Sony BRAVIA XBR8 HDTV is I4U Top 100 Holiday Gift Guide Tip #12

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Sony is offering with the 2008 XBR 8-Series a new top of the line LCD HDTV featuring the new TRILUMINOS three-color LED backlight.
The XBR 8-series include the 46 inch KDL-46XBR8 and 55 inch KDL-55XBR8. If you want to treat your eyes to a visual feast this Holidays than the XBR 8 is a great choice.
Features of the Sony Bravia XBR8 include MotionFlow 120Hz, Bravia Engine 2 PRO, ACE Pro, x.v.Color, 10-bit processor, 24p True Cinema, DMe, XMB UI, four HDMI ports and Ethernet. Read more

Posted on Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA announces first Nano-ITX Board with VIA VX800

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VIA today announced the VIA EPIA N700 Nano-ITX board, designed as a complete solution for compact industrial PC and embedded automation devices.
Featuring a 1.5GHz VIA C7 or 500MHz VIA Eden processor, the VIA EPIA N700 is the first Nano-ITX board to feature the latest VIA VX800 media system processor, offering system designers the perfect balance of miniaturization and functionality. Read more

Posted on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:40:33 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Intel Atom versus VIA Nano Platform

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Tweaktown published a comparison of the Intel Atom and the Via Nano platform.
Quote from the review: "While we concentrate on this sector, the focus is now moving towards the lower end of the spectrum. VIA has really cornered this market in the past when it came to ultra compact PCs; EPIA has been VIA’s biggest success and with the evolution of the VIA processors, each generation has gotten just that little bit more capable. Now Intel has seen just how popular this is, we finally have some competition in this sector. Read more

Posted on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA Nano L2100 versus Intel Atom 230

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Hothardware compares two new contenders in the low power portable CPU arena. Via Nano takes on the Intel Atom CPU in this comparison.

Quote: "VIA caused quite a stir a few months ago when the company first revealed initial details regarding their low-power Nano processor. At the time, the product was referred to by its internal codename of Isaiah and the president of the design center that was tasked with making the processor was decidedly outspoken, which made for some exciting reporting. When news of the Isaiah core first broke, we hopped on the line with Glenn Henry, VIA's Centaur design center president, and got many questions answered regarding the processor's architecture, features, expected performance, and the company's plans for the CPU. We also covered the official announcement of the VIA Nano processor and detailed the exact models that would be available at launch. One thing we hadn't been able to do, however, was a direct performance comparison of the VIA Nano processor versus Intel's recently released Atom, which is target at the same market segment. Read more

Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:00:24 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Time Warner Cable Lets Users Share Pictures via Set Top Boxes

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Time Warner Cable in North Texas has announced a new service for all of its subscribers that have digital cable and Road Runner High Speed Internet. The new service allows people to shoot pictures on their cameras, send them to their PC and then enable the pictures to be shared via any Time Warner set top box.

The service is called PhotoShowTV and once users set up their online albums they can be viewed by family and friends on channel 699 on the cable box. Personal PhotoShow's will be available within 48 hours of being posted by the user. It’s not clear how the PhotoShow limits access to users not approved to see the photos. Read more

Posted on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:28:23 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Step Brothers Standee in Theaters Give Free Voicetones via Bluetooth

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Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s new film Step Brothers is giving cell phone users with a Bluetooth handset the ability to download free voice tones right from the theater standee advertisement. Moviegoers at 50 different Regal Entertainment Group theaters can get the voice tones free by downloading them from the standee.

The standee has a family album with candid photos of the family as they blend and is equipped with bluecasting media servers to distribute the voice tones. Four different lines from the movie are being offered. One free voicetone can be received via a text message as well as checking out the movie website. Read more

Posted on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:36:48 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Matsushita to sell Home Hydrogen Fuel Cells via Gas Suppliers

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Matsushita (soon Panasonic) has apparently formed deals with gas suppliers in Japan to sell their home hydrogen fuel cells.

Tokyo Gas Co., Toho Gas Co. and Saibu Gas Co. are supposedly in the deal. It makes total sense for Matsushita to partner with gas companies as they use gas to generate hydrogen.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 1 Jul 2008 02:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New VIA EPIA P700 Pico-ITX Board unveiled

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VIA Technologies today announced the VIA EPIA P700 Pico-ITX board that couples more features within a streamlined, ultra compact footprint designed for low profile systems, with extended I/O port options through two companion boards.

The VIA Pico-ITX board features native S-ATA II support, Gigabit LAN, and support for GPIO, SM bus and LPC devices.
The 10cm x 7.2cm VIA EPIA P700 is based on the VIA VX700 unified digital media IGP chipset and is powered by a 1GHz VIA C7 or fanless 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor. An integrated power adapter coupled with the 5-volt S-SATA power cable negates the need for a separate power daughterboard, saving considerable space for ultra compact systems. Read more

Posted on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:57:57 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Western Digital Launches Caviar Black

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WDtoday launched its new line of WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM 3.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for high-performance desktop, workstation and multi-drive systems.
The Caviar Black will be available in capacities of 750 GB and 1 TB.

WD's new 'blue, green, black' product system enables customers to choose the right drive for them. WD Caviar Blue represents the performance and reliability that WD has been building for over 20 years, the WD Caviar Green employs WD's GreenPower technology for cool, quiet and eco-friendly operation, while the WD Caviar Black family of hard drives delivers maximum performance for today's discriminating technology enthusiasts. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:50:44 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA demos Crysis on Nano 1.8GHz CPU in Mini-ITX Board

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Tweaktown reports from a VIA demo from Computex 2008. VIA showed Crysis running on the new VIA Nano on a Mini-ITX board.

