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.