Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Remember that great little pocket camcorder that Kodak announced a little while back, it was the 720p capable Zi6, well its now available for pre-order. The pricing remained at the originally announced $179.95, and although there is no specific mention of when it will begin shipping, they are offering free shipping if you place your order before August 25. Hopefully it will ship sometime soon after.

The Kodak Zi6 should offer some nice competition to the current leader in the pocket camcorder market, which as we recently learned is the Flip Video Ultra that just hit the 1 million units sold mark. The Kodak Zi6 is similar in shape and size, but has a much nicer video quality, it will capture in HD quality at 720p.

Otherwise, just to recap, the Zi6 also features a 2.4-inch LCD display, built-in USB connector, 128MB of internal memory and a SD/SDHC memory card slot for additional recording capability. Similar to the other camcorders in its class, the Zi6 also has direct upload capability to YouTube. It is powered by two AA batteries, and also ships with two pre-charged Kodak Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and a mini charger kit. The Zi6 will be available in either black or pink.

Product [Kodak]

And so here Wii are. Less than two weeks and counting until the most innovative product the video game industry has seen hits the streets.

This Thursday evening (CST), November 9, your opportunity to get in on the excitement arrives when the Wii Bundle becomes available for purchase online at GameStop.com. You’ll get games, accessories and more all for a whopping $699 plus tax and handling (we can just imagine how much the PS3 bundles will go for).

And of course the minor details… quantities are extremely limited and there will be a limit of 1 Wii bundle per household, limited to US delivery only. Ordering a bundle does not guarantee shipment at launch and orders will be shipped on a first-come, first-serve basis. The bundle will be removed from the site as soon as we have reached our expected quota.

Read [GameStop] Via [Silicon Era]

Gamers rejoice, the most anticipated game of all time has begun to show some light. BestBuy.com has a product page and pre-order option available for the long awaited Halo 3, for Xbox 360. It is currently listed at $59.99 with a release date of 3/1/2007. Valid sources have told Gadgetell that we can expect the game much sooner than that, possibly even this fall, assuming the release schedule does not change.

Here is the hype:

The much-anticipated final chapter has arrived. Master Chief returns to finish the fight once and for all in order to finally end the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood and the entire human race. Experience a heart-pounding, dramatic climax to this popular video game franchise.

Next-generation graphics and technological advances, such as an enhanced artificial intelligence and an advanced real-time lighting engine, make the story come to life with stunning realism. Experience all-new weapons and characters as you struggle through tough challenges. You can even log online with Xbox Live and battle in exciting multiplayer action.

Update: Amazon also lists Halo 3 available for pre-order for $59.99 but for release on March 31, 2007. Why do I have a feeling that Halo 3 will be released way before these two dates…

Halo 3 [Best Buy]

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]

If you’re not down with swooping up a Nintendo Wii over the web here, you can now head into the new flagship store Nintendo World NYC and preorder today!  The preorder, just like F.Y.E. will require you to put $50 down (which we’re assuming goes towards the purchase price of $249).  It looks like they’ve only got 100-300 units available for preorder, so if you want one, head into the store ASAP (NOTE: Preorders cannot be made over the phone).  If you don’t live in NYC, have no fear because Nintendo isn’t expecting any shortages (like Microsoft with the Xbox 360), so heading into your local Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Target should do the trick.

The Wii is set to release on November 19th in the U.S. and December 8 in Europe.

Read [Engadget]

If you’re all antsy and can’t wait til they’re in stores, it’s time to pre-order the Nintendo Wii.  Liksang, the first company that we know of to offer the pre-order is handling it in an interesting fashion.  They’re going for the no-money-down model and aren’t charging you anything at this time - this probably also means that they’re not promising you a system right when it comes out.  Since there’s really nothing to lose (it’s a non-binding preorder), head over to Liksang and go for it.

Update: You can also head into your local F.Y.E. and pre-order with just $50 down.  The $50 then goes towards your purchase when the Wii is actually shipped.  Personally, I’d feel more comfortable pre-ordering at a store instead of overseas.

When I asked the F.Y.E. representative for a price and launch date, she said that the system’s not giving a price (obviously), and the store’s Nintendo Wii documentation says the system would be released in 2007.  2007?  What happened to the holiday season?

Read [Liksang] Via [Gizmodo]

The Sirius Stiletto 10 and 100 which are due out sometime in the near future have been up for preorder on select sites for some time now.  The company has just notified all of their Authorized Retailers to stop the preorders of the device.  Here’s a clip from TSS-Radio (one of the preorder sites):

SIRIUS has asked it’s authorized retailers to suspend preorders of the Stiletto. We still expect the Stiletto near the end of September / early October. The existing preorder list will be maintained and we will continue to send notifications to our notification list.

The reason for pulling sales is not known at this time, although rumors are floating around about it being the RIAA - which makes sense since they busted Sirius a while back for their portable S50 Radio (which records live broadcasts).  Gizmodo’s pointing fingers at the FCC, but I’m not thinking there’s enough going on in this device to upset the Feds.  Read on for more about the Stiletto.

In case you’re not familiar, here’s an exerpt from our post about the Stiletto a couple of weeks ago:

Both the Stiletto 10 and 100 are the company’s first portables capable of playing live Sirius broadcasts. The 100 offers…you guessed it… 100 hours of total storage capacity and WiFi connectivity (10 hours for the Stiletto 10). The battery will last you 20 hours on both models. The 10 and 100 models will run you $249 and $349 respectively and will be available in the September/October time-frame.

Read [Orbitcast]

The Sony PlayStation 3 is available for preorder on certain sites online, including Play.com and Liksang.com. Play is selling the PS3 for a whopping £549.99 (over $1000) and Liksang has now yet put a price up. There are reports that Gamestop will not offer a pre-order at all, and if they do it will not be until October because of the problems they had with the Xbox 360. Finally, a rather official reseller, Amazon, does have a product page for the PS3, but there are still no signs of a preorder.

Via [Me, My Coke, & I]