Sony Bravia LX900, HX800 & HX900 3D TVs Unveiled [Flagship Bravia KDL46HX900 3D TV With Full HD Resolution & Optional 3D to Be Available Soon]

One of the biggest name in the 3D market, Sony have officially unveiled their new Bravia LX900, HX800 and HX900 3D TVs lineup. Of the three, the new Bravia LX900 television come with 3D on-board, while the HX800 and the HX900 have 3D as an add-on for some “added flexibility”.

For the HX900 series, the flagship model is the new Sony Bravia KDL46HX900 that delivers a Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution and an “Intelligent Dynamic LED” backlight for better contrast, meaning that the screen can turn off some areas to increase contrast in others. On top of that we’re hearing that it has a 400Hz refresh rate, comes with an Ethernet port meaning that there’s DLNA content and IPTV in the form of Bravia Internet Video and features Sony’s new Monolithic Design. It should be available as 46- and 52-inch models.

The HX800, it’s an edge-lit 3D ready television that should be available as 40-, 46- and 55-inch models.

Last but not least, the LX900 are meant to deliver amazing imagery when it comes to sport and action movies. It significantly reduces noise, enhances overall image detail and delivers sharp, vibrant, life-like images, as it comes with the Motionflow PRO 240Hz motion compensation technology that reduces the mixing of images of 3D content assigned to the left and right eyes. It should be available as 40-, 46-, 52- and 60-inch models.

All new 3D sets will be available sometime in June/July.

Mercedes-Benz

The F 500 Mind showcases the very latest technology

At the Tokyo Motor Show 2003, Mercedes-Benz presented the latest in a string of research vehicles which have attracted much interest and attention over the years and which provide fascinating insights into the automotive technology of tomorrow and beyond. Packaged as a modern four-door fastback saloon, the F 500 Mind mobile research lab showcases more than a dozen ideas for enhancing the safety, drive technology and comfort of future Mercedes passenger cars.

The DaimlerChrysler researchers will be using this vehicle to conduct the first practical tests of these innovative systems and pave the way for their commercialisation. The raft of innovations extends all the way from the night vision system with infrared laser headlamps to two-way doors and a programmable multivision display in the cockpit. Electronic accelerator and brake pedals, an interior pillar which provides structural rigidity and an ultrasound driver information system are further features being tested by Mercedes-Benz in the F 500 Mind.

For the powertrain, the DaimlerChrysler researchers have developed a high-performance diesel hybrid unit whose NEDC fuel consumption is up to 20 per cent lower than that of a comparable CDI engine. The state-of-the-art V8 diesel engine (184 kW/250 hp) from the S-Class has been combined with a powerful electric motor (50 kW) which is switched on and off by an electronic controller in response to traffic conditions and driving style. The electric motor can take over for example when moving off from rest, in stop-go conditions or in other situations where an internal combustion engine does not operate at optimal efficiency. When the driver demands more power, the V8 internal combustion engine cuts in to provide sharp acceleration. The 300 V battery for the electric motor is located under the passenger cell and is recharged during braking.

Intelligent door-opening technology allows the doors to be opened in two different ways: either conventionally (both doors open forwards) or from the centre (centre-opening). In the latter mode, the B-pillar stump moves backwards with the rear door to provide a 1900 mm-wide opening for occupant entry and exit.

In the absence of full-size B-pillars, which would normally provide the all-important structural rigidity and side impact protection, the Stuttgart engineers came up with an innovative interior pillar which provides exemplary rigidity and typical Mercedes standards of occupant safety. The pillar is located in the middle of the vehicle towards the rear, and connects the reinforced floor pan to the roof structure. It also houses the air-conditioning ducts and interior lighting units.

The multivision display in the cockpit of the F 500 Mind forms the centrepiece of an innovative instrumentation and control system which offers the driver more flexible information delivery and at the same time reduces fatigue. The dials and displays in the instrument cluster are programmable and their images can be optically superposed or combined with the aid of a semitransparent mirror. In this way the driver can call up a wide range of information at the push of a button on the steering wheel. The information is always displayed directly in the driver’s field of vision where it can be seen easily and will not distract him. A further display, the central display unit, is situated above the centre console. It is linked to a touchpad whose surface is divided up in exactly the same way as the surface of the central display. By briefly touching it, the driver can control the navigation system, radio, air conditioning, telephone and other systems.

