Viewsonic rolls out 24-inch V3D241wm-LED monitor with 3D glasses

We've yet to see the full wrath of Viewsonic's ambitious 3D plans, but the company has at least now rolled out one new device: the 24-inch V3D241wm-LED 3D monitor. That naturally comes complete with a pair of (active) 3D glasses, and Viewsonic insists that the monitor's 120Hz frame rate and 2ms response time make it ideal for both gaming and movies. You'll also get a pair of built-in two watt speakers, 300 nits of brightness, a supposed 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and the usual Eco mode to cut down on power consumption. Still no official word on a release over here, but you can now grab this one in the UK for £330, or about $527.

Via : engadget

SteelSeries celebrating Cataclysm with new WoW MMO gaming mouse

SteelSeries has that very special distinction of building officially branded equipment for World of Warcraft, and now, two years after launching its original WoW mouse, the company is back with a "Cataclysm" mouse to celebrate the upcoming expansion to the world's biggest MMO. The mouse has the similar advantage of its predecessor of close software ties to WoW itself, with 14 programmable buttons that can handle 130+ preset commands, and the ability to store 10 character profiles in software and one in the mouse itself.

Also, thankfully, the mouse is Mac friendly out of the gate this time, and the software also controls the LED lights running down the back and "four different pulsation levels" for an extra bit of flair. For those of you who care for the pro gaming pedigree of SteelSeries, you'll be interested to know that the original WoW mouse was actually mostly built by Ideazon before SteelSeries bought the company, so this is the first from the ground up to use SteelSeries technology and know-how. For everybody else: it has pretty lights! The mouse will retail for $100 in December, launching alongside World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Via : engadget

MSI release the FX700 and FR700 laptops

In Taiwan MSI have launched a pair of 17.3 inch wide screen 16:9 ratio LED display laptops, these will be known as the FX700 and the FR700. Both of these machines have nice soft lines and a little hint of chrome around the speaker section adds to the finish. The keyboard uses chiclet style keys which is an interesting addition for MSI, while the multitouch pad has been raised offering the user a different sensation.

MSI have finished off by covering the brands own anti scratch and anti smudge coating, which should ease the urge to keep wiping the fingerprints and marks from the bodywork every few minutes.

Both of these new machines have been built around Intel’s mobile platform and will be running the Intel Core i5 processor combined with plenty of memory in the shape of the up to 8 GB memory capacity. As far as we can see, the only main difference between the two machines is the graphic.

The FR700 runs the Intel HD integrated graphics, while the FX700 gets the nVidia GeForce GT 425M discrete graphics card with 1 GB of GDDR3 of display memory, it will support DirectX11 and when there is requirement for extra processing power, like in game play, this is where the automatic graphics switching steps in.

When it comes to watching video, the MSI FX700 and the FR700 have access to cinema pro technology, this is one touch key that instantly switches to film mode offering the user a higher resolution, clearer colours and a quality of sound equal to any system on the market.

A DVD writer can be found on both models, with a five in one card reader, and hard disk with a choice of size from 320 GB up to 640 GB. When it comes to connectivity they come equipped Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, two USB 3.0 ports and six cell li-ion battery, although MSI fail to commit the just how long the battery life could be.

It is unfortunate, but MSI have released any prices for the FX700 or the FR700 at the present time.

Via : geekwithlaptop

Opera Releases Massive Usage Stats, Announces Opera Mobile Browser For Android

At a press event this morning is Oslo, Norway, Opera Software announced a slew of new feature additions and the upcoming debut of Opera Mobile for Android — in addition to boasting some impressive usage statistics as well.

The main announcement was the upcoming addition of Opera’s full-on mobile browser for Android dubbed “Opera Mobile,” — not to be confused with Opera Mini, the basic browser that’s been available on Android since July. In addition, Opera’s desktop browser will get the ability to be customized by users via extensions.

Most importantly, both Opera Mini and Opera Mobile will soon feature full pinch-to-zoom compatibility and hardware acceleration. The latter is the process of using the graphics chip of a mobile device to render Web pages instead of the CPU, allowing for a much quicker and fluid user experience.

In terms of usage, the numbers are quite impressive; Opera says its Opera Mini browser is used by over 71 million people worldwide, while 50 million users have installed Opera’s cross-platform desktop browser on their computers. Over 20 million users around the world use Opera products on connected devices other than phones and computers, e.g. television sets, bringing the total of Opera products users to a staggering 140 million worldwide. Opera says they welcome two new users every second, on average. Here’s some other specs on Opera’s Mini browser:

- handling 36.9 billion page views per month (76% growth since December 09)
- which translates to about 5.35 petabytes of data, per month
- each user is good for an average of 519 page views per month
- 100% user growth since December 2009
- Opera Mini is compatible with over 3,000 different mobile devices
- the mobile browser product is used in 195 countries

Via : mobilemarketingwatch

Stuart Hughes strikes again with world's most expensive, diamond covered iPhone 4

We've already established that if you're filthy rich, you probably don't want the same cell phone as common folk. No, if you're looking for something higher end, you'll probably end up talking to Stuart Hughes, who customizes electronics by plating them in gold and diamonds. We've already seen his work on a $20,000 iPhone 4, but his latest achievement is downright ridiculous. Called the "world's most expensive phone" (we'll see how long that lasts), Hughes made two identical models for an Australian client. Each handset includes over 500 diamonds and totals over 100 karats, and comes in its own special granite box. Its total cost is £5 million -- nearly 8 million dollars. Just don't bother crying when you leave it on the seat of a cab.

