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ViewSonic debuts WPG-350 for WiFi video streaming, PJD2121 for portable SVGA projecting
Don't let your instinctual attraction to glossy items fool you. While the PJD2121 pico projector on the right is certainly the shiniest, it's ViewSonic's WPG-350 wireless gateway that we're digging the most. Assuming you've pre-installed the appropriate software onto the pertinent Windows / OS X machine, connect the bridge to a VGA display of some sort, and stream all the 1024 x 768 presentation content you want over 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Sure, it's not HD, but at $199, it's not the worst value, either, and it's still half-lustrous on the top. Looking back at the projector, the little DLP shiner boasts 800 x 600 output, 400 lumens, and a 1,800:1 contrast ratio. A $499 price tag definitely undercuts the Samsung offering we saw yesterday, but it's still way pricey for SVGA. Read - Press release Read - PJD2121 product page Read - WPG-350 product page
Qualcomm FLO TV handheld in the works?
According to gdgt, Qualcomm -- which usually sticks to research, design, and the fabless chip game -- is fixin' to produce something called the Personal Television, for use with its FLO TV network. The handheld device is alleged to feature a capacitive touchscreen, a swipe and gesture-driven UI, 4GB of memory, built-in stereo speakers, and enough juice for five hours of video, fifteen hours of music, or three hundred stand-by hours. Currently, FLO TV is only available on a limited number of phones, from the likes of AT&T and Verizon in the States, although the company has said that they're planning on bringing it to other phones (via add-on peripherals) including the iPhone and WinMo devices. Can we offer one word of advice? You might want to go with a name besides "Personal Television." Really, it sounds so very 2006.
Samsung P410M pocket projector hands-on
As we heard before, its 170 lumens is a bit brighter than the 151 lumens P400M predecessor, but otherwise the P410M is pretty much the same not-quite-pocket projector. The USB input is a nice touch, but the rep we spoke with didn't know what codecs were supported at this point. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a chance to see it in action, as the device suffered through some accident on the way to the event, but we did find out that it's due out for public consumption next week for around $699. Pics for your perusal are just below. Update: A Samsung rep contacted us with a list of supported codecs, listed after the break.
Sony S and E Series Walkman players start officially rocking the tunes next month
We've been seeing Sony's S Series Walkman around the town since July, and Sony's finally seen fit to make it official, also introducing the slightly lower-rent E Series. Specs on the former are completely in-line with expectations, including a 2.4-inch QVGA LCD, FM tuning and recording, along with support for a suite of formats including MP3, protected WMA, AAC, H.264, and WMV. Again as expected it offers battery life of 42 hour hours when playing music through headphones and 6.5 hours of video, but what we didn't know was that when you're rocking it out boom box style through the integrated speakers that drops to 17 hours and five hours oh so respectively. A palette of colorful options including black, pink, violet, and red will be available, with an 8GB model going for $110 and 16GB for $130. If that's a bit too rich for you there's the 2-inch E Series, sporting a slightly smaller chassis, slightly lower battery life (30 hours music and 4 hours video), and a slightly lower price of $80 for 8GB and $100 for 16. Both ship next month.
Creative Zii EGG orders being processed, will ship by the end of the month
We still don't know what to make of Creative's Zii EGG and "stem cell computing" but it looks like we'll be getting our first answers relatively soon -- pre-order customers are being charged and told units will ship by the end of the month. As an added bonus, Creative is apparently including a free HD-out cable in these early deliveries, but we don't know if these are being pre-loaded with Android or that Plazma OS. Anyone else join the early adopter club? [Thanks, Joe]
Zune HD box contents spotted at Best Buy
We've already gotten a glimpse of the Zune HD's packaging courtesy of Best Buy's big preview event this past weekend -- but what about the contents of said packaging? Therein lies excitement. Excitement like some giant fold-out instructions, a USB cable, and a pair of headphones that seem to be more or less identical to the ones that came with the Zune 120 -- oh, and a little thing called the Zune HD. Hit up the link below for a closer look, and a couple more demo videos for those that still can't get enough of the thing.
