Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Note: If you’re at work, turn down your speakers (or put on headphones).

If you’re down with voiding the warrenty on your Sony PSP (or just looking for some entertainment), this video is pretty sweet.  The video is a demonstration of how to install a PSP-to-TV mod chip - and seems like a rather stupid idea for those of us without a spare PSP laying around.  He takes out every screw and piece of tape that holds the darn thing together to install it, then puts it all back together… in a bit over 9 minutes.  Impressive, but still stupid.

Read [Aeropause] Via [MobilityToday]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Are you too antsey to wait til November for the Zune?  Well we’ve got good news for you!  Wal-Mart has just notified us the Zune is now available for pre-order.  The product page states that if you pre-order today, it “should ship on 11/14/2006.”  We weren’t expecting this until at least October.  So what are you waiting for?  The product will cost you $249.94 (according to Wal-Mart which conveniently undercuts Apple’s 30GB iPod by 5 cents.  Head on over to the product page and get yourself a Zune!

Read [Wal-Mart]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Logitech announced that they are partnering with Skype to offer the Easycall Desktop, which allows the user to make Skype calls using the F9 to F12 keys on the new Desktop device.  Easycall offers one-touch call management and integrates seamlessly with Skype.  Included in the package is a cordless keyboard, cordless mouse, and an internet headset - all with a five year limited warranty.

According to the Logitech press release, their “global relationship with Skype is a natural fit. The company holds market leadership positions with its Internet communications products - webcams and PC headsets - in many major markets, including the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.”

The package will run you $129.99 and will be available soon.

Via [Crowdedbrain]
Read [Logitech]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Boy Genius just gave his report over at Engadget Mobile on the soon-to-come HTC Excalibur.  I’d say judging by this quote, he’s quite fond of the new smartphone:

This is the most responsive, fastest Windows Smartphone I have ever used. Everything was made to perfection. The device is metal and rubberized plastic which gives it a great feel in your hands, and the keys… oh my lord, the keys! They are firm but not hard, softly tactcile but not squishy. The touch bar is incredible: highly responsive and ingenious or, Boy Genius if you will.

Read [Engadget Mobile]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Continuing to offer the weatherproof Stylus line of cameras, Olympus has added a top of the line 10 megapixel camera.  With it’s high shutter speed (as low as 1/1000th second) and high ISO rating (up to 6400), the camera can take extra sharp pictures with no blur, even with some camera movement.  The Digital Stabilization feature allows you to edit out blurs that show up in the picture.  The Stylus 1000 has a 2.5 inch LCD screen for previewing pictures, with a 3x optical and 5x digital zoom resulting in a 15x total zoom.  The camera has 28.5 MB internal memory, which can be expanded using the company’s trademarked xD-Picture Card up to 2GB.

The camera measures 3.8” x 2.2” x 0.89” and weighs in at 4.9 oz without the battery or media card.  This small camera with tons of extras sells for a suggested retail price of $399.99.

Via [Gizmodo]
Read [Olympus]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

According to Alan Taylor of kokogiak.com, Amazon will offer video downloads for TV shows and movies under the name Amazon Unbox.  He claims to have found information about Amazon’s new offering.  We don’t know if this is an officially-sanctioned “leak” or just incompetence, but Taylor has discovered interesting information.  It was originally thought that Amazon was going to call the new service Amazon Digital, but the name Unbox is thought to be the current name.  Links to the Amazon pages are included in Taylor’s writeup, but they’ve since gone dead.

Taylor says “according to what I can find, it’ll have purchase and rental capability, as well as support for devices other than your PC (Your TV and Creative Zen Vision at least).  TV shows are expected to sell for $1.99 and movies will sell for around $10 and up.  Will Amazon succeed in this space or will they Unbox a flop?

Via [TechCrunch]
Read [Kokogiak]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Farecast, which was available in only select markets until yesterday, has been rolled out in 55 cities across the country as a beta with a new approach to airfares.  Basically it will tell if it is a good time to buy your plane tickets or not.  Are prices going up or down, or staying steady?  They call it predictive modeling using simulation technology.  As a wanna-be mathematian, this is really great stuff.  Read more about here.

Farecast.com’s development was led by Oren Etzioni at the University of Washington.  According to Farecast.com, “We use data-mining algorithms to search for patterns, in the accumulated airfare data, which are associated with significant price changes.”  I have to say…I know exactly what that means, but it just sounds so intellectual, doesn’t it?

Via [TechCrunch]
Read [Farecast]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

TomTom has announced that the TomTom One will soon be available in North America for $499.  This bring another simple-to-use navigation system to the market.  According to TomTom, “there is no need to download complicated software, just start it up.” The North American version of the ONE comes with the latest maps of the continental USA and Canada.

The TomTom ONE weighs in at 6.5 ounces, and is packaged in a compact design measuring 3.8 in x 3.2 in x 1.0 in.  This slim size allows you to easily fit it in your pocket.  The device includes a 3.5 in LCD touch-screeen, a lithion-ion battery with 2 hours of life, and uses Bluetooth 2.0.

While you are in the car, you will have access to TomTom PLUS and at home you can access their Home services.  PLUS includes updated traffic and weather reports, and Home services include route planning and the ability to download map updates.  Look out for the ONE later in August.

Via [Engadget]
Read [TomTom]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Logitech has just announced their latest “Noise Canceling Headphones” (creative title) which will be hitting shelves soon.  The products competitors are the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 and Solitude headphones, and by the looks of these babies, they just might have a shot at competing.  The product uses their SilentSound technology which helps to cut out background noise while you’ve got them on.  Similar to the iCans which we reviewed back in June, the “Noise Cancelling Headphones” fold up into a nifty carrying case for portable convenience and storage.  They require 1 AAA battery and come with a dual-plug airplane adaptor so you can use them for those in-flight movies.  The Logitech Noise Canceling Headphones will run you $149.99 and will be available soon.

Via [Gizmodo]

Read [Logitech]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales

Microsoft reported today that there are criminals infiltrating massively multi-player online role playing games (MMORPGs).  You may have heard of them, but there are whole worlds of gaming on the Internet called MMORPGs which generate real money in the economy.  One of the early entries into the MMO market was World of Warcraft (WOW), which is still going strong.  Others include SecondLife and EverQuest.

Here is how it works.  Players gather “gold,” or “spells,” or other valuable items in the game as they move through the maze and levels of the MMO games.  Once they have collected valuables, they can sell the virtual “gold” for real money.  There are numerous web sites that cater to this economy.  Players buying the “gold” can then use the virtual currency to move more quickly through the games.

Microsoft is warning MMO players that they may be targeted by internet criminals.  Like identify theft, online thieves have figured out a way to steal MMO players’ virtual “gold”, and then sell the “gold” through the same network that players use for real money.  Microsoft also warned video game developers Monday that their PC games are now a target for criminals.

“Those of you who are working on massively multiplayer online games, organized crime is already looking at you,” said Dave Weinstein, a Microsoft security development engineer at the company’s Gamefest video game development conference.

According to Microsoft’s press release, the virtual currency is for sale on the black market along with stolen credit cards, fraudulent passports, fake work papers and other illegal items gathered by identity theft.  Since some accounts are worth in excess of $10,000, there’s bound to be criminals, right?

Read [gameusd.com]
Read [USAToday]

• DSi LL had a better debut in Japan than the PSPgo
• Sony Home Update: Turkey’s on the loose in Central Plaza
• AT&T gives up the details on their “Black Friday through Cyber Monday” sales