Digital Trends

Gateway FX6800-01e

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:20:50 PST

The hype surrounding Intel's new Core i7 Quad-Core processor touches down at Gateway in the form of the new FX6800-01e gaming machine, with a hot new i7 beating within. The inky-black-and-orange machine impressed us with its computational fortitude, but lost points with a messy array of trialware scattered on the new machine, some cheap construction issues, and a few odd crashes. Despite the holdbacks, it's still a lot of machine for the money, and not many other manufacturers can match the same outfit of premium hardware for the price.

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Medion GoPal GPS Units Scan Fingerprints

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:10:00 PST

After releasing the world’s first fingerprint-scanning GPS unit last year, GPS manufacturer Medion has added the same ability to its three latest personal navigation devices. The GoPal P5235, P5435 and X5535 PNDs all require a finger scan to operate, rendering them useless if stolen. Medion used AuthenTec’s AES 1510 fingerprint sensor for all three units, the same unit used in many other mobile devices including mobile phones. The company’s TruePrint technology scans below the exterior skin layer to the living tissue b

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AOL, Yahoo Recap 2008 Internet Searching

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:45:00 PST

It's become an annual tradition: toward the end of every year, the major Internet search engines crunch their numbers, compile their statistics, and (it sometimes seems) just make stuff up in an effort to present an overview of Internet users' search habits for the year. Yahoo and AOL are first out of the gate this year, respectively announcing their 2008 Year in Review and 2008 Year End Hot Searches, respectively. And what do these lists have in common? Why, that would be Britney. And a few other names you might recognize. According to Yah

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Phones More Distracting than Passengers

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:20:00 PST

A new study, led by the University of Utah's David Strayer and published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, finds that using a mobile phone is far more distracting to automobile drivers than even the most talkative of passengers, significantly slowing reaction times and leading drivers to drift out of their lanes, miss exists to such a level that resemble drunk drivers. In fact, having a passenger in the car is actually a good thing, since they act as a "second set of eyes" and help the driver keep and eye on the road and where the car is headed? And hands-free devices? Not as much help as some people might think. The study involved a series of

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Verizon Drops Omnia Price After Six Days

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:00:00 PST

We’re used to seeing phones drop in price six months after their introduction, but six days might be a new record. Following Verizon’s introduction of the Samsung Omnia last Tuesday, the company has lowered the price on the smartphone from $250 to $200. Verizon dropped the pre-rebate price on the phone from $320 to $270, and kept its $70 mail-in rebate offer for a final price of the $200. This puts the Omnia in th

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AOL Wants Parents to Be Smarter about Games

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:50:00 PST

In recent weeks, AOL has been better known for shutting down operations than starting up new ones (what with Xdrive, AOL Pictures, and BlueString all going dark), but today the company has announced the launch of PlaySavvy.com, a site designed to help parents keep informed about the world of PC and console games…and what exactly their kids might be getting into when they buy an innocent-sounding title like Skull Grinder VII: The Exsanguination. The site aims to offer parents information so they can make informed choices about buying games

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Samsung Propel (SGH-a767)

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:49:22 PST

Samsung has solved the whole portrait vs. landscape form factor debate with the Propel. The Propel, officially the SGH-a767 and available from AT&T Wireless for the bargain price of $79.99, is a 2.33-inch wide slider – the perfect width for a breast pocket. By making the phone wider, there's more room for a wider screen, and a wider QWERTY keyboard, without having to turn the phone on its side. This ridiculously simple "duh!" solution makes using the Propel for viewing video, surfing the Web, AGPS maps and navigation, writing email, taking photos or just making calls far more civilized. We can only hope other phone makers copy this innovative ergonomic development.

