Sneak Preview at Cool Upcoming Tech from AMD

AMD has some innovative new products and technologies coming out soon and we got a sneak preview at them. First up is the upcoming Maingear Axcess HD Media Center, which isn’t just your average home entertainment media center PC. The Maingear Axcess HD Media Center is not just made to fit in with your AV equipment - it’s made to consolidate much of your AV equipment as well. The Maingear Axcess HD Media Center features the AMD 780G chipset with ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics and AMD Phenom multi-core processors. It’s also got all the important ports you’d expect - firewire, eSata, dvi and HDMI for output of up to 1080p on your TV. The PC will come with Axcess HD which is basically software comparable to Windows Media Center but with a whole bunch of neat tricks up its sleeves: like the ability to view multiple videos all at once on a curved 3D wall, the ability to surf the internet while watching a video simultaneously, the capability to record shows directly to its hard drive like a proper DVR, the power to remotely view recordings (a lot like Sling) and finally, the option to have recordings transfer directly to your iPod or other digital media player by connecting it via USB to the Maingear Axcess HD. The Maingear Axcess HD Media Center will be available in August at MainGear. [Read more]

Hands On with Samsung’s New Touch of Color All-in-one LCD TV / PC Monitors

Samsung’s new Touch of Color LCD monitors are the new LCDs on the block to set the bar. The displays aren’t just LCD TVs, they also double as computer monitors. Ok, that might not seem like anything extraordinary at first - since most LCDs are capable of connecting to your PC as a monitor, however these beauties sport 1900 x 1200 resolutions so that in the PC display department they aren’t lacking. They also come with 2 HDMI ports, twin 3 watt speakers, a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, an optical audio pout port, and a built-in TV tuner. Their 1080P means you can watch Blu-ray movies in all their glory and use them to hook up to your PS3 as well. Their price points are also very reasonable. [Read more]

SideWindow Transforms Your Old PDA in to a Second Display

PDAs have gone the way of the dinosaur, they don’t even have good eBay resell value. So in the age of smartphones, what do you do with that old Windows Smartphone laying around that is still in great condition? Instead of transforming it in to a paperweight, you can use it as a secondary display. SideWindow is a neat app that allows you to transform your PDA in to a secondary display appropriate for small windows like a buddy list, a to-do list, or whatever else you might need to glance at frequently but you rather not waste precious screen real estate on. The app retails for $24.95.

MiniView KVM Switch for Sharing Monitors and Peripherals Supports DVI

Iogear’s MiniView Micro DVI PS/2 KVM Switch is not exactly an exciting gadget but it’s one of the best KVM switches. A KVM switch is the most efficient way of sharing peripherals between two computers. In other words, let’s say you have two computers which and you would like to share the same mouse, keyboard, monitor, microphone and speakers on for use with both computers. A KVM can switch makes that happen. Thus a KVM switch is a practical tool to have in your dweeb arsenal - it’s both a space saver and a money saver. The new MiniView KVM switch is extra special, because it supports DVI as opposed to VGA like most other KVM switches, and it’s not a bulky box - those are two aspects that are hard to find. The price isn’t outrageous either at $159 for what you get.

Clean Your Computer Screen with a Pig

We’re used to cleaning our computer screen with a cloth, a tissue, and some special chemical cleaner. But these Plush animals are definately a much more adorable way to clean your monitor. Available as a pig, cow, frog, basketball or football, these Chamois Computer Screen Cleaners are designed to keep your monitor shiny. Ok, so a stuffed animal computer screen cleaner is a bit ridiculous? But we all loved stuffed animals, right. You can add this to your collection of fun friends cell phone covers and stuffed animal web cams. The cleaners retail for $11.99.

MyGreenElectronics.org’s, Guide to Sage Electronic Decisions

We all get it- Global Warming is happening. Outside of buying different light bulbs, what can be done? How do you wade through all the “green products” and make the most informed decisions possible? MyGreenElectronics.org is a Consumer Electronics Association website aimed at demystifying the lush leafy world of electronic greenness.

The site is divided into 4 instructional sections of 4 R’s- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink.

Reduce-

This section contains an energy calculator that breaks down impact of various devices in your household such as TV, Notebook PC, DVD player, etc. It calculates, on a per average basis, how much it costs to have electronic devices in use, asleep, and off by the time increments you enter in. You may be surprised how much money a merely plugged in device can eat up.

An informative section is “Tips for saving energy.” A few of these include: buy items with the “ENERGY STAR” label (Energy Star is a joint program of the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy). Go digital on your thermostat. Unplug chargers once device is fully charged. Or my personal favorite- Ask your employer about working from home or a satellite business location to cut your commute. I can see it now, “Come on boss, it’s for the environment!” Well, maybe you will have better luck.

