2005¦~3¤ë31¤é


PalmOne 'Life Drive' Pictures

lifeDrive_irl.jpgAlright, I'm convinced. These new pictures of the purported PalmOne 'Life Drive' 4GB PDA look pretty darn authentic to me. It's not like I know anything you don't, but it looks pretty legit. Of course, the internet was built by liars wielding Wacom tablets, so we won't know for sure until PalmOne spills the beans.

More Life Drive pics [PalmAddict]

- lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
2:26:06 PM    

First HD DVD Factory In A Box

hddvd_produce.jpg imageStarting today, you too can be a next-generation optical disc pirate. MemoryTech is the first company to introduce a low-cost HD DVD production unit with support for all HD DVD formats. They haven't said how much it will cost, but it is reportedly the "first system for mass production facilities that supports the full HD DVD standard." I didn't think the HD DVD standards were 100% finalized yet, but I'm wrong.

Press Release [MemoryTech via Watch Impress]

- Liam (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
2:25:09 PM    

TiVo Pop-Up Ads Are Huge

tivo_ads.jpgI had thought, perhaps, that the TiVo users were getting a bit worked up over the TiVo pop-up ads that are in testing, because last I heard they only take up a quarter of the screen. Matt Haughey took this found this picture of it in action, though, and now I get the ire. That's really annoying, even if it is only when fast-forwarding. How are you supposed to see what you're forwarding through? Even if you can hit 'clear' to make it go away, it's still needlessly messy. Matt has a mock-up of what he'd like to see on PVRBlog and it's much more reasonable.

Maybe that's TiVo's tack¡Xmake the first versions so over-the-top that by the time the intro the real deal, everyone will have forgotten how frustrating it is to get pop-up ads on a subscription service in the first place.

"Icon" ads over commercials at TiVo [PVRBlog]

- lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
2:22:08 PM    

Gizmondo Reviewed (Verdict: Were You Expecting Good?)

gizmondo_rev.jpgI'll admit to a certain bias when it comes to Gizmondo, since ever since they announced their name change a year or so ago, they've made my life a living hell. "They guy who writes Gizmondo is an idiot!" or "I hate Gizmondo!"

Okay, obviously sometimes it works out. But still, it causes a lick of fire to stir in my smudged crystal of a heart to read this review from Mobile Playa, which tears apart the Gizmondo for a confusing interface, seriously lacking content, spotty video performance, and an inflated price. It's one thing to go up against Sony as they try to throttle the life from the Game Boy juggernaut, but who is going to buy a $400 Gizmondo when the PSP is out there for $250 (a price many already consider very high for a portable)?

Gizmondo: The (Long-Awaited) N-Gage Killer [MobilePlaya]

- lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
9:01:15 AM    

May Flash GBA A/V Adapter Reviewed (Verdict: Meh)

gba_av_may.jpgGadgetMadness reviews May Flash's simple GameBoy Advance A/V Adapter. Just put the cartridge into your player, plug your nearest video-producing device's RCA jacks into the cartridge, and have at it. Brightness, contrast and volume are controlled using the GameBoy's buttons, as well as hue and saturation. A major let down for GadgetMadness was the fact that the unit requires you to use headphones plugged into the cartridge to hear the sound passing through it¡Xit's unable to play the sound through the unit's speakers. Of course, the unit is only a pass-through itself, so you'll have to be carrying a battery-powered set-top DVD player in your backpack for this to be of any good, but it allows you to use your GameBoy's screen for nearly any purpose you can find around the house. Probably not a bad way to go for some hacky projects, but not for mobile video.

May Flash GBA A/V Adapter Review [GadgetMadness]
Catalog Page ($53.00) [Merconnet]

- cardinal (editor@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
9:00:07 AM    

Manga and eBooks on Your PSP

1up_mange.jpg1UP has a write-up about reading manga and eBooks on your PSP, which is a pleasant enough read, but for fears of legal retribution doesn't actually link to a lot of content. That means there's no one-stop download, but they can at least point you in the right direction. The main problem I see for comics and manga is that not everything is going to fit to one size and the current image viewing software on the PSP doesn't scroll easily, so reading large frames could be difficult. For eBooks, though, it looks pretty decent. Maybe someone will start converting free books to a native PSP resolution .zip files so I don't have to do any real work.

Feature: Manga & Books [IUP]

Update: John Prusacki proves me wrong, saying, "I am totally confused as to how you can think that its hard to scroll around images on the PSP. Is using the analog control too difficult? I've found it very easy to scroll around images and zoom in and out using the analog control + square."

He's totally right. I swear I tried that, but thanks!

- lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
8:56:16 AM    

Toshiba's 60-Second Charge Battery

toshiba_battt.jpgSo if we can't have longer-lived batteries, Toshiba's new Super Charge cells may be the next best thing. The company claims the new cell charge to 80 percent of its capacity in just 60 seconds and cap top out in just "a few minutes more." Not only that, but after 1000 charge cycles, the lithium-ion cell loses only 1 percent of its charging capacity. Two of these cells and a nearby power outlet and you'll be able to stay mobile indefinitely.

Toshiba preps minute-charge 'miracle' battery [TheRegisterUK]
Toshiba ultra-rapid charging battery [TechJapan]

- lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo]
8:55:19 AM