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Safa Xing LED features MP3 playback, 27 pixel resolution

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Nov 7th 2009 at 4:44AM

Safa is a Korean firm that has put out quite a few forgettable DAPs in its day, and while this one isn't going to win any awards for technological advancement, it does look like "fun," for whatever that's worth. The Xing LED is a none-too-shabby 12mm thin and boasts 12 hours of playback time on a single charge. The company fails to mention little things like storage capacity and file format support, but that ain't why we're here: the face of the device features 27 LEDs that can be either programed to display the icon of your choice or used for a rousing game of Rock / Paper / Scissors. Sort of makes that Zune HD of yours look like overkill, eh? Price and availability yet to be announced.

[Via PMP Today]

Continue reading Safa Xing LED features MP3 playback, 27 pixel resolution

Kingston's $85 40GB SSDNow V Series SSD gets heavily benchmarked

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2009 at 5:36PM

Aw, snap. For years now, we've been waiting (and waiting) for solid state disc prices to stoop down from the realm of you've-got-to-be-kidding-me, and now it finally looks like the everyman can ditch the HDD and get onboard with flash. Kingston's newly announced SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive ain't very capacious, but for just $84.99 (after rebates) at NewEgg, it's definitely affordable. The drive itself isn't slated to ship until November 9th, but the cool kids over at Legit Reviews seem to have already wrangled a unit for review. Kingston promises sequential read rates of up to 170MBps and write rates of up to 40MBps, and while that's certainly not mind-blowing, it's not too awful given the 2.5-inch form factor and bargain-basement price. Oh, and critics found that the drive far surpassed published speed ratings in testing, which is always completely and utterly awesome. Hit the via link for more, vaquero.

[Via Legit Reviews]

Samsung and Uni-Pixel team up for better, cheaper TMOS displays

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 19th 2009 at 11:41PM

Uni-Pixel has developed a new display technology that could succeed LCD and LED displays, and if all goes according to plan we might see something come to market as soon as next year. Opcuity uses one layer of MEMS film in in a TMOS (multiplexed optical shutter) device for results that are said to be ten times brighter and sixty percent cheaper to manufacture than LCDs (which use five layers). Since TMOS displays are very similar to LCDs, existing manufacturing lines can be used -- lowering start-up costs and rescuing older assembly lines in the process. According to the company's CFO, the manufacturing process "subtracts from existing LCD lines--you just need to remove some equipment that is no longer needed." Samsung and Uni-Pixel have teamed up to produce 4-inch displays using the technology, but who knows? Maybe Microsoft Research's interactive office will become a reality sooner than you think.

[Via OLED-Info]

Optoma's $199 PK-100 pico projector goes for the bargain crowd

by Darren Murph posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 4:12AM

You know what's better than a PK-101? A PK-102. You know what's not better than a PK-101? A PK-100. Unless, of course, you're focused solely on price. Quietly announced to hit the lower-end market, the PK-100 is described as a simplified version of its more sophisticated siblings, boasting the same DLP-based engine as well as 11 ANSI lumens of brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio. Unfortunately, you'll only find a single composite video input and a 480 x 320 native resolution, but hey, for an estimated retail price of $199, what else did you really expect?

[Via PicoProjector-Info]

Walmart expands Durabrand DVD player recall to 4.2 million

by Laura June posted Sep 1st 2009 at 2:33PM

You know what they say about getting what you pay for? Well, the adage has turned out to be truer than normal in this case. Walmart, which sold some uber-cheap (like, $18 - $29 cheap) Durabrand DVD players in the US and the UK, recently issued a recall in the US for 1.5 million of the units due to 12 reported cases of overheating. The malfunctions caused various degrees of property damage, but no injuries, and now, as a result of several more reported cases of the same issue, the recall has been upped to cover 4.2 million devices. The recall, which originally covered only the silver units sold, has now been expanded to cover both the pink and purple DVD players which were sold between January 2006 and July 2009 exclusively at Walmart stores in the US ~~and Walmart-owned ASDA stores in the UK~~ -- Wallmart reached out to let us know that the players sold in the UK were actually a different spec, and thus not a part of the recall. Seriously, this just leaves us wondering: how many of these bad boys did they sell?

