Netbook SSDs have come in all manner of shapes, sizes, and connectors for a while, but finding the right model for your machine is about to get a lot easier — the SATA-IO working group just announced a new mini-SATA standard called mSATA that should put an end to the mish-mash. Toshiba’s the first out the gate with 32nm drives in 30 and 62GB sizes, but expect to see mSATA drives and machines from a whole host of heavy hitters in the future, like Samsung, Dell, HP, SanDisk, Lenovo, STEC, and Toshiba. That’s pretty good news — now let’s just hope standardization leads to lower prices as well.
Read – SATA-IO announces mini-SATA standard
Read – Toshiba announces first mSATA drives
Filed under: Storage
Toshiba announces first SSD drives using new mini-SATA interface originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, Sony may still be
denying any plans of a 250GB PS3 bundle for the US, but it looks like the rumors just keep on cropping up in Europe, and this latest one is quite the doozy. According to
Joystiq, that all too familiar inventory screen above comes from a purported Norwegian GameStop employee, and quite clearly reveals no less than five different 250GB PS3 bundles, including your choice of Ratchet & Clank, Assassin’s Creed 2, FIFA 10, Need for Speed: Shift, or Uncharted 2 for a game. Prices are reportedly the same for each (a 500 kr, or $85 increase over the standard 120GB model), although there’s unfortunately no release dates given for any of ‘em. Of course, there is a confirmed date for the
Tokyo Game Show, which would seem like a prime opportunity for them to get official, if they are indeed the real deal.
Filed under: Gaming
250GB PS3 bundles aplenty headed to Europe? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nokia has been handing out the N900 for selective “artsy” uses lately through its “Push” program, and the folks at Tinker it now! sure seem to have put their model to good use. They’ve paired the device with all matter of nostalgia, including a Rolodex, FM radio and a 3D Viewmaster. Our favorite by far, however, is the Speak & Spell hack, which puts the gargantuan Speak & Spell keyboard to good use in penning text messages for the N900 — which displays them in the classic font and even articulates your words with a speech synthesis engine. It’s all a testament to the flexibility of Linux, hacker ingenuity and of course liberal application of Arduino, but it’s also a little advertorial-ey, so you might want to leave your gag reflex at home for this one.
[Via Nokia Conversations]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Peripherals
N900 hacked to replace the innards of a Speak & Spell, can never bring back your childhood originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HTC and Motorola may have done their best to whip Android’s interface into shape, but it looks like the folks at Larva Labs still weren’t satisfied with the options available, so they’ve naturally gone ahead and designed their own UI (with a little help from Ideas on Purpose). While it’s unfortunately still just a concept, the firm’s so-called “Intelligent Home Screen” does bring plenty of interesting ideas to the table, which Larva Labs says should help it “appeal to Blackberry owners and people struggling with information overload.” The centerpiece of the concept is a home screen divided by a (slightly familiar looking) slider bar, which puts personal items like emails up top and general interest stuff on the bottom, with relevant apps accessed by the icon on the right-hand side of the screen, and everything else relegated to a separate menu. Hit up the read link below to check it out in action.
Filed under: Cellphones
Larva Labs proposes ‘intelligent’ Android home screen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The press release on this one is full of superlatives, but somehow most of them seem justified. Schwartz Engineering & Design just announced its Laser-Accurate microphone technology, which promises to provide “pure sound” from a microphone for the “first time ever.” It works by detecting the impact of sound on the motion of particles in a stream of air by running a laser across them, and was created by David Schwartz, who holds several digital audio patents, including one that is foundational to the MP3 format (which is, ironically, not a traditional friend to the audiophile). The idea is to avoid the inherent “coloring” of sound due to a regular microphone’s physical diaphragm, since the moving particles are virtually weightless. Of course, it seems that a Laser-Accurate mic would have plenty of variables of its own to deal with in regards to the stream of air, but we suppose we’ll find out just how tight Schwartz has this thing when it’s shown off for the first time in NY next month. PR is after the break.
Continue reading Laser-Accurate microphone proves once and for all that everything is better with lasers
Filed under: Peripherals, Science
Laser-Accurate microphone proves once and for all that everything is better with lasers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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