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Nokia Withdraws from Japanese Market

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:30:00 PST

Although it may say more about the nature of the Japanese mobile phone market than about the global economic slowdown or Nokia's products, the number-one mobile handset maker Nokia has announced it will stop developing handsets for Japanese operators NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile. Although Nokia was a reasonably strong presence in the Japanese market in ghte early 1990s, it withdrew once before, only to re-enter five years ago as the country shifted from proprietary networks to 3G technologies. However, the operations have failed to meet expectations, so Nokia has decided developing phones for the Japanese market is no longer a priority. Foreign phone makers have traditionally

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Sprint and Clearwire Finish Tying the Knot

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:45:00 PST

Clearwire has completed its merger with Sprint Nextel's WiMax unit, and will absorb Sprint's existing WiMax network in g Baltimore and continue building out the company's planned nationwide WiMax service. The new unit will continue doing business under the Clearwire name; the company (based in the Seattle suburb Kirkland) already has about 400,000 customers on its own network. Eventually, Clearwire hopes to make WiMax "4G" mobile broadband services available to as many as 140 million users in the United States using Sprint's extensive spectrum licenses. "As we roll

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Nikon Intros 24 Megapixel D3X DSLR

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:30:00 PST

Nikon has introduced its new top-of-the-line digital SLR camera, the Nikon D3X, a 24-5 megapixel FX-format DSLR that offers continuous 5 frames-per-second shooting at full resolution, along with a complete slate of high-end features sure to please professional photographers and simply wow the rest of us. The D3X can capture images at wieher 12-bit or 14-bit resolution to ensure high image quality…and at 24.5 megapixels, each RAW image is roughly 138 MB in size. "The new 24.5-megapixel FX-format D3X D-SLR provides the extreme resolution and high dynamic range capabilities needed to meet the

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Yahoo and Virgin Make UK Mobile Search Deal

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:15:00 PST

Struggling Internet giant Yahoo might be looking for a new CEO and trying to rescue its business after fending off Microsoft's mammoth takeover offer earlier this year, but the company is apparently still in a position to make mobile search deals. The UK's Virgin Mobile has inked a deal to make Yahoo's oneSearch Virgin Mobile's default Internet search service effective December 8, 2008. Virgin Mobile has about 4.4 million mobile subscribers in the UK; terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Our new Virgin Media mobile portal brings the Web to consumers' pocket

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EU Caps Mobile Roaming Charges

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:00:00 PST

Roaming charges are nasty things, and you often don’t know just how high they are until you receive the bill later. In a bid to lessen that shock, and also stop mobile network operators making excessive profits, EU telecoms ministers have voted in favour of proposals that will cap mobile roaming charges. They will come into force next July. Under the new laws, there will be an upper charge of 13 cents on sending text messages, much lower than the current average of 36 cents. Network operators will be allowed to charge each other no more than $1.27 per megabyte for downloading data. Finally, connections can be cut off if the bill exceeds $62, the BBC reports. Unsurpris

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LG To Sponsor Formula 1

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:00:00 PST

Meet one of Formula 1’s new sponsors, Korea’s LG Electronics. The money they’re pumping into the expensive sport hasn’t been disclosed (although it’s said to be in the tens of millions) but the odds are that it’s large, and so, the company must hope, will be the returns. The company will also provide technology to the sport and develop consumer products with an F1 branding, according to the Financial Times. It’s expected the deal will be similar to that obtained by Siemens, under which the company graphic appears on-screen every 2

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Yahoo's European Head To Leave

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:00:00 PST

The man who’s spent that last two years reducing European business costs for Yahoo is leaving the company. Toby Coppel, who was brought in by then-chairman Terry Semel in 2001 is leaving the company in a move that Yahoo says is unrelated to the departure of chief executive Jerry Yang. He will be replaced by Rich Riley, who currently heads Yahoo's advertiser and publisher group in Europe. Riley will be based in the new company European HQ in Rolle, Switzerland, as Yahoo has moved away from London, the Guardian reports. This all arrives on the heels of news that Yahoo has sold its European price-comparison and shopping site

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Beyond The News: Google Keeps Growing

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:00:00 PST

Today's Show: Google Keeps Growing. The All-Star Panel discusses how Google continues to grow, and if Yahoo's latest moves will put the rivals back on the same playing field again.

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Microsoft In New Yahoo Talks?

