Blu-ray, Going Higher and Higher

Once one decides on purchasing a TV, an LCD TV, a Plasma TV or one of the top HDTVs under $500; the next in line would most probably be DVD Players. And with CDs and DVDs making way for Blu-Rays, the race for the top DVD Players has heated up. The Blu-Ray disc or just BD is an optical disc now widely used because of its great advantages; it can store more data compared to the standard CDs and DVDs and can record, rewrite and playback high-definition video.

This innovative idea is the brain child of a group known as the Blu-Ray Disc Association, which includes almost all the top manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers and recording media such as Apple, Dell, HP, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Walt Disney Pictures, Thomson and so on. Though today DVDs still rule the roost, Blu-Rays are not lagging behind. The famous movie studios have released movies on BDs along with the DVDs. Most of the top manufacturers have come up with DVD players that play Blu-Ray discs.

Blu-Ray discs will take some more time to gain popularity as it all depends upon how fast the BD format becomes widespread. But that shouldn’t daunt you in checking out the latest Blu-Ray DVD players and seeing the difference between BD and DVD.

Are LCDs the Most Shopped Around Gadget?

Almost all top-notch electronics manufacturers are into making new and different models of LCD TVs and they will continue to do so. Like always, branded products are the in thing and a LCD TV is the hottest among them as it is fast disappearing from the showrooms. All major manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Sony and Sharp have come up with different models.

The top 46 inch LCD TVs that include brands like Sceptre, Samsung, Hyundai and Sony are clear favorites among the consumers. Most manufacturers intend to invest on LCD TVs in the near future.

LCDs have superb picture quality and they consume lesser power. Another notable quality is that the issue of burn-in is relatively low or rather nil in LCDs making it a clear winner of the race. As far as affordability and life span is concerned, it is more or less the same as that of its competitors. Moreover it weighs less and is brighter compared to its greatest competitor, the Plasma TV. These are some of the significant features that make it one of the top shopped around gadgets.

Have Plasmas Really Lost their Charm?

A visit to a TV showroom is enough to let one know how far behind one is, if one is still thinking about a Plasma TV. Now is an age of LCD TVs. Most people looking for a TV, want to check out one among the Top 1080p LCD TVs. What’s so special about LCD TVs?

Plasmas which were hogging the limelight till recently have been replaced by LCD TVs. Plasma TVs which ruled the roost is now losing its preference among the consumers. When Plasma first made their appearance, there was such a craze that people joined the bandwagon without actually knowing the product inside out. It is surprising that how swiftly it’s lost its charm.

Both Plasma TVs and LCD TVs score points in terms of durability, affordability, performance, elegance and so on. And the only issue that keeps Plasmas behind is the burn-in issues. But this issue has been dealt with in the new models that are flooding the market now.

Gadget Rumors

Gadget watchers have come across a handful of unconfirmed and confirmed rumors about the latest gadgets and gear. Check out the hottest of rumors on gadgets...

BlackBerry Bold Available October 2nd

The wait is over. Just as the lines are beginning to clear at the AT&T store for the Apple iPhone, the traffic should increase again on October 2nd when rumor has it you’ll be able to pick up the highly praised BlackBerry Bold. According to the same sources you’ll be able to pre-order one as of September 24th.

Analysis: The BlackBerry Bold is a very real alternative to the iPhone especially for use in the Enterprise

New Kindle Won’t Be Home for Xmas

An Amazon spokesperson squashed speculation on an imminent next-gen Kindle.

Analysis: A new Kindle would make a great holiday gift but a Kindle gift certificate might be wiser this holiday season. The new Kindle now due in 2009 will supposedly correct some UI problems and offer an improved screen.

From Apple; Goggles not Googles

Imagine watching a movie, working on a large spreadsheet, or maneuvering around a virtual world without using a big screen display. Rumor has it that Apple and Sony are hard at work on a pair of goggles that will do just that. There is also a patent on file describing a laser-based display that you see right through like a pair of glasses when no image is being displayed.

Analysis: We predict that immersive head gear displays like this will eventually become commonplace.

