Mophie has debuted Juice Pack Air for iPhone 4. This is the follow-up to last year version that was tailor-made for both 3G and 3GS. Since the release of the original Juice Pack Air, a dozen or more competitors have emerged so Mophie’s updated version no longer dominates the battery case niche market. There are however several things we like about the new Juice Pack Air. First of all, the Juice Pack Air form-fitting case doesn’t ruin iPhone 4 design, mirroring the phone’s silver streak. It even adds a layer of rubberized finish, making slippery iPhone 4 easier to grip than without the pack. It’s all good until you start looking at it from the side. The Juice Pack does add considerable weight and thickness to your otherwise slim smartphone.

Granted, the 1420mAh Li-Polymer battery pack is supposedly a lifesaver which can jumpstart a dead iPhone and recharge the battery to the fullest. With the Juice Pack Air, your iPhone 4 battery life effectively doubles to 11 hours of Internet browsing over 3G as opposed to just 6 hours without the pack. Video playback now lasts up to 19 hours rather than 10. The pack also acts as a virtual speaker box, redirecting sound from the iPhone’s bottom to the front. The Mophie Juice Pack Air recharges through micro-USB. It costs $79.95 and is immediately available with free shipping option.
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Finally, DisplayLink has met its match. SMSC Semiconductor said its ViewSpan 5G USB 3.0 remote graphics technology is ready for sampling. There’s also a USB 2.0 version, but it isn’t anything to write home about. Like DisplayLink’s solution, SMSC ViewSpan 5G consists of a discrete USB device controller that connects to the display and a piece of software that handles the compression on a USB host system.

Our best guess is that there would be now be less compression involved as USB 3.0 can provide at least 300MB/s of bandwidth to the USB video sub-system. If DisplayLink can manage 1080p with only USB 2.0, it only makes sense we can expect silk smooth video at beyond HD over multiple high-res monitors. Docking stations, secondary monitors, mini display, thin-clients will be the battleground for SMSC and DisplayLink. The former company also intends to integrate USB 3.0 display, Ethernet, audio and flash media into one chip in 2012. SMSC will be showcasing the ViewSpan 5G USB 3.0 interface during IDF 2010 beginning September 13th.
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Judging by the reactions of the media outlets, everyone seems to be overly excited by the rumor that Intel intends to launch its first native USB 3.0 silicon and to ship it with the Cougar Point reference motherboard. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean Intel will integrate USB 3.0 into the chipset level. The reason for the change of heart could be that Intel sees Light Peak still has a long road ahead before it becomes a standard and that the chip giant probably wants a share in the lucrative discrete USB 3.0 solution market that is largely dominated by Renesas. To date, Renesas and Fresco Logic are shipping USB 3.0 host silicons in significant quantity.

In fact, nearly all the USB 3.0 host chips shipped to Asus, Gigabyte and ASRock are from Renesas; only a small quantity comes from Fresco Logic. ASMedia, VLI and other IC makers seem to be having some problems with USB 3.0 driver stack, a major obstacle before they can get their chips approved by the USB-IF. Of course, if the rumor (i.e. chipset integration) is true, this coupled with AMD’s confirmed plan to support USB 3.0 will most likely push the SuperSpeed interface towards mainstream a year earlier than expected. We are keeping our fingers crossed until IDF 2010.
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Besides Bluetooth, Creative is also embracing its proprietary 2.4Ghz RF for wireless music streaming. There’s in fact an entire ecosystem bearing the Sound Blaster logo that includes a starter kit, a speaker set, a pair of headphones, a rock-lookalike waterproof speaker and now, a soundbar. The Creative D220W – unlike the D200 Bluetooth variant – receives lossless tunes from a USB dongle connected to either Mac or PC up to 100 feet away.

The Sound Blaster Wireless doesn’t piggyback WiFi so you don’t have to worry about network congestion. Though, you may have to watch out if you have a lot of RF-based wireless gadgets. The Creative D220W soundbar has a pretty sleek form factor with a strong European styling. Encased in the glossy black shell are some high-end amplifiers and drivers that reportedly deliver deep bass and excellent sonic quality. But Creative didn’t give us any specs for the speaker. For just $169.99 MSRP, the D220W is pretty affordable for wireless lossless music streaming considering the package already comes with the wireless USB transmitter.
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Samsung is readying a new Certified Wireless USB solution that breathes new life into the dying UWB technology. The company cites the high-speed, low-power chipset – designated S3C2680/S5M8311 – will enable video content to be wirelessly streamed from a mobile electronics to a HDTV. Samsung has a diverse interest in consumer products to create their own eco system. If they want to, they could add the WUSB module into their arsenal of mobile headsets, cameras, HDTVs, notebooks, home theater, camcorders and etc.