Lanyu LY-EB01 is world's cheapest laptop with built-in obsolescence

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 13th 2009 at 11:32AM

Step aside, World's Cheapest Laptop, Lanyu of China just undercut you -- and the magical $100 barrier -- with the 666 Yuan ($98) LY-EB01. This marketing marvel might have a processor slower than most netbooks' FSB at 266MHz, and its 128MB of RAM might spontaneously combust if you even type the word Vista into it, but it is, technically, a laptop. And you can totally store, like, a few hundred Word files on the 2GB flash drive. Having played around with the previous champ of the 'cheap 'n useless' weight class, we must at least congratulate Lanyu on a solid looking construction, and hey, apparently there's a chance for a release outside China. Aren't you excited?

[Via Cloned in China]

Walmart's $348 17-inch Toshiba Satellite L355 reviewed: surprisingly awesome

by Darren Murph posted Aug 13th 2009 at 6:51AM

Looking for an ultra-cheap machine to take to school, are you? If you couldn't care less about extreme portability, Toshiba's shockingly inexpensive Satellite L355 (S7915) could be just the thing. $348 at Walmart nets you a 17-inch display (1,440 x 900), a 2.2GHz Celeron 900 CPU, Vista Basic, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB (5400RPM) hard drive, 8x DVD writer and GMA 4500M integrated graphics. The 7-pound machine was recently tested over at Laptop Mag, and critics were noticeably stunned at just how well the machine performed. The display was bright, the keyboard was more than adequate and the six-cell battery managed to hang on for over 2.5 hours in real-world testing. All in all, reviewers felt that the rig was perfectly suitable for handling schoolwork and other basic tasks, and save for the omission of a webcam, they couldn't find any huge beefs given the uncharacteristically low MSRP. 'Course, if you already snapped up that $298 Compaq, maybe you should just plug your ears here and pretend this whole thing never happened.

Vivitek to shake up HD projector market with 1080p H1080FD at $999

by Darren Murph posted Jul 22nd 2009 at 5:47PM

Sophomore slump? Fuhgetaboutit. After announcing its very first projectors last year with little to no fanfare at all, Vivitek is looking to get everyone's attention with an all new 1080p model that should hit US retail outlets this August. If all goes well, the company's H1080FD will hit just before CEDIA kicks off, and it'll be based on Texas Instruments' S450 chip / light-engine design with Dark Chip II technology. Other specs include 1,800 lumens of brightness, a 5,000:1 contrast ratio, a pair of HDMI ports, composite / S-Video / component inputs, an RS-232c control connector and a 12v trigger -- in other words, even the so-called AV junkie should find plenty to adore. If you're curious just how big of a deal this is in the sector, just have a look at how stoked Sanyo was to introduce an entry-level 1080p beamer 11 months ago at twice this price.

[Via AboutProjectors]

Meijer's brand new $99 (shipped) Blu-ray player brings joy to skinflints everywhere

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 19th 2009 at 11:04AM

Whether you want one for a cheap Father's Day gift, player for a second room, or just a low barrier to entry for Blu-ray ownership we certainly won't judge, and we suspect more than a few will be tempted by Meijer's offer of a $99 Curtis Mathes branded CMMBX130 Blu-ray player. Add on coupon code DOTMJR09 for free shipping, and its easy to over look its lack of surround sound analog outputs or Profile 2.0 support for the cheapest new Blu-ray player we've ever seen. Inside is the same Broadcom 7440 chipset that powered much higher priced players from Samsung and others in the past, so while the absolute latest in energy efficient, fast loading, BD-Live connected goodies may escape you, we figure that extra Benjamin or two in your pocket will be more than enough to compensate.

Update: Looks like it's sold out now, sorry folks!

[Via Dealnews]

GAME-800 all-in-one handheld tries out a new control scheme

by Darren Murph posted Apr 2nd 2009 at 7:56AM

We'll hand it to whatever Chinese company conjured up the GAME-800 -- there's at least a smidgen of ingenuity here. Granted, we suspect it's all for the worse, but we digress. The GAME-800 all-in-one handheld does just about everything save for make calls; we're talking an MP5 (seriously) player, text and photo viewer, camera, NES / GBA emulator and even support for video playback. Internally, you'll spot 4GB of storage, which complements the integrated SD expansion slot nicely. There's also a TV output, 3.5-inch QVGA display, twin 3.5 millimeter headphone jacks and USB 2.0 connectivity. We might say it was actually worth he $69.99 asking price if not for our befuddlement relating to those awkwardly sorted directional arrows, but until we see support for an external game pad, we'll pass.