Archos 2 Vision, 3 Vision and Clipper spotted in French wilderness
With the 2 Vision's price and spec recently emerging, all that was missing were some "real life" shots of the player without studio lighting and professional makeup. Archos Lounge has gone and filled that gap, with the added bonus of some 3 Vision and Clipper sightings. Disappointingly, whereas the touch-sensitive horizontal slider originally looked to have been bracketed by buttons sitting flush with the case, in reality those are of the bumpy, cheap looking variety. We can take no umbrage with the thin casing though, as it looks just as skinny as we were led to believe. Hit up the read link to explore the player for yourself, or slide past the break to see it side by side with the 3 Vision. [Via CrunchGear]
Video: Samsung's YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance
With an "NVIDIA chipset" (presumably, Tegra) underpinning the new YP-M1 media player, Samsung's got plenty of horsepower to drive its customizable TouchWiz UI across that 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen sporting 480x272 pixels. It's not ZuneHD-sexy but it's not bad. Unfortunately, not bad's not good enough in a waning market for dedicated media players lacking voice and data radios, WiFi, or a web browser. But if you run, run, as fast you can... after the break you'll catch the Gingerbread Man.Update: Mike Rayfield, the general manager of NVIDIA's mobile business unit, confirms the M1 is Tegra-based.
Zune HD's "Apps" menu item spotted in the Marketplace, still short on details
At Best Buy's Zune HD preview today a certain Matthew Arkin on Qik was able to shoot footage of the "Apps" item that resides within the "Marketplace" section on the device. It's still incredibly unclear what Microsoft's plans are for that functionality -- they've long admitted its existence, but have waffled on the name and have been reticent to show it off in meetings with us. Microsoft so far has only promised to have applications on par with the games currently available for Zune, but there's obviously a lot of implied competition with Apple's App Store that the word "Apps" on a touchscreen device conjures up. On video (embedded after the break) the rep is asked if there's an SDK, and apparently Matthew got a "yes" offscreen, but we're not really sure of the veracity of that statement, or what it means for developers at the moment -- hopefully good, freedom-ey things. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Zune HD box spotted?
According to one tipster, the Zune HD was a no-show today at both of his Houston-area Best Buys, so hopefully this little tidbit can make it up to that loneliest of all Zune fans. According to CrazyphoneGuy of Twitter and his prodigious Twitpic account, the picture above is of the Zune HD's new box. It looks quite a bit like existing Zune boxes, but that's certainly no slight. Anyone else track down the Zune HD at a Best Buy today, or was NVIDIA just fooling with us? [Thanks, Brayan]
Zune HD getting previewed at select Best Buys this weekend
Now that NVIDIA is totally free to chat up its Tegra involvement in the Zune HD, it's wasted little time in publishing a list of Zune HD preview locations where you can witness the magic for yourself this weekend. The tour is fairly limited to the big urban hubs, but peep the PDF and see if your friendly neighborhood Best Buy is represented. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Warning: PDF link]
Samsung YP-R1 get first unboxing, approving review
You should already be familiar with (or able to guess) the YP-R1's specs and pricing, so we'll just head straight to the good stuff. Our colleagues at MovePlayer handled a pink sample of the device and liked its 720 x 480 uncompressed video playback, slim casing, DJ utility (your use of which will be inversely proportional to your age), and the host of extra features like FM radio, voice recording and photo organizer. Their one major gripe related to scrolling around in landscape mode, but all in all they found it a very competent, sophisticated-looking entry into the PMP market. [Via PMP Today]
Walmart recalls 1.5 million flammable Durabrand DVD players
Remember those amazingly cheap doovde players Walmart was so proud of a couple years back? Well, they ain't so amazing anymore, unless that's what you'd call a device capable of spontaneously bursting into flames. Sold between January 2006 and July 2009 exclusively at Walmart stores in the US and ASDA supermarkets in the UK, the explosive Durabrand units are being called back due to 12 reported instances of overheating, including five that caused fires. You have to love the irony of skimping on a doovde player purchase, only to pay for it later with "enhanced" insurance premiums. We reached out to Walmart for comment, but they didn't know what a doovde was. Nevertheless, we captured the conversation after the break. Update: While we haven't yet got clear confirmation that ASDA is following suit, we'd be very surprised to not see the product pulled and returns honored in the UK in the same fashion as in the US. [Via CNN Money; Thanks, Keith]
SlingPlayer Mobile 1.1 for iPhone picks up App Store approval
That sweet little update to SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone that Sling submitted for Apple's perusal about a week and a half ago is now approved and available -- version 1.1, as it were -- bringing native DISH Network navigation, improved widescreen support, and improved response times throughout the app. Separately, Sling has updated us on the 3G-compatible flavor of the app that they've submitted for consideration outside of the US, but so far, no dice -- the company hasn't heard back from Apple, which means it's all WiFi-only for the moment. Wouldn't want to saturate those pricey little 3G cells, now, would we? [Thanks, James C.]
