“ASUS is coming in hot for 2012. We can only hope a US release will soon follow these Italian dates. For some reason, I just can’t imagine we’re going to see the Padfone arriving stateside on too many carriers with the device more than likely being made available unlocked and compatible with AT&T. Out of all 3 of these tablets, which one do you see yourselves picking up?” phandroid.com

Go here to read the rest and see the release dates!

That VE-900 mini-ITX kit still too big for you, eh? Then check out VIA’s latest pico-ITX alternative: the ARTiGO 1150 DIY nettop. It improves on last year’s 1100 model with a dual-core Eden X2 processor clocked at 1GHz and a VX900H media system processor for accelerated decoding of video up to 1080p….

Have a look at the specs below.

Check out the video out on Engadget.

Since the day it was announced, it was clear the BlackBerry PlayBook would be a powerful presentation tool. Connecting easily through the HDMI port, slideshows; images; music; and video are all shown on the big screen in high definition clarity. Both the videos app and SlideShow To Go offer presentation modes that allow the action to continue on screen while the presenter does something entirely different.

Check out the full story here, or check out these links for more information. GizmoCanada and TechTarget Blog Roll

Check out the specs below, the are quite impressive.

General
 Device Type Graphics adapter .
 Enclosure Type Plug-in card .
 Interface Type PCI Express 2.1 x16 .
 Width 1.5 in .
 Depth 12.3 in .
 Height 4.4 in .
 
Processor / Memory
 Graphics Processor / Vendor 2 GPUs – AMD Radeon HD 6990 .
 Clock Speed 830 MHz .
 Video Memory Installed 4 GB .
 Technology GDDR5 SDRAM 256-bit .
 Memory Clock Speed 5 GHz .
 Features AMD PowerPlay technology,
 Avivo HD Technology,
 AMD HD3D Technology,
 AMD Eyefinity Technology,
 AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Technology,
 AMD CrossFireX Technology,
 AMD Hybrid Graphics Technology,
 AMD Stream technology .
 
Video Output
 Max Resolution (external) 2560 x 1600 .
 Max Resolution Details DVI: 2560 x 1600 / DisplayPort: 2560 x 1600 / HDMI: 2560 x 1600 / VGA: 2048 x 1536 .
 API Supported DirectX 11 .
 Digital Video Standard DisplayPort,
 Digital Visual Interface (DVI),
 High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) .
 
Expansion / Connectivity
 Interfaces 4 x DisplayPort – Apple mini-DisplayPort,
 1 x DVI-I (dual link) – 29 pin combined DVI,
 1 x HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A ( With adapter ),
 2 x DVI-I ( With adapter ) .
 Compatible Slots 1 x PCI Express 2.1 x16 .
 
Miscellaneous
 Included Accessories Crossfire bridge,
 XFX Serial Number door hanger .
 Cables Included 2 x Mini DisplayPort-DVI adapter,
 1 x Mini DisplayPort-HDMI adapter .
 
Software / System Requirements
 Software Included Drivers & Utilities .
 Recommended Power Supply 750 Watt .
 Peripheral / Interface Devices Two additional power connectors,
 Adjacent PCI slot

What would stop me and others from buying this? Well the 700$ Price tag for one, and the fact that I would also have to upgrade my power supply doesn’t sit well with me… so for right now my XFX 8800GT XXX Edition will have to suffice… hey I can still play Call of Duty Black Ops at 1920×1080 full details at 60+fps. Just goes to show how powerful the Corei5 2500K processor is!

PlayBook has a 7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen, a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM memory, a 1080p HDMI output, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 5-megapixel camera on the back, as well as a 3-megapixel one on the front for video chats. The aforementioned $499.99 will get you the 16 GB variant, and you’ll have to dish out $599.99 or $699.99 for the 32 GB and the 64 GB model, respectively.

I figured I was going to order one in the past, but i have decided since I have my iPhone, I don’t really need one.

The next thing that I do want to add to my collection is a Nettop, stay tuned!

