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Hey, remember those new Logitech gaming peripherals that we told you about earlier today, including The Logitech G19 Keyboard for Gaming, The Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset, and The Logitech G9x Laser Mouse? Well, the company showcased all of them–and then some–at tonight’s CES Unveiled event at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

We spoke to a Logitech representative who was kindly enough to give us a guided tour of all of the company’s cool new gaming peripherals. Check out the exclusive video, after the jump.

Original post by Brian Heater

Logitech announced some big news today, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Showcase. The company won seven CES Innovation Awards, and unveiled a new universal remote and new gaming products.

Logitech revealed its new G-series line of gaming peripherals today: the G19 gaming keyboard, the G35 surround sound headset, and the G9x laser mouse. “The G-series product line is all about seeing how far we can push the envelope, giving gamers extraordinary, engineered-to-win features developed as a result of our deep connection with the gaming community,” said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech′s director of product marketing for gaming. “With each one of these new G-series products, gamers gain exceptional benefits but most importantly, they can transform their gear to suit their gameplay.”

SEe details on each new product after the jump.

• The Logitech G19 Keyboard for Gaming ($199.99) is the first Logitech keyboard with a color GamePanel LCD. The tiltable, 320-by-240-pixel display has valuable in-game information for over 60 games. The screen can also display VoIP communication data, clock, CPU load, and other non-game related things like pictures or video. The keyboard has 12 fully programmable G-keys with three macros per key, and should be available in March.

• The Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset ($129.99) is the first headset to offer 7.1 surround sound. The headset uses second-generation Dolby Headphone technology, and creates an outside-the-head sound field. It also significantly reduces ambient noise, and has a noise-canceling microphone. You can also disguise your voice by installing provided voice-morphing software. The headset will be available in March.

• The Logitech G9x Laser Mouse ($99.95) features on-the-fly adjustable dpi from 200 to 5,000 dpi, and moves up to 150 inches per second on most popular gaming-mousepad surfaces. It includes two interchangeable, snap-on grips, and also features onboard memory, allowing you to program up to five ready-to-play profiles. The mouse should be available in April.

Logitech also introduced the Logitech Harmony 1100 advanced universal remote control today. The remote gives you home-entertainment control through a customizable, 3.5-inch full-color touch screen. The palm-sized touch screen allows you to put the commands you want where you want them.

The remote is rechargeable, so you never have to replace the batteries. It has an Internet-based setup, which makes it easy to get the remote up and running. The Harmony 1100 is expected to be available in the beginning of February at a suggested retail price of $499.99.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

Remember the Ainol 󒬘 we saw a while back? It looks like Gemei and RAmos are playing catch-up with some 800 x 480 PMPs of their own. It’s been speculated that like the Ainol handheld, Gemei’s X690HD will be rocking an Ingenic chipset, while the RAmos T9 could follow up its iMovie with either an Ingenic or a Rockchip. Hopefully this bombshell makes your day, because there really are no other specs to report. We assume you’ll see these guys with FM tuners, TV outs, batteries, and storage at some unspecified point in the future. The usual. Keep your eyes peeled, Mainland China!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Gemei and RAmos to offer 800 x 480 PMPs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Microsoft is making all sorts of Zune-related announcements this week. First came the price-drops on the Flash-memory-based Zunes (more on that later in the post), as well as minor upgrades to the Zune marketplace software and Zune firmware, which includes new games and the ability to play Texas Hold ‘Em against other Zune owners via Wi-Fi. The big news today, however, is that Microsoft is making its $14.99-a-month Zune Pass subscriptions–which you don’t even need a Zune to use–a little more interesting.

On a monthly basis, subscribers can now download 10 songs from the Marketplace and keep them forever.

Even if your subscription runs out, the songs are yours. Almost 90 percent of the files will be DRM-free Ṃs, and the others will be protected WMA tracks. That means that the majority of downloaded tracks can be transferred to different devices as many times as you want.

The four major labels are on board, as well as some Indie labels–all in all, the portion of tracks from which you can choose represents roughly 90 percent of the songs currently offered on the Zune Marketplace. Your tracks won’t roll over, however–so if you use only two of your 10 picks one month, the next month, you still get only 10. That’s 120 tracks per year that Zune subscribers weren’t getting this time yesterday, though!

