Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Handhelds, Wireless

The next-generation Q1 Ultra may be due next year, but Sammy’s trying to squeeze every bit of life it can out of the current iteration with two new flavors. Announced today, the Q1U-CMXP boasts an integrated HSDPA 3G cellular modem, while the Q1UP-V is a Q1 Ultra Premium featuring Vista Business. As for the former, it includes just about every connectivity option you could wish for: 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Ethernet and a WWAN modem that connects to the AT&T Broadband Connect network; outside of the one new feature, however, the specifications are the same as the standard Q1 Ultra XP model that was launched in May of 2007. Both newcomers (if you can call ‘em that) are available as we speak for $1,499 and $1,449 in order of mention.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio

Just after seeing how the Nintendo DS’s touch panel could be used to scratch things up, along comes a full-blown turntable setup that relies heavily on interactions with touchscreens. Dreamed up and designed by Scott Hobbs, the ATTIGO TT enables DJs to manipulate sounds via sensors, and the added visual effects are fantastically beautiful, if not useful. Check out a video of the creation being used after the jump — just make sure one earcup is firmly planted around the ear first, alright?

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Continue reading ATTIGO TT elegantly integrates touch panels into DJ setup

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Original post by Darren Murph

Surprising to some, but Dell is abandoning several of its most popular models to focus on its premium line of specialty gaming personal computers.

Not too surprising to some, Dell had to do something to juice up its chances after falling to the No. 2 spot in PC sales behind HP. (Doesn’t No. 2 always try harder?)

Looks like Alienware may be invading a home near you sometime soon … And we all know those higher-end innovations do participate in the “trickle down” effect that we’ve all come to know and love.

Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal here.

Tags: Alienware, Dell, HP

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Hot on the heels of the news that Dell is axing its XPS gaming line to focus attention on Alienware, we’ve got word that Alienware will intro a new, low-end model soon. Clearly aiming for a bigger chunk of the market, the eyeball-shattering-system makers will offer a $1,699, AMD-powered desktop, featuring 4GB of RAM, a 2.2GHz quad-core 9550 Phenom X4 CPU, and two ATI HD 3870 X2 graphics cards. The system will be based around the AMD 790FX chipset, which will be served up on an ASUS motherboard. In a feat of absurd cliché, Alienware spokesman Marc Diana claimed, “It’s not your granddaddy’s AMD system. We’re talking top-of-the-line quad core.” The PC will be available sometime in the next two weeks, so stay alert.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

We’ve got some news that’ll make a PC gamer or two weep: the Wall St. Journal is reporting that as of next month Dell will be dropping four models of XPS performance PCs to focus solely on pushing Alienware. Certainly no surprise though, we’ve been waiting for this move since they picked the company up back in 2006. Of course, there will be certain challenges, namely how Dell will keep its Alienware brand separate (read: pristine) — as its done since the acquisition — yet be able to offer performance PCs on its site alongside the rest of its machines. It’s also unclear what will happen to is XPS line of laptops, since those are big sellers as well, but we’ll all have to wait patiently for the bomb to drop before knowing for sure what Dell’s cutting and what they’re not. [Warning: subscription required]

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Cellphones

Apparently, HTC is having a little trouble keeping people with cameras out of its offices, as evidenced by this totally great spy shot of a what appears to be a bunch of (or two) new phones. We’re familiar with quite of few of these devices, like the TyTn II, Touch Cruise, and Touch you see in the upper row, but things get a little stickier down below. Save for that P3470 that’s second from left, we have no clue what those slick looking square numbers are. The far left model and the far right might be the same device, but its hard to tell. It also looks like all the devices in this picture are using Windows Mobile, but we’re holding out hope that maybe the model on the far right boots Android… and soon.

[Via IntoMobile]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops

Whoops! Apple’s gone and leaked its brand new aluminum MacBook and redesigned MacBook Pros to the interblogs. Yeah, it seems old Jobsy has really loosened the binds over in Cupertino — he doesn’t care what gets out these days. No, but seriously, some cats on the internet supposedly discovered a .Mac page which appears to display mockups (or actual product renderings) for a new line of laptops, as well as adverts for iTunes 8 and iPhones in the 32GB variety (for Australia, naturally). Of course, this is wild, crazy, unfounded speculation, and likely has no basis in reality at all. Then again, you never know… stranger things have happened. Steve, we await your takedown requests. See full pages for yourself in the gallery after the break.

[Thanks, al]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Cellphones

Just when we were getting used to T-Mobile’s Shadow, it appears we’re going to have to make room in our pockets for its successor… the Shadow II. Picking up almost exactly where the first iteration left off, this grainy spy shot reveals that its going to be more of the same for the revamp, save for some new rounded edges and oh-so-chic reflective finish. We’ll assume the company is sticking to the plan with a slide out numeric keypad, but you never know; they could be hiding a QWERTY under there… or some kind of weird Gremlin.

[Thanks, Jason]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Digital Cameras

You know that Rebel XSi we saw pop up on Amazon? Well thanks to a tipster, we now know it’s appearing in more than one location. That photo above shows one of these babies fresh out of a shipping crate at Best Buy — so if you’ve been saving your pennies, they could find their way into the hands of a blue-shirted sales associate any day now.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we’re not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become “classified as an official brain illness.” According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment “that should be added to psychiatry’s official guidebook of mental disorders.” More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be “included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry’s official dictionary of mental illnesses.” Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn’t alright.

[Via textually, image courtesy of TheSkylineBand]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Robots

So the military is continuing down the totally inevitable path of computer-controlled autonomous robo-warriors capable of fighting deadly human battles on our behalf — and out come the naysayers like U of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey, who, at The Ethics of Autonomous Military Systems conference in London, decried the bots’ self-determined killing abilities as “a threat to humanity” — especially if they’re captured and re-purposed by terrorists to do their evil bidding. Sharkey exclaimed that he’s “worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies [him],” but — and we’re just gonna throw this out there — what if being oppressed by a race of automatons run amok were actually an improvement over our corrupt governments of men? Isn’t that a possibility, too? We’re certainly going to keep telling ourselves it is, thankful we’ve somehow managed to not be overthrown by our own creations. Thus far.

P.S. -We dare you, commenters, NOT to bust out the welcoming our robot overlords cliché.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Robots

Famed technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil is on the record about human-machine intelligence parity: it’s going down by or before 2029, so be prepared to get digital on entirely new levels. Apparently, machines “will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence” by then, but even if it’s not in the form of meatbag-terminating cyborgs, Kurzweil thinks one future of intelligent machines is on the nano scale, with interfaces to enhance our own physiology and intelligence. Oh sure, this stuff is completely pie in the sky — but it’s still absurdly fun to think of what kinds of crazy crap the 21st century’s going to hold.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Portable Audio

Sorry to disappoint, but Qtrax is falling just a bit short of its promised 25 million tracks at launch. Qtrax busted out its software in “beta” this evening, but isn’t offering a single song — or even a working music browser. The application is a barely skinned version of the open source Mozilla-based Songbird music player, which has certainly come a long ways since its infancy, and which means Qtrax has done just about nothing for you yet — other than lie about label deals. When you launch the application it helpfully points you to a placeholder page from a Oracle application server, and that’s all you’ll be getting until Qtrax manages to get label deals sorted, which isn’t looking likely at this point.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Qtrax
Read - Music labels say no deal

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Portable Audio

You know what your mother always used to say about things that seem too good to be true, but the deafening amount of hype and hyperbole being thrown about in reference to the “game changing” Qtrax with “25 million tracks” is quite distracting enough to take note of. According to the Qtrax website, the P2P client — Windows only, a Mac version is slated for March 18th — will be available at midnight EST, but while Qtrax is confident of its supposed deals with the majors, a few of those labels claim to be short of an actual deal with Qtrax. The business model is simple enough: DRM’d tracks count the number of times they’re played and then report back to the mother ship — which will divvy up revenue based on ad sales. It sounds like there’s PlaysForSure under the hood, and Qtrax claims it’ll have an iPod-friendly version ready before too long, but there’s a disturbing lack of detail on the official site. There is $30 million of VC funding behind the venture, so they clearly expect some results, but $30 million and high hopes certainly is no guarantee of label support of a crazy — and perhaps entirely overdue — scheme like this. We’ll be certainly watching for what happens at midnight.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Qtrax
Read - Times Online (It’s a go)
Read - NEWS.com.au (Labels back away)
Read - ZDNet UK (Rupert Goodwins weighs in)

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Desktops

The fury has really been unleashed over at AMD, as the cats in 2nd place take aim at the pocketbooks lowdown, dirty overclockers. Feeling like getting into it? Then you’ll probably want to get your hands on the extra-special Phenom 9600 “Black Edition” quad-core processor, which allows brave souls to tweak (i.e., overclock) to their hearts content by utilizing the company’s OverDrive utility. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns, however, as these chips apparently contain a bug which under extreme conditions can cause the CPUs to perform in a less than stellar manner. AMD says that it hasn’t witnessed any of its production installations exhibit the errata, and that only its internal stress-tests have pushed the processor into the danger zone (cue Loggins). If you’re really concerned, a BIOS patch will circumvent the issue, but may suck away 20-percent of your delicious speed. The choice is yours.

[Via TG Daily]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky