Samsung D820 :-

Samsung Electronics has launched its latest slim slide-up mobile handset D820. It is just 15.2 mm thick and weighs 90 gm. It has an MP3 player and a 1.3 megapixel rotating camera. It has the `Direct TV Out' function which enables recorded video films, images, office documents and video games to be played on the television screen or through a data projector. It costs Rs 15,000 in Mumbai, with minor price variations in other cities.

Pioneer AVH-P7800DVD In-Dash DVD Multimedia AV Auto Receiver :-

This Pioneer in-dash auto A/V system plays DivX video files from CDs or DVDs on its 480p 7" WVGA screen. Yep, so you can burn your own movies and then play them back in your car. [If you're driving, you can't watch!] Naturally, it plays other formats as well, including MP3, WMA, AAC, and even JPEG. If you have an iPod, you can interface it with this receiver via an adpater and then have control of your iPod via the touchscreen. The AVH-P7800DVD is also Satellite Radio ready for either XM Radio or Sirius Satellite Radio; nice to see a vendor not take sides here.

One other very nice feature is its Bluetooth capabilities - you can tie your Bluetooth cell phone via an adapter to the AVH-P7800 and control it via the touchscreen. Integration means that you can listen to/talk on calls via the headunit (it has a microphone), audio is automatically muted during incoming/outgoing calls and you can store the phone book and access it by voice or the touch screen display.

The AVH-P7800DVD is Pioneer's first 6.1 channel in car receiver. It is compatible with DTS 96/24, which allows high quality 96kHz 24-bit sound playback in multi-channel formats from ordinary DVD-Video recordings. The AVH-P7800DVD can also decode 6.1 channel software in DTS-ES and Dolby Digital EX. The added surround back channel allows more detailed imaging and finer sound localization. A theater-like ambience is also provided by the ordinary two-channel sources, thanks to DTS NEO:6 compatibility. In addition, Dolby Pro Logic II delivers 5.1 channel surround sound from stereo sources, including one mode specialized for music and another for movies.

Features:

• 7" Widescreen Hi-Res WVGA Display
• Built-in Multichannel Processor with DVD Audio
• Play MP3, WMA, AAC, JPEG, DivX by CD or DVD

Motorola RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana Phone :-

Check out Dolce & Gabbana's and Motorola's quad-band GSM RAZR v3i tribute to Goldmember. This phone has the standard slim .55 inch thick RAZR shape and an anodized aluminum gold finish that makes this phone toit...

You've probably seen the wildly popular Motorola RAZR V3 in someone's hand before. With the quad-band GSM RAZR V3i, Motorola has made it even better. The sexy design is still here, as is the all-metal construction. This time, though, the phone boasts an updated and streamlined design, enhanced video capture and playback capabilities, a 1.23 megapixel camera, and a hot-swappable MicroSD memory card slot.

Put a little luxury in your pocket with the RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana. And now when you thought it couldn't get any better, Dolce & Gabbana and Motorola have partnered up to release the latest version of the v3i: The RAZR V3i D & G. The phone unites the elegance and unique design of Motorola V3i with the individual style and attitude of D & G. The V3i DG features the famous RAZR slim shape, includes an anodized aluminum gold finish that reflects your impeccable taste, and its music player runs on Apple's popular iTunes software.

Sonic Boom Love Clock with Bed Shaker :-

A date. You have a date. At 3am, your time, you are going to be meeting the hottest virtual elf you could ever imagine at the tavern near the river down by the flatulent dwarf's armor shop. But you need at least get a little sleep beforehand or you won't be able to work the next day, which means you won't be able to pay the bills, which means no more high speed connection. All you have to do is set your Sonic Boom Love Clock's alarm and plug in the bed shaker. You'll be up in time, trust us. How can we be so sure? One word: volume!

The Sonic Boom Love Clock has an adjustable volume alarm with a maximum loudness of 113 decibels (just for reference, a jackhammer is about 100 decibels!) Add the bed shaker attachment does just what you think it would. Slip it under your mattress and your ears will bleed and your bed will shake, and there is no way you will oversleep and miss your date. And...if you ever get a real date (or just need a massage) you can turn off the audible alarm and just let the bed shaker do its thing. The Love Clock is also a great secondary alarm clock. Like Commissioner Gordon had a special phone to call Batman, this could be the clock to remind you when it's time for love!

Google Adding Maps to Books, Ads to Follow?