B20, IRiver’s mini DMB television

IRiver has just announced the release of the all-new mini DMB television, the B20. It is equipped with 4 GB of flash memory which you can expand through the miniSD memory card slot. It has a 2.4-inch LCD display with 320 x 240 pixels and a range of colors of 260k. It also has a FM tuner that can be used also as a voice recorder. It supports MPEG-4, OGG, MP3, WMA, WMV9 formats and you can also view JPEG images on it. The battery holds for 26 hours of MP3 playback, 5 hours of videos and 4 hours of DMB TV. The price is set at 267$ for the 4 GB version and 213$ for the 2GB one.

DC X725 by Benq

Benq amazes us once again with the launch of the new compact classy digital camera. The DC X725 is as small as 12.5 millimeters, and the material from which it is made of is steel, so it is stainless and more resistant. It comes in four different colors, black, red silver, or pearl. It has a 1/2.5 CCD and can go up to 3x optical zoom. The ISO sensitivity can go up to 1600 on photos and 4000 on videos. You can also increase the memory, as it has an SD/SDHC memory card support. The range of mega pixels is, for the time being, unknown, but we can assume it has more then the previous release of Benq that had 7.2. We also have no information regarding the price.

Most expensive mp3 player

This is the i.Beat organix Gold, a unique MP3 player created exclusively for Russian-Canadian billionaire Alex Shnaider. Dubbed “the most expensive MP3 player in the world”, it has an 18 carat gold casing, studded with 63 diamonds.

However, it has only 2GB storage space, which doesn’t seem much given the stellar price tag.

Most expensive Laptop

Ego laptops are exclusive pieces of kit - the standard Tulip model goes for $5,000 (£3,250).

But if you want to really stand out, you’ll be after the Ego Diamond. It’s decorated with white gold, and embossed with 470 diamonds (including those in the tulip motif on the outside of the case).

Motorola unveils CLIQ

Motorola has released its latest Android handset – the CLIQ that will boast MOTOBLUR (not very bright, eh), the first and only solution to synchronize contacts, posts, messages and photos among others from a variety of sources including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM, where all of these will be delivered right to your home screen in a jiffy. All content is fed into easy-to-manage streams, freeing up more time and space for you to live out your life to the fullest. Just in case you thought the CLIQ looks familiar, that is because this is known as the Motorola DEXT outside of the US.

Let’s take a look at the hardware first before we move on to the software, and the Motorola CLIQ does not disappoint as initial impressions seem to be rather favorable, as the CLIQ maintains the solid build-up of previous Motorola handsets. Being a QWERTY slider, it will feature a full HTML browser for you to stay connected online via Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, while a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus capability lets you snap great looking photos under good lighting conditions, letting you upload them to photo sharing or social sites in a jiffy. In addition, you can play back YouTube videos wherever you are, while the inclusion of a 3.5mm headset jack lets you hook up just about any pair of headphones to enjoy your favorite tunes.

As for MOTOBLUR, your entire range of conversation threads, friend updates, stories, links, photos and more will be delivered to live widgets on the home screen automatically, doing away with the need to dabble with numerous open applications and menus simultaneously. This gives you unprecedented ease of use to stay updated with your friends’ status updates all the time, instantly, while allowing you to filter through email as they come in, whether to reply those or not. You can also blast your social network status straight from the home screen without individually updating them manually, while news feeds keep you in the loop of the latest happenings. Good times could come back for Motorola with the CLIQ and MOTOBLUR, so do keep a lookout ofr it in Q4 this year.

Bloodbot combines your worst vampire and robot fears

There are a lot of people who faint at the sight of a needle, as well as those that swoon at the sight of blood.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some machine like this Bloodbot that could draw your blood, without a human ever being present?

Some of you might faint at the very idea of that, but haven’t you ever had a doctor who had a hard time finding the vein while you were donating blood? Apparently, this bloodbot has an accuracy rate of seventy-eight percent. Normally, I would say that is good, but I would like to see the average accuracy rate for a doctor.

When I first saw this Bloodbot, I thought of that line from The Matrix when Morpheus is telling Neo he saw the evil machines “liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living”.

