Gadgets and Gizmos

HP Compaq nc6320 dual core laptop with EV-DO reviewed
In an amazing feat of journalistic skill, Laptop magazine has managed to both review and organize their impressions of HP’s dual core Compaq nc6320 notebook on the very same day it was announced. Actually, Laptop got an early review unit for their business notebook shootout, and proclaims the nc6320 “best in category”- if you’re not looking for a widescreen model, that is. The HP gets high marks for its bright, sharp 1,400 x 1,050 15-inch display (which may be “too high for some users,” opines Laptop), integrated Verizon-flavored EV-DO, 7-in-1 card reader, Presentation button for one-touch video out, and generally solid performance and build quality. Security is also tight, with optional fingerprint and smart card readers, as is battery life, at 3:38 with WiFI on, but the integrated graphics and MobileMark score mean this is no gaming rig. Still, for $1800, it sounds like business-types get a pretty good deal on a machine that excels in communication and presentation.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the first reactions to Samsung’s 2GB and 4GB attempts at dethroning the iPod nano, and now Anything But iPod (whose name indicates no bias whatsoever on this topic) has taken the YP-Z5 through its paces (and also taken it apart), finding several drawbacks but overall declaring the flash player “simply a treat to use.” As we’re well aware by now, Samsung tapped iPod veteran Paul Mercer to design the Z5’s user interface, which gets praise from ABI for being intuitive as well as visually pleasing. Equally impressive are the hardware features, especially the scratch-resistant screen and brushed metal exterior (sometimes it pays to keep your eye on the first-mover), along with the large tactile buttons and multi-directional touchpad. All is not perfect in Sammyland though, and several aspects of this device may send some prospective buyers looking elsewhere, including its struggle to drive larger headphones, use of MTP instead of the drag-and-drop UMS file transfer protocol, and lack of OTG playlists, FM radio, and manual EQ. Still, at $200 and $250 for the two and four gig versions, respectively, it sounds like you’re getting a solid player here, but maybe one without all the polish of the nano.

Folks, the future of self-portraiture is here, and it’s not a tripod, a monopod, or even a handy hovering robot — no, it’s the MonsterPod, a device that definitely does not work via suction cups, glue, bean bags, or magic (as the website helpfully points out) and sticks to “1,000 objects and counting.” The $30 MonsterPod lets your point-n-shoot seemingly defy gravity thanks to a patent-pending elastic solid known as Viscoelastic Morphing Polymer which forms a temporary bond (anywhere from a minute to an hour) with almost any surface that it comes in contact with after a little pressure is applied. While this is certainly a much more versatile and portable option than traditional tripods (if not more available: the MonsterPod is scheduled to be released “two weeks” from an unspecified date), the near-impossibility of leveling your camera means you better have a passing familiarity with photo editing software so you can rotate and crop all your crooked pics. We’re not gonna harsh on the MonsterPod too much , though, as they have a commissioned referral program — which we’ve automatically joined by linking to them — that could finally be our ticket out of this horrid work-from-home, make-our-own-hours lifestyle.

We tried. Really we did. We wanted to limit today’s Origami posts to the one we ran this morning. But we can’t resist the lure of Robert Scoble, whose haiku-like pronouncements on what Origami isn’t graced our newsreader a little while ago. According to Scoble (whose sources at Microsoft are, of course, impeccable), Origami isn’t an iPod killer, portable Xbox, OQO killer or PSP killer. So, what exactly is it? Coy boy Scoble isn’t telling, though he says he’s seen it, and that he’ll buy one with his own money. We assume he won’t be forced to do that. He’s more than earning his keep by feeding us these infuriating snippets.

Adding biometric security to your home or office PC is no big deal anymore — if, that is, you’re content with a fingerprint reader. But if you want to go all out and add, say, an iris scanner, your options have been pretty limited. A Korean company called JIRIS is hoping to change that with the JPC1000, which the company is billing as the first consumer-level iris scanner. The device snaps onto the top of your PC, webcam-like, and can then be used for a range of authentication functions, including banking transactions (we’ve never been asked to get our eye scanned by our online bank, but that’s what JIRIS is telling us). A future model will include webcam functions, which we assume will make it handy for those video conference calls where you need to have your eyeball scanned to prove that you’re not some bot that slipped into the office and assumed your identity.

We can’t confirm the name is actually “blue,” but from the looks of it iubi’s got a new portable media device in the pipeline with Bluetooth (we hope for A2DP), a 4.3-inch display with optional T-DMB receiver. We should probably see this thing debuted later this week at CeBIT, just don’t get your hopes up about this thing seeing a US launch (at least not any time soon) — you all know the drill by now.

Toshiba M100 Core Duo/Solo laptops
Toshiba is rolling out its latest laptops, the company’s first Satellite models with Intel Core Duo and Core Solo processors. The consumer-centric M100 series includes a 14.1-inch display, CD or DVD burner, hard drives running from 40GB to 120GB, maximum memory of 2GB, WiFi, integrated memory card reader, and XP Home. Pricing starts at $1,034 via Toshiba’s web store.