Other sections of “Reduce” include “Tips for extending the life of your electronics with proper care” and “Repair or replace?” The latter contains a link to Consumer Report’s “Fix it or Nix it?” which is a useful table identifying problems of many electronics and whether to keep ‘em or junk ‘em.

[Read more]

USB to DVI Adapter Adds Second Display to Your Laptop

Suitable for graphics professionals, the USB to DVI Display Adapter transforms your laptop’s USB port in to a DVI port so that you can add an extra display. Also,the adapter has 128mb of onboard memory, making it capable enough to handle a resolution of up to 1400×1050 with quality similar to a DVi port.  The device itself is slick with a shiny red design and petite body that is as small as a deck of cards, making it practical to carry around with your laptop. The USB to DVI Display Adapter is available for preorder for $119.95 from Sewell.

Cenio’s Gold Metallic M1550 Laptop

Unlike most manufacturers that produce the same boring black, white or silver computers, Cenio Computers produces desktops, laptops and monitors in a choice of 16 metallic colors. And now their Cenio m1550 notebook is also available in a golden metallic color. This is so the laptop Trump would get for himself. On top of the crazy color selection, Cenio will also customize their displays or computers with your company’s logo. Also worth checking out is Cenio’s Art Computers which have been designed by artist Selwyn Senatori and have a colorful urban style going for them that are unlike any laptop you’ve ever seen before - even the inside of the laptop (near the keyboard and display) have been painted with designs matching the cover.

Tucano’s PJ Style Covers Guarantee That Your Mac Never Sleeps Naked Again

We just posted about sleeping bags for your laptop and then we get an email in our inbox about PJs for your iMac. It seems like there must be a lot of sleepy computers out there. Tucano’s PJ Mac Screen Protection Cover for IMacs protects your computer from dust, mothballs, bugs and sunshine. It also makes your Mac look plain adorable, and yes the pocket is designed to hold a mouse. That is too cute for school. The cases retail for £9.99. There is also a PC Jam Screen Protection Cover which is designed to fit most 17″ PC LCD screens and retails for £18.99 and they’re available in black or blue.

Tatung’s Soft Pink Computer Monitor Doubles as HDTV

A pink computer monitor that doesn’t have Hello Kitty all over it? Now that’s different. Tatung’s 17″ LCD monitor is also an HD ready TV with 1280 x 1024, standard aspect ratio, 500 :1 contrast ratio and a 5ms response time, and a 140-degree viewing angle. Nothing there to write home about but it does accept component inputs, which will help provide you with pretty HD content. The Soft Pink Tatung LCD retails for $248.

Smooth Creations Diablo Gaming PC with Matching Peripherals

This computer package is so bright, it practically hurts to look at it. Smooth Creations Diablo comes with a matching LCD, speakers, mouse, keyboard, PC and even a matching ipod. Not only is this package customized with a top of the line paint job, it also comes with top of the line parts. The PC comes packed with a Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Processor, 2GB of ram, two 250GB hard drives in a RAID configuration, and two GeForce 8800 GTX cards. And if the yellowish gold color in the photo is too much for your sensitive eyes, Smooth Creations will cover the package in any color that you choose. Pricing begins at $5,000 for the system only.

Designer Computer Screen Cleaners from AM Denmark

In general when I clean my LCD or Laptop screen, my liquid cleaner of choice is reliable Windex. Now and then I get a little rebellious and use Mr. Clean’s Magic sponge. As long as it gets the job done, I’m happy. AM Denmark is looking to make your LCD cleaner more aesthetically pleasing than my old ordinary cleaners. They have a bunch of Colour Screen Cleaners designed by Tools Design which look like a cross between a flask and a perfume bottle. These are certainly the classiest screen cleaners we’ve ever came across. The color screen cleaner comes in 3 different colors and designs, but for all it’s glamor if its more expensive than my Windex - I think I’ll pass.

Curious Dragon and Elephant Monitor Toppers

Stefan Didak’s Incredible Home Office Set-up

Did you know that by using more than one monitor you can become more productive? If you’re a graphic designer, you could have your Photoshop area in one monitor, and the palette in the other. Stefan Didak has the coolest home office we’ve seen yet! He’s using 7-screens setup plus two additional laptops. At his Home Office FAQ page, Stefan is answering interesting questions like “How much is your electricity bill?”. Also, just for the sake of comparison, check out Steve Balmer’s office.

Desktop and Monitor USB Decoration Lights for Birthdays or Chrismas

It seems like every few weeks a USB device comes a long that seems more absurd than the last one. For the time being, these Desktop PC Monitor USB Decoration Lights for Birthdays and Chrismas are going to reign as the craziest USB gadgets yet. The USB decoration kit contains a string of colorful LED lights, a card, a hat and a matching mousepad to decorate your desk with. The kits each retail for $17.99 at Vavolo.

