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iRobot unveils super-compact Scooba 230, new Roomba 700 series
Our friends at iRobot have shrunken its hardwood cleaning child -- not Roomba, the other one -- to about half the diameter of its predecessors (6.5 inches). The Scooba 230 is maintains the same 3.5-inch height and, more importantly, is just as programmable as every other model (in an unfortunate twist of irony, it's now thinner than a Kinect sensor). Speaking of Roomba, the company's also unveiling the new 700 series with a number of cleaning and detection improvements. All autonomous cleaning discs will be available in the Sprint from iRobot's online store with the prices ranging from a penny under $300 for Scooba 230 and $450 / $500 / $550 for the Roomba 760, 770, and 780. More shots / hands-on below; full details in the press release after the break.%Gallery-112273%%Gallery-112272%
Puma-based Toshiba Satellite A305 benchmarked and photographed
Well, would you look at this? Toshiba's Puma-equipped Satellite A305 hasn't even left the floor of Computex and it has already been benchmarked. Kudos to NotebookReview for snagging some quality hands-on / testing time with the 15.4-incher, which came stocked with a 2.1GHz CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD writer, 1.3-megapixel camera and Windows Vista Home Premium. You know you can't wait for all the dirty details and pics to boot, so head on down to the read link and save yourself a trip to Taipei.[Thanks, Kevin]
AMD unveils DirectX 10-compatible 780 Series motherboard GPU
AMD's deliverance of two 45-nanometer CPUs wasn't the only thing new from the company today, as now we're getting wind of an all new motherboard GPU that's DirectX10 compatible. The AMD 780 Series is hailed as "the industry's most advanced" mobo GPU, and is slated to be "widely available" in a variety of boards in Q2. Essentially, AMD's hoping the chip will enable casual gamers to join in on the fun without having to fork out big bucks for pricey discrete graphics cards, but for those that eventually do pick up such a device, the ATI Hybrid Graphics technology ensures that the power from both will be harnessed in order to boost overall performance. Check out the read link for all the nitty-gritty, and head on past the break if you're scouting a couple of educational videos.
Packard Bell unveils Compasseo 700-series GPS units
Packard Bell's latest trio of Compasseo navigators aren't likely to thrill any Americans, but for those camped out on the other side of the pond, you could certainly find some utility here. The flagship model in the 700-series (the 780 T+) sports a 4.3-inch LCD, 400MHz CPU, 2GB of SDRAM, a battery good for around three hours, NAVTEQ maps covering all of western Europe, speed camera alerts, TrafficLive Plus, built-in media player, a SiRFstarIII GPS chipset and a MMC / SD expansion slot. As for the 750 T+, it steps it down by only including 256MB of SDRAM and maps that cover just the UK / Ireland, while the low-end 750 strips away the live traffic support. We're not seeing any hard pricing details just yet, but word on the street has the forthcoming trifecta arriving soon for £129.99 and up. [Via Pocket-Lint]
