manufacture
Latest
See USB flash drives manufactured in this shocking behind-the-scenes video
No, Billy, USB thumb drives are not made in a magical land with fairy dust and Unicorn tears, and they're not born in the space beneath the Razzleberry waterfall. Yes, we're as shocked as you are. Luckily, the gang at Netbook News are on hand to set us straight with this video of the Kingston Manufacturing Plant, which offers us a rare glimpse into all of the stamping, printing, baking, cutting, and packaging that goes into getting you the portable storage you crave. Interesting? You bet it is -- and it's after the break.[Via Make]
Toshiba and Matsushita to jointly manufacture small OEL displays
The world already knew of Toshiba and Matsushita's separate plans to barrel into the OLED realm, but Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology is all set to become the first in Japan to "mass produce organic electroluminescent, or OEL, display panels." Reportedly, the two outfits will establish manufacturing lines in the Ishikawa Prefecture in fall of 2009, with plans to churn out one million 2.5-inch EL displays. Granted, the products will be rather minuscule in nature, with the idea being to fit them into cellphones, PMPs and other handheld gadgetry. Better hurry -- Samsung's pulling away over in South Korea.[Via CNET]
Garmin's Nuvifone to be manufactured by ASUS?
Word on the street (and by "street" we mean mysterious corners of the internet) is that Garmin's upcoming Nuvifone will actually be manufactured by the ubiquitous and varied ASUS. According to "industry sources" -- that rare breed never seen yet often heard -- the two companies have been working on the device for the past two years, with the computer-maker lending a hand in the RF technology department amongst other things. The sources further claim that the Nuvifone will be the first in a series handsets, with plans to roll out new models through 2010... the year we make contact. More on this breathtaking bit of news as we get it, faithful readers.[Via Unwired View]
Ponoko now live to make, market your gizmo
We've seen startups galore founded on strokes of brilliance, and Ponoko seems to be well on its way to building a sufficient client base. Getting a share of the limelight at TechCrunch40, this website enables engineering minds with limited resources to upload designs and select materials for Ponoko to construct, after which the product gets displayed in the online showroom for people to sneak a peek at and potentially purchase. Additionally, Ponoko will even "make the product and deliver it directly to the customer" or send it straight to you for final assembly, making sure all parties get their splits. For those with a widget in mind (but a day job to tend to), head on over to Ponoko and get things a-movin'.
PS3 price could drop $100 due to Blu-ray diode supply
Hope springs again for gamers who just can't bring themselves to drop $600 on a PS3. DigiTimes reports that Sony's blue-violet laser diode manufacturing plant will increase production and this could, "according to Taiwan-based makers of game consoles and components," drop the PS3 price by $100. Now let's see if those savings are passed on to consumers. Despite what Sony says, this magical $100 reduction is being batted around due to tech upgrades in the console and other factors discussed by analysts.The article also discusses the production cost drop of the Xbox 360. According to research firm iSuppli the cost to manufacture the Xbox 360 is now $323.30, while it profitably retails for $399. The PS3 costs $840.35 to manufacture, in its current state of production, and retails for $599. We'll have to wait to see the NPD sales data later this month to see how well the PS3 sold in April and if more fuel gets added to the price-drop fire. Although, if the PS3 had a game other than Resistance it might be selling better. Oh well, the purchase of a PS3 was an investment in the future, wasn't it? At least the PS2 is still worth every one of the 13,000 pennies it costs to purchase.Update: DigiTimes used data from last November's iSuppli report and marked it as May data. The comparison of estimated material cost is valid for PS3 and the Xbox 360 in November of '06. Chances are production costs have declined further since. iSuppli plans to do a new cost analysis soon. [Thanks James]
Suda surprise: The Silver Case will be localized
Back at GDC, Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51 announced that his Playstation text adventure The Silver Case and its cellphone sequel were getting ported to the DS. We tempered our interest in this development with doubt that the games would be released outside of Japan, due to their limited appeal and the large amount of text involved.Sometimes, we don't mind being wrong. During the Australian G03 event, Suda announced that the game, which was "a minor hit" in Japan, would receive a worldwide release. Now we should all buy it and let him know he made the right decision![Via NeoGAF]
Kojima and Suda 51 tease Snatcher fans
Last Saturday, Suda 51's company Grasshopper Manufacture held the coolest event ever, at least for game nerds: Snake vs. Zombie vol. 2, a series of informal panel discussions by big names in the Japanese game industry, including Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, ICO's Fumito Ueda, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. There were also musical performances from Metal Gear Solid 3/Portable Ops soundtrack composer Norihiko Hibino and Silent Hill series producer and composer Akira Yamaoka.As if the mere existence of this event (and our non-attendance at said event) weren't causing us physical pain, now we have unbearable anticipation buzzing around in our heads. During a Kojima/Mikami panel hosted by Suda, Mikami, a man of taste, mentioned that his favorite Kojima game was Snatcher, to which the other two responded "Ah yes, Snatcher," followed by "Oh, should we announce it here?" To sum up, in italics, there is a possibility that Hideo Kojima and Suda 51 are collaborating on some kind of Snatcher game. We do not care if it is a sequel, a remake, a port, an action figure, or an official recipe for Neo Kobe Pizza. We want ten.
