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At its pre-CES press conference today, Sharp introduced a slew of new home theater products, including the world’s first LCD with a built-in Blu-ray player, the company’s first soundbars, and two new Blu-ray players.

First up was the Aquos BD, the world’s first high-def LCD TV series with a built-in Blu-ray player. The series features HD 1080p and comes in 52- (LC-52BD80U), 46- (LC-46BD80U), 42- (LC-42BD80U), 37- (LC-37BD60U), and 32-inch (LC-32BD60U) sizes. The TVs all feature a side-loading multi-slot for Blu-ray, DVD, and CD. They Also feature Sharp’s Advanced Super View (ASV) Superlucent panel for a crisper picture and reduced reflection. The AQUOS Pure Mode is optimized for watching Blu-ray titles. The LC-52BD80U and LC-46BD80U will be available in February. The LC-42BD80U, LC-37BD60U, and LC-32BD60U will be available this month.

Sharp also introduced the new D65U series featuring a slim design and improved picture quality. The line includes the 52-inch LC-52D65U, the 46-inch LC-46D65U, and the 42-inch LC-42D65U. All of the sizes are Energy Star compliant, featuring low power consumption and a new Power Saving mode. All three TVs are available now for $2,399, $1,899, and $1,499, respectively.

The company’s new Aquos D85U series, meanwhile, feature aesthetic improvements, including new designs with angled edges to “reflect the surrounding décor, allowing it to blend fluidly into the ambiance of any room.” They also offer 120-Hz Fine Motion Enhanced technology and full HD 1080p. Like the D65U, the D85U is entirely Energy Star-compliant.The series comes in 52, 46, and 42-inch versions, for $2,599, $2,199, and $1,799, respectively. All are available now.

The HT-SB300 and HT-SB200, meanwhile, mark the company’s first foray into soundbars. Both 2.1-channel units simulate surround sound, incorporating a right and left speaker and a subwoofer. The HT-SB300 features DTS, Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro logic II decoder, and Dolby Virtual Speaker to simulate 5.1. It will be available in April for $299. The HT-SB200 is available this month for $249.

Also new are the BD-HP22U and BD-HP16U Blue-ray players. Both feature HD 1080p, HDMI 1.3 digital output with x.v. color, and 1920-by-1080 video at 24 frames per second output, and Ethernet ports for BD-Live support. The BD-HP22U features 2GB of USB memory and will be available in May for $299. The BD-HP16U will be available in March for $279.99.

For PCMag’s full CES coverage, go to http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,2235882,00.asp.

Original post by Brian Heater

As hard as it might be for you wizened, Atari-era gamers to understand, there are plenty of people out there who think that today’s gaming controllers need even more inputs; even more buttons. That’s largely thanks to the inclusion of in-game messaging on most platforms, and, for those whose platform of choice is the PlayStation 3, Sony has introduced the QWERTY Wireless Keypad clip-on. It works as advertised, making text entry much easier and including some bonus touchpad functionality too, but along with those new buttons comes a few new headaches, and we’re not entirely sure they’re all worthwhile.

Continue reading PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad review

Filed under: Gaming

PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Perhaps you’re looking for a way to track potential cat burglers, give your robot some spacial sense, make your UIs a little more interactive, or you simply want to keep an eye on your “compound.” Panasonic has just released detailed specs for its 3D range sensor — the first, it says, to work in direct sunlight. Exhibited at CEATEC 2008, the device emits light from several dozen LEDs to track the movements of any object in its view. The company’s previous 3D range sensor didn’t function well (if at all) in bright light, but the equipment now compensates for “extremely bright ambient light” by measuring it and eliminating it from the equation. Can’t wait to track your loved ones’ every movement? The 24 volt, USB 2.0 sensor is slated for an April 1, 2009 release.

[Via Tech-On!]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Portable Audio

We knew XM Radio’s XMp3 handheld was on sale and shipping, but if you’ve been holding back and patiently waiting for some live video action of the UI before biting, have a gander at this. One xzitony managed to acquire the new Pioneer-built device and take it for a spin, but rather than just keeping it all to himself, he decided to host up a six minute clip walking us through the user interface. There are just no words to express our gratitude, but you can leave your thanks on his YouTube page after peeping the vid just past the break.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Continue reading Video: XM Radio’s XMp3 interface shown off

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Storage

It has been some time since we′ve seen a new competitor in the photo backup realm, so it’s with a great sigh of relief that we pass along word of Sanho’s HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA photo backup device. The unit is capable of sucking down 2GB of data per minute and claims to be “the only storage device in the market that can decode and display true RAW images from any camera on its 3.2-inch (QVGA) color LCD screen.” Furthermore, it orientates images automatically depending on how it’s held, and the included data synchronization functionality enables the drive to sync information with another external HDD or your main rig. Oh, and it can understand 14 different types of memory card, so you’re probably fine on that front. Check it out next month for between $339 (80GB) and $599 (500GB), depending on capacity.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS

Navigon is continuing its full-steam-ahead approach with another addition to its satnav lineup, namely, the 2000S. The 3.5-inch touchscreen device comes loaded with an ATLAS III 375MHz CPU, a SiRF GRʿi+ GPS chip, 64MB of SDRAM, 2GB of flash memory, and microSD support. The 2000S sports a similar feature set the company has rolled out on previous devices, including Reality View Pro (which provides 3D signage to help with interchanges and exits), Lane Assistant Pro, and Directhelp, a push-button service that grabs directions and emergency numbers on the double. According to the kind folks at Navigon, the device will sell for a very affordable $199, and is slated to be available in October.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Ofcom are altering the very grandly named, “Universal Service Condition 1,” to let BT provide discounted connections to people on their Ebbsfleet Fibre optic trial, which plans to provide network connections of up to 100Mbps.

