Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Sony announced they’ve added some new partners for their connected Bravia TVs.  These TVs, when hooked up to broadband, bring the net experience to your living room.  Sony is doing this in an extremely controlled fashion.

How controlled?  One at a time, baby.  That is right: they added CBS which uses Flash 10 for content, as does Hulu but Sony does not have a partnership with them.  You’ll have access to their partners via a special link, not a browser.  Curious?

Of course you are!  So was I.  So I asked Sony.  Check out their answers after the break.

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Sections: Video, HDTV, Web, Web Apps, Websites, Online Music/Video

The XPERIA X1, another long awaited handset, will be available here in the US very shortly.  That’s right, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 will make a US debut on Black Friday (November 28), but sadly it will not be coming with any of the typical Black Friday savings that we have come to expect.  Instead it will be retailing for $799.99, that is, of course, as an unlocked handset.

As for features, the XPERIA X1 has a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard along with a 3-inch display, a 3.2-megapixel camera with auto-focus, a microSD card slot, A2DP, Wi-Fi and GPS.  Additionally the X1 will come loaded with Microsoft Office Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Opera 9.5, Windows Media Player Mobile and will be running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

So, if you are looking to make a purchase, November 28 will be the day, it can be found directly through Sony Electronics.

Via [unwired view]

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Crutchfield is currently offering the Sony Mylo COM-2 for just $199, which comes along with free shipping.  Although the Mylo COM-2 is typically available in either white or black, this deal applies only to the black model.

The Mylo COM-2 is branded as an “Internet Device” and offers a nice way to get online, that is assuming you have a Wi-Fi connection available.  Bottom line, $199 is not a bad price for a device that was introduced less than a year ago and originally sold for $299.  Of course, with Wi-Fi being included into more and more devices these days, the small form factor of the Mylo COM-2 is making it much less desirable than it was just a year ago.

The Mylo COM-2 features a 3.5-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution, a back-lit slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 1.3-megapixel camera and 1GB of internal memory with support for additional storage via Memory Stick Duo media.  This now lowered price is coming after a $100 instant rebate, and at least at the time of this posting makes no mention of any expiration.

Read [Deal News]

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Black Friday, the day when consumers can generally expect to find some good deals, is thankfully just about upon us.  With a few weeks before Thanksgiving here in the US, it seems now is about the right time for the deals to begin making their way into the public eye.  Sadly, although Dell has plenty of deals listed for Black Friday, it seems that some are not as exciting as one would hope for. 

To begin with, Dell is planning to offer the Inspiron Mini 9 for $299, which offers a $50 savings from the regular $349.  The specs for that model include a 1.6GHz Atom processor, a 4GB SSD, 512MB RAM an 8.9-inch display and running Ubuntu 8.04.

Other notebooks that are on sale (and some that will offer a much greater savings) will be the Inspiron 13 for $699 (a $329 savings), the Studio 15 for $699 (a $245 savings), the Studio 17 for $799 (a $349 savings), the XPS M1330 for $1,029 (a $319 savings) and the XPS M1530 also for $1,029 (a $319 savings).  More deals after the break.

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The quality of cameras in phones has risen exponentially in the last few years from poor VGA to the fairly good 3 megapixel and beyond.  But there is always progress to be made, and Sony Ericsson have outlined some fairly ambitious aims in the release of their four year plan for smart phones; not only with cameras but other aspects of the phones as well.

However I will begin with cameras, and Ericsson’s vision is that by 2012 the cameras on phones will be capable of 20 megapixels and even the ability to shoot full HD video.  This is incredibly ambitious in four years, especially considering the current economic climate, but there is nothing to suggest that it cannot be done.  This will certainly have far reaching effects regarding home videos allowing near professional home films to be made via phone cameras, which would be pretty cool! 

Keep reading for more info on where Sony Ericsson plans to take phones.

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Look out Apple, there could be a company in town with a player to kill the iPod.  In all seriousness, MySpace might enter the MP3 player department, a place where Apple’s iPod has dominated for quite a while now. 

At the Web 2.0 Summit meeting on Thursday, MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive, Chris DeWolfe, shed some light on the fact that MySpace could develop a music player, but nothing is set in stone. 

MySpace has used music a lot to make their site bigger and bigger.  Many small (and large) bands use MySpace as a way to share their music.  They even launched a new service, called MySpace Music, which works with popular music labels including Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.  More after the break.

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Sections: Apple, Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video

It would appear that the in word at the moment is ‘Blu’ as yet another product with the prefix of Blu emerges, this time in the genre of health.  The goLITE BLU is essentially advanced light therapy to fight against S.A.D. (seasonal defective disorder) as well as the general winter depression.

Surprisingly, though this is not made by Sony, rather by Phillips who appear to have hijacked the poorly spelled color in their product name.  Beneath the fancy wording and scientific explanations is the fact the device is an alarm clock that uses new light technology (yes you guessed it, blue light) to sight against S.A.D.  Continued after the break.

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Yet another case of the few ruining it for the many.  Due to “at least 40” reports of laptop batteries overheating and causing fires as well as potential property damage, Sony is recalling 35,000 Lithium Ion batteries in the US and another 65,000 in other countries.  In a stroke of genius, none of these batteries were actually put in Sony laptops.  Instead, most of them (32,000) are in HP Pavilion dv model and Compaq laptops, and to a lesser extent Toshiba Satellite and Tecra laptops (3,000) and only 150 Dell Latitude and Inspiron laptops.  The batteries were made way back in October 2004 to June 2005.

More after the break.

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We all have them.  Old gadgets and gizmos tucked away that we don’t use anymore, but for some reason…we just can’t find it in our heart to toss them.  For some, it might be that we don’t want to “clutter the environment,“ for others, “but I paid freakin’ HOW MUCH for that five years ago?!“  And for others still, well, we don’t even know why it’s still shoved it the closet or drawer.  Well, you might be heartened to know that Radio Shack is now providing a way for you to get some cash for those old tech goodies.  Well, not cash exactly, but the next best thing.  Gift cards for more tech goodies.

Launched just yesterday, Radio Shack is now offering a “trade-in policy“ for your old stuff.  It’s pretty much what it sounds like.  You give them your stuff, and you get a gift card for their store for a specified trade-in amount for your item.  They obviously don’t take every single item from every manufacturer from the dawn of time, but there is a pretty broad range on their trade-in site.

Keep reading to find out what a laptop is worth to Radio Shack.

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Sections: Audio, Video, Communications, Cellphones, Computers, Laptops, Gadgets / Other, Green, Household, Miscellaneous, Gaming, Imaging, Camcorders, Web, Websites

I get confused when I can’t tell an endorsement from a paid endorsement.  One minute there is a report that talk show host Oprah Winfrey has declared Amazon’s Kindle her “favorite new thing” and the next is a big advertisement with Ms. Winfrey on Amazon.  A quick search on the tubes proves I am unsuccessful at finding out if she was paid to make this claim or not.

The Oprah show painted the Kindle as a wonder: not frivolous as it will save you money in the long run and a super green way to read books.  I can hear the trees applauding from here.  More after the break.

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