Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The Me Generation, Generation X, Generation Y...they’ve all had their time in the media spotlight. Now prepare yourself for “Digi-Kids,” the term that market research firm NPD Group uses to refer to youth ages 4-14 who spend more time on their computers instead of parked in front of a television.

Parents of digi-kids probably didn’t need a market research report to confirm all this, but NPD’s latest “Kids and Consumer Electronics” report shows that 75 percent of youth surveyed use a computer while only 70 percent say they use a TV. The report also shows an increase in usage of social networking sites for this particular demographic, which should be of particular interest to parents, educators and law enforcement worried about online predators.

Moms and dads still trying to decipher the text messaging hieroglyphics preferred by their sons and daughters won’t like the finding showing 20 percent of the “digi-kids” surveyed own their own cell phone, with 13 percent of - get this - four and five-year-olds saying they use them. Maybe I’m just too old school - and I realize this is not a new issue - but the idea of a child barely out of the toddler stage learning how to work a cell phone and text their peeps before they can master a bicycle is a little too Brave New World for me. Or is it Children of the Digi-Damned?

Read [NPD Group]

MSI and Asus are already ‘battling it out’ in the mini-PC market with the Wind and Eee PC notebooks. However not that long ago Asus showed us the Eee Box and of course MSI has come up with some competition.

We do not yet know the complete details of what has been unimaginatively dubbed the “MSI Wind PC” but what we do know is very interesting. First, it is small, measuring in at just 11.81 x 10.24 x 16.14-inches, and this compact system is due to the fact that (or so MSI claims) the full-speed operation of the desktop is just 35 watts, meaning that it doesn’t need a fan to cool it. This not only makes it smaller, but also a lot quieter than your average PC, at just 30dB.

The only other specifications that MSI has released is that it will be Energy Star 4.0 compliant, and will include a 60GB 7,200RPM hard drive, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11n, a DVD combo drive and a TV tuner card. However, slightly irritating, we do not know anything about the processor or RAM that it will have, or even the operating system, so as of yet we cannot compare it to the Eee Box, but hopefully it wont be long.

A few years ago futurologists predicted that the future led in movement (or gesture) recognition and they have most certainly been proved right. Quite a few major products on the market, such as the wii or iPhone use gesture recognition to manipulate images, text and obviously games. However for the PC, the gesture recognition movement has passed by without any real difference, until a small young company came up with this ingenious piece of software.

Not much is known about the specifics of the software, as the only real information is the video (above) that has been circulating the internet. However the general idea is that the software uses any webcam to locate and select an object (e.g. a colored stick or bottle) which it then monitors for 3D movement. This is then converted into whatever form is necessary, such as that for a mouse, a gun in FPS games or a steering wheel.

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Via, the company that brought us the NanoBook, has a new reference design; a computer called the OpenBook.  This design is changed from the previous iteration, modeled to compete with the Asus Eee PC which has launched since the original NanoBook was unveiled.  The computer sports an 8.9-inch display, with a 1024 x 600 resolution, three USB ports, VGA out and two 2-megapixel cameras. Additionally, it can connect to the internet via HSDPA, WiMAX or EV-DO. For the small form factor, a colossal 2GB of RAM and a 2.5-inch hard drive is squeezed in. You can run Windows Vista, XP or any Linux distro as your operating system. The OpenBook is based on the C7-M ULV processor and the VIA VX800 chipset, and you can get around 3 hours of battery life; in optimal conditions.

Via is putting the CAD files of the hardware up for download under a Creative Commons license, OEM manufacturers can have a go at making this the best they see fit.

Via [UMPC Portal]

With the growing popularity of mobile phones as music devices, it is but logical that mobile phone accessory manufactures would think of coming out with speakers that could deliver high-quality sound from mobile phones to external speakers. Logitech is one of these manufacturers with its new speaker system that works with mobile phones. To make it even more interesting, Logitech made its mobile speaker system, called the Pure-Fi, work wirelessly.

The Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile speaker system works with mobile phones that are Bluetooth enabled. Using the Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) profile, music stored in the users phone can be streamed directly to the Pure-Fi Mobile speaker system, and it will work up to about 32 feet. The Pure-Fi speakers also promise to give articulate bass and smooth treble sounds with its 2-inch high-excursion drivers and dual 2-inch pressure drivers.

In addition to being a high quality mobile speakers, the Pure-Fi can also be used as a wireless speakerphone, thanks to its two built-in mics which pick up vocal nuances and monitor and block unwanted background noise. Users can also call-answer and call-end easily with the use of controls located on the top of the speakers.

The Logitech Pure-Fi speaker system comes with a protective case which also fits charging cables. For music on PCs, iPod and other MP3 player, Pure-Fi can either be paired to an audio source via Bluetooth or through a built-in 3.5mm audio jack.

And now for the pricing, the Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile speaker system retails for $149.99 and will hit US and European stores sometime in June.

Via [Far East Gizmos]

AMD is introducing a new badging system on its gaming desktop PC’s called “AMD Game.” The AMD Game badging system is aimed at allowing gamers to choose their gaming PC’s specifications as if they were buying a game console. Targeting the mainstream PC gamers, AMD Game hopes to enhance the gamers experience by making it easier for them to purchase their gaming PC’s even if they have little know-how on PC setup and specifications.

AMD Game badges will direct gamers only to PCs which are validated for gaming. What is usually targeted at PC’s with 1280 x 1024-pixel high definition resolution with 30fps will even go beyond 1600 x 1200 at 30fps gaming PCs under the AMD Game system. Adding to this LCD display specifications for AMD Game are minimum requirements of AMD Athlon 5600+ X2 processor, ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics and an AMD 770 chipset or NVIDIA nForce 500 series chipset for the basic AMD Game specifications. For a more powerful AMD Game Ultra specifications, the minimum requirements are Phenom X4 9650 processor, ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics and an AMD 770 chipset.

Supporting the AMD Game are PC manufacturers such as Acer, Alienware, iBuypoer and Velocity Micro as well as Microsoft and Logitech.Find out more about AMD Game badging system at http://game.amd.com.

Read CNET

In news that comes as little surprise, Asus has officially offered up the Eee PC 900. While we already knew the date, it is still nice to see that it came as scheduled, which means that anyone who was brave enough to pre-order will not have to wait any extra time.

The Eee PC 900 seems to be holding true to the expected $549 price tag, with availability just about everywhere we saw the pre-orders popping up. The Eee PC 900, so far seems to be available and in-stock at Amazon, Buy.com, ZipZoomfly, J&R and ExcaliberPC. The one exception seems to be at Buy.com where the retail seems to be just a little higher than the rest at $559.

Via [Laptoping]

Before Asus even launches its own desktop Eee PC, its rival MSI has already rolled out a competing product. MSI’s small new wonder is called the Titan, which aside from having a small profile, will also be small on price - at only £235 or about $450 USD, give or take a few. It measures only 9.45 x 7.28 x 2.75-inches, and yet it features a 250GB SATA hard drive, 2 GHz VIA C7 processor, 1GB of DDR 2 memory and VIA’s CN700 integrated chipset. Two USB ports, VGA, TV out, 5.1-channel digital audio out, legacy PS/2 and serial ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port are all built-in to round out this little baby’s set of I/O ports. While a dual-layer multi-format DVD writer is included to take care of your home theater needs. The catch? It doesn’t come with an OS, which at first of course sucks, but you can bag Linux (what the original Eee PC used to ship with) for free easily anyway, so it’s still kind of OK.

Via [Register Hardware]

It was just a little over a month ago now that the Cuban Government decided to begin easing up on restrictions with electronics, namely computers, and as we have already seen Cuba citizens lining up for cell phones, the same is happening with computers.

Reports of “more than a dozen prospective buyers” began to line up when they first went on sale. While “just” a dozen people may not sound like a lot, you also must consider that these computers are not coming cheap. Havana’s Carlos III shopping center began to sell the Qtech PC along with a CRT monitor for $780. Sounds expensive enough already, but consider further that these PC’s are not exactly high powered either, they are featuring Intel Celeron processors with 80GB hard drives, 512MB of RAM and running Windows XP.

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Fujitsu has just made available two of its flagship ultra-portable computing machines, the U810 mini notebook and the T2010 tablet PC. Both machines boast of built-in AT&T BroadbandConnect HSDPA, which simply translates to a fast wireless data connection experience for users. Individually, both machines are equipped with good features as well, here’s what you can expect on these two new Lifebook’s.

The LifeBook U810 mini-notebook brags of being the world’s smallest convertible notebook with its 5.6-inch LED backlit touchscreen display and works like a traditional notebook with its ultra-slim QWERTY keyboard or by swivelling its VSVGA Crystal View illuminated screen. It also functions as a handheld tablet PC with a touch screen for finger or pen input. Other features of this mini notebook include an Energy Star compliant 800MHz A810 Intel processor, fingerprint reader, automatic BIOS lock, integrated webcam, 1GB DDR2 400MHz SDRAM memory, 60GB hard drive and Bluetooth.

While the LifeBook T2010 convertible notebook boasts of a 12.1-inch LED backlit display and a slim 1.3-inch chassis. This notebook is packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo 7600 ultra low voltage processor, 2GB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM memory, 120GB SATA hard drive, Wi-Fi link and Bluetooth. The T2010 is also Energy Star compliant like the U810.

Both the U810 and T2010 are available now with retail prices starting at $999 and $1,499 respectively.

Product [Fujitsu] Product [Fujitsu] Via [SlashGear]