Original post by Simon Perry

H2O Networks, of Merseyside UK, have got an interesting idea for providing high speed Internet access to homes and businesses - by running fibre optic cables through the sewer.
This apparently initially grubby idea isn’t new - we first wrote about the concept back in December 2001, when a company called CityNet was talking about the […]

Original post by Simon Perry

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

Details are pretty slim on this one at the moment, but PC Perspective is reporting that NVIDIA has snapped up the Utah-based start-up RayScale, a maker of ray tracing software. As PC Perspective points out, the move is made particularly interesting in light of some recent comments made by NVIDIA CTO David Kirk, who mused about the merging of ray tracing and rasterization into a “hybrid renderer” of sorts, but didn’t offer any firm details on the company’s plans at the time. No word on a price tag for the acquisition just yet, or any other details for that matter, but it seems like things should be getting a bit more official in the next few days.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Robots

We’re not certain what’s up with the sudden rash of news about EU- and EC-funded robotics research, but we’re not going to turn down robotic kitchen assistance either, so say hello to the Cooperative Human Robot Interaction System (CHRIS) project, which aims to build a service robot capable of working safely with humans. According to the researchers, the plan is to “to develop the rules we need to introduce this level of sophistication into service robots who are working closely with people,” and to that end they’ve already built several prototypes and started testing specific scenarios, like how a bot should react to accidentally splashing a human worker with hot soup, or how to read facial expressions and tones of voice. Thats fine by us — we’re pretty certain an army of deathbots can′t do too much damage with soup — but let’s make sure we leave the chopping to the people, k?

[Via Primidi]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Robots

Rest assured, this won’t be the first or last time you hear of insects and mammals being used as inspiration for robotic creatures. Nevertheless, a recent MIT mechanical engineering course saw students craft bots that could handle “beaver-like tasks” such as “knocking down trees and gathering food in the form of street hockey balls” while fending off competitors in 45-second rounds. Separately, the EU-funded SPARK endeavor is seeking to “develop a new robot control architecture for roving robots inspired by the principles governing the behavior of living systems and based on the concept of self-organization.” There’s plenty more material to make your skin crawl in the read links below, just don’t feed the mechs, okay?

Read - SPARK project
Read - MIT competition

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft’s no stranger to appealing antitrust decisions before the European Commission’s Court of the First Instance, and it looks like it’s saddling up for another go ‘round: the software giant has decided to appeal that $1.3B antitrust fine handed down in February. Saying that it was only filing as part of a “constructive effort to seek clarity from the court,” Microsoft has asked that the decision be annulled. Yeah, that seems pretty clear. As always, our suggestions that this be resolved with a GTA IV / CoD4 round-robin deathmatch on Live have gone unheeded in favor of tedious paperwork and months of delay, but we′re still holding out hope.

[Thanks, Hosain]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

Hey, remember that Gateway P-172X FX we got our hands on yesterday? Well, now the gaming powerhouse has gone official, and is joined by a smaller, slightly less sporty edition — the $999.99 M-6850FX. The 15.4-inch laptop features a Core 2 Duo 󎛮 CPU, an ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics chipset, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and a DVD-R / RW / DVD-RAM optical drive. Two other mid-level models are being introduced as well; the $849.99 M-1626, and $749.99 T-1628. The former comes equipped with a 15.4-inch display, an AMD Turion TL-60 CPU, ATI Radeon HD x1270 graphics, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, 802.11g, and HDMI. The latter downsizes to a 14.1-inch display, keeps the AMD CPU and ATI graphics chipset, plus 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and the aforementioned wireless and HDMI support. The company is also introducing a new pen-based configuration, the C-142XL ($1,299.99), which sports a Core 2 Duo 󏆬 CPU, ATI Radeon X2300 HD GPU, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and utilizes a Wacom pen for input. That enough data for you? We thought so.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Features, Laptops

If you’re a gamer on the move (and we think that you are), you’re probably eyeing some monster laptops. If you’re looking to bro-down with one in the near future, take a moment to familiarize yourself with Gateway’s latest 17-incher, the P-172X FX. The updated rig (a new riff on the similarly-themed P-171) features a Core 2 Duo CPU (the 2.4GHz T8300), 1920 x 1200 resolution, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800M GTS GPU (with 512MB of GDD̷ RAM), a DVD-R/RW/RAM optical drive, and a nasty mess of ports and card slots. We got to take the dude out for a spin, and performance was definitely up to par (translation: it plays Crysis), though the design left a little something to be desired, like… style. A cheaper, 2.0GHz version with half the drive space, lower screen resolution, and a gig less RAM is available, though it maintains the GPU and graphics memory. The P-172X FX is available right now for $1,999, and kid brother P-172S FX will run you $1,399. Check the gallery below for a full and proper look.

 

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Erbert & Gerbert’s, the Midwest sandwich shop that brought you humanflipbook.com, comes the world’s most powerful air vortex cannon (www.candlecannon.com). Prepare to be amazed by this candle blowing air cannon. Yeah sure it’s designed to blow out candles, but it could just as easily be aimed at unsuspecting victims on the street up to 180 feet away resulting in comments like,  "WTF was that?"

Tags: air vortex cannon, erbertandgerberts.com, Erbert & Gerbert, sandwich shop

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