The good people of Panasonic have dropped not one, not two, but nine DMC digital picture taking machines this morning into our hot, hot inboxen. The line-up has pretty much something for everybody, from low-end to mid-range. Here, we look at our three favorites. → Read More
LG has announced their limited-edition run of the 60PT1 wrapped in wood instead of the sleek and lighter cases most modern boob tubes have today. The 60 inch plasma TV is set to launch the beginning of Q2 in SK with a 1,000 unit limited-edition run. No word on pricing yet but I imagine it setting you back quite a bit. I guess it’s cool to have your modern TV look like it was made back in the 80s? Right? Got Wood? [Ubergizmo via Akihabara News] → Read More
Rumor ’round the fabricated watercooler is that the Zune is trying to commit suicide. Apparently the lithium ion battery behind the Zune’s display is swelling from overheating and putting a great deal pressure on the screen, causing it to crack or break. Microsoft says the issue doesn’t pertain to its warranty so users who have had this happen to them are pretty much SOL. We here at CG haven’t had any problems like this happen yet, but what about you guys? Any Zune users have cracked screens from this issue? Zune screens cracking from battery pressure? [Engadget] → Read More
We don’t watch the Miss America pageant. We think it’s ultimately demeaning to women and sets an impossibly absurd ideal of what a woman should look and act like, fixing hopeless standards of beauty for young women the nation over. Also, the swimsuit competition just isn’t as hot as it used to be. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find some way to geek out about it. Kingston has secured the coveted position of Official Memory Card of the 86th Miss America pageant after what we can only assume was a bitter and heated bidding war. In the end, Kingston’s CompactFlash Ultimate was the line of cards used by official pageant photographer Bruce Vartan Boyajian when Miss Oklahoma was crowned, tears running down her face as she thought of the impact that her new responsibilities the role would have on her life. Needless to say, Kingston will be with Miss America as she tours this great nation of ours, taking thousands of photographs at mall openings and minor league baseball games in all 50 states, except Alaska and Hawaii. Kingston Press Release [Kingston] → Read More
The Big Apple is catching on to the increasingly high demand for more parking and is solving the problem in Chinatown with robots. Automotion Parking Systems will be opening the first automatic, robotic parking garage in NYC next month. The garage will have only one attendant available to take cash payments and to explain the system to new users. Costing about $400 a month or $25 per day, a driver will be able to pull his car up to the platform, get out, and let the garage do the rest of the work. Retrieving the vehicle is automatic as well and is supposed to be completely damage proof. Consumers got a bad taste of automatic parking when a similar garage in Hoboken, NJ dropped two cars from four stories or higher. The garage also had multiple malfunctions and kept cars trapped inside for extended periods of time. Hopefully all that will change with NYC’s version. Automotion says that its service will be competitive, safe, and easy to use. We’d really hate to have the official CrunchGear company car (John’s lime green VW bug with puke stains on the seats) damaged by the robots we treasure in our hearts. Pack ‘em in [CNN] → Read More
Cingular’s 3G network allows me to do much more with my mobile handset, such as take advantage of services like JuiceCaster and MyWaves. Mobio Networks now joins that group with its GetMobio product. GetMobio is a free service you can download to your cell phone that loads you up with 50 dynamic applications and widgets that work together and are based on mash-ups of Web services. And as new applications become available, they’re delivered automatically to your handset. The services are divided into 10 collections depending on what you’d like to do—everything from getting a dinner reservation and movie tickets to finding alternative flights for your next trip. One of the best parts is, it does this stuff with little to no text entry. (You can hit the jump below to see the full list of collections and what types of services they connect you to.) Phone support is pretty limited right now with mostly handsets from Sprint and a few from Cingular, but at least they are popular ones. The full suite of apps won’t be available until sometime in February 2007. However, if you want to check out how they’ll work on your phone, there’s a download available for finding movie times. → Read More
It’s understandable that someone would want to skin their smartphone with an iPhone skin while they wait for the real thing to drop. A number of iPhone themes have appeared and a few of them actually look decent. But a Motorola RAZR? I guess nothing says “iPhone” more than a cheap, crappy phone that every person in the country has. Completely useless? Totally. Still want it? You can grab it here iPhone Theme Invaded Motorola Razr [Slashphone] → Read More
Sandio, a 3D input technology company, has begun shipping its 3D Game O’ mouse. The mouse boasts unique 6DOF 3D input technology that makes it versatile for 3D applications. The laser mouse features resolutions up to 2000 dpi and it sounds a voice as the dpi changes. The key to this device though is its independent 3D 6DOF command generation. The 3D 6DOF technology allows users extra 3D controls right on the mouse. So for instance, in Google Earth, one could manipulate the camera. In a first-person shooter, however, the pad could be used for movement controls like forward, backward, sideways, jump, crouch, pitch, yaw and roll, all without using a keyboard. Having played Quake competitively for many years, I could get behind an idea like this easier than some fancy new controller. I knew a few players who had movements like jump and walk bound to their mice. It’d be efficient to have a pad specifically for movement. The 3D Game O’ is available now for $79.99 Sandio → Read More
With the Super Bowl coming up, a lot of you are probably running out to Best Buy to pick up an HDTV for the game (which you’ll promptly return on Monday). Too bad you’re not going to be able to get your paws on this beast from Sony in time, as this 70-inch LCD TV doesn’t hit stores until later next month. For $33,000, you’ll be getting the Sony Bravia XBR 70-inch LCD flat panel equipped with a resolution of 1920×1080 and a 178-degree viewing angle for side viewing. In other words, your HD content is going to look absolutely mind-blowing. If you’re looking to upgrade to a bigger flat panel TV and you’re loaded, holding out for this one will be worth the wait. Otherwise, just go to the game. It will be cheaper. Sony Bravia XBR 70 inch LCD [New Launches] → Read More
PC World, a British computer superstore, has stopped ordering floppies and will stop selling them when their on-hand supplies run out. While this is not news to us super nerds, it’s important to note that we once were able to drag files over back and forth between computers on little disks of spinning plastic that could hold 1.44 megabytes of data. Let’s all bow our heads for a moment of silence for a once mighty storage medium. Take Our Poll from PollDaddy.com PC World says farewell to floppy [BBC] → Read More
If you’ve yet to participate in the You’re My Fave! contest, you have about two more hours to enter yourself into the running before the contest ends at 12 noon EST. To participate, all you have to do is head over to Technorati, log in or create an account (make a fake one for all we care), favorite us and take a screenshot. Send the screenshot to contest at crunchgear dotter com with the subject line “YOU’RE MY FAVE” and enter to win a drawing for a Samsung T629 from T-Mobile. Everybody thank Samsung and T-Mo for hooking us up with the device to giveaway to you. → Read More
Canon just announced the HV20, a 1080i HD camera with building in hard drive. The camera uses Canon’s 1920 x 1080 CMOS and can take 24p cinema style video along with 3.1-megapixel stills. It includes a hot shoe for external light sources and microphones. 10x zoom and mini HDMI — wow! — round out the package. Strangely enough there is no mention of hard drive size but it does have a miniSD slot. By the name, we can expect it to have something around 20GB, but I just sent the folks an email to confirm. Sorry. This is MiniDV. Not sure why I thought it was HDD. Available in April, the HV20 for about $1099, this thing is a worthy adversary to Sony and JVCs HD lines, especially considering the price. → Read More
Zink is using a new kind of printing technology utilizing crystalized-ink embedded in paper. The result is a heat-activated printing solution that will create quick, great looking photos. Zink’s first product is a small pocket printer that is about the size of a deck of cards and is priced to sell for less than $100. The printer will easily connect to a mobile phone or a computer to print out fun little prints that you and your friends can throw up on the fridge. Little details are available on a release date, but this could really bring Polaroid (Zink’s parent company) back into the limelight. Zink Pocket Printer: iPhone Companion? [Gizmodo] → Read More
Perhaps physically getting out of your bed to find your alarm clock just isn’t your thing. That’s ok. If you’re more of a thinker, then there’s still a unique, annoying alarm clock for you. This puzzle alarm clock has three puzzle-pieces on top that pop out when the alarm goes off. To shut off the alarm, you’ll need to use that noggin of yours to solve the puzzle. It’s sort of a blend between waking up and playing that crappy old game Perfection. If you want one, be prepared to lay down $60 and your puzzle-solving skills. Puzzle Alarm Clock [Ubergizmo] → Read More
Hello. My name Viktor. I help post CrunchGear, yes? My homeland Russia have extremely nice phones. Best provider SkyLink has made deal with Almaz Holding to design amazing phone. The two take a Ubiquam U300 handset (it feature CDMA and EV-DO, no torture) and ahh, how you say, add silver drawing of a mustang using 7.2g of silver. Then they add 29 0.01 carat gems and you done. Only one exist and not for sale! It will be shown at expos around beautiful Russia, so please, do not get hope up like old USSR. Skylink Ubiquam U300 Silver Mustang Phone with 29 Gems [Unwired View] → Read More
in the mail and today the Internet-communications company goes and drops a new version of the free app for Mac OS X users: Skype 2.5. The beta’s been around since mid-November, but the final version was officially released today. And aside from a slightly updated look, there’s a new birthday reminder feature and the abilities to send SMS messages to any mobile phone in the world and hold conference calls with up to nine other people have been added. Skype 2.5 for Mac → Read More
Sometimes you gotta face the music, Billy boy. You know damn well you copied a lot of features from OS X when designing Vista and now CNN is calling you out. Watch this video to see Gates get called out on his own game and go “no no no” as a rebuttal. But according to Gates, Vista has revolutionary features like support for tablet PCs and parental controls. Parental controls? Wow! I totally have to run out and buy Vista now if not for the parental controls, then perhaps for the networking utilities. You got called out Gates. Man up and deal with it. Bill Gates lists Vista ‘innovations’ Apple’s had for years [Youtube] → Read More
Could this be Samsung’s newest digital camera to hit the market? No but it sure does have a unique design that makes you wonder. The FlapCam from Matthias Lange has all the usual features of a normal digital camera but it does let you fold and fold and fold so you can protect the lens and display from dust and scratches. → Read More
These little happy feet have a seizure every time you pump up the jams, well at least their eyes do. You may have your very own fit while watching the eyes twitch around like Vince’s mom’s, so proceed with caution. Four total watts of sound emanate from these penguins and the set goes for around $32. → Read More
Yahoo’s brand-centric sites, announced in November 2006 and dubbed “Brand Universe”, have started to go live. These sites each revolve around a single popular brand – like this one on the Nintendo Wii – and have almost no original content. Instead, Yahoo is taking content from Flickr, Del.icio.us, Yahoo Answers and other Yahoo properties, along with some slick graphics, and hoping for page views. Yahoo says to expect 100 or so brand-based sites by the end of the year, and will include sites for popular movies, TV shows, bands, celebrities, games, etc. The next sites to be launched will include the Sims, Halo, Lost, the Office, Transformers, and Harry Potter, says GigaOm. Yahoo doesn’t seem too concerned with monetization of these pages yet, and they aren’t working directly with the brands themselves. Chances are both of those policies may change in the near future. → Read More
