Cable Spies

Do you have a tangled mess of wires in that corner electronic outlet in your house for all your various gadget chargers? Well if consortium of companies gets their way you’ll be able to charge all your devices wirelessly and get rid of the mess. The Wireless Power Consortium made up of companies like Sanyo, Philips, Logitech and Texas Instruments wants to make wireless power a universal standard. This new technology uses a plate to power devices by magnetically inducing a electrical charger in a attached device. You charge your cell phone, camera or other mobile gadget by just placing them on a charging plate, it would also avoid any over or under charging of a device caused by conflicting hard ware. The consortium wants to use this new technology to power cell phones and small mobile devices then move on to larger gadgets. Say good bye to wires!

-Ray

[Source: electronista]

Microsoft had originally planned to pull the life plug of the iconic Windows XP by halting the sales of the Windows XP licenses by January 31st of 2009. Well there are reports that Microsoft will be extending the sales of those coveted Windows XP licenses till May 31st, 2009. Some people believe that the reason why Microsoft is extending the life line of Windows XP because of the horrendous experience of Windows Vista. Others believe that Windows XP came back into the limelight when netbooks were introduced into the market. Since these miniature laptops use slower, lower wattage processors, Windows XP is the ideal operating system for these netbooks. But probably the main reason why Microsoft is extending the Windows XP licenses till the end of May could be because they are waiting for the official unveiling of the highly anticipated Windows 7. Whatever the reason may be, you better pile up on those Windows XP licenses before they are extinct.

- Geoff

[Source: Gizmodo]

The next obvious step for the video game industry is to implement 3D or virtual reality technology into consoles. But some simplay can’t wait. Vuzix has leaked out a photo of their new Wrap 920AV video glasses, which they plan to unveil during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show. According to Vusix, the Wrap 920AV video glasses are “the first to actually function as sunglasses or portable video eyewear. It’ll combine virtual reality (VR) capabilities as well as augmented reality (AR) features.” No other details were given regarding the glasses. We can only wait till CES 2009. Stay tuned as more information comes our way.

- Geoff

[Source: Gizmodo]

In this day and age, everybody is all about the hybrids. Whether they be hybrid cars or hybrids in the Resistance 2 video game, the big thing in the market is combining two or more different things together for a common objective. The movie format industry is no different. A few years ago, Victor JVC developed the first Blu-ray/DVD hybrid (BD-25GB/DVD-9 8.5GB), but it never picked up in the industry. The Blu-ray/DVD hybrid has a regular DVD (Dual-layer 8.5GB) movie on one side and a Blu-ray version (single layer 25GB BD) on the other. Now Japanese companies Infiniti and Co-TVhave announced that they will be releasing TV-series on the new Blu-ray/DVD hybrids. The first title they plan to implement in the hybrid format discs is Japanese TV-series drama “Code Blue emergency helicopter doctor Blu-ray BOX”. Although the BDA certified hybrid disc has not been approved by DVD-forum because of potential compatibility issues, the companies have stated that their hybrid discs have posted a 100% compatibility test in their own tests of 64 different units (PCs, DVD players, Blu-ray players). The BD/DVD hybrid versions of shows will come with 4 discs and comes with 534 minutes of playable content. There was no word on how much these Blu-ray/DVD hybrids would cost. Sounds interesting. It would be a good option for those who plan to buy a blu-ray player, but just waiting for the prices to go down. You could watch the DVD version first, then buy a blu-ray player later, and play the blu-ray version.

- Geoff

[Source: Slashgear]

I remember when small USB flash drives could only fit a few files and were less than 512KB. Now we have them in various GB sizes, larger than the hard drives of some computers only a few years ago. Kingston recently released their 32GB Flash Drive. The Kingston 150 is a great little USB Flash Drive for anyone who needs to carry a lot of data on them, it would be the perfect solution for anyone who does a lot of backups as well. The Kingston 32GB Flash Drive has pretty good read and write performance, on par with most other Flash Drives. It is built into a solid case that looks pretty good, so you don’t look so nerdy with that USB Flash Drive on your keychain, yea we’re talking about you.

-Ray

[Source: thegadgetblog]

Google’s popular Android operating system is said to get a bunch of major goodies after its update. One upgraded, nicknamed Cupcake, will add a video recording mode which allows users to choose how they can share the video content and will let them playback the video rather than the streaming feature that is currently available. It is not clear if this will be compatible with YouTube. The firmware upgrade will bring A2DP and AVRCP support for the Android’s Bluetooth which will give the G1 stereo wireless sound and the option to control it remotely. No definite release date has been set but it is expected to be available in early 2009.

-Ray

[Source: electronista]

Sony Ericsson announced that they are joining the Open Handset Alliance, just today they also announced that they are joining others who already jumped onto Android by planning to release an Android phone of their own. They didn’t release any details as to what kind of phone we’ll see from them but it could be similar to other Android powered phones already on the market. It seems the only way to beat the Apple iPhone 3G is to band together and attack it with multiple Android powered smart phones. We’ll see how this works out.

-Ray

[Source: gadgettastic]

The main issues concerning older Plasma TVs were that they consumed a lot of energy along with the threat of burn in. Well they solved the burn in problem with burn-in reduction features such as screensavers or pixel wobbling. Now according to the Plasma Display Coalition (PDC), the Big Four, which consist of Hitachi, LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Pioneer, have made Plasma TVs that are Energy Star certified. According to PDC, about 43 models from the Big Four have met the EPA energy efficiency rating standard. So now Plasma TVs consume less energy, even when in stand-by mode. According to the EPA, if every television set in the United States were Energy Star certified, we would have saved $1 billion in annual energy costs. So if you are in the market for a Energy Star certified Plasma TV, you are in luck. There are much more to choose from now.

- Geoff

[Source: Slashgear]

For quite some time since Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360, we have seen the sales of the Xbox 360 increase and beat out the sales of the Sony Playstation 3. At first, many analysts believed that the slow PS3 sales could be due to the price cut of the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the low price of the Nintendo Wii. In addition, sales of the Xbox 360 picked up when Microsoft released the New Xbox Experience. Well NPD Group, the world’s leading market researching firm, has found that sales of the Sony PS3 have been hindered by slow HDTV sales caused by the fear of a recession. According to analyst Michael Pachter:

“We believe that PS3 sales are being impacted by lower demand for HD televisions as a result of the recession,” Pachter said via GamesIndustry.biz.

Although this may seem as bad news for Sony, there is still a bright side.  Many analysts believe sales of the PS3 would pick up in the first quarter of 2009 because people are still interested in purchasing a Blu-ray player. The Sony PS3 is the best option out there for a blu-ray player because it is not only a blu-ray player. It is also a gaming console. Only time can tell if Sony has something to worry about.

- Geoff

[Source: PCMag]

If you are in the market for a small HDTV for your kitchen or bathroom or what not, then ViewSonic’s first new HDTV may be the one for you. ViewSonic introduces their new VT2430 24-inch LCD HDTV. The new HDTV offers full HD with 1080p resolution in addition to a 1,000:1 contrast ratio (10,000:1 DCR) and 5ms of response time. The ViewSonic VT2430 also includes a integrated ATSC/QAM TV tuner, a single HDMI 1.3 input with high-definition content protection (HDCP), component, S-video, composite, and RGB analog inputs. You get all this in a small 24-inch HDTV set. And if you are worried about the audio, the VT2430 has  3.5mm mini and RCA stereo audio inputs and an earphone out if you feel the two 5-watt built-in speakers aren’t good enough for you. You get all this for only $399. There are already reports that you could get this HDTV cheaper than the MSRP price.

- Geoff

[Source: ViewSonic]