Best computer news

Some of you may remember the original Ultra II SD Plus card that uniquely at the time offers both USB and SD interface via its Hinge Lock technology. Granted, many others have figured out a way to copy the idea without infringing Sandisk’s patent, but the pioneer has upgraded the hybrid flash card to the Ultra II SDHC Plus. The upgrade to SDHC essentially is absolute necessary as cameras and camcorders are all going HD and most require 4GB or larger capacity to be any useful.

While Sandisk didn’t disclose the class type which indicates the minimum speed for the Ultra II SDHC Plus, the press release reveals its peak performance of 10MB/s, implying the card well exceeds the speed rating requirement for a Class 6 (6MB/s) device. The 2-in-1 4GB card will retail for $79.99 when it ships in October.
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After years of defiance, Sony finally bows to MS’ PlayforSure in its likely last attempt to restart its struggling Walkman business. It will also start closing CONNECT online music stores by phase. So, for the first’s PlayforSure player, the new NWZ-S610 DAP judging from the button layout and interface has borrowed a page from Sony Ericsson’s cellphone design. It definitely looks more streamlined and more so with the exclusion of ATRAC meaning there will be no SonicStage to plague the player’s usability.

In addition to DRM’d WMA and MP3 support, the S610 also playbacks AAC audio (unprotected), H.264/AVC and MPEG-4. Its screen is still rather small at 1.8″ which will pack with 76,800 pixels (320×240 res). Battery life stands at 9.5 hours for video and 33 hours for music playback. The S610-series will come in 2GB ($120), 4GB ($160) and 8GB ($210). Lastly, we wonder why Sony didn’t keep the non-DRM ATRAC3 support as its loyal fans may still have a sizable music library in the now-obsolete audio format.
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Rabid Star Wars fans will buy just about anything regardless of the cost as witnessed by the R2D2 Wireless Remote Control Webcam. Sure it’s very cool to have a RC R2D2 to roam your home or office, you would think at $349.99 they could have put in a decent webcam and do R2 proud. What they did use was a wussy 628 x 528 resolution webcam that isn’t quite up to projecting decent images of Princess Leia.

The cool part is that the little droid doesn’t have to be wired to your PC with a USB cable since it’s wireless. You can control R2 with the included Lightsaber remote or via your PC from anywhere in the world. The remote also doubles as a Skype handset. This R2 cam would be cool sitting next to your Star Wars Mimobot.
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We here at Everything USB like to think we do a good job keeping you, our dear readers, apprised of new technology, cool gear and near worthless USB gadgets. It’s nice every now and again to get some external feedback that shows we are perhaps doing as good a job as we think we are.

PC Magazine posted a story to their website yesterday about the top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites. We were proud to find that PC Magazine picked Everything USB as one of the seven sites in the hardware news and blogs section of the list. Other folks making the list include Anything But iPod, All Things Digital, iLounge and more. It’s great to be on the list, we are moving up in the world.
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Anyone looking to be able to remember stuff like to-do lists or thoughts while you are going about your day might find a voice recorder handy. The problem is that most voice recorders are bulky and not convenient to carry with you at all times. Narae Inter recently introduced a voice recorder that is very portable.

The device is a mere 6.5mm thick and weighs only 36g. These small dimensions allow it to be carried inside most wallets so you have it with you when you need it. Inside the small design hides 1GB of flash based storage that offers a 72-hour recording time and a USB connector that stores away similar to the method LaCie uses on their Carte Orange hard drive. Controls for the functions of the recorder are located on the back as well and it appears to have a headphone jack for private listening.
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HP announced a new all-in-one printer today called the Photosmart C8180 All-in-One. This printer is packed with features and carries a MSRP of $399, which certainly puts it in the upper range for printer prices. The C8180 has a 3.5″ touchscreen display that allows access to printer menus.

The printer also has a built-in CD/DVD burner with Lightscribe technology for disc burning and labeling without a PC. This built-in burner will allow you to move photos off your memory cards directly to CD or DVD for archiving. We wonder if it can double as a LightScribe USB burner as well. The scanner uses HP-exclusive 96-bit, 6-color scanning for more accurate images. Six individual ink cartridges are used and you can edit photos on the printer without a PC and wireless as well as wired networking are built-in.
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• I really like it when car manufactures take a tiny car and cram a giant motor inside it. VW did just that with tier Golf GTI W12 concept that has Bentley 6.0 twin-turbo 12 cylinder engine. Supposedly the beat has 642 bhp and according to Fifth Gear the car can hit 202 mph.
• Nokia is releasing five new phones tomorrow, but as is the way of the Internet images of the fab five have already showed up. I particularly like the N81 gaming phone and the N95. Gear Fuse has shots of all five phones for your perusal.
• I admit that I never got the appeal of the Lego Star Wars game and now according to Uber-Review Indiana Jones is getting the same blocky Lego treatment. I still fail to see the appeal of this Lego game as well, which is rumored to be coming to market in 2008.
• SlashGear has a very interesting post of a rumored new Xbox 360 Ultimate. Supposedly a Gamestop employee told someone that a new model was coming that has HDMI and a built-in HD DVD player. That would be cool and they would sell well if they are priced under what the PS3 goes for.
• Gizmodo got their hands on the new Bose SoundDock Portable sporting the iPod dock and an auxiliary input. The device is slated to be available in September in black or white colors at $399.

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USB turntables are a bit of an odd duck: at their core they’re a device that still exists to serve of the pleasure of audiophiles and DJs - two small and elite groups - but they have digital audio converters and USB connections to facilitate conversion of sweet, sexy analog sound into easily portable digital files on your computer. Taking all of that into consideration, it’s really a wonder LP lovers don’t consider USB turntables the Antichrist.

Actually, that’s a little unfair: plenty of people have record collections moldering in boxes in their basements that they’ve love to listen to again, perhaps on their mp3 players or their media PCs. They’re probably looking for a fairly easy solution that sounds good. For these people, Ion Audio has the iTTUSB line, including the TTUSB 10, a turntable with USB and RCA outputs that hopes to not only play your records, but help you digitize them with style and ease. Today’s task: find out exactly how well those claims stand up to the cold, harsh light of reality. Let’s go.
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Logitech announced two new USB powered headphones today for VoIP, music and gaming use. The first new headset is the Logitech ClearChat Pro USB which features laser-tuned audio drivers, a equalizer switch that optimizes for voice calling, music and gaming, and a noise-canceling mic. The mic boom is adjustable and glows red when muted so you can be sure no one can hear you.

The other new headset that Logitech announced is the ClearChat Comfort USB headset. This headset has the same features of the ClearChat Pro minus the equalizer. The ClearChat Comfort and the ClearChat Pro both work with Skype, Windows Live, Yahoo!, and AIM. Both headsets will be available in the U.S. in September with the Comfort going for $39.99 and the Pro going for $49.99. If you need a headset aimed more at gaming check out the Tritton USB headset we reviewed previously.
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Casio recently announced their new Exilim EX-V8 digital camera that has an 8.1-megapixel sensor. The camera has a 7x optical zoom, but still maintains a slim profile. The LCD display is 2.5” and the camera can shoot 4 shots/second in high-speed continuous mode with a 2-megapixel resolution.

The big news here is the special software included with the camera called YouTube Uploader for Casio. This software coupled with the ability to record movies in H.264 format allows you to shoot YouTube videos and upload them to the YouTube site via USB. Shooting still images is easy as well thanks to face detection and blur reduction built-in. The camera is available in black or silver, no pricing information is available at this time. If video is more your thing than still shots, you probably will want a camcorder rather than a still camera that can shoot video too.
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