Bizarre PSP mod adds a cooling fan, utility in question

Posted by signup

The overheating syndrome has struck just about every area of consumer electronics possible, and while spinning that UMD might get your fingertips ever-so-toasty, we haven’t heard any mass outcries of PSPs getting hot enough to cook breakfast on, but apparently none of that matters. In a rare case of besting an already questionable mod just days ago, this DIY installation is a real head scratcher, as Acidmods details how to install an actual cooling fan onto the rear of your Sony handheld. Your guess is as good as ours as to why this hack-job is actually beneifical, but if your only alternative is obliterating your PSP with a sword, we guess we’ll have to recommend you hop on over and get your hot gluing on — but only after you’ve mastered the art of stuffing three AAA cells into its battery pack, cool?

Can be found : http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/07/bizarre-psp-mod-adds-a-cooling-fan-utility-in-question/

No Porn on Blu-ray

Posted by signup

Could this decide the format war?

12 January 2007 - We might not want to admit it, but the porn industry has massive power to influence the technology we use and adopt in our everyday lives.

Over the last 30 years the industry has been responsible for VHS beating competing format Betamax in the early-80s, the development of secure online payments, and even the explosion of the DVD format.

Perhaps spelling the outcome of the latest disc format war between Sony’s Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD, adult film producer Digital Playground, whose famous adult film titles include the Island Fever series and Pirates - a high budget porn take on Pirates of the Caribbean - has been told by Sony that it will not be allowed to release XXX movies on the company’s Blu-ray disc format.

Digital Playground, which is one of the biggest producers of top shelf material, will be releasing four new movies in the US, with the first, Pirates due out in the States on in the next week on HD DVD instead.

In the interview with German Heise at AVN 2007 show in Las Vegas, Joone the founder of the company said that while he is committed to Blu-ray, he has been forced to use HD DVD because no Blu-ray disc manufacturer would make his discs, because Sony was against it and they would loose their license.

However some stars of the films aren’t looking forward to the move to high-definition and better picture quality.

While Pirates film star Jesse Jane (pictured) told Pocket-lint that she was happy to be filmed in HD, she did tell us that other stars she knew weren’t so keen.

In Hollywood some actresses have expressed concerns that the new high-definition picture quality shows when they’ve used too much make-up to cover un-slightly blemishes.

Why the iPhone may not sell well

Posted by multippt

Despite all that hype on the Apple “iPhone”, there are still some reasons why the Apple “iPhone” may suffer in terms of sales. Yes, the Apple “iPhone” might be one of those urber modern gadgets one can find, but is it appealling to everyone?

“iPhone” is 3G-less
There are several reasons why the iPhone lacks 3G compatibility. 3G may not be easily available in certain countries, and that using 3G on a mobile device would drain the power supply (i.e. the battery). But would missing out 3G do any harm to the iPhone? Without 3G, it will be a hassle to stream media to your phone. Besides, Japan, a major user of 3G, might not even bother using the “iPhone” as a replacement for the modern handphone.

Though, there is an alternative way to 3G, and that is Wifi. The Apple “iPhone” has wifi infrastructure support. However, what if you are usually on the move? Wifi hot-spots are usually short-ranged (10m to 50m in radius), while 3G offers a much larger coverage area. So if you are using wifi, you would need to connect and disconnect multiple times to available wifi networks in range when you are moving (like in a car of train).

Cost
Although as pretty and useful as it seems, any potential buyer is turned down by the pricetag of the said gadget. The Apple “iPhone” is one costly gadget, with a pricetag of US$599 for the 8GB model, and US$499 for the 4GB model. This is one cost most people would have to save up for (unless you are extremely). Don’t get me started on the monthly costs like wifi and voice plans.

Performance
The Apple “iPhone” probably performs as fast (probabaly faster) as a modern handphone. But would speed matter for the Apple “iPhone”? Obviously, it is difficult to pack a fast processor into that small stylish casing the iPhone has, so processor speeds are generally limited to that of the most fastest handphones (unless Apple wants to explode the already hefty cost of the “iPhone”). So in other words, the Apple “iPhone” will find it hard to out-perform the latest mobile phones.

“iPhone” does not have iTunes
This feature has been stamped out from the Apple “iPhone”. So would not having this feature matter to the “iPhone”? iTunes is used as a means of managing media. If the “iPhone” were to have iTunes integrated within itself, imagine the ease of managing one’s own music and videos without the need of a computer.

“iPhone” cannot have a change of memory
This means that you will be stuck with the amount of flash memory you have in your iPhone from the day you purchased the iPhone (so choose carefully). You cannot expand the memory via any means (like memory cards), so this limits how many music files you can put in your “iPhone”

Is “touchscreen” good?
The Apple “iPhone” uses a touchscreen. This may be a unique feature, but PDAs already have this. So this isn’t really new. In addition, the “iPhone” functions are usually accessed via touchscreen. While this idea sounds okay, what happens if you wanted to skip the song you are listening while leaving the iPhone in your pocket? You can easily do this using a PSP or a iPod, but a “iPhone”? Remember, most (if not all) functions in the “iPhone” are accessed via touchscreen.