Via : engadget, Small World

BlackBerry Storm 3 not dead after all? Three models tipped; PlayBook 2 in 2H 2011?

Talk of the BlackBerry Storm 3′s cancellation may have been premature, according to analysts Jefferies & Co., who blame multiple SKUs of the third-generation touchscreen smartphone for the confusion. They claim RIM was working on three BlackBerry Storm 3 devices, a haptic touch model that has indeed been cancelled, a non-haptic version “with similar thickness, more memory, and [BlackBerry 6]” which is still on course for a release by the end of November, and then a Storm 3 with a “new iPhone-like form factor, but slimmer,” that could run QNX

QNX is the same OS as is set to run on the RIM PlayBook tablet. Jefferies & Co. suggest the iPhone-like Storm 3 will drop sometime in the first half of 2011, while they also tip a second-gen PlayBook 2 – with two screen sizes and in 3G and 4G forms – due for release in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, the analysts also believe that RIM intend to bolster the BlackBerry App World with QNX titles, with the plan “to port a large portion of the Android App Market onto QNX or to virtualize it.” A RIM spokesperson declined to comment.

Via : slashgear

Amazon Developing Blackberry PlayBook Kindle App

Amazon has really pumped out the number of applications it has available on a plethora of devices in the last year. They have released applications for Android, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone, and a slew of other devices. It looks like now Amazon is continuing the trend with the upcoming Blackberry Playbook.

There is not a lot of information on this application under development, but they do have time before the Q1 release of the playbook in 2011. They do have staunch competition on the Playbook from Kobo.

We reported on the launch day announcement from San Francisco that Kobo has an application all done and ready for the Playbook on its debut.

Kobo will be integrating an e-reading service using the core elements of the popular Blackberry Messenger application or BBM. This will prove to make the application social and in real time. It will allow you to share book passages with friends, shop with friends, read with a group of people, and discuss the book in real time!

Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis said, “We’re more than happy and immensely excited with our newly founded relationship with Blackberry OS and Blackberry Playbook. There will be new possibilities for us, new books and bestsellers and tons of stuff for our avid readers in the near future.”

Via : goodereader

Netflix on PS3 goes disc-free, gets 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound (update)

Rejoice, PS3 owners, your Netflix streaming experience just got vastly better than anything else on the market. Starting October 18 Netflix on the PS3 will no longer require a disc, and it'll stream some content with 1080i 1080p resolution and / or 5.1-channel surround audio, while everyone else will be stuck with a max of 720p stereo for the time being. Oh, and you'll get subtitles on some content as well.

Netflix is partnering with Dolby on the audio side, and the surround format will be Dolby Digital Plus, which is the same codec used by the VUDU HDX streaming service -- we're guessing it'll require a tiny bit more bandwidth but the results should sound pretty great.

Netflix says 5.1 will come to other platforms "over time," so we'll see how long that takes -- and given that the PS3 is now disc-free and the company's eschewed the SRS surround features baked into its Silverlight-based platform, we're guessing Microsoft's exclusivity period has now completely run its course. Video and PR after the break.

Via : engadget, Playstation blog

NextComputing Vigor Evo rugged PC shipping with three displays, 11TB storage

NextComputing has a line on the types of PCs we will always lust over, yet we'll never ever be able to justify purchasing. Case in point: the Vigor Evo Plus is a thirty-five-plus pound behemoth, featuring a rugged mil-anodized external chassis, shock-mounted internal chassis, and options including a single or dual Xeon, up to 16GB ECC RAM, up to 11TB storage, up to six full-length, full-height PCI Express and PCI-X slots, and up to three integrated 17-inch displays. Call the company for a price quote if you're curious -- we weren't up to the task, but we're sure that it's either this bad boy or our rent for the better part of a year. PR after the break.

Via : engadget

AMD launching next generation of Radeon graphics cards next week, shipping by end of the year

The attentive newshounds over at AnandTech have picked out a golden nugget of disclosure from AMD's earnings call last night, citing CEO Dirk Meyer as saying "we will be launching our second-generation DX11 graphics offerings next week." What he's talking about, of course, is the highly anticipated refresh of the Radeon HD 5000 series, which some recent spec leaks suggested would bring a healthy bump in performance.

After announcing the new product line next week, AMD promises to flood the market with "hundreds of thousands of units," which will be shipping before the end of this quarter -- meaning you'll have a Radeon HD 6xxx in time for the holiday gaming craze if you really want it. Can't ask anymore than that, now can we?

Via : engadget, AnandTech, AMD