As I mentioned earlier, the Flash-based Zunes dropped in price this week as well. The 4GB model is now $99 (down from $130), the 8GB is $139 (down from $150), and the 16GB is $179 (down from $200). Some Zune accessories also got price slashes: the Zune Car Pack is now $69 instead of $79, the Home AV Pack is now $59 instead of $79, and the Dock pack is now $39, down from $49. The new prices, software and firmware updates, and new subscription deals are all in full effect now.

Post by Tim Gideon

Original post by Gearlog

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Dell’s Latitude XT is a pretty special piece of equipment, namely because it boasts multi-touch capabilities while being a Tablet PC. Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few users are growing increasingly frustrated with the touch-lovin’ screen, with GottaBeMobile going so far as to call Dell out to remedy the myriad issues with its N-Trig digitizer. Among the problems are “digitizer not found” errors upon restart, a digitizer that won’t work properly without a few reboots and a nice selection of applet loading errors to top things off. It seems the readers of the aforesaid site aren’t faring too well either, with the forums filling up with folks eager and willing to yell “amen!” and “me too!” Are you also experiencing wonky N-Trig problems? Are you fed up with Dell’s public silence on the matter? Or have you figured out a solution that you’ve been keeping all to yourself for the past seven months? Chime in down below.

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Original post by Darren Murph

If you watched Tuesday night’s “Town Hall Presidential Debate” you might have heard Senator McCain chastise Senator Obama over earmarks–especially an exorbitant earmark for an overhead projector.

“”While we were working to eliminate these pork barrel earmarks he (Senator
Obama) voted for nearly $1 billion in pork barrel earmark projects. Including $3 million for
an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend
that kind of money?”"

Surprise! That wasn′t exactly the full story. What we’re really talking about is the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and that overhead projector is not something you place transparencies on in a classroom.

Adler Planetarium Press Release: “The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector - not an overhead projector - is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium
projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.”

Whoops. I remember as a kid going to the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and marveling at the nighttime sky. As a city dweller it was something nearly impossible to appreciate without that “overhead projector.” The Adler Planetarium predates New York’s and was actually the first “Sky Theater” in the Western Hemisphere.

Well intentioned people might disagree whether this kind of project is a worthy use of taxpayer dollars. However, it’s tough to even begin the discussion when the opening salvo is not quite the whole truth.

By the way, the earmark was not approved. My friends, Adler Planetarium did not receive that money.

Original post by Geoff Fox

Filed under: Transportation

We′ve got airbags in the front, airbags to the side, even airbags on the hip — and now Toyota’s installing the first rear-collision airbags into its Japan-only iQ minicar. The bags are designed to protect rear seat passengers, and inflate from above the rear window to blanket your noggin and reduce impact force to the head by half. The new system will be installed in iQ’s by the end of the year, no word on whether it’ll come to the States anytime soon.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Elderly? Enfeebled? Just plain clumsy? Tokyo-based Prop has your back. Its newly announced personal, wearable airbag looks like a cool fanny-pack and weighs a mere 1.1 kilograms (2.4 pounds) — but springs forth in one-tenth of a second when sensors detect you’re headed for the floor, protecting your head and ass with two inflated bags that contain 3.9 gallons of gas each. Similar to the various airbag-equipped suits already used by some motorcyclists, the airbag is yours for a cool ¥148,000 ($1,400). Or you could just not fall down.

[Thanks, Steve]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Home Entertainment

D-Link’s $230 DSM-330 media streamer has always been among the most flexible set-top boxes out there, and it’s just gotten even better, with the latest DivX Connected server software bringing Flash video support to the device. It’s not quite browse-and-play — every site requires a specific plug-in — but Hulu, College Humor, YouTube, ABC News, and Vimeo are already working, and there are more on the way. That’s pretty tempting for two bills, but we’ll stick to rocking PlayOn with our 360 and PS3.

