Monthly Archives: February 2009
Nintendo DSi Arriving In The U.S. April 5th
The Nintendo DSi is the third version of the Nintendo DS handheld. The handheld was first introduced on October 2, 2008 at the Nintendo Conference in Tokyo. Although the DSi is currently only available in Japan, it plans on arriving to the U.S. on April 5, 2009. The MSRP will be $169.99 and will be available in Blue and Black as pictured above.
“Ever since the arrival of the first Game Boy, consumers worldwide have turned to Nintendo for their portable gaming,” stated Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Nintendo DSi builds on Nintendo’s commitment to bringing fun and creative entertainment to everyone, and will allow consumers to personalize and share their very own experiences.”
The Nintendo DSi comes with two cameras. One camera is in the external body and the second camera appears when flipping the device. The Nintendo DSi is the first gaming console that has an interactive camera with 10 different “lenses” that lets you manipulate photos.
The Nintendo DSi has a built-in Sound application that comes with a voice recorder and music player. Players can listen to their music devices while playing the DSi. There are several audio filters that control recorded voice and music while playing games on the DSi.
[via Nintendo press release]
Categories Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo, Nintendo DSi
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Spice Up Your USB Drive With The Chili 4GB USB Memory Stick
This is the type of product that would get Paris Hilton to say “That’s hot.” The USB Spicy Chili Pepper 4GB USB Flash Drive memory stick costs $12.99 with $5 shipping at $2 shipping for each item after that. The Spicy Chili 4GB USB Memory Stick supports USB 1.0 and 2.0. It works on plug and play, weights 15g, and is made out of rubber. If the chili pepper doesn’t suit you, then SourcingMap.com has a plethora of other USB devices like a pink bone, a watermelon, and a happy face.
Check out their website for more details.
Categories Sourcingmap.com
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The Samsung Show Mobile Phone Has A Built-In Projector
The Samsung Show i7410 model will have a project built in. The Show’s projector is powered by Texas Instruments’ DLP pico technology. You would think that having this technology built-in would causes the phone to be bulky, but it is pretty compact. The Samsung Show can project a projectro’s image with a range from 5-50 inches with a 480×320 resolution. It has a 3.2″ WQVGA touchscreen built in to the phone. The Show also has a 5PM camera. The Samsung Show will be introduced in Asia and Europe shortly, but no word yet on when it will be introduced in the U.S.
To see a video demo, check out Engadget.
Categories Samsung Electronics Inc., Samsung Show
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Canon Introduces The SELPHY CP780 Portable Photo Printer
Canon has introduced a new line of portable photo printers in three different colors. The Selphy CP780 features fast print speeds, high image quality, Face Detection brightness, color correction, an SD card reader, a Canon BU-30 Bluetooth Adaptor, and a USB cord reader.
“Canon SELPHY printers have consistently provided consumers with high-quality images at a reasonable price,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, SVP and GM of Canon’s Consumer Imaging Group. “Now with the three different color variations, users will not only be able to share their memorable moments but also their own unique style.”
A 4×6 photo print can be completed within 47 seconds and the device comes equipped with a 2.5″ LCD screen to display the thumbnails. The device will retail at $99.99. Additional battery packs are about $79.99.
[via Canon press release]
Categories Canon, Canon SELPHY CP780
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Ten One Design’s $7.95 SoundClip Amplifies The iPhone Sound
Ten One Design has created a way to boost the sound for your iPhone 3G. Ten One Design has created a passive sound enhancement product called the SoundClip. The SoundClip increases sound by about 10dB with signal between 6kHz and 20kHz. This would be useful to people that especially love to listen to music through the built-in speaker, but the device just gets in the way of iPhone gamers in landscape mode.
Storing the SounClip is simple. There is a cord-gripping feature that keeps it fastened to your iPhone charge cable during syncing and charging. To buy the device, visit Ten One’s website here.
Categories Ten One Design, Ten One Design SoundClip
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AT&T and Pantech Announce The Matrix Pro
AT&T and Pantech Wireless today has announced the introduction of the Pantech Matrix Pro. The Matrix Pro will be available starting February 24 on AT&T. The phone will has a dual-sliding QWERTY keyboard and a sliding dialpad interface. The Matrix Pro has a new, sleek design with a larger LCD screen. The text message system will be chat style just like the iPhone and it comes with tri-band 3G support. The Matrix Pro has more memory, a faster processor, an upgraded camera, and AT&T Video Share calling.
“The Matrix Pro is a fantastic-looking device and a significant evolution in this dual-sliding family of phones,” stated Michael Woodward, VP of Smart Devices for AT&T Mobility. “We’ve seen the Matrix become a hit with consumers, and the Matrix Pro will appeal to anyone who wants a powerful smartphone with a great design.”
The Matrix Pro in a steel-blue metallic finish will be available at AT&T stores and online for $179.99 after a 2 year service agreement and $50 mail in rebate.