Quote from the report: "Now that VIA has officially announced its codenamed Isaiah processor called Nano, it can begin showing off just exactly what it is capable of doing. Read more

Posted on Sun, 8 Jun 2008 11:05:20 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Sony BRAVIA XBR6, XBR7 and XBR8 Series LCD HDTVs

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Sony unveiled seven new BRAVIA XBR flat-panel LCD HDTVs including models with Triluminos LED backlight and local dimming for outstanding black-level reproduction and unmatched contrast.

The new models expand the BRAVIA LCD line up to 30 models ranging in screen size from 19- to 70- inches measured diagonally. The BRAVIA XBR models represent Sony’s premium line, delivering the latest features and the pinnacle of picture quality. Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Jun 2008 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Youtube now on Sony BRAVIA Internet Video Link Service

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Sony announced today that YouTube is the latest online video provider to join the company’s BRAVIA Internet Video Link service. The service went live today providing BRAVIA Internet Video Link users access to millions of videos on YouTube at no additional charge.

The BRAVIA Internet Video Link is a small module that attaches to the back of a selection of the company’s 2007 and 2008 BRAVIA LCD flat-panel television models.
The service seamlessly streams on-demand entertainment including movies, TV programs, your favorite YouTube videos and a variety of other free content as well as news, weather and traffic information via an existing Ethernet connection without the use of a personal computer. Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Jun 2008 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony HT-IS100 BRAVIA Theater Micro System

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Sony introduced the HT-IS100 BRAVIA Theater Micro System in the States.

The HT-IS100 features 5 small speakers roughly the size of a golf ball or strawberry as you can see in the photo.

The system includes three 1080p HDMI inputs with repeater functionality and support for eight channels of uncompressed audio. The HT-IS100 is an ideal complement for Blu-ray Disc players, PS3 consoles and other high-definition sources. Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Jun 2008 03:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Yahoo delivers Search Toolbar via Software Packager

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By Eric Auchard

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has inked a deal to expand distribution of its Web search services on personal computers via a pact with software packaging firm Acresso Software, the companies said on Thursday.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:39:08 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA unveils Mini-ITX 2.0

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VIA Technologies announced a new standard for Mini-ITX boards: Mini-ITX 2.0.

At the core of the VIA Mini-ITX 2.0 is a high performance yet power efficient x86 processor, such as the VIA Nano processor announced last week, to provide all the horsepower necessary for running the latest applications and operating systems in a space-constrained environment. To maximize flexibility in configuring mini PC systems for today's increasingly immersive graphics and high definition visual computing environments, such as advanced DirectX 10 graphics and Blu-ray Disc playback, Mini-ITX 2.0 also defines a 16-lane PCI Express slot as a prerequisite, enabling the integration of a high performance graphics add-in card. Read more

Posted on Thu, 5 Jun 2008 02:27:11 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA Nano CPU revealed

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Today VIA Technologies announced the new VIA Nano processor family based on the VIA Isaiah Architecture. The VIA Nano is aimed to compete with the Intel Atom CPUs.

The VIA Nano processor family offers as much as four times the performance within the same power range of the VIA C7. The VIA Nano is pin compatibility with VIA C7 processors, which will ensure a smooth transition for OEMs and motherboard vendors, and provides them with an easy upgrade path for current system or board designs. Read more

Posted on Thu, 29 May 2008 03:46:56 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA Announces OpenBook Mini-Note Reference Design

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VIA pulled the wraps off its new OpenBook mini-notebook reference design today. The ultra mobile platform is powered by the VIA C7-M ULV processor and the new all-in-one VIA VX800 IGP chipset. The screen for the reference design is 8.9-inches and the device weighs a bit over 1KG.

A flexible internal interface allows the design to use a wide variety of broadband wireless connectivity options like WiMAX, HSPDA, and EV-DO. VIA says that it is also providing OEMs with CAD files for the exterior of the device to allow them to customize the external looks of the machine. Read more

Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 12:50:36 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

3G iPhone arrived already in Millions via Container Shipments?

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ImportGenius is a U.S. Customs Database search company and it looks like they have a "Genius" in marketing. On a new blog entry on their site they analyzed U.S. Customs data to identify the possible shipments of 3G iPhones from Asia to the United States.

Apparently Apple important millions of units of a product declared as "electric computers" starting in mid-March from Quanta. If it is the 3G iPhone is just a guess, it could also be a new product category - maybe the rumored Apple MID. Read more

Posted on Sat, 24 May 2008 00:45:27 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IBM to offer Business Intelligence via BlackBerry

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BOSTON (Reuters) - IBM said on Wednesday it has started selling software that lets customers access its Cognos business intelligence software via BlackBerry mobile devices.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 14 May 2008 12:23:30 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Order Godiva Chocolate via Your BlackBerry

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What if you are out and about and you get a serious hankering for some Godiva Chocolate? You can hunt around or possibly settle for lesser chocolate from a gas station. But if your palette is just too refined for mortal Hershey’s and you have a BlackBerry phone you are in luck.

Godiva has announced a new mobile application that you can download for your BlackBerry phone. The application is called Godiva Mobile and is powered by Digby. The application allows you to get quick access to Godiva’s best sellers, complete shopping transactions in less than 30 seconds, and read product descriptions and get full color images. Read more

Posted on Thu, 1 May 2008 14:00:07 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

WD Caviar RE2 GreenPower 1TB HDD Review

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Hothardware published a review of the Western Digital Caviar and RE.2 GreenPower 1TB hard drive.

Quote from the review: "In addition to their large capacities, these drives offer a number of proprietary features designed to lower their power consumption and acoustic profiles, like IntelliPower, IntelliSeek, IntelliPark, and in the RE.2's case RAFF (Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward). Read more

Posted on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr