Short Bits Of IT News - Page 2

collarian · 08-01-08, 13:21

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the Japanese industry giant behind Panasonic, announced at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that it will launch Internet-ready plasma televisions that support Youtube videos and Google web albums. The rival Sony responded with its own announcement that they will also bring Internet video to upcoming TVs. Sony's new brand of TVs will feature content from AOL, Yahoo, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music.

"This is the first time mainstream consumers will be able to easily enjoy YouTube videos from the living room with the enhanced quality of a fully integrated Widescreen TV experience," said Matsushita.

Sony Electronics senior vice president Randy Waynick also saw Internet video a big part of future televisions as he stated, "Internet video will clearly be the next step in the evolution of high-definition television, giving users more control over the content they view."

In addition Sony Pictures Television announced that it will add content to YouTube, the videos will be separated to several new channels, first of which is called Minisode Network which offers five-minute versions of TV shows.

Source:
Yahoo! News

collarian · 10-01-08, 02:18

LaCie is showing off the new LaCinema Premier multimedia hard disk drive that makes storing and viewing digital content easier than ever. Available in capacities of 500GB, 700GB and 1TB, huge amounts of digital video and audio files can be transfered directly from a computer via USB 2.0, and then played directly from the device on a connected TV.

An included remote control allows you to navigate through your stored digital content with an on-screen menu system. An optical output even enables surround sound enjoyment. While in operation, the device runs silent to avoid spoiling your viewing. Standard Definition content can be upscaled to 1080i if connected to a HDTV.

The LaCinema Premier supports...

* Audio: MP3, WMA, AC3, Ogg Vorbis
* Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVD-Video (ISO, IFO, VOB)
* Photo: JPEG

"The LaCie LaCinema Premier is an easy to use multimedia hard drive for customers wanting to enjoy their large digital libraries on their television," said Salem Tirane, LaCie Multimedia Product Manager. "Offering high capacity and simplicity, it is a vast improvement over standard DVD players as it directly plays digital music, movies and pictures, without having to first burn a CD or DVD for playback."

The LaCie LaCinema Premier 500GB is available worldwide via LaCie's specialized dealer network.

collarian · 13-01-08, 03:45

KODAK has announced its new AutoMagic self-burning CDs aimed at making it easier for novice computer users to burn their music, pictures and important documents to discs for archiving. The disc has built-in software for copying digital content onto the CD.

"This is great news for all the people who want to store images, music or data on a CD but lack the computer skills," said Jim Gordon, Sr. Vice President of Marketing for KMP Media. "Now they can avoid the hassle of downloading, installing and learning how to use a more complex software package."

The CD-R discs are designed for use with Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista operating systems. When one of these CDs is placed in a computer the application pops up on the screen and the user can select and record images, music and other files with just a few clicks. The software takes up little space.

Users can preview, rotate and select photos and even record them directly from a digital camera. The discs also can be read into home video players and compilations of MP3 or WMA music can be made with KODAK AutoMagic CDs and played on any device that supports those formats.

The KODAK AutoMagic CD-R is available now and is expected to retail for about $4.99 for a 2-pack.

collarian · 16-01-08, 02:10

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas, Sony was showing many new innovative products and technology. Among the items was a 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. The company claims that the higher capacity Memory Stick Duo is suitable for the company's newer handycams, which record in the high-quality AVCHD format.

The new Memory Stick card stores up to 110 minutes of high-definition video recorded in 1920 mode and almost six hours of HD video when shooting in 1440 LP mode. About the size of a postage stamp, the card is the optimal recording media for HD content because of its ability to quickly and easily transfer large amounts of video content between devices.

About the size of a postage stamp, the card is the optimal recording media for HD content because of its ability to quickly and easily transfer large amounts of video content between devices.

The 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo media card will be available in March for about $300 at Sony Style USA

collarian · 16-01-08, 03:24

At the MacWorld Expo, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs showed the thin and light MacBook Air to the attendees. Measuring just 0.8 inches thick and weighing 3 pounds as standard, the notebook packs impressive hardware under the hood for its size and weight. It is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache, clocked at 1.6GHz (1.8GHz optional). A 4200RPM PATA hard disk drive provides 80GB of storage space.

An optional 64GB solid state drive (SSD) is also available. As for memory, 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM is onboard. Graphics is powered by an Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory, driving the included 13.3" display, which has a Native Resolution of 1280x800. It simultaneously supports the native resolution on the built-in display and up to 1920x1200 on an external display.

By use of two included adapters, the MacBook Air supports DVI and VGA output. Two further optional adapters provide output for Composite and S-Video. For a WLAN, the notebook is IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible. A USB 2.0 port and an Audio out port is also included. Built-in to the notebook is an iSight camera. The included battery is advertised as being capable of operating for five hours on a charge.

white_hat · 16-01-08, 18:35

MacBook Air

dadddycool · 18-01-08, 02:19

white_hat · 18-01-08, 19:11

Macworld 2008 Keynote In 60 Seconds

dadddycool · 19-01-08, 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by collarian

At the MacWorld Expo, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs showed the thin and light MacBook Air to the attendees. Measuring just 0.8 inches thick and weighing 3 pounds as standard, the notebook packs impressive hardware under the hood for its size and weight. It is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache, clocked at 1.6GHz (1.8GHz optional). A 4200RPM PATA hard disk drive provides 80GB of storage space.

An optional 64GB solid state drive (SSD) is also available. As for memory, 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM is onboard. Graphics is powered by an Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory, driving the included 13.3" display, which has a Native Resolution of 1280x800. It simultaneously supports the native resolution on the built-in display and up to 1920x1200 on an external display.

By use of two included adapters, the MacBook Air supports DVI and VGA output. Two further optional adapters provide output for Composite and S-Video. For a WLAN, the notebook is IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible. A USB 2.0 port and an Audio out port is also included. Built-in to the notebook is an iSight camera. The included battery is advertised as being capable of operating for five hours on a charge.

it might be tiny but,did you know that it's cd/dvd rom is external? that sux.
MacBook Air (Parody) - CollegeHumor video

collarian · 22-01-08, 05:55

A Dutch company called Polymer Vision hopes to make a big splash this year with the introduction of their new Readius, a 3G mobile phone with a 5 inch display that folds into the device when not in use. The technology that makes this possible is called the Rollable Screen, which involves a display that can literally be rolled up to fit into the device.

In addition to being a phone, the Readius will also be an e-book reader, using the same E-Ink material for its display as the Amazon Kindle, a reader introduced last year by Amazon.com which has no phone functionality. E-ink is primarily notable for appearing very similar to paper, including it's reflective properties. For this reason it makes a superior display for reading from. It's also capable of retaining an image without requiring any electricity, resulting in devices that are more energy efficient than those using conventional LCD displays.

"You get the large display of e-reading, the super battery life of e-reading, and the high-end connectivity ... and the form factor and weight of a mobile phone," said Karl McGoldrick, chief executive of the company, in which electronics giant Phillips has a 25% stake.

Polymer Vision has announced that the Readius will be available some time near the middle of 2008. As of this time no price has been set.