Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Finally Sky and Virgin Media are holding hands again following their bust up dating back to Feb 2007.
The overview? Sky will carry some of Virgin’s channels on their service and Virgin will carry some of Sky’s channels - both agreements last until 2011. They’ll both drop the outstanding High Court actions against each other.
Below is […]

Original post by Simon Perry

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Looks like the HD video-capable Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D90 had quite an impact at RED headquarters — company president Jim Jannard just posted a note saying that the upcoming Scarlet 3K camera is “all different now” because “the market has changed.” That’s particularly interesting because Jannard’s also mentioned that RED′s working on a video-capable DSLR and recently pointed out that the D90’s CMOS sensor tech leads to “jelly movement” when shooting video — a problem RED solved long ago with the RED ONE’s proprietary CMOS sensor, so we’re guessing a few of these threads are coming together. We’ll see when we see — if RED produces anything within the price spectrum of the D90 and 5D Mark II, it’ll shake things up pretty significantly.

Read - “Wipe your minds of the past announced Scarlet”
Read - Jannard points out the D90’s “jelly” video

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It would have been juicier if Microsoft hadn’t announced the fall Zune lineup a day early and gone directly head-to-head with Apple’s newly refreshed iPod lineup, but the fact is that if you′re in the market for a new player the past 48 hours have delivered a slew of new options. Microsoft concentrated on the software side of the equation with Zune 3.0, but Redmond’s players themselves got a WiFi music store, some new games, and Buy From FM, while Apple added in new Genius playlists across the board and updated the iPod nano’s form factor and UI. At the high end of the capacity scale, the Zune seems to have the win on paper — both the Zune 120 and the iPod classic frustratingly top out at 120GB, but the classic’s stagnated essentially at the level of the 5.5G video iPod while the Zune 120 carries all the features of its smaller siblings. On top of all that, you have the newly-thinner iPod touch, with all of its browsing, media, gaming, and third-party application features — and the lost purity of purpose adding all features those entails. That’s a ton of choices — so c’mon, kids, what’s it going to be?

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Hey, is that the fabled blue flash Zune, all priced up and sitting on a Walmart shelf in Knoxville, Tennessee a whole day before it’s scheduled to launch? Indeed it is — let’s hope those rumored LifeCams are pretty spectacular, because we done just scooped every other product Redmond has on tap for tomorrow. You’re next, Stevie.

[Thanks, Christian]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

You know, we′re really (really) proud of ASUS for letting the N10 strut its stuff in the wild without the crutch that is the completely oversaturated Eee brand. And look, the 10.2-inch netbook looks mighty fine, now doesn’t it? Sure, it’s not relying on hordes of siblings for moral support, but with that LED-backlit display, GeForce 9300GS and Intel N270 processor, who needs meaningless pats on the fanny? Hit the read link for a few more shots.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Although ASUS’s “premium” N10 netbook managed to ditch the Eee branding, it looks like the 𔒝 is having a harder time breaking loose from the fam — the 10.2-inch netbook just showed up in the FCC database sporting the Eee PC name, even though ASUS told us it won′t be an Eee when it goes on sale. We’ll see how it’s is labeled when Uncle Sam gets done with it — we’ve got a feeling ASUS is going to take its already-confusing Eee marketing to a whole new level with this one.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

Hey, remember when the Eee PC was announced, and everyone got all hot and bothered, and we couldn′t wait for it to ship, and we couldn′t wait to get it into our hands? Then remember how ASUS created so many annoying variations that it became almost impossible to pay attention? Well, pay attention — the Eee PC 900HD has hit the FCC. Excited? Yeah, we thought so. Hit the read link to see what the label and undercarriage of your new supposedly-hard-drive-equipped netbook look like, and feel free to browse some SAR reports while you’re there. Of course, this reveals nothing about the actual hardware save for the fact that this bottom casing is different from previous models, so… that’s one thing.

[Via jkkmobile]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Laptops

While ASUS’s new, quietly-launched Eee Download service would seem to be a welcome addition for most Eee PC users, it looks to have caused nothing but confusion in the few days it’s been live. The main problem is that all of the files on the site are in the so-called Click ‘N Run (or CNR) format, which is a quick and easy way to install Linux apps — when the Linux distro supports CNR, that is. Unfortunately for ASUS (and Eee PC users), the Eee PC’s Xandros distrubition does not. As some on the EeeUser forums point out, however, Xandros now actually owns Linspire (the company behind CNR), so it would seem to be entirely possible that CNR support could be coming in a future version of Xandros, but that still doesn’t explain ASUS putting the cart before the horse like this.

[Via Eee PC News, EeeUser]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

It’s not exactly the first company to try to entice customers with the promise of a free or cheap Eee PC (or other netbook), but Orange apparently isn’t about to let a bandwagon pass it by, with it now offering an Eee PC 900 16G as part of its “Internet Everywhere” bundle. That includes the Eee PC, a mobile broadband dongle and, of course, mobile broadband service, which apparently tops out at just 3GB of data per month. At £25 (or $46) a month on a two-year contract, it’s also far from a free ride. If it sounds alright to you though, you can sign up in the UK starting tomorrow.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

It’s not exactly the first company to try to entice customers with the promise of a free or cheap Eee PC (or other netbook), but Orange apparently isn’t about to let a bandwagon pass it by, with it now offering an Eee PC 900 16G as part of its “Internet Everywhere” bundle. That includes the Eee PC, a mobile broadband dongle and, of course, mobile broadband service, which apparently tops out at just 3GB of data per month. At £25 (or $46) a month on a two-year contract, it’s also far from a free ride. If it sounds alright to you though, you can sign up in the UK starting tomorrow.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

After suffering a presumed Jolly Rancher infestation, ASUS is prepped to loose these artificially flavored Eee PCs onto Korea. Available for pre-order now, the limited edition “pink” (hey, that’s what they say) and Jell-O green Eee PC 901 and Eee PC 1000H ship on the 22nd of August for an undetermined price. Hmmm, blood-red snowflakes and glo-stick mistletoe? Feels like Christmas in our very own Eee PC hell.

Gallery: Limited Edition Eee PCs ready to candy-coat Korea

[Via Akihabara News]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

Apparently Jerry Shen and the homegirls / boys at ASUS want to get a slice of that sweet cloud pie. According to a report, the computer-maker has launched a service called Eee Storage, which provides 20GB of online storage for Eee PC users, as well as access to downloads of around 3,000 pieces of free software and games. The company hopes to expand the service — which uses a drag and drop interface for file management — into a full blown “store” where users can download music and “various other content.” In the picture above you can see Jerry demonstrating the service to a group of bemused high school reporters.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Laptops

We′ve already seen the S101 Ultimate Eee PC at the top of ASUS’ Eee PC pyramid of implosion. ASUS’ prez, Jerry Shen, already told us to expect the Atom-based netbooks to ship with a 32GB SSD, 10.2-inch, 16:9 aspect LED backlit display and battery life of about 4-5 hours. Today in Taiwan, he personally revealed the 𔒝 (prototype pictured above next to the Eee PC 901), and it’s brown (at least for now) and it’s sporting the Eee logo as you’d expect. Interestingly, ASUS has apparently decided to ditch the Eee branding on the 𔒝 when it goes production in mid-September to keep it distinct from the low-cost ultra-portable branding than name is (or at least was) synonymous with - a move we wholeheartedly support. The 𔒝 will measure in at a tapering 16 ~ 21-mm and weight less than 1KG. Seems Jerry re-enacted the ol′ MacBook Air (4 ~ 19.4-mm thick) trick and pulled the 𔒝 from an envelop to demonstrate it’s thinness. Played carny tricks aside, the 𔒝 features the same 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and 945GME chipset found in current gen Eees with prices to range from $699 for the 32GB SSD model to $899 for 40GB. Interesting, to say the least.

[Via iTechNews]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

ASUS has hardly been keeping this one a secret, but the company has only just now finally gotten completely official with its Eee Stick gaming controller, and it’s taken the opportunity to drop a few new details about it. That includes word that the device will be “bundled exclusively” with “certain models” of the Eee PC and Eee Box (which doesn’t exactly narrow things down), and that it’ll come with a collection of games that have been designed specifically for it (we′re not getting our hopes up there). Otherwise, ASUS has confirmed that the device operates on the 2.4GHz frequency, which could be interesting depending on what other wireless devices you have nearby, and that each stick will require a pair of AA batteries, which ASUS says will give you three days of continuous use, and no doubt a good deal longer if you want to avoid a trip to the hospital.

[Via Shiny Shiny]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

As a recent VIA promo video would have you believe, the company’s lightweight Nano processor is capable of soundly beating Intel’s competing Atom CPU when it comes to playing HD video. Or is it? Not willing to take VIA’s word at face value, jkkmobile decided to try out the very same 1080p video on an Eee PC with the same Atom processor that VIA used in its test and — surprise, surprise — they found that the video played just fine. Now, it is entirely possible that the Nano can beat the Atom in playing video under certain circumstances (and given the raw benchmark numbers, that even seems likely), but when it comes to basic HD video playback, it seems that the Atom can at least hold its own. Head on past the break to see for yourself.

Continue reading VIA Nano trounces Intel Atom in HD video playback? Not quite.

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Original post by Donald Melanson