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

YouTube has always been the scourge of those of us who like to watch really good looking video.  Not just the quality of the content, but the actual video quality.  It first started out with high quality videos that were a pretty big step up from the normal quality.  Now, the site is taking the quality up in two ways.  First with video and also with sound.

Possibly the biggest improvement to those who care most about the poor video quality is the availability of HD video.  To be more precise, 720p HD video.  It might not look much different than the high quality in the standard YouTube video screen, but put it in fullscreen and there is a definite improvement.  It looks just about as good as the 720p trailers from Apple. 

Find out how YouTube has improved its sound quality after the break.

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Sections: Web, Websites, Online Music/Video, Google

Check out this one: LG’s Incite.  The 3G world phone has some impressive features as well as an interesting price tag: $199.  The lineup of $199 touchscreen phones in the AT&T stable is getting crowded.  So how is this one different?

The Incite features Windows Mobile 6.1, so it plays well with the MS Office docs, Outlook and the like.  It’s camera is a 3mp jobber and the 3” display has 240x480 QVGA going for it.  A bonus stylus tells you fingers may or may not be the best input device.  As a note, the Samsung Epix also offered a stylus and I found most tasks (save for clicking the close box in the upper left) were easily done with fat fingers.

Interestingly the screen is haptic (a buzzing is made so you can feel when pressing keys) and the onscreen keyboard comes in two varieties: a basic QWERTY keyboard in landscape or a 20 key keyboard in portait.  The switching between the two is automatic based on the devices orientation.

Other bonus features include aGPS, WiFi and Bluetooth; staples for any business user.  Also in there is AT&T’s video share, “the first-ever service in the U.S. that allows users to share live video over wireless devices while participating in a voice call.“  The unit has an SD memory slot that is 16GB card compatible according to the press release but the AT&T site disagrees, saying it can handle 32GB. 

Product page [AT&T]

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Looking for something that will allow you to have totally portable images for use anywhere?  Check out the new Pico Projector PK-101.  You attach this tiny device (it is smaller and lighter than a mobile phone even!) to either your smart phone (and yes, it works with iPhones too) or media player, and it throws an image onto a nearby screen or white surface.  Pretty cool.  Continued after the break.

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After a bit of a delay, Dish Network has confirmed that they will be releasing the DTVPal DVR mid-December.  However, you can pre-order it starting next week.  Originally introduced as the EchoStar TR-50 when it was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show the beginning of the year, the slightly modified HD personal video recorder now has a spiffy new name to match its new look.  Continued after the break.

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Yesterday,  Google let loose their video chat to the masses.  If your account doesn’t have the option yet, Google promises within a day or so you will.  The new option for video is very simple and many users are wondering, how does this differ from other online video services like Skype?

Skype is a full-featured video calling program.  It is easiest to think of Gmail voice and chat as augmenting their instant messaging chat rather than something completely new.  One of the biggest differences is Gmail’s version only allows video chatting with other Gmail users who have downloaded the plug in (about 2MB).  With Skype, users are allowed to contact both online and offline numbers, albeit for a fee.  There is not an option to go offline with Gmail voice and chat.

See what else Gmail voice and video users won’t be doing anytime soon.

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Sections: Communications, Email / IM, Web, Web 2.0, Google

If the just released Flip Mino HD would be available in any of the local stores in the country where I’m currently residing, I would certainly not hesitate in getting this as a gift to myself.  In fact, I might even get another one for my son.  The Flip Mino may be so cool and attractive enough to get you to buy it even before you take a look at its specs.  In fac,t you don’t have to worry about the specs, as you would certainly not be short changed in this department.

The Flip Mino HD is Pure Digital’s take on HD-capable camcorder market.  And instead of clashing with the other HD-capable camcorders in coming out with their own units touting support for large-capacity storage SD cards, Pure Digital opted to use built-in 4GB flash memory only.  For some camcorder users this would be enough for a one-hour video which they can easily upload to YouTube or other video sharing sites.  Find out more after the break.

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PMP (personal media players) are becoming increasingly popular for their versatility and array of features, but less so for their often over exuberant price tag.  So when the new Mintpad from mintpass was unveiled (after a long enough delay for us to wonder where it had gone) for a reported price of around $160 people were instantly interested.

Not only does the price tag attract attention, but the interesting shape and design also draws eyes. Looking like a modern electronic version of a Post-it, it it operated by stylus which instantly creates attractions and problems.  But beside that, on the physical side it is incredibly competitive, with a small sleek design that looks suspiciously like a blend between the Nintendo DS and a square Apple iPod Touch.

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The night after Obama’s election was a time for celebration for most people (although obviously not John McCain) with parties, drinking and general fun.  However for one British journalist the night became a bit of a nightmare when he became an overnight star on YouTube.

Sitting in a corner on a laptop he is approached by a cameraman, who asks him a few questions about himself and the election.  Adam Smith (the journalist) is obviously quite drunk, but talks fairly coherently about why he is there and who he works for (Birmingham Mail in England), but then it all went wrong.  When asked about an article he is writing at the moment he says that he has copied and pasted it off the BBC website, and then goes on to resign from his job.

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Sections: Video, Communications, Web, Online Music/Video

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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