Its Electronica

Levi’s famous Red Tab jeans will be making an appearance as a Levi’s cell phone, sporting a different color scheme in order to be sold as the Red Tab Limited Edition. Everything else inside remains the same, so the only difference would be a small section at the top of the handset covered in bright red just like your regular Red Tab Levi’s jeans. In addition, the phone’s body will be gunmetal or titanium instead of the original silver color scheme. Other features consist of a 2 megapixel camera, an integrated FM radio, MP3 playback support, a microSD memory card slot, stereo Bluetooth connectivity and an email client, all crammed into a tri-band GSM handset. Being a limited edition handset, it ought to retail for a slight premium over the vanilla version.

Epson has released a new notebook that is scheduled for a release in late April. The Epson Endeavor NA801 runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor and offers up a Geforce 8600M GT with 256 of VRAM in terms of graphics power. It also features a 13.3-inch display, HDMI output, Wi-Fi 802.11a/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0. Its also nice to see that power doesn’t have to weigh a ton, the NA801 weighs in at just over 4-pounds.

The Japanese Epson website confirms that the NA801 will retail for around $1000 when it is released, sadly this will be available only in Japan.

Via [Akihabara News]

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Designer Pavel Balykin has decided to revamp the retro sand-hour-glass by conceptualising a digital version with his Sand Time Watch. Well, sort of.

The Sand Time Watch, according to me, might be a misnomer because the watch uses a “digital hour glass” only as a screensaver. The actual time, however, is shown once you press a button – and the screensaver then disappears. Much to the disappointment of traditional folks (which includes me), there is no sand and the hour glass does not count time. Nevertheless, the concept is pretty cool and the watch itself looks trendy. Will the Sand Time Watch make it into production? Only the hour glass can tell.

Via Yanko Design.

Plantronics has announced its new Bluetooth headset model, the Discovery 925 earpiece collection for both men and women. The Discovery 925 Bluetooth earpiece collection is a set of headsets which answer both design and performance needs of consumers today.

Released in unique palette of colors, Onxy Black, Alchemy Gold and Cerise Pink, the 925 earpiece was treated with glass beads and fire-blasted for a deep enamel-like finish. Plantronics must have forgotten that they were actually creating a Bluetooth headset and not a piece of fine jewelry when they created the Discovery 925 headsets. From the photos alone, the Discovery 925 headset definitely looks sleek and uber cool.

In addition to its svelte design, the Discovery 925 Bluetooth earpiece also sports a unique VFrame design which follows the contours of a user’s face, drawing the 925 earpiece’s microphone closer to the mouth. This allows clarity and audibility when talking to somebody on the other line.

Technically speaking the 925 Bluetooth earpiece is not to be taken as just one of your usual Bluetooth earpieces. For one, it boasts of having the capability to deliver exceptional outstanding audio quality for incoming and outgoing calls even when there’s too much noise in the environment. The Plantronics earpiece also has a noise reduction technology that removes background noise while adjusting the incoming volume. Other features of the Plantronics Discovery 925 earpiece collection include; rechargeable case, audioIQ noise control, self-destabilizing eartips, quick and easy set up, 5 hours talk time and 7 days stand by time.

The earpiece will hit US stores this April and retail for $149.99.

Read [Plantronics]

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Posted Apr 1st 2008 8:47AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Handhelds

Whoa boy, what have we here? A dramatically short video over at jkkmobile shows off a mysterious new Intel MID, which we presume was captured in Shanghai at the Intel Developer Forum. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely zero information on this piece outside of what you see in video posted after the jump, but the sleek clamshell design already has our attention. Judging by the Day Zero news bullets over on Intel’s site, we know the firm’s aiming to unveil “smaller form factors with improved power efficiency,” and judging by the looks of this one, it certainly fits the bill. We’ll keep you posted if more details emerge.

I’ve been a huge fan of MacOS for a very long time, even if I do spend most of my time on a Windows machine these days. That’s why I always hate seeing Mac users get the short end of the stick. Well I’m happy to report that the guys at DisplayLink have been working hard and have delivered a MacOS version of their USB video driver.

For most people, this isn’t going to matter a whole lot. However, think of the people using a mac mini who can only connect a single monitor. They don’t have the option of adding a new video card like the Mac Pro users, or even the MacBook and iMac users which have mini-DVI ports. Now they can buy a DisplayLink product and be able to add a second display without a lot of hassle. The only downside is that the driver is still in beta, though initial reports show that it is quite usable.

Source: EverythingUSB

Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:07AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

Ok, here we go again. Despite Microsoft’s attempt to quash Xbox 360 Blu-ray rumors, they’re back… with a vengeance. According to “industry sources” speaking to DigiTimes, Lite-On is developing built-in Blu-ray Disc drives for the “next generation” Xbox 360 game console. Lite-On is expected to begin shipping the new BD players for assembly in the second half of 2008. DigiTimes also claims that the new, presumably smaller Xbox 360 will reduce the power supply from 210-watts to 170-watts. So… care to comment, Microsoft?

Update: As noted by our readers, Falcon-based 360s are already running at 175-watts.