“iPhone” does multi-tasking?
If by multi-tasking you mean downloading a file and listening a song at the same time, then yes, the “iPhone” does support multi-tasking. However, it is difficult to multi-task certain things that you can do on a computer. An example is listening a song and browsing the internet. The computer can do both simultaneously, while the “iPhone” can only either the playing music part, or the browsing the internet part, but not simultaneously.

“iPhone” runs Mac OSX, but…
Yes… indeed, the Apple “iPhone” may run use Mac OS X as the operating system. Howver, the operating system it runs is the scaled-down version of Mac OS X. It can’t run your normal desktop softwre you have in your Apple computer. Though, the “iPhone” would be able to run “desktop-class” applications. The operating system have several restrictions, like no 3rd party applications can be installed in the “iPhone” (meaning, software for the iPhone is severely limited).

—

Now with all these “features” the Apple “iPhone” has, do you think it is worth spending your money on the “iPhone”?

(Note that “iPhone” instead of iPhone is used, since the name for the Apple “iPhone” may change due to an ongoing event.)

8GB Memstick Pro Duo available next month (February)

Posted by multippt

Often think that your 4GB memory stick still does not provide enough storage for your emulated games legitimate information, this 8GB memory stick sure will!

The memory stick weighs at a light 2 grams, and is of the same size compared to any other Memory Stick Pro Duo. With this much space, you will never have to worry about not having enough space for your 2000 songs (in MP3) collection.

The memory stick can be purchased next month from “Sony Style” (online and retail stores) and authorized dealers. Although the memory stick may be small, it’s pricetag is bound to leave a mark on your wallet (it costs US$300, which is roughly the same cost as a 500GB hard disk).

Note that if you wish to use the 8GB memory stick (or memory sticks with more than 2GB of space) without any problems on your PSP, you may have to update your PSP to the official firmware, 2.70 (that unfortunately means, no homebrew happiness [if you update past 2.80]) (it is not known whether if the custom firmwares [2.71 SE, 3.02 OE and 3.03 OE] fixed the memory stick problem).

Mini projector (by Microvision) for portables

Posted by multippt

Ever thought of the day when mobile phones become so advanced that you can beam a live video on to a wall? Well, this futuristic thought may finally become reality, as Microvision has just announced its release of their very own miniature digital projector. This device is so small that it can be attached to any sort of portable device.

Though, don’t expect to see this sort of thing on sale yet (since there is only a prototype), however, you may get a chance to see this on this week’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.

When the time comes, that small mobile phone screen won’t be small anymore…

Via uber review

A long-lasting pen that requires no ink

Posted by multippt

Ever find it frustrating whenever your pen simply runs out of ink at the most inconvenient of times? How about a pencil?

This pen can last for decades, and yet it does not require any ink, nor refills. It is made of stainless steel, and its nib consist of a special alloy that would leave a mark on most paper. The markings on a normal piece of paper look as if it were drawn by a pencil. However, unlike the pencil, the markings are not easily smearged, nor erasable. The pen does not need sharpening, unlike a pencil (furthermore, metal is quite hard to sharpen). The amount of metal which comes off is quite little, and thus, the pen is likely to last for a long time.

However, you won’t see these becoming more common in anytime soon, since a normal pen is still fit for the job of writing.

Via Grand llusions

Is your computer (Windows) Vista “premium” ready?

Posted by multippt

Yes you have heard of Windows Vista, the new generation of Windows that will make its debute next year, 2007. By then, I’m sure you have heard of numerous guides to preparing your computer for Windows Vista. Some of this guides show guidelines to enable your computer to be Windows Vista ready. Of these, some of them go a step further and prepare them to be Windows Vista “premium” ready. However, this guide you are reading is different from those guide. This guide will show you the minimum requirements for your computer to be Windows Vista “Premium” ready, and yes, this means your computer should be able to get those nice Aero glass effects if you follow this guideline.

Processor
Your processor needs to have a processor speed of at least 1.4 GHz (to be safe, though 1.0GHz is the minimum for Windows Vista “premium” ready computers), which is quite common in new computers. However, if your computer have a processor speed lesser than that, chances are, you would need to replace the processor with a more powerful one, or get a new computer.

RAM (Random Access Memory)
Large amounts of RAM is very useful for an operating system that will utilize the computer resources fully (in this case, Windows Vista). 1GB of RAM is recommended. Of course, the more the merrier. 1GB of RAM is quite common in computers available in the market at the moment. In case your computer do not have this amount of RAM in your computer, you can choose to upgrade the RAM (since RAM is the most easiest hardware component of the computer to upgrade compared to the rest).

Graphics
You need a relatively powerful graphics card (specially for Aero glass). A video card with 128MB of graphics memory should be quite adequate for those who have a resolution of 1920 by 1200 and lesser. Video cards such as ATI Radeon 5500 and above, NIVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 and above, and Intel GMA 950 and above should give the much needed memory. However, if your computer screen resolution is as much as 2560 by 1600 may need up to 512MB of video memory. Other than that, your graphics card needs to support DirectX 9.0 (or above, though DirectX 10.0 enabled graphics cards will be available by next year, 2007), video card 3D acceleration, WDDM support, and pixel shader 2.0.

Hard Drive
This shouldn’t be a problem if your computer has at least 15GB of free disk space (for installing Windows Vista). However, it is recommended that you have at least 40GB of total hard disk space.

DVD Drive
This is needed to install Windows Vista, since Windows Vista only ships on DVD.