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Verizon Wireless to add Pantech 7075 to lineup
Maybe the KRZR K1m isn't in your budget or maybe you really don't care about what kind of cellphone you carry around. Verizon Wireless recognizes those run of the mill folk and is going to add another midtier phone to the lineup, the Pantech 7075. According to The Roc, the phone sports a 800 / 1900Mhz CDMA 1x and analog radio, has a VGA camera and a speakerphone; nothing to write home about, but then again, that's exactly what Verizon and Pantech are gunning for with this one. No word yet on pricing or availability so stay tuned! Check out another pic after the break.
Epson goes miniature with Endeavor ST100 micro PC
We know Epson's engineering team prides itself on cranking out the tiniest, most miniscule products they possibly can, and the company has veered from the printing / scanning world for a bit to unveil its Endeavor ST100 "micro PC." While the Endeavor NA101 did its wee thing on the laptop side, the ST100 packs an Intel Core 2 Duo (T7200, T7400, or T7600) processor, ATi's Radeon Xpress 200M graphics chipset, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 40GB to 160GB SATA drive options, and a dual-layer DVD burner. It also sports a ho hum port assortment including VGA, audio in / out, Ethernet, 56k modem, and six USB 2.0 ports with a pair of them being on the front panel. While it doesn't quite undercut the Mac Mini's 6.5- x 6.5- x 2-inch enclosure and 2.9-pound weight, this PC weighs in at just over five pounds while boasting a 7.28- x 7.68- x 2.95-inch package. Those looking for an ultraportable desktop on a budget shouldn't find much to complain about here, as the ST100 starts at just ¥59,850 ($508), but we're sure adding a speedier CPU and gobs of RAM will ratchet that right up.[Via Akihabara News]
Add VGA to standard Xbox 360 cable
Our pals at Engadget know cables and hacks. And those are two great tastes that taste great together; Engadget shows how to make an Xbox 360 VGA cable out of a lowly composite part.Unlike the PS2 and GameCube, the Xbox 360 cables include every pin -- even the ones not used by the cable-specific video connection. Because these pins already connect to the console, it's just a matter of wiring a VGA socket to the previously-unused terminals.Total cost? $7. Get out the soldering iron, and save your money for games.See also: PSA: Use the right cables for your TV
How-To: Turn a standard Xbox 360 video cable into a VGA cable for make benefit your wallet
Every so often, that console-modding Benjamin Heckendorn wanders away from his lair at benheck.com to share some interesting projects with Engadget. Recent Xbox 360 updates have allowed the system to spit out resolutions up to 1080p, and with the new HD DVD add-on drive there's more reason than ever to use a high quality VGA signal instead of the more standard 3-cable component. However there's a bit of a catch -- VGA cables for the 360 cost about $40. According to my calculations, that's about 2 pizzas and a case of beer less to game with. WE don't know about you, but we find that a pretty scary proposition -- yours buddies that swing over for game night probably do too.In this How-To we'll describe how you can turn your existing Xbox 360 video cable into a "multi-out" device capable of VGA. You don't even need to hack inside the Xbox itself, just the cable. Total cost is around $7, including the Radio Shack project box shown above. Ready to save some cash? Let's get in there!
Modder equips his Asus notebook with WiFi amplifier
Here at Engadget, we're all about DIY projects that make your (and our) life easier. Ever since the days when range-extending cantennas were the rage, we've all been hankering for increasing the reception of our notebook's WiFi adapter (legally). Displeased with the built-in Dell 1470 a/b/g mini PCI unit in his Asus A2H notebook, a brave, engineering mind over at NotebookReview took to eBay in search of a solution. After purchasing a $118 "Turbo-Tenna," he concocted a plan (hit the read link for the full skinny) to wire the amplifier internally in order to provide a sleek, unobtrusive appearance. Using a soldering iron and an "on / off switch," he wired the Hong Kong-based device to his laptop's power supply and routed the connector to free pins on the VGA output. Once complete, his reception went from spotty and sluggish (1Mbps) to a much improved 24Mbps. It was noted that the installation was a tad on the complex side, and when the antenna is in use, your VGA port is subsequently out of order -- but hey, who needs a connection to the board room projector when you're enjoying wireless internet on a beautiful offshore island?
