2 of the most exciting gadgets in recent times are expected to release their latest models next week. The Apple iPhone and the Asus Eee PC.
At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco next week from June 9-13, news from the Apple rumour mongers are that the new 3G iPhone WILL be announced. Finally releasing an iPhone that at least matches the current level of mobile phone techonolgy. There are also some rumours that existing iPhone owners will get to upgrade their iPhones at a much discounted price. Also it seems the it will most probably stay locked with O2 as well in UK at least. So we await with bated breath what Steve will give us next week. Fingers crossed!
Next the budget laptop that took the world by storm last week and spawned many copycats, is expected to annouce their the latest incarnation to the Eee PC family. According to Crave, Asus will be releasing a 10″ version (another screen upsize) at Computex Taipei 2008 next week from June 3-7. Hopefully it will come with the new Intel ATOM processors which are supposed to be less power hungry, so we get longer battery life. I hope Asus have done their testing properly this time to avoid the last fiasco when they released the Eee PC 900 with the same batteries as the previous Eee PC 701s and had to change them after they realised the batteries were just not enough for the bigger screens. But the bad news is, apparently it will be November before it will reach our shores.
Let’s hope next week proves to be as exciting as it makes out to be!
Back in 2006 it seemed like the these electronic book readers were going to be the next big thing. Now it’s 2008 I although they are still around, they have hardly taken the world by storm despite Amazon’s latest attemp at it with their Kindle back in 2007. Somehow it just doesn’t capture the imagination does like an iPod, Asus Eee PC or even the Macbook Air does. That’s the problem.
For me somehow reading from a device just doesn’t feel the same as a real book. Granted you can probably store much more books in a slim device smaller than most hardbacks. But I guess it will have it’s place among the gadget geeks. Anyone has one?
Check out this video introducing the Amazon Kindle.
Some of the other electronic readers of note.
Sony Reader Digital Book
iLiad Book Edition
Cybook Gen3 electronic reader
Astak Mentor
Forget MP3 sunglasses, check out these Myvu Shades 301 video viewer! You can view your favourite videos from your portable video player on a bigger screen. It has a rechargeable battery for up to 10 hours of viewing time and uses Ultimate Ears® noise-reducing earbuds! These shades were also an International CES Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree at the recent CES.
Reminds me of Geordi LaForge, the USS Enterprise pilot in Star Trek. They also do a Crystal version, iLounge named as a Best in Show Finalist at Macworld 2008. Award winning designs eh?
Check out this video of them at their booth at CES 2008.
Check out Sony’s new TV advert where they unloaded 470 million litres of foam on Miami. Amazing what they manufacturers do nowadays to promote their products. In this case they were promoting their alpha DSLR series, Cyber-shot cameras and their Handycam camcorders. Of course the foam was non-toxic and they cleaned up the streets afterwards with a giant vacuum cleaner. Imagine looking out of your apartment and seeing such a scene!
The latest Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) Awards 2008 have been announced. The TIPA awards lasts from between May 1st and March 31st, the next year. These are products which have been voted by TIPA editors as being the best in their categories for a 12 month period ending in March.
Looking at these, how many do you thing will end up with a proud space in the trophy cabinet of your home?
For me the Canon 450D would be my choice if I were to venture into the SLR level of photography. At which currently I am sad to say not yet there. Although I would like a compact camera as my ancient Casio Exilim EX4’s batteries simply do not last long enough for even a half a day on my travels. Therefore the Panasonic FX500 does look pretty interesting for me. With 10MP, 25mm wide angle Leica Lens, 5x optical zoom, touch screen 3.0″ LCD, HD video recording capabilities and HD output, it seriously makes my EX4 look like it came from the stone age.
I’ve always thought of getting a camcorder to complement my digital camera. So the Panasonic SD9 does looks like it could be the one. High-definition recording, 2.1MP stills should make it a pretty good camcorder for an amateur. Recording solely on SD/SDHC cards does mean one would have to make a sizeable investment on these memory cards though. But then these cards could also be used on the Asus Eee PC 900 which is another one on the list.
The latest 