Google's been busy this week, and they're wrapping it up by mixing Google Books with Google Maps. Locations listed in certain books will have a link to that same location in Google Maps, so you can, um, check it out on a map. It's kind of cool, I guess, at least with some of the titles, like Around the World in Eighty Days and The Travels of Marco Polo. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Google's "animat[ing] the static information" in books, though. It's just dropping links in the middle of a book. I'm sure something more worthwhile will come out of this down the line, however. Like contextual advertising.

No Clean Installs With Upgrade Versions of Vista :-

Planning on formatting your hard drive to lay down a nice, clean install of Vista Ultimate Home Premium where you had XP? Well then you had better plan on spending $80 more than you originally intended. It turns out that upgrade versions of Vista won't accept your old XP CD as proof that you really are just upgrading—you actually have to install Vista on top of XP. This annoys the hell out of me because clean installs simply make for better performing machines. Why is Microsoft making our lives difficult?

Ken Fisher at Ars thinks Microsoft is trying to prevent users from using the same copy of Vista on successive computers over the next (probably) several years. In other words, every time you build a new computer, rather than moving Vista over from your old machine, they want you to buy a new copy.

Microsoft hinted at this late last year with the licensing scheme they initially unveiled. Of course, it was so blatantly restrictive, the backlash on the net was deafening, and Microsoft quickly reneged, seemingly back to a more traditional Windows licensing setup. Since this setup more or less repeats the effects of the recanted scheme, it's possible we'll see a similar uproar over the next week. – Matt Buchanan

Vista "upgrade" drops compliance checking, requires old OS to install

Peepers Delight: Binoculars with 5MP DigiCam Built-In :-



I've got good news for you bird watchers and peepers out there: you can now take binocular pictures that are actually decent quality. These binoculars have a 5-megapixel digital camera built right in, allowing you to really zoom in on your neighbors nipples. It's got a 1.5-inch LCD screen, can do video, and plugs into your computer via USB. Not too shabby. It's available now for 9912 INR, pervs.

Belkin Bluetooth iPod Dock Adapter:-



Instead of designing this like traditional wireless iPod docks where you place your iPod in a dock and use a clumsy remote to control the music, Belkin's iPod dock adapter lets you use your iPod itself as a remote. Ingenious? Definitely. The Dock adapter comes in two pieces, one for your iPod and one for your iPod dock. It uses Bluetooth to mimic an actual dock and stream commands and music from your iPod to the dock. Much better than trying to read the tiny screen from across the room. The dock adapter launches in March for 5418 INR.

Vista Benchmarks Say It's Not Really Slower Than XP :-



One of the main worries people have when considering about upgrading to Windows Vista is performance. Is it worth it to sacrifice a responsiveness for a fancier GUI and more under-the-hood upgrades? According to these benchmarks, if you've got a relatively decent Vista install you actually don't suffer a large performance decrease. In SANDRA 2007, Cinebench, Sciencemark, and 3D Mark 06, performance differences were had a change of 5% or less—some of which were actually better for Vista. In more real world examples, using Nero, LAME, and Sony encoders, Vista performed only a few percentage points slower than XP. The moral of the story? Vista's not all that much slower than what you're running now. Which is pretty much what we've noticed on our own XP to Vista upgraded PC.

Happy Hacking Lite 2 For Your Mac :-

The Happy Hacking Lite 2 keyboard is now compatible with Macs, and by compatible I mean Fujitsu painted it white and added an Apple system button. Aww so cute, finally something small to match your itty bitty mac-mini. The board is half the size of a standard keyboard, but unfortunately, Fujitsu also skimped on the USB side, adding just two USB 1.1 ports. Available in Japan for now. Small handed Americans, sit tight.

iRiver X20 Widescreen Video Player Manhandled :-

CNet Asia has a pre-release sample of the iRiver X20, a widescreen portable media player that holds up the tradition of fine iRiver products. The screen on this baby is 2.2-inches and sharp as a rusty tack in your foot. The scrollwheel, however, is a little small. But the microSD card (why not just SD?), MPEG4/WMV support, FM radio, and great sound quality make up for its shortcomings. Although it's too late to fix the scrollwheel for its February launch, everything else seems to be in order. It's no (theoretical) widescreen iPod, or even Creative Zen Vision W, since 4GB of memory won't be holding many videos.

