Archive for April, 2009

Savory for Kindle 2 automates PDF and EPUB conversions, doesn’t make James Patterson any more enjoyable

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

We’ve seen surprisingly few Kindle 2 hacks ’round these parts, and therefore few apps that run on the beloved e-reader itself. One notable exception is Savory, which monitors the device’s Documents directory for files sporting either the .epub or .pdf extensions — when one of these guys rears its ugly head, it’s converted to a Kindle filetype. The only hitch is that the program (as currently available) chokes on image-based PDFs — according to the author, images in PDFs are fine, as long as there is some text to extract. Sure, the software doesn’t do anything that Amazon doesn’t already do for free — but it does make the conversion quick and painless. Ready to give it a go? Hit the read link for the files, and you’ll be mere moments away from all those terrific Left Behind books someone scanned and posted on The Pirate Bay. You’re welcome.

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RAmos unveils its Skynet-approved Terminator T12 media player

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Ah, RAmos — you know what the people want, and you just keep crankin’ ‘em out. A worthy successor to the T10, the T9, and the T8, the Terminator T12 switches things up a bit with a thumb wheel for (hopefully) improved navigation over its touchscreen-centric brethren. And the specs seem more than sufficient, including a Rockchip RK2806 (1024 x 720) chipset, 5-inch (800 x 280) display, Wolfson WM8988 audio, and TV out. Storage and price have yet to be announced, but you’ll know as soon as we do. Since this is a tie-in for the upcoming Terminator movie, we expect to see some suitably gaudy / awesome promo material coming down the pike. You hear that, RAmos?

[Via The Gadget Site]

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ASUS Eee PC T91 arrives at the FCC

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

We spent come quality time with ASUS’s Eee PC T91 netvertible in Germany at CeBIT, but those of you looking to handle one Stateside don’t have long to wait — it’s just popped up in the FCC database, and we’re sure Uncle Sam’s engineer friends are busy scouring the SAR reports for all kinds of super-interesting technical data as we speak. Or they’re just looking for pretty pictures like we are — and sadly, they’ll be disappointed, because all that’s in the listing so far is this picture of the bottom. Another Saturday night ruined — thanks a lot, FCC.

[Via Lilliputing]

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Dell netbook roadmap leaks out, get ready for the Mini 11

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Oop, it looks like a Dell middle manager somewhere got a little too excited and let a full set of netbook roadmap slides leak out. The biggest news is a planned Mini 11 due sometime between now and the end of Q3, but the Mini 10 is where most of the action is in the short term — the current model will get options for Vista, a 3G modem, and potentially a 1.86GHz Atom on April 17th, a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 SKU will arrive in May and everything will be updated again in the second half of the year with Intel’s Pine Trail processors. Interesting, but we’re wondering when Dell will realize that the Mini 10’s HDMI output and 720p screen are useless unless it can handle true HD video — Ion, anyone?

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Microsoft’s second Laptop Hunters commercial: Giampaulo buys an HP HDX

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

The second installment of Microsot’s Laptop Hunters commercials went live today, and if you thought our actress friend Lauren lit a fire, well, get ready for Giampaulo, who professes to be “technically-savvy” and calls the unibody MacBook he looks at “so sexy,” but ultimately rejects it because he wants to pay for “computing power,” not the “brand.” Armed with a $1,500 budget, he walks out of Fry’s with an HP HDX 16 that features a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB drive — raw numbers that would cost you $2,499 from Apple, although you’d be getting a vastly better display. Fair? We leave that up to you — video after the break.

P.S.- That’s the two commericals and two HP machines purchased, anyone sensing a trend?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Sony says the DSi is for kids, the PSP is for winners

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Well, chalk this up for out of the ordinary — Sony’s PR team just sent us a “Statement from Sony PlayStation on PSP and Competitive Landscape” that basically boils down to SCEA director of hardware marketing John Koller calling the DSi a kid’s toy that “ignores significant gamer demographics” and has minimal third-party support compared to the library of “blockbuster” titles on the PSP. Seriously, it’s so weird we’re just going to reprint the whole thing:

If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the “kids” market that they’ve always engaged, there isn’t much new with the DSi to support that. Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics. Games such as Rock Band Unplugged from MTV Games, Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft, Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix, and Hannah Montana from Disney demonstrate the commitment that publishers have to the PSP. From our own first-party studios, we’re launching unique versions of LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm, and we’re also planning a steady stream of downloadable games — both new titles and PSone classics — to add to the content that PSP owners can already purchase wirelessly through PlayStation Store.

Pretty strong words in response to the fairly un-hyped US launch of the DSi tomorrow — especially since Ninty’s sold just about twice as many total DS units than Sony’s 50m PSPs, hard numbers from which no amount of marketing bluster can really distract. In fact, if we were in charge at Sony, we’d be more worried about the emergence of the iPhone and iPod touch, which have sold over 30m units total and attracted a ton of buzz from game developers while the PSP seems to be stagnating in the face of endless rumors of a UMD-less PSP2. Harsh truth? Maybe, maybe not — you tell us.

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Netflix App Gallery puts API enabled innovations all in one place

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Because everything needs an App Store or central directory of its own, Netflix is preparing to unveil an App Gallery on its website showing what developers have created to get the most out of its service. No word exactly when the page goes up, but until then we’ll highlight the Windows Mobile Manager with integrated streaming trailers and the ability to add movies directly from Rotten Tomatoes as good examples; let us know about any others (like the many iPhone apps) in the comments.

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LG’s GD900 video tour (and shenanigans) at CTIA

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

We’ve been fairly intrigued about LG’s GD900 since we had a glimpse of it behind glass at Mobile World Congress this year. We were finally treated to a proper tour by LG’s Martin Valdez who not only did a bang up job of demonstrating the set but covered up what may be an early build firmware bug with such aplomb he deserves an award for his performance. Notable here is the clear keypad that acts as input device for typing, text recognition, gestures, and the full-on gorgeous UI. While we wouldn’t expect this to be a monster seller at the carriers, it will get LG some attention. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a few minutes with LG’s transparent beauty and a great showman, Martin Valdez.

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Power Glove granted infinitely more power, bluetooth, and accelerometer in honor of 20th birthday

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo PowerGlove, and yes, birthday cakes are in order. To celebrate, game designer Matt Mechtley has augmented it with Bluetooth and accelerometer chips for a more modern take on the hand peripheral — think of it as a more assimilated version of the Wiimote-embedded glove we covered in 2006. If you’re interested in following in his footsteps, instructions are available at Instructables and in the video form after the break — jump to 10:50 if you want to see it in action both with a test program and a brief glimpse at virtual boxing.

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Game Boy iPhone case instantly becomes best of all time

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Sadly, there’s a good chance you already own an iPhone 3G case if you’re the proud owner of an iPhone 3G. That said, there’s still nothing stopping you from hopping a flight to Tokyo and replacing your current one with the best case in the history of cases. Sadly, the lad that snapped this shot isn’t sure where exactly this thing is sold, but if you’re savvy on the details, be sure to holler in comments below.

[Via PMPToday]
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