IBLOG SPACE

PMP should have HDMI ports. It’s a pretty straightforward – and common-sense – idea, but most big-name portable media player manufacturers would far prefer to fit a proprietary socket and then sell you a pricey adapter cable afterwards. Ainol may not be a brand name you’re familiar with, but judging by MP4nation’s review their new V8000HDW certainly should be on your shortlist if you’re keen on HD playback. That’s because as well as a decent 6-inch 800 x 480 display, the V8000HDW supports more codecs and file containers than you can shake a stick at, together with offering an HDMI 1.3 port for hooking up an HDTV. That means you can play up to 1080p Full HD video – including AVI, MP3, TS and MKV – directly from the Ainol PMP itself. Onboard storage ranges from 1GB to 32GB (plus there’s a microSD card slot), and the Sochip SC9800 chipset the PMP is based on is apparently swift enough to keep even 1080p playback chugging along nicely. Unfortunately viewing angles aren’t great, so thi

Motorola have dropped out of the top five worldwide mobile phone manufacturers ranking, according to analysts IDC, with RIM taking their place. The move – which pegs Nokia in first place, followed by Samsung in second, LG in third and RIM sharing fourth place with Sony Ericsson – is being described as a sign of growing smartphone demand. Motorola, who have been a member of the top five since IDC began tracking worldwide quarterly figures in 2004, shipped 8.5m handsets in the three month period at the start of 2010; in contrast, RIM shipped 10.6m. Western Europe has shown a strong pick-up in both smartphones and featurephones, while interest in the former was high in both the US and Canada. However, both countries saw decline, with only a renewed interest in messaging-centric featurephones keeping things buoyant. Asia/Pacific, meanwhile, saw strong growth, predominantly due to entry-level smartphone sales in the Chinese market. However, as for the manufacturers themselves, it’s onl

Apple and Microsoft might not always agree, but it seems they coincide when it comes to Flash video. After Steve Jobs posted a lengthy critique of Adobe’s technology yesterday – followed by areasonably swift rebuttal from the company themselves – Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for IE9 , has waded in to throw some support HTML5 and H.264’s way. According to Hachamovitch, “in its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.” Now, before you conclude that Flash is dead, it’s worth reading on to where he adds “Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today’s web.” However, the technology “does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance” he insists, and also points to the thorny matter if IP ownership for codecs as being another issue to take into account. This decision to plump for H.264 is more because the W3C – the internet standards body – don’t specify a codec for HTML5-funneled vi

Ah, Courier, we hardly knew you. “We have no plans” Microsoft say “to build such a device at this time.” Now, perhaps it’s my tablet-addled, ever-hopeful mind, but that doesn’t sound quite the same thing as “you won’t see a Courier-style device.” In fact, you could easily interpret it as a carefully worded workaround: we’re not going to build a Microsoft Courier , the company says, but other firms might. After all, they’ve already mention that “its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.” Wishful thinking? You’re probably right, but I’m remembering MSI’s dual-display prototype that’s been wheeled out at a few trade shows now, and recent talk of a Toshiba Tegra 2 based “dual-screen model running Windows.” Both have been anecdotally compared with what we’ve seen of the Courier project. Of course, that dual-display MSI notebook is facing problems of its own, the biggest being battery life. According to a recent Engadget report, MSI’s Andy Tung has said that “

Audiophiles will spend massive amounts of money on gear to get the best sound possible. For that reason most of the gear that is audiophile grade carries a massive price tag. A new product called the Audiophilleo1 has been unveiled with audiophile grade price tag of $895. The device is a converter that turns USB signals to S/PDIF audio. The device claims to make use of the best software and hardware available to produce low jitter output regardless of the cables used. The device was designed to create a replacement for high-end CD transport. Features of the device include upgradable firmware, asynchronous USB transfer, fixed frequency clocks, 192Khz 24-bit sample rate, and a fully differential ECL galvanically isolated transformer-less output stage. The device also has a 12V trigger to control amps, and a remote control along with an OLED display to help with configuration of the device.

VW has unveiled its first ever 2-wheel design at the Auto China 2010 show. The electric bicycle sans pedals is dubbed the bik.e and is powered by batteries. Is it just me, or does this thing look like the design was based on the Kool-Aid man’s smile? The bike is designed to fold down quickly and store away in the spare tire area of a car. Autoblog Green reports that it has been told the bik.e will actually be commercialized. The bike has a 12.5 mile range and has a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour. VW wasn’t clear on where the bike gets it power, but Autoblog Green presumes it gets juice from the car DC power system and the wall outlet. I can see this being something that people in crowded cities that have to park a long way from their destination might like.

James Cameron certainly helped give 3D a huge boost in the box office with his record setting film Avatar. Avatar has gone on to break just about every record a film can break. Thanks to Cameron’s 3D notoriety , he has been working with NASA to develop a new 3D camera that will be fitted to the next Mars rover. The rover is called Avatar , Money , Curiosity and is set to launch in 2011. I hope that its launch fares better than the launch of that balloon I talked about this morning. Cameron feels that the public will better understand the Mars mission if the rover can capture 3D footage, plus it will make for great stock film for when the Na’vi take over Mars in Avatar 10. The 3D camera was reportedly cut from the rover design previously due to budget concerns, but Cameron convinced NASA to include it. The 3D camera will be installed on the main mast aboard Curiosity. The real mission of the rover is to study the habitability of Mars and whether it can or did support any microbial life.

The Microsoft Courier and the HP Slate may be stillborn, but if you have tablet dreams that don’t involve the iPad you still have a few choices. I still think it’s odd that HP put so much fanfare into the Slate only to kill it off, but we can hope the Slate turns up again running WebOS. Two of those alternative tablet choices will be the Hanvon B10 and F10 tablets. Jkkmobile reports that it has received an update on the status of the machines. The B10 will run an Intel ULV743 CPU at 1.3GHz and is in volume production now. Shipping for the device is set at the end of May for China, but when the rig will hit the US is unknown. The F10 will run an Atom Z530 CPU at 1.6GHz and is not yet set for volume production and it could be another three months before production kicks off. The F10 will not have multitouch and will only work with the supplied pen though it and the B10 will come with a mouse pointer.

There are few things better in this world to a geek than a project like building a sweet SFF RAID array for storing lots of data. The project is all the better when all the parts for said project are free thanks to companies like Newegg. A dude named Will Urbina has taken 16TB of storage, crammed it inside SFF computer case, and powered the works with a Quanmax Industrial KEEX-2030 Atom mainboard and Make has offered up the build video. The board has an Intel Atom N270 CPU and controls the hoard of 3.5-inch HDDs inside the machine. The rig is powered by a 120W PSU and is designed for 24/7 uptime. The drives used are 5400 rpm units to reduce power requirements and the case as even made by hand to fit the works. The entire project is very cool and the finished product is slick indeed. This guy makes me feel like my computer building chops are on par with my 5-year-olds.

Hercules has all sorts of products in its offerings from netbooks to accessories for the iPod and lots more. The company has now added new speakers to its mix for computers. The new speaker kits include the XPS 5.1 70 Slim and the XPS 2.0 35 USB. The XPS 5.1 70 Slim speakers have 70W of total power and the front channel speaker is designed to mount to a flat panel monitor. The frequency response is 30Hz to 20kHz and the system uses a multifunction remote. The XPS 2.0 35 speakers get all the power and connectivity they need from a single USB connector. Total power for the speakers is 2.5/3 watts and a volume knob is on the front of one of the speakers. The speakers are shielded to prevent any interference.

Mallika Sherawat