For Samsung WUSB solution to succeed, it must find its way into the company’s smartphones, one of which can already sync video playback with HDTV. WiFi sucks too much battery to leave it on all the time. For this reason, Samsung WUSB module low consumption of less than 300mW should be appealing, but effective throughput is still an uncertainly. A high-end Toshiba laptop dock powered by Alereon manages to boast 1080p video output, though keep in mind that these docks usually aren’t placed too far away from their host. Another potential market is the SD add-on whose primary competitor is the EyeFi. As of this writing, the chipset will go into mass production in Q4 yet there’s no word on the pricing.
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The number of people suffering from Repetitive Stress Injury and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is on the rise and so too is the number of “ergonomic” mice available in the marketplace. Ergonomic mice are certainly nothing new; however SmartFish and their ErgoMotion Laser Mouse is certainly a new twist on the old way of accomplishing things as it looks a heck of a lot like a normal mouse. As a sufferer of bilateral CTS my question is does it work and is their any downsides? Read on for my full review.
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After five generations of nano, Apple now dumps physical button navigation in favor of multi-touch interface. The iPod nano’s form factor is long due for an update, but that click-wheel is obviously standing between miniaturization and innovation. So it’s logical to let go of the wheel. This move could signal the end for the legendary click-wheel should Apple also decide to phase out the iPod classic in near future. There’s a lot to like about the new 6th generation iPod nano. With a tiny 1.54″ touch-sensitive display and a size not much bigger than the shuffle, it looks a lot like those cheap photo frame keychains.

The software interface is completely revamped, resulting in something that is reminiscent of iPhone’s home screen. You are allowed to have 4 pages, each of which contain 4 icons. Like the iPod touch and iPhone, you can customize each screen by moving these icons around. Trying to scroll through the song list is by swiping in either up or down direction. During playback, the album art dominates the entire screen. Apple did remove a few things, notably the camcorder, H.264 video playback, and ability to run iPod games. FM radio, pedometer and VoiceOver stay. There are now seven colors to choose from, down from nine of previous generation. iPod nano 8GB will retail for $149 and the 16GB for $179. From the looks of it, the capable yet compact iPod nano 6G could cannibalize iPod shuffle even if the latter is now only $49.
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Only one thing comes to mind after a glance at the new Sony Bloggie Touch: is it a smartphone? As the follow-up to last year’s MHS-PM5, the $200 Sony Bloggie Touch MHS-TS20 shares the same minimalist design as an iPhone and a Google Nexus. The front of the handheld camcorder is dominated by a 3″ 230k-dot capacitive touch screen. So you do most of the navigations through swiping. There’s only one button below the LCD. The power button is on one side while the HDMI connector is on the other. The flip-out USB connector is revealed by pressing on the release latch. Unfortunately, there’s neither removable battery nor expandable memory slot.

You will find a nice big lens on top of its curvy back brushed metal casing. And that’s clearly distinguishes the Bloggie Touch from the competitors. The f2.8 lens has much needed auto-focus and macro mode. It can also record panoramic video with ease at twice the resolution compared to previous Bloggie. Sony cites the Bloggie Touch’s low-light performance to be equally impressive thanks to the Exmor CMOS sensor. The on-board accelerometer allows video to be shot in both landscape and portrait mode – a feature first found on iPhone. We are still waiting for a mini-camcorder that does 1080p60 for those fast motion recording, but 1080p30 and 720p60 will have to suffice for now until Sony decides to quadruple the built-in 8GB memory (4GB also available) to 32GB. Still, we would suggest you check out the formidable Xacti VPC-PD2 (hint: optical zoom, built-in flash) first before making a decision.
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It isn’t news that the touch has quickly overtaken nano as the most popular iPod. The Apple iPod touch has access to over 250,000 apps, many of which are games that go for less than $10 and some are even free. Now the iPod touch – as a portable game player – outsells combined worldwide sales of Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. In many ways, the iPod touch is just as important to Apple as iPhone. It isn’t a surprise that Apple matches the new iPod touch 4 features with that of the infamous iPhone 4.

Being only 0.28 inches thick, the fourth gen. iPod touch is basically razor-sharp version of iPhone 4, only without the phone part. The two now share the same Retina Display (another way to saying a 3.5″ IPS-based LCD boasting 960 by 640 pixels); the same speedy Apple A4 chip; the same 3-axis gyroscope to make motion tracking more accurate; ability to record 720p video with its back camera; and ability to run FaceTime with its front camera. The iPod touch 4 will have iOS 4.1 built-in. However, future updates for touch will likely not be free whereas iPhone 4 will definitely get ‘patches’ and major iOS as free download. Pre-orders are available right now. 8GB will go for $229; 32GB for $299; and 64GB for $399. Curiously, Apple skipped 16GB altogether.
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