The guys at TomTom accidentally leaked an ad for their new Rider 2, a GPS unit for motorcycles and scooters. Not that many details were revealed from the Flash animation (other than the fact the Rider 2 will have a redesigned mount), but if it follows in its predecessor’s footsteps, chances are the Rider 2 will be water resistant, feature built-in Bluetooth, and sell for around $600, though hopefully TomTom gave their pricing a redesign too.
Shuttle rather obviously has a new PC coming out for their line, called CarPC. I bet you can’t guess why they named it that. The PC measures in at 279 x 230 x 70-mm and features the ability to automatically shut itself down gracefully when you turn off your vehicle. Shuttles Fin chassis holds a 1.83Ghz Intel T2400 Core Duo Processor, and it’s supposed to have an HD. No word if it’s shock proof, but one can only hope. Along with Intel’s GMA 950 graphics and 7.1 audio out. This will also have DVI out and 4x USB ports. All the outputs are put on one side so you could hide it in a dash, or an armrest to gain access to the ports. No price point yet, but still kind of sexy.
Even with certain forms of e-ink displays starting to appear into real world settings it’s still unlikely that you’ll meet someone on the street with some e-ink tech. E-ink is just too expensive, and regular people can’t dream of getting their hands on it for a while. The closest we could get is peeks at the E ink blueChute e-ink tablet. Even though it’s a good for something like a newspaper. Anything that could be or is written on paper could be transfered to this, to an interesting style considering it’s run with flash memory.
Eventually it had to happen. The media was too split, and people wanted all the channels on one company, but did anyone think it would really happen? Honestly, I didn’t. However, the New York Post is reporting that after this weekend both companies sat in and hammered out details that would facilitate both companies becoming one larger radio company. The deal isn’t exactly solid, both companies got the better details out, while keeping things like FCC for later. Sadly the FCC has been known to be ball busters and could throw a wrench in the whole plans, keeping them from merging. The prospect of Eminem and Oprah on the same radio dial, or Howard stern and the MLB. All the college channels and playboy in the same place? Too perfect, rumors are it could take up to 15 months to make them one service though, so don’t hold your breath
The ExeMode CDR-300 mini stereo system is a cheap boombox from Japanese company KFE with a single redeeming quality: you put in a CD and it turns its cuts into MP3 or WMA files, slamming them down onto an SD card or USB key.
Unfortunately, for some reason the ExeMode can’t handle SD cards that hold over 1GB. That sucks, but perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his box is its price, quoted at $60. We abandoned CDs long ago, but if you haven’t, this might be a convenient way to quickly snag some of those songs on a flash card.
According to Microsoft’s business chief Chris Stephenson, the company is planning on working with retail chains to provide “filling stations” for the Zune. Fast food service stores like McDonalds, Starbucks and other Affiliates will let you download the songs you are listening to right from the store.
Imagine going to your late teens/early twenties clothing store, hearing a great song over the speakers, and being able to immediately download the track to your Zune right there. No need to walk up to the snarky cashier and ask her what the song is. This is just one way Microsoft is trying to make a dent in the Apple mp3 control.
Bargain PDA has a review of the new HP rx1950 Pocket PC and after reading through it I think it is almost time for me to make my move towards a PDA or smartphone. I already have to phones and don’t feel like going through the hassle of renewing contracts and all of that, but also don’t think I am up to carrying around three different devices.
I could actually say something about these, but I was so shocked to even see another MD player released this year, let alone the same day as Sony’s that there isn’t much for me to say. I mean, MD players are still MD players.
– via Newlaunches
Yesterday Palm launched its new business-oriented PDA, the Palm TX. It replaces the Tungsten T5, which from what I understand wasn’t doing too hot, with WLAN capabilities, but with only half the memory (128MB). Doesn’t make much sense, even if they are trying to lower the price. RAM can’t be that expensive in that size.
Overall nothing spectacular, another mediocre product launch by a company to keel over very, very soon.
The new ZVUE features on-board flash memory, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and will be compatible with Windows Media Video (WMV) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) DRM. The next generation ZVUE will also support SD/MMC flash memory cards in addition to the built-in storage.
Okay let’s go over what is completely wrong with this thing.
- It’s ugly.
- Only compatible with Windows technolgoy.
- It’s ugly.
- Doesn’t come out till January, so why even bother announcing it now?
- It’s ugly and doesn’t look like it would fun to use.
- Stupid name.