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Epson is adding two new multimedia photo viewers to its product line with the release of the P-6000 and P-7000. Featuring 4-inch 640x480 VGA resolution LCD screens that can display up to 16.7 million colors both, photo viewers offer a high-speed USB 2.0 connection and a built-in CF that supports UDMA and SD card slot.

Both photo viewers can display photos in up to 94 percent Adobe RGB color space, support JPEG and RAW photo file formats and MPEG-4, Motion JPEG and H.264/AVC SVGA video formats. Epson even throws in a 3.5mm headphone jacks for connecting external speakers or headphones.

In addition, the P-7000 comes packed with a travel pack that includes a dual batter charger, car adapter and case. While both photo viewers yields three long hours of usage which makes them perfect for traveling photographers.

The P-6000 and P-7000 photo viewers will both be available sometime in September with retail prices of $600 and $800 respectively.

Product [P-6000] Product [P-7000] Via [electronista]

Iomega has announced the new ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive, a portable external data storage device touting a 500GB storage capacity provided by a 3.5 inch 7200rpm NTSF formated hard drive.

The ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive comes with a remote control to help you navigate through your collection of digital content and has support for various media formats including MP3, AC3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and JPEG. It also features both HDMI and component video outputs that you can use to display high-resolution digital photos and video on your display of choice. With these connections, you can choose your preferred video settings from either 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.

The ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is currently available in the US and retails for $209.95, and is expected to ship internationally sometime in May for around $282.

Via [Far East Gizmos]

A while back, we showed you the Asus M70, a laptop with the ability to store up to 1 terabyte of data. Well, Asus has finally launched the M70 multimedia notebook.

The notebook features a 17-inch LCD display, which supports up to 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) resolution. Compounding this a ATI HD video card, which helps you view HD movies via the Blu-ray drive. Dolby Home Theater-powered audio is heard through the built-in Altec Lansing Speakers. When the touchpad is not being used as a default touchpad, it becomes a media button dock and has controls for volume, play, pause, stop, forward, back and more. A deft tap of your finger returns you to the normal touchpad functions of the special rectangular square.

The M70 also has two clever security technologies. First is the regular fingerprint scanner, which does just that; scans your fingerprints. However, the more innovative of the two is software that scans the face of the user, with the built in 1.3 megapixel webcam, to affirm identity. Nifty.

Via [PC Launches]

Asus has launched its newest 24-inch LCD monitor. The Asus MK241H boasts native HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) support for full HD 1080p video playback. It is equipped with a 1920x1200 16:10 high resolution panel that delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video. Translating these into layman’s terms, the Asus MK241H would give gamers and multimedia users the ultimate gaming and multimedia experience.

Asus has even upped the ante of the MK241H by integrating a plug-and-play built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam for high-resolution video and array microphones for the much needed push towards optimum video and audio pleasure. The webcam, microphone array, stereo speakers and earphone jack makes the MK241H useful for video conferencing as well. 

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I can’t help but be awed by the svelte beauty of Acer’s latest laptop baby, the Gemstone Blue, aka Acer Aspire 6920, and while reading its technical specifications and features, I can’t help but wonder whether Acer has created a mobile computing machine or a mobile multimedia entertainment product? The Aspire 6920 breaks away from the laptop norm and moves towards the direction of the latest media consoles.

From it’s 16-inch full HD 1920 x 1080 Cine Crystal TFT LCD to its DDR2 667MHz memory, you can easily ascertain that Acer is actually launching a portable multimedia machine rather than a business computing laptop. It has a touch-sensitive CineDash Media control which is said to respond quickly to the lightest contact. This is certainly one feature that users would definitely find useful, as traditional laptops tend to have slow-responding controls.

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Sure, it’s a technicality, but a few more analysts have called out mobile media reporters for calling the iPhone a “smartphone.” ABI Research Director Stuart Carlaw and Principal Mobile Broadband Analyst Philip Solis base their assertion using the definition of a smartphone as “a cellular handset using an open, commercial operating system that supports third party applications.”

The iPhone will run Apple software and OSX but will not run licensed third party applications (unlicensed, bootleg hacks, however, are another matter). The don’t deny that the iPhone promises to be a high-end phone with a lot of great features but by closing it off from a third-party ecosystem with companies competing to sell similar apps.

Of course, look how long it took the iPod to go from an iTunes, Mac-only setup to work with home brew and non-Apple non-Mac apps (I recall one nobly named XPlay) to, ultimately, compatibility with several free and multi-OS programs. (In case you weren’t looking, less than a year). To stay commercially viable to many more millions of non-Mac users, I’m guessing Apple will need to open up the iPhone to allow a few select companies to develop compatible programs and maybe even run some Java and Brew apps. Oh, and to make customers happy and make non-Mac owners happy.

Remember, this is Apple’s first phone and see how many original, unrepaired or unhacked iPods are still operational? Exactly.

Read [TMC Net] Also read [Smart Camera Phone Blog]
And this is only part 2 if you read part 1 [Gadgetell’s Part 1]