Filed under: Desktops, Handhelds, Laptops

Think you’ve mastered Intel speak? Impressive, it’s no easy task keeping Intel’s brand names and in-house silicon language straight. Now rumor has it that Intel’s Montevina will carry a new Centrino 2 branding in hopes of clearing up any confusing amongst consumers. Probably a good idea what with Centrino providing the catch-all since the launch of those Carmel, Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa platforms running Pentium M, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo branded Banisa, Donthan, Yonah/Merom and Merom/Penryn processors. If true, a Centrino 2 sticker would indicate 5th generation, Montevina-class Centrino with support for 45-nm, Core 2 Duo Penryn CPUs, a 1066MHz FSB, DDR3 memory, and mobile WiMax. Still not clear? No worries, try the handy table after break.

Continue reading Intel branding Montevina platform Centrino 2?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We know it looks like HD DVD’s death is a foregone conclusion at this point, but it isn’t official until Toshiba says it is, and Ars is reporting that a number of their sources have pegged the impending announcement for within the next few days — not weeks. Apparently HD DVD’s future was in serious jeopardy even before Netflix dropped ’em, and the holdup on Toshiba’s part now comes from the company’s need to formulate its plans to shut down production — which is no small task given the volume of hardware and media they were geared up to move.

Of course, out Tokyo way the party line’s all the same. Our Japanese bureau checked in with Toshiba HQ, which was obviously on PR red alert since they responded to our query in nine minutes, and well well before business hours. The boilerplate response is about what you’d expect, though: “We are considering our future business policies and plans, and studying the market response [to recent developments].” Let’s just get this thing over with already, okay Toshiba?

[Thanks, Max]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Desktops

You know, we’re normally not very into the whole case mod scene, but every once in a while some whack job with way too much free time and talen comes along and completely blows our minds. In this case it’s rendermandan’s Motorized Madness, a vaguely steampunk reinterpretation of the PC replete with the usual complement of colored lamps and fans, as well as a full outfit of unnecessary rotating, extending, and moving external displays, switches, and toggles. Oh, and that thing up top is a turbine water cooler. Videos after the break — you won’t be disappointed.

Continue reading Motorized Madness is, in fact, just that

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Features, Gaming, Handhelds

LeapFrog is virtually unchallenged in quite a few of its product lines, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing them down any. The company was showing off bunches of new product at Toy Fair 2008, with most of it newly designed to hook up to the computer and help parents keep better track of what their kids are learning with all these “toys.” Products like Tag — a reading pen similar to the FLY pentop — can tell parents what words kids are reading well, and how much time they spend with a book, while the new Leapster2 and Didj handhelds let parents track the curriculum the kids are running through — with the Didj even allowing parents to work in custom vocabulary lists or other subjects into their kid’s game of choice. Unfortunately, the LeapFrog2 suffers from same screen viewability woes of its predecessor, and both handhelds are quite chunky, but we did like the Didj’s screen and software, and that $90 pricetag is quite palatable.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Features, Gaming, Handhelds

Yeah, you know you want one. While we’re rather skeptical about the “carabiner” aspects of this Guitar Hero Carabiner — forget your keychain, we’ve owned cars smaller than this thing — it certainly manages to bring enough of those Guitar Hero rock star vibes along with to make it worth the $15 (just think of it as your present to yourself for not seeing Jumper this weekend). The sound is decent for this type of handheld, and we had little trouble rocking out with the tactile buttons and cheap ass LCD, but we’d probably prefer the Verizon version of this experience just so we could hear some real songs. Video is after the break.

Continue reading Guitar Hero Carabiner hands-on

Permalink | Email this | Comments