opened up sales yesterday morning – and within 2.5 hours, their stock was depleted.

In a comment from eXpansys sent to Pocket-lint:

“The demand for the Motorola Milestone has been staggering. We received the units at 10am on Thursday, 2.5 hours later we had sold out. A second shipment is already on the way and should be arriving in time for Christmas orders”.

While that’s certainly impressive, it’s not at all clear just how many phones were sold. They had a pre-order supply of about 1,000 handsets, which they later doubled to meet demand. Retailers will often match or double their pre-order sales for on-site inventory – so even if we’re lenient with the numbers, we very well could be talking about a total inventory of 5 to 6 thousand handsets. If thats the case, selling out in 3 hours doesn’t seem all that incredible – especially considering that eXpansys was the only retailer that could sell the handset in the UK at launch. If anything, it’s just bad planning on Moto’s part.

Either way, it appears the handsets are back in stock, if only temporarily. Get’em while they’re hot, UK-folk.

Look, the jelfin is a ball-shaped mouse that’s covered with gel!

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

shaped, gel-covered mouse that comes in enough colors to match your socks.

How do the two main, well, innovations, affect your mousing? Supposedly the shape is more comfortable then your average mouse (but then you wonder why someone like Microsoft or Logitech hasn’t made one yet). So if you’ve had issues with mice since forever, there’s hope for you yet.

As for the gel, that’s pretty easy to understand: who would want a squishy mouse? Maybe snipers in Team Fortress 2 wouldn’t want that, feeling that it may cramp their style, but who knows?

The 1,000 DPI jelfin isn’t too expensive, either, coming in at $35.

Banhammer hits loads of Chinese piracy sites

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:04:00 +0000

Hey, something’s happening in China vis-à-vis piracy! The country’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has been fiddling with downloads there for the past few days, and people are complaining that they’re not about to access the content they were once able to.

The new action affects BitTorrent download and has all but taken down VeryCD, which is supposedly the country’s biggest download site. (As if I know anything about China download habits.) Someone told China Daily, and English language newspaper there, that he’ll “never be able to download Hollywood movies or classical records again.”

SARFT has shut down some 530 BitTorrent sites in the past few days.

And if you’re looking to kill a few minutes, you may want to read this list of films that are for whatever reason banned in China.

I see that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was banned. Lucky China.

Video: More ODROID gameplay, ODROID being an Android gaming device

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:28:00 +0000

You’ll recall the ODROID as a phone-less Android device built for gaming. There’s an 833MHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI output capable of pushing 720p video to a TV screen.

This latest demo video showcases a game called Speed Forge 3D, an accelerometer-controlled futuristic racing game. Fine and dandy but like I said before, this ODROID thing is absolutely built for having old-school console emulators installed on it.

The company is currently selling developer units at $350 a pop with a (hopefully less expensive) consumer version planned sometime in the near-ish future.

[ODROID via Engadget]

‘Javelin exploit’ finally patched for Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Good news, people who play Modern Warfare 2 online multi-player. It seems Infinity Ward has fixed the dreaded “javelin exploit” that has plagued multi-player matches since the game’s launch.

This patch is for the Xbox 360 version (the PC and PS3 versions have already been patched), and brings the game up to version 1.06.

As a refresher, here’s the javelin exploit, complete with Benny Hill music. Can we let that song die already?

Samsung My Touch 2GB Custo Special Edition, Samsung My Touch (S5600) special edition

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:22:00 +0000

Samsung and Spanish mobile operator, Movistar has presented a special version of the Samsung My Touch mobile phone, known in some market as the Samsung S5600.

New Samsung My Touch (S5600) phone is became suddenly My Touch 2GB Custo Special Edition. It is equipped with special rear design, which dealt a picture of the famous Spanish designer, Custo Dalmau.