Yes, I suppose that we will create the Bloodbots for good, like blood drives, but what happens when the bloodbots decide they don’t have enough? Then comes one of the worst premises for a science-fiction film I ever heard entitled: Attack of the Bloodbots.

That’s right, vampire robots. Now you know that Hollywood is officially out of ideas.

Sungale 3.5 inch LCD comes with lamp (or is it the other way around?)

The first thing I thought of when I saw Sungale’s new desk lamp was that it reminded me of some prop on The Prisoner.

That, or some other weird sixties British science-fiction show where the set designers thought they were being futuristic, but it ends up looking completely ridiculous by today’s standards.

In other words, I can just see agent John Steed sitting at his desk, turn on the two-way communication screen with his umbrella, and utter “Miss Peel, we’re needed”.

I realize that some of you might not get The Avengers reference, and that’s fine. However, you should admire Sungale’s retro-looking combination of a lamp and digital picture frame.

The screen has a 320 x 240 resolution, and has 512 MB. It can be expanded with SD, MMC, or Memory stick for photo and videos. It also has a calendar and clock, as well as capacity for playing back MP3s.

Controls are located below the screen for the photos, music, and video. To the right are the interface controls for the main menu and on the left is the adjustable lighting for the 5-watt bulb.

All this for a low price of $90. I suppose if you were doing your home in theme of “The Village” then this would be your accessory.

Sanyo unveils eneloop lamp

When rechargeable batteries are mentioned, many of us will definitely think about Sanyo and their range of Eneloops that have garnered pretty high ratings from consumers over the years for its reliability and ability to live up to its own advertising in terms of performance. Well, this time round the Japanese electronics giant is back with a new Eneloop lamp - basically a rechargeable light that can function as both an interior lamp and a flashlight. According to Sanyo, “The Kobe earthquake is the starting point. We aimed at designing a shape that is really helpful in case of emergency.”

The lamp itself is weirdly shaped, looking like a bud vase while featuring a maximum diameter of 121mm and a height of 221mm. It comes with a built-in rechargeable battery and LEDs that cater for lighting applications, located at the bottom. Sanyo has decided that it is possible to merge both the functions of an interior lamp and a flashlight, letting you use the device as the former on an almost daily basis, but instantly turning into a vital piece of survival equipment in case of an emergency. Inside the lamp, you will find a couple of Eneloop nickel-metal-hydride batteries that can be fully charged within approximately a dozen hours when placed in a charging stand. Since the self discharge rate is extremely low and slow, chances are pretty good the lamp will still work great and not suffer from battery exhaustion during an emergency.

There is no official pricing details released yet, although some sources have bandied about a ¥15,000 (approximately $156) price point. Sanyo Electric has chosen September 11, 2009, as its release date - we wonder whether it had anything to do with the anniversary of the deadly attacks on the Twin Towers, where such an emergency lamp would come in handy.

Sonos CR200 in the flesh

Folks who have been looking forward to the Sonos CR200 controller for quite some time now will be pleased to know that the device will be made available to the masses very soon after going through rigorous tests proposed by the FCC suits. This portrait-oriented controller is tipped to come with a touchscreen display that supports an on-screen QWERTY keyboard for easy navigation and typing, making it a snap to look up songs by artist, album, or titles. This certainly does away with the need for a scroll-wheel of sorts. There is no word on pricing for the Sonos CR200 though, so hopefully it won’t make you burn a bigger hole in your wallet than it should.

Aston Martin One-77

Aston Martin revealed its first complete One-77 coupe at the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance this weekend in Lake Como, Italy - and collected its first prize for the car. This collectors'-edition coupe received the Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes, voted the clear winner ahead of seven other entrants including the Morgan Aeromax Supersports, the Zagato-designed Perana Z One, the Infiniti Essence and the Rinspeed iChange.

The V12-engined, 200mph-plus One-77 has an all-new monococque body structure with hand-crafted aluminum panels, and Aston Martin pledges "extraordinary workmanship and money-no-object commitment to quality". As indeed one would, for a car costing £1million plus local taxes.