Intel showed off its vision of the ultramobile portable computer today, and CNET got a good look at the mini-tablet, which has a 7-inch display, runs Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and offers full internet connectivity. While the devices — which CNET referred to as “Origami-like” — are fully functional, they’re clearly prototypes: battery life is limited to a paltry 15 minutes. However, Intel execs said that early production models should have three-hour batteries and retail for under $1,000, while versions with all-day batteries and lower price tags (including that $500 sweet spot) should be available next year. According to CNET, versions of the UMPC will ship “in the next few weeks,” so if you want to get your hands on one, you may not have to wait too much longer.

Looks like Microsoft is prepared to emphasize the mobile part of the UMPC equation with one of its CeBIT presentations later this week. According to Volkswagen, the company will show off a combo GPS/media center in partnership with the German automaker. The system includes a front-seat display that stows in a console, two rear-seat touchscreens, DVD player, GPS and full PC functionality with internet access (presumably over a 3G connection, though that’s not specified). No pricing or launch date, but, hey, we’re just happy to be talking abot something that actually looks like a real product rather than a mysterious, code-named concept.

Today we’re giving away a T-Mobile MDA (aka HTC Wizard). Winning this fine instrument is easy: just tell us one of your favorite Engadget posts of the past year. It can be anything (except this post): a regular post, an interview, a how-to, a review, or whatever, just post a comment below with a link to it along with a couple of lines about why it’s your fave and we’ll pick a winner at random. Three runners-up will each win an Engadget t-shirt.

We really wish it was a US price and launch date they were announcing, but Toshiba looks locked and loaded to loose the Qosmio G30 on the UK some time in April for the princely sum of 2,300 (~$4,000 US). We know this thing packs in some sweet features (most notably, of course, its HD DVD drive, as well as a 2GHz Core Duo processor, 17-inch 1920 x 1200 display, dual 120GB RAID drives, DVB-T tuner, TV tuner, etc.), but damned is that a bank breaker for the back breaker. Guess having every single possible feature you can possibly imagine in a single laptop (no word on HDCP-output, however) comes at a cost.

We’re still trying to figure out exactly what the hell the Digital Cowboy DCT-DPM1 does, but our faithfully awful translator-bot tell us it does something to the effect of duping the mouse cursor at the click of a button, and possibly switch between the two. Hey man, any kind of gimmick will do if “labor effectiveness substantial rise you are not wrong!” you know?

There was once a time when Sharp was a cutting-edge producer of PDAs, and the company’s Zaurus was a market leader. But as the market has matured (and declined), the Zaurus line has devolved into little more than a pocket dictionary, giving it something of a second life in countries like Japan and Korea, where such products are still popular, but continuing to marginalize it as a portable computer. Still, the latest Zaurus, the SL-C3200, does have a few nice features, including a 6GB hard drive, SD slot and 3.7-inch VGA touchscreen display. But unless you need to practice for your TOEIC test, you probably won’t exactly see this as a must-have device (though we hear that it runs Linux, so there’s some hope for it).

XM’s Satellite Video Player
So now this gets interesting. An anonymous reader sent in this photo of an upcoming portable video device by XM Satellite Radio. I can’t attest to the validity of the photo – in a land of fancy Photochop work – who can say for sure. But I now know the device is real.

First there was this post by On2 Technologies President and CEO, Doug McIntyre, describing a truly portable video device using On2 VP7 video technology. This drew a lot of speculation, because I couldn’t get a straight answer as to whether this was the Helix/Inno or something new.

But now there’s a lot more information courtesy of Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck. In last week’s Bear Stearns report, Peck shed some light on this device and what it’s capable of.

XM demonstated this “wearable video device” to analysts recently. It has the ablity to receive live video signal in portable mode. In live mode, each channel uses 256kb of capacity using On2’s video compression. Should the XM/WCS deal go through, XM will have the bandwidth capabilities to broadcast at least 20 video channels in live mode.

Even without the extra WCS bandwidth, XM could still just send the content to be cached or XM could limit the number of video channels broadcast..

Looking at the photo, this seems to have the same style form-factor as the upcoming Helix/Inno – with similar controls and interface features as the two. The size looks somewhat more like the PSP than a 5G Video iPod. At this angle though, we can’t tell the thickness of it.

What’s the timeline on this? Not sure, but if a few priviledged people are getting the chance to play with this thing, one can only assume it may hit the streets this year. Before the Holiday Season maybe? Who knows.

LG ships multimedia sub-notebook
We like sub-notebooks here at Reg Hardware, and LG’s 2.3cm-thick, 1.1kg Xnote TX – it’s called the TX Express outside Korea – quite caught our eye. It may not be based on the latest Core Duo processor, but it still packs in some impressive features in its compact casing.

