Tech News Updates

Not sure if you’ve heard, but PMA is just around the corner. You know — that camera show? At any rate, Photo Rumors has a trio of new leaks to swoon over this fine evening, starting with black and white (saywha?) shots of Olympus ‘ supposedly forthcoming SP800 (or SP-800UZ, if we’re talking specifics). The megazoom shooter is said to boast a 30x optical zoom, 14 megapixel sensor and image stabilization, though no further details have been let loose just let. Moving on, Fujifilm seems to have a whole gaggle of new cams planned for release this week, including a megazoom of its own and a whole host of point-and-shoot offerings. Finally, Hasselblad is expected to one-up the H3D by introducing the H4D, which we fully suspect will have a 489 megapixel sensor and a price tag that far exceeds 93 percent of salaries here in America. Hit the links below for the goods, and hang tight — PMA kicks off in earnest in just a few weeks. PMA leak roundup: Olympus, Fujifilm and Hasselblad plan new shooters originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Yes, we realize that it’s hard to provide too much visual differentiation between tablet PCs with large, ebony bezels, but we can’t help but think that this 8.9-inch multitouch tablet looks a lot like another, recently announced 9.7-inch multitouch tablet. Nevertheless this one’s quite different on the inside, delivering “the web without compromise,” meaning full browser support with flash courtesy of Windows 7 on an Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, with 2GB of DDR2 memory and a 32GB SSD with SD expansion. Yeah, those specs are familiar too , and while we’re not thinking this will deliver the sort of snappy performance seen on the iPad, it will certainly be a lot more functional. Battery life is only four hours, but at least it’s user-replaceable, and a price of $599 matches the 32GB iPad. Likewise it will be available in March — or you can get a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right this very moment. If, that is, you speak enough French to manage the order page. Gallery: ExoPC Slate tablet PC [Thanks, Jean-Baptiste ] 8.9-inch ExoPC Slate has iPad looks, netbook internals, Windows 7 soul originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Smell that? That’s a smell of a real man’s budget computer, doing real manly things like task processing and pixel churning. MSI’s new CX420, CR420 and CR720 laptops aren’t much for looks, but under the hood you can find new-gen Core i Series processors across the board and ATI Radeon HD5470 graphics in the CX420 (pictured). Sure, there’s only Intel integrated HD graphics in the CR420 and CR720, and the 1366 x 768 14-inch displays in the CX420 / CR420 are a bit of a letdown, but knowing MSI we’re sure the prices for this trio will more than make up for any mild disappointments on the spec sheet. Hit up the PR for the full breakdown, but there’s no release date to be found just yet. MSI’s new CX420, CR420 and CR720 laptops put Intel’s new processors to good, workaday use originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Panasonic is nothing like shy about pushing out a plethora of compacts , but while it was talking up specs for the new Lumix F-series of compact cameras back at CES, we’ve just now got some prices and a release date to chew on. The FH1 (12 megapixel, 720p video) goes for $160, FH3 (14.1 megapixel, 720p) is $180, and the FH20 (14.1 megapixel, 720p) is $200. In slim land, the FP1 (12 megapixel) hits at $150 and the FP3 (14.1 megapixel, 720p) is $230. Finally, some killer value can be found in the bulkier F3, which does 12.1 megapixels and 720p video for a mere $130, and the barebones 10.1 megapixel F2. All of the cameras should be out in mid-February. Panasonic clamps down prices, release window for latest F-series line of compact cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Macmillan’s US CEO, John Sargent just confirmed that Amazon pulled its inventory of Macmillan books in a powerful response to Macmillan’s new pricing demands. Macmillan offered the new pricing on Thursday, just a day after Apple announced Macmillan as a major publishing partner in its new iBookstore — a revelation that certainly factored into the discussions along with Skiff and other emerging e-book distribution and publishing models. During the meeting with Amazon in Seattle, Sargent outlined what he calls an “agency model” that will go into effect in early March. Under the terms offered, if Amazon chose to stay with its existing terms of sale, then it would suffer “extensive and deep windowing of titles.” Amazon’s hardball response was to pull all of Macmillan’s titles from its Kindle site and Amazon.com by the time Sargent arrived back in New York. Macmillan claims that its new model is meant to keep retailers, publishers, and authors profitable in the emerging electronic frontier while encouraging competition amongst new devices and new stores. It gives retailers a 30% commission and sets the price for each book individually: digital editions of most adult trade books will be priced from $5.99 to $14.99 while first releases will “almost always” hit the electronic shelves day on date with the physical hardcover release and be priced between $12.99 and $14.99 — pricing that will be dynamic over time. So when Steve Jobs said that Apple’s and Amazon’s prices would be the same , he was almost certainly referring to the $12.99 to $14.99 e-book pricing originally rumored by the New York Times — not the $9.99 price that Amazon customers have been enjoying so far. Funny how Jobs, the man who once refused to grant the music labels’ request for variable pricing on digital music so that Apple could maintain a low fixed $0.99 price per track, is suddenly the best friend of a new breed of content owners. Guess the old dog just learned a new trick, eh? Amazon pulled Macmillan titles due to price conflict — confirmed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Imagine a HyperMac , but one that’s highly portable and engineered specifically to rejuvenate your USB-connecting gizmos. That, our friends, is the ZAGGsparq. Our good pals over at Gadling had a chance to sit down with the portable charger recently, and as expected, they came away duly impressed. At its core, this is little more than a portable 6000mAh battery with a pair of USB inputs; you simply plug whatever USB gizmo you’ve got into it (a smartphone, portable media player, e-reader, GPS system or anything else that can be charged over USB) and watch as it provides life where there was none. It also supports international power sockets (which you’ll have to provide separately), and it packs enough juice when fully charged to bring five dead iPhones back to full capacity. At just under a Benjamin, it’s hard to not recommend for the avid traveler, but feel free to give the source link a glance if you need more proof. ZAGGsparq portable USB charger gets reviewed, adored originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Well, it’s quite a ways off the November 2009 launch date the company initially promised, but Dual Electronics is now saying that its XGPS300 navigation cradle for the iPod touch will really, honestly be available sometime in “late February.” The price presumably remains at the same $179.99 as before, which also includes a bundled NavAtlas navigation app and, of course, an adjustable windshield mount. Not exactly the easiest sell, to be sure, especially considering how much the GPS market has changed in just those few short months. Dual Electronics’ iPod touch GPS cradle now shipping in late February originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