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Opel/Vauxhall Astra

These are the first images of the new Opel/Vauxhall Astra, which will debut as a five-door hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September. Created at GM's European design studio, the sixth generation Astra's cab-forward silhouette, steeply-raked windscreen and sloping rear roofline are design elements found in the Insignia. At 4400mm, the new car is 110mm longer than the model it replaces and has a 71mm longer wheelbase. It also has wider tracks front and rear.

"We're continuing with the same premium design cues as the Insignia, inside and out of the car," said Mark Adams, Vice President of GM Europe Design. "However, the main design themes, like the wing-shaped light signatures and the blade, needed an individual execution to avoid 'cloning' the model ranges. This is why, for instance, you see twin wings in the rear lights and a reversed blade on its flanks."

Opel has not released images of the new Astra's interior, but the automaker promises similar strides in quality to those found in the Insignia combined with improvements in packaging, seat design and in-cabin storage. The Insignia's unique wraparound IP is also said to be reinterpreted in the Astra.

SGH i400 smartphone

Samsung released this little beauty, the SGH i400 smartphone. Although we already got used to Samsungs S60 Sliders, this one has the Symbian OS trademark in the upper-left corner. It is equipped with a 2 megapixel camera to make sure you don’t miss out on taking really cool photos even if you don’t own a genuine digital camera. And didn’t you got bored of navigating through your whole menu just to try and find an MP3. Well, they have solved your problem by adding up a special MP3 button. It is also equipped with A2DP, Bluetooth and MicroSD expansion for your pleasure and comfort. You also have full support for Internet Browsing (it would have been weird if you didn’t) and you are provided with a 2.3 inch display, so you won’t have to wear your glasses just to make a simple phone-call.

S3000, A6000 & M8000 Pavilion Slimline by HP

Three new models of desktop PC series have been launched into the market by HP. The three models of the Pavilion Slimline series are s3000, a6000 and m8000. The first one comes with 1GB of RAM, and you can pick either a AMD CPU or an Intel CPU, but for the later you have to pay an extra 50$. If not you can buy it for 500$. The PC can be set with a low graphic card, maybe a TV tuner and a Pocket Media Drive.

You can buy the a6000 at a lower price then the s3000. It’s just 330$ but you would be throwing off some memory because it has only 512 MB of RAM. But the bright side is that it comes with an Intel CPU, a Pocket Media Drive and a graphics card. But the “jewel of the crown” is the m8000. And the price says so to. At 950$ it has a DVD drive and again you can pick between a dual core AMD or Intel processor. All three models have Windows Vista preinstalled.

Samsung Acme i9810 will run Symbian S60

If it seems like it was only yesterday that we first heard of the Samsung Acme i9810, it’s because it was. Less than 24 hours after a grainy spy shot of the unannounced handset was reveal, someone has followed up with some proper shots.

We already know from yesterday’s leak that the Acme would boast an 8 megapixel camera, GPS, HDMI output, WiFi, DivX and DNLA, and come in 8GB and 16GB flavors - but what OS would fuel those oh-so-impressive innards. Would it be Android? Windows Mobile? Nope! From these shots that DailyMobile.SE dug up, it’s quite apparent that the Acme will be running Symbian S60

All of this stuff flying out of the woodworks, and Mobile World Congress is still a week and a half away. MWC is going to be madness this year.

Confirmed: LG will debut the LG Arena KM900 at Mobile World Congress

When word first got out of the LG Arena, we figured it was safe to say we could expect an official debut at Mobile World Congress - and it definitely was. LG has just pushed a previously unpublished shot of the KM900 (and its interface, which looks a whole lot less iPhone-y here than it did in previous shots) to their blog, saying nothing but “All will be revealed at Mobile World Congress… (Awful teases, aren’t we?!)”.

With alleged and likely legit specs already out (Tri-band radio, FM, aGPS, WiFi, 5MP camera, 3″ 800×480 touchscreen), we’re not quite sure exactly what else there is to be “revealed” - but hopefully the new interface packs something worth keeping secret until the big day in Barcelona.

Yet another Samsung phone leaks: the C6625

Jeez - at this point, saying something like “when it rains, it pours” would almost seem rude. The number of Samsung phones leaked prior to MWC has now leapt out of “countable on two hands” territory, with details of an 11th previously unheard of Samsung phone, the C6625, making their way onto the tubes.