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:00:00 PST

Make of it what you will. A story in the Sunday Times has Microsoft involved in a “complex transaction” that would see Redmond’s finest acquire Yahoo’s search business, while they’d also support another team taking over Yahoo – but not take it over themselves. And all for the bargain price of $20 billion. The newspaper reported that Microsoft and Yahoo had agreed the broad terms of the deal, which would evidently see Jonathan Miller, former chairman and chief executive of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, who used to be president of

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Motorola Hint QA30

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 PST

Pardon the cliché, but it’s finally hip to be square. From LG’s decidedly short and squat Lotus to the fat little Samsung Propel, designers are increasingly ditching the rectangular status quo and going back to that four-sided equilateral simplicity. Motorola’s Hint QA30 is among the latest to join the club, and it’s also one of the company’s few keyboard-equipped phones without the features of a smartphone. The simple square slider may not run with the likes of the iPhone and

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Search Growth For Yahoo And Microsoft

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:00:00 PST

According to a new comScore report, both Yahoo and Microsoft experienced good growth for their search engines during October. During last month a total of 12.6 billion searches were carried out, which was a rise of 7% over September. But in that total, Yahoo’s numbers rose 9% to 2.6 billion searches, while Microsoft enjoyed an 8% boost, up to 1.1 billion searches. The loser was AOL, where the figures declined by 2%. Google had a 7% rise. Unsurprisingly, Google continued to dominate the market with a 63.1% share of all search

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Google Scales Back Christmas

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:00:00 PST

It used to be ice sculptures of the company logo and virtual reality booths at a big bash, but times are tough all over this year. Even Silicon Valley is feeling the pinch nowadays. Google might have escaped the bite of the credit crunch so far, but plenty of others haven’t. So the Internet search giant is reducing its Christmas celebrations this year, Reuters has learned from a source. Instead of lavish parties, the 20,000 employees in its various departments will have lower-key festivities to be more economical. Teams will volunteer in the afternoon and spend the evening at dinner parties and museum outings in San Francisco. And

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The Myth of Cyber Monday

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Unset your alarm clock, put away the coffee, and erase all the bookmarks to those ridiculous Cyber Monday sites. Much like Valentine’s Day, Halloween and – perhaps the most egregious offender – Secretary’s Day, Cyber Monday is a manufactured holiday to celebrate nothing in particular, and get consumers to open their wallets. And unlike its more legitimate cousin Black Friday, the promise of deals and savings to be had online for only one day is almost entirely mythology. The term started only back in 2005, when Shop.org, a federation of online retailers, cooked up both the term and the buzz surrounding it by touting it as one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. In the years following,

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Canon Powershot G10

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:00:00 PST

As D-SLR prices continue to fall—you can get a 10-megapixel Sony A200 for $499 including a lens—the appeal of similarly-priced advanced point-and-shoot digicams dims even further. And yet, while all the imaging buzz centers on D-SLRs, fully-featured aim-and-forget cameras definitely have their place… especially for people who don’t want to lug around a bulky three pounds of plastic and glass just to take a good photograph. We’re not so snobby as to turn our noses up to handy point-and-shoots though, especially when there are models like the Canon Powershot G10 around. This rugged and solid digicam fits in your pocket (as long as it’s a reasonably large one) and has 14.7MP – that’s right, nearly 15-megapixel – resolution. In addition, the retro-looking camera has a wide-angle zoom and several cool dials that give it a rather unique feel. However, this is an almost-$500 camera, not a sub-$250 model like the pocket-sized and very popular 10MP Canon SD880 IS. So is the G10 worth the extra cash, or is an affordable D-SLR the way to go? Let’s put is through its paces and find out…

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Sony Ericsson C902

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:57:14 PST

While packed with all the now-familiar cell accoutrements – music player, email, AGPS location-based services and navigation, the Sony Ericsson C902's main drawing card is its 5-megapixel camera. It takes great pictures, among the best we've seen from a camera phone, but not as good as those taken by the Kodak-equipped Motorola ZINE ZN5 from T-Mobile. Since the C902 is unlocked, though, it's priced at $549.99, around five times as much as the ZINE.

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Palm Treo 800w

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:00:00 PST

As other smartphone developers race toward bigger touch screens, slimmer metal cases, and storage on par with most personal media players, the market’s straggler, Palm, just managed to cough up its first Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone over the summer: the Treo 800W. Far behind the competition on the feature front, and expensive too at $250, the Treo is unlikely to satisfy many besides the most diehard Palm fans and Windows Mobile users.

