It looks like Apple may have one more upgrade in store for its next-gen iMacs than previously expected, as AppleInsider is now reporting that the systems will come bundled with a newly-designed keyboard to match their supposed slim new look. Citing “people familiar with the project,” AppleInsider says that the new “super-slim” keyboard will take its inspiration from those used on the latest MacBooks (seen above), which should please some more than others. Nothing more specific than that, unfortunately, although if the rumored August launch date is true, we shouldn’t have to wait too much longer to check ‘em out first hand.
It’s all coming so fast. No sooner does Sony fess up to August price cuts than we start hearing tell of a response from the 360 camp, and now it sounds like Sony has even more goodies for the PS3 faithful. First off is a Circuit City memo that got forwarded to us showing those price cuts indeed happening today. It’ll get advertised next week, but if those shelf jockeys are doing their jobs, you should supposedly be able to walk into a Circuit City right this minute and walk out with a brand new 60GB PS3 for $499. To add further drama to the situation, people are taking clues from the 80GB PS3 box as proof of the inclusion of a “Rumblaxis” (fancy new word courtesy of PS3 Fanboy) controller being included with the new system that’s set to launch in August. People are conjecturing the red light on the Home button is a clue to such rumble functionality, and eagle-eyed readers have also noted that the “Contents” section of the box has more text describing the SIXAXIS item than can be found on the 60GB box. To be honest, we’re not spotting the difference, but feel free to make up your own mind with the links provided below. Check out the Circuit City memo after the break.
While it’s not entirely clear how it works, industrial design student Andreas Zachariah claims that his Carbon Hero concept device here will one day keep tabs on your carbon footprint, and he’s taken home a prize at the BSI Sustainability Design Awards for his efforts. Supposedly, the device uses “sophisticated sensors” to automatically identify the various forms of transportation you make use of “by virtue of their relative location, velocity and the pattern of their activity.” That information then gets offloaded onto a PC or cellphone where you can track just how wasteful your are and calculate the number of carbon offsets you need to purchase to make up for it — just don’t hold your breath for getting one anytime soon.
Could LG be prepping another touch interface handset like its KE-850 Prada from earlier in the year? Word is the new handset will definitely (by definitely we mean, definitely possible) be sporting GSM, UMTS, and potentially HSDPA — all in unknown bands, of course. Apparently LG’s new device is based on Windows Mobile 6, takes it shape cues from the Samsung Blackjack, and comes a packin’ WiFi as at least one of its alternate connectivity options. Fitted with only the two call keys, and trimmed with chrome — or chromed plastic — it should be a sassy bit of work. We look forward to its rumored roll out this September.
We’re not sure whether this is the 8820 we played with a while back, but the ID label documentation for this newcomer to the FCC’s ranks shows a crappy rendering of a quadband GSM device that certainly looks in line with the 8800 series. For end users, that means we can expect a WiFi-equipped ‘Berry that lacks the Curve’s sex appeal, but may very well be the average business user’s dream come true — especially considering the inclusion of 802.11a alongside b and g (or so the SAR report alleges, anyway) and the probable lack of an integrated cam. No word on a release, but business focus aside, this would look pretty nice in T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home lineup, would it not?
Let’s face it: the prototypical handset user isn’t apt to favor advertising much at all, but a recent research study commissioned by mobile media publisher MoMac found that owners seemed to prefer the tried and true text-based flavor when all was said and done. More specifically, 56-percent of the 1,400 surveyed favored text-based ads, while picture / banner ads came in as the second most popular with a thumbs-up given by some 29-percent of respondents. Interestingly, a quarter of the males in the crowd preferred video advertising over all other methods, and the 16-to-24 age group was found to like video ads nearly twice as much as those 55 years or older. So, how’s about you, dear readers? Do the less invasive text-based plugs gather your love more often than those oh-so-tempting videos?
It’s hard to tell if these extendable-arm laptops will ever cross over into the real mainstream, but our choices certainly aren’t dwindling. Haier’s latest is a 12.1-inch ultraportable, the V60, which packs in a 1280 x 800 display, ULV Core 2 Duo processor, 945GMS chipset, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD. At 1-inch thick, there’s still room for a slim super-multi optical drive and ExpressCard slot, and the 1.3 megapixel webcam is always a nice touch. No word on price or availability, but at least we’ve got some confirmed Transformers functionality — that G70 is just a poser.
The US Defense Department is looking to lighten the load soldiers have to lug around in order to keep all their gear powered, and its hoping the general public can help them do it. To that end, the DoD’s gone and busted out a DARPA-style competition, with a million dollars in prize money in store for the winner. They’ll have their work cut out for them though, as the competition demands that the power supply be half the weight of current systems while still providing the same amount of power (or more). That translates to a system that weighs no more than 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) and provides enough power for 96 hours of operation, with a peak power requirement of 200W for short periods. Even if you don’t come out on top, you’ll still have a shot at the $500,000 and $250,000 prizes for second and third place, although you’ll have to get your act together pretty quickly: the cut-off date for registration is in November of this year, with the whole thing set to wrap up a year after that.
While it can’t claim to be the first quad-core laptop, Pioneer Computers’ new DreamBook Power D90 SLI can at least claim to be one of the few. This rebranded 17-inch Phantom D900C hails from Australia, and although it features a lot of the same gear — like the 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600, dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 or 8800 cards in SLI, and up to three (yes, three) hard drives which can operate in RAID 0/1/5 — it’s not exactly identical. The company will build these to order, but the base model is considerably stripped down, sporting a measly Core 2 Duo and only 512MB of RAM. To step up to the full on Quad Core experience it’s going to cost you (somewhere near $8000 AU, or $6878 US), but who can put a price on lap-searing, jaw-dropping, nosebleed power?
It always warms our hearts to see some solid device / service integration on the non-Apple side of things, and now iriver and Real are getting all cozy with the new clix Rhapsody player. Based on the gen 2 clix PMP, the player includes Rhapsody-specific functions such as album art and editorial reviews, along with features to let you to rate songs on the device and discover new music via personalized channels that get loaded each time you hook up to the service — similar to what can be found on the Sansa Rhapsody. The player costs $190 for 4GB of storage and is available now online, but the best news is a firmware upgrade available at iriver’s site that brings all these functions to your current second-gen clix for free.