This may come as a surprise to you (although probably not, you smart devil), but it turns out that plenty of people are dissatisfied with their current e-reader options — according to a recent study conducted at the University of Georgia. The study was conducted over a six-month period where participants read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a Kindle, then provided feedback. The results were, well — not entirely shocking. Younger adults found the Kindle to be lacking because it had no touchscreen or other applications (though to be fair, neither does the print version of the paper), while older adults seemed more satisfied, but also reported missing the crossword puzzles and comics of a real, live newspaper. Pretty much everyone agreed that the screen was nice and comfortable to read on, but almost no one was a fan of the price. All in all, there’s not terribly much here that we think is overly telling — besides (of course) the fact that paper rules. Study finds people want more from their Kindles, less from their newspapers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

We’re sure just about every company on the map has an opinion on Apple’s new device , but a few big wigs have taken time out of their busy schedules to weigh in on the device. These are their stories. Nokia’s Mark Squires, Head of Social Media, was mainly confused by Apple’s statement that it’s the biggest mobile device manufacturer, surpassing Nokia in combined revenue on media players, phones and laptops. Mark argues that the accepted definition for “mobile devices” excludes laptops, and goes on to mention the undisputed fact that Nokia’s still number one when it comes to number of devices sold. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, meanwhile, says that mobile devices aren’t a priority for his company yet. They’re fighting the good fight of the large screen, and once they feel comfortable in their various efforts there, then they’ll move on to small screens. Netflix hasn’t done or submitted an iPhone application, but Hastings did mention that he was optimistic that if Netflix did get into the game, the app would be approved for the App Store, and that it would run on both the iPhone and iPad. Satura Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo, took a much more directly critical approach to the device, calling it a “bigger iPod Touch,” and that Apple delivered “no surprises.” In the same interview he expressed skepticism as to the value of bringing a high definition Wii on the market, as well as expressing doubts about 3D glasses-based gaming. Iwata is clearly a tough man to please. Perhaps most threatened by the iPad is Russ Wilcox, CEO of E-Ink. He says dedicated e-readers will outsell iPads due to “simple economics,” and that the iPad is “great entertainment device,” but it’s “not the world’s best reading device.” His criticisms, mostly in juxtaposition to Kindle-style devices, abound, including price, weight, backlight and so on. He’s right on the money about the shortfalls of a straightforward comparison, but we wonder if consumers will feel the same? Nothing too salacious, unfortunately, and most of the points raised are pretty spot-on — though we do wish Reed Hastings would rethink his priorities just a smidgen and get Netflix onto mobile devices sooner than later. We’re needy like that. Nokia, Nintendo, Netflix and E-Ink respond to the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

While there are some robots like ASIMO still keeping it real with their classic robot looks, it seems that humanoid bots these days are increasingly falling into one of two categories: creepy and more creepy . Making no attempt to alter that trend are the researchers from Advanced Robotic Systems Laboratories (or ARSL), who are now showing off their new Proto-2 robot — and apparently holding it against its will. Designed partly to aid in the study of human-robot interaction, Proto-2 packs an “expressive face” complete with moving, Peter Gallagher-esque eyebrows, and it apparently has a more natural walking gait than many other humanoid bots thanks to a new dynamic toe-joint that ARSL developed. Unfortunately, there’s no video of it in action available just yet, but you can check out plenty more pics, and even an interview with its creator by hitting up the links below. Proto-2 humanoid robot auditions for Thunderbirds 2.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink