Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Just when we were all excited about seeing a RAmos V8 in the wild, it turns out the PMP has had a bit of shrinkage. Instead of the generous 4.3-inch screen we expected, the final unit is listed as having a more realistic 3-incher. Meanwhile, instead of the 16GB of storage for which we lusted, this unit has a measly 4GB. Now, it’s entirely possible that this is an entry-level unit at just 599 Yuan ($86 US), but we still feel a bit cheated. Other confirmed specs include a 400 x 240 resolution at 26K colors along with — get this — TV output. Supported formats include MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, AVI, and RM/RMVB.

[Thanks, Toly]

[Via MP4 Nation]

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Just in case you felt there wasn’t quite enough screen real estate on the ultra-sleek V8, RAmos is giving the display even more attention on the Blue Magic T8. The player features a 4.3-inch display, 10-millimeter thick enclosure, built-in FM radio tuner and the potential to play nice with a not-yet-developed dock that would enable video output. Beyond that, details are freakishly scarce, so it looks like you’ll have to put away your excitement for the time being.

[Via PMPToday]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We thought the RAmos V8 was looking pretty sleek in render form, but now that some real pictures of the black PMP with the 4.3-inch screen and 16GB of storage have surfaced, we’re really impressed — with how much this thing looks like an iPod touch. (We’ll be here all week, folks!) Of course, the V8’s codec support is way better, but without pricing info and a look at that UI we’re not ready to call this one a winner quite yet. Let us know if you hit China next month, okay?

[Via MP4nation]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The Professor rounds up a handful of interesting and informative gadget-related science stories from the week and presents them in an easily digestible liquid form.

Having trouble keeping your fingers, thumbs, or eyeballs on the pulse of modern science? Do you find yourself in the throes of panic due to misunderstandings in molecular goings-on? Did the latest aircar, split atom, or robotic insectoid go buzzing over your head before you had time to ready a response? Don’t worry friends, The Professor is here to help. Though not an actual scientist, professor, or even a college graduate, he can help guide you through the cascading, complicated, and spasmodic visionary vistas of human invention and achievement as smoothly as a hot knife descending into softened butter.

Continue reading The Professor: GM’s new old engine tech, moon mirrors, the dangers of space war debris

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Those wacky ad people. The last 6 months has seen the media world bombarded with TV ads, posters, celeb interviews and promos for a mysterious action TV series called ‘Scarlet’. Just this week though, the joke was revealed and it all turned out to be just a front for LG’s latest range of TVs, called Scarlet. Exciting, eh?

Anyway, now that the ad-folk have earned millions for this nonsense, we can tell you what all the fuss is about.

The Scarlet range is LG’s entrant in the emerging skinny, LCD TV market, with a waistline of just 45mm. Still, that’s fat compared to Hitachi’s supermodel TVs, the 35mm thick Wooo UT range, due here in a few weeks.

The Scarlet bit refers to the red TV rear and there’s a funky aperture hole surrounded by LEDs. Other tech trickery includes Intelligent Sensor, which adjusts the TV’s brightness depending on ambient light – like B&O’s Automatic Picture Control.

There’s also a raft of pre-set viewing modes and the facility to endlessly tweak the TV settings in Expert Mode for your own environment. Scarlet TVs will arrive in 32in, 37in, 42in and 47in flavours. All but the 32in are Full HD and prices start at around £700. See the key features and the hoax TV ad below.-Martin Lynch

Specifications
- HD Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080) Resolution
- TruMotion 100Hz (32”, 50Hz)
- More than 15,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
- Intelligent Sensor
- 24p TruCinema
- 4 HDMI (1.3 Deep Color)
- Invisible Speaker
- AV Modes (Cinema, Sports, Game)
- Expert Mode - allowing for extremely fine tuning of picture qualityLG sees Scarlet with new LCD TVs

TV LCD HDTV

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Some of you keen readers pieced all this together already, but that commercial you’ve been seeing about an “all new television series” dubbed Scarlet isn’t a new show at all; rather, it’s a risky move by LG to push its Scarlet LCD HDTVs. The sets themselves have been out and about already, and while the specifications aren’t anything to sneeze at, the displays aren’t nearly as seductive as the 30 second spot. The idea was crafted and put into motion by LG global brand marketing VP Kwan-Sup Lee and a team of advertising / marketing agencies, and while it refused to disclose exactly how much it has spent on the endeavor, it did affirm that it was “millions more than a typical product launch in the US.” Sure, we can appreciate the envelope pushing, but now that we’re all psyched about the show, it’s a bit of a letdown to know we’ll never actually be able to tune in. Check out the ad in its entirety after the jump.