The Patriot PBO Core is a Full-HD all-in-one media player that frees your digital media library from the constraints of a PC and bridges digital media to your home entertainment system and brings your entire media library to the comfort of your living room. With support for today’s most popular media formats (H.264,ISO, VOB, DivX, xVid, MKV, MOV, MPEG and more) PBO Core offers offers a variety of ways to connect to your media library through 3 USB ports, optional internal 2.5″ hard drive, UPnP and wired or wireless network streaming.

Supports Full HD-video playback up to 1080p
Supports Dolby® Digital and DTS™ surround sound
Expandable internal storage via 2.5″ SATA SSD/HDD
Supports video playback via UPnP networking streaming
Browse and shared videos, photos and music from attached network devices/PCs, USB Flash Drives and USB external storage
File formats supports
Music – WMA, MP3, Real Audio (Ra), EAV, OGG, ACC, FLAC
Graphics – JPEG, BMP, PNG
Video – [MPEG-1] MPG/MPEG/DAT,[MPEG-2]MPG/MPEG/VOB/ISO/TS/TP/M2TS, [MPEG-4] MP4/AVI/MOV, WMV9, FLA,[H.264/AVC] MKV/TS/AVI/MOV/M2TS, [DviX 3/4/5/6, Xvid] AVI/MKV, [Real Video 8/9/10] RM/RMVB
Supports Internet Media Services (IMS) Flickr, Stocks, Video News, Video Podcasts, Weather, Picasa, RSS (+20 video feeds) and custom RSS feeds
New improved user interface for easier use and album artwork feature during music search and playback
Increased HDTV compatibility
New compatibility with home made media connected via USB optical device
New firmware and features are backward compatible with legacy units

At a price point of 110$ Canadian, why would one waste their time with building a media PC? Especially when this one can pretty much do anything. The PBO might be something showing up in my house in the near future.

If you have one, let me know what you think. I’d love to read your comments.

If you need to update the firmware on your PBO go here to download the latest firmwares. If you’re the same kind of techie like me you might want to try out the BETA firmware which can be found on the same page.

-NS

Samsung’s foray into the tablet market will definitely be a profitable one, based on the specs below and what I’ve read about it, I cannot wait to  get my paws on it. Here are the specs.

• Android 2.2 running TouchWiz 3.0
• 7-inch TFT LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution (WSVGA)
• Weighs 380 grams
• 1GHz Cortex A8 processor
• 16GB or 32GB internal storage
• microSD expansion for up to 32GB additional storage
• Front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and rear 3 megapixel camera with flash
• 4,000mAh battery
• 3G data / voice (there’s a speakerphone and Bluetooth for phone calls, but no earpiece)
• 5GHz dual-band 802.11n WiFi
• Standard back color is white, carriers might offer different colors
• Full HD video playback
• There’s a 30-pin dock connector on the bottom that allows for HDMI, USB, and docking accessories (a car dock at least is planned)

We will have to wait and see what the Android developers come up with, if they can push out some great apps for the Android, it just might steer some people away from the iPad or PlayBook.

-NS

Technology giant Microsoft unveiled a bundled version of its Xbox 360 gaming console along with Kinect, the company’s motion sensitive sensor that allows users to play games and interact with the device controller free. The Special Edition Xbox 360 250GB with Kinect, which goes on sale Nov. 4, was announced at the Tokyo Game Show. The package includes the Xbox 360 250GB console, a Kinect sensor and the game “Kinect Adventures” for $399.99. Also In July, the company announced the Xbox 360 4GB console and the Kinect sensor and “Kinect Adventures” packaged together for $299.99. The bundle, which went on sale Aug. 3, also featured the game “Kinect Adventures”. The Xbox 360 4GB includes built-in WiFi N, 4GB of internal flash memory, touch-sensitive buttons and a black matte finish.

I’ve been watching videos of the Kinect technology and I am quite impressed, I will definitely be purchasing Kinect.

-NS

-NS

I was reading the latest issue of PC World and read up on HDBaseT. Basically what it is, is uncompressed high-definition video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, PoE(Power over Ethernet), and other features, all in one cable. I though the new HDMI cables were going to support these features as well, minus the PoE part, although, HDMI’s length is limited to a few metres. HDBaseT will be about to travel up to and possible past 100 meters.

HDBaseT is definitely something to follow, as it matures on the market.

Check out the Wikipedia article, it has more information.