Iran prepping first homegrown mobiles
When your government raises tariffs on imported phones from 4 percent to a staggering sixty percent, you kinda hope there are plans in place to start producing handsets on home turf. That's exactly the bind Iranians find themselves in at the moment, but relief's in sight -- the head of Iran Telecommunication Manufacturing Company says his folks are ready to start selling ITMC-branded phones as soon as June of this year, with a full 300,000 units being thrown together by year's end. Though the manufacturing is homegrown, it appears the technology is not; Iran has contracted with as-yet-unnamed South Korean companies to get the necessary equipment and tech brought over to Iranian borders. If this means Iran gets a DMB-equipped Shine before we do, that's going to be so not cool.[Via textually.org]
GDC07: Classic Suda 51 weirdness hitting the DS
Suda 51's first games as part of Grasshopper Manufacture are being remade for the DS. The games, called The Silver Case and The Silver Case Ward 25, were originally released for the Playstation and mobile phones, respectively. Suda revealed this fact during his GDC keynote "Punk's Not Dead".Both are graphical text adventures; Ward 25 uses static art and the original Silver Case uses full-motion video. Unfortunately, because of the amount of text that would have to be translated, Suda isn't sure the remakes will be released outside Japan. Someone tell him that American DS players love graphical text adventures! And tell him that we <3 Grasshopper Manufacture too.
Wii manufacturing costs ring up to just $158?
We snuck a peek awhile back and found that Target itself was only making $12.50 per Wii it sold, and we knew the big N wasn't taking any losses on console sales at launch (unlike Microsoft and Sony), but is it really making money hand over fist? Per a shakily constructed Japanese comparison, it seems that Nintendo's brainchild is only costing $158.30 to manufacture, before you consider the Wiimotes and whatnot (not to mention marketing and distribution costs) that end up being bundled with it, while the 20GB PlayStation 3 clocks in at a whopping $805.85 (saywha?). Interestingly, there's a less-than-understandable $195.99 figure that mentions a "wholesale price," which could be a more realistic figure of how much Nintendo is shelling out when taking external costs (like Reggie flying all over the world) into the equation. Regardless, one thing's for sure -- Nintendo stands to make a sweet profit from the sold-out status its console is in, while Sony continues to fall deeper into a hole they hope will be redeemed with game / accessory sales. Of course, your Wii could end up costing you quite a bit more, especially if you don't have that recently-recalled Wiimote strap looked at.[Via Digg, thanks Mike]
Treo 700p in short supply for a while?
We haven't really had any reader reports of 700ps being particularly difficult to find, but Inventec, which produces the 700p for Palm, is claiming they'll be unable to start "volume production" of the device until September due to software problems. Yeah, we don't really know what to make of this, either -- if volume production hasn't started yet, what do you call the kind of production that's been going on so far? And do we really need a higher production rate at this point? Either way, the kinks won't be affecting Palm's other breadwinner right now, the 700w, on account of HTC owning its manufacture.
Sharp & Corning expand LCD production
After stumbling in the race to dominate LCDs due to a lack of production capacity, it appears Sharp is doing something about it. Corning has announced plans to expand an existing plant later this year, as well as an agreement to supply Sharp with 40" LCD screens. Also of note is that they are calling these new screens the most "environmentally-friendly" LCD glass on the market.The flat panel market continues the go big or go home trend, but have we seen the 32" LCD for $799 yet? (Actually, it appears there are a few.)
