Hi-tech Frontier

New Sony Ericsson MS500 Bluetooth Speaker Sony in its cell phone division has introduced the new Sony Ericsson MS500 speaker that is specially designed for outdoor use and also includes Bluetooth technology for wireless connectivity. It uses the Bluetooth A2DP profile for stereo streaming from a cellphone or PMP, and the AVRCP for remote control. It measures 113 x 83 x45 mm. This new speaker works with two AA batteries that offer a range of 5 hours and its size is compact enough that we can even hang from our necks. It also includes keys to the same speaker volume control and also to change the song and be designed in 2 types of color, one in black and orange and white and pink. It speaker has support 10m range. The Sony Ericsson MS500 Bluetooth Speaker amp outputs a mere 2W.

Transcend Storejet 25M-R External HDD with anti-shock At the time of every precaution to protect our data is limited and we must take special care with external hard drives as the minimum stroke can cause the disc to stop working correctly. Although today with reports that SSD can be avoided to a large extent leaves the price out of reach for many and we must resort to other systems such as this Transcend Storejet 25M-R. This external hard drive with an internal 2.5-inch disc that is available in different capacities: 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, but the most interesting is in its casing. It has a anti-shock protection system to prevent damage that we have the data stored on disk. The outside of the casing has a hard part covered with a layer of silicone that is responsible for absorbing the vibration in case of sudden drops or blows. On the other hand on the inside with a series of “shocks” to get our record is safe in the event of a sharp downturn. According Transcend, Storejet 25M-R has...

ViewSonic 22-inch laptop ViewSonic is mostly known for the display game, but the company got into netbooks this January, and now it looks like it's going after the complete opposite end of the spectrum with a 22-inch laptop for China (and hopefully elsewhere). At least that's the word from not-always-reliable "industry sources" in Taiwan, who also claim ViewSonic is looking to sell small laptops bundled with monitors to further pad sales. We'll have to wait and see if either tidbit pans out, but we're always up for an extra gargantutop on the market to laugh at and secretly desire.

NVIDIA's PhysX SDK sashays onto Nintendo's Wii Just two days after NVIDIA proudly announced that its PhysX technology was coming to Sony's potent PlayStation 3, the same can now be said in regards to Nintendo's decidedly less potent Wii. As the story goes, NVIDIA has just been approved as a third party tools solution provider for the Wii console, which inevitably means that the PhysX SDK is now available for registered Wii developers. Quite frankly, we're really interested to see where this goes; unlike Sony's SIXAXIS, Nintendo's Wiimote is highly based on physics already, so the possibilities here seem even more limitless. Get to work, devs!

ASUS W90 gaming laptop Suffice it to say that Computer Shopper was really really into that ASUS W90Vp-X1 gaming notebook that popped up on Newegg recently. This nearly 12 pound behemoth, the reviewer exclaims, not only sets "new 3D-graphics and productivity-speed records," but its 18.4-inch (1,920 x 1,080) LCD is "gorgeous," sporting "incredible color quality and wide viewing angles." Also singled out for praise was the Turbo Gear app that lets you overclock the machine by as much as 17 percent (for speeds up to 3.28GHz) and a "robust" 4.1 speaker sound system. Of course, any machine will have a few quibbles, although in this case they seem to be relatively minor: no Blu-ray (though it's supposed to become available at some point in the future) and a 2 megapixel webcam with "grainy" image quality (although "it's more than adequate for Skyping and chatting").

mophie Juice Pack for iPod touch 2G Dropping a Benjamin on mophie's iPhone 3G Juice Pack didn't seem too painful considering the alternative of possessing a brick after about four hours of 3G usage, but we get the feeling iPod touch 2G users are going to have a slightly more difficult time rationalizing this one. Launched today for $99.95, the Juice Pack for iPod touch 2G was specially crafted to hold Apple's latest touch, and it promises to practically double the amount of jam time by including a rechargeable Li-ion. The case / battery extender also sports a pass-through USB cable design, and the four light LED status indicator gives you visual cues on battery level. Specifically, mophie claims that this device adds up to 42 hours of audio playback or 7 hours of video playback, and if you've already decided to become an early adopter, you can head on over and get one shipped out today.

SanDisk slotRadio player Oh, wait -- we were just kidding about the whole "to much fanfare" bit. SanDisk's slotRadio player, which we're still struggling to understand, is all set to ship on March 31st after debuting alongside a gazillion other gadgets at CES. For those who've forced themselves to forget, this microSD music player can handle your own jams on your own microSD card, or alternatively, can accept pre-loaded Billboard hits cards which house over 1,000 songs that are nicely categorized by genre. It'll be available from SanDisk's own website on March 31st for $99 (which includes a card with over a thousand songs), and it should be ready to ruin Father's Day when it slips into Radio Shack locations shortly thereafter.