The specifications of Samsung My Touch 2GB Custo Special Edition are not differing from the original model. It is equipped with a 2.8-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 320×240 pixels, TouchWiz UI, 3.2 megapixel camera, music player, and slot for microSD card (up to 8GB). By the way, Samsung My Touch European versions are equipped with additional module, 2GB memory.

We also recall that recently in Spain was represented by another version of this phone, called Samsung My Touch 2GB Pink Ribbon.

MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi all-in-one PC with high-end audio system

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Micro-Star International (MSI) has presented its all-in-one desktop PC, called MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi. According to manufacture, it is the world’s first all-in-one desktop PC that equipped with high-end audio system methodology. MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi support two technologies that provide high-quality surround sound, SRS Surround Sound and MSI Premium Sound.

In addition, the computer is equipped with two 5-watt speakers with noise-canceling. MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi also has membranes of magnesium-aluminum alloy, the sound is more authentic, clean and wide range from bass to treble. MSI believes that they are fully ensure user needs and no need to buy external speakers for Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi.

MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi has specifications that quite briefly. The MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi all-in-one PC is equipped with 21.5-inch display with 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920×1080 pixels resolution, and supports multi-touch. It also supports high-definition video, which can be output to external monitors via HDMI.

MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi is based on the NVIDIA Ion platform, which combines the Intel Atom processor and integrated NVIDIA graphics. Among other features of MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi desktop PC is 4GB of RAM, DVD drive, 1.3 megapixel web camera, Wi-Fi, and TV tuner. It is pre-loaded Windows 7 OS.

The cost of new MSI Wind Top AE2220 Hi-Fi is not announced.

Super-cute Hello Kitty LCD TV with super-cute remote control

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Hello Kitty, the dream cartoon cat of millions of teenage girls around the world, regularly gets a lot of love from the gadget world, too. But Hello Kitty TVs were relatively scarce so far. Last time we blogged about one was in June 2008. While that one was pretty cute by itself, this new model announced today [JP], a 13.3-inch LCD TV, is much, much cuter .

The device is made by a Japanese company called Dynaconnective and, if anyone from the target group cares, has the following specs:

1,280×800 resolution

275cd/m2 luminance

500:1 contrast ratio

16ms response time

3Wx2 stereo speakers

The TV can show Kitty’s face as a background picture for enhanced cuteness. This is the remote. It’s shaped like Kitty’s ribbon. Isn’t that adorable?

Sized at 414mm×372mm×149mm, the Hello Kitty TV weighs 2.3kg. Dynaconnective plans to start selling it in Japan on December 24 for $560. The TV isn’t suitable for anyone living outside Japan unfortunately, as it’s optimized for the Japanese TV system, has Japanese only menus etc.

RIM to enter China with customized Blackberry

noreply@blogger.com (Dark Legion) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:01:00 +0000

It took them a while, but now RIM finally is ready to follow Apple and enter the world’s biggest mobile market, China, with the Blackberry. The company issued two press releases in the last days outlining their market entry strategy that’s built upon a strategic partnership with Beijing-based IT service provider Digital China (which is the country’s biggest).

Digital China was chosen by RIM as the official Blackberry distribution partner and is expected to help sell the phones to end consumers and companies through their established sales network for computer systems and IT equipment.

Currently, there’s only one Blackberry model officially available in China. That handset was introduced by China Mobile as early as 2006 and has been sold exclusively to selected clients in big corporations since. (The iPhone, on the other hand, is being distributed in China by China Unicom, the country’s second largest telecommunications company.)

But the bigger and more important partner for RIM in China is China Mobile Communications, the world’s biggest telecommunications company. RIM has signed a contract with that company, promising to deliver Blackberry phones that support China Mobile’s proprietary TD-SCDMA network. The first customized Blackberry model (details haven’t been announced yet) will be released early next year, according to RIM.

In 2010, the over 700 million mobile phone users in China will also get RIM’s App Store “App World”, their IM service FETION and a number of other Blackberry services. RIM says details will be announced at a “later date”.