Unlike all of the past leaks, this latest pre-announcement isn’t so much a “leak” as it is a slip-up. Mobile reseller Expansys pushed the product page live a bit early, and some eagle eye stumbled across it. Rockin’ a 2 megapixel camera, 2.6″ 320×240 screen, and a 2 megapixel camera, it’s looking a whole lot like a slightly higher spec’d Samsung Ace. It’s not available yet, but it looks like it’ll go for roughly $365 once it starts shipping.

Full specs after the jump.

Samsung C6625 Specs:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
• Dimensions:
- 113.6 x 63 x 11.6 mm
• Weight: 107.7g
• Battery:
- Talk Time: 420 mins
- Standby Time: 300 hrs
- Capacity: 1300 mAh
• Display:
- 320 x 240 pixels/2.6 inch
• Network:
- GSM: 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band)
- WCDMA: 2100 (Single-Band)
- HSDPA (3.6Mbps)
• Camera:
- 2 mega-pixels
- 4 x Digital Zoom
• Video:
- 25fps Video Recording (QVGA)
- Supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264 & WMV
- Video Streaming
• Music:
- Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ & WMA
- FM Stereo Radio (RDS)
- Windows Media Player Sync
• Ringtones:
- Monophonic
- Polyphonic (64)
- MP3
• Messaging:
- SMS
- MMS (with video)
- E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange)
- Instant Messaging (MSN)
• Memory:
- Phone Book (unlimited)
- Dialled Calls (30)
- Missed Calls (30)
- Received Calls (30)
- 100MB (internal)
- microSDHC (external)
• Call Features:
- Hands Free
- Caller ID
• Connectivity:
- Bluetooth (2.0)
- GPRS Class 32
- HSDPA (3.6 Mbits)
• Navigation:
- AGPS
• Security:
- Remote Lock
- Device and memory card encryption
- Remote Wipe
• Features:
- Office Document Viewer (Word, Excel & PowerPoint)
- PDF Document Viewer

Nokia N5800 XpressMusic Touchscreen - Nokia ‘Tube’ Specifications & Pricing Become Official

After a great deal of speculation, Nokia have officially detailed their new Nokia N5800 XpressMusic touchscreen cell phone – known as the Nokia Tube. Boasting a 3.2” 640×360 nHD resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen touchscreen display complete with tactile feedback, the Nokia Tube N5800 XpressMusic cell phone – which measures in at 111×51.7×15.5mm - comes with integrated 3.2 megapixel camera (complete with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus, dual LED flash, 3x digital zoom and video capture capabilities up to 640×480 at 30fps) paired with a front mounted secondary camera allowing for video calling, an Alphanumeric and QWERTY keyboard (courtesy of the touchscreen) paired with handwriting recognition and, a ‘Dedicated Media Bar’ allowing for prompt access to the N5800’s image, video, music and web browsing features.

Set to become available in European HSDPA, North American HSDPA and GSM versions, additional highlights of what is, by anyone’s standards, a feature-packed handset, include integrated GPS, Wi-Fi and, of course, fully DAP (Digital Audio Player) functionality complete with Bass Boost, 8-band graphic equalizer, ‘stereo widening’ post processing and, for those determined to inflict their music tastes on others, built-in speakers. And, thanks to a bundled 8GB microSD card you shouldn’t find storage capacity to be a particular issue (and, just in case you do, you can always employ additional cards up to 16GB in capacity).Nokia’s Tube N5800 XpressMusic Touchscreen, which will be made available in black, blue or red and which is set to begin shipping this quarter, will set you back around $392 (roughly €284/£222 at the time of writing) for the unlocked version complete with the aforementioned 8GB microSD card.

Further detailed information and specifications can be attained via the now live Nokia Tube N5800 XpressMusic official site.

iPhone controlled dog treat dispenser

[Stephen Myers] has been toying around with some beta ioBridge hardware. He decided to build a remote control dog treat dispenser. ioBridge’s hardware is built specifically to make web enabling projects easy. The main controller board has four I/O channels that speak to addon modules. It has an ethernet port on the main board and an easy to configure website.

[Stephen] used a servo addon board for his project. The dispenser is built from a scrap CD spindle attached to a servo. He can issue commands from his iPhone, which shows live video of the kennel. He’ll be building several other automation projects based on this system.