Posted Apr 1st 2008 12:21AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: cellphones

Just in case you missed it, the Verizon XV6900, Motorola Q9c, and LG enV(2) are all finally launched on Verizon. Head on over to Engadget Mobile for the full details.

Posted Apr 1st 2008 7:07AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Features, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We’ve had the good fortune of putting a Sony NWZ-A829 through its paces over the last few days. Remember, that’s Sony’s top of the line, 2.4-inch, QVGA Walkman with stereo Bluetooth A2DP and 16GB of flash. With Sony CEO, Howard Stringer, ceding portable audio victory to Apple, we had high hopes for the NWZ-A829 as an out of the box video player. After all, Howie said 9 months ago, “We have worked very hard to catch up so that in the age of video we will not suffer as much as we did in audio.” So how did it do? See our take after the break.

Gallery: Sony Walkman NWZ-A829

• The included 13.5mm EX headphones are without a doubt some of the best, in-box buds you’ll find. They perform equally well under the throaty, soulful, strain of Amy Whinehouse (even at low volumes) or the high-pitched wail of the ambulance sent to collect her. Better yet, they make you look down-right cybernetic. The adjustable silicon ear inserts (S, M, L) are ridiculously comfortable even when worn for hours at a time.

• As good as the buds are, we can’t help but wonder where the bundled Bluetooth adapter is. After all, one of the biggest selling points of the DAP is its support of A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles. They could have bundled a basic Bluetooth headphone adapter (think, G-sat BTH-820) for the wired headphones without noticeably increasing the price tag.

• On the subject of Bluetooth… well, the NWZ-A829’s got it (for what that’s worth). We paired the Walkman with a G-sat BTH-820 Bluetooth headphone adapter and EX headphones and began listening to music immediately. A dedicated Bluetooth button initiates and severs the headset bond — a welcome, battery saving touch indeed. Now the rub: the compressed Bluetooth audio mucks up the experience. Especially after listening to the in-line buds. Of course, this is the performance we expected — compressed MP3 audio compressed even further by the A2DP Bluetooth profile will never sound great.

• The look? Busy. For a modern flash player it has lots of buttons: power / option, home / back, Bluetooth, hold, a volume rocker, and 4-position navigation pad. Still, it’s not busy bad, rather, it’s busy high tech which to us is a good thing. Honestly, having used iPods extensively since generation one, the buttons on the Walkman feel damn-near revolutionary. Especially that beefy volume rocker and easy throwing hold switch. We just wonder how long Sony can hold out in the face of a relentless, “touch” campaign raging against tactility.

• Rejoice! Gone are the days of SonicStage and ATRAC. Now, Sony bundles Media Manager for Walkman (Windows only) and an ATRAC to MP3 “Convertion” Tool right on the CD. Unfortunately, these are only supported under Microsoft OSes. Having said that, OS X Leopard recognized the player just fine when we attached it over USB. Everything was laid out in neatly defined folders for music, photos, video, etc. Fine if you want to manage all your digital content yourself and don’t want to bother with custom playlists or other niceties.

• Now the moment of truth: video. So we dragged a couple of videos into the Walkman Media Manager. We figured they would get sucked over to the Walkman or at worst, be converted into the MPEG-4/H.264 format the player recognizes. Nope. Oh Media Manager could do it, but you have to pay extra to turn it on. Like the Bluetooth headphones, there’s added cost for functionality which should exist in the box. After all, Sony’s not a market leader, they’re playing catch up here. It’s especially annoying when Media Manager plays the files but frustratingly (to the average user) will not transfer them. Instead, Joe User receives a message saying the file is “not compatible.” So he buys the $12.95 Media Manager Pro for Walkman upgrade (via the always visible “Go Pro” tab) and grumbles to his friends about how lame Sony is.

All in all we like, but don’t love our Walkman NWZ-A829. There’s nothing particularly innovative here but it’s definitely a high-quality player which should treat Windows users especially well over its lifetime. It’s just not any better than similar flash offerings with sub-3-inch displays from SanDisk, Creative, Microsoft, iriver, or Apple. It’s certainly not the video Walkman we hoped to be wowed by. Then again, Sony is probably better off pushing its PSP (with 4.3-inch display) for portable video than this tiny Walkman. And while Bluetooth stereo audio has its niche, we’re certainly not going to plunk down an extra $100 (starting price) for a lesser-quality, Sony Bluetooth headset when such high quality buds are included in the $320 MSRP.

P.S. If there’s anything else you want to know (we’re still testing the battery) just call it out in the comments.

The RAIDFrame Backup system has been created by a company named Highly Reliable Systems and works with removable cartridges which can store 3 Terabytes of data. The 1 Bay version carries the 1 cartridge and attaches direct to your server or PC via USB or eSATA. With the device being RAID it means that no special drivers are required to read the data as the server will see the RAID array as 1 drive.

RAIDPacs are made of 3 standard SATA drives which can be replaced as needed. The RAID controller is built in to the device meaning that as soon as the RAID pac is connected up, it just shows as removable storage.

All connections on the RAIDFrame are standard from it’s eSATA connection to it’s molex power connector and as it is all self contained it makes it very easy to use. Without RAIDPacs the system costs $981 and with a RAIDPac it will set you back $2306.

Source - Gizmowatch

Guest Post by Matthew of Gadget Venue.