Sony Ericsson C905 In a pretty frank interview with Reuters, Sony Ericsson's head of marketing for North America revealed that it intends to "be really focused" with the C905 in the US starting next quarter, saying that it'll likely launch for somewhere between $199 and $249 on contract and "be relevant to consumers in the second half." What he wouldn't say is which carrier intends to pick up the 8.1 megapixel slider -- but we'll go ahead and suggest that it's coming to AT&T seeing how we've seen it running the carrier's firmware and have gotten independent confirmation that it's on the roadmap. Of course, we know Rogers has an eye on this one as well, so everyone probably ought to consider stocking up on 16GB Memory Stick Micro cards, like, now.

Nokia 3606 flip phone Nokia's simplistic 3606 has been out and about for awhile now, but it's brand new to Cricket Wireless airwaves. The aforesaid carrier is now offering up the 3606 in branded fashion, bringing along a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, music with external control keys, a microSD card slot, 700mAh battery and a 2-inch 220 x 176 internal display. The pain? $139.99 after all applicable discounts.

Philips Xenium X700 The word Xenium immediately sets off thoughts of frolicking in Dutch fields for days without nary a care in the world with respect to battery life, and the cute little X700 aligns perfectly with those whimsical thoughts. The latest flip phone in Philips's growing arsenal of longevous devices can reportedly last a full month in standby on a single charge, and furthermore, it boasts a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0 and quad-band GSM connectivity. Of course, the call time is just 450 minutes, but hey, all the more reason to just hit "silent" time after time.

Philips goes touchscreen with Xenium X810 While the recent flood of Xenium handsets aren't apt to hit American shores anytime soon, we may actually hop a flight to toy with the Xenium X810. Unlike most of its siblings, this here device is actually intriguing, boasting a 400 x 240 resolution touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, 45MB of built-in memory, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth, quad-band GSM connectivity and a USB port. As with all Xeniums, this one also goes for days and days without a recharge; in fact, it should last up to a solid month in standby mode. So, has anyone else wondered why no other major cellphone maker is utilizing these miracle-working batteries?

Motorola rugged i580 It's not that we didn't appreciate Motorola's rugged i580, but even for a beater phone, it just struck us as atypically drab. At long last, Sprint is looking to remedy that very complaint by pushing the all-weather clamshell out with a shockingly yellow accent. The "highly visible" new hue can handle even the nastiest of environments without cracking, and the Direct Connect support means that you and your pals can chirp away as much as you like. Other features include GPS (TeleNav), Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera and up to 1GB of optional removable memory. Folks sick and tired of breaking their handset (or huge, huge fans of yellow) can snap one up now for $119.99 on a two-year contract.

Bang & Olufsen 103-inch BeoVision 4-103 plasma Plasma's dying, huh? Go and tell that to Bang & Olufsen. Just in case the 50- and 65-inch versions of the BeoVision 4 HDTV weren't expansive enough, the high-end home cinema outfitter has just pushed out news of an all new addition: the 103-inch BeoVision 4-103. If that number immediately rings a bell, here's a cookie. The 103-inch Panasonic TH-103PF9 panel is indeed the exact one used here, but B&O has obviously spruced up the design, added an automatic rising stand and incorporated the BeoSystem 3 and the VisionClear technology that automatically adjusts colors and brightness. Oh, and it tossed in a B&O logo, which is darn near priceless. Speaking of stickers, the set should be available this July for around €100,000 ($136,220) pre-VAT.

Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3 For everything going wrong in your life right now, there's at least one beacon of light to keep you, a dutiful PS3 owner, smiling. A long (long!) awaited device has just slipped into the FCC's database, and while details are scant, most of what we need to know is tucked away in the title: Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3. For far too long, PS3 owners with IR-based universal remotes have had to rely on clunky IR-to-Bluetooth converters to get the two to communicate, but as soon as the E-R0001 hits the market, all that will change for Harmony owners. As of now, we've got three questions that desperately need answered: 1) when?; 2) how much?; and 3) what Harmony remotes are compatible?

Gefen 8x4 CAT-5 HDMI Matrix Be warned -- unless you seriously need eight HDMI sources hooked up to a single matrix switch in order to activate four at a time on an array of panels, you should probably skip right over this one. If we just rung your bell, however, read on. Gefen's latest HDMI distribution box is definitely catering to the high-end / commercial market by being entirely rack-mountable and supporting up to eight HDMI inputs and four outputs. High-def signals can be transmitted over CAT5 cabling, and there's even an RS-232 port for additional control capabilities. As for distances, you can expect 1080i material to travel up to 300 feet without degradation, while 1080p content will flow 150 feet. The only problem? The $4,499 price tag.

Denon Japan DVD-A1UD universal BD player Hope you weren't planning on scoring one of Denon's mighty pricey DVD-A1UD universal BD players anytime soon, 'cause it just got delayed. Again. After surfacing to much fanfare late last year, the all-in-one player has since been tangled in setbacks. The latest excuse has something to do with "taking time to optimize the playback," but we're not exactly sure why that testing will take until October to complete. Believe it or not, it will have been 10 full months from announcement to ship date if the new launch window stays put -- meanwhile, OPPO's taking full advantage of the situation here in America with its BDP-83.