Bill Gates Autographed Vista Editions On Sale At Best Buy :-

Best Buy has autographed versions of Billy G's Limited Edition Vista Ultimate editions for $259; advertised in your local flyer for Vista's launch on Tuesday. It's only the upgrade edition (darn), and you're paying $10 over the regular price. Better get yours soon, folks, as it's most likely the last Windows he's going to autograph. Not only can you scan in his autograph and construct cartoonisly large checks for yourself with his signature on it, but in the year 2027 these things will probably be worth a FORTUNE! Nest egg here we come.

Fujifilm FinePix F40fd 8-megapixel Digicam With Facial Recognition :-



Not only does the F40fd have an ISO up to 1600 (2000 in certain modes) in the body of a point-and-shoot, it's got facial detection as well. (That's what the fd in its name stands for.) The F40fd picks out up to 10 faces in the frame at once and does some fancy voodoo to optimize your shot. The 3x optical zoom and 2.5-inch LCD makes this 12,600 INR shooter a nice choice for beginners and vacationers.

Microtek Unveils Thrifty Plasmas :-



Microtek's debuting two lines of plasma TVs at CES this year. Their two higher-end Cineon-branded plasmas come in a piano-black finish and are available in 42-inch and 50-inch sizes. The 42-inch has a single large base (left) whereas the 50-inch has two legs (right). Prices on their website—for what we're guessing are older models—are 68,000 INR and 92,000 for the Cineons. The lower line, called Microtek, will also come in 42- and 50-inch sizes, but has a silver finish and doesn't perform as well. The cheaper brand will cost 42,000 INR and 84,000 INR less than the Cineon line.

Fujifilm Finepix A610 and A800 Low-end Digicams :-



Designed for beginners and cheapskates, the A800 and A610 have 8- and 6-megapixel sensors and come at a price of 7518 INR and 5450 INR, respectively. They both have 3x optical zoom, but the A800 has an ISO range of 100-800, whereas the A610 only has 100-400. Both have a 2.5-inch LCD display and support SD and xD memory cards. Pretty low-end stuff here that we wouldn't recommend buying unless it was a gift to someone you didn't like all that much. Retails in March.

Octavio High-End Zune Speakers From VAF :-

Retailing at Rs.12,000, the Octavio 1 is the most expensive Zune speaker system we've seen yet. At twice the price of the actual Zune unit, the Octavio 1 can hook up a Zune, TV, game console, or DVD player and combines an 8-inch bass driver, two 5.25-inch woofers and 2 fluid-damped fabric dome tweeters all in one. Here's a photo of it in iPod white. True to Zune form, the speakers ship with three skins, which allow you to go black or pink, too. Or you can strip them all off for the "naked" leather look. Ships now from Amazon.

Dealzmodo: Creative Xmod MP3 Enhancer For 2500 Rs. :-

The normal price for the Creative Xmod is Rs. 1000. Fry's.com has it for Rs 2000 only. Get it and make your Journey songs sound like they did back in '84.

Garmin 580 GPS: Can Grab Movie Times, Weather, Traffic, and Gas Prices :-



It does the head-of-its-class GPS navigation that all Garmins do. But like the 680, it has the ability to download gas prices, movie times, weather, and traffic -- and use that data to route you accordingly. Add a Mcdonalds finder before road trip season, and we'll be up to our neck in McNuggets in no time. Garmin's entry is just in time, to meet the challenge from upstart Dash, with their cellular-data equipped GPS hitting California roads in a month or so. I'd be happy, but not thrilled to hear about this setup, but screenshots abound. The integration looks tight.

Apple Keynote 2007: Speculation that iTunes will Snag Song Lyrics :-

Gracenote, which provides all of that fancy information about CDs when you pop them into your computer and play (or rip) them in iTunes and other players, has a lyric service in the pipeline set to launch in "early 2007" after inking deals with several record labels to license song lyrics. Interestingly, the press release notes that the deal "pave[s] the way for the first legal mass commercial use of lyrics" (emphasis added). Given the timing of the service's launch, it looks like prime fodder for Steve-o to introduce in a new version of iTunes at Macworld. Not as cool as the high-res album artwork made freely available in the last version, but useful nonetheless.