7″ LCD Computer Monitor Would Be Large for Barbie but Tiny For You

This tiny and portable 7″ TFT LCD monitor manages to pack in a touch screen, VGA input and a resolution of up to 1600×1200 in a 16×9 aspect ratio. It would make a great monitor to attach to a computer in your car, or to attach to a server at home, as well as a myriad of other purposes. It also comes with a remote control and sports anti-glare coating. The XN 700TS 7″ TFT LCD Monitor retails for $399. And ok, so it might cost as much as a monitor 3x it size, but it at least it does pack in a lot of punch for a little guy.

TransArt Frames Spruce Up Your LCD Monitor

The desktop monitor is one aspect of modern day computing that has yet to be really customizable. Short of pasting your own stickers and post-it notes on to your LCD, we’ve never encountered a way to spruce up your monitor until now. TransArt of Taiwan is set to transform the way you look at your monitor with their custom monitor frames. Turn your LCD in to a work of art with a picture frame or make it jump with a leopard print. They also offer custom covers for laptops, as well as faceplates for cell phones that ordinarily don’t have faceplates, ipods and even computer mice. We hope to see these show up stateside sometime soon.

CES 2007: Vizio’s 47 Inch HD 1080P LCD for $1650

In time for CES, Vizio has announced a slew of affordable LCDs and Plasmas. When we read about the price point and specs for the GV47LF, we decided that we had to go and see it for ourselves. Was it to good to be true - A 47 inch LCD with 1080p for $1899? Surely there had to be a catch. The specs read 2 HDMI ports, 2 component ports, a 1920×1080 resolution and a 8ms response time. In person the GV47LF turns out to be stunning, with super sharp and colorful visuals coming from a 1080p source. The design of the plasma itself is clean yet stylish with a set of beautiful but unusual touch-sensitive controls on the case. We also appreciate that it comes with a speaker and a stand, two things that many companies often skimp out on. The GV47LF would be suitable for almost any surrounding and definitely add to the wow factor of any room. We still cant believe that its only $1899 – that is not just affordable, that is a steal. And Costco customers can score a $250 off coupon on it this week, making it just $1650. Unheard of.

Next up we got to take a look at the Maximvs- A 60 inch Plasma behemoth beauty with 4 HDMI ports and 1080p input support. We don’t get how they are managing to offer it at this price. Like the GV47LF, the Maximvs also has rich vibrant and sharp colors that blew us away. Packed into a 4.8 inch thick spectacular bronze frame, the TV also has two spiffy speakers that down-fire to a removable translucent sound reflector, thus illuminating the need to have the speakers take up extra space.

Both TVs also come with a remote and an easy-to-understand visual instruction manual because Vizio understands how confusing it can be to set up a home theater system properly. Overall, there is nothing else on the market this big with this high standard for quality and a top notch feature set at this price. While large LCD and plasma televisions have been dropping in price, devices supporting 1080p input still cost a pretty penny because they are the most future proof. Meanwhile, Vizio is opening the door for everyone to be able to afford the latest and the best for your home theater.

BenQ’s FP785+ LCD Monitors are Covered with Far Eastern Masterpieces

BenQ’s FP785+ LCD Monitors are the most beautifully designed monitors we’ve ever come across. BenQ partnered with the National Palace Museum in Taiwan to use two of Giuseppe Castiglione’s masterpieces on some of their 17" LCD monitors. The two paintings include "Everlasting Verdure of the Immortal Calyx, An Album of Flower Studies" and "Ayusi Scattering Rebels with Upraised Spear". The monitors have a 1280×1024 resolution, a 700:1 contrast ratio, a DVI and VGA connection, and two 2 watt speakers are also built in. Unfortunately, there are a limited number of 1,300 monitors available for each design. We can’t help but desperately wish that they would bring these monitors over to the U.S.

[Read more]

CES 2007: Ergotron’s LX Large Display Cart

Ever lay down at night on your bed and wish that you had a 42" plasma in front of your bed, just like the one in the living room? Ergotron’s LX Display Cart can grant you that wish. The wheeled cart is designed to hold large displays, allowing you to easily move your display from one room to another. The LX Display Cart is height adjustable and is also able to rotate, tilt, and pan a display. The cart also sports two shelves that can hold a DVR, DVD player, XBOX or other audio and video equipment. Ergotron’s LX Large Display Cart retails for $799, a very reasonable price considering it can save you from the cost of buying additional displays, and that it also elliminates the cost of installing a display.

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