LG says the TX is based on an ultra-low voltage Pentium M 753 clocked to 1.2GHz. It’s got a 400MHz frontside bus speed, but there’s 1GB of 533MHz DDR 2 memory on board. The 12.1in, 1280 x 800 display is driven by an Nvidia GeForce 7300 with 64MB of graphics RAM, though its TurboCache supports allows it to take up to 172MB of main memory too.

On the audio side, the TX has Intel’s HD Audio backed with SRS’ WOW and TruSurround XT technologies. There’s a drop-sensor protected 60GB 4,200rpm hard drive on board but no optical unit – the bundled dual-layer DVD writer connects to one of the notebook’s three USB 2.0 ports. It has a five-in-one memory card reader, microphone and headphone sockets, and an external monitor port (VGA).

Connectivity comes courtesy of integrated 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, 10/100Mbps Ethernet and a 56Kbps modem. Bluetooth 2.0’s on board too.

Alas the Xnote TX/TX Express isn’t available in the UK or the USA. Only Asian buyers are offered this compact marvel, it seems. ®

Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 network music player
Review I first reviewed Slim Devices’ network music player, the Squeezebox, in April 2004. We’re not quite two years on from that, but the machine has already undergone two major revisions: first, in March 2005, an upgrade of its networking capabilities and audio engine, and then, just seven months later, a complete case redesign.

I didn’t get a chance to check out the Squeezebox 2, and since the Squeezebox 3 upgrade is largely cosmetic, this review is as much about the second-generation product as the third. But it’s fair to stay with the new, stylish design, Squeezebox is finally ready for prime time. It’s no longer a cute toy for the techies and early adopters, but a quality item ready to sit at the heart of any modern home’s music system.

So what’s changed? Since Squeezebox’s debut, the product has gained Ethernet networking in addition to the wireless connectivity offered since day one. Wireless support has been updated to the latest 802.11g spec, with support for the latest security techniques, including WPA 2. It’s now got two antennae and both have been put inside the box.

Gone too is the squat, set-top box look, replaced by an upright design in aluminium and shiny plastic that’s frankly more assertive, particularly the black version – there’s also a white model. It looks like consumer electronics kit should. The old Squeezebox was far from ugly, but the new one is far, far more stylish, fitting in smoothly with either a modern metallic-look hi-fi or a stack of older, black separates.

Squeezebox 3 sits back at a slight angle, held up by a fixed tubular metal stand. Above it are arrayed the ports: 3.5mm headphone socket, stereo RCA jacks, a digital optical output and a digital co-axial connector, the Ethernet port, and the power pin.

The front of the device is split 50:50 between a brushed aluminium panel and a Ray Ban-black visor behind which sits the familiar crisp, bluey-green, 320 x 32 vacuum fluorescent display. It remains eminently readable across a room, which is more than you can say for a docked iPod – especially if it’s a Nano. The Squeezebox uses the same kind of horizontally scrolling user interface, albeit with only one line shown at a time, and I found it spry and responsive.

As before, Squeezebox utilises its own server app running on a Windows, Mac or Linux box to link the player to your music collection. The first time you run SlimServer in conjunction with a Squeezebox, it will index your songs, so you may find they’re not all available to you immediately, but it’s not too long before they are. While the initial index is being assembled, I found the Squeezebox to be frequently unresponsive and slow, but once the process was complete I had no trouble getting it to do what I wanted. The moral of the story: leave your Squeezebox alone while it’s indexing, especially if you have a large music collection.

Once it knows what songs are available, Squeezebox quickly displays the tracks you can play, browsed by genre, artist, album, etc, or located using the first two three characters of the title, composer, band name and so on. Switching songs was effortless and – post indexing – there was no sense of lag between pressing a button on the remote and seeing the result on the screen, or hearing it blast out of the speakers.

Slim Devices makes the SlimServer code available to all, so it’s gained a wide array of additional features, most accessed through its HTML front-end. It allows you to control the player and change settings remotely, but most folk will be able to leave it running in the background. The Squeezebox itself can now be augmented with software plug-ins, with an RSS feed reader and even a cute Squeezebox version of Tetris ready to help you pass the time.

All this suggests a strong link to a host computer, but Squeezebox 3 doesn’t become redundant if you turn your Mac off or you leave your PC at work. The box can talk to Slim Devices’ own SqueezeNetwork servers, using them to relay internet radio streams to your Squeezebox. There’s a lag, of course, but unless you’re using the station to check the time, that shouldn’t matter. In any case, the Squeezebox itself can tell you the hour and the date. There’s even an alarm clock.

The upshot is a system you can use all the time, though you still have to use your computer to set up SqueezeNetwork. This is the easiest way to add specific stations’ stream URLs to the player, but you can enter them usng the web interface. Slim Devices has added a small selection of suggested stations to get you started.