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GenevaSound Home Theater

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Why buy a home theater cabinet to fill with a pile of boxy home theater system components when you can just buy one unit that is your home theater system? So goes the logic behind GenevaSound’s new Home Theater, a black slab of furniture that houses everything you need to rock, built right in. From the outside, the Swiss-built system looks like any other flat-screen TV stand, albeit an exceptionally modern and refined-looking one. Save for the circular bulge in its front door, it’s all sharp edges, from its cleanly segmented front panels to the metal framework below that gives it a few inches of clearance off the ground. And all black, too.

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Technology We're Thankful For

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Friends. Family. Gainful employment. A chance to dig into a big, juicy turkey with all the fixins and (fingers crossed) actually enjoy a full eight hours of sleep courtesy of a Tryptophan coma. These are tops on the list of things we’re truly thankful for this holiday season. But being the good consumerists and high-tech newshounds we are, we also have to give props where it’s really due – to all the shiny new gadgets and lifesaving technologies that let us squeeze 63 hours of fun and productivity into each and every day. Considering the sheer amount of electronic goodness they sift through in any week, let alone month or (please, if you want to keep breathing, don’t make us even think about it) ye

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How to Stream Audio & Video in your Home

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Who could’ve guessed even a few years ago that our beloved PCs – machines once reserved strictly for productivity, web surfing and email – would one day be a hub for all things entertainment-related, including music, TV shows, feature films, home movies, video games, radio, audiobooks, digital photos and more? Then again, perhaps it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, considering that a hard drive can store large amounts of media, and broadband Internet connectivity serves as a fast and convenient distribution method for beaming content from cyberspace to your space. But while more and more PC users are turning to their computer to collect and store all of this digital conten

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Dream Screens: Top Luxury TVs

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

From gigantic HDTVs big enough to fill the side of a building to super-skinny models so slim you could cut bread with them, the future looks big and bright for digital television indeed. Here are just a few of the world’s most luxurious sets to lust after and trends to look out for in the following months. Much to the delight of technophiles and home theater buffs alike, all will be coming to stores near you someday. We just don’t know when and (yipes!) given the price on some of these puppies, hopefully not with cable bills to match. In Living Color Bizarre as it seems to be saying in 2008, 3D is making a comeback. And while you could excuse the trend as a marketing gi

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All-in-One Printers: Buying Tips

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Now here’s a form of electronic convergence that really works: Rather than investing in separate machines for your home office – namely, a printer, scanner, copier and fax* -- one of the latest trends is buying a “multifunction” printer that handles all of these tasks. Sometimes these inkjet or laser-based printers are aptly referred to as “all-in-one” products. Companies may also incorporate this added functionality into the product name, such as the HP PSC 2210 – the “PSC” stands for print,

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Rob Enderle's Gift Ideas for the 2009 Holidays

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

I'm in the midst of shopping right now, and should be all but done by the time Thanksgiving hits. While my method may be efficient, it may not be the most cost effective way to do things this year. This is because prices are expected to drop off a cliff if Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year for the US, is as bad as some think. A lot of us are referring to it as Red Friday now, for all of the red ink we expect the stores to bleed on it. I tend to use Amazon a lot myself, because they will wrap the thing for you and put a card on it. I'm not that great at wrapping things, and the prices tend to be competitive. So I figure I would spend time this week writing about the stuff I'm

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Message to all CE Manufacturers: Ditch the Gloss Black Finish

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

I received a radio here at the office lately that had a pair of white gloves packaged alongside it. Butler-style, valet-style, Michael-Jackson-style gloves… explicitly to handle the radio. “Please unpack your cubo elements with the gloves provided…” the manual instructed. It wasn’t studded in diamonds, exceptionally delicate, or even slippery. It was just gloss black. And the surface collected fingerprints like a murder weapon on CSI, thus the point of the gloves. I actually give the manufacturer, Sonoro, credit for acknowledging the picky surface and including the gloves, but unfortunately, the trend extends far beyond the company’s

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