[via AT&T press release]
Categories AT&T, Michael Woodward, Pantech, The Matrix Pro
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Archos 10 Netbook Now Available Starting At $399
Archos has announced that they have unleashed a new Netbook. It was rumored to be arriving in April, but it is available now. The specs of the Netbook include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU processor with up to 1GB of RAM. The screen is 10″ and can support a 1024×600 resolution. The netbook runs onf Windows XP and the starting price is $399. Here are some additional specs:
-Video chipset is Integrated 945GSE
-HDD 160GB
-Realtek ALC662 Audio with 2 stereo speakers and built in mic
-3xUSB 2.0, 1xVGA, 1×card reader port (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO) incl. HDHC support, 1×DC-IN jack, 1×Mic input, 1×Audio output, 1×RJ-45 LAN, Slot for Kensington lock
-Integrated 1.3MP webcam
-258 mm x 189 mm x 28 mm
-Less than 1.3 Kg (2.86 lbs.) with battery (for 3 cells)
To buy this sucker, go to the Archos website here.
Categories Archos, Archos 10 Netbook
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Canon PowerShot SX1 IS Coming To The U.S. In April With 20x Ultra-Zoom
Here’s one for the photo enthusiast in you. Canon will be introducing the PowerShot SX1 IS with 20X Ultra-Zoom to the U.S. starting in April. The company introduced the camera at the PhotoKina 2008 conference, but it was only made available in the European markets.
The camera comes with a DIGIC IV image sensor, a 2.8″ swivel LCD display, and 28-560mm (35mm equivalent) focus range. The optics in the focus range has an anti-blur stabilizer that has been improved for up to 4 stops of light. With the 20X zoom lens, you can literally zoom into an up-close shot of an insect. The camera will also have RAW capture. The cost of the camera will be about $599 when it arrives in April.
Categories Canon, Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
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The Pirate Bay: Day 3 Of The Trial Includes Arguments About King Kong And The Beatles
“Is the Colonel’s underwear a matter of national security?” That is my favorite line from the movie, A Few Good Men. Tom Cruise’s wittiness in that movie reminds me of the wittiness used by the lawyer for The Pirate Bay during this potentially long and arduous trial. The third day of the trial ended early just like yesterday’s day of the trial. Yesterday 50% of the charges were dropped because of the prosecution’s lack of the ability to properly explain what BitTorrent was.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) used an argument that damages caused by The Pirate Bay offering The Beatles’ song “Let It Be” through a torrent should be 10 times the damage since the music is available anywhere else online. The Pirate Bay doesn’t have the funds and cannot pay the damages for offering that song even though Peter Danowsky stated that The Pirate Bay is “organized crime on a grand scale” and netted “significant revenus” from various sources of advertising.
“If I have all this money they claim, someone has apparently stolen it from me,” stated The Pirate Bay’s co-founder Peter Sunde on Twitter. Peter Danowsky said that even if The Pirate Bay doesn’t have all that money, they can pay a lot of it anyway.
“EU directive 2000/31/EG says that he who provides an information service is not responsible for the information that is being transferred. In order to be responsible, the service provider must initiate the transfer. But the admins of The Pirate Bay don’t initiate transfers. It’s the users that do and they are physically identifiable people. They call themselves names like King Kong,” stated Carl Lundström’s lawyer Per E Samuelsson. “According to legal procedure, the accusations must be against an individual and there must be a close tie between the perpetrators of a crime and those who are assisting. This tie has not been shown. The prosecutor must show that Carl Lundström personally has interacted with the user King Kong, who may very well be found in the jungles of Cambodia.” Lundström’s company provides technical services to The Pirate Bay. After this statement the court adjourned.
Sunde later reported on Twitter that after the court was adjourned, “We had some pizza after todays episode of #spectrial. Met the whole oposing side and asked if they could pick up the check. They refused 
.”
Viacom Wants Jackass.com Domain Name, But Future Media Architects Won’t Give It To Them
The Jackass TV show on MTV started in 2000. The show grew popular and ended up launching a movie series owned by MTV parent company Viacom. Anyone that has registered domain names before also knows how important it is to secure the .com for their business name right away. Future Media Architects has made things a lot more difficult for people that want to buy the .com for their business name including the Jackass franchise.
Future Media Architects is known as a cyber-squatter, a company that buys domain names and doesn’t put any content on it… only advertisements. Future Media Architects (FMA) won’t hand Jackass.com to Viacom because they plan to create a website for it about donkeys and “their contributions to society.” The World Intellectual Property Organization knew that the FMA was full of it but decided that they cannot hand Jackass.com over to Viacom.
Future Media Architects owns 100,000 domain names, many of which only have ads on them. FMA is based in the Virgin Islands and has a CEO based in Kuwait. Viacom filed the complain to the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center saying that FMA was using the domain name in bad faith. For the last 6 years, Jackass.com only had CPC ads on them, but during the case the FMA even showed future website mockups of donkey websites.
“The Respondent offered no explanation as to why it has taken approximately 4 years to launch the donkey website. The Respondent also made no effort to explain why it suddenly wishes to operate a website promoting donkeys, and what benefit it will receive from pursuing this course of action,” according to the WIPO report.
A three part test was conducted to determine that FMA was the winner of the domain name. The first test was whether the domain name was identical or confusing to the Viacom trademark. Yes. The second test was whether Future Media had any legitimate interests with respond to the domain name. Yes, but Viacom failed to show that FMA did not have any legitimate interests. And the last test was whether the domain name was registered and used in bad faith. FMA made no attempt to sell the domain name to Viacom after purchasing it so they won from that standpoint.
My advice to anyone interested in starting a business is to snap up the domain name right away before the FMA takes it.