PSP nabs Spike TV VGA nominations
The PSP is up for some more awards for this year's Spike TV VGA, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. It's exclusive games earned 7 nominations, with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories getting the most on the system, with 3 nominations in total. Here's a sampling of the categories PSP games will be competing in: BEST FIGHTING GAMETekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai)Dead or Alive 4 (Tecmo/Team Ninja)Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Midway Games)Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (Capcom)God Hand (Capcom/Clover Studio) BEST HANDHELD GAMENew Super Mario (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds / Rockstar North)Tetris DS (Nintendo)LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment America/SCE Studios Japan) You can vote for your favorites by heading over to the Spike TV website. Voting ends December 7th, so rock the vote, PSP fans! The winners will be revealed on December 13th at 10PM on Spike TV. See more nominations after the cut. [Update 1: Haha, Spite TV would be an awesome name for a network. Corrected. Remember kids, NEVER update a blog while reading Moby Dick.]
Fix for 360's 1080p troubles is being worked on
Last Tuesday, we found ourselves rushing out to a local Toys "R" Us to pick up Microsoft's official VGA cable after our trusty Dell 2405FPW balked at dishing out 1080p over component. Regardless, we wanted to watch our 1080p upscaled DVDs and -- due to all sorts of arcane legal restrictions -- Microsoft is only able to offer that service over VGA and not component (note: reason #38 why we want an HDMI connection).So, you'll appreciate our dismay when we plugged in our new ($50!) cable, only to find that our display had serious issues with the 360's VGA connection -- it was entirely washed out, a known issue with the Xbox 360's VGA implementation apparently. But there's more! Any resolution, not just 1920x1080, exhibits a significant amount of screen tearing, which isn't replicated using component. And one last thing. Some televisions, most notably Sony's LCD XBR series, that are supposed to accept 1080p over component just flat out refuse. Just reading through the AVS Forums thread on the topic should be enough to convince anyone that something's rotten in the state of 1080p on the 360. Microsoft podcaster Major Nelson brings word that the team in Redmond is aware of the 1080p issues and are working on a fix ... at around 8 minutes into his latest 'cast (number 200, congrats!), he says the display issue is "kind of this bug that the guys are working on and they are aware of." He limits it to simply the 1080p over component issue, so let's hope that Microsoft takes the opportunity to isolate and correct the outstanding VGA issues as well.[Via Engadget HD]
Major Nelson: Fix on the way for Xbox 360 1080p problems
Microsoft just rolled out the much awaited update to the Xbox 360 dashboard including -- among other things -- support for 1080p over VGA and component but for some gamers and error screen was all they got. The company still hasn't said exactly what it believe is causing the issue, although some have said it may be due to either frequency supported by the VGA cable or the way it syncs with monitors, but Major Nelson confirmed on his podcast this morning that engineers are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. The TVs that suffer the problem appear to be some Sony (most notably LCD XBRs) and Samsung models that should be able to accept the 1080p input but as of yet, don't. Affected owners should hopefully have their mere 720p experience rectified soon, but will it be in time for the HD DVD player launch?
Dell Axim do-it-all dock mod and WiFi antenna port hack
Although it's hardly the most visually appealing device modification we've ever seen, the practicality that this do-it-all dock offers Dell Axim PDA owners is pretty much unrivaled. The mod gives the Axim useful ports like a VGA-out port, a serial port, a car charger, a 4 port USB hub, and RCA and mini jack audio connectors, all contained in one helluva bulky package. Of more interest to the warwalking crowd is a separate modder's WiFi antenna port modification -- something which really should be standard on all portable 802.11-enabled kit by now.
Gigabyte's dual-tuner g-Smart i200
Though Gigabyte's not much of a mobile presence here in the US, folks in Asian countries might want to listen up: the spec sheet on their g-Smart i200 Pocket PC phone makes it sound like the best thing since... well, the i120 and i300. The 512MB of internal storage is hot, the promise of Crossbow (if it's available by the device's launch in Q1 '07) is pure gold -- but what's really got us all fired up are the integrated dual tuners (DVB-H and DVB-T) and 2.69-inch VGA display. Yep, we said it: VGA. Everyone waiting for the promise of compromise-free mobile web browsing and remote desktop connections can come out of hiding, because this bad boy could very well be the phone you've been waiting for. The TV-out and DVR functionality don't hurt, either. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to book our flights to Taiwan.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
Apple using shoddy up-sampling for some iTunes vids?
When Apple announced the new VGA res for all iTunes videos the other week -- including new versions of their current QVGA catalog -- we were definitely stoked to be getting 4x the pixels for our video dollar, even if we were a bit miffed at having to re-purchase some of those videos which we'd already bought. Unfortunately, it looks like the offer might not be quite as rosy as we would've hoped. It seems that for certain videos, Apple has simply up-sampled the flick from its formerly compressed QVGA version, the disastrous results of which can be seen above. So, instead of paying $2 for a second time around for what should be a high-res video sampled straight from the original source, you might be paying through the nose for a file that doubles the pixels and megabytes, but severely lessens the general quality of the picture. Friendly tipster Paul C. was kind enough to alert us to this problem, and screencapped a few videos to demonstrate the sitch, all of which can be seen after the break. If you're experiencing similar quality problems, please let us know in the comments so we can figure out the extent of this issue, and bring the appropriate smackdown upon Apple.
Xbox 360 HD DVD playback: Maximum 1080i via component, 1080p VGA-only
We still don't know the US price or launch date, but we've got a bit more specifics on how the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on will work when it hits store shelves later this year thanks to a post by Microsoft insider Amir M. on AVS Forum. When Microsoft revealed yesterday it will support 1080p HD DVD and 1080p DVD upconversion we were surprised because it's commonly accepted that the CSS (DVD) and AACS (HD DVD & Blu-ray) copyright provisions wouldn't allow that (although some manufacturers have looked the other way before) via unprotected analog connections. We were right, sort of. Even after the software upgrade this fall, via component cables, the Xbox 360 will still only upconvert DVDs to 480p, and will play HD DVD movies at a maximum resolution of 1080i. To get 1080p output for movies, you must use a VGA cable, which is not subject to the same copyright restrictions. This just means the Xbox 360 is just like every other HD DVD and Blu-ray player on the market, but you wouldn't know that by reading Microsoft's press releases yesterday. If you ran out and bought a 1080p HDTV yesterday don't return it just yet, you should be able to get equal picture quality to 1080p if your TV processes the incoming signal correctly, and if it supports 1080p via component you can still play upconverted and native-1080p games . We're still waiting to hear exactly how HD DVD's advanced audio capabilities will be handled by the 360 and oh yeah...a US price, please Microsoft?.Update: Added list of supported resolutions after the break.
Meizu working on a WinCE-powered MiniPlayer followup?
Chinese DAP manufacturer Meizu has seen quite a lot of interest in its M6 MiniPlayer -- so much so that it recently became available Stateside -- and now word on the street (and by street, we mean overseas internet forums) has the company poised to release an updated version. At this point details are still very sketchy -- all the more so because of the nature of machine translation -- but from what we can tell, the upcoming M8 will sport a 533MHz Samsung ARM processor, 2.6-inch VGA screen (compared to the M6's 2.4-inch QVGA display), and the latest Windows CE OS, but not, unfortunately, memory card support nor a user-replaceable battery. There's also no word yet on what capacities this model will come in, though we've heard rumors that Meizu is trying to break through the 4GB ceiling of the original MiniPlayer. That's all we've got for now, and please bear in mind, the pic you see above is simply one fan's fantasy and probably won't bear much of a resemblance to the final product.[Via Engadget Chinese]
Samsung announces 3-inch VGA LCD for digital cameras
Samsung has taken the wraps off what they claim to to be the world's first 3-inch VGA LCD that meets industry standards for use in digital cameras. With a 300nit brightness and 350:1 contrast ration, the 640 x 480 LCD also promises to consume less power than displays currently used in digital cameras, operating on a 30Hz source driver instead of the 60Hz commonly used now, as well as employing a so-called "dot inversion scheme" that reduces flickering associated with 30Hz LCDs. We're assuming the water is intended to show how sharp the image is, not that it's waterproof, but you never know. Commercial production is set to begin in the first half of 2007.[Via Photography Blog]
Voting opens for GJAs, proceed with caution
Computer & Video Games has announced the ballot boxes are now open for the 24th annual Golden Joystick (not "Joystiq") Awards, one of the longest running events in the industry. While CVG promotes the Golden Joysticks as the "people's awards", you have to wonder if they use the same selection committee as Spike TV when determining the nominees for each category. One disgruntled Joystiq reader is appalled that 50 Cent: Bulletproof somehow managed to collect five nominations (we feel your pain, Sizer), despite the game's metascores being true to its namesake. This smacks of commercialism, but then again it gives the GJAs that gritty, urban flava that you know just personifies all gamers.Another questionable nomination is Shadow the Hedgehog for The Sun's Family Game of the Year. Isn't that the one with the gun-toting, foul-mouthed, "edgy" Sonic wannabe (and a combined metascore of 49)? On behalf of the kiddies, I'll pass.How about the decision to limit the Nuts All-Nighter award to console and handheld games? Does this mean MMOs and other PC games are only addictive outside the UK? That's just nutty! Wait, where's the award for best gaming blog? Oh, never mind.
Syntax-Brillian announces three new series of Olevia LCD TVs
Prepare yourselves for a slew of new LCD sets from Syntax-Brillian that will be released in the coming months, as the newly-merged company has announced three new series of TVs under the Olevia brand that each consist of numerous different models. Out of the 3-series, 5-series, and 7-series lineups, the most is known about the fives, as these four units -- the 27-inch 527V, 32-inch 532H, 37-inch 537H, and 42-inch 542i -- are shipping immediately. Like the as-yet-unannounced members of the 3-series, these models all sport a 1,366 x 768 resolution, and also feature 8-millisecond response times, 1600:1 contrast ratios, built-in digital ATSC tuners, and HDMI, VGA, and HD component inputs. All that's known about the 7-series, on the other hand, is the fact that its constituent models will all offer full 1,080p resolution and RS232C control capability, along with what's being touted as "Hollywood Quality Video," which either means that picture quality is very good or stifled by DRM restrictions. No pricing or release details are available for any of the 3- or 7-series models -- they're scheduled "to be introduced to the market incrementally through September" is all we can say for sure -- and out of all the 5-series models that are supposedly shipping right now, we could only find a price for the 527V, which you can pick up for $800 or less.Update: It would appear Hollywood Quality Video refers to Silicon Optix's Reon-VX chip, a "Hollywood Quality Processing" video system with a bunch of things HD nuts are sure to love (or love to laugh at), like four-field per-pixel SD/HD deinterlacing, film cadence processing, multi-direction diagonal filter, random noise reduction, and so on. Thanks, Jason.
TiVo Desktop 2.3 hack lets you bump transcode resolution
Transcoders got their wish last week with TiVo Desktop 2.3 and its conversion tools that finally allow users an easy way to get MPEG-4 or H.264 video all prepped for a portable device. Unfortunately, it's QVGA or bust with video conversions, which puts a damper on use with the PSP and other higher-res devices -- real and imagined. Luckily, our pal Dave Zatz has a hack all prepped for setting the resolution to whatever your heart desires, and it really doesn't take a lot of technical knowhow to do. So head on over and get transcoding, or just wait for QVGA-induced blindness to set in. Your call.
Mustek announces DV536 super gadget
How much would you pay for a music- and video-playing gadget that could also take 10 megapixel still photos with a 10x zoom, capture 30fps VGA movies, record your whimsical musings, function as a digital card reader, and even encode footage directly from your TV or DVD player? $1000? How about $750? Surely you'd shell out at least $500 for such an amazing product. Well you'll be shocked to learn that Mustek is practically giving away all this and more for under $200 with its new DV536 Digital Camcorder-PVR. Too good to be true, you say? Well, yes and no; you really do get all of those functions in this new super gadget, but the list of caveats is rather long: the 2.4-inch screen isn't the best for watching flicks, that 10 megapixel resolution is really achieved through interpolation from a 5 megapixel CMOS sensor, and the 10x zoom we mentioned is of the digital variety, as no optical zoom is included. Plus, there's no way to schedule recordings and you're only getting 32MB of internal memory, meaning that you'll need a pretty big SD card if you want to store all those movies, photos, video clips, and songs you'll be loading this up with. Still, $200 isn't too bad for all the features you're getting here, even if none of them hold a candle to dedicated devices performing the same tasks. [Warning: PDF link]
Asus W2JB media-centric laptop reviewed
It seems like we've been hearing a lot of good things about Asus laptops lately, and the praise doesn't stop at their 17-inch media monger, the W2JB. PCMag put the put the Core Duo (T2600)-based machine through its paces, stopping to take notice of its built-in TV tuner, VGA and DVI-I (via a dongle) connections, dual-layer DVD burner, 2GB of RAM, 120GB of storage and a slightly less impressive ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card. Weighing in just a hair under 8-pounds, the W2JB is only 1.2-inches thick and sits on little rubber legs, much like those you'll find on your DVD player., which allow for excellent ventilation. The only real gripes the review mentions are the somewhat disappointing 1,440 x 900 screen and the difficulty involved with actually finding one of these for sale -- Asus doesn't sell computers directly, so you'll need to do a little searching around the web. Once you do find it though, the $2099 price tag won't kill your bank account, like some other media-centric machines we know of, mostly thanks to the exclusion of a next gen DVD drive.
King's Quest III pimped out & re-released
Infamous Adventures recently released its remake of Roberta William's 1986 classic point-n-click adventure, King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human. The remake features "all new full VGA backgrounds, enhanced hand-drawn close up cut-scenes, dialog portraits for all the characters, original music by our professional composer, full speech pack (including narrator), and a new point-and-click interface."Infamous Adventures believes that King's Quest III is still relevant and has developed the remake to ensure that this timeless adventure will be compatible with modern hardware. No profits will be made. The game (43.2 MB) is available to download free of charge.