Continue reading LG pushes Scarlet LCD HDTVs with completely unrelated commercial

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

There’s no other way to say it, DivX is on a roll in 2008 (that small Stage6 stumble is already a fading memory). If support from Blu-ray players and videogame consoles wasn’t enough, DivX Certification has snaked its long arm directly into HDTVs, with “over 80 models” from HP and LG slapping on a sticker indicating users can simply plug a USB drive in and play their entirely-legitimately-owned content. Expect that number to grow, since DivX is also working with AMD, Chips and Media, Broadcom and Trident to include support in other chipsets powering digital TVs near you. Now how about we see some of that content?

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Hitachi’s anorexic LCD TVs are coming to Comet next month. The 32in, 37in and 42in models in the company’s Wooo UT range, measure just 35mm from front to back - excluding stand - and make certain rival LCD tellys look like Jade Goody.

Since none of us will be able to buy big, ridiculously thin and expensive OLED TVs until 2009 or 2010, we’ll have to make do with LCDs on a diet. As well as being very thin the new Hitachi models, according to the company, are up to 50% lighter than rival LCD TVs with the 32in model weighing in at a fraction under 11Kg – very light indeed.

Bill Moir, Comet’s Head of Brown Goods, said:

“TV’s just keep getting thinner and customers have fully embraced the change from the big black boxes of yesteryear. We expect this new technology to fly off the shelves as people clamour to get their hands on this ground-breaking new bit of kit.”

All three models are Full HD but it’s unclear how many HDMI slots the TVs will have. In Japan they shipped with just one HDMI on the TV but with an optional media box containing the digital tuner, hard disk drive and spare HDMI inputs. There’s no media box for the UK so one would assume - hope - they’ll add some more HDMI ports to the TV.

If they come with less than two, they’ll be staying on Comet’s shelves, no matter how light they are. The TVs might be skinnier and lighter than their rivals but for every ounce lost another few quid has been added to the price with the 32in model expected to cost a staggering £1,300.-Martin Lynch

TV LCD HDTV

Original post by nafiz

Original post by Simon Perry

Original post by Simon Perry

Sony has announced the Handycam HDR-TG3E, claiming it to be the World’s smallest HD 1080 Camcorder - and judging by the photos we’ve had through, they’re more than likely right. The thing looks tiny.
Sized at little larger than a mobile phone (33 x 119 x 63.5mm and 283g), Sony say it’s the smallest, slimmest, lightest […]

Original post by Simon Perry

Sony has announced the Handycam HDR-TG3E, claiming it to be the World’s smallest HD 1080 Camcorder - and judging by the photos we’ve had through, they’re more than likely right. The thing looks tiny.
Sized at little larger than a mobile phone (33 x 119 x 63.5mm and 283g), Sony say it’s the smallest, slimmest, lightest […]

Original post by Simon Perry

Filed under: Laptops

Quite literally, we’ve been inundated with e-mails from Alienware Area-51 m15x owners who have shelled out thousands of bucks in order to take home a serious piece of gaming hardware, only to find that their machine is overheating and / or developing cracks in the frame for no apparent reason. If you’ll recall, this isn’t the first time the laptop aficionados over at Notebook Review got all worked up over an issue with the m15x, but it seems the latest round of quirks have pushed the community over the proverbial edge. So, have any of you out there awoke to see your machine slightly more damaged than it was the night before? Are things getting way to heated for anyone’s comfort? Let us know what’s up in comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Read - Area-51 m15x owners experience overheating and cracking issues
Read - Alienware’s reply to the issue (we’re warned it could be a hoax)

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a product proudly designed in Cupertino erupt, but it’s pretty safe to say this story could have had a much more tragic ending. Reportedly, an iPod nano owner recently awoke to a blaring fire alarm around 2:00AM, only to find his beloved PMP wrapped in flames on the bedroom floor. Thankfully, the fire was tiny enough to be extinguished without any major trouble, and no substantial damage of property or human flesh was tallied. As of now, we’ve no idea if the unit simply exploded or if surrounding circumstances are at least partly to blame, but you can bet your bottom dollar that be sleeping with one eye open (and on our media players) tonight.

[Thanks, Sandy]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Features, Laptops

It was inevitable, Apple’s got a bit of a new laptop design direction in the MacBook Air, and nothing’s going to stand in the way of the hordes of MacBook Pro Photoshops to follow. This one here is from spicu, and we’re afraid it leaves some proportionality “to the imagination,” but it’s as good we’ve got so far. Think you can do better? Submit yours to contests at engadget dawt com with “MBP mockup” in the subject and we’ll get a little gallery going. Optimists have Apple launching an update in February, and while that rumor might be a tad sketchy at the moment, there’s no better time than the present to make a bid for Photoshop greatness. Optometrists think you shouldn’t look at the computer screen so much. Oh, and there’s nothing up for grabs for the best mockup, only pride.

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Original post by Paul Miller