Recent Comments:
Dell's Inspiron Zino HD now official in Ireland and UK {Engadget}
Nov 10th 2009 11:33AM I know it has esata. As for usb cablecard tuners, we can go with ATI or a future 4 tuner option from Ceton. The only unknown is if this little box good enough to support Windows 7 Media Center with at least four HD shows recording / streaming.
The reason I don't want everything in one box is because I want to keep components that don't change much out of the main box, such as the tuners and storage. I have PCI-based tuners that are now mostly useless in new PCs. I have IDE harddrives that are mostly useless in new PCs. And if the little PC dies or underperforms, it doesn't take major work to swap in a replacement.
I hope this is competitively priced compared to the ion-based $200-$350 net-top boxes.
Dell's Inspiron Zino HD now official in Ireland and UK {Engadget}
Nov 10th 2009 9:56AM My wish is for something this small designed to run Windows 7 Media Center with usb-connected cablecard tuners and esata connected external storage. Or do people still favor packing everything for their HTPC into a single large box?
Plastic Logic teases QUE proReader with 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 1:14AM By investment, do you mean something you get now but you won't enjoy the benefits of until much later, if ever? If you are not a reader, this is probably not for you. You should probably invest in your other more frequently used reading device, such as buying a bigger nicer monitor. And gadgets are outdated soon after you get them so you must be able to enjoy them right away, or are you the type to store tons of unopened impulse buys in the garage for when you have time?
Plastic Logic teases QUE proReader with 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 1:04AM Oops, forgot about the announcement with AT&T from July. No mention of bluetooth so I wonder what they meant when they said at the October Semicon Europa conference that their reader is designed to be combined with a smartphone for wireless connectivity. Perhaps a locked-down business version? http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220301369
Plastic Logic teases QUE proReader with 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 12:26AM Most likely no replaceable battery, no expandable storage, and reduced contrast due to resistive touch-screen. The company had previously mentioned wireless access via bluetooth tethering to the user's phone, which probably means no 3G connectivity.
Barnes & Noble twin-screen e-reader revealed early? {Engadget}
Oct 14th 2009 10:57AM I see no real benefit for the color LCD display. Do we really need to browse books in color or that fast? Multi-touch is interesting, but scrolling and zooming will still be limited to e-ink speeds. The only compelling reason I can think of is for the LCD strip to show banner ads for reduced pricing of the reader.
It is nice that this is not yet another re-packaging of the same old e-ink display. I would be interested if the resolution was higher for pdf and comic viewing.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Thexder Neo {Joystiq}
Sep 27th 2009 4:28PM I played the original Sierra published version on PC and you basically need to be a master of the number pad to control it. It has been a while since I've needed to pose my hand over the keyboard number pad with my fingers in the the 'claw' stance.
IREX unveils DR 800SG wireless ebook reader (updated with hands-on!) {Engadget}
Sep 23rd 2009 4:40PM Thanks for the info concord. It's looking to be the e-reader to get and will be available this year, as long as most menu navigation doesn't require the stylus and the battery can last at least a week with wireless and stylus off.
IREX unveils DR 800SG wireless ebook reader (updated with hands-on!) {Engadget}
Sep 23rd 2009 2:14PM That bar on the left better act like a touch-sensitive four-direction and push-in-for-select control or this is a big fail if the stylus is needed even to pick a book to read. You would want to switch off the stylus-sensitive hardware to prolong battery life and it would be a freaking pain if you had to turn on and off hardware just to make a single click.
I wonder if you can flip the device 180 degrees since putting the page-turn hardware at the spine of the cover seems pretty silly unless they think everyone will like bending the cover back. I bet they own paperbacks that have completely destroyed spines.
What what the hell is with the super-bright led? The beauty of e-ink is that it can be off but still look on. With that led, oh, you'll know perfectly well that it's on and draining on the batteries... almost like a warning light, like on any non e-ink device. Maybe the led color indicates how fast the battery is draining:
red: device + wireless + stylus: on
yellow: device + stylus: on
green: device: on
blue: demo mode so everything is on and running at max speed, but battery will last one hour
Need to know: resolution (at least 1024x768 would be good), shades of gray, non-stylus controls, battery life (looks like it's user-replaceable with that cover on the back), and landscape / 2-page view mode?
IREX unveils DR 800SG wireless ebook reader (updated with hands-on!) {Engadget}
Sep 23rd 2009 1:57PM No, he makes the wife carry his gear. Not every man wants to wear cargo pants or have a batman belt.