Garmin Astro: Track Dogs, Peoples, Younger Siblings :-

While designed to track hunting dogs, the new Garmin Astro, which displays the exact location of its wireless transmitter(s) on its receiver/mapscreen, simply screams to be used in ways other than originally intended. Small enough to attach to a dog's collar, the transmitters can therefore be attached to the wimpiest of humans. So instead of bringing some real life into FPS, bring some FPS into real life: radar for paintball anyone? Given that the tracker generates a movement trail on the screen, it also seems ideal for those crazies who play Pac-Manhattan. Of course, you'd have to be crazy to pick one of these suckers up with its 27,300 Rs. only.

VAF Sound Wall :-

Those aren't Ikea blocks you're staring at. Those are speakers. I wonder what happens to the wine glasses when you pump some Def Leopard through them at eleven. They're about 2 feet per side, and less than 5 inches deep. And I they come in colors other than salmon, in sub, standard and "acoustic treatment models", the last of which I have no idea about. And they'll be out in March. Oh, did you know that these high end beauties are made by the same VAF that makes those gnarly Zune docks? According to Rolling Stone and a grip of audio geek mags, they know what they're doing. Um, iPod dock, please.

iLuv iPod Dock Brings the Bluetooth Love :-



At first this iPod dock looks a lot like many others, but the iLuv i199 Hi-Fi Audio System with BluePin Technology has an intriguing characteristic that sets it apart: its Bluetooth connectivity lets you stream music to or from your Bluetooth-enabled laptop, cellphone or MP3 player. It has clock radio functions that lull you to sleep and wake you up, but if uLuv power, the iLuv's total audio output of a measly 6 watts into two small speakers may not satisfy. Still, there's a lot of tech packed into this 11-inch-wide box for just INR 6150.00

Cobra XRS R9G GPS Radar Detector: Fights the Man by Dodging Red Light Cams :-

Here's a gadget for those who learned to drive by watching Mad Max. Cobra's latest radar detector picks up on standard radar and laser guns used by The Man in speed enforcement. But it also has a GPS and a database of known speed traps and red light cameras. That's good for slowing down before John Q. Law pegs you with his speed guns, and for knowing which red lights are "safe" to run.

As a guy who drives like a complete A-hole, I have to say, I've got mixed feelings about this device. No matter how rushed I am, I don't run red lights -- Did you know that T-boning, along with spins, lead to the most fatalities on the road. Well, next to my friggin road rage that is.

Anyhow, the radar detector also uses the GPS to detect the car's speed, and mute the alarms if you happen to be driving the speed limit.

Hitachi Promises 1TB Hard Drive for 2007 :-

Hitachi plans to release a 3.5-inch hard drive with a 1TB (one terabyte) capacity sometime in the first half of 2007, or The Double-O Seven as I like to call it. (The company, apparently, can't keep a promise, since they originally claimed that it'd have one last year.) This massive hard drive will be christened the Deskstar 7K1000 and will carry a $399 price tag. Can you imagine that, 1,000 gigabytes all in a standard 3.5-inch casing? Usenet, here I come.

Sure, drives with 1TB of space aren't exactly new, but these large-capacity drives were mostly limited to mini home servers and the like, such as the Iomega Network Attached Storage. Seagate came close last year with the release of a 750GB hard drive, but when you spend all day sucking in content from public and private trackers, you need all the space you can get. It's rated at 7,200 rpm, so it should be plenty fast. Let's just hope Hitachi can keep its promise this time.

Cowon A2 and Q5 PMPs Details Leak: HSDPA, Touch Screen and More :-

Cowon is all set to make a big splash at CES next week and some details on a few of portable media players expected to be shown off are starting to leak out. First, there's the A3 (pictured here), which we already knew about last year. Now we know that it will come Davinci, a high-performance chip that's supposed to improve video playback in comparison to the A2. Even more impressive is the Q5. This PMP boasts a 5-inch touch screen and is based on Windows CE 5.0. It also supports DMB TV broadcasts (good for Korea, all but useless for everyone else) and HSDPA via an external module. Its pic lies within.



I like Cowon's stuff and how they try to compete with the iPod without getting all up in my grill about it. I look forward to fondling its goods next week.

LG Brings HD DVD/Blu-ray Combo Drive to Your PC :-

Just when we thought our living rooms would be the only places to benefit from that Blu-ray/HD DVD love that LG surprised us with yesterday, news comes of a new LG drive that will let us play both flavors of high definition discs on our PCs (along with traditional DVDs). As if that weren't enough, the new GGW-H10N will also be able to record 50GB of data on dual-layer BD-R/BD-RE media. The drive will be available in March, though we suggest sitting this one out considering its "under $1,200" price tag.