David Carnoy on October 31st, 2008

The PS3 version of the Power and Play.

(Credit: PDP)

Performance Design Products, which is simply known as PDP, recently licensed the Energizer brand to slap on its line of Power and Play Charging systems for the Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Indeed, the Energizer brand should

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(Credit: iHome)

More companies are making tiny, portable speakers that plug into the headphone jack of your iPod, iPhone, music player, or laptop so you can enjoy your music while you’re on the road. Like Altec Lansing’s Orbit MP3 iM237, which is shaped like a hockey puck, the $

Continue reading about Review: iHome’s tiny iHM77 capsule speakers have a magnetic personality but don’t sound so good

(Credit: Altec Lansing)

Altec Lansing’s motto for its striking $129.99 Expressionist Bass FX3022 PC multimedia speakers is, “All the bass in half the space.” The concept is a good one. You take the subwoofer that normally sits on the floor, shrink it down, and integrate one into the

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David Carnoy on October 16th, 2008

The ultimate PC speakers?

(Credit: Harman Kardon)

Just came across this hot little number on Amazon: a set of Harman Kardon PC speakers made out of glass. They don’t appear to be available quite yet, but Amazon is taking pre-orders at $999.99.

Harman’s made other clear speakers

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David Carnoy on October 14th, 2008

The Mino abides.

(Credit: Flip Video)

The other day I got an e-mail from the folks at Flip Video telling me that on October 14 they’d be launching a new online service that would let consumers design custom versions of the Flip Mino minicamcorder. They were going to send …

Continue reading about The Lebowski Flip Mino: If you will it, dude, it is no dream

David Carnoy on October 7th, 2008

Leapfrog's Crammer comes in multiple colors.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

There’s been a lot of talk about cramming for presidential and vice presidential debates these days, and now there’s a device to help all the candidates out: Leapfrog’s digital flashcard gizmo, the Crammer, is officially available …

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David Carnoy on October 4th, 2008

Old Kindle meet the new Kindle?

(Credit: Boy Genius Report)

After rumors surfaced on the Web a few months back that a new Kindle might be on the way, Amazon did its best to shoot them down, saying a new Kindle was not coming this year. Well, Boy Genius Report …

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Denon's $300 AH-NC732s

(Credit: Denon)

Bose has managed to persuade thousands of people to spend large sums of money on the company’s QuietComfort 3 and QuietComfort 2 noise-canceling headphones. That has emboldened companies such as Denon–which can leverage its own highly respected brand–to come up with its

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Dave Farrow screengrab

"One man. One revolutionary cause. 30 days."

(Credit: Sony)

I don’t know if there’s a Guinness Book of Records world record at stake here, but as part of its effort to promote its digital book readers, including the just-announced PRS-700, Sony has “memory expert” Dave Farrow

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David Carnoy on October 3rd, 2008

When we found out a couple of weeks ago that Sony was going have a Reader event in New York on October 2, we assumed–but weren’t entirely sure–that the company would be announcing a new electronic book reader. Well, Sony has introduced a new Reader, the PRS-700, and I got to play around with it at the event.

Before I get into impressions, let’s start with the highlights: As rumored, the PRS-700 has a built-in LED “reading” light (though it’s not a backlight). There are no wireless capabilities, but Sony’s moved to a 6-inch touch-screen display. Also, the new Reader has expanded built-in memory (up to 350 books) while retaining its Memory Stick Duo slot.

It’s zippier, too–when you turn a page, the e-ink on the screen refreshes faster (we were told the PRS-700 has a faster processor than the earlier PRS-505 but we’re waiting to confirm what the processor is). All of these upgrades add up to a higher price tag: The new Reader will retail for $400 when it comes out in November. That’s over $100 more than what you can get the PRS-505 for today.

The new Sony PRS-700 has touch-screen and built-in light.

(Credit: Sony)

If you can ignore the high price for a second, the PRS700 is definitely a step forward for Sony in the digital-reader arena. If ever there was device that would benefit from the switch to touch-screen navigation, it’s an ebook reader (iRex was the first with an e-ink touch-screen display, but that device was prohibitively expensive).

Like the iPhone and other next-gen touch-screen phones that have been appearing lately, the Reader incorporates some gesture-based commands. You can swipe your finger across the display to page forward or back (you can choose between a left or right swipe to advance pages in the settings menu). Swiping and holding your finger down at the end of the swipe allows you to advance or rewind through pages at a fast clip.

With the included stylus or your finger you can highlight words and add annotations via a virtual keyboard. The Amazon Kindle offers this feature via a Blackberry-style keyboard. However, the Kindle doesn’t have a touch-screen.

It’s also worth noting that Sony is continuing with its effort to brand its Readers as “open” devices that are capable of reading multiple file formats. The press release says: “With the included eBook Library 2.5 PC software, you can easily transfer Adobe PDF documents with reflow capability, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB files and other text file formats to the Reader. The device can store and display EPUB files and work with Adobe Digital Editions software, opening it up to almost a limitless quantity of content.”

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