Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

For all you Firefox users out there, Mozilla has just confirmed in an interview with CNET that Firefox 3 will be finalized by June. The latest betas of version 3 have been getting great reviews across the board, especially by Mac users who love the faster load speeds compared to version 2.

“We’re in a phase where we’re letting add-ons get a chance to update,” Schroepfer said. “We like to have RCs (release candidates) out for a while to gather feedback.”

More release candidates are possible, he said. With Firefox 2, there were three. “We’re in better shape this time, but there’s no reason to rush this,” he said.

I am looking forward to the finalized version of what already looks like a solid browser. In the interview, Schroepfer (Mozilla’s VP of engineering) also mentioned that Firefox 3 will be “2 to 3 times faster than the previous version and nearly 10 times faster than IE 7.” Though we’re assuming it’ll still be slower than Safari.

In the meantime, you can grab the latest release candidate from Mozilla’s site.

Read [CNET]

• Firefox Mobile 1.0 makes its debut on the Nokia N900 Maemo platform
• LEGO Universe MMO beta signup opens
• Mozilla Firefox Mobile headed to Android sometime next month

Engadget got their hands on a screenshot from a helpful tipster, presumably a Best Buy employee. The shot shows a $399 Playstation 3 with a 40GB HDD and what looks like a copy of Spiderman 3 (blu-ray of course).

It displays an “in stock date” of October 28th, but no final date on when the device will hit the shelves. It seems Sony’s throwing a device out there to compete against the Xbox 360 this season.

The rumored date for an announcement is said to be October 12th, so we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for any Sony announcements.

Read [Engadget]

Joost is an Internet TV service based on a local client that essentially allows you to watch full-screen content on your PC from a variety of networks. The once invite-only program has been updated and is available for anyone to download freely. There are some limitations though on which platforms it can run on, with Windows support for XP SP2, Vista and Mac support only for Intel-based Macs and OS X 10.4. Not to mention a broadband internet connection.

One large problem with streaming all sorts of media is the limitations it has when it comes to bandwidth. Before, companies would accumulate large bandwidth bills from streaming content to thousands of users and likely shut down, but Joost tackled this problem by going with a more “social” approach, using a peer-to-peer system.

It’s no doubt Joost was developed by a man who knows how to use P2P, with Joost sporting the creator of both Skype and KaZaA. Now that it is out of beta, definitely download it and check it out. It’s a really great app with some decent content and a library that’s constantly growing.

[Update] It seems we got a little ahead of ourselves here with the whole Beta issue. Joost had been updated, but still remains beta, also updated to show support for Vista.

Read [Joost]

Earlier this year we saw some prototypes from Sony regarding their OLED display. Well we just got word that these displays, named XEL-1, will be shipping this December, so you can get your “crazy contrast ratio” on. To refresh your memory on this amazing display, it can shut off pixels entirely to produce very true blacks, so true that the contrast ratio of these displays is 1,000,000:1 (no, I didn’t add any extra zeros).

The only thing that is leaving us a tad upset is the resolution. The original prototype we saw boasted a resolution of 1024 x 600, where the shipped model will peak at 960 x 540 on the 11 inch display, significantly lower than HD. But one thing to add, if you look at the dimensions, 1 panel is a quarter the size of a 1080p panel, so this may have been done strategically for easier production in the future.

The display will put a fair dent in your wallet coming in at just over $1,700. A US release has not yet been announced, but hopefully we’ll see one soon.

Read [oled-display]

It seems NBC and Amazon have worked together and finally reached a deal, a deal that may not please Apple too much. NBC will be selling it’s some of it’s shows, such as “Heroes” and “The Office,” to Amazon’s Unbox video download service, sometime in the near future.

This news broke after Apple and NBC had a reported “hissy fit” regarding selling shows on the iTunes music store. There was a lot of “he says, she says” going on, with NBC blaming Apple and Apple coming back saying that NBC wanted to raise show prices from $1.99 to $4.99.

The apparent reason NBC went with Amazon is because Amazon agreed to be flexible with the pricing. The NY Times states NBC wants to charge more for the latest episodes while lowering the prices on older episodes. It should be interesting to see how this pans out, and after Steve Jobs’ smart remark about NBC at yesterday’s keynote, I doubt NBC/Apple duo will be back together anytime soon.

Via [TUAW]

There have been a lot of rumors circulating lately over the redesign of Apple’s iPod Video as well as the iPod nano. A picture appeared today on the brokenflicker blog portraying what is said to be the new iPod nano.

Is this the new iPod nano to be released September 5th? Our friends at Appletell have the full story.

Via [Appletell]

The anticipated upgrade to Canon’s “prosumer” 20 and 30D DSLR’s (digital SLR) has arrived in the form of the 40D. The latest upgrade brings a 10.1 megapixel cmos sensor, a 3.0” Live View LCD, as well as the ability to shoot up to 6.5 frames per second.

The LCD display on the back of the 40D is now 3.0” compared to the 2.5” screen on the 30D. The camera also includes Live View which allows you to frame a shot using the LCD rather than using the viewfinder. The new display also includes broadened color gamut as well as a narrowed viewing angle, this helps when viewing the photos outdoors, especially in sunlight.

The increase from 3 to 6.5 fps is useful for a lot of photographers, especially sports photographers. When shooting sports you definitely need faster shots to catch the action without the blurr.

The estimated retail price of the 40D is $1,299.00, or $1,599.00 with Canon’s kit version which includes their EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. This is definitely a great camera for any hobby photographers looking to move up, though a lot of Nikon fans still argue the D80 is better. We’ll have to get our hands on both before we can make any judgments.

Press Release [Canon]

I know plenty of storage junkies out there with terabytes of storage in their computers and external hard drives, and now they can expand their storage needs over their network. Lanner’s new NS04-3100 is a NAS server that allows up to four bays, yes I said four, for some SATA drives.

The NAS includes some high-end features such as built-in WiFi, iTunes server, DLNA support, and UPnP AV media server capabilities. Not to mention support for RAID - 0, 1, and 5. There is no pricing info currently available, but it’s available immediately for “sampling.” Can someone say review unit?

Doubt the NAS will be able to take on the likes of Drobo, but definitely a very cool accessory for any torrent-junkie geek out there.

Via [Engadget]

I have started to ask myself what is wrong with this country when we can’t even get cool phones before, or even at the same time as other countries. The latest phone that we can’t have is the Exilim W53CA phone from Casio.

The phone is a CDMA clamshell with a 5MP camera included. The phone holds all your digital photos on microSD cards and comes in red, silver, and black. No word yet on pricing or if we will ever see this cool phone on these North American shores.

Via [CrunchGear]

That’s right kids, the pirate bay - everyones favorite site to get illegal legal content, is reviving an old favorite, Suprnova.org. The day Suprnova.org was shut down was a sad sad day for the internet. Well, the pirate bay has come to save the day and revive the site from the dead.

The site has laid dormant for three years but is slated to go live again sometime this week. So keep hitting that refresh button kids, it is really coming back.

Via [UNEASYsilence]