[Via technabob]

Qualcomm makes a play for the sub-$150 smartphone market with new chipset

by Joshua Topolsky posted Feb 14th 2009 at 9:03PM

In a press release recently issued by Qualcomm, the company states that it's taking direct aim at the sub-$150 smartphone market with a new chipset on offer. The platform -- known as the MSM7227 -- is apparently designed with higher-power, lower-cost handsets in mind, offering HSDPA / HSUPA radios, a 600MHz CPU, 320MHz application DSP, 400MHz modem processor, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, Bluetooth 2.1, and GPS support integrated in a 12mm x 12mm chipset. The MSM7227 can also supposedly handle 8 megapixel camera and 30 FPS WVGA encoding / decoding with ease, and is capable of supporting Android, S60, Windows Mobile, and BREW platforms. Given the company's recent foray into Snapdragon and other pricier options, it's interesting to see them taking a shine to the low end of the market. We know that ASUS are planning on launching a cheaper Eee phone sometime soon, and they're currently snuggling up to Qualcomm for chip duty on an Android device. Is this the year we'll see the rise of the smartphone version of the netbook (cheap, plentiful, almost disposable)? Only MWC knows for sure.

[Via The Inquirer]

AT&T letting go of 8GB refurb iPhone 3Gs for $99 on contract

by Darren Murph posted Dec 26th 2008 at 2:43PM

Ha, you or someone you love just paid full retail for an iPhone 3G a few days ago, didn't you? We've always heard that the best deals come after Christmas, but people just never learn. All smack talk aside, those who didn't get a new cellie under the tree, but did acquire a Benjamin or so courtesy of cash-stuffed holiday cards, can certainly score a big deal today. AT&T is now offering the 8GB iPhone 3G in refurbished form for just $99 with a two-year agreement, while the 16GB refurb is $199 on contract in either black or white. Call us crazy, but we don't foresee these hanging around in stock for too awfully long.

[Thanks, Brenson]

eMachines' $300 EL1200 desktop: "the size of a dictionary"

by Darren Murph posted Oct 10th 2008 at 5:27PM

Really, eMachines? You're honestly going to give your newest cheap-o PC this kind of tagline? Truth be told, we're not exactly sure what a standard sized dictionary even looks like (there's this thing called the internet...), but apparently, it's exactly the same size as the EL1200 desktop. Not sassy enough to be called a nettop, this here mini-tower is 40% smaller and 55% lighter than the company's second tiniest rig, and while it won't handle the likes of Crysis, it shouldn't have too many issues surfing the web and opening Word documents. As for specs, we've got a 1.5GHz AMD Athlon 2650e 64-bit CPU, NVIDIA's GeForce 6150SE integrated graphics, 1GB of DDR2, 160GB hard drive, a dual-layer DVD burner, 14-in-1 multicard reader, seven USB 2.0 ports and a $298 (MSRP) price tag. That system we just rattled off is available now at Wally World, while a slightly more stacked edition can be had at Best Buy for $349.

Windows CE-powered Cuol Book gives netbooks a bad name

by Darren Murph posted Sep 25th 2008 at 8:48AM

Amazon's top 10 laptop sellers may be clogged with netbooks, but you can bet this one isn't in there. Paradoxically available from The Really Useful Store, the very useless Cuol Book shames itself with a Windows CE 5.0 operating system that should honestly be reserved for PDAs manufactured on or before January 1, 2004. For those who care, further specs include a 7-inch display, SD / MMC card slot, two USB ports, 1GB of RAM, a 533MHz Samsung ARM processor and a built-in speaker for good measure. Sure, the thing only weighs 1.5-pounds, but the almost insulting £159.99 ($298) price tag really pushes it over the edge. Thanks, but no thanks.

[Via BoingBoing]

USB-enabled PicoLCD SideShow display may soon be a collector's item

by Darren Murph posted Sep 12th 2008 at 9:29AM

Remember way back when everyone and their third cousin twice removed was hopping on the SideShow bandwagon? Yeah, those were the days. We'll admit, we still think SideShow ~~has~~ had a lot of promise, but you know what they say about a technology without support. At any rate, Mini-Box has decided to offer up a (comparatively) inexpensive way for folks to indulge in a minuscule auxiliary display, and while the $49.95 PicoLCD 4X20-Sideshow won't provide any looks at high-res widgets, the basic blue display is a real champ at showing off stock prices and birthday reminders. Worst case scenario? You can probably use it in a random DIY project that you've been meaning to get to.

[Via SideShowDevices]