Confirmed Rumor on Asus Eee PC 904

Apparently Asus listened to users’ complaints about the small keyboard on the Eee PC 901 and responded with the Eee PC 904 which puts a larger keyboard on an 8.9 inch display laptop. It’s available in the UK for about $460 U.S.

Analysis: Some user comments have criticized Asus for deviating from the 7 inch form factor and also note that you can get a pretty powerful laptop for about the same cost, but we can’t wait to get our hands on one of these little beauties.

iPhone Gamepad

Rumors are still getting play about Belkin’s involvement in an Apple “sanctioned” game pad as first reported by toucharcade.com(along with this photo). Reports have been circulating that this 8 button gamepad with audio output would be supported by the Apple SDK. So far it appears to be speculation.

Analysis: As long as it supplies some extra juice to extend battery life, we say an iPhone gamepad is a great idea.

New and Cool Gadgets of the Week

The coolest gadgets this week are some new cameras, console games, and an update on the much anticipated laser-based rear projection TV from Mitsubishi. There’s lot’s more coming up on gadgets; check out what’s new for this week.

Ultra Mobile Laptop from Fujitsu

Fujitsu announced a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) called the Lifebook U2010. It runs on an Intel Atom Z530 (1.6 GHz) processor, has a 5.6 inch 1024 x 768 screen, and claims an 8 hour battery life. It comes in many colors and includes a built-in webcam. The reported price of $1300 is quite a bit more expensive than the comparable $500 Asus Eee PC 901.

Two Cool New Nikons

The Nikon Coolpix S560 is expected to go on sale at the end of August and will sell for around $250. It’s a 10 MP compact camera with 5X optical zoom, ISO up to 3200, advanced face detection features and optical image stabilization. It will record 640 x 480 video at 30 fps.

The Nikon Coolpix P6000 is even cooler than the S560 (and twice as expensive at $500). It’s a 13.5 MP compact camera with 4X optical zoom and optical image stabilization. One feature you’re paying extra for is a built-in GPS that “geo-tags” your pictures. This camera could be the closest thing to an SLR that fits in your pocket.

Another Game for NVIDIA’s PhysX Engine

NVIDIA announced that CAPCOM’s upcoming Bionic Commando video game will use GPU-accelerated NVIDIA PhysX technology to enhance the game’s debris, smoke, dust, and weapon effects. Bionic Commando, which will be released by GRIN in early 2009 should offer super realistic images generated by the CUDA general-purpose parallel computing processor.

Batman Game Coming in 2009

A new videogame from Eidos Interactive called Batman: Arkham Asylum will be made available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Games for Windows in 2009. The game is being developed by Rocksteady Studios and puts players in the role of Batman as he delivers the Joker to Arkham Asylum.

New Thinkpad for Digital Artists

The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 has a big bright 17-inch screen but only weighs just 8.4 pounds. The Quad-core Extreme chip should provide lots of horsepower. The W700 is the first laptop with an integrated color-calibration system using a set of built-in color sensors along with an onboard Wacom graphics tablet. This laptop won’t be cheap, costing $3,000 before adding the extras and may go for as much as $7500 fully loaded. It’s due to go on sale in September.

News on the Much Anticipated Laser RPTV

The hype is for a projection TV with an extensive range of colors and the best depth of field of any display technology. Add to that a claimed 75% reduction in power over an LCD TV along with a 50,000-hour life span. Sound impressive? A handful of reporters were given a sneak peak at this TV at the 2008 CES and they were impressed by what they saw. Mitsubishi says they will offer a 65” Laser DLP set called LaserVue in September. The price could be less than $2,000.

Options to Consider when Buying a Smartphone

Contenders for the Best Smartphone Crown are Few and Far Between
No question about it, the iPhone is a wonderful gadget. In fact, it’s really more like a computer that fits in your pocket and just so happens to make phone calls and the number of fun iPhone apps is growing by the day. However, as good as it is, it’s not perfect and there are a couple of competitors to consider when shopping for a smartphone.

There are many cell phones with similar features like touch screens and accelerometers but none has come close to the iPhone. There are, however, two brand new phones that we consider to be serious contenders; the new Blackberry Bold should be the darling of the enterprise crowd while the Nokia E71 offers a lot of features missing in the iPhone.

