Archive for April 24th, 2009

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I could use a pair of tiny, tinny, and aesthetically-impaired portable speakers for my laptop or PMP,” this is your lucky day. X-Mini, known for pushing sound through something that looks like a cross between alien hardware and a donut, is back on the scene with the Max II. A stunning departure from the usual fare, this thing ditches the wagon wheel in favor of something that one of Dark Helmet’s minions might wear in Spaceballs. Apparently, the new design also features a bigger driver meaning, you guessed it, “twice the bass.” We didn’t have the heart to point out that two times bupkis is still bupkis. We’re not sure when this 2.5W sonic wonder will be released in the US, but we’ll be keepin’ our eyes peeled.

Continue reading X-mini Max II looks like a trash can, pumps out the jams

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

X-mini Max II looks like a trash can, pumps out the jams originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems a little early in the game to be talking Windows 7 release candidates, but that’s just the way we like it. Apparently build 7100 has made it into the wild, complete with release candidate plumage and naturally rapid dissemination. Word has it that this could be the RC version Microsoft is planning to release to its MSDN / TechNet subscribers on May 5th, but we’ll have to wait until next month to find out for certain sure. The less scrupulous among us should have no trouble tracking down RC 7100 in the meantime.

[Via ITavisen]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Windows 7 RC 7100 making its way to OEMs, a torrent tracker near you originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eytmotic‘s $180 hf2 earbuds with in-line controller for iPods and iPhones have been around for awhile. In that time, they’ve racked up plenty of gold statues and plaques to backup their claim of delivering “the most accurate, unaltered sound of any earphone or headset today.” Now Etymotic has teamed up with ACS (Advanced Communication Solutions) to deliver silicon sleeves custom-moulded for your inner-ear to ensure a perfect, comfy fit while further isolating you from the ambient noise around you; a trick that allows you to pickup audio detail at lower volumes and thus spare your hearing. Of course, ACS’ 15 minute customization service is available for other buds as well, but offering it within the hf2 Custom Fit bundle as a £90 (about $130) voucher redeemable at any of 300 approved ear impression outlets in the UK is a pretty shrewd move.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

Etymotic hf2 Custom Fit buds bundle ACS’ customized ear-mould service originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We won’t front — our heart goes into overdrive each time Japan’s own Digital Cowboy births a new product, and we’re especially jazzed about its latest Movie Cowboy. Known for introducing markedly outré home entertainment gear, the company’s freshest piece is an iPod-friendly HDD-based media streamer that inexplicably boasts branding from DC Comics. So far as we know, the DC-MC35ULI doesn’t come loaded with a director’s cut of Watchmen, but it does provide room for a single 3.5-inch hard drive along with an Ethernet jack, USB 2.0 sockets, coaxial / optical digital audio outputs, HDMI, a few composite hookups, iPod streaming and charging capabilities and support for an array of file formats. Still, for ¥24,800 ($255), we’d definitely expect some built-in storage… or the promise of eternal invisibility, one.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Movie Cowboy iPod media streamer goes heroic with DC branding originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the future we envision artificial muscle driving our cybernetic soldiers and helping to repair our fleshier ones. In the present, though, it seems the tech is starting a little smaller, at least it is in the case of Artificial Muscle (the company), which has developed tech enabling a silicon film to expand or contract when a voltage is applied to it. It’s currently being used to create small pumps and linear actuators and the like, and is now is being pitched as a solution for feedback in touch-sensitive devices. The silicon film is thin enough to be inserted beneath a touchpad or touchscreen, moving the surface appropriately depending on what you’re stroking on-screen as shown in a video demonstration below. Impressively this tech will only cost “a couple dollars” to add to any given device, meaning even cheap netbooks could start coming with fidgity touchpads soon. Now that is progress.

Continue reading Artificial Muscle makes touchy devices burlier

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Artificial Muscle makes touchy devices burlier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot on the heels of Apple announcing it’s officially ripping this recession a new one and making more money than ever (hooray!), Samsung has released its financials for the first quarter and things are a little more, erm, glum. (Boo?) The company has at least partially recovered from its first ever loss in the fourth quarter of last year, making a tidy $459 million so far in 2009. That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that $459 million is 72 percent less than the company pocketed in the same quarter in 2008. But, profit is profit, and a 36 percent increase in revenue from the company’s cellphone division is also promising — especially given Nokia’s recent bad news. Must be thanks to all those Omnia fanboys and girls.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Samsung is back in the money, but a whole lot less than last year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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