Apple sells 25% of music in the US, none of which is AC/DC
According to the number crunchers at NPD Group, the trend that came to a head last year when Apple beat out Wal-Mart for the title of largest Stateside music retailer is continuing apace. That's right -- one in four songs sold in America is sold on iTunes, while Wal-Mart (including CD sales through retail stores, sales through their website, and Wal-Mart Music Downloads) holds the number two position at 14 percent. And number three, if you're morbidly curious, is Best Buy. In addition, 69% of all digital music sold in the US comes from the iTunes store, with Amazon ranking second at 8 percent. When talking formats, the CD remains the most popular at 65 percent, but as some dude named Russ Crupnick (NPD's vice president of entertainment industry analysis) notes, "with digital music sales growing at 15 to 20 percent, and CDs falling by an equal proportion, digital music sales will nearly equal CD sales by the end of 2010." Which can only be a good thing, if it means that we'll never have to step into a Wal-Mart again. Sales of ringtones and sales to consumers under 13 were not tabulated, which means the data may incorrectly skew away from purchases of The Wiggles' Go Bananas! and that Crazy Frog song. [Via TUAW]
Yinlips Projector PMP is a PMP with a projector
You might not know this, but your portable media player is "shackling" you down with its shockingly small screen. What you, and every other self-respecting technophile, need is a projector to explode your awesome digital media onto the nearest wall, flat surface, or just some guy's shirt. Nikon popularized this projector integration madness, and now Yinlips is continuing it with the 3.5-inch Projector PMP, which claims it can beam out a humongous 80-inch picture (we'd be impressed if it can do half that) and play 64-bit games of an unspecified variety. Further info is scant right now, but we suspect you could fill in the blanks with your favorite generic Chinese PMP's specs and you'll probably be pretty much spot on. You'll know more as soon as we do. [Via Cloned in China]
Atree J100 gets lost in the forest of Korean PMPs
We certainly can't knock the 4GB Atree J100 when it comes to its well stocked arsenal of goodies: it has a three-inch touchscreen, an e-dictionary, DMB digital TV tuner, video playback, and microSD expansion -- and it plays music too. Audio formats are also plentiful, with MP3, WMA and OGG for the commoners, and FLAC and APE for the lossless fanatics. Too bad it's held back by the chunky casing, which looks big enough to have fit a five-inch screen if the designers were so inclined. With slicker-looking competition from the likes of Cowon and Samsung, the otherwise entirely useful J100 might struggle to stand out, but if you're willing to look beyond its superficial shortcomings, it's available now for 198,000 KRW ($158). [Via PMP Today]
Tricorder PMP-09 won't analyze data or call Starfleet, will lift your spirits with music
Let us tell you, this isn't any ordinary Star Trek tricorder prop, if such a thing exists. The Tricorder PMP-09 looks an awful lot like the Mark X model from the series, has a 2.8-inch TFT screen, plays up to 12 hours music / 4 hours of video and supports AVI, MP4, JPG, BMP, and WAV files. It boasts 12 different LCARS / themed interface, and from what we can see on the site, at least six different skins, including Starfleet, Borg, Workbee, and Marine. Starting price is $362.50 for US orders / $384.50 for international. It probably won't help you in the event of a Sith or Dalek encounter, or if you find yourself in need of medical assistance, but the next time you run into a Deep Space 9 crew member on the street, you better believe this'll make for a great ice breaker. Videos of the packaging and working display model, flashing LEDs and all, after the break. [Thanks, Anthony]
Apple's iPod event set for September 9th with nary a tablet in sight?
We've already heard whispers that Apple has an iPod event in the works for the week of September 7th -- as they do pretty much every year -- and now alleged company sources are narrowing that date down, telling Digital Daily to mark its calendar for Wednesday, September 9th. Upgraded iPods are the apparent main course, along with some Cocktail discussion, but as for tablets... well, the sources are adamant it won't get brought up at all. We're still awaiting official word to come shooting out of Cupertino headquarters, but in the meantime, plan on keeping that Wednesday afternoon as free as possible.
NVIDIA confirms Tegra processor within Zune HD, details it real good
It's no big secret that NVIDIA's potent Tegra chip will be powering Microsoft's forthcoming Zune HD, but up until now, the former company had been rather quiet about its involvement in the project. Just a few days after the OLED-equipped portable media player went up for pre-order around the web, NVIDIA has stepped in to affirm that its own Tegra processor will be "providing the multimedia muscle in Zune HD." We're told that no fewer than eight independent processors make up Tegra's collective whole, with each one engineered for a specific class of tasks; among them are an HD video processor, an audio processor, a graphics processor and two ARM cores. Each of the chips can work together or independently to minimize power consumption, and the built-in nPower technology is said to optimize system power use and enable extended HD video / MP3 playback time. Sounds good in print, but we've got just under a month to find out how it performs for real.