[Via eHomeUpgrade and Zatz Not Funny!]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

You can’t put velvet in these earcups and call ‘em nice headphones! As Mr. Chappelle would likely attest, there are no better headphones in which to drop the beat into than Dr. Dre’s “highly anticipated” Beats. The master of chronic himself has slapped his all-but-forgotten name onto a set of cans (which we spotted originally at CES), and is now ready to introduce ‘em to the world. Starting on July 25th, the crunk-inducing headphones will be available exclusively at Apple and Best Buy (both online and in-store), though the buying experience would likely be way more gangsta if checking out at BeatsByDre.com. Still, for $349.95, we’d recommend looking at more respected names in sound, but if your street cred is sitting at rock bottom, you may have no other choice. Thug life, fool.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

Everyone knows that nobody buys a BlackBerry for its musical prowess, right? Au contraire, dearest email addict. RIM is currently working up a new application for BlackBerry smartphones that will “transfer your desktop iTunes music files” to your BB for those rare moments when you can actually kick back and enjoy the soothing sounds of Rogue Wave. Interestingly, we’re not told whether BlackBerry Media Sync is being crafted specifically for the upcoming Bold, and we’re also left to wonder when it’ll actually be released. Patience is a virtue — at least that’s the word heard through the grapevine.

[Via CNET]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

Our experiences with Microsoft’s Sync in Ford cars has been mostly a comedy of voice-recognition errors (we’ll never forget our rental at CES blasting NWA in response to “Play artist: David Bowie”), but it looks like other automakers will be able to join in the confusing fun in November, when Microsoft’s exclusive contract with Ford runs out. Hyundai and Kia are the first to sign up for what’s now being branded Microsoft Auto, and while it’s not exactly clear what their versions of the system will look like, you can expect the same basic features as Sync, as well as some new capabilities like navigation and emergency-response services. Microsoft also says that Auto will be available for “general release to the automotive community,” which could lead to the inclusion of the OS on aftermarket gear as well. Let’s just hope they tune the system to figure out the difference between Ziggy Stardust and Eazy-E, eh?

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Portable Audio, Transportation

Once thought to be the exclusive domain of Ford, Sync-like technology looks to be coming to Hyundai and Kia cars by 2010. While Microsoft and Hyundai aren’t calling the technology Sync officially, the new “music and information system” will be a voice-controlled interface that links mobile devices to car stereos, complete with remote firmware updates. Sounds a lot like Sync to us. Interestingly, only later versions will include multimedia and navigation-related features. This is a curious omission — why would Hyundai need Microsoft’s help just to plug in some iPods? The product will be made official at a ceremony in Seoul attended by Bill Gates and Hyundai Kia Automotive Group Chairman Chung Moon-koo. Cocktail hour and family photos to follow immediately.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Filed under: Portable Audio, Transportation

Once thought to be the exclusive domain of Ford, Sync-like technology looks to be coming to Hyundai and Kia cars by 2010. While Microsoft and Hyundai aren’t calling the technology Sync officially, the new “music and information system″ will be a voice-controlled interface that links mobile devices to car stereos, complete with remote firmware updates. Sounds a lot like Sync to us. Interestingly, only later versions will include multimedia and navigation-related features. This is a curious omission — why would Hyundai need Microsoft’s help just to plug in some iPods? The product will be made official at a ceremony in Seoul attended by Bill Gates and Hyundai Kia Automotive Group Chairman Chung Moon-koo. Cocktail hour and family photos to follow immediately.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Filed under: Storage

Kingston’s got a thing for über-secure flash drives, and its latest DataTraveler definitely keeps the trend alive. The waterproof BlackBox is the outfit’s first Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)-validated drive, which means that it was given the seal of approval from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Communications Security Establishment of the Government of Canada. More specifically, you’ll find “256-bit hardware-based AES encryption via a dedicated processor which automatically encrypts and decrypts data on the fly” and it′ll also enter lock down mode if you happen to forget your password ten consecutive times. Of course, Kingston’s pretty proud of this thing, so don’t be shocked when you see the $165 (2GB), $242 (4GB) and $424 (8GB) price tags, alright? Alright.

[Via Electronista]

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Original post by Darren Murph