Blackberry Bold
The Blackberry Bold also known as the Blackberry Bold 9000 is just now, starting to appear in markets outside North America and early reviews indicate this smartphone is going to be a winner.

The BlackBerry Bold has a big 480 x 320, dense pixel per inch, color display which some say looks better than the iPhone. In addition to having all the latest bells and whistles like 3G, WiFi, A-GPS (Blackberry Maps included), stereo Bluetooth, QWERTY keyboard, and microSDHC expansion slot, this phone gets high marks for style and design (some say it even resembles an iPhone). The BlackBerry Bold also features an improved Web browser that renders pages fast. It has a 2 MP camera like the iPhone but also, like the iPhone, no forward-facing camera. It also comes with BlackBerry Desktop Manager including Roxio PhotoSuite 9 LE and the new BlackBerry Media Sync application which lets users sync their BlackBerry with their iTunes music collection.

The Nokia E71
One reviewer called the Nokia E71, “the best phone Nokia has made to date.” The Nokia E71, at 10 mm is thinner than the iPhone by a millimeter. Nokia says it’s the thinnest QWERTY smartphone.
Besides all the latest features like 3G and GSM radios, the Nokia E71 includes Assisted GPS (A-GPS), WiFi, a 3.2 MP camera with LED flash, a forward facing camera, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, a microSD slot and an FM radio. It lacks an accelerometer and a TV-out port. The 2.4 inch QVGA (320 x 240) screen doesn’t get as high marks as the Blackberry Bold and is smaller then iPhone's 3.5 inch screen and reviewers say the QWERTY keyboard is a bit on the small size.

Windows Mobile Phones to Watch For
To round out the group of contenders we felt we needed to include a Windows Mobile-based phone or two but we also wonder if they are going to have what it takes to take on the iPhone. Hey, at least you can run Flash applications.

Samsung BlackJack III
The BlackJack III just started selling in Korea for around $600. It supposedly runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, has a 3 MP camera. 528 MHz processor, GPS and WiFi. Some say the BlackJack III will be a Samsung i788 running Windows Mobile.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is an impressive looking phone using an "arc slider design" where the screen slides up to expose a curved QWERTY keyboard. It has a large 3 inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen display, a 3.2 MP camera, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, A-GPS, WiFi, and a microSD slot.

Conclusion
We have to admit, it’s a tough call. Blackberry has a large number of loyal users who, we’re sure, have been considering making the switch to iPhone but the Blackberry Bold might be enough make keep them in the Blackberry camp. The Nokia E71 seems to have it all, reviewers love it, and there are a ton of Symbian apps to run on it but it’s a close call between it and the iPhone.

Five Gadgets No Student Should Ever Need at School

With the cost of a higher education growing every year, you wouldn't want to see a minute of school time wasted on frivolous activities. There will be plenty of time for TV watching and game playing during school breaks. In that spirit, unrealistic as it may be, we suggest some gadgets that might be counter productive at academia.

1. High End Laptop
A high end laptop like the MacBook Air or Voodoo Envy gaming laptop is almost guaranteed to be lost, stolen, dropped, damaged, or have beer spilled on it. Game machine just means easier to play games on instead of studying, why even introduce the temptation?

2. Desktop Gaming Machine
It might make more sense to leave the over-clocked, tweaked out, game machine at home and send your student off to school with a less expensive laptop. There won’t be the temptation to game the nights away instead of hitting the books and you won’t have to worry about the machine getting stolen.

3. TIVO
Sure, someone might be able to add a few minutes to their day by fast forwarding through the commercials but we say the less TV, the more studying. Don’t get us wrong Tivos are great products we just don’t think they belong in dorm rooms.

4. Game Console
Maybe they got through high school dividing time between studying and game playing but college is serious and we say leave the PS3 or Xbox at home, at least for the first semester. The only exception might be Nintendo’s Wii since you can get exercise with it and even socialize while using it.

5. Segway
Okay, so it’s long shot that you could even afford one of these but we just wanted to put a plug in for some